Granted I’m not much of a ‘Lite FM’ kind of guy, being into dark nasty noise, industrial, dubstep, IDM, etc. But nothing gets you in the mood of Christmas as much as the songs do. That’s where Lite FM’s all day Christmas songs station really comes in handy. Obviously the songs aren’t always great mind you, I can’t stand Mariah Carey for example. But nothing beats a good classic from the likes of Nat King Cole or The Drifters.
Funny thing about Christmas music, most of the greats have a very traditional language that goes back some decades and perhaps centuries. I was thinking about it today, and the classics really just flow beautifully giving them a sense of whimsey more so than the modern works. I’m not a very religious person, heck I’m actually quite against religion, but one thing’s for sure, Christmas music can really make you feel warm and fuzzy. If they don’t get anything else quite right, Christianity did a wonderful job conveying spirituality through music.
As for Lite FM, well, the commercials annoy me, Delilah needs to go away, and I can’t get the NYC station through iTunes. But it is fun listening to the Twin Cities’ station, or Hartford (my old stomping grounds). Anyway, a good Christmas Tree and some tunage can get you in the mood, even if you don’t want to pay that much for a talking toy animal.
The latest tastiness from Underworld came out back in October, and I must say they did not disappoint. A more introspective, groovy, and guitar-centric album than previous, the feel does a great job of throwing you into their world. The album art reflects on past albums and plays on the journal they keep on their site filled with random poetic images and words.
Margaux and I had a chance to see them live in September at Central Park’s Summerstage, one of the best shows I’ve seen in the last couple years. No matter how often you are afraid to dance or express joy when listening to your favorite band for the sake of looking cool, you cannot stop yourself when Underworld is at the helm. I don’t usually stop myself anyway, and this is the band I will put 150% of love into when dancing about.
The set list for the show:
Luetin
New Train
Crocodile
Pearls Girl
Biro The Leggy
Two Months Off
Rowla
Glam Bucket
Rez / Cow
Nuxx
King Of Snake
Jumbo
So Margaux and I went to see a favorite singer of hers at the Living Room last night. Well, she was a fave until the show. She has a beautiful and strong voice, but no real voice to her music. Every time she explained the meaning of a song, we cringed. Every time her hands went up in a diva-esque way, we flinched.
It was so utterly pop, that it almost stained the walls of Living Room with permanent pop marker. A place that I normally frequent for great singers with intelligent, meaningful lyrics all of a sudden had the next Celine Dion on their hands. One would have thought the audience would be overrun by 19 year-old girls, but instead most of them were guys. One could guess many various reasons for this, but we’ll leave it at that. Anyway, if you like pop-divas, the music isn’t that bad out of context, just maybe stay away from shows. Check her out: Natalie Walker
Hello. There once was a time when I blogged quite often. Then I was bored of my site. Now I have a newly renovated site, with many more portfolio pieces and a solid design. Now I feel I must bring back the blogging. So to start up again, here’s a quick update on life.
Currently, I’m working on a great project at AOL that I am proud to have been involved with. It’s the new channel AOL Home, and should be launching this week. The uniqueness of the work is that I was appointed to handle all the CSS. This is no easy under-taking for any channel design, and is a first for a designer. A lot of hours have gone into refining the CSS and essentially designing with CSS as my Art Director designed via Photoshop. Needless to say it’s allowed for quicker rendering and control on the visuals. The site is going to look great!
I want to write more but I’ve been working hard on this site, and I’m tired. I bid adieu for now, but look for more interesting posts to come.
Good video from Carl Sagan about the ever-so-painful business of Astrology, still going strong even after this video was made (70-80s?). One cool point, it was filmed in my job’s neighborhood of Rockefeller Center
So Pres Bush finally found himself some fans, in a little country called Albania. How cute. Maybe he can go rule them for a while after he’s done destroying the US. Then we’ll see how many fans he has left.
From NY Times:
When Bush arrived for his brief visit, the hills overlooking the capital boomed as military cannons fired a 21-gun salute, and thousands gathered in a downtown square on a brilliantly sunny day to see him and first lady Laura Bush.
Huge banners proclaimed ”Proud to be Partners” and billboards said ”President Bush in Albania Making History.” Red-white-and-blue paper top hats with stars on top were distributed to well-wishers.
Albania also issued three postage stamps with Bush’s picture and the Statue of Liberty, and renamed a street in front of parliament in his honor.
Berisha said the visit was historic. ”Among us is the greatest and most distinguished guest we have ever had in all times, the president of the United States of America, the leading country of the free world,” he said.
Bush said he was proud to be the first sitting president to visit. ”I love to come to countries that are working hard to establish the institutions necessary for a democracy to survive,” he said.
…
People waiting on the sidewalks behind yellow police tape gave him a boisterous welcome, shouting ”Bushie, Bushie.” He was practically manhandled as he shook hands along the line. Albanians reached out and embraced him, grabbing at his arms, shoulders and head, mussing his hair as Secret Service agents held him by the waist from behind.
A quick excerpt from a NY Times article about Nintendo being more open with other game software developers notes that playability may just have a better chance of winning in the end over the higher resolution counterparts. At some point this obsession with HD and detailed gaming experiences comes at huge costs, and in the end will hurt their sales more, and disappoint their consumers as well. Nintendo just gets it, and I think it proves that usability and simplicity can outweigh all those extras. (Hmmm, kinda like Apple vs. M$? Just puttin’ it out there…)
At Namco Bandai, Mr. Unozawa said PlayStation 3 was so complex, with its faster speeds and more advanced graphics, that it might take 100 programmers a year to create a single game, at a cost of about $10 million. Creating a game for Wii costs only a third as much and requires only a third as many writers, he said.
But Mr. Unozawa also said Nintendo’s promotional visit in late 2005 helped make Namco Bandai more willing to write games for Wii. When he saw the Wii prototype, and then later saw a PlayStation 3 prototype, he and his colleagues decided the Wii might have more potential than the expensive and difficult-to-operate Sony machine.
“The Wii just looked more fun,†Mr. Unozawa said. “It changed our thinking.â€
