Evan Voytas=jam of the summer/Eureka finally returns/Asteroid may not have killed dinos
April 27, 2009
It’s pretty rare for me to instantly fall in love with a band/artist these days. I’ve just become so “Nashville” about everything- jaded/oversaturated/desensitized/insert-apathetic-synonym-here. But RCRD LBL posted some mp3’s from this dude named Evan Voytas on Friday, and I was instantly blown away. It feels good to be totally into something new. This guy’s stuff is a little bit of everything- the tracks I’ve gotten my hands on so far range from a shoegazy, fuzzed out slow pop jam to electro-driven rock with a touch of twee to a full on summery disco-pop groove. That last track I’m describing is called “Getting Higher,” and I have hereby proclaimed it to be the official jam of the summer 2009. Please, PLEASE go to RCRD LBL and download it now! Then go to the Hype Machine and you’ll be able to find several other great tracks. But “Getting Higher” is where it’s at. It’s an instantly love-able dancey track, complete with a 70’s funk bass groove, and straight-up disco beat, and uplifting sunny guitars and syths bathed in a healthy but tasteful dose of reverb.
In local news- Makeout With Violence, the locally made feature-length film starring several members of our music scene, pretty much owned the Nashville Film Festival, taking the best feature-length narrative film and best music awards, along with a few other smaller awards. It’s good to see these guys finally getting the recognition they deserve for their 3 years of hard work on this thing.
My love of science fiction is no secret. That’s why I’m quite pleased to know that one of my favorite TV series Eureka, has finally been scheduled to return to action on July 10th on the SyFy channel. (Yes, the SciFi channel is now SyFy…. go figure.) I read about this on io9, and I agree with their sentiment that moving the show to Battlestar Galactica’s old slot of Fridays at 10pm/9 central was a bad idea. That means I’ll end up watching most of it online because I’m normally out & about by that time on a Friday night…
So we all know that the dinosaurs were killed because of a giant asteriod hitting just off the Yucatan Penninsula in Mexico, right? That’s what they taught us in middle school science class, afterall…. Not so fast. As more and more new evidence is uncovered, that theory is starting to look more and more… extinct. Universe Today posted this morning about some new discoveries that date the actual impact at least 300,000 years prior to the mass extinction. At the same time comes the discovery of a supervolcano eruption (or even a series of supervolcano eruptions) called the Deccan Traps in India. Such an eruption could easily have thrown enough dust and ash into the air to block out the sun and cause a sudden massive cooling. My personal hunch is that the asteroid surely did have some degree of impact on the global climate, (pun fully intended) and obviously would’ve killed a ton of dinos in the immediate area, but ultimately it may have been the volcanic activity that dealt the lethal blow to our bird-like ancestors.
I’ll leave you today with this great image of the next space shuttle crew… I must say NASA has been doing a great job of marketing lately. First the whole C.O.L.B.E.R.T. thing, and now this:
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NASA names treadmill after Colbert/White Stripes movie
April 15, 2009
NASA decided to name the newest and final American-made Space Station node “Tranquility,” after the touchdown site of Apollo 11 on the moon, as astronaut Sunita Williams announced on the Colbert Report last night. Even though “Colbert” technically won the online poll, I guess NASA just couldn’t justify putting the Colbert name on something so important, and instead went with historically significant name. However, in typical scientific acronym fashion they did decide to call the station’s new treadmill the “Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill,” or C.O.L.B.E.R.T. I’m just glad that NASA has a sense of humor. All in all, it was a big win for both parties involved. I’d say the biggest win was for NASA, though… this was great P.R. for them and in these times it’s crucial for NASA to stay popular in the public’s eye. Read the whole NASA press release here, and watch the clip from last night here.
Jack White’s new band The Dead Weather played their first public show last night at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Brooklyn Vegan has photos and coverage. Also, the White Stripes are working on a movie to be released late this year, according to an interview with White on Self-Titled. Via Nashville Cream. P.S.- one Cream commenter says the film is a documentary of their 2007 Canadian tour.
Apparently the Kings of Leon needed extras for a video shoot, but we all missed it- the auditions were yesterday. Tear.
Ever wondered where the phrase “Murphy’s Law” comes from? Look no further. It comes from an engineer named Edward Murphy who worked at the government’s rocket sled test facility at Edwards Air Force Base. Click here for the full story.
LIFE has a new website that’s very photograph-centric, and features a ton of great photojournalistic work. Feast your eyes.
