showbiz jews

this list of famous semites includes a few fun surprises. for instance, every magician ever is jewish. also, connie chung converted!

silly video of barney the dinosaur singing tupac

these kids love to get down

my guess is that any barney jokes were out of style already over ten years ago, and tupac sadly just had his 9 year anniversary of being killed. but don't dismiss this video just yet, watch the crafty work that has barney and some real sweet kids singing and dancing to some classic tupac. if you don't laugh, you'll smirk at the least.

(thanks, af.)

a fifth beatle

everyone loves the beatles. click here if you don't.

but certain music from beatific souls like daniel johnston, some elo, early kinks and oasis seem to be inspired beyond just being an homage of the greatest band ever. the blog everybody cares, everybody understands does a bang up job of paying tribute to my favorite beatle apostle ever elliott smith. includes great links to articles and a handful of beatles covers by the late, great singer/songwriter.

rock and roll for assholes!

get it? the "right" brothers!!! as in right wing!

do you hate your ears and eyes? then be sure to check out "bush was right", the new song and video by the the right brothers. what's surprising: despite being staunch republicans, the right brothers apparently have little regard for copyright law (there's some heavy-duty "we didn't start the fire"-biting going on here). what's not at all surprising: some big fat white guy with a modicum of musical talent loves george bush.

What makes The Right Brothers different?
While artists such as Toby Keith, Darrel Worley and Charlie Daniels have recorded great patriotic songs no artist has ever tackled the issues addressed by The Right Brothers. Topics on their albums include: the abortion debate, illegal immigration, taxation, Ronald Reagan, the melting-pot (or lack thereof), America’s right to defend herself regardless of what the rest of the world thinks, appreciation for our brave soldiers (past and present), political apathy, and more. The Right Brothers are in tune with today’s political issues and that is reflected in every word they write.

("thanks," pleasure.)

white stripes - denial twist video (and two other good vids)

last month we wrote about the village voice writer who acted in the upcoming gondry-directed white stripes video. well guess what? it's out now and it's on google video. sadly, i have to say this is my least favorite of the gondry/white stripes videos. maybe if the video quality was a bit clearer, but from what i see the perspective distortion ended up looking like not much more than a circus funhouse mirror... watch the video here

after you're done watching that, check out the new vid by my third-favorite mexican rock band, plastilina mosh-- oxidados.

and when THAT'S done, watch the video for baby c'mon by stephen malkmus. sounds soooo much like pavement!
(thanks, sizod.)
[via antville]

rap geeks: get excited!

aceyalone's upcoming magnificent city is entirely produced by rjd2. i tend to prefer hip-hop albums with only one producer, so i'm really interested to hear what this sounds like.

Having worked together on Aceyalone's last album, "Love and Hate" the chemistry was undeniable and a full album together was only a matter of time. "To me, Acey and his crew were like the west coast Organized Konfusion in the mid 90's," notes RJ. "I always had a ton of respect for him, and of course, those are the kind of people you want to work with."

this is how i always thought it was supposed to be

yahoo! is testing intergrating blogs and rss feeds in their email

smart car crash test video

it looks like smart cars do reasonably well in crashes. this intense video shows an impact test.

Hipster Super Heroes- Here to save us from what exactly?

The MySpace Legion Of Extraordinary Stupid Hair Super Heroes!

With so many fantastically stupid hairstyles floating around MySpace, I've found myself adding the best of the worst to my favorites list over the past few months, compiling a sort of "Hall Of Shame" which I knew, one day, needed to be presented to the masses.

[via thighmaster]

And if you haven't gotten your fill of completely retarded haircuts, you can always revisit this.

wolverine AND magneto spin off movies

one year ago, fox announced an x-men spin off for both magneto and wolverine.

year old news is hardly news except that i'm pretty sure they never told anyone, because no one was a bigger wolverine fan growing up than me. anyway, hugh jackman will reprise his role, but ian mcklellan won't--the magneto flick is a prequel. x-men 3 debuts in may.

and, just to keep themselves at a below-average level, marvel studios is releasing ghost rider (starring nick cage and eva mendes) in july. it's guaranteed to suck worse than the hulk and fantastic four, but maybe not as bad as iron man. and don't skip this chance to check out nick's sweet hairdo wig from the film!

something to crowe about

nice little collection of great songs from cameron crowe movies.

