Monday, April 30, 2007
Singapore Stopover
1pm - 30 Apr 07
Argh - had a half decent post and the free net terminal ate it! OK, take two...
Just a half hour stopover in Singapore's Changi airport. Much like every other airport I've been in, except there's heaps of free net terminals and foot massagers everywhere. Aussie wines feature prominantly in the grog shops and there's a cool gadget shop called "Digital Living". Guy will be happy to know that you can get Milo Bars here.
Next stop London!
PS - Skybeds are the money.
Labels: Go
Twenty Minutes Till Boarding
The flight was suspended overnight for mechanical repairs and checks. Qantas put us up at the airport Mecure & fed us, so as far as hiccups go it could've been a lot worse. The folks were in Sydney this weekend too, so we caught up over a couple of beers and pizzas at the hotel, which was nice.
Very tempted by cheap ($250ish) Sony digital cameras in the duty free shop; will wait & see if I can get something smaller and cheaper topside.
Pretty tired, but can't decide whether to sleep now or stay up with all the in-flight entertainment and then crash out when we get to the hotel tonight.
Next stop Singapore (for an hour), then on to London!
Labels: Go
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Gone... Almost
All packed. Bags weighed & A-OK. Cousin coming to get me to the airport in twenty minutes.
Beep beep - beep beep.
Message of farewell? No such luck. Long-haul flight delayed 14 hours.
Labels: Go
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Raincheck
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wrapped in a Flag, Seriously
The Local reports that two Gawker blogs - Defamer and Gizmodo - kicked off local versions this week. But they're local in the same way Ten is local; a whole bunch of US content sprinkled with Aussie bits.
Down under Defamer seemed to have its timing right, kicking off with live blogging the start of the latest Big Brother series and going local from the get-go. Over at the antipodean Gizmodo, however, it looks like they've just syndicated all of the content from the topside version and not bothered with it too much; prices are in US$, measurements are in feet & inches and the wisecracks reference New Jersey and the DMV.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Five Men, One Car, Audible Gold
I got some nice compliments following last week's Fuzzy Logic show; I'm told I sound ok on radio. Is good voice something you can work on? It's certainly lucrative for some. Treat your ears; wander over to this Guy.com piece on the top voice talents in Hollywood and watch the Youtube clips they've found.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Lightning Rods 8 def Spitfires 4
With the Spitfires missing the Bad News Byrons, the Lightning Rods silenced their critics once more in the 2007 season of the Happy Christmas Professor Ovington 1970 Cup Plate Shield competition.
The Rods had a one player advantage over the Spitfires until the last five minutes of the game that can only be described as a veritable goal frenzy.
In coming weeks the competition will be returning to its social roots and making post-game pilgrimages to the clubhouse in Green Square.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Splashback
"I advised the minister that if he didn't clean that damn thing off I would."So on Saturday morning Steve Pratt pulled on his rubber gloves and cleaned off the graffiti he'd had his eye on all week. Turns out that not only was it a commissioned piece but that Pratt had been told and painted over it regardless. Now the cops have been called in.
On ABC radio this morning Pratt kept talking about all of the community complaints he'd received about the piece, but not once did the breakfast presenter ask him to substantiate his claims. It took a caller named Tom to put to question to Pratt, who ignored it.
The Labor local council might not be able to get buses, taxis or schools working right, but at least they're not running around pulling stupid stunts like this fool.
If you, like me, are pro street art, wander over to flickr and check out the aussie street art group I kicked off a while back. It just keeps growing.
UPDATE: There's a top discussion about all this, and on distinctions between street art and tagging, over at The RiotACT.
Update 2: Zoe & Ducky have identified the artist - the excellent Byrd - and an image of the original piece. More including a shot of the stencil that got one of Stanhope's aides the flick.
Update 3: Graff boys respond outside the legislative assembly.
Update 4: Someone should tell Pratt that even the National Gallery of Australia's against him on this. They've been buying street art.
Labels: Canberra, Consider, Look
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Ouch
Will it be possible to download all the songs from previous versions of SingStar onto the hard drive of the PlayStation 3 so you don't have to change the disc all the time? Or maybe put in a code to download these songs for free off the net?Singstar Blog
This is something we considered but unfortunately technical constraints have rule it out.
I'm sure I read something a few months back saying that was how they wanted the upgrade path to work for people who already had all the other Singstar discs, but I guess they couldn't figure out how to stop people handing discs around to unlock all of the older tracks. I reckon having fans pay for the older tracks again will dissuade a lot of fans from upgrading to the PS3 sooner rather than later.
Labels: Play
From little things big things grow
Years ago I promised an old great aunt that I'd start mapping out the family tree. I kept putting it off, because really, who wants to spend all that time putting stuff in a database? A few months ago I came across Geni. Now I have 190 people in my tree, mostly because they added themselves. Thank the web for division of labour!
Labels: Use
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Spitfires 3 def Lightning Rods 1
The on-field crowd swelled to 19 in this weekend's match in the Happy Christmas Professor Ovington 1970 Cup Plate Shield competition. Playing 9 on 9 with the 10th player alternating based on the handicap, both teams played a top passing game with many potential goals thwarted in the box.
