M@tt Largo's Cerebral Vortex

What is the Cerebral Vortex?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Tue, 2 Sep 2008 07:55:00 -0700

Find more photos like this on The Cerebral Vortex

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 10:53:00 -0700

Check out this website if you are a Techie or Geek looking for contract jobs:

ContractGeeks.com

It's free to sign up.

Brain Cells Fused with Computer Chip

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sun, 2 Apr 2006 13:22:00 -0700

European researchers have developed "neuro-chips" in which living brain cells and silicon circuits are coupled together. The achievement could one day enable the creation of sophisticated neural prostheses to treat neurological disorders or the development of organic computers that crunch numbers using living neurons.

read more | digg story

Working in IT akin to 'prison sentence' - Former BT technology chief tells

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 23:59:00 -0800

Cochrane, who was speaking at the launch of a Star Technology report From basement to boardroom; recognising the business value of IT compiled by the Yankee Group, said that the way that IT departments were run was â��stupidâ�� and that working in IT was more akin to a â��prison sentence.â��

read more | digg story

Roman Mythological References in

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 23:58:00 -0800

Aquatic Symbolism and Roman Mythological References in "Leave it to Beaver": An Evolutionary Analog
The aquatic symbolism and Roman mythological references are obvious. Before we get to those, we have to set the foundation. The family's surname is "Cleaver." ...

read more | digg story

DVD Review: Lovedolls Superstar: Fully Realized

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:59:00 -0800

Lovedolls Superstar: Fully Realized, the sequel to Desparate Teenage Lovedolls, is a Low-Budget, Post-Punk period piece that draws its inspiration from the Los Angeles punk subculture. This film is a tongue-in-cheek stab at the establishment, Rock stars, slimy record label types, religious cults, pimps, and 70's cinema. This film leaves no stone unturned in it's covertly intelligent commentary of the underground Punk Rock scene, feminism, and drug abuse. As this sequel unfolds we find lead vocalist Kitty Carryall (Jennifer Schwartz) has descended to living a delusional, hazy existence, fueled by alcohol. Alexandria (Cheeta Punkerton) is a skanky, Hollywood Boulevard bangtail, and Patch Kelly (Janet Housden) is now the leader of a troupe of mindless, acid-head, commune misfits and has transformed into a religious cult leader going by the moniker of Patch Christ. Their major objective is to stage a Lovedolls comeback. They don't settle for the usual media blitz methods, but decide to resort to swift and blinding violence, coercion and gang-knifing record company execs.

The charm of Lovedolls Superstar: Fully Realized is that Director, David Markey, had no grandiose intentions for the film, except to create a lo-fi, satirical, attack on a laundry list of societal issues and pop figures in the spirit of mid-80s, D.I.Y. Post-Punk, underground mindset. One of the more humorous elements was the continous parody of the 1971 film, Billy Jack (that attempted to make a statement about racism as far as pertained to Native Americans in the 1970s) and the hippie movement. Other funny moments include an attack by a possessed Gene Simmons (ala Kiss) doll, a swipe at religious cults and cult leaders (specifically Jim Jones and the People's Temple), and a parody of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In the Dark" video with the chorus lyrics changed to "Somebody just shoot me in the dark" that ends in the assination of Springsteen.

Lovedolls Superstar: Fully Realized primary appeal is in its first-rate list of 80's Alternative/Post-Punk, heavy-hitters including: Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Steve and Jeff McDonald (Redd Kross), the Meat Puppets, Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), Sky Saxon (The Seeds), and Sonic Youth. A nod goes to The Lovedolls performance of "Love Machine", which rocked more than a lot of 'real' bands, who currently try to exist in this musical space. The bottom line is that this film is an enjoyable, albeit goofy, piece of nostalgia from the burgeoning Post-Punk underground music scene of the mid-80's that will is best viewed with a bunch of your Indie music afficianado friends, a couple of cases of cheap beer, while wearing your Black Flag t-shirt. This flick will either make you want to drag all of your vintage, 80's Post-Punk vinyl down from the attic or obsessively search Web for their mp3 equivalents.

Matt "SST" Largo

DVD Review: I'll Bury You Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sun, 5 Mar 2006 02:42:00 -0800

The Beech Funeral Home is the setting for a carnival of weirdness in I’ll Bury You Tomorrow. Mr. Beech’s employees, Jake (Jerry Murdock) and Corey (played by the Director, Alan Rowe Kelly, in drag) are secretly running a black-market organ business. Mrs. Beech, who is gradually losing touch with reality, adds to the insanity of the situation with her hopes that their dead daughter will come back to her. Meanwhile at the Port Oram train station, Dolores Finley (Zoe Daelman Chlanda) arrives sporting a circled ‘Help Wanted’ newspaper ad for a position at the Beech Funeral Home. At first glance she looks fairly normal, but her arrival scene is spattered with vignettes of carnage and visions of bloody body parts that could possibly be hiding in her luggage. She gets directions from the train station porter and lands on the Beech Funeral Home doorstep. She subsequently impresses Mr. Beech with her knowledge of the funeral business and her expertise with embalming tools. Dolores seems like a perfect fit for the job and is hired on the spot even though her references are lacking. Little does Mr. Beech know that Dolores transforms into a mask-wearing (ala Paula Sheppard in Alice, Sweet Alice), slutty, schizophrenic, necrophiliac. This film picked up a total of 6 International Film Festival Awards:

Feature Film Winner – Telluride IndieFest 2002 and Key West IndieFest 2003
Best Horror Feature – New York Int’l Independent Film & Video Festival 2002
The GORE-GORE Award – Festival of the Macabre
Best Make-up Design – The B Movie Theater Film Fest

Although the premise of I’ll Bury You Tomorrow is ideal fodder for a B-Movie, Horror flick, it fails to provide enough momentum to push this film into the realm of “Campy but Cool.” I wasn’t expecting to see Oscar-quality performances or cinematic breakthroughs, but I my expectations were set a bit high after reading the laundry list of awards this film garnered during its original theatrical release. Besides a running time one minute shy of two hours, one major problem with this film is that it doesn’t effectively capitalize on the basics: fear of abandonment, anxiety of being lost, fear of the unknown, etc. (See The Hills Have Eyes, Evil Dead, and more recently, The Blair Witch Project). The best performances by far were turned in by Chlanda as Dolores and Murdock, who played a dual role as Jake and Sheriff Mitch. I didn’t even realize Murdock's dual role until I scrutinized the credits went back to view some scenes to verify it. Kudos go to make-up artist Kari Arthurs for helping to pull off Murdock’s dual role, Kelly’s gender-bending role as Corey, and the realistic look of the stiffs on the mortuary slab. I also think that Chlanda may have a shot at feature films if she can hook up with the likes of Wes Craven, George Romero, or Sam Raimi. The bottom line: I’ll Bury You Tomorrow was gory and amusing, but not outright scary. I’ll probably develop an I’ll Bury You Tomorrow drinking game and add it to the roster of movies I watch the week of Halloween.

