Blogizdat (Just Think About It)

Yer

2012-01-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

Saudade

2012-01-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

Gaiman On 'Piracy' And Copyright

2012-01-23T21:12:00.000-08:00

from the epiphanies dept

Public Knowledge points us to a wonderful short clip of Neil Gaiman, being interviewed by the Open Rights Group, explaining how he has completely changed his mind about "piracy" and copyright:

He admits that early on, when he saw his works "pirated" on the web, it made him quite upset. At first, he (totally incorrectly) believed that if he didn't fight online copies, it might mean he'd lose his copyright (a myth based on a weak understanding of trademark law that sometimes people confuse with copyright law). Thankfully, he learned that wasn't true. However, where it gets interesting is when he realized that whenever his works got "pirated," it actually seemed to help his sales.

Read the rest here.

If I Don't Write

2012-01-20T22:38:00.000-08:00

You Said Something

2012-01-20T19:55:00.000-08:00

72 Minutos De Silencio

2012-01-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

Where It All Started :-)

2012-01-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

Ten best "Extreme Ironing" stunts from around the world

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From Wikipedia:

Extreme Ironing (i.e. EI) is an extreme sport and a performance art in which people take an ironing board to a remote location and iron items of clothing. According to the official website, extreme ironing is "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt."

Part of the attraction and interest the media has towards extreme ironing seems to centre on the issue of whether it is really a sport or not. It is widely considered to be tongue-in-cheek.^[1]

Some locations where such performances have taken place include a mountainside of a difficult climb; a forest; in a canoe; while skiing or snowboarding; on top of large bronze statues; in the middle of a street; underwater; in the middle of the M1 Motorway;^[2] during a keirin race;^[3] whilst parachuting;^[4] and under the ice cover of a lake. The performances have been conducted solo or by groups.

Read the rest here.

Your Pocket Knows

2012-01-16T14:58:00.000-08:00

From The WTF Files

2012-01-16T14:27:00.000-08:00

From ZDNet:

Get a Facebook girlfriend for just $5

By Emil Protalinski
January 14, 2012
4:45pm PST

Summary: Do you want a Facebook girlfriend? Do you want to risk $5 in the hopes this isn’t a scam or a hoax? If you answered yes to both these questions, then these ads on Fiverr are for you!

Those desperate to be seen with a girlfriend on Facebook will be interested to know that there apparently is a quick-and-easy solution. Aside from actually trying to get a girlfriend, you can head over to Fiverr, a website that allows people to sell various services for just $5. “Women” there want to sell their Facebook relationship status to you.

Read the rest here.

Uma Rosa

2012-01-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

Convert Youtube files to MP3

2012-01-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

25 Best Websites To Convert YouTube Videos To MP3 Online

Lana Del Rey On SNL

2012-01-15T17:29:00.000-08:00

From The Huffington Post:

Internet phenomenon Lana Del Rey had her U.S. television debut on SNL Saturday night. Del Rey has thus far remained largely within the confines of the internet -- she first gained international attention with her song, "Video Games," and followed up with a series of internet releases in rapid succession, all of which will be featured on her forthcoming album, Born To Die. According to Stereogum, she's the first artist to perform on SNL before the release of a major label album since Natalia Imbruglia.

Her performance Saturday night was under high scrutiny by those who are familiar with her internet videos, and her American debut for those who've never heard her name. For these reasons, it possibly couldn't have gone worse.

Read the rest here - with video of both performances.
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Ouch!

My take?

Lana Del Rey wasn't the best last night, but she wasn't that bad, either, I mean 'Video Games' was weak, but 'Blue Jeans' was lovely, it really was, and I know she's capable of alot better cause I've seen her do a number of other live performances, like that Jools Holland gig in October, where she was amazing.

Look, she had a bit of an off-night and it was unfortunate, given that SNL was supposed to effectively be her musical coming-out party, but the show is one of the few places on TV where performers are required to do their thing live, no do-over, no autotune, no lip-synching, no net, and it's not an easy thing to do for a solo performer, not just in front of a live audience, but in front of tens of millions in the viewing audience.

Anyway, I'm convinced she would have been eviscerated in the press no matter how well she'd done, cause hating on LDR has become some kind of national blood sport in the press over the past few weeks.

Her offense?

Sporting a sorta-manufactured image, daring to be different, daring to be glamorous, but hell's bells, that could be said about most entertainment industry performers.

So, I suppose she takes the spear for being the prettiest girl in the room?

Whatever.

In the end, I think she's a beautiful shy and talented girl who has gotten caught up in something bigger than she ever really knew, but I just hope she sticks to her guns and keeps plugging away at her music and doesn't let last night's stumble derail what ought to be a very lucrative and productive year for her.

