Trista Oral News

Videohippos is a musical duo from Baltimore, consisting of Jim Triplett (guitar/vocals/keys) and Kevin O’Meara (drums/vocals/keys.) Self decribed as a “two-man audio-visual monster,” the musicians have been playing music together since 1997 in various groups, and they are now signed to Monitor Records with a debut album on the way this summer. Unbeast The Leash, due June 19th, contains thirteen tracks of electric (and toy) guitar, addictive beats via electronic toy keyboards and the right-on-time drumming of Kevin O’Meara, and it’s all overlapped by the infectiously odd-sounding pop melodies of Jim Triplett.

The first indication that I am really enjoying what I’m listening to is when I find myself repeatedly reaching for the volume to turn it up. I was only a few songs into Unbeast The Leash by the time I had the volume turned up as far as it would go. These are the kinds of songs that should make people famous, instead of what usually does the trick, like yet another (new) new wave band tredding back upon something that’s already been done or some emo songwriter lamenting on his numerous failed relationships. I don’t want to hear that shit. I want to hear something new. Music filled with originality and emotion, and songs that don’t wear off after only a couple of listens.

All of that might sound like a bunch of hyperbole, but I really do feel like Unbeast The Leash is one of the coolest things I’ve heard so far this year. “Sick Dolphin” sounds like the offspring of a drug-induced three-way at the amusement park between The Ocopus Project, Holy Fuck and Dan Deacon. Listen to the whole last 1:17 of “Rider” with a pair of headphones and the volume turned high, tell me it doesn’t rock. Here’s two more tracks from the album, brought to you directly from Monitor.

Videohippos - “Koolshades”

Videohippos - “The List”

In a live setting, Videohippos provide a show that just might cause you to have a mild seizure. They perform their two-piece attack backed by a giant screen featuring film clips from cartoons, movies, commercials, and other propaganda that add an additional element to their already explosive songs. Videohippos will be in Austin on June 12, one week before Unbeast The Leash drops, performing in support of Dan Deacon at the Emo’s lounge. It’s going to be a big party, one that I recommend you check out.

Dan Deacon - “Woody Woodpecker”

That’s the opening track on Dan Deacon’s new album Spiderman of the Rings, due to hit the shelves on May 8th thanks to Carpark Records. I mentioned it previously, as has Party Ends, Muzak For Cybernetics, Underwire and Golden Fiddle, who reports that Dan has a masters degree in electro-acoustic composition.

Videohippos + Dan Deacon tour dates:

05/25 : Two Art Chicks, Greensboro, NC
05/26 : Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
05/27 : Harvest Records, Asheville, NC
05/28 : Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN
05/29 : Bottletree, Birmingham, AL
05/30 : Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA
05/31 : The Jinx, Savannah, GA
06/01 : TSI, Jacksonville, FL
06/02 : Back Booth, Orlando, FL
06/03 : TBA, Miami, FL
06/04 : New World Brewery, Tampa, FL
06/05 : Common Grounds, Gainesville, FL
06/06 : The Beta Bar, Tallahassee, FL
06/07 : Thirsty Hippo, Hattiesburg, MS
06/08 : The Green Space, New Orleans, LA
06/09 : Spanish Moon, Baton Rouge, LA
06/10 : Mink, Houston, TX
06/12 : Emos Lounge, Austin, TX
06/13 : The Cavern, Dallas, TX
06/14 : Warehouse 21’s Luna Space, Santa FE, NM
06/16 : ExPlx, Los Angeles, CA
06/17 : Che Cafe, San Diego, CA
06/18 : Pehrspace, Los Angeles, CA
06/19 : Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA
06/20 : 21 Grand, Oakland, CA
06/21 : Fools Foundation, Sacramento, CA
06/22 : Holocene, Portland, OR
06/23 : TBA, Seattle, WA
06/24 : TBA, Missoula, MT
06/25 : Grouse Mountain Lodge, Whitefish, MT
06/26 : Neurolux, Boise, ID
06/27 : Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
06/28 : Hi Dive, Denver, CO
06/29 : The Jackpot Saloon, Lawrence, KS
06/30 : Waiting Room, Omaha, NE
07/02 : Triple Rock Club, Minneapolis, MN
07/03 : Cactus Club, Milwaukee, WI
07/05 : The House Cafe, Dekalb, IL
07/06 : TBA, Kalamazoo, MI
07/07 : Scrummage University, Detroit, MI
07/08 : TBA, Hamilton, ON
07/09 : Sneaky Dees, Toronto, ON
07/10 : Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ottawa, ON
07/11 : La Sala Rossa, Montreal, PQ
07/12 : Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA

Like i said, Unbeast The Leash isn’t out until June 18th, but you can hear a few tracks at their myspace page and hear some of the demos at the official site.