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This has been popping up in a few places around the interwebs for a couple days now, and I should’ve posted about it earlier, but I’ve fallen victim t0 post-SXSW sickness and laziness. A team of physicists have discovered a brand new subatomic particle, which they’re calling “Y(4140).” Ironically this particle was not discovered at the Large Hadron Collider, which is still not operational due to repairs from the catastrophic helium leak last fall; it was discovered at Fermilab, right here in the USA. This new information will be valuable in future mathematical models of the universe, as well as in the experiments conducted at the LHC later this year. You’d think they could come up with a cooler name for a completely new type of subatomic particle… something like “megaquark” or “quarktron.” Lazerquark…
The space shuttle undocked from the ISS yesterday and did a fly-around, capturing the first images of the fully symmetrical, full-length ISS. Universe Today has the space porn, including video of part of the fly-around.
According to Space.com, NASA has decided to go ahead with the Hubble repair mission, despite the increased risk of debris impact due to the satellite collision on Feb. 10th. I’m glad, but kinda scared for the crew. The danger is heightened by the fact that they won’t have the ISS as a lifeboat. Instead, NASA will have Space Shuttle Endeavour on a different pad, ready to launch and be used as a lifeboat should Atlantis be damaged.
Several different time-lapse videos of plants growing. These things are always fun to watch. Via kottke.org.
This has been showing up on almost every blog I read, but it’s definitely worth posting- the first trailers for the Spike Jonze-directed, Arcade Fire-loaded, live-action version of Where the Wild Things Are has been posted. The best place to view it is on apple.com. They have gorgeous HD versions that are true eye candy.
Camera Obscura @ SXSW 2009 Photo: Steve Cross
I was quite pleased yesterday to find out that Camera Obscura will be kicking off their north American tour in Nashville at the Mercy Lounge on May 27th. To my knowledge, they have never played here, and they’re one of my favorites. Even though I just saw them at SXSW, I will be there enthusiastically. Their new album My Maudlin Career drops April 20th via 4AD. Check out the rest of their tour dates at their myspace.
Another upcoming show I’m looking forward to is The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ the End on May 2nd. Like C.O., I saw this band at SXSW and they did not dissappoint. But I really look forward to seeing full length sets from both bands, as all the shows at SXSW are showcases with 5 or so bands, thus each band has less time to setup and a shorter set length than normal. POBPAH are definitely one of those “blog-buzz” bands, but I honestly think they will have more staying power and are on an entirely different level than say, Vampire Weekend or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
Photo mouse trap/Twitter/Lesbian Vampires
March 16, 2009
Lot’s of quick-hitters today. I have too much crap to do at work and a bunch of preparation for SXSW. The main thing to note today is that I’ve finally joined the Twitter party. Follow me and I’ll follow you!
Strobist has a cool post about a fascinating mouse trap devised by PocketWizard inventor/engineer Jim Clark. It first captured images of the mouse in action, then captured the mouse’s descent into the humane trap devised by Mr. Clark. He then kept the mouse as a pet during the winter months, and freed it in the spring. Awww…
For some more “awwww-ness,” check out Oddee.com’s post about 10 amazing dogs.
Hipster Runoff tells you exactly what SXSW is gonna be like. SRSLY.
THE MCGANGBANG. Enough said.
Apparently a bat tried to hitch a ride on the Space Shuttle’s external fuel tank just before launch Sunday. It posed no threat since it was on the side opposite the shuttle. In case you live under a rock, Discovery did finally blast off Sunday night and is now on its way to the ISS to put the final major US component in place.
And finally…. LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS!!!!
Daft Punk scores Tron 2/SXSW/LOST timeloop theory
March 5, 2009
Just a lot of quick links today. No time to really delve into anything. But first, some awesome news: I’m gonna have a wristband and photo pass for SXSW! I’ll spare you the gory details, but let’s just say it never hurts to go straight to the horse’s mouth. That old addage “ask and ye shall receive” is sometimes very true. Now if my old Jeep can just make the trip…
Daft Punk is going to be scoring the soundtrack for the upcoming Disney film Tron 2. Awesome. I can’t think of a more perfect combination of musicians and film.
Hipster Runoff discusses picnic fashion. No, literally… we’re talking about a picnic being worn as a dress.
Stereogum had two great posts last night… One about the upcoming Zooey Deschanel film (500)Days of Summer (including a trailer), and another about the newly developing war between the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and Arcade Fire’s Win Butler.
So apparently the blogosphere’s buzz/hype and my taste are actually in sync for once… The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s new self-titled album has been on repeat on my iTunes lately, and come to find out they’re playing 10, yes TEN shows/showcases at SXSW this year. A few of which are day parties thrown by bloggers. Count them- 2 shows on the 18th, 3 on the 19th, FOUR on the 20th, and 1 on the 21st. SXSW is basiclly a POBPAH-gasm! Then they’re hitting the road for even more tour dates in April and May, one of which is right here in Nashville at the End on May 2nd. THAT will be an interesting show… since they’re probably big enough to play Mercy or Exit/In.
