I came across this intriguing blog called Movies in Frames via Kottke.org today. It has a plethora of various movies that the contributors have summed up (or at least attempted to sum up) in 4 frames. Some are not very effective, but some are. More visually-oriented films such as Heima, Little Miss Sunshine, and Darjeeling Limited work well. The one you see above is Stand By Me, which reminds me that I need to see this movie agian.
Tonight is the night! The Camera Obscura show is finally happening. To my knowledge, they’ve never played Nashville before, and it’s LOOOONG overdue. I can’t wait. If you like melancholy yet catchy twee pop… or if you like Scottish accents… by all means come to this show! You won’t regret it. Their show a couple years ago at the 40 Watt in Athens was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Mercy is no 40 Watt (sorry Drew/Bruton), but this is probably the best venue for them to play in town. They’ve also been tweeting about Nashville since they arrived yesterday. Follow them.
The Opryland Hotel started a new summer weekly event last year Friday nights called “Poolapalooza” featuring local bands, the Cascades pool, and a good bar. It went over pretty well from what I’ve heard (I never attended one), and I certainly hope Megan & I can make it out to one this summer. Check Nashvillest or the Gaylord Website for the full lineup/dates. Each event is free, 21+ all-ages (thx to Morgan for catching my error), and starts at 7pm. That means you can get wet, drink some margaritas, hear some rock, and be done in time to hit up another show later in the evening!
Nashville Cream reports that 3 local fashion designers are finalists to be on the show Project Runway. As with most posts on there, there’s plenty of bickering in the comments. But it just wouldn’t be the Cream without them. I know Shea and Amanda, but I don’t know Shannon at all. What I do know is that everyone I’ve met involved with Local Honey and the local fashion scene is super-nice and very down-to-earth. I sincerely hope to see one of them on the show soon!
Oh yeah… Meg White married Jackson Smith and “little” Jack Lawrence married Jo McCaughey in a double-wedding in Jack White’s backyard on Friday. Obviously Jack & Jo didn’t immediately embark on their honeymoon because we saw him at Fido on Monday.
My only science-y bit today is to tell you to go sign the petition on the website for Space Exploration Day. This is an attempt to get the government to recognize July 20th as National Space Exploration Day. This July 20th will mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I whole-heartedly agree that this should be an officially-recognized holiday. Supposedly it will be on same level as Flag Day.
Today I leave you with this hilarious little cartoon found at dontstaylong’s tumblr.
Obviously the most important thing for me to do today is promote my band’s show tonight at the 5 Spot. TCQ is playing with Mean Tambourines and Dixie Whiskey, and it’s guaranteed to be the best way to start off your Memorial Day weekend! Please do come out for the show around 930… and don’t be alarmed if there’s some other band you’ve never seen playing, because there’s an earlier separate show that will be ending around 9 or 930.
JEFF the Brotherhood got another good mention on Brooklyn Vegan yesterday, as they’re heading back to NYC for another round of shows this weekend along with Turbo Fruits. I also learned in that blog that Turbo Fruits have signed with Fat Possum Records, also home to Andrew Bird, Crocodiles, and WAVVES. Pretty damn cool! I forsee them opening for WAVVES in the near future.
This Nashville Cream post really makes me feel old. It’s crazy to think that some of the shows mentioned on there happened 5 years ago. Of Montreal at the End (both times) were amazing.
We’ll obviously be at the 5 Spot tonight, but as far as other weekend activities, I’ll be shooting the Alcohol Stuntband show Saturday at the Basement, and I have no idea what we’re doing Sunday & Monday. Anyone having a pool party? I really just want to hang out by a pool and have a margarita.
RunPee.com tells you the best times during recent movies to run to the bathroom, and what you missed. They even scramble the part that tells what you missed, in case you’re just checking out the site, but don’t want any spoilers. Hilarious. Be sure to stay there long enough to watch the animation of the type-graphic at the top of the page. Via Kottke.org.
The Atlantis astronauts get an extra day to hang out in space due to bad weather in Florida. They were originally scheduled to land today at 10am, but it’s now been delayed to tomorrow. If I were an astronaut that would be music to my ears. I’d want to spend as much time up there as possible. Speaking of space, I found another awesome image from the mission:
Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA
Have a great extended weekend!