The Electron Sea is Near...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Thu, 2 Mar 2006 16:04:00 -0800

Visit the ElectronSea.com the future home of Matt Largo’s Cerebral Vortex.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Thu, 2 Mar 2006 12:07:00 -0800

Discussion about new robot designer life-forms, the Twilight Zone episode "The Lonely", Pilotdrift's new release "Water Sphere", The Voom Blooms' new single "Politics & Cigarettes" to be released on March 20, 2006.

MP3 File

Pleo: The New Robotic "Designer Life Form"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:39:00 -0800

The next big “must-have” toy this year, may be in the form of a one-week old baby Camarasaurus. One of the co-creators of Furby, Caleb Chung, is putting the finishing touches on a new animatronic dinosaur called Pleo. Eight years ago the Furby doll was all the rage, with sales of over 40 million units. Chung’s Emeryville, California-based start-up, Ugobe (a play on words meaning You Go Become), will be manufacturing Pleo, which is scheduled to hit retail shelves in Q3 2006 just in time for the holidays. 49-year-old Chung, dubbed a ‘modern Gepetto’ by Wired magazine, chooses to design toys in isolation at his Boise, Idaho home, away from the rest of his Bay Area staff. He envisions Pleo as more than just another robotic toy. The main objective of Pleo is to create an emotional attachment with its owner. Ugobe reps say that if you play with it long enough, Pleo will learn just like a dog, cat or small child. Pleo moves just like you'd expect a baby dinosaur to move, and not a robot (although who really knows how a baby dinosaur moved?). If you think that Furby was ‘smart’, you’ll be impressed (or creeped out) when you hear that Pleo will have seven computer brains that control 14 servos and 38 sensors compared to Furby’s two computer brains. This is a quantum leap from the Artificial Intelligence implemented in toys like Furby and Sony's ill-fated, Aibo robot dog. Pleo is the first of a line of “designer life forms” that Chung and Ugobe plan to create that combine the latest in artificial intelligence, robotics, mechanical engineering and toy design. Pleo will have ”neural network'' software -- a program that behaves in a brain-like way as it processes many pieces of information to determine its actions. Another interesting note: Pleo does not have an on/off switch.

All of this cutting-edge technology packed into a 20-inch, Jurassic dinosaur toy seems a great new line of toys or the start of something pretty disturbing. First it’s robotic dinosaurs, what next? The next logical step in the progression of this technology will probably be humanoid “designer life forms.” The main objective of creating an emotional attachment between owner and robot, reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode called “The Lonely.” In this particular episode set in the future, Jack Warden stars as Corry, a criminal from the future, who has been sentenced to solitary confinement for fifty years on a penal asteroid (he has the whole barren asteroid to himself). The captain of a passing freighter, who sympathizes with him, leaves him a box containing a female robot named Alicia (played by Jean Marsh). Warden doesn't take to her at first, but soon he grows very fond of her, and eventually falls in love with her (they only showed him playing checkers and eating dinner with her, but do the math). After a few months go by, the captain of the freighter returns bearing good news: Warden's been pardoned and is free to leave. However, weight restrictions do not permit him to take Alicia with him. Warden doesn't want to leave her, because he feels that she really is a woman. The captain takes out a gun and blows Alicia's face off, pointing out to Warden that all he's leaving behind is loneliness. This Twilight Zone episode is an extreme example of the emotional dynamic that can possibly transpire between people and machines. As the level of complexity and sophistication of robots increases, forming emotional attachments to them will be come easier. Breaking those attachments will become more difficult because robots will be perceived as being “alive” in some small way.

Think about it. What IS the exit strategy to emotionally detach owners from their Pleos? Taking a page from the Twilight Zone book of solutions, there just may be a market for a 5 kg, Cretaceous Period, asteroid to put these pesky little Pleos down realistically… a new, functional, 21st Century version of the Pet Rock. It’s just a thought. Pleo will sport SD memory expansion and will set you back a mere $200.

For more information visit: Ugobe.com

CD Review: Pilotdrift – “Water Sphere”

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 20:50:00 -0800

Texarkana’s latest export, Pilotdrift, has recently released Water Sphere, which runs the gamut musical styles from cool, rhythmically-driven, Indie Pop to scary, Fellini-esque, Cabaret tunes. Pilotdrift managed to catch the attention of Polyphonic Spree's Tim DeLaughter and Julie Doyle, who own Good Records. They consigned their first self-released CD, Iter Facere (5 of the 13 tracks ended up on "Water Sphere") at Good Records and shortly thereafter became the first band to be signed to Good Records Recordings that was not a product of DeLaughter. Upon first listen, I could easily tell that these guys defy simple categorization of their music and that little to none of creative soundscapes on Water Sphere were accidental or random studio magic. The fact that Pilotdrift calls Texarkana, Texas home, seemed unusual at first, but then again, the Flaming Lips call Norman, Oklahoma home. Pilotdrift (Kelly Carr – lead vocals/piano/acoustic guitar, Jay Budzilowski – bass, Ben Rice – drums, Eric Russell – electronics/guitar, and John David Blagg – electric guitar) slides comfortably between several musical genres while showcasing their vast lexicon of musical styles and influences. I have to admit, when I first popped this CD into my car stereo and cranked the volume to get the total effect, a few of the songs (“Late Night in a Wax Museum” and “Jekyll & Hyde Suite”) initially gave me the heebie-jeebies just by virtue of their dynamic range and the brooding mood they created. Throughout the album, I could hear likely influences from contemporaries like Supergrass, Radiohead, Mercury Rev, Pink Floyd, the Flaming Lips, and Sigur Ros. Some of my favorite tracks are:

“Caught in My Trap” – An intricate, Alt-Rock Opera in three movements.

