A Few Good Shows: 7/20/12
July 20, 2012
Before we get to the show listings, I must quickly share something totally awesome- a new wing of xkcd called “what if?” On this new blog xkcd founder and physics genius Randall Munroe answers bizarre hypothetical questions that random people send to him. He presents the answers with a touch of that same humor and wit that makes the web comic so awesome. My favorite so far is Relativistic Baseball, in which he explains that a baseball thrown at nearly the speed of light would cause a nuclear explosion. This guy is my hero.
On to the show listings for this weekend. Nashville is very busy this weekend with good rock shows!
FRIDAY:
Infinity Cat 10 year anniversary ft. Skyblazer, Tristen, Deluxin’, and Psychic Hotline @ Exit/In. 9pm $10
QDP @ The 5 Spot. 10pm FREE
SATURDAY:
Chris Crofton & The Alcohol Stuntband w/ Tower Defense @ The 5 Spot. $5 10pm
SUNDAY:
Sunday School ft. Ogg, King Karl, TBA @ The End. 8pm FREE
The Goldroom, Ascent of Everest, Parlour, and Old Baby @ the High Watt. 8pm $7
Have a great weekend!
Exoplanets: xkcd scores a home run
June 21, 2012
I’ve written a lot about exoplanets, planet-hunting missions such as Kepler, and various other topics related to the search for other worlds in the universe. Never have I seen any one image that could really sum up my feelings about it. But that time has come, and the brilliant Randall Munroe who does the well-known nerdy web comic xkcd is the man who did it. I can’t really say any more- just look and read for yourself. Be sure to click through to enlarge it enough to read the small text.
Lunar eclipse + solstice tonight, not visible in Nashville due to clouds
December 20, 2010
Credit: Fred Espenak/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
You must’ve heard about this by now, but I’ll mention it to make sure you know: there’s a full lunar eclipse happening tonight, and it just so happens that it’s also the winter solstice, a.k.a. the shortest day/longest night of the year. Just a coincidence, but a relatively rare one. Lunar eclipses aren’t super-rare- we get one about once every 2-3 years, but they can be pretty spectacular if the earth’s atmospheric conditions cast an eerie orange-red hue on the moon. There’s no way to know if that will happen for sure, but from my experience it happens more often than not. Unfortunately there’s a very good chance it will cloudy and/or raining tonight in middle TN, but if you’re elsewhere, good luck! It starts at about 1:30am EST, that’s 12:30am central, 11:30pm mountain, and 10:30pm pacific. For more details and a good rundown of what to expect, visit Bad Astronomy, and for a good explanation of the red/orange hue, visit this NASA article.
And I can’t help but post this comic from xkcd: I agree 100%
Magic Kids get signed/Monotonix singer injured
January 29, 2010
At a party in Murfreesboro several weeks ago I ran into an old acquaintance from college- Alice Buchanan. She’s from Memphis and had been in a band called Scandaliz Vandalistz which may or may not still exist… but when I talked to her she told me of this new band she’s involved with called Magic Kids that had just formed and were already gearing up for a tour with Girls. I was astounded at the speed of their ascent to label-signed status. As gorilla vs bear, Nashville’s Dead, and the Matador Records blog all report, they just signed to True Panther. Their quick emergence is not unfounded, though, as it’s literally impossible to deny the warm-fuzzy-feel-goodness of “Hey Boy.” It’s very summery, fun, and has the ability to turn even the dreariest winter day into a breezy summer afternoon. The first two bands that come to mind when I hear these songs are the Beach Boys and I’m From Barcelona. Grab two mp3s at Nashville’s Dead. Then just try to keep from putting them on repeat. I dare you. They’ll be playing at the Exit/In on Feb. 6th with Girls, and also hitting up SXSW in March. I’m sure they’ll be on my “must-see” list.
Monotonix singer Ami Shalev’s luck finally ran out at a show in Florida Wed. night. Though Brooklyn Vegan’s headline says he broke his leg, the statement from the band doesn’t quite make it that clear. Seriously dude, you should’ve expected this to happen sooner or later. You just can’t do crazy shit like that at shows without getting hurt eventually. Hopefully they’ll be able to resume melting faces soon enough.
As for this weekend, I’ll be attempting to get to the super-exclusive Clipse show at Phatkaps, but the snow/ice-gasm 2k10 may prevent it. The roads should be clear by tomorrow night, though, for the Wax Fang/How I Became the Bomb/Non-Commissioned Officers show at Exit/In.
And, given my post yesterday about the Mars rover Spirit, I must share this adorable comic from xkcd:
Life on Mars developments/H1N1 vaccine process
December 2, 2009
Remember that meteorite from Mars that caused a huge stir back in 1996 when NASA announced that it thought it had found remnants of fossilized bacteria in it? If you don’t, just know that this meteorite, named the “Alan Hills meteorite,” had what we initially thought was a fossilized remnant of ancient Martian bacteria. But then some other scientists came forth with an equally plausible hypothesis for a non-microbial origin of the microscopic formation. So ever since then, the scientific community has been at odds, with one camp saying “Yes, it’s an ancient Martian microbe! There really was life on Mars!” and another camp saying “Nope. That formation wasn’t biological in origin.” But new technology has shed some light on the subject that wasn’t possible back then. Researchers at the Johnson Space Center have used more sophisticated High Resolution Electron Microscopy than was available in 1996 to study the meteorite, and their findings contradict the nay-sayers. So, if no new nay-saying hypotheses come out, then we can be pretty damn certain that microbial life once existed on Mars. AND it may even still exist there, under the surface! (Via Universe Today)
Kottke.org is one of longest-running blogs in existence, and it’s almost always full of random awesomeness. In this case, it’s all about the H1N1 vaccine, and how it and other vaccines are made. I had no idea it took soooo many chicken eggs. Do yourself a favor and read all about it.