Pharyngula watches Gregg Easterbrook attack Richard Dawkins:

Pharyngula
: Easterbrook… is outraged at the arrogance of the damned atheist.

Don’t take this personally, but if you are an American adult there is a one in two chance that Richard Dawkins, a renowned professor of science at Oxford, thinks you are “ignorant, stupid or insane,” unless you are “wicked.” These are the adjectives Dawkins chooses to describe the roughly 100 million Americans adults who, if public opinion polls are right, believe Homo sapiens was created directly by God, rather than gradually by evolution. Ignorant, stupid, insane or wicked. Not much to choose from there!

…The important point, of course, is that contrary to Easterbrook’s claim that there isn’t much to choose from, that list actually covers the whole wide range of possibilities. Dawkins himself goes on to explain that the stupid, insane or wicked are the minority possibilities, but let’s be honest and face the facts: if you are a creationist, you are almost certainly deeply ignorant of biology. Easterbrook seems to have actually gotten the quote from Dawkins’ defense of the statement, but doesn’t seem to have comprehended any of the surrounding words.

The gist of Easterbrook’s complaint is that Dawkins is “arrogant”, which seems to mean that he forcefully and plainly states the facts and evidence and logic of his case, and that those facts don’t leave much wiggle room for the evolution deniers….

Pharyngula goes on to write:

While Easterbrook is doing his rabble-rousing best to rile up his readers into hating that arrogant bastard Dawkins, he also doesn’t bother to consider this revealing passage from the article he cites.

Not only is ignorance no crime, it is also, fortunately, remediable. In the same Times review, I went on to recount my experiences of going on radio phone-in talk shows around the United States. Opinion polls had led me to expect hostile cross-examination from creationist zealots. I encountered little of that kind. I got creationist opinions in plenty, but these were founded on honest ignorance, as was freely confessed. When I politely and patiently explained what Darwinism actually is, they listened not only with equal politeness, but with interest and even enthusiasm. “Gee, that’s real neat, I never heard that before! Wow!” These people were not stupid (or insane, or wicked). They didn’t believe in evolution, but this was because nobody had ever told them what evolution is. And because plenty of people had told them (wrongly, according to educated theologians) that evolution is against their cherished religion.

This is exactly right. We’re all ignorant to different degrees about different things. Dawkins tends to be more right than wrong on the subject of evolution, but is probably more wrong than right on the subject of automobile repair. It’s a strange attitude that some people have that pointing out their ignorance of certain subjects is a terrible insult, as if everyone is expected to be omniscient and infallible polymaths…

I have been thinking a lot about the transition I am going through on my way to leave behind my 20’s. Painful indeed. I have also been thinking a lot about they way in which cyberspace might be of some aid or a hindrance to people’s social development. Sometimes I get mad very easily and take an extremist stand for or aginst it. I cannot deny cyberspace, when used with a high degree of responsibility, might be vey helpful, specially for shy people like me. Were it not for the virtual identity that the internet provided me with I wouldn’t have been able to organize this nor to get involved in all the projects that have resulted from the symposium.

Much of the way in which I conceptualize this game of multiple identities has been based on my reading of Deleuze, on his idea of the undeniable reality of the virtual. Anyway, I must confess I have sometimes been a little doubtful about the liberating properties that at some point we attributed to the internet, particularly to the so called individual journalism of blogs. Suddenly I felt as if I were just blogging because millions of people did and then I posted things like this and this.

I remember one of the first things I found very difficult to understand about postructuralist criticism of marxism was the way in which it erased the idea of class conciousness. When I heard people saying there was no more a clear division between the oppresed and the oppresor just because massive production allowed millions of people to have access to objects that in the first three quartes of the twentieth century were only available to wealthy people, I just couldn’t believe it.

Media has sold us the idea that to be priviledged is to be able to dress and behave like hollywood stars and soccer players do; and the you have young girls from the poorest neighborghoods in México City wearing six-inch-diameter dark glasses in the subway on their way to a ten hour journey of work; or boys who can bearly read driving sport cars imitating David Beckham. But what remains clear is that even though we all can have access to all the paraphernalia that the masses have been indoctrinated to associate with priviledged people, we are far from living in a fair society, in so far as the real priviledge, that is, the one of making conscius and informed desitions is still being withheld from us, not without our own consent of course. We can buy a lot of things now that people a few decades ago couldn’t; yet it’s clear, even though most of the people tend to ingore it, that the massses are not educated, that the masses do not have access to the actual means of production and in this sense we are rather underpriviledged. Another theme I was thinking about when I wrote this.