“Comets” – A beautifully textured, ethereal tune complete with haunting, breathy choral arrangements

“Bubblecraft” – A cool, medium-tempo, Sci-Fi, Martini Lounge tune with Thom Yorke-ish vocals and a chorus that seems to contain a snippet of musical DNA from the Charlie’s Angels television series theme.

“Passenger Seat” – Rhythmically-driven, Alt-Pop song with tasteful helpings of soundboard experimentation and digital panache. Four minutes and forty-three seconds of this song will leave you wanting more.

Overall Water Sphere is a pleasurable, mind-stretching, musical odyssey from the atmospheric first track, “Caught in My Trap,” to the Radiohead-meets-Andrew Lloyd Webber feel of the last track, “So Long.” This is an exceptional debut album and is hopefully the harbinger of more great music from this Texarkana intelligent and musically inventive quintet. Catch Pilotdrift live as they wrap up their tour with Supergrass: Feb 22 - Los Angeles, CA at Avalon; Feb 23 - San Francisco, CA at The Great American Music Hall; Feb 25 - Seattle, WA at The Showbox; and Feb 26 - Vancouver, BC at The Commodore Ballroom

Visit them online at: Pilotdrift.com

Highly Recommended.

More Google Rumors: Trogdor, Gmail Calendar, Pervasive U.S. Wi-Fi

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 07:56:00 -0800

Google is rumoured to be working on an Ajax web page editor, a calendar app, and pervasive wireless in the U.S.:

1. Google has a project codenamed Trogdor, an Ajax webpage editor for creating web pages. = geocities except with a javascript page creator.
2. Calendar for GMail, basically like ical in javascript
3. Wireless in every city in the US, not just mountainview - still in early development + legal problems

Background information on Ajax:

Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, or its acronym Ajax (Pronounced A-JAX), is a Web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to shift a great deal of interaction to the Web surfer's computer, exchanging data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the Web page's interactivity, speed, and usability. The Ajax technique uses a combination of:

XHTML (or HTML) and CSS for marking up and styling information.

The DOM accessed with a client-side scripting language, especially ECMAScript implementations like JavaScript and JScript, to dynamically display and interact with the information presented

The XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data asynchronously with the web server. In some Ajax frameworks and in some situations, an IFrame object is used instead of the XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data with the web server.

XML is commonly used as the format for transfering data, although any format will work, including preformatted HTML, plain text, JSON and even EBML.

Like DHTML, LAMP, or SPA, Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies together. In fact, derivative/composite technologies based substantially upon Ajax, such as AFLAX, are already appearing.

Google or not, an Ajax-style GeoCities makes sense. We’ve seen portal-like editors like Dobrado that make light work of page creation by novices. Even Protopage makes a good editor for someone who wants to whip up a quick homepage. We also have many rich text editors being used in production, such as JotSpot’s use of the Dojo Rich Text Editor.

Tools like these not only make basic HTML generation a breeze, but could also help create some Ajax features too. Imagine a Portlet editor using drag-and-drop to set up the link flow. Another example is a Live Search widget, allowing all pages managed by the user to be searched.

CD Single Review: The Voom Blooms – “Politics & Cigarettes”

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Mon, 6 Feb 2006 20:44:00 -0800

Hailing from Loughborough in the U.K., The Voom Blooms are a four-piece band that creates masterful tunes with Rock and Roll bravado that belie their experience. Having only formed less than a year ago, The Voom Blooms (George Guildford - Guitars/Vocals, Thom Mackie – Drums, Craig Monk – Guitars, and Brett Young – Bass), seem to have tapped into a musical Castalian spring allowing them to create and deliver raw energy and genuine emotion where many fledgling bands fail. Their music, rich with a keen balance of texture, space, and volume, is replete with glimpses of British Culture and eclectic cinematic references. Drawing numerous comparisons to contemporaries such as Bloc Party, Interpol, and the Libertines, The Voom Blooms have defined their own unique parcel of this genre and musical space. Their soon to be released single, consisting of two tracks, begins with "Politics & Cigarettes", a future classic rock anthem. The unassuming intro starts with two tastefully interwoven guitar riffs accented by syncopated, machine-gun snare drum fills. Guildford’s passionate vocals enter the mix declaring:

You can keep all your culture
’cause we have got all our culture
and you can keep your politics
let someone else, get your kicks for you...
(without us, without her, and without...)

its awfully nice that you've stayed
its awfully nice what you've said for us
cause we all had such a beautiful start
cause we have got simple hearts.

if you just hold on, to politics & cigarettes
if you just hold on, to politics & cigarettes
if you just hold on, you'll find...

“Politics & Cigarettes” is a sonically huge song that artfully utilizes smashing dynamics and lyrical swagger to effectively convey a sense of heady, youthful defiance. Guildford says that this song was inspired by a 1978 film by Scottish director Bill Douglas called "My Way Home" and has particular relevance to today's political climate. The second track on the disk, “Thoughts of Rena,” is a mid-tempo number that opens with beautifully deft, spatial guitar riffs and chunks of strategically-placed, sinewy percussion, complemented by soaring melodic vocals:

I thought of Rena yesterday,
i dont know what to say, she got me, oh oh
and i thought of Rena just a moment ago,
she's from a right small town,
where things are so-so.
I thought of Rena,
she's out with John, where'd all these townies come from?
look at em', oh oh.
As i talk to Rena, they've had enough.

Now there's a riot sound,
left, left, right, right, right, left, left.
left, left, right, right, right, left, left.
Now there's a riot sound,
think that i should walk home, yet again.

“Thoughts of Rena” is a perfect example of a song that is greater than the sum of its parts. Guildford enlightened me with the meaning behind the song:

“The song is about falling for a bird, but she's got a bloke already. When you get to the club and she's in there, all your mates are telling you not to talk to her, not to go over to her, but you cant help it, when you do the result is a scrap with some townies and a long walk home 'cause you’re too broke to afford a taxi (a regular occurrence in the town we're from). It’s a bit of a true story really. Some people ask what the left, left right part means. It’s a reference to being punched from all directions as the fight breaks out in the club.”

The Voom Blooms have been generating an enormous amount of buzz due to their electrifying live performances. They have shared the stage with the likes of The Paddingtons and Babyshambles (ex-Libertines frontman, Pete Doherty’s new band) and are slated to play some U.K. shows with Mercury Records recording artists, Boy Kill Boy, toward the end of February 2006. Their debut single Politics & Cigarettes will be released on Fiction/Polydor records on March 20th to coincide with their 14-date club NME tour. Armed with a cache of great songs and the power to deliver the goods, The Voom Blooms seem to be on a definite course for Rock stardom. I see an upgrade from taxis to limousines in their future.