[via hype machine]

vote for jonathan (the guy in the middle)

my pal and one of sneakmove's favorite comics in the world jonathan gotsick is up for a big part in the new dodge commercial.

he's hilarious, despite the fact that he smoked grass for years until his brother turned him on to marijuana. he had smoked acres.

vote for jonathan gotsick, moorehead, kentucky's favorite son, to get his own HEMI. he won't let you down.

forward-thinking questions about the video over the net

the video iPod, like almost all things apple, stepped up comsumer awareness of big breakthroughs in a new technology, big time. big players are already reaching out into new mediums that we all could have predicted would become relevant sooner or later. here are some decent questions to get you thinking about how the video on demand revolution may affect you.

1. how much longer until you can sign up for a vodcast of the top 5 movie trailers for the week? music videos? bus rides and plane rides are about to become a lot better.

2. when will video iChat, which is basically jetson-styled video phone, or like products hit the tipping point?

3. how can you make money as a content provider for video on demand?

4. how much longer before your "iPod" (portable digital player) is plugged into your "Tivo" (time-shifting delivery system) and you grab it, completely loaded automatically with fresh content, as you head out the door each morning?

5. how much crazier can porn/online dating (suicide girls for your ipod. may not be work safe) get? see #2.

true playas

major league baseball has taken a major equity position and content control of world championship sports network. wcsn has shown over 150 hours of live footage exclusively on the net. mlb plans to add to that with more deals with sports that operate during baseball's off-season.

will the future of sports bypass the tv networks?

if you love high energy music and you have quicktime 7...

this gentleman has kindly put together a streaming video page featuring high-energy and house music videos. quicktime 7 makes this run real smooth and pretty--its got a fantastic codec. its like taking a trip to europe right from your office desk!

taste of jenny

sample "handle with care," the traveling wilbury's cover leaked off first solo album from the lead gal of rilo kiley. ole' bright eyes conor oberst and ben gibbard of death cab/ postal service guest.

if this former-child star had any more indie cred, she'd get free neighborhoodies!

(thanks, ade.)
[via brooklyn veagan]

hiphop-battles.com -- online verbal throwdowns for everyone

for all aspiring mc's and beatboxers: challenge and defend your skills in an online arena against rappers from around the globe. how it works, as far as i can tell--you pick some sissy from the list, challenge them to a duel, and then upload a short mp3 diss clip (20second to one minute). the other users on the site judge who's skills are tighter and a winner is declared. looks like it might be a german site so you better bust out your 501 spanish verbs before you get started.

nine-minute narnia trailer online

one of the best books is coming to theaters soon. starz! showed a nine-minute preview, which is now available to view online. sorry to those who can't see embedded wmv's - i wasn't able to figure out how to extract the file from the source. if you can, post the url in the comments please.

wilhelm bungert by adidas

i hadn't seen these kicks before. are they fresh to you? holiday shopping idea: buy shoes for a loved one.

superfun new andrew thompson video

lewis recordings' latest signing, andrew thompson rocks. he does a sort of updated new wave/electro thing that isn't annoyingly ironic. nice going, andrew. check out his new video, "there must be some kind of misunderstanding."

never ever drive behind a 747

this british tv show demonstrates just how powerful one 747 engine is. mindblowingly powerful. click here for the direct .wmv link in case you can't see embedded wmv's on your computer.

america's next top model but with canadians, eh?

Sakes alive, Canada's getting its own version of Top Model!

"I am excited to see the Next Top Model franchise continue to grow with the launch of Canada's Next Top Model," (Tyra) Banks said in a statement.

