Category: media-and-expression

So I finally bought some tunes legally for the first time in a long time. I checked out a service called Audiojelly.com which has a huge back story and did a quick scan through my Tunes to get list and picked up quite a few of them. Obviously all 320k Mpeg3's with no DRM. In the end I bought…

• apologies (original mix)conrad s
• cause you know (nic chagall remix) markus schulz feat. departure
• frozen (original mix) dogzilla
• heaven scent (greg downey remix)bedrock
• how long? (original mix)aly & fila vs. fkn feat. jahala
• in the dark (tiesto trance mix) tiesto
• industry (original mix)the green martian
• kalopsia (monogato's filth remix) the blizzard
• lost in moonshine infinity (original mix) planisphere
• s.o.s. (message in a bottle) (sander van doorn remix) filterfunk
• the fall (richard durand remix) way out west

I found Audiojelly really simple and quick to add and buy tracks. They also seemed to do everything correctly, for example I added loads of tunes into my playlist before even signing up. I only needed to signup when I wanted to buy them and even then everything was smooth. The price of the songs isn't as cheap as elsewhere but for dance music they seem to have a wide selection. Maybe not as many as beatport but its not as painful to use as beatport. The only bit of Flash on the page was the playlist and that worked well the rest of the site. You can do stuff like embed, bookmark and even send a chunk to a friend for their approval or something.

I think I'm going to get more into mixing. I've checked out a couple other dj applications for ubuntu but its a area which is in need of much more voices and effort. I would like to think my pacemaker will do away with the need for switching back to Windows to run Virtual DJ but it looks a long way off at the moment. I don't talk to me about virtualisation, it works but that split second difference is killer when mixing live.

Technorati Tags: virtualdj, mixing, tunes, audiojelly, downloadstore, musicstore

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So I watched Cloverfield one night while in Hamburg and it suprised me. I actually enjoyed it and liked the rough camcorder style of the whole film. But I really wanted to watch it big and in the cinema. So I did at my local Odeon in Greenwich and enjoyed it even more. I'm no saying this is the best film ever made or anything but if you just sit down and enjoy it, you certainly will. Its also not a turn your brain off movie either, its got some clever bits to go with the physiological horror of not know what the thing is or what its capable of. Thumbs up from me, but go see it in cinemas before watching it at home, this movie was made for the large sceen only.

Technorati Tags: cloverfield, horror, drama, love, physiological, cinema, film

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Not only have they decided to move the Real Hustle to Las Vegas (yes you can watch it now on iplayer) part 1 and part 2 but TruTV or as it use to be called CourtTV have bought the rights to do a american version of the popular UK show. Shame they got some Magician and actress to join Apollo Robbins whos actually good at what he does. Anyway you can watch most of the shows on the real hustle site.

Technorati Tags: realhustle, hustle, trutv, con, conartist, socialenginnering

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From ZDNet

Online retailer Amazon.com said Sunday it will begin an international roll-out this year of its digital music store that offers songs without copy-protection technology known as digital rights management. Amazon said it is the only retailer to offer DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as thousands of independent labels.

I'm actually considering getting a couple of tunes legally and I don't want a CD (believe it or not I've not a audio CD for over 10 years!). No I can't use iTunes because I'm on Linux and hey do I really want to give Apple any money? Napster, Rhapsody and iTunes don't have a great dance selection either. Beatport do have a great selection of dance music including but oh my goodness I hate that interface. Amazon please launch in the UK and kill off these bunch of pretenders.

Technorati Tags: mp3, amazon, musicstore

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Steal this film II is out but what's more interesting is the next project the League of Noble Peers are working on – The oil of the 21st Century

'Intellectual property', said Mark Getty, 'is the oil of the twenty first century'. Getty is chairman of Getty Images and one of the world's largest intellectual proprietors. His comment offers a unique perspective on the conflicts evolving around information as it penetrates and shapes every aspects of our lives — from nutrition to medicine, from markets to civil liberties.

This film explores those conflicts. Established and developing
economies wage war on each other through restriction and promulgation of information, with devastating consequences on lives and ways of life. Nations like Britain and the US, once information 'pirates' themselves, now support the rights of massive corporations to protect their pharmaceutical patents at the expense of lives in developing countries. Meanwhile, burgeoning Asian economies exploit difficulties with enforcement to create multi-billion dollar pirate industries that are increasingly seen as a real threat to Hollywood.

oh by the way I noticed the abstract blur was filmed at Ravensbourne College, I have thoughts who the blur could be but I'm not going to say in public.

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So I saw this trailer while browsing around my rss reader. Looks like a decent action film but what struck me was the concept seemed to remind me of a excellent William Sleator book titled Strange Attractors. From memory the book has a character who can teleport anywhere and ends up meeting a couple other people who can do the same. Those other people don't quite have the same ethics about teleportation and hence the start of a plot. Anyway it looks we will have to wait till the day after Valentines day to watch this in UK cinemas. Luckily thats only a day after most of the world.