For more information visit: TheVoomBlooms.com

Highly Recommended.

Matt "London Head" Largo

Book Review: Learn to Program

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sat, 4 Feb 2006 01:45:00 -0800

Learn to Program by Chris Pine is a concise introduction to the world of programming using an interpreted scripting language called Ruby. An initial “cool point” goes to Pine for writing Learn to Program around Ruby, which is totally free to use, copy, modify, and distribute. The examples start from the basics of getting Ruby correctly installed and configured for your particular operating system. Although Ruby is mostly developed on Linux, it is a cross-platform language that is supported on many types of UNIX, DOS, Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP, MacOS, BeOS, and OS/2. I ran the examples on my Windows XP laptop without any problems, using a simple, free text editor called Textpad for some of the examples and the command line to round out my experience. The best part of it all…all of the programming tools were free! Gotta love it.

Pine aptly starts out with the essentials for most newbies to programming: data types, arithmetic operations, variables, and variable assignments. I found the overall approach and programming examples to be fun, detailed, and loaded with little tidbits of information, which gave great insight into the “how” and “why” of things. Pine’s examples and explanations throughout Learn to Program were great at illustrating the power of Ruby and programming in general, without having the overtly silly and annoying tone typically found in the “Dummies” series of books.

Learn to Program progressively and painlessly takes the reader through increasing complex (for most newbies) programming concepts such as methods, classes, objects, recursion, and flow control. To reinforce the concepts in each chapter there are sections called “A Few Things to Try”, which were both interesting and amusing. One of the more interesting topics involved writing simple programs to read, write, save, and load files using YAML. (YAML is a format for representing objects as strings). It’s always fun to learn how to dig around in various files to extract and manipulate information. This should also come in handy when managing log files on several OpenVMS servers I manage. Yes, there is a tested version of Ruby (version X1.8-1X014) for OpenVMS Alpha V7.3-1 and V7.3-2! The final chapter of Learn to Program tied all of the concepts together and introduced the use of blocks and procs as a step beyond using custom methods. The proc examples were an eloquent introduction into the more conceptually challenging topic of passing objects into methods and returning objects from methods. I remember learning the power of passing objects to and from methods in a college Java course (years ago), only after we were taken through the paces of writing programs the “dumb” way without knowing how to do this. I wish I had read this book before I took that class.

Learn to Program is an excellent book for anyone who has an interest in learning to program. It is written for true beginners, who have little or no programming experience. Surprising enough, Pine magically manages to go from “What is an integer?” to full-blown object-oriented programming in less than 200 pages. Another bonus is that you will be learning Ruby, one of the newer, (in my opinion) sexier programming languages currently in circulation (i.e. COBOL=not sexy, Ruby=sexy). Decide for yourself:

“Hello World” Program Examples:

COBOL
-------------------------------------------------

000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
000200 PROGRAM-ID. HELLOWORLD.
000300
000400*
000500 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000600 CONFIGURATION SECTION.
000700 SOURCE-COMPUTER. RM-COBOL.
000800 OBJECT-COMPUTER. RM-COBOL.
000900
001000 DATA DIVISION.
001100 FILE SECTION.
001200
100000 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
100100
100200 MAIN-LOGIC SECTION.
100300 BEGIN.
100400 DISPLAY " " LINE 1 POSITION 1 ERASE EOS.
100500 DISPLAY "Hello world!" LINE 15 POSITION 10.
100600 STOP RUN.
100700 MAIN-LOGIC-EXIT.
100800 EXIT.

Ruby
-------------------------------------------------
puts ‘Hello World!’

Learn to Program is thoroughly engaging and informative and manages to painlessly convey some pretty sophisticated programming concepts that can benefit both novice and more experienced programmers. If you want to learn to program or want a great introduction to Ruby, Learn to Program belongs on your bookshelf.

Matt "Recursion" Largo

CD Review: The 88 - "Over and Over"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Wed, 1 Feb 2006 15:39:00 -0800

The 88 pull out all of the stops on their latest CD, Over and Over. They gratuitously dig into the universal Pop collective, showing influences from the late 1960’s to contemporary fair. From my first listen to Over and Over, I could tell that the 88 had all of the prerequisites for a great Pop band. Every song seems meticulously constructed to meet Pop standards. There are great melodies, and flawless vocals and harmonies on every track. The first track, “Hide Another Mistake,” is an instantly gratifying, upbeat tune that begins with a tight guitar and drum intro, speckled with a few bass guitar glissandos for good measure. The Marc Bolan-ish (ala T-Rex) vocals play like an finely-tuned instrument, complementing the rhythmic backdrop. After this song finished playing, I immediately checked to see if lead vocalist, Keith Slettedahl was born on September 16, 1977, the same day that Marc Bolan died. Slettedahl’s vocal style on Over and Over has got to be more than coincidence. “All ‘Cause of You” is a mid-tempo, bouncing ballad that has equal parts Rock, swoon, and jangle. I can imagine that the live version of this tune is a killer crowd pleaser, especially with the ladies. A quick glance into the audience in the direction of a group of receptive ladies at the right time during the opening verses…

“I've been sinking through the drain of love
lift my eyes to skies of up above
listen to me this is how I feel
since I knew you all my thoughts are real
you're the only one I wanna do
everything's new and it's all ‘cause of you.”

…is probably like fishing with a stick of dynamite. “Bowls” has a groovy arrangement that utilizes space and showcases Slettedahl’s soaring Glam Rock vocal style. This song owes its fundamental catchiness to Carlos Torres’ melodic McCartney-like bass lines and Adam Merrin’s psychedelic keyboard work. This sounded like it could possibly be a remake from an old T-Rex album or a hidden track from The Velvet Goldmine soundtrack. “You Belong to Me” is an atmospheric acoustic that extols the power of love over the imperfections of the lovers. Slettedahl’s sings:

“I could tell an antique lie
full of all the things I want to hide
but that would only lead to the truth
you belong to me I belong to you.”

The acoustic guitar intro in this song is a direct lift from Big Star’s “The Ballad of El Goodo”. I wasn’t sure if this was done in homage to Big Star, or if it was done because their fan demographic wouldn’t know anything about Big Star or Alex Chilton. I’ll give The 88 the benefit of the doubt since both songs are thematically similar. Nevertheless this is a great acoustic number.

