Photo by Kevin Scanlon ©2008
My good friend Jonathan Wells the founder of RES back in the day has recently been featured in the LA Weekly… His new project is called Flux… Nice one JW!
Designers Note: Meg Wells chose that lime green paint color… it is a no-VOC, environmentally friendly paint from Yolocolorhouse.
One of my favorite Italian composers of the late 1960s lounge pop scene is Piero Umiliani, who wrote one of my favorite kitsche ‘out sound‘ songs of all time ‘Mah Na Mah Na‘… which was made famous by the muppet monsters on TV in later years…
Check out ChomChomp which has a great online video retrospect with a whole slew of versions, here dis!
In addition this great site that has loads of detailed information on the composer and his catchy song as well… Worth the read!
I just picked up this meta ambient DVD of electronic classical music synchronized with some colorful abstract shapes and visuals. A perfect screen saver for your large screen plasma or LCD tv. I have been using this as background visuals at night when I am winding down with the family, its nice chill music and not much motion or flickering, just simple colors and transitions. The coolest part is that the design work is inspired by real artowkr and color palettes remixed by some known ‘designers’… Peter Saville, John Maeda, etc.
View: ColorCalm Site
I apologize for using the site as a policy based forum, but common, anyone who watches PBS on TV or listens to NPR on the radio (KCRW rocks!) needs to help!
The House is threatening to eliminate all public funding for NPR and PBS, starting with “Sesame Street,” “Reading Rainbow” and other commercial-free children’s shows. Sign the MoveOn.org petition to Congress opposing these massive cuts to public broadcasting. I signed the petition last night! My kid watches Sesame Street and so did I when I was his age.
Here is where we are at now…
They’ve blown past their goal of 250,000. they reach 400,000 before Thursday’s vote? They’ve achieved 95% of their 400,000 goal (383,671) so far!
I just got this link late this afternoon from my friend, DJ and audiophile, Tony Watson, he is solid. I thought I would post this as its pretty damn cool.
In 1974, EMS introduced the Synthi 100, designed for those who didn’t need a portable system. As [designer, Dave] Cockerell put it, ‘You had to take walls down to get it into studios.’ The Synthi 100 was originally based on three VCS3s, and grew from there to encompass 12 oscillators and associated filters, envelopes, etc. It also had a three-track monophonic digital sequencer and two 64X64 patch matrices. The Synthi 100 sold for around £10,000 (US $25,000), which limited the number of units sold, but it was the only thing Britain ever produced that could compete with the modular systems from American manufacturers. One Synthi 100 went to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which does electronic music and sound effects for a myriad of TV programs, including Doctor Who.
Oh yeah, by the way, Jack Dangers from Meat Beat Manifesto fame owns a Synthi 100! I met him in SF at a fashion show, and he was impressed, as I was one of 3 people in his life that picked him out of a crowd of people. I own all the old school Meat Beat CDs since they came out with Storm The Studio, Radion Babylon and Helter Skelter. I think that Radio Babylon could very well be THE original Dub/BigBeat track that started it all.
View: Synthi 100 at $60,000 eBay Auction
View: Synthi 100 History from Synth Museum
View: Jack Dangers / MBM Bio from Sputnik 7
Buy: Vintage Synthesizers Book Amazon
Download: Dr Who Theme Song from 1974 2.0Mb Stereo MP3
In the same genre as 24, another fast paced psuedo-reality espionage drama has been gaining attention, MI-5. In my opinion its on par with 24, if not better (and I really like 24 a great deal). It is named Spooks in the UK, so possibly the name changed for our audiences as we have our own spooks here in the US, they are called the CIA?! and the name does not sound as serious??
Enter a diverse group of multi-ethnic men and women, very politically correct, but then again, in order to succeed in the espionage game, you need good human intelligence first. I like the wide range of characters they portray, not only do they really develop each character as a person in the series, but they also focus on personal aspects of each as well. So, as you progress in the series, not only do you see the characters in dramatic work situations, but there is cross over into non-work dramatic situations as well. For example, one of the operatives is married and his wife works for another branch of the UK government, another has a boyfriend who is a press photographer for the gossip papers, etc. Not only does this add to the realism and depth to each of the characters, but it makes for some interesting side stories as well.
The MI-5 storylines are pulled right out of current geo-political headlines, from a dirty bomb being tracked in london, to a middle eastern business man with ties to terror networks being assasinated, to a rock stars kid being abducted by an ex business partner, etc. Very timely and very smart dialog. For once, when a dramatic show represent complex electronics, hacking practices, and the use of computer jargon, they get it right!
I have this show marked as a season pass on my TiVO at the highest recording quality. If you get a chance to watch it, please do. If your intersted in watching a modern setting, edgy, well acted and staged crime drama from the UK, check out MI-5. They are coming up on 5 seasons, so far I have seen 3 seasons to date. If your intersted in programming your own TiVO season pass, its on Saturdays 10pm/9C on A&E.
View: MI5 not 9 to 5 Spooks Page on BBC UK Website
the term ‘oyayubizoku’ literally translated from japanese equates to ‘thumb-gang’ or ‘thumb-tribe’ referring to the masses of young people in japan that use mobile phones for texting, email, and mobile phone conversations.
Flickr Photostream
Muxtape Mix
Pownce Page
Twitter Page
Jaiku Page
del.icio.us Bookmarks
realmeta Community
Tumblr Page
LinkedIn Profile
Working at IconMobile
*a mobile QR reader is required
