A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

the internet: embarrassing moments archived forever

watch a pre-NIN trent reznor covering "eyes without a face" in the '80s. his billy idol impersonation sounds like some random guy imitating trent reznor doing a billy idol impersonation.

the people vs. james frey

readers are suing random house for gross negligence in not fact checking james frey's a million little pieces.

In a federal class-action suit, readers said the book was a waste of time and they should be reimbursed for the cost of the tome and the hours they spent reading it.

where rappers be gettin' their lingo from

check out the video for the latest e-40 smash, "tell me when to go". the track was produced by lil jon, features keak da sneak, and is super duper hyphy (although i wouldn't have minded a turf talk verse at the end). there's some info about the clip (and the new e-40 album) over at the radly named ballerstatus.net.
(thanks, rüd)

InI and pete rock

anyone remember InI and their song "fakin' jax"? it's a pete rock production. not suprisingly, the best part about it is the beat. Worthy of note: this is the 1000th song with the line "slammin' sh#t like onyx." 1996. interscope records.

stephen colbert talks truthiness and more!

the a.v. club talks to stephen colbert, with predictably awesome results.

It's just so shocking to hear descriptions of [Fox Report anchor] Shepard Smith, you know: "Changing the world! He gives 110 percent!" Our problem is, there's no level of hyperbole that can be associated with me that hasn't at least been approached by the real thing.

belle and sebastian comic book

image is publishing a comics anthology of stories based on the songs of belle and sebastian. entitled put the book back on the shelf, the collection is expected to be lovely and a bit twee.

sneakmove minicomp on sale at astropitch

astropitch is selling the sneakmove minicomp in its anticon online store. more online shops and distros to come soon!

special ed

5 years passed between special ed's legal and revelations albums. even though he was only 23 when revelations came out, no one would have been surprised if he sucked after such a long time. well folks, he did not suck. listen to "freaky flow" and "freaky flow (premier remix)" as evidence of non-sucakge. the production is not that similar to the classic howie tee beats on his first 2 albums, but it's fresh in its own right. 1995. profile records.

Idlewild (aka long OUTKAST music video)

IDLEWILD, "Set against the backdrop of a 1930s southern speakeasy, Percival (André Benjamin), a shy piano player, and Rooster (Antwan Patton), the club's showy lead performer and manager, struggle to keep their dreams alive."

Worst case scenario, the movie will turn out to be a long OUTKAST music video. Quite frankly, I don't mind.

build it: shift tilt lens for your SLR

get great photographic results with a shift-tilt lens. buy one for thousands, or build one for next to nothing. easy procedure for testing out a different approach to your photos.

bzerkos

here's a pretty darn obscure group from l.a.: bzerkos. i know nothing about them except i like what they do. as far as i know, there was just this one single and no full-length. raw, goofy, west coast underground rap music. kinda like older living legends stuff with funner beats and lyrics. check "playing the dozens". they say, "e'rybody got jokes and quotes but how we gonna smoke when e'rybody broke?" let me know if you have any details about these guys. 1998. czar casket records.

new robotech film coming out

it's been 20 years and they never solved the mystery of rick hunter's disappearance. the upcoming film promises to delve deeper. it looks cool and updated with a mix of cg and animation, but there's not enough spaceships transforming into fighting robots in the trailer, and that was the best part of robotech.

chappelle's block party dir. by michel gondry

check out the trailer for the upcoming release by dave chappelle and michel gondry. half documentary, half concert, half comedy.

pleix video for vitalic's "birds"

parisian digital art collective pleix has created an awesome video for the song "birds" by vitalic. super slo-mo dogs jumping around to synthtronica? sweet!
(thanks, newagey.)

beck and aphex twin

beck's classic album odelay produced several singles. on the "new pollution" 12", there's a remix of "devil's haircut" by aphex twin. it's called "richard's hairpiece (aphex twin remix)". it's a great name because richard d. james is known for being self-referential and scary in a satanic kinda way. fantastic, no? 1997. DGC/bong load.

watch kevin federline share his new single with us

pretty unbearable and even slightly insulting video of k-fed giving us a sneak preview of his song "popozao" while seated in the studio. strangely, he acts blown away, like he's sharing a secret new song that he's only heard once before. watch him nod his head and dance around as he explains that this is a brazilian beat.