Overall, there’s not a single “throw away” song on this album and there are more hooks on these tracks than there are in your grandpa’s tackle box. These twelve solid tracks that show that The 88 have advanced degrees from Pop University, with minors in Retro Music Studies. Even though they seem to use the same formula for some of the songs (e.g. “All ‘Cause of You” and “Coming Home”), Over and Over track for track, is a consistently good, enjoyable album. To their credit, The 88, know the value of live performance and touring to build street credibility. I give them extra “cool points” because they acted as Elliott Smith’s back up band for a live performance of “Can’t Make a Sound” and because they wear suits and ties. You gotta give props to Indie bands that have a dry cleaning bill (unsolicited hint: FeBreeze can reduce the number of trips to the dry cleaner for all of you suit and tie wearing bands). I hear flashes of brilliance on this album as well as the echoes of such greats as Big Star, T-Rex, and Beatles, in the vocals, arrangements, and in their musical vocabulary. At times they remind me of a less horny version of The Knack. In any case, it’s no crime for The 88 to wear their influences on their sleeve. The 88 seem to be doing everything right from both a musical, image, and marketing standpoint. I can tell from their pristine recording that their live show probably has a welcome, rough edge and that they are each first-rate musicians. Although they’ve amassed a list of accolades and positive press as long as my arm, the true test of a consequential band is their ability to grow beyond their influences and continuously progress creatively without losing their fans. Time will tell. Maybe 25 years from now bands will be channeling The 88.

For more information visit: The88.net

Recommended.

Matt “Cosmic Dancer” Largo

Rocketboom: The Brave New Vlog that is Reshaping the Future of Media

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:16:00 -0800

The age of video blogging and “citizen journalism” is being led by Rocketboom. What is Rocketboom you ask? Rocketboom is a New York City-based vlog (video blog) that serves up Internet culture and other quirky topics in about the time it takes to boil an egg (about 3 to 5 minutes). This brainchild of former musician Andrew Baron was launched in October 2004, as an outgrowth of text-based Internet blogging. Episodes are anchored and co-written by comely, sharp-witted, aspiring actress, Amanda Congdon and are delivered Monday through Friday by 9am EST.
Rocketboom fundamental business model was to build a substantial audience without worrying about generating revenue. This seems to have paid off. Rocketboom is now one of the premiere vlogs on the Internet with upwards of 130,000 daily viewers. Recent distribution via TiVo and Akimbo, which enables Web videos to be watched on TV, has further increased its reach. The content and composition of Rocketboom segments typically consists of any number of elements: stream-of-consciousness news vignettes, strange Internet media finds, tours of interesting businesses, haggling (but not purchasing) with street vendors over the price of pirated DVDs, or wandering the streets and asking a question like “Why is George Bush so awesome?.” Rocketboom strength is that it is raw, creative journalism that is not afraid to have an opinion, unlike stale mainstream news media. Congdon shoulders about half of the scriptwriting duties. She also finds the many of stories and takes on the tedious task of sifting through and researching audience submitted stories. To complete the Rocketboom formula, add Congdon’s aesthetic appeal, instant likeability, and quirky persona and you have a winner. Rocketboom is addicting. When asked about the future plans of Rocketboom, Congdon responded in an email:

“We're going to expand our correspondent list to include someone in almost every major city. We're also in the process of developing new shows and creating what we hope becomes a network of vlogs. All of the shows will have the Rocketboom "feel" but won't all be news anchor style.

For Rocketboom.com, which will always remain free of charge, we're working on a different kind of advertising model, one where the ads are at the end of the video and are worthwhile and interesting in their own right. That way people anticipate the ads, instead of dread them. We've been working on this prototype.

Here's an example: Rocketboom New Ad Prototype

The content is thus related to the ad, making the ad more powerful and the viewers happy. We find the viewers often comment more on the ad than the actual episode! So, yeah, we'll be making our own ads for companies. We'll also be auctioning off ad space (video only) on eBay. Only catch: We can do whatever we like with the brand of the company, who wins (porn companies will not be allowed to bid).”

The amazing thing about Rocketboom is that only costs about $25 to create and produce an episode according to Baron’s blog, Dembot. Baron writes:
“…if you can find or loan a camera, a computer and an Internet connection, you can very easily create work that will support itself at any size. The news story behind Rocketboom right now and the story for any other dreamers out there is the daunting magnitude in which our humongous monetary value has outpaced our tiny costs.”

What does Rocketboom mean? Congdon says that there is no funny story behind the name and that producer/director, Baron chose it back in 2004 because he just thought it had a nice ring to it, and liked the space theme. Rocketboom is much more than wildly popular vlog. It embodies the reality that current technology gives “citizen journalists” the means to launch their commentary across the media at nominal cost with the potential to achieve extraordinary results. Rocketboom is reshaping the future of media.

FYI…For all of you Rocketboom/Amanda Congdon fans, keep your eyes peeled for Congdon in CBS’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” on February 2, 2006. She will be appearing as herself in an episode, in which the killer watches Rocketboom only to discover she knows the truth about his case.

Check them out online: Rocketboom.com

Matt "A Face Made for Podcasts" Largo

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 18:35:00 -0800

Moving Toward the Google Collective Unconscious

The latest rumor to hit the press is that search engine juggernaut Google is engineering a strategic move into the lucrative MP3 music downloading arena. Analysts at Bear Stearns are wagering that Google may be in the process of developing a service to rival Apple iTunes. An analyst wrote the following in a recent client note:

"We believe that Google is in the midst of creating its own iTunes competitor, which we've dubbed 'Google Tunes'. We think this is a logical step, now that the nascent Google Video product has been introduced."

Bear Stearns Analyst Robert Peck thinks that it makes perfect sense for Google to introduce a beta service in the next 3 to 6 months to claim some of the MP3 music downloading market that Apple currently dominates. Their speculation, which has not been confirmed yet, is based on the Mosaic Theory. Simply put, this means that he has taken non-material information from a variety of sources (he probably could tell us, but then he would have to kill us) and created some meaningful observations and projections concerning Google’s next logical move. The accuracy of his prediction greatly depends on the sources used and thorough knowledge of Google’s business model…a crystal ball wouldn’t hurt either. According to Nielsen [Net Ratings], iTunes has cultivated a distinct target audience with recognized brand preferences for consumer goods such as autos, alcoholic beverages, magazines, and television shows. If Google does decide to roll out music and video downloading services, besides Apple, they’ll be rubbing shoulders with Yahoo!, Microsoft, RealNetworks, and Napster.