If you’re a fan of LOST, you might be interested to see the latest update on the Time Loop Theory. I’ve seen this before… about a year ago, and they keep updating it as more is revealed. Warning though, this could taint your experience of the rest of the series. If you do read this, I recommend that you try your best to keep watching the show from an objective perspective, as if you hadn’t read this. Also be sure to check out the timeline diagram. It helps make the whole theory make more sense.
And finally, a talking goat. Via Courtney Wilder’s facebook.
Shepard Fairey copyright infringement/Beatles last performance
February 5, 2009
Everyone is quite familiar with Shepard Fairey’s iconic adaptation of a photograph of Barack Obama. The photograph was taken by well-known photographer Mannie Garcia for the AP. Apparently the AP is claiming a copyright infringement, but technically the image belongs to Garcia because he was not on the AP staff, he was just a hired temporary fill-in when he took the photo. John Harrington has a great interview with Garcia on his blog Photo Business & News Forum, in which you can learn more of the gritty details of this situation. I agree that in fact the issue is not whether it is infringement, it’s whether the term “fair usage” can be applied. I also agree that the copyright owner is entitled to some sort of settlement. Fairey has made A LOT of money off of this image. I find it very honorable that Mr. Garcia is concerned more about recognition than monetary compensation.
Recently I’ve been getting into a new band from New York called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I highly encourage fans of The Smiths, Jesus & Mary Chain, or the Raveonettes to check them out. These days it seems like the music world is completely overrun with stupid indie rock bands with beards and animals in their names, who make the same fucking album over and over again. But every now and then a new band will stick out to my ears and I’ll actually latch on and add them to my “bands I officially LIKE” list.
I officially am excited to see Coraline. They Might Be Giants did a song for the movie, which is used in one of the tv trailers, and it was directed by Henry Selick, who also directed Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s also awesome that it was done with REAL stop-motion animation, not CG. Henry Selick+Stop-motion+They Might Be Giants= Awesome. Even cooler is that the filmmakers made 50 customized homemade boxes containing unique items from the movie, and sent them to their favorite bloggers.
Ever see that crappy 90’s scifi movie Anaconda? Ok, maybe not, but it had a big ass snake. Turns out that snakes that big actually did exist a long time ago. They were as long as a school bus, and their body was “so wide that if it were moving down the hall and decided to come into my office to eat me, it would literally have to squeeze through the door.” Whoa.
A company has come up with a way to channel sunlight from a collector on your roof into a light fixture in your house or office using fiber optics. Why didn’t someone think of this a long time ago? Like, when fiber optics were first commercially viable?
And I’ll leave you with the first of three video segments of the Beatles’ last live performance- on the rooftop of the Apple Records building in London on Jan. 30th, 1969. As I said this is segment #1, and here’s segment #2 and segment #3.
Rivers Cuomo… YES, MAN!
December 29, 2008
One of the gifts I received for Christmas this year (in addition to my new Sony HDTV, Lost season premier party anyone?) was the new Rivers Cuomo solo compilation, Alone II: Home Recordings. I almost enjoy this album a little more than his first home recording compilation. I especially enjoyed reading the narrative liner notes he wrote for it, which go into the stories behind the songs and give a little more insight into his odd life. Weezer’s first two albums were a major part of my formative years and those songs will always resonate with me in a very awesome way. Even though their new material is… well… awful in comparison, I will always be interested in what Rivers is up to, and always keep an open mind to his new material. He is now happily married, though, thus I doubt that he’ll ever write anything good again. Too much contentment and happiness does not lend itself to good songs. With that, I give you this video I came across on You Ain’t No Picasso of Rivers doing an acapella version of the Beach Boys’ Don’t Worry Baby, with a group of backup vocalists. He included an early demo cover of this song on the new home recordings album as well.
While on Stereogum, I also found this video of Rivers in the studio doing a new song he co-wrote with Jermaine Dupri, (a different version of this also appears on Alone II).
Megan and I saw Yes Man yesterday, and it did not dissappoint. I was definitely in the mood for a more entertaining movie, and it really hit the spot. Don’t go into this movie expecting anything more than just pure entertainment… there are no deep meanings nor is there anything remotely intellectual about it. I must say that this is one of the best performances I’ve seen from Zooey Deschanel. Her looks and personally fit her character perfectly…. and I can’t think of anyone more perfect to fill that role. Jim Carrey is… well, Jim Carrey. I’ve enjoyed him in every movie of his that I’ve seen.
Just a tidbit of space news for you: NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. through 2016 to fill the need to carry cargo to the Internation Space Station. This is the kind of thing NASA needs to keep doing- the future of space exploration lies in the combined efforts of goverment and the private sector. Link via Bad Astronomy.
I leave you with this:
steve cross loves music and science 