my.bicycle

(thanks, KDBryan!)

Labels: video

(Brad Sucks)

Labels: video

(thanks, the other michæl)

Labels: video

8-BIT OPERATORS - KRAFTWERK TRIBUTE. (thanks, weezie!)

warrenellis.com: DOKTOR SLEEPLESS: The Coupon

Some exceptionally cool videogame related art at 2007 Into the Pixel, notification via the ConceptArt.org. Make sure to check luscious examples of previous years’ offerings under the VIEW ART category. Potential participants are here reminded: Art Submission Deadline: May 4, 2007

Labels: games

Excellent Web 2.0 music recommendation service, Pandora, is in danger -- again; along with every other US-based internet-radio site, thanks to the lapdogs in DC rimming the rear portals of the MAFIAA. This was in my Inbox today:

Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.

In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us.

Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541

Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better.

Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential.

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.

-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

This clearly seems to be the "copyright industry" attempting to keep a stranglehold on the venues through which people can access their content. Traditional broadcast radio was in the pocket of the record labels LONG before clear channel monopolized the airwaves. Satellite radio has also caused panic in the RIAA despite the opportunities for business growth that it presented. But the one thing that scares companies most is change, and the introduction of webcast radio holds the greatest potential for change that music dissemination has ever seen. I urge you to take a look at the site Westergren has offered up, and if this concerns you at all (and if you enjoy Pandora, or any 'net radio, it should) and let the government know who they're supposed to serve; the form is dirt simple and automatically selects the congresspeeps based on your state of residence.

The other week, someone showed me something called “Hobo With A Shotgun” on the Engine. But I was tired and bleary-eyed, and misread it as 'Hobo Shogun.’ I was, for a moment, happy that there was such a thing as “Hobo Shogun” in the world.

Weeks later, I am still inexplicably saddened that there is not a film out there called “Hobo Shogun.”
—Warren Ellis

Regarding Magic: The Gathering:

Richard Garfield prefers the name 'Trading Card Game' as opposed to 'Collectable Card Game.' 'I feel it emphasizes the playing aspect rather than the speculation aspect of the game,' he's said. He added: 'Good games last forever -- collectables come and go.' Of course, the collectable nature of the game drove up prices early on, which had the designers worried. It wasn't until the 'Fallen Empires' Magic expansion that enough cards were produced that the speculative market collapsed.
FilePlanet Spotlight: Ten Things You Never Knew About Magic: The Gathering

Labels: games

In my opinion it's always been a fallacy, the notion that human characters have to look photo-realistic in CG. You can do so much more with stylized human characters. Audiences innately know how humans move and gravity works, so if a human character doesn't feel right, they'll feel something's wrong. But if the weight works for stylized characters, the audience doesn't question it - like the Dwarfs in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, which were so cartoony and stylized. In THE INCREDIBLES, the characters are cartoony heroes but they can be hurt and they have this family dynamic that makes them believable.' Ralph Eggleston, Artistic Director for THE INCREDIBLES "
The Ward-O-Matic: The Polar Express: A Virtual Train Wreck (conclusion)

Does what the subject line above says: Tunes at Good Blimey! In particular, Aaliyah vs. Edit Ant That You Somebody is der sweetnessen. Edit: Pussylicker (Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker vs. Khia’s one-hit-wonderness) is irresistable. (thanks, el otro miguel)

Sid Haig C.Ht. is advertising as a professional hypnotherapist on Adult Industry News. If you were a pornstar, would you let House of 1000 Corpses’ Captain Spaulding give you hypnotic control over your curvaceous bod?!

Listen to the new NIN album, YEAR ZERO, online. (apocalinks)
Warning: email reg required (though fake addies go through nicely)

Kiddie slide. (apocalinks)

Bootie NYC - New York City's all-mashup bootleg party

Get your bootleg/mashups on with Bootie in NYC, or just scope the top ten mashies, available as MP3 download at the site! (Thanks, Sean!)

Labels: music