Keep in mind, a short while ago Google announced their plan to purchase dMarc Broadcasting, Inc., a Newport Beach, California-based digital solutions provider for the radio broadcast industry. By purchasing dMarc Broadcasting, Google plans to integrate dMarc technology into the Google AdWords platform, creating a new radio ad distribution channel for Google advertisers. By doing this Google has essentially jumped the gap from cyberspace to terrestrial radio. What’s next…Google Radio Network? It all seems to fit together in some strange way, doesn’t it? But wait! Don’t answer yet! There is another piece to the "Google Collective Unconscious". Google apparently has a voracious appetite for ‘dark fiber’. Sounds like the premise to a sci-fi horror flick, but it’s not as scary as it sounds, for now anyway. ‘Dark fiber’ is telecommunications speak for fiber-optic cable that has already been laid, but is not yet in use or “lit up” with the required optical communications hardware. Thousands of miles of dark fiber are available in the United States because of the telecom industry crash a few years ago, but there have been few takers because of the high costs of making it operational. Google is planning on being a major taker. The following information was gathered from a job posting on Google’s website, which read:

"Google is looking for Strategic Negotiator candidates with experience in...(i)dentification, selection, and negotiation of dark fiber contracts both in metropolitan areas and over long distances as part of development of a global backbone network.."

Google representatives declined to a request to explain the job posting and what it means for the future of Google. Having worked in Competitive Intelligence in the Telecommunications sector for a few years, I believe that this can mean a few things:

1. Google is merely planning for bandwidth needs over the coming years and is investing in ‘dark fiber’ now to save money in the future by owning their own network.

2. Google is planning a foray into the telecommunications business, maybe GoogleVOIP or even better VOIPoogle.

3. Google is planning to build a data/voice network as the foundation for a pervasive Wi-Fi network that will be an ad-supported, free broadband communication network that is viable alternative to the Internet. The GoogleNet?

Although the third possibility seems a bit more far-fetched than the first two, I think that it is quite plausible, given Google’s financial strength and track record of innovation. If a GoogleNet materializes, I imagine that handheld PDA-like Google appliances that store and play MP3s and video, function as phones, and enable users to Google other users and tagged objects via GPS in 3-space in won’t be far behind. Maybe even further down the road, we may see Google implants or better yet, Google neural implants. This sounds crazy, but scientists at the Max Planck Institute have developed "neuron transistors" that can detect the firing of a nearby neuron, or alternatively, can cause a nearby neuron to fire, or suppress it from firing. This basically amounts to a two-way communication channel between neurons and the electronic-based neuron transistors. They demonstrated the “neuron transistor” by controlling the movement of a living leech from a computer. I wonder if Google knows about “neuron transistors”?

The Google Collective Unconscious is upon us.

Matt "Nostradamus" Largo

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 17:37:00 -0800

Wi-FiTV: A Smorgasbord of Worldwide Video Content

The technology to effectively provide streaming video content over the Internet has come a long way since late 1990’s. That is when the barriers of having enough horsepower and bandwidth in home PCs to support acceptable streaming video were broken. Providing worthwhile and compelling content that consumers will routinely incorporate into their media diet is the next hurdle for streaming video. Wi-FiTV is a streaming video portal that has taken the challenge by offering over 200 channels (I counted 209) of TV and some Web-only content from over 50 different countries. It also streams 50 audio-only channels of news and various musical genres from around the world. The moniker, “Wi-FiTV” was chosen a few years ago in anticipation of streaming video content over widely available Wi-Fi Internet connections.

Wi-FiTV currently has a free 30-day trial that does not require a credit card. After your trial is over, prepaid yearly subscriptions are available for only 99 cents per month for a limited time. The first thing I noticed about the Wi-FiTV.com website was that the layout and the interface still seemed like it was in a quasi-fledgling stage of development. To view streaming video through the embedded player, you must have both Windows Media Player and Real Player installed, because all of the channels are not using one or the other. This may pose a slight inconvenience for some, but most Web-savvy viewers have both installed anyway. Next, I decided to do what came naturally. I started surfing through the channels to see what Wi-FiTV was all about. There were channels from Albania, Pakistan, Serbia, Vietnam, the U.S., and the United Kingdom to name a few. Wi-FiTV serves up a variety of programming ranging including webcams aimed at barroom patrons, live talk shows, and assorted music video channels. The quality of the content was inconsistent, which is to be expected to a certain degree, since Wi-FiTV is acting as a conduit to deliver content from wide range of sources from amateur, public access video to rebroadcast content from existing television stations. Some of the channels had all the clarity of a circa-1975 video of Super 8mm Bigfoot footage, while others were pretty clear. After sampling a couple dozen channels over the course of few weeks, I was able to find some gems in the bunch like:

Channel 25 - eaTV - EvolvingArtist.com (USA)- New music including a live broadcast.

Channel 95 Astro TV - Astrology (German) - Attractive Blond dealing Tarot cards for phone in callers. I don’t speak German, but I liked to watch her shuffle the cards.

Channel 134 - Cybertika (France)- Music Channel - Watched "LA WEB TV Musicale".

Channel 176 - Kulaks Woodshed (USA)- Live Acoustic Music Performance (Web TV only). – Performances included: John McEuen 2001 performance, Maia Sharp 2003 "A Home", Laurence Juber 2002 "In Your Arms", Annie Rapid "Tails of Spain".

Channel 177 - Mania TV (USA) - Pop culture, short films and Talk shows

Channel 183 UWTV (USA) - Education TV from the Univ. of Washington – I watched a lecture about the Surgical Treatment for Ankle Arthritis including PowerPoint slides of x-rays and photos. I felt like I was in Med school without all of the pressure.

Channel 215 - Music Plus TV (USA) - A Los Angeles-based live Internet TV station that promotes independent, undiscovered and unsigned artists.

The viewer interface gives you the option to go to full-screen, but in most cases this turns it into an “impressionist” video. Wi-FiTV also offers free PC to Phone calls (US Only), free PC to PC calls worldwide, and a videoconferencing application called “Wi-Fi TV Virtual Living Room”, which is free now while it’s in beta. Once you have all of your favorites, you will naturally want to schedule recordings and record programs for personal use. Wi-FiTV recommends a couple of third-party applications from Applian Technologies, the WM Recorder from Applian Technologies that will set you back $30 separately or $50 for the “Replay Video Suite”.