[via thesuperficial]

c-clamp

continuing the tour through my mid-to-late 90s records collection, we've got c-clamp. great, slowish, somber stuff with melodic lead bass. like a quieter mogwai or a faster low. "shorty" is from their "saving daylight" single. only 1-side of the record has music; the other side has a weird psychadelic etching. interesting idea, but i would have preferred more songs! any c-clamp release is worth purchasing, etching or not. 1998. ohio gold records.

dj shadow's beat

one of my favorite hip-hop 12-inch singles is "the quickening" by lateef the truth speaker with dj shadow on the beats. the classic track "latyrx" featuring lyrics born is on the b-side. also on the b-side is something called "dj shadow's beat", a nice little drum piece that seems to be not that well-known. since people tend to soil themselves over anything dj shadow related, i figured i'd post it. 1996. solesides records.

sneakmove's inaugural record release

in case you didn't notice the new note on the left side of the page, we're happy to announce the sneakmove minicomp is here and ready for loving. these are limited edition records--we won't be pressing any more--and the music is hot. get more info here and listen to some samples.
(thanks everyone.)

"poe little rich girl" indeed

jacki-o has filed for bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy … wipes her slate of debts, which ranged from Bally's Total Fitness to the IRS to Verizon Wireless. More importantly, under the law, the bankruptcy voids personal services agreements, such as a recording contract, if terms of the deal inhibit the debtor's getting back on solid financial footing.

jeez, how much money could you really owe Bally's?

cool c given date for execution

late '80s/early '90s philly rapper cool c has been sentenced to die on march 9, although a stay is likely. cool c has been in jail since 1996, when he and steady b were convicted of a botched bank robbery which left a female police officer dead.

mc serch alarm clock

is off the fucking hook!

the dead presidents

a hip-hop single came out on olympia-based k records in 1995. pretty weird for a label known for punk and indie pop/rock stuff. the group was the dead presidents and the single was "spread butter" b/w "into something else". it's much more east coast sounding than what you'd expect from washington state. kinda like brand nubian or pete rock. for the chorus of "spread butter (remix)", they use a great coltrane loop. 1995. k records.

the electric company--coming to dvd

spidey is hiding in the background

the popular children's television program from the 70's is coming to dvd in february. two only two things i really remember about the show was that it was on right after sesame street, and it had a theme song with the funkiest guitar any five year old had ever heard. i've been looking for that song for years--watch the promo video up until the very end to get a taste of what i mean, and enjoy the awesome video style and graphic design.

50 cent sued by the dude that owns 2 live crew's music

looks like the guy who owns luke campbell's music (acquired after l.c. was forced into bankruptcy) feels that the "birthday" part of "in da club" is too similar to campbell's "it's your birthday" song. a lawsuit has been set in motion. something feels really sleazy about all of it.

get your music posted on itunes and make some cash

if you didn't read the "news" section of spin.com on jan 19, you might not know about a new service called tunecore--they will get your music posted on itunes, with you getting 100% of the sales revenues, just for a small fee (99cents per song plus an $8 yearly maintenence fee). aspiring musicians rejoice! but save a few bucks for marketing.

coldplay's chris martin, interviewed by ricky gervais

watch and laugh as ricky g. calls chris m. out on his unethical lifestyle.

Nacho style Lucha Libre

"A luchador is a practitioner of the anything-goes style of Mexican professional wrestling known as lucha libre" ("free fighting"). This form of Mexican pop culture will hit the American big screen Summer 2006. If this photo of the leading character, Nacho (Jack Black), is any indication of the movie's effect on busting guts then I think we are in for a classic!

My gut busted from laughter when I saw this photo.

100 classic commodore 64 games, ported to your browser

download nothing--play all the classic c64 80's video games right inside your browser of choice.

check the full list, click to load the game, and enjoy. and don't overlook the greatest game of all time, 720--let me know if you figure out how to do a full spin with the keyboard.

brian eno and harold budd

lots of people are familiar with brian eno's ambient music. my favorite of his ambient lp's is his collaboration with harold budd called ambient2: the plateaux of mirror. the whole thing is beautiful floaty piano and synth stuff. reverbed to the max. "first light" is 7-minutes of gorgeous devastation. settle in. 1980. eg records.