Great soundbyte, Tyra. Speaking of great soundbytes, fourfour has posted some sweet bre mp3s, including my new outgoing voicemail message: "I knew it was Nicole. There's nobody else in the house. There's no ghosts. There's nothin'."

superman returns - video trailer

check out the trailer for superman returns, coming out next summer. can't say i'm thrilled about this guy--he looks like brendan fraiser. i've also always thought the superman story was a bit puritanical. hope they prove me wrong.

mr. shoe at london's dpmhi gallery - opens tonight

attention shoe art fanatics: get your buns over to london to check out michael lau's mr. shoe art opening, fresh off highly successful shows in hong kong and tokyo.

The exhibition centres around Michael’s latest creation, a 6 inch vinyl figure based on the classic Air Force One sneaker. For this exhibition Michael has individually hand painted over 100 of these figures, each one based on Michael’s favourite pop culture and design references ranging from Hermes to Clockwork Orange, maharishi to Rolex, Comme des Garcons to the works of Damien Hirst and much more.

The exhibition will feature all of Michael’s Mr Shoe pieces alongside one-off customised cross over pieces by a range of leading designers and creatives from all over the world.

gorillaz dirty harry shockwave game

the single and video "dirty harry" from the latest gorillaz cd are both pretty smokin. this shockwave game, where you drive the gorillaz' truck through the desert to save the children while the song plays, is maybe the coolest adaptation of a song and video into a unique interactive experience. hard to stop playing--that thing gets squirrely!

just so you'll know where you can find me

the apple store in rome is hiring. opening date: 2006

penguin cafe orchestra

the penguin cafe orchestra released their early records through brian eno's eg label. their sound has a similar artsy bent, but is more staccato. one might call it "contemporary classical" or even "new age". i hate to say either. just check out "surface tension" from their first record. s/t. 1976. eg records.

little kids with huge machine guns = midwest insanity

in the late 90's i passed through oklahoma city with my british future-brother-in-law. as we both grew up in areas where guns are frowned at, we decided to go to a shooting range and knock it after we tried it. started small, and spent 90 minutes working our way up to one frightening giant desert eagle handgun. oklahoma, ya know?

well maybe we should've driven a few exits further because bomarr just sent us the link to a terrifying and exhilarating video of little midwest kids blowing up a shooting range of cars and busses with giant machine guns. who knew they made shooting galleries like that???

engineering students create robots; robots create art

any of you lucky ducks in cocoa beach, florida this upcoming month should make your way over to the c.b. public library, where art created by engineering students' robots will be on display. the high school juniors and seniors are part of a large organization that teaches kids to create robots for a variety of challenges.

o'donel levy

i recently grabbed the breeding of mind lp by o'donel levy. levy is a jazz guitarist and composer who began working in the 60s. as was the standard at the time, there are several covers of contemporary pop songs mixed in with original songs. straightforward stuff. makes you want to dance a little. i particularly liked his version of "never can say goodbye". no date on the record. late sixties. groove merchant records.

classic commodore 64 game songs, remixed

earlier this week there were some nes 8-bit versions of classic pop songs (inxs, etc) making the rounds. this page has something similar but different: a collection of modern day remixes of classic c-64 vidgames. i used to play ultima 4 every day when i was in 6th grade, and after listening to this version i think i still prefer the original. it's fun though.

world's largest drum set?

read the story about the fellow from troy michigan and his 105 piece drum set. the thing has seven bass drums!

snl parodies the ipod

they spoof the steve jobs style announcement (complete with silly spotlight) as he unveils the latest in ipod technologies. watch via this really poor quality video (sufficient to enjoy the humor).
[via igm]

fender telecaster: intel inside

a confusingly purposeless new guitar from fender and intel: the telecaster has a tablet pc mounted into it. i guess those musicians just can't be without turbotax for even one moment anymore.

america

smooth 70s rock. it's hard to beat when you're looking for some safe, non-threatening vibin'. america was one of the kings of the genre. i've really taken a liking to their slow, lonesome song "monster". enjoy and stay mellow for monday. from harbor. 1977. warner bros.