Overall, Wi-FiTV seems to be onto something very cool. It remains to be seen how many people will find the content sticky enough to subscribe and make it part of their media diet. Wi-FiTV is in a unique media space, in which it is not in direct competition with Cable or Satellite TV. It seems to have a symbiotic relationship with Cable and Satellite TV, while offering somewhat of a social network built around a video content portal. In my opinion, the strength of the Wi-FiTV’s social network will be the key to its success. Building Wi-FiTV as a MySpace, Orkut, or Friendster type of social network revolving around worldwide video content and “citizen TV” is the way to go.

Check it out at: Wi-FiTV.com

Bottom Line: Wi-FiTV is worth a try.

Matt "Video Globehopper" Largo

Where Have All the E3 Babes Gone ?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:19:00 -0800

For those of you into Gaming or in the Gaming Industry and have attended E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) in the past, this bit of news may come as bit of a downer for afficianados of the E3 babes at the booths. E3 draws tens of thousands of professionals to experience the future of interactive entertainment and apparently scantily clad women are not going to a part of the E3 future. A new rule has been added to the E3 exhibitor handbook and includes the following, which indicates that booth models wearing risqué outfits will soon be a thing of E3 history.

"Material, including live models, conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative, including but not limited to nudity, partial nudity and bathing suit bottoms, are prohibited on the Show floor, all common areas, and at any access points to the Show. ESA, in its sole discretion, will determine whether material is acceptable," reads the new rule.

If the E3 tribunal decides that these rules have been broken then they will slap a $5,000 fine on the offender(s), payable immediately. Any rule breakers will be required to comply with the dress code before being allowed to return to the show floor. For the purpose of illustration, the E3 babe pictured (Lisa Gleave) would most likely generate a $5,000 fine. In my opinion, E3 is not for kids, period. I see no reason to child-proof the event. This is just another example of people over-thinking morality in an attempt to child-proof the World.

FYI: E3 2006 will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from May 10 – 12. Conferences are held May 9 – 11 and the show floor is open May 10 – 12.
For more info visit: http://www.e3expo.com/

Matt “Finishing Move” Largo

Technology and Porn Go Together Like Peanut Butter and KY Jelly

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 12:29:00 -0800

Earlier this month the adult industry's 23rd Annual AVN Awards Show, the adult equivalent of the Oscars was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The emcee and host of the event, Greg Fitzsimmons focused on the symbiotic relationship between the Internet and pornography. "The Internet was completely funded by porn," he said from the stage of the 23rd annual AVN Awards Show. And if it wasn't for the Internet, he added, "you guys would be completely out of business". The entire audience, consisting of porn actors and adult entertainment magnates, like Jenna Jameson and Larry Flynt, roared with laughter. Fitzsimmons' joke isn't fiction. According to the Washington Post, online pornography, a $2.5 billion business and growing rapidly, pioneered such now-commonplace practices as streaming video, trading files and making online purchases. By comparison, sales of music downloads totaled $1.1 billion last year.

A common joke in IT is that every new technology is driven by porn. Think about the consumer technological advances that have porn applications: Digital cameras, the rapid spread of the VCR and later DVD players and recorders, which gives people the option to watch porn at home instead of going to the local Cine-porn movie house with all of the other real deviants. Although a lot of mainstream companies like Real Networks and Google earn some revenue from online porn, it's hard to verify. Mainstream companies almost never specify how much money they earn from the skin trade because they don't like to talk about it. It's obviously a huge, huge market, but mum's the word. The Porn industry has acted as kind a technology incubator for much of the technology that we're using now for less risque purposes. For instance, online "streaming video" is one major example of a technology that was driven by porn in its early days. While Hollywood is still struggling with how best to put its movies online, entire porn empires have been built by production companies selling streaming-video programs on the Internet.

The next hot technology that is being adopted by the Porn industry is mobile video. As soon as Adult Entertainment companies heard that iPod went video, the gears and pinions in their filthy, tech-saavy minds started to turn. We will most likely have the Porn industry to thank for working all of the kinks (no pun intended) out of mobile video technology.

FYI -- if any of you were wondering, The award for Best Screenplay- Video went to Camp Cuddly Pines Powertool Massacre starring Stormy Daniels, Jonathan Morgan & August Warwick produced and distributed by Wicked Pictures.

Jenna Jameson won Crossover Star of the Year.

Matt "Beef Swellington" Largo

Wal-Mart "Screws the Pooch" Again with Racist Website URLs

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 03:57:00 -0800

Amid all of the recent controversy of Wal-Mart’s unfair treatment of its employees and it’s penchant for driving Mom & Pop businesses to the poor house, they make yet another fuck up. Check it…Can anyone explain how listing biographies of Martin Luther King, Jack Johnson and Dorothy Dandridge under the "similar products" category with Planet of the Apes looks anything but racist?...

Continuing their fine tradition of bringing products together to make your shopping experience easier, Wal-Mart's "Planet of the Apes" The Complete TV series, has a few recommendations that they feel are very similar to what you should associate Planet of the Apes with. How about Martin Luther King or Tina Turner? I wonder if the folks at Stormfront (the White Supremacists) are secretly the webmasters of this site.

Wouldn't similar items like "V" the Original Miniseries, or Battlestar Gallactica be more appropriate choices? Enjoy your shopping experience at Walmart where the prices are always low and I.Q.’s and ethics are even lower.

Update...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. temporarily shut down the system that creates movie recommendations on its shopping Web site after they found that the mistake about the link from a "Planet of the Apes" DVD to films about famous black Americans, including Martin Luther King Jr. They cited technical difficulties for the mishap.

Matt "WTF" Largo

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 06:52:00 -0800

Green Eggs and Transgenic Ham

Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three male pigs that glow in the dark. They claim that while other researchers have successfully bred partially fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are completely green inside and out. Even their heart and internal organs are green. The transgenic pigs were engineered by introducing genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo. The researchers hope the pigs will boost the island's stem cell research, as well as helping with the study of human disease.

To create them, DNA from jellyfish was added to about 265 pig embryos which were implanted in eight different sows (they basically injected fluorescent jellyfish green protein into embryonic pigs). Four of the female pigs became pregnant and three male piglets were born three months ago. In daylight, the pigs' eyes, teeth skin have a greenish hue. Research using the transgenic pigs will be much easier because the pig's genetic material is green and is very easy to spot. For instance, if some stem cells from a glow-in-the-dark pig are injected into some other animal, scientists can track how they develop without performing a biopsy or conducting other invasive tests. Creating these transgenic pigs was not simple, since many of the altered embryos failed to develop. Researchers hope the new, green pigs will mate with ordinary female pigs to create a new generation of transgenic pigs for use in human disease research.