Chin up, girl, you've still got more fans than haters, just sayin'!

The Joy Of Books

2012-01-10T05:23:00.001-08:00

Mais Tulipas Amerelas

2012-01-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

1 To 9 Meme

2012-01-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

From Blogizdat LJ:

1 Photo

- just because:

2 Secrets

Okay, but if I tell, then they aren't secrets anymore, are they? well, here goes:

- When I was 7 I asked of my mom (and received) an embroidery hoop, and over the next couple of years I got to be pretty good at cross-stitch, till someone let it slip that boys weren't supposed to be into such things, and by the time I was 10 it was all part of my past

- I've never so much as even tried The Chronic, not as a lad or as an adult, but when I was 16 I decided to try something that was about as stupid as it comes, took a sheet of notebook paper and some crushed/dried Eucalyptus leaves, rolled a blunt, lit it and inhaled - I *did* say it was stupid, didn't I?

Read the rest here.

Songs In My Head

2012-01-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

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This Is Just Wrong - But Still Funny-As-Hell

2012-01-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Sexy And You Know It

2012-01-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

In Case You Missed It

2011-12-31T19:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T13:28:00.001-08:00

ilux

Umas Tulipas Amerelas

2011-12-31T13:24:00.000-08:00

Songs In My Head

2011-12-31T12:46:00.000-08:00

"Born To Die"
Lana Del Rey
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"I'm Yours"
Natalie Lungley
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"Wonderwall"
(Oasis cover)
Natalie Lungley
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"Videogames"
(Lana Del Rey cover)
Ell Hayche
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What Are You Doing NYE?

2011-12-31T09:32:00.000-08:00

Say Anything

2011-12-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

It's Like This And Like That And Like This...

2011-12-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

Uma Rosa

2011-12-25T07:52:00.000-08:00

Songs In My Head

2011-12-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

Arbeit Macht Frei

2011-12-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Awful Library Books

2011-12-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

Awful Library Books

A Christmas Compilation From HalfHearted Dude

2011-12-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

From HalfHearted Dude:

"The trouble with acoustic covers of popular songs is that some earnest singer armed with a guitar will slow down Jingle Bells and whisper the lyrics as if they have a deep meaning. I have no principles that compel me to disallow the notion of whispering songstresses, but on this Christmas mix I’ve tried to keep them to a respectful minimum. Still, we have the doses of yuletide angst which the acoustic genre prescribes to go with the upbeat welcome of the merry season.

Don’t be alarmed by the inclusion of three tracks called Christmas Song: they are all different songs.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R (which, given the opening track, is an even moire ironic than sun on a Christmas Day) and comes with home-baked covers. There is even an alternate front cover, if you don’t like seasonal ornaments!"

Down his lastest Christmas mix here.

And check out his site, lots more compilations there.

Estoy Aqui

2011-12-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T05:34:00.000-08:00

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Download and listen to the Charles Dickens classic 'A Christmas Carol' at Audiobooks.org.

GILU

2011-12-17T14:22:00.001-08:00

Christopher Hitchens: RIP

2011-12-17T14:11:00.000-08:00

From The New York Times:

Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, Dies at 62

By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: December 16, 2011

Christopher Hitchens, a slashing polemicist in the tradition of Thomas Paine and George Orwell who trained his sights on targets as various as Henry Kissinger, the British monarchy and Mother Teresa, wrote a best-seller attacking religious belief, and dismayed his former comrades on the left by enthusiastically supporting the American-led war in Iraq, died on Thursday in Houston. He was 62.

The cause was pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer, Vanity Fair magazine said in announcing the death, at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Mr. Hitchens, who lived in Washington, learned he had cancer while on a publicity tour in 2010 for his memoir, “Hitch-22,” and began writing and, on television, speaking about his illness frequently.

“In whatever kind of a ‘race’ life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist,” Mr. Hitchens wrote in Vanity Fair, for which he was a contributing editor.

Read the rest of the NY Times OBIT here.

And for an example of why Hitchens will be sorely missed, read this from Vanity Fair, November 2007.

Winning!

2011-12-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

Spatula City!

