William, can you recommend me something to read on our holiday?
What to read next?
August 17th, 2011Just seen Super 8
August 15th, 2011Fantastic film. Very exciting and just enough jumpy bits to not put you off. Lots of emotion and fun.
I think it's the first proper, classic style film I've seen in a long time.
Even Caroline was disappointed it ended! And the credits are great 🙂
It's one to see at cinema if you can.
Weird experiment
August 9th, 2011You can follow the community starbucks card's progress at http://twitter.com/#!/jonathanscard
The Void Trilogy (no spoilers)
August 6th, 2011
I just finished reading Peter F Hamilton's Void Trilogy. It's taken a long time!
Despite the story being extraordinarily long (and perhaps drawn out, though not nearly as bad as Lord of The Rings) it's pretty epic. It's set so far in to the future that some of the technology is hard to get your head around. It introduces quite a few ideas, such as what if we could share emotions directly? As with many of his books, he kind of puts ideas in there, but doesn't dwell on discussing pros/cons. However, this story does do some exploration of how good ideas can go pretty 'wrong'.
There's a fair bit of morality, and techno-spirituality even.
Pluvialis: Neat tune, fun video, AWESOME dancing :P http://t.co/gGVUdXH
August 5th, 2011A French song, remixed by a 17-year-old, then some goofy Americans picked it up and made a video for it.
And, amazing leap at 3:27!
Pluvialis: Neat tune, fun video, AWESOME dancing 😛 http://t.co/gGVUdXH
I'm soooo relieved we didn't encounter this in Japan
July 28th, 2011Went to Hyper Japan but the queue is huge!
July 23rd, 2011We bought tickets in advance, but they've massively oversold. Must be at least 300 people in the queue and it's one-in-one-out 🙁 gone to get lunch and decide what to do
Another music discovery I forgot to share
July 18th, 2011Daft Punk – Inception Mashup
A mashup of the TRON Legacy and Inception themes. It made get the Inception soundtrack, which is actually much more epic than the film!
Jack Conte (the guy that made this mashup) has a website full of covers and music videos. Others are worth checking out. http://jackcontemusic.com/
The 139 Mix Tape
July 18th, 2011I recently posted about the Definitive Daft Punk mashup. This is from the same guy: a 139 track, 45 minute mashup of the songs that have influenced him. I've listened to it quite a few times over the last month. Its got some magic moments, and features lots of music that was going around me as I grew up (although I didn't actually listen to much music until my late teens).
The last 5 minutes is particularly cool. There's a wonderfully cheesy bit, then about 1m30 from the end a mashup of two songs that got me confused. I recognised the lyrics being sung, but had no idea where from. I went on a hunt and discovered the song featured in the bouncy-balls Sony Bravia advert is actually an acoustic cover of an 80s dance track! It's the original dancey version that features in this mashup.
The most frustrating aspect of the mix is the sense of being teased with a track that never comes to fruition. The mix has helped me understand what I love about long-form mixes – the teasing that comes with little motifs, almost subliminal, so that when the track is actually played it feels as though it's been straining to escape, and has finally been released.
My first proper home improvement
July 17th, 2011
I spent about an hour in B&Q trying to choose the right screws from the multitude they offered. I also stained the carpet with brick dust :S But! I have a shelf to put stuff on 😀