The transgenic, green, glow-in-the-dark pigs immediately reminded me of the book Brave New World, in which Aldous Huxley taps into, and then feeds, our revulsion at Pavlovian-style behavioral conditioning and "eugenics" through genetic manipulation. On a lighter note, it also brought to mind Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham" because it means that we are half way to having the actual "Green Eggs and Ham" entrée come to fruition. How hard can it be for scientists to crank out a transgenic, glow-in-the-dark chicken that lays green, luminous eggs. I can see the diner menus already…Brave New Breakfast Skillet only $25.25. (I couldn't resist the Zager & Evans reference!)

Matt "Centrifugal Bumble-puppy" Largo

From Remote Controlled Leeches to Spock's Brain

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:47:00 -0800

Remember the episode of the original Star Trek series... I believe it was stardate 5131.4, the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, encounters a curious ship of unusual design. Upon contact, the ship emits a transport beam and a mysterious woman appears to the Enterprise bridge. She stuns the entire crew using a bracelet-like device, then examines each of them, taking particular interest in Mr. Spock, so much so, she somehow removes his brain, then disappears. McCoy then fashions a device to remotely operate Spock's brainless body.

That episode (along with most of the others) seemed like pure fantasy, but get a load of this...Scientists at the Max Planck Institute have developed "neuron transistors" that can detect the firing of a nearby neuron, or alternatively, can cause a nearby neuron to fire, or suppress it from firing. This amounts to two-way communication between neurons and the electronic-based neuron transistors. The Institute scientists demonstrated their invention by controlling the movement of a living leech from their computer. First leeches, then mice, then dogs and cats, then people!

What if someone was able to slip you a "neuron transistor" without you knowing it? They would be able to control you via remote control. Pretty scary stuff, huh?

Matt “Geppetto” Largo

See Emily Stern Naked!...Who cares.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 10:24:00 -0800

There has been some considerable on and offline buzz recently about Emily Stern’s hasty departure from her role as Madonna in the Off-Broadway show Kabbalah, in which she appears partially nude for the last ten minutes of the satire. She has been playing the part of Madonna (yes…based on the actual Pop star, Madonna), who is one of the most visible celebs involved in this mystic Jewish form of study. Uhh…why does anyone care? Emily Stern is the 22-year-old daughter of Sirius Satellite Radio’s hot property, shock jock (some would say “savior”), Howard Stern. Emily was worried that enemies of her father would distribute pictures of her on the Internet. She said, 'My father basically told me that if I take the role, that his enemies would buy blocks of tickets, throw garbage at my vagina, take nude pictures of me and put them all over the Internet.' Howard Stern has spent most of his professional career objectifying women. Now it that there is a chance that his daughter could face the very treatment that is his trademark, he has a problem. Irony meets hipocrisy.

The fact is that she has been starring in Kabbalah since November 2005, staged by the Jewish Theater of New York at the Triad Theater. What was she thinking when she signed up? If she really didn’t want to generate any publicity concerning her connection to Howard Stern, she could have used a stage name. She could have come up with some clever anagram of her name like “Tyler Misen” that would have taken everyone, but word jumble nerds, a long time to decipher. The problem with using a stage name that doesn’t connect her with Howard Stern is that she cannot take advantage of his celebrity. No connection. No attention. You can’t have it both ways. Kabbalah was described in the New York Times as "dreadful," "mind-numbing" and "in bad taste." My guess is that Emily probably realized after several weeks of starring in Kabbalah and underwhelming people 136 seats at a time, that it wasn’t worth her time and energy and decided spin her departure into a publicity machine. The whole Madonna Kabbalah thing is only worth about a handful of one-liners at best, but an entire play?

After viewing short video clips of Emily Stern in Kabbalah that have been floating around on the Internet, I think that she should be worrying about her career. I think the best thing going for this play was the 10 minutes of nudity, the pointy bra, and the fact that people would attend because they knew she WAS Howard Stern's daughter. I bet that the Triad Theater could’ve made a killing selling kosher garbage at the concession stand during showings of Kabbalah.

Bottom Line: Who cares?

Has it been 15 minutes yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Largo) — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 01:47:00 -0800

Single Review: The Flaming Lips - "The W.A.N.D."

The Flaming Lips are a perfect example of a band that has undergone a continuous metamorphosis from loud, Post-Punk, Indie Rockers to masters of lush, multi-layered, Psychedelia. Over the last twenty plus years, The Lips have succeeded in their musical and creative evolution without estranging their true fans. “The W.A.N.D.” is a teaser, digital release from their highly-anticipated, upcoming full-length album, At War with the Mystics, which will be released on April 4, 2006, on Warner Bros.

For my first listen to “The W.A.N.D”, I decided to listen to it with my ear buds at reasonably loud volume to simulate the sonic environment of a live Lips show…if that’s possible. My ears were greeted by a mutated, analog delayed, sound fragment, accompanied shortly thereafter by a metronome, a clap track, then an ultra-distorted buzz saw of a guitar (knowing how The Flaming Lips roll, I suspected that this guitar and amplifier were specially modified to exist only on this track). During the opening seconds of the song, I had faith...the faith that The Flaming Lips would sonically stretch my mind without losing me. “The W.A.N.D.” was the characteristically enjoyable, auditory feast consistently delivered by The Lips. Adding a dose of socio-political commentary to the mix, lead Lip, Wayne Coyne sings, “Time after time those fanatical minds try to rule all the World. Telling us all it's THEM...who's in charge of it all…”.

I have had the pleasure of being in attendance at numerous Lips shows over the past 20 years and “The W.A.N.D.” easily evoked memories of standing in a music venue filled with smoke, decibels, and people… watching the Lips and feeling like I got “it”. One noticeable deficiency I noticed while listening to “The W.A.N.D.” is that the rest of the album was not available to complete the concept. This single is hopefully a part of a greater sublime musical masterpiece called At War with the Mystics from these fearless freaks.

The Flaming Lips 2002 Photo by J. Michelle Martin

For current info about the Flaming Lips visit: FlamingLips.com

Recommended.

-Matt "Clouds Taste Metallic" Largo