Now here’s yet another hilarious comic from xkcd:
48 hr film project/Monsters of Folk
July 20, 2009
This XKCD comic was just too good not to post:
The aptly-named Monsters of Folk is a new project comprised of Conor Oberst, M. Ward, Jim James, and Mike Mogis. They’ve released the first single “Say Please” for free download, and Brooklyn Vegan has it. My opinion is: not bad… maybe a 6 out of 10?
Apparently Wes Anderson is directing a movie adaptation of the Roald Dahl story The Fantastic Mr. Fox. This sounds like an unbeatable combination to me, and I definitely look forward to seeing it. Trailer will be out at the end of the month. (Via Kottke)
Tonight is the 3rd in the 4-part decades cover nights sponsored by Nashville Cream at Mercy Lounge. Tonight’s decade is the 80’s, so expect some Phil Collins, Pat Benatar, Pixies, Erasure, Motley Crue, and lots of ridiculous outfits. Check Nashville Cream for the lineup. Next week my band will play 90’s night under the one-time name “Shit Sandwich.” It’s gonna be awesome. Just sayin’. Oh yeah, and the week after that I’m hosting another 8 off 8th. So basically Mercy Lounge should be your home for the next few monday nights.
My friend and bandmate Seth entered into the 48 hour film project again this year, and my apartment was the setting for the 5 minute movie he created for it. Check out Joe, Dean, and Charlene by Seth Graves:
Woodstock movie/Hulu/photobooth madness
May 29, 2009
I discovered via Brooklyn Vegan that a new Woodstock movie is on the way starring Dimitri Martin. And apparently Ang Lee is directing it? Interesting. It’s called Taking Woodstock. You can view the trailer in the Brooklyn Vegan post, as well as find lots of other 40th anniversary stuff. I’m liking the idea of Dimitri Martin in a movie about Woodstock…
Stereogum is streaming the first new Mew track from their forthcoming, poem-titled album No More Stories Are Told Today I’m Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories the World Is Grey I’m Tired Let’s Wash Away. I like it. A lot.
Hulu has launched a new standalone desktop application for viewing all you favorite TV shows online. I’ve been loving Hulu, and this just makes me love it/them even more. I haven’t tried it yet (all my shows had their season finales a few weeks ago!) but I’ve read about it in a few different places and everyone seems to agree that it works well, even though it’s just a Beta version.
Somehow the photobooth Gods have struck me with a vengence and I’ve ended up with 3, yes three, photobooths on my plate this weekend. First I’ll be running the booth at the Happy Valley DJ/dance party tonight at Aerial (on the roof of Paradise Park/Big Bang downtown). Jonathon Kingsbury normally does this, but he’s teamed up with Happy Valley’s promoter Jim O’Shea to start taking the Generation Domination photobooth other places, which is why they’ve tapped my resources to take over Happy Valley. For tonight at least. Then on Saturday I’ll be doing another photobooth at 12th South Taproom (or somewhere nearby) for the Bike For Branches afterparty from 4-7pm. THEN, I’ll be doing another booth later that night at the Moustache May wrap party at Mercy Lounge (featuring Ghostfinger, And The Relatives, and Unkle Skeleton). Phew! I’m gonna be one tired man by the end of Saturday night.
Speaking of party photos, Nashville has its own theCobraSnake. Your Money Shot is run by Dylan Reyes, and this guy knows party photography. The washed-out contrast/cool toning effect he uses on most of them give a slightly vintage feel and is probably how most of the party-goers remember their night… if they remember it at all. This city’s DJ/electro/party scene needed a good roving party photographer and Dylan is it, and he does it quite well. If you’ve ever been to the Noise Fridays series at 12th & Porter, or basically anything where Justin Kase DJed, you’re probably in a few of his shots.
Have a great & safe weekend! I leave you with yet another hilarious comic from XKCD. Only design nerds will get this one:
Parking/Privates
March 30, 2009
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve really REALLY wanted to do just this:
Ok, now that’s out of the way. One of my favorite bands from our great local rock scene here in Nashville is The Privates. Their last album Barricades was phenomenal and still recieves regular play in my iTunes despite being over 2 years old now. The guys recently finished up a new EP at Battletapes, which is a departure from their long history of recording at Lake Fever Productions. I’ve written about this before so I’ll say no more about that. Just enjoy the title track “Motion,” and be sure to catch their EP release show at the Basement this Friday April 3rd, along with Hotpipes and the Garland Sisters (Caitlin Rose and Tristen).
If you read this blog or know me at all, you could probably infer that I’m a fan of the History Channel’s series The Universe. Thus I was quite intrigued by this article on io9 that talks about the Discovery Channel’s new rival series, Stephen Hawking’s Universe. Is the Discovery Channel at war with the History Channel?
Today I’ll leave you with this nice bit of space porn from the last space shuttle mission: It was taken as Discovery moved away from the ISS in preparation for landing. Even better than the last pic I posted of the ISS.
Click to enlarge
steve cross loves music and science 