2011-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Recipe For Happiness

2011-12-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

Songs In My Head

2011-12-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

"I Need You To Turn To"
Elton John
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"Place To Be"
Nick Drake
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"Pilot Of The Airwaves"
Charlie Dore
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"Charlie Brown/Paradise"
Coldplay
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Don't Judge

2011-12-16T20:52:00.000-08:00

Life Without Music

2011-12-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

My Brain

2011-12-16T20:43:00.000-08:00

Yellow Tulips Timelapse

2011-12-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

Criticism

2011-12-15T20:22:00.000-08:00

Pachy Derm

2011-12-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

Seven Christmas Songs by the innocence mission

2011-12-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

Seven Christmas Songs by the innocence mission

Umas Rosas

2011-12-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

Songs In My Head

2011-12-13T21:24:00.001-08:00

"This Year's Love" (live)
David Gray
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"You're The One That I Want" (live)
Angus And Julia Stone
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"The Blower's Daughter" (live)
Damien Rice
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"Nothing Compares 2U" (live)
Sinead O'Connor
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Life Would Be Perfect

2011-12-13T21:13:00.001-08:00

Your Job's Not So Bad

2011-12-13T20:54:00.000-08:00

My One Regret

2011-12-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

Not

2011-12-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

Interweb 2.01

2011-12-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

Mais Tulipas Amarelas

2011-12-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

Like Music

2011-12-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Indeed

2011-12-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

Song In My Head

2011-12-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

Memories

2011-12-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

Pitchfork Review Of Bush's 'Snow'

2011-12-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

From Pitchfork:

Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

Anti-/Fish People; 2011

By Ryan Dombal; November 21, 2011
8.5 Best New Music

On "Wild Man", the first single from Kate Bush's winterized 10th album, the singer tells of an expedition searching for the elusive Abominable Snowman. "They want to know you," she coos, "They will hunt you down, then they will kill you/ Run away, run away, run away." Of course, when it comes to modern popular figures-- who often court fame and adulation with an obsessiveness that can be fascinating or just plain sad-- Bush herself is something of a mythical beast. 50 Words for Snow is only her second album of original material in the last 17 years, and she hasn't performed a full concert since her groundbreaking and theatrical Tour of Life wrapped up its six-week run in 1979. So it's no surprise that she readily sympathizes with the misunderstood monster at the center of "Wild Man": "Lying in my tent, I can hear your cry echoing round the mountainside/ You sound lonely."

Read the rest here.

LA Times Review Of Kate Bush's 'Snow'

2011-12-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

From The LA Times:

Album Review: Kate Bush's "50 Words for Snow"
November 21, 2011 | 5:22 pm

From up on that hill, perhaps wearing a capelet over a flowy Victorian gown, Kate Bush has been regarded as a spirit saint of fearless individuality by a generation of musicians such as Björk and Tori Amos as well as younger mystics-in-training such as Florence Welch, Leslie Feist and Bat for Lashes. All that adoration in the ether must’ve stirred the reclusive British singer-songwriter to create not just one album this year — “Director’s Cut,” a reinterpretation of songs from “The Sensual World” and “The Red Shoes” — but also a second one, “50 Words for Snow,” an art-song cycle that veers from delicate to blustery but always with a sheen of elegance.

Read the rest here.

The 15 Most Massively Popular Websites You've Never Heard Of

2011-12-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

Here

Your Moment Of Zen

2011-12-07T18:40:00.001-08:00

Tulipas Amarelas

2011-12-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

Wake-Dreaming

2011-12-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

Truly, Madly

2011-12-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

It Never Gets Easier

2011-12-04T14:53:00.001-08:00

Every Day I'm Truffling

2011-12-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

Otters And Bunnies - Daily

2011-12-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Michael Jackson Vs Mr. Bean

2011-12-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

Weighing In

2011-12-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

From Yahoo!7/West Australian:

Man reunites with world’s heaviest woman because he ‘missed the sex’

7 November 23, 2011, 7:44 am

A man has rekindled his romance with the woman who won the Guinness World Record as the world’s heaviest woman because he ‘missed the sex’.

Pauline Potter, weighs in at an astonishing 330kg, has become so heavy that she needs assistance to move.

Her 19-year-old son Dillon has become her carer and does everything including cooking and cleaning for his mum.

However her ex-husband is eager to take over these duties after realising what a mistake he made by letting her go.

He told the UK’s Sun newspaper: “She can't walk, dress herself or even go to the toilet on her own — but I'm desperate to be her lover and caretaker again.

"Plus I miss our sex life. Pauline could be 70st and we'd still have sex every single day because it's that good.

Read the rest here.