musician's interesting dilemma: blame itunes?

this guy pressed his own cd a few years back and put it up on cdnow. time went on, companies were bought and sold, and then he discovered his songs on itunes. lots of commentary and debate on what his next move should be.

wiki lyrics page

god bless wikis for giving people a way to really have a good fight over something they believe in. don't like the "only shallow" lyrics you found online? with lyriki you can log in and change them for the whole world. another nice thing: no ads on this site unlike lyricsunlimited.com or whatever it's called.

how to: wire your house for any network

a bit mindnumbing, but for those intrepid homeowners out there with time and money to spare, this article shows you how to really make the most of your home network.

there goes the neighborhood

another vegan lesbian tattoo artist with fresh tortillas

last night i was at medjool in sf's mission district, hiding between handsomely dressed guys and girls wearing suits and dresses, and i made a wish:

"please, magic jesus, lets keep the mission district a secret just a little longer, free from the scummy rich folk who don't get vegan lesbian tattoo-tortilla parlors, who hate bicycles, who think the local guy walking past the parking garage is obviously an attendant."

i looked up at the patrons and felt a shiver--this was a wish that baby j wouldn't be granting me: read tomorrow's ny times article about the sf mission district online.
(thanks, satt.)

is the answer blowing in the blogs?

information leaf blower is back with their top 40 bands in america list. it's just a list and designed to activate your opinions and kind of piss you off. so let's forget that a reformed pixies didn't make the list and check out the methodology.

I emailed over 40 "music/MP3 bloggers" (since we are our own genre now) and asked them to send me a list, ranked 1-10, of the 10 best American bands that they've seen or heard in the last year. The purpose of this list is to reward bands for generating buzz in the year 2005. This isn't a ranking of career longevity. I wanted to know who people are using their bandwidth to talk about. Once I got the lists, I gave each slot a corresponding numerical number (similar to the way MLB tallies their MVP voting), and the list was born. In case of a tie, the higher slot was awarded to the artist with more votes (i.e. someone with 15 points from one vote was ranked lower than someone with three votes of 5).

why we need torture

We all KNOW this is what's really going on, but only Alan Rabinowitz has the fuckin' nuts to document it.

(thanks, weisy)

wagon christ music vid - robots and victorian-types

ninjatune records has a great website. their band wagon christ has a video online, a very nice song and a rad animated video featuring robots, robot artifacts, and people dressed in victorian costumes. a great way to relax and enjoy a few minutes of good art.
[via antville]

30 amazing facts about chuck norris

we all know chuck norris is a badass, but there are quite a few things i didn't know about him. here's a hilarious list of little-known norris information.
(thanks, lw.)

ground lift magazine

my new favorite website is ground lift magazine. they feature reviews of great old jazz and soul records. also, articles about various urban music styles, discussion of classic hip-hop singles, and lots of mix tapes. they even have sound clips! it's kind of like if wax poetics had all their content online and was a little less formal.

languis upcoming release and tour info

languis, one of the bands featured on the soon-to-be-released sneakmove mini-comp, sent a note about a few upcoming releases and tourdates, including a december 3 show in tijuana that i'd die to be at. check out their myspace page for some really tasty song clips and tour info (costa mesa, hollywood, san diego, tijuana). their email newsletter says this about their new record:

We are now working in the studio on new songs for an upcoming
album. Our next release, Other Desert Cities is being pressed at the
moment and will be released by Pehr (www.pehrlabel.com); the release
will consist of five new songs, more news to come about this EP…

they're definitely worth a listen (impressively good) and we're thrilled to have some of their music to share. check out simballrec.com for more band info and to get on their non-offensive mailing list.

judas priest

i recently developed an un-ironic appreciation for judas priest. their song "don't go" has a great slow tough sound. it's a real head nodder. i made a little beat as an humble homage. from the unfortunately titled LP point of entry. 1981. cbs records.