Before you do anything else, watch this amazing time lapse video from a star party in Texas. It was taken over a whole night and shows the Milky Way rising. Nerd-gasm! Sorry, I still haven’t found a way to embed Vimeo videos on WordPress.
Now that you’ve gotten your fill of star-porn, some great news from the U.K…. Blur may be hitting the U.S. on some dates in and around their string of U.K. festivals. Yes, please. Though the chances of them actually coming to Nashville are pretty small, I’d go to Atlanta to see them easily.
Credit: NASA
The Atlantis astronauts took an IMAX 3D camera with them on their mission to service Hubble, and the footage will be turned into an IMAX movie set for release next spring. I can’t effin’ wait to see it. Wow, this is turning into a really geeky post… sorry.
I tweeted earlier today about the iPhone coming to Verizon, which would make me jump for joy. Unfortunately further research has revealed it’s still just in the negotiation phase, and nothing’s confirmed. But from what I can tell from this article on USA Today, the prospect is looking fairly good. I refuse to switch to AT&T because their service coverage SUCKS. I’ve been in many buildings (including my own) where AT&T users can’t even get a signal, and I cannot recall ONE SINGLE TIME that I’ve experience coverage issues with Verizon. About a year or two ago there was some bizarre hiccup with their Nashville service, but that lasted only a few hours and wasn’t a coverage issue. If Verizon gets most of their network upgraded to the 4th generation (4G) LTE system by next year, I don’t see why Apple wouldn’t go for the deal since their 5-year contract with AT&T will be up. I’ve already been pissed at AT&T for even having exclusivity with the iPhone in the first place, and if they manage to sucker Apple into extending it, they can kiss my sweet ass.
Some bizarre links for your enjoyment today:
Oddee spotlights 8 strange subcultures.
io9 has a clip from 2000’s What Planet Are You From? in which Ben Kingsley’s character teaches his race of alien men how to achieve penis insertion with human females. It’s not as NSFW as it sounds, trust me.
Tonight I can be found at Foobar checking out Totally DJs, a new Wednesday night DJ gig started by my friend Spice-J. He’s already had some pretty awesome guests, including Pimpdaddy Supreme and Makeup & Vanity Set. I should be making an appearance there in the next few weeks as DJ Burgers. I’ll keep you posted.
Road to Bonnaroo tonight/New Mew/Pregnant Mythbuster
May 18, 2009
The last “Road to Bonnaroo” 8 off 8th is happening tonight at Mercy Lounge. I definitely think this one will be tough to call, and could be a very close race, much like the first one in which The Features won by 1 fan vote. So be sure to come out to Mercy tonight and cast your vote. You never know, it could be the deciding vote! Nashville Cream has more on the lineup/order, etc…
Speaking of local music, the Magic Wands got another mention on RCRD LBL, this time for a Crystal Fighters remix of their breakthrough single “Black Magic.”
Remember that epic Danish band Mew from 2006? Well, they’re back in action, and I’m anxiously awaiting the release of their next album on August 25th. Leave it to them to use a whole effin’ poem as their album title… You ready? Here it is:
No more stories
Are told today
I’m sorry
They washed awayNo more stories
The world is grey
I’m tired
Let’s wash away
Yep, that’s it. A whole poem. More deets at Stereogum.
Credit: NASA
The astronauts of STS-125 have been hard at work repairing/upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope, doing a spacewalk every day since Thursday, and today was their last. Click the image or here to see more eye candy from the mission at Universe Today.
Speaking of great photography, the New York Times started a new photography & video blog called LENS. It has a great interface and allows you browse through several photo essays and great video clips.
I did a short preview of Wolfram:Alpha on here once before, and now it’s actually here. Head on over to check it out, but be sure to read about how to phrase your input before you just start typing in questions. We’re not quite to the point of a computer simply being able to correctly answer any question regardless of phrasing/syntax. But this is a damn good start… Is it better than Google? You tell me.
It should be no secret that I’m a HUGE Mythbusters fan. (In fact, the only good thing about LOST being over with is the fact that I now get to watch new episodes of Mythbusters.) Apparently I’m the last one to know this but Kari Byron, the red-headed geek-girl of the cast, is pregnant! It should also be no secret that I have a huge celebrity-crush on her (as does just about every male fan of the show). I didn’t even know she was married! What’s really cool about the whole thing is that she’s taking this opportunity to bust some common pregancy myths. She did an interview with Pregnancy Magazine in which she busts the top 5. Go Kari! Via Bad Astronomy. Also- watch this unedited clip on Discovery.com of her subtly announcing the news.