A few weeks ago I read a couple of essays on cultural studies, one by Frederic Jameson and the other by Slavoj Zizek. (Estudios Culturales. Reflexiones sobre el multiculturalismo. Paidós, Argentina, 2005). I cannot really summarize here what they are about, for although they are stylistically very simple, that is, they lack the platitudes of people like Deleuze and Guattari or Baudrillard, both are full of enlightening ideas. One of the common issues they deal with is the criticism they make to the now over rated discourse of difference that has permeated the whole of cultural studies. In a way both claim to a return to the concept of class consicusness without which, they say, we will never be able to organize ourselves and pose a real opposition to the trend of stupid consummerism the world is going through.

A few minutes ago I found here a link to this essay by Zizek in which he expands on the theme of the dictatorship or fascim that runs parallel to the freedom of expresision provided by cyberspace. I have always thought that the freedom of expression gained by social movements of the 60’s and 70’s is something we all have to take care of. As a proof there is this my fist exercise as a blogger. However, it really hurts me to see that once a right has been achieved we make our biggest efforts to lose it, or at leas to get it all wrong. Will it be that, due to the lack of responsibility of the masses, the possibility to use media available now to almost everybody has to be retired from us and given back exclusively to more responsible people? It seems as if we were not yet prepared to assume the reponsibility of being individuals. In any case, what it’s clear to me is that we have to come out to the streets and try to build a better world, it’s not enough with being able to buy a car or a house or whatever makes us feel there are no more class divisons; it is not enough to have the right to use mass media, because now we can see that the more we get into cyberspace the more our actual field of action is closed. Whether we like it or not, we will always be tied to bodily interaction out there. I am not sure about the return to the concept of class consciusness, but I am as to the fact that the masses must be consious that the greatest priviledge we all must struggle for to achieve is education to deal with our lowest impulses.

FordModels.tv has several different web series to choose from: Beauty Tips, Fashion Flash, Model Fitness, Ford Models 360 and Model Lifestyle. All episodes are under 3 minutes, most ranging from 30 to 90 seconds, making load time much faster and offering content that is simple and to the point.

Beauty Tips is just what the name implies; Fashion Flash are quick fashion trend “flashes” of fashion; Model Fitness focuses on fitness tips by Ford fitness model Kim Strother; Ford Models 360 is a blend of episodes about the season’s latest trends, while Model Lifestyle has the entertaining, “Changing Room Confessional” series. If you are a Blogger and your niche is beauty, fashion or fitness, FordModels.tv offers a variety of code to fit into a variety of blog formats including MySpace, RSS feeds and your typical blog. Code for the web series is provided by Revver, an online video service similar to You Tube, however those who produce videos and use the Revver service to upload them earn money each time their video is viewed.

FordModels.tv is a great way to get behind the scenes in the fashion and modeling industry in a pretty down to earth manner. I’m most in love with their Beauty Tips series, but have loved watching many of their fashion webisodes. Since FordModels.tv is a new venture for the modeling agency, it will be interesting to watch how these webisodes evolve.

Last night I went to see Jersey Boys. The show was fantastic. It felt more like being at a concert then a play at times. You found yourself moving to music, wanting to dance or sing along. The story was riveting and the four guys that played the Four Seasons were convincing in their rolls. If you have chance to see it: GO! You won't disappointed. 

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After getting up late today, my mother in law walks into the door with the kids. My nephew takes off and for the next three hours I am entertaining my niece. The Atari Flashback 2 is getting a little boring for her and so we moved on to the Sony Playstation 2.

We played Katamari Damacy, Spyro the Dragon, Spyro - Year of the Dragon, and Spyro - Enter the Dragonfly. She is pretty young so most of the time she was learning how to move around. Her favorite seemed to be Spyro - Enter the Dragon. She stayed in the main world frying sheep for about an hour.

With the simple game play, your brain just slowly turns to mush. Sometimes I just want to take control and play the game for her the way that the game is supposed to be played. I hold myself back from doing it because she is having fun anyway.

I taught her how to take CD’s and DVD’s out of the cases, how to hold them, and how