Amazon.com steps into the Retailainment* world

Amazon.com announces weekly on-line talk show hosted by Bill Maher. The mega-site will post links to buy any of the works mentioned during the show. Its first episode will feature author Stephen King, musician Rob Thomas, actress Toni Collette and writer Armistead Maupin. Now, when Maher asks King what his favorite knife set is all we have to do is look over at the program's display window and find the link to King's choice.
What's next, purchasing the clothing off the backs of Mischa Barton and Adam Brody from the newest episode of O.C.? (that's not a bad idea)

*Retailainment = retail and entertainment (should i trademark this?)

hot from the rumor mill: zach de la rocha w/ bad brains?

one rock site is reporting a bit from the ny post that states that the bad brains asked zach de la rocha to join the band (currently fronted by former cro-mags frontman john blodclot joseph), but he politely declined. is it true? we'll try to find out.

quarby's rad beastie boys remixes

it's no secret that sneakmover extraordinnaire quarterbar makes hot beats. but did you know he's been putting together totally rad beastie boys remixes recently? probably not, because the rascally guy is too bashful to post them here. that's why i'm gonna do it instead. right here. and now. check out beastie boys - "car thief" (quarterbar remix) and then check out beastie boys - "stop that train" (quarterbar remix).

super mario bros theme--played on guitar

watch this dude shred the shit out of the theme song from super mario bros... buckethead would be proud.

The ultimate keyboard is almost here!

There have been many changes in keyboard technology over the years. What self-respecting geek wouldn't be seen without one of these on their desk? Probably the same sort of well intentioned fellow committed to building his own under the ass keyboard.

But still, something seemed missing with these choices. That's where the Optimus Keyboard comes in! It has been discussed for a while, and rumour has it that it will finally be released on February 1. Look at the animated, mappable keys, for Christ sake! The designers behind it have also made some interesting chairs, and some not so interesting microwaves.

the spinanes

originally, the spinanes was the duo of rebecca gates and scott plouf. after their much-lauded debut, manos, critics mostly forgot them. drummer plouf left after their second record, strand, to play with built to spill. arches and aisles came next and it had some good songs. the sea and cake's john mcentire and sam prekop appear on the record. you can really hear mcentire's sound on "kid in candy". sometimes gates gets a bit too precious and sultry for my taste, but other times she really nails it. 1998. sub pop records.

spam to be gone in one week

on january 24, 2004, bill gates said that spam would be "solved" in two years. we're approaching that date, so let's all get ready for spam to be gone forever. no more cialis or rolex emails. thanks, bill. check out the old article.

video clip of sony's smooth dancing robots

these four little guys move so well, i wonder if there's someone hiding inside.

algae power to save the world

encouraging article about research done with algae to clean up emissions and relieve our reliance on petroleum. it's a two part process: one, use the algae as a filter to scrub harmful gasses from powerplant emissions, then two, harvest this energy-rich algae and turn it into biodiesel. the statistics are astounding. lets hope big oil doesn't kill this idea.

"shingo mama no oha!" feat. james brown

there's a clip on google video of a japanese kids show. it begins with the absurd image of man dressed in a pink, puffy schoolgirl's dress. he proceeds to lead kids and adults alike in a catchy whirlwind of a song. then it gets really absurd. james brown shows up. sure. fine. whatever.

microsoft dropping support for windows media player on mac

there's nothing sad about microsoft dumping the utterly useless wmp for mac program. word on the tech blogs is the generic windows media player page now directs you to a program that has been mentioned a few times here, flip4mac--a great program that lets you view wmv files in the quicktime player, a program 1000x better than wmp.

oil-cooled pc

some wacky german folks have created an oil-cooled computer. they poured 8 gallons of cooking oil into a lucite case right on top of the pc components. the fan is no longer needed. they say the system didn't short out because of the "non-conductive properties of the liquid". highly impractical, but *dang* that thing must be quiet!

french toast sticks on channel 101

a little while ago, i posted about a channel 101 show called yacht rock. a failed ch. 101 pilot that really makes me giggle is french toast sticks. the premise is simple: a giant chicken challenges a man to change his breakfast and his idea of friendship. the guy who plays the chicken is absolutely screaming to be heard inside his chicken mask. hilarious. not really work-safe.

transformers "the movie" - test footage vid

there's still no one talking about the transformers movie, which, as previously mentioned, has some big names attached to it. now a video of some test footage has surfaced, apparently from the industrial light and magic labs. looks much classier than that thundercats movie trailer that was shown last spring.
watch the video here or download it if you have trouble getting it to play in your browser.

google earth for mac

as a mac user, i've been anxious to get a hold of google earth. it's been available for pc, but not for mac. somehow this website has a version for mac avaiable for download.

google lists the following as key features:
- fly from space to your neighborhood. type in an address and zoom right in.
- search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. get driving directions.
- tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.
- save and share your searches and favorites. even add your own annotations.

ford's diesel-hybrid concept: the reflex

one of the noteable cars shown this weekend at detroit's auto show is a 65mpg diesel-hybrid from ford. as noted by sneakmove pal sizod:

I've never been a a big fan of Ford cars especially the newer models, but i really like this Diesel Hybrid from them called the Reflex. It has solar panels on the roof and does 65 miles per gallon.