Hope you didn’t miss me yesterday. I just didn’t really have anything to blog about. But today I bring you this:
Credit: NASA/Thierry Legault
Yes, that is space shuttle Atlantis, and the tiny dot just below it is Hubble, just before the shuttle’s robotic arm grappled it yesterday. This is the first time the space shuttle AND Hubble have been photographed transiting the sun. It’s really an awesome achievement. Yesterday the astronauts successfully installed a new camera into Hubble, and today they will tackle the task of replacing all 6 of Hubble’s gyroscopes and installing new batteries. While we’re talking about astronauts and space and whatnot, I might as well show you this TOTALLY AWESOME airstream astrovan in which they ride to the launch pad to board the shuttle. How cool is that? They get to ride in a vintage airstream!
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
In other NASA news, Obama is expected to appoint former astronaut Charles Bolden as the new NASA chief administrator on Monday. FINALLY. I agree with Phil Plait (of Bad Astronomy) that he took way too long to make this decision. But with the economic issues, the war issues, and having to fight the GOP tooth & nail to achieve any of his goals, I can understand how this kinda got put on the back-burner.
The Boston Globe’s Big Picture has posted a collection of stunningly beautiful aerial photographs by photographer Jason Hawkes. Go have yourself an eye-gasm.
We still don’t have any concrete plans for this weekend, but I’m hoping to include Shoot The Mountain’s EP release show at the Basement Saturday. I highly recommend it, as the Protomen and Totally Snake are also on the bill. This will indeed be one EPIC show. Then there’s also Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele with Kindercastle and the Winter Sounds tonight at Mercy Lounge.
One more quick link- Pitchfork did an interview with Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell. Only 12 more days till their Mercy Lounge show!
Have a great weekend!
I should have mentioned this in yesterday’s post but I forgot. That DJ gig at La Paz that was supposed to go down tonight got canceled. It’s probably better anyway because I have to work at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow. (A rare occurence, thankfully.)
I really don’t have time to post much today, so here are a few quick tidbits and 2 totally amazing videos.
The initial Bonnaroo schedule has been released. There will probably be many changes, so don’t be totally upset yet if 2 of your favorite bands are playing at the same time.
I just realized that I don’t actually have mp3s from a few of the bands on my 8 off 8th, I’ve just seen them live a few times and/or played with them. Weird huh? Well, instead of an mp3, just go check out Mean Tambourines’ myspace page, where they have a few new tracks streaming. Also check out Cuttlefish’s myspace for a sample of their tunes. Coming on Monday- mp3s from Carter Administration and The Only Sons.
My band Tigers Con Queso is playing at Springwater this Saturday night. We will be joined by J.A.W. and Teenage FBI. It’s the grand opening of Taco Party, the new taco bar on the back patio of Springwater. Come out, drink some beer, rock out, and eat tacos. Starts around 10pm. Here’s the flier. Click to enlarge.
Ok, here are the totally amazing videos. Seriously, you need to watch these all the way through. They will both blow your mind.
Brooklyn Vegan reports that a Woodstock 40th anniversary show will go down at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in upstate New York, which is where the original Woodstock festival was held. Among the performers are Woodstock vets Levon Helm and Country Joe McDonald.
As promised here are a couple of mp3s from bands that are playing my 8 off 8th this coming monday. First up is Paper Navy, a relatively new band with my friend Simon Lynn (formerly in The Whole Fantastic World) on drums, and a few other Murfreesboro music veterans. The standout track from their EP “All Grown Up” is the title track. The EP can be downloaded for free at their website.
Second comes a track by Codaphonic. This band will not feature its original lineup, but frontman Cody Newman decided to keep the Codaphonic title for whatever he does musically. From what I understand he’s got a lot of new material, but it’s along the same vein as the older material. Here’s “The Most Important Thing” from the Codaphonic album The Ballad of Codaphonic.
Codaphonic- The Most Important Thing
Google will soon be introducing a very useful new service/product called PowerMeter. It will allow you to use Google to monitor your home’s power consumption and see what’s using the most energy and why. Their description says it perfectly:
Google PowerMeter, now in prototype, will receive information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provide anyone who signs up access to her home electricity consumption right on her iGoogle homepage.