All We Need

2011-12-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

Songs In My Head

2011-12-03T17:29:00.000-08:00

"Anchor"
Mindy Gledhill
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"All About Your Heart"
Mindy Gledhill - feat. Fiona Brawley
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"Feather In The Wind"
Mindy Gledhill
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"Whole Wide World"
Mindy Gledhill
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From The WTH Files

2011-12-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.sarahjessicaparkerlookslikeahorse.com/

I Need To Get One

2011-12-03T17:02:00.000-08:00

Here

Venus And Mars

2011-12-03T16:58:00.000-08:00

Songs In My Head

2011-12-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

"Wild Man (Segment)"
Kate Bush
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"Wild Man - (radio edit still video)"
Kate Bush
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"Mistraldespair"
Kate Bush
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Things Like These

2011-12-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Uma Rosa

2011-12-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

Song In My Head (x6)

2011-11-30T05:21:00.000-08:00

"Video Games"
(Live - The Premises)
Lana Del Rey
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"Video Games"
(Live TV Debut - Jools Holland)
Lana Del Rey
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"Video Games"
(Live TV - Inas Nacht)
Lana Del Rey
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"Video Games"
(Live Lana Del Rey Cover - BBC)
Bombay Bicycle Club
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"Video Games"
(Live Lana Del Rey Cover - BBC)
Kasabian
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"Video Games"
(Live Lana Del Rey Cover)
Jona Francis
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GIMY

2011-11-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

Everything Else Is Secondary

2011-11-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

Follow Your Heart

2011-11-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

Disconnect And Reconnect

2011-11-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

“Our lives disconnect and reconnect, we move on, and later we may again touch one another, again bounce away. This is the felt shape of a human life, neither simply linear nor wholly disjunctive nor endlessly bifurcating, but rather this bouncey-castle sequence of bumpings-into and tumblings-apart.

In spite of all evidence that life is discontinuous, a valley of rifts, and that random chance plays a great part in our fates, we go on believing in the continuity of things, in causation and meaning. But we live on a broken mirror, and fresh cracks appear in its surface every day. ”

- Salman Rushdie

Uma Rosa

2011-11-26T17:20:00.000-08:00

Buildings

2011-11-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

Travel+Leisure offers its picks:

- Most Beautiful

- Ugliest

When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong

2011-11-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

CakeWrecks

The "Blog" Of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

2011-11-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

"..."

Songs In My Head

2011-11-26T10:33:00.000-08:00

"The Ship Song"
(Nick Cave Piano Cover)
EasyPiano

"Nick Cave Songbook" available here
(registration required)
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"81"
(Joanna Newsom Piano Cover)
EasyPiano

Sheet Music available here here
(registration required)

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FYE*

2011-11-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

*For Your Enjoyment

It's Complicated

2011-11-24T06:13:00.000-08:00

Huge drama queens on Facebook

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T05:07:00.000-08:00

I Want To Thank You...

2011-11-24T05:04:00.000-08:00

Your Moment Of Zen

2011-11-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

The Only Writing Rules You'll Ever Need

2011-11-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

Not With A Whimper

2011-11-23T18:27:00.001-08:00

Central Meat

2011-11-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

M-Songs In My Head

2011-11-23T10:25:00.000-08:00

"Sail Away (live)"
David Gray
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"The Blower's Daughter (live)"
Damien Rice
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"Black The Sun (live)"
Alex Lloyd
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"Grace (live)"
Jeff Buckley
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"Somewhere Over The Rainbow (live)"
Jason Castro
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Doctor Who?

2011-11-22T06:54:00.000-08:00

From Wales Online:

Can the very British Doctor Who become a Hollywood blockbuster?

As producers announce plans to bring Doctor Who to the big screen, Thomas Pascoe looks at the mixed history of much-loved TV institutions getting the full Hollywood treatment

TAKE a British telly institution, add a huge budget and American razzamatazz and what could possibly go wrong? After all, it’s worked for the X Factor.

Doctor Who fans may need slightly more convincing than that, though.

The series, which has clocked up 783 episodes since its debut in 1963, is all set for a new big-screen incarnation according to word from the US. And not everybody’s happy.

Harry Potter director David Yates’s announcement that he would be taking Doctor Who to the big screen has been met with rumblings of discontent, not least from the BBC which has made it clear that the film idea is only “in development” and not yet confirmed as a definite release.

Read the rest here.

Song In My Head

2011-11-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

Plundering The Past

2011-11-22T06:29:00.001-08:00

From Blogizdat LJ:

Lifted from an offline journal, originally written August 2003:

"I don't engage in corporeal punishment with my kids, not that I'm 100% ideologically opposed to spanking, but I feel it should only be used in the most serious of circumstances, and it's just as well with AE, my darling four year-old daughter, as she's both hyper-sensitive and very stubborn, and research shows kids on the Autism Spectrum don't usually learn much from spanking."

Read the rest here:

A Wee Bit Of Color

2011-11-22T06:28:00.001-08:00