Technorati Tags: cinemas, jumper, film, trailer, williamsleator, strangeattractors, teleportation, teleport

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Can I just say how excellent Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is. When they going to get around to doing a few more films based on the follow on books? I considered a while ago buying the series on ebay as I love the darkness and wit involved in the books.

Technorati Tags: lemonysnicket, book, film, ebay

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I've heard some strange ideas for TV shows but whoever thought up this one must be barking mad. First heard on a NPR podcast then later on the register

Tiger Team follows a group of elite freelance security consultants hired to test organisations' security by using social engineering, hacking, and physically defeating security mechanisms. So we expect to see our heroes picking locks and going through the trash to get clues all the while maintaining an uneasy relationship with their clients and law enforcement officials.

Even the register are sniffing out this show long term appeal.

The plot elements have appeared before in films such as Sneakers, starring Robert Redford. It's hard to see how a story arc strong enough to sustain interest over the course of a TV series can be sustained from these elements.

The first programme is due to screen at 11pm on Christmas Day on CourtTV, which is hardly a recipe for a large audience. On the plus side, those watching will be probably too sozzled to notice any plot holes or technical errors.

Technorati Tags: tigerteam, tv, media, courttv, theregister, Penetrationtesting, Penetration, testing, security

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Public Broadcast on a public tracker: BitTorrent, Inc. received an endorsement of sorts from the US government, as the subsidized television network PBS (Public Broadcasting System) has agreed to distribute shows on the BEN (BitTorrent Entertainment Network). The announcement made today will bring many of PBS' more popular shows to the online store.

Is there an arguement that every public broadcaster should be doing this with content they have 100% cleared? Hummm what happened to our deal with Zudeo/VuzeTribbler?

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Actually these kids really are 5 and 8 years old. Spied via Facebook's friend rss feed. Nice scratching and I can hardly believe their ages.

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Sometimes I like the high adrenaline fuelled action films that the film industry puts out. The last film like this I watched and loved was Crank, hence I'm also looking forward to seeing War at some point in the near future. I watched Smokin Aces recently and was let down by its highly ilogical plot and how it tried to take its self somewhat seriously. Shoot'em up like crank doesn't take its self seriously and delivers just 90mins of pure adrenaline rushing, mind numming, laugh out loud, entertainment. The only time it slows down is for sharp pieces of dialogue. Its just what I needed after a difficult weekend.

I'm not the only one who loved the film, check out this imdb review titled Perhaps the Most Shamelessly Ridiculous Film Ever Conceived.

Are you tired of all those heartless, senseless, generic and cliché, action-driven Hollywood films? That honor style and blood over character and plot? Well then I have news for you: don't go see “Shoot Em' Up”.

But it's a shame that you won't. The film whose trailer I pointed to and said 'that's what film-making has come to these days; all attitude and no heart', turns out to be the most fun and riotous satire I've seen in a long time. “Shoot Em' Up”–a relentless, simultaneously energizing and hilarious movie–is a surprisingly smart confection. As conceived by writer-director Mike Davis its an over-the-top send-up of every action film ever made; a wink and a nod (as well as a parody of) to the bloody overkill of “Die Hard” and “Rambo”, the gleeful excitement and charm of “Indiana Jones”, the cornball abandon of “James Bond”, the who cares of “North by Northwest”, the heroic terseness and ease of “Bourne”, the ultra-stylized and preposterous overdrive of “The Matrix” or anything ever made by John Woo (particularly a love for “Hard-Boiled”), and even in one scene the splendid lunacy of “Raising Arizona”.

The whole project, through controlled chaos and witty abandon, is made as a single, continuous in-joke. As in most films that take themselves too seriously, Clive Owen's hero (enigmatically titled Mr. Smith) quite literally never stops shooting. He shoots while having sex, he shoots while in the middle of free-fall, he shoots the umbilical cord off of a baby, he shoots with his fingers broken. Davis takes over-the-top to a whole new level; poking fun at action movies by taking their ridiculousness to its brinking point.

Yes the sex scene was perfectly delivered and unlike other films (except crank again) not pushed in for the sake of its self. I urge you to see this film in the highest defination you can get (cinema if possible) as there's no slow downs or clever camera tricks. Its just all the way out there action and before you know it the film will be over with a bang. Yes I won't be able to look at Carrots in the same way again.

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After a painful break up with his first girlfriend Suzy, Ben, an aspiring artist, develops insomnia. To take his mind off his problem he spends his nights working at a local supermarket, where he meets colourful characters. He falls in love with his colleague Sharon.

He lets his imagination run wild. In particular, he imagines that he can stop time for others, so that he can walk around in a world that is “frozen” like in pause mode of a film. He imagines female clients standing frozen in the supermarket, so that he can undress and draw them.

This film Cashback was reminded me of my earlier life working in Tesco over night, except the drawing them part. Anyway worth watching, as its a good well executed feel good British movie.

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