Sign me up! Via Kottke.org.
Finally some encouraging news is coming down the pipe about the state of NASA and its hotly contested Constellation program. In case you’ve been under a rock, the Constellation program is the over-arching name for a system of rockets and modules (Ares I, Ares V, and Orion Crew Vehicle) that will replace the space shuttle as NASA’s means of taking astronauts into space and eventually back to the moon. Since Obama took office, NASA’s lost its administrator and suffered from a “sense of drift.” This article in the Orlando Sentinel reports on a new study by the Obama Administration to see if Constellation is really the right choice to replace the space shuttle. In short, they want to address the engineering problems and budget overruns that the Ares I rocket and Orion Crew Vehicle have experienced. Some studies were done into alternatives to Constellation, but a 2005 study found that Constellation was the best choice. Unfortunately many contractors and rocket companies expressed dissent regarding that study and claimed that it didn’t consult enough of them to have a balanced perspective. I really look forward to seeing the result of this, and I really hope Obama picks a new Chief Administrator for NASA soon. I don’t really care what the results are, just that we’re going in the right direction with this, and that our money isn’t being wasted on lame duck projects. Via Universe Today.
On a completely different and random note, I had a bizarre dream last night that I was in someone’s house and caught a rattlesnake. Then we put it in a bag… I think it was made of cloth. For some reason I then decided that the snake would be scared in the bag, so I dumped it back out, caught it again, and held it behind its head for a really long time. Then the dream ended. WTF?!? At least no one got bitten?
Cinco de Drunko/DJ party friday/Apple tablet
May 5, 2009
Cinco De Drunko is today. Ryan Bruce has put together a fun show at La Paz Mexican restaurant in Green Hills for tonight’s festivities, including performances by How I Became the Bomb, Jensen Sportag, Coral Castles (from Chattanooga), Mean Tambourines, Heypenny, and many more. Word on the street is that bands start at 4pm, have 35 minute sets, and 20 min. breaks between. Janet from Out the Other has a good preview of the show, and will have HIBTB on her show tonight.
Speaking of La Paz, they’re also having a late-night dance party this Friday night, for which I’m DJing as DJ Burgers. From what I’ve been told, it’s me and DJ Hippopotamus (who doesn’t seem to have a myspace…). But there could be others. I’d post a flier but I don’t have one yet, and that’s probably because Mr. Bruce is understandably consumed with tonight’s festivities. I’ll post more info as soon as I have it. But please do come out Friday night. It’s a later gig, supposedly not starting till 11 and going till at least 2am.
Speaking of DJ’s, Ultimo & Disco is bringing the legendary Steve Aoki of Dim Mak to Play Dance Bar on June 10th. Check out Blogging Is Serious Business for more info/flier. It’s amazing that they’re getting Aoki here. Who would’ve ever thought a big-name L.A. DJ would play in Nashville? Kudos to U&D for putting this together.
Don’t forget- my 2nd 8 off 8th is happening next Monday May 11th, and it will feature The Nobility, Mean Tambourines, Codaphonic, Kelly Kerr & the Distractions, Carter Administration, Paper Navy, Cuttlefish, and the Only Sons. I will be posting mp3s from each band over the next few posts.
Remember back when Wayne Coyne dissed the Arcade Fire? Well now he’s apologizing… kinda.
You’ve probably already seen this website by now, but if you haven’t, go see it now. Texts From Last Night. Endlessly entertaining.
There have been increasing rumors floating around about a possible new product line to be unveiled by Apple this fall. Supposedly they will be releasing a new tablet computer that runs full OS X but the input is entirely touchscreen-based. Basically it’s going to be a huge iPhone that runs OS X…. but isn’t a phone. Read more about it at this ZDnet article. I have a feeling it will be pretty pricey, though, as is most Apple stuff. I really look forward to playing with one at the Apple Store, though….
While reading this article on Universe Today, I realized that I don’t post enough space/science-related stuff on here about he European Space Agency and what they’re up to. So for more info on that just check out ESA’s website. Probably the biggest thing on their horizon is the ExoMars rover, which is tentatively scheduled for launch in 2016. Let’s hope this lander doesn’t suffer the same fate as the Beagle lander, ESA’s last attempt at a Martian landing.