google local for mobile phones has secret european maps

with all the google products sprouting like crabgrass, it's possible that you've never even heard of google local for mobile - a new service that lets you access google maps and local information on your java-powered mobile phone. they state that it's only for the usa right now, but intrepid google-geeks have uncovered a cache of secret european google maps that even allow for driving directions. as these maps aren't yet on the online version of google maps, this is a good sign that things are coming soon. in the meantime, enjoy those crazy satellite photos.

live in southern california and love john tesh?

so-cal john tesh fans will be thrilled to read this press release: "95.9 KFSH-FM The Fish(R) Becomes the Exclusive Southern California Home of 'The John Tesh Radio Show'". there should be a whole website dedicated to ridiculous press releases sent out by hollywood pr firms. another one from the same source: the highest rated show in sci-fi channel history returns for another season -- and no it's not scare tactics!

[via yahoo entertainment industry news]

pics of $100 laptop

you may have heard about mit's idea to make a $100 dollar laptop. now there are pics of of what it might look like. it has a hand crank! awesome.

ramis interview with ghostbusters 3 tidbits

aint it cool news posts an interview today with funnyman and hollywood comedy mega-director harold ramis. the conversation hits on quite a few different topics, including a discussion on what happened to the slated ghostbusters 3 movie.

I thought we would introduce three new Ghostbusters, but maybe we'd be around as Senior Ghostbusters, running the company or something, but the real adventure would be... And this was so long ago, we were thinking Chris Rock, Chris Farley and Ben Stiller taking over. That would have worked

kay-kay.com

i can't stop messing around with the little java toys on kay-kay.com. it's been around forever, but i never get tired of it. the site's design is really clean and aesthetically pleasing. mad props.

the dejohnette complex

jack dejohnette is one of the great jazz drummers. his early career was highlighted by playing in miles davis' legendary bitches brew sessions. a year or so later, he put together a loose group called the dejohnette complex and made an LP for milestone records. stanley cowell, miroslav vitous, bennie maupin, eddie gomez, and roy haynes all play on it. there are "free jazz" moments and loud, funky moments, but my favorite track is the cowell composition "equipoise". there's this magic somber melodica that just freezes me and makes me listen. 1968. milestone records.

Trading Music On The Net - 1998 NPR Story

While doing some preliminary research for my upcoming Fan Fiction novella, Glenn Danzig : Timefucker, I ran into this NPR story called "Trading Music on the Net" from 1998.

Pretty interesting to hear Pre-Original-Napster perceptions of the future of digital media trading, and to remember there was a time when the term "mp3" still had to be defined for the benefit of most listeners.

Just real audio, unfortunately, but click up there or here.

gawker blog media to be distributed on yahoo

gawker and yahoo have agreed to a deal where yahoo will publish dozens of gawker media stories daily. the included gawker sites are gawker itself, wonkette, defamer, and gizmodo. they also left open the possibility of adding more at a later date. no price is disclosed in the story.

how to build your own wifi dish antenna

the authors of this article claim their salvaged direct-tv soldered setup detected wifi signals from 8 miles away. not sure how many people live that far from the nearest access point these days, but it could be useful for a remote connection for someone driving a few miles into the desert to do some research. research like, how long does it take to crash and burn a car you just bought at the junk yard for $25.

honeywell's flying robot drones

more proof that the scary future has arrived: these flying robot drones are reported to be ready to start monitoring major cities. no more peeing in the alleyway for me!

funny old snl fake macintosh commercial

a classic! these kids did a great job. watch it online.

sony drm infection map

the bastards at sony have been in big trouble lately. "copy protection software" secretly installs itself when users put certain sony music CDs in their computers. the software is a drm ("digital rights management" system) that uses a rootkit to gain install permissions on computers. this wired news article has a scary map of how far the drm has spread.

the steven spielberg jewish film archive

next time you are in jerusalem doing research on the history of israel, you might want to swing by the spielberg jewish film archive with its 10,000 documentaries and other films on the development of the region.