Pretty sporty looking, and hopefully you can fill it with vegetable oil too...

bonnie prince billy and tortoise-thunder road

do you like bonnie prince billy? yeah? how about tortoise? cool, i thought so. heard this song "thunder road"? oh you have? ok nevermind.

[via non e niente]

james frey and jt leroy -- frauds?

finally, some fun intrigue brewing in the oft-stale lit world. first, the smoking gun published the results of a detailed investigation that claims a million little pieces author james frey fabricated many of the details in his megahit memoir. then, the new york times revealed (reg req'd) that jt leroy is actually a woman named savannah knoop! wacky authors -- what will they think of next?

hi there, i'm tupac.

this guy has a sweet name.

rest in peace, mr. rawls

very sad news today. the great lou rawls has passed away. in addition to having a great voice and making some really nice reocrds, he did an annual telethon to benefit UNCF. a great legacy of music and charitable works. thank you, lou rawls! check out his classic version of "season of the witch".

the goog's got the proof

google returns 11,000 results for the phrase "cingular sucks," so it's gotta be true.

give me an adjective

feed me good tunes comes up with a bunch of "obscure" madlib tunes to brighten your dismay over ariel sharon.

simpsons at macworld this year?

mac rumor sites are so ubiquitous that it feels wrong adding to the fire. but if you like the simpsons, you might keep an eye on the announcements from the upcoming macworld, as one site suggests apple and fox may announce their agreement to license simpsons episodes on the itunes store.

pretty amazing 3d sound sample

i was reading about this soundclip that simulates a 3d environment (front, back, sides, above and below), using just a standard set of headphones. thought it was going to be a cheap gimmick until i got about halfway into the sound sample. plug in your headphones, turn up the sound, and click here to test it out. then try to think of the most useful application to use it for.

my favorite sneaker ever given the reissue treatment

nike's air stab--one of the more sought-after "visible air" running shoes from the late 80s--has finally been rereleased in all its near-original colorway glory. while i have a few borderline obsessive complaints (WHAT? NO BLACK OUTSOLE?!?), these still beat the pants off the godawful foot patrol editions nike vomited up last fall.

two documentaries at sf's red vic theater to check out in january

date night!

red vic moviehouse (1727 haight st.) plays some great indie films. on thursday (jan 5) check out the fearless freaks, about the flaming lips' rise to quirky stardom from their oklahoma roots. and on jan 19th, a skin too few is a 48 minute short about the life and tragic shyness of nick drake. check out their full calendar.

britney on a dfa beat

ilxor.com's "i love music" forum has a thread about the much-talked-about britney spears song produced by dfa (tim goldsworthy and lcd soundsystem's james murphy). people thought it didn't exist, but it does. some kind soul posted the song for all of us to hear. rumor has it, dfa wasn't too impressed with britney. she definitely doesn't shine here, but the beat is nice.

hank stuever's hot/not list for 2006

the wapo's excellently surnamed hank stuever informs us that amy poehler is in while sarah silverman is un-in. man, they sure turned on you quickly, sarah!

(thanks, ct.)

today’s word of the day: john vanderslice

this solo artist and collaborator of the seminal band the mountain goats has the second greatest name in rock after snakedog tigerface, according to the village voice. he is also one of rock’s most generous artists. check out his site to get tons of free mp3s, photos he took and zip files of recent shows. i also think his song “time travel is lonely” is one of the best pop songs ever. also enjoy this version with spoon.

germs movie

there is a feature film about the germs in post production. the classic l.a. band had a volatile existence, even by 70s punk standards. should be interesting. thinking of other bands i'd like to see a movie about... dinosaur jr., minor threat, joy division, n.w.a., public enemy.

Recalled album cover art

Fun list of banned and/or altered covers over at Rate Your Music. You can definitely see why some of 'em were pulled. But others? Not so much.

Patrick Swayze to use "rap rhythms" on new music

Leave it to AllHipHop to turn this into a full-fledged article. Brilliant!

Swayze recently said he was experimenting with “rap rhythms as an emotional undercurrent for ballads.”

antony and the johnsons

the song "hope there's someone" from antony and the johnson's mercury award-winning i am a bird now is so pretty it hurts like 8th-grade heartbreak. this flash movie by adam scheter does about as good a job playing with that beauty as you can expect on the internet.

beck: "pink moon" cover

if you like nick drake and you like beck, you should listen to beck's cover of pink moon. if you like it you should buy it.

[via non e niente]