Ministry of Culture {tfn}

When Old Dogs Steal New Tricks

2006-04-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

Netflix v. Blocksuckster:

Netflix claims that Blockbuster knew of the company's 2003 patent and its work towards the second, yet ignored them with the launch of Blockbuster Online. Netflix added that the action to sue Blockbuster had to be taken in order to protect its business interests.

Blockbuster had no comment as it had not reviewed the lawsuit as of press time. However, its new online component is playing a huge role in the company's future business strategy.

i.e. Blockbuster has no future ;P

(via Beta News)

Mash-ups by the Bay

2006-04-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

Check out some some hot bastard pop.

This one's especially for Orzol.
Don't Mess with Orgasmatron

SF-Style
What's my name?
I Like the Way Jenny Scrubs
My Bad
Decepta-Freak-On

French Bastard Pop
Can I Kick It Like That?
Forbidden Licks

Original MySpace Bonus
Passion Boys is Fireman

Kick that, flip that, trick that thang

2006-03-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

LoopKicks is hot. Krumping hot. I don't know much about it, but it would seem to be (AZN) America's response to Le Parkour. Layer hip-hop styling on top of streetfighter-inspired martial arts and you get people like Kim Do Nguyen poppin', flipping and tricking. Checking out all this Loopkicks footage is giving me a serious VJ itch in need of a scratch.

(via Wired)

CNN rant: The Capitalist News Network

2006-03-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

Sono arrabiata. CNN is a farse. The ineptitude of their on-air operations and blatant bias in what they consider newsworthy: where they choose to direct our attention and the commercial filter put over everything from Sports to Fashion coverage infuriates me.

Yesterday it was cutting off Woodwind & Bernstein, who were slicing deep into why the American public should be really scared of our Presidency, for a really boring non-live news worthy Hamas Parlimental swearing in. Covering Hamas is important, but a long, boring, poorly translated "Thank you" speech is not. That's one sentence at the bottom of the screen: Hama-lead parliment sworn in. Basta.

No, this was a ploy to redirect attention from the malignant tumor infesting American politics (brand me conspiracy theorist if you will, we [over]throw all the best [political] parties). This was CNN dumping a wet blanket on a serious discussion about capital "I" Impeachment. Woodwind and Bernstein were with the King of Chat comparing the Nixon Whitehouse to the Bush Ever-deepening-shades-of-Grayhouse, and it was mostly the fat smart one - yeah Bernstein, making big, important statements that we, the sleeping American public, need to hear. But then... oh what's that Larry? Time for a commercial break? Not before we shill the new book we're publishing.

Today it is Milosevic's funeral arrangements which is the "Breaking News" cutting off a critic of America's gun policy. During an interview, on this day marking the 10 year anniversary of a gun massacre in the UK, they have a guest from an international firearms control group. CNN's talking head baits the easy hook, "Which countries are doing the worst in this regard?" South African and countries in South America are named, but among indutrialized nations, the US has the worst record. Not surprising. Our guest (the control nut) says the US is not cooperating with the UN to create international guidelines for gun control policy... uh oh boys, now she's crossed the line! You can hear people in the control room scrambling pulling the line... BREAKING NEWS pops up on the screen - the anchor butts in, "They (my puppetmasters) say guns don't kill people. People kill people... And now some breaking news!" Gee... what could be so urgent? Ah yes, the details of Milosevic's funeral arrangements. Lovely. No apologies to the woman who was cut off, no further references to gun control. If you hadn't been paying attention, it never happened.

Capitalist News Network strikes again AND AGAIN.

The Soft Side of Kim Ki-duk: La Casa Vuota

2006-01-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

Another gem of Korean cinema, 3-iron (빈집;empty house) is a modern masterpiece and a perfect introduction to the Korean (Hallyu) Wave. What an amazing movie. Soft, powerful. Light. In my opinion the English title is inappropriate for the movie, I much prefer the more detailed Italian title, Ferro3-La Casa Vuota. Ghi and her sisters seemed to unable to look past the directors' (김기덕;Kim Ki-duk ) history, as his past films have been quite misogynistic, and after seeing Bad Guy I can hardly blame them, but this one's not bad at all. It surprised me as well. Hope you get to see it. If you like the buddhist atonement for one's past lives theme, then you might enjoy Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. I'm looking forward to seeing The Bow.

Down with iTunes, Up with Bleem!

2004-12-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

Legal Music. So... I've taken my time to see the light and find the road to the straight and narrow, but just now (right right now... the files are still downloading) I finally purchased an mp3 album over the internet. No, not with the Apple iTunes Store. Nope, I used Bleep. And I'd like to thank Warp Records for making it easy, those fine designer gentlemen at Kleber for making it look good, and those delectable Corker/Conboy tracks for being otherwise elusive.

Music: A Night in Torino with Mr. Blythe

2004-10-09T05:11:00.000-07:00

it's 5:11 am on a saturday morning and i have the echos of dancehall footsteps creating walls of white noise in the recesses of my inner ear, the reek of cigarette ash dusting my shoulders, the filth, the spilt alcohol staining my jeans, the incredible waves of mist and darkness on the highway with maya at the wheel and doubting steve raising yellow flags, the hospitality of cold beers, complimentary tickets, and shared gummy bears warmed with body heat, the emotional ambush of a bomb wrapped in black audio tape, ghost of a canned love confession, a matchmaking session slash idle speculation, a shared love of berlin, and the discovery that nothing is better than coming home sober.

A Young Imperialist's Guide to Seoul Nightlife

2004-06-04T00:26:00.000-07:00

CLAZZIQUAI CD release party presented by FLUXUS MUSIC.

the essence of the night crystalized as a stream of sweat running from the hallow of my back down into crevice of my buttocks, the venue was so poorly ventilated the male singer had to keep wiping perspiration out of his eyes and his pretty boy image was a bit tarnished by the large sweat stain spreading on the back of his jacket. The heart of the problem were the isolated airconditioners weakly pushing warm air, along with the smoggy conditions encouraged by our Constant Corporate Sponsor, TEAM IRAQI ATTAQI (British American) TOBACCO.

after 3 hours of some fun but familiar djing (all the usual suspects, very parisan house circa 1999 - never trust a dj who wears sunglasses!) accompanied by an iTunes aspiring VJ (spider [farted and died] in my brain [also clad in sunglasses]) we were treated to the live stars, more of a pop duo than a jazz/eletronic/lounge fusion group, a bit too poppy, too girly, and too commercial. could have used more emphasis on the guitarist and drummer as a live jazz jam session and less on the canned love ballads over sythesizer. Next weekend is JAZZTRONIC from Japan. Hopefully the music is better but don't have much faith in the venue, just too "cool" to be comfortable.