from your home you can also access 300 films that are available online.
[via chris and mike]

vitusphere: full body virtual reality immersion

the "ultimate" ultimate gamer's toy, and maybe not a bad idea for training troops, firefighters, etc--the virtusphere.

three things i thought of:

it looks like something i'd fall down in easily, especially with a heavy pack on my back

it seems like a good way for some nerdy kid to avoid all normal social interaction by creating a virtual world where he can really become half squirrel, half owl-man

and, when i think of full immersion, i expect this thing to somehow pinch me on the behind-otherwise its useless!
[via ubergizmo]

quick cheap and simple ways to clean your laptop lcd

i'm always confused about how to clean my laptop screen--i could buy a bunch of wastefully prepackaged solutions for it but i figured there's a simple diy method. and here it is: the ehow wiki 'how to clean your laptop screen with household products' page, coming to my rescue. fast and easy and even has some good warnings to be aware of:

Do not drink Isopropyl Alcohol. It is NOT grain alcohol. It is toxic.

list of the different global music charts

large collection of links to the music charts around the globe. check out what the people in estonia, italy, guam, georgia and tons of other places are listening to. shows you how big the planet is, but it seems like a lot of the links are dead.

megadeth on the duck dodgers cartoon

it doesn't have the same type of cred that danzig or zakk wylde on aqua teen has, but for the loony toons/dave mustaine fans: watch the entire duck dodgers featuring megadeth episode online. if you can't stream wmv files (approx. 40% of you) click here for the direct download. when daffy starts talking about how no one rocked harder than dave mustaine, it really feels creepy.

packing the pipe: j-swift, crack rock, and reality TV

watch the painful trailer for "1 more hit," a new documentary about the fall (and subsequent exploitation) of the pharcyde's genius producer-turned-vagrant.

eight basic steps of image editing?

take your own photos? here's a quick guide to learn the basics on how to edit your photos and make them top notch.

very nice custom google map with nyc subways

using the google maps setup (one of the greatest things in the world), but they tweaked the colors and added all the subway lines (including the nj rail, it appears). new york on tap, online subway map.

korea always gets the good stuff first

saw this pretty rad looking video player, ipod style online. supposedly: 20gb, 6hr vid playback and a host of features. no idea of the price. hopefully its real and that it'll come out in the usa too.

stern stops the skunk

for a little while, redskunk.org was the greatest website ever.

torrent streams of everything howard stern evolved from entertaining to historic when howard 100 took to the air earlier this month on sirius radio. so, not only could you find a digital version of every stern's last infinity broadcasts, you could also check out the daily howard 100 news along day-long events like wendy the retard locked in a room and the high-pitch eric shit-weighing contest.

the howard 100 news displays the innovative irony that takes stern beyong vulgar into the the sublime. complete with am radio news chimes and stuffy-voiced white people, the news team covers the stern world of wack with the displaced interest usually reserved for updates on wars that barely exist, traffic reports and relationships between female teachers and students.

now stern's lawyers have shut down the skunk. it's too bad, but emerson would subscribe to sirius if he believed in it. maybe so should i.

question: these torrents still are out there if you can find them. the media policy seems to be shut down the things that make it easy to pirate. is this smart? how much would you pay for an mp3 of a stern show?

(thanks, pleasure.)

prince tribute fan video

with things like the ipod with video, macs with built in isights, google video and all the other stuff that's exploding right now, i bet we start seeing a lot more of these sort of videos. check this fella out, doing his best prince impression. whoa buddy!
(thanks, steph, jay.)

polvo

they say a great band has to be loose and tight at the same time. such was the case with polvo. starting in the early 90s in chapel hill, nc, polvo made some of the most fucked-up songs ever. lots of parts. scary bass and almost out-of-tune guitars. brilliantly mean lyrics. in "feather of forgiveness", singer ash bowie yells "i want to put you in a light that will hurt your eyes". i love that guy.