Don’t freak out over swine flu/itches explained
April 29, 2009
Got an itch? Ever wondered exactly what the hell an itch is, and why the hell scratching relieves it? Apparently even the best doctors didn’t even know why and how of itch vs. scratch until recently. Science Daily has an interesting report on research that was done to answer this very question. I think it’s funny how the simplest things sometimes are still medical mysteries.
Speaking of medical mysteries, I’ve got one for you- WHY THE HELL IS EVERYONE FREAKING OUT OVER SWINE FLU? I guess it’s actually a media mystery because they’re the ones responsible for the unnecessary freak-out. Chill the fuck out people! From what I can gather, this strain of the flu has caused about 160 deaths, and 2,500 illnesses in Mexico. Guess what? The NORMAL flu kills 36,000 people just in the U.S. every year! Do we see scaremongering about the normal flu? Nope. This is exactly the same kind of bullshit that surrounded the bird-flu. This swine-flu isn’t any more dangerous than the regular flu- basically the same symptoms and same risk of dying (you’ll only die if you have a weakened immune system due to being really old or really young, or have AIDS or other autoimmune disorder). Want more facts about the regular flu? Go to this CNN.com article.
On a happier note… if this doesn’t make you smile then you should have your head examined. A group called Playing For Change recorded the base track of the Ben E. King classic, Stand By Me, then had members of their group from all around the world hit the streets to get random musicians to add tracks to the recording.
I don’t post enough news about green technology and environmental issues on here… which is why I’m linking to this. As usual Europe is way ahead of the rest of the world in environmental legistalation and regulation. According to this report, there’s a proposal in Norway to ban the sale of any new gas-only cars starting in 2015. Even though the proposal is likely to fail because it has very little support, it’s a step in the right direction.
Autotuned babies/Flaming Lips’ “Do you Realize?” to be OK rock song/Girl Talk makes real songs
April 24, 2009
So I read on Billboard that Girl Talk is exprimenting with actual songs of his own. Wow. That’s a big move for him, really… I’m intrigued as to what it will sound like. It’s hard to gauge what the perception of this will be. Something makes me think that even if it’s good, it may be perceived as a flop because he’s so established in what he does now. A band is always “known for something” and Girl Talk is known for mashups. He’s a remixer/mashup artist… and arguably the most successful of his genre/niche. That’s different that being a musician who creates/writes their own music. We’ll see what happens. Can’t wait to see him at Bonnaroo this year. I feel like in a festival setting, it’ll be even more off-the-chain than at the Cannery.
The Oklahoma Governor signed an executive order declaring the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” the official state rock song. The public overwhelmingly voted in favor of the song, but it fell just short of passing in the state congress. The executive order overruled, however, and the song is now official. Awesome! Pitchfork has the full story.
Apparently Yahoo’s GeoCities is closing down this year… GeoCities still exists? Does Angelfire still exist? Does AOL still exist?
Ok I have to put these videos relatively high in the post. I found these via this post on Kottke.org this morning. It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. I almost fell out of my chair. AUTOTUNED BABIES!!!!!
Ok now that’s over with… KITTEHZ IN BOXEZ!!!!
Cuteness over…. now for what’s going down this weekend. I’ll probably be attending the final Friday version of Coach Vs. Kase at 12th & Porter. I’ve yet to experience one of these events, and for the first time in months I don’t have something else to shoot/attend.
Also on Friday- Shoot the Mountain w/ Umbrella Tree and Brenn @ Mercy Lounge.
For Saturday- Megan will be joining me and we may end up at the free outdoor show @ Bobbie’s Dairy Dip featuring Vermicious K’nids and Danger & the Steelcut Oats. Never heard of the latter, like the former.
On Sunday I’ll be attending/shooting the Cursive/Man Man show @ Mercy Lounge. Megan is a big Cursive fan and I’ve heard Man Man is quite an experience live, so I look forward to photographing them.
Just one interesting tidbit from the technology world… apparently a guy has figured out a way to send his thoughts directly to Twitter. I don’t know if this is utterly amazing or utterly terrifying. It could be a life-saver for people with severe neural injuries who are unable to communicate, that’s for certain….
Have a great weekend!
steve cross loves music and science 