The Spitfires were strong in the first two halves. Following a minor cranial collision, the Lightning Rods answered.
Many players convened for post-game analysis at Cream, followed by dinner at Sammy's and pool & jukebox fun at the Civic Pub.
Friday, April 13, 2007
People in Glass Vehicles...
Ever been stuck behind someone with one of those "How's My Driving? Dial 1-800-Eat-Shit" bumper stickers, driving like they're possessed, and wished there was someone you could complain to that would take absolutely no action at all and your friends won't listen? There's a new site for you: Rate The Plate.
So far it's pretty Canberra-centric, but it looks like it was built to take complaints from around the country.
Labels: Use
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
National Folk Festival 2007 - Part 4
And so it ends, not with a whimper but a bang, and a sniffle. Despite a raging headcold it was all hands to the pump for the final day of the festival with everyone getting things ready for the national broadcast at 4pm.
I'd met some festival-goers on the bus and did a few interviews and station IDs. I recorded another concert by Mic Conway's National Junk Band and the final of the Infinite Sound of Music competition in the Budawang room. When I played back the recorded stream of the national broadcast, I was pleased to hear that at least three pieces I recorded and/or edited made it into the highlights package.
The evening was spent packing up and lugging gear back to 2XX. Crashed out at 1am with a head full of ideas for how to do it better next year. Hope they have the station debrief before I depart.
Labels: Canberra, Listen, Look
Monday, April 09, 2007
National Folk Festival 2007 - Part 3
Another busy day recording and editing, getting ready for a national broadcast this afternoon 4pm-6pm AEST. 2XXfm is streaming live too.
Labels: Canberra, Do, Listen, Look
Sunday, April 08, 2007
National Folk Festival 2007 - Part 2
This year 2XXfm is broadcasting live from the National Folk Festival. You can even listen online.
Some pictures from Saturday's performances:
Bloke-apella and Mad Violet
CIT A/V Geeks and Buskers
Labels: Canberra, Do, Listen, Look
Saturday, April 07, 2007
National Folk Festival 2007 - Part 1
This weekend I've volunteered to do stuff for 2XX at the National Folk Festival. Mostly it involves checking out the acts and then plugging in recording equipment into the mixing desk. I plan to do some vox pop stuff before the weekend is out.
I've got to say that folk's not a genre I'm really into, but the variety here has really opened my eyes and ears. So far I've heard the story of Yarri of Wiradjuri by The Roaring Forties, talked crap about music with complete strangers around a water pipe that produced smoke that smelt of apples, and Mr Sister (pictured) was good. The highlights have definitely been the jamming at the Session Bar (there was a group of guys doing some really catchy americana 1920s/jugband stuff in the background here) and the first heat of the Infinite Sound of Music Competition in which festival acts do covers of songs from The Sound of Music.
Best of all I was able to check all of this out with A&B and Ducky.
Labels: Canberra, Do, Listen, Look
Friday, April 06, 2007
Mea Culpa
Two weeks ago I wrote a piece that was unjustified judgement, preachy and pretty much all snark. I realised this week that in posting it I lowered myself to the level of the hypocritical moralising commercial AM ranters and the haters on this here interweb that've stopped by over the years.
So to the notebook's owner - even though you'll probably never read this - sorry. Sorry also to the commenter I flamed when they called me out for being a creep.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Putting the Band Back Together
What would you get if SingStar and Guitar Hero got it on with a PS3/Xbox360? Rockband.
CAMBRIDGE, MA - April 2, 2007 - Harmonix, developer of the blockbuster Guitar Hero(tm) franchise, MTV: Music Television, a division of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced Rock Band, an all-new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music like never before. Rock Band will allow gamers to perform music from the world's biggest rock artists with their friends as a virtual band using drum, bass/lead guitar and microphone peripherals, in addition to offering deep online* connectivity. Built on unprecedented deals with the world's biggest record labels and music publishers, the music featured in Rock Band will span all genres of rock and include many of the master recordings from the biggest songs and artists of all time. Rock Band is slated for release on PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360(tm) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft(R) in holiday 2007.
The leading music publishers - EMI Music Publishing and Warner/Chappell Music - are allowing unrivaled access to their catalogs of incredible songs for use in Rock Band. The record labels - EMI Music, Hollywood Records, Rhino Entertainment (Warner Music Group), Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Enterprises - have agreed to supply master recordings by their artists for use in the game.
Speaking of games and music publishers, here's an interview with Sergio Pimentel, the music licensing and A&R manager at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, heading up the music licensing department at Sony’s London studio.
If that's not enough SingStar for you, here's a video that shows why most people save SingStar for after a few drinks, why the PS3's Singstar video feature might be ill-considered and an example of testing gone too far. "Baby one more time": SingStar vs Kareoke Revolution.
If you can't wait to rock out, Rage's 20th birthday special is on this weekend. Want more control? Throw 'em a playlist & have a go at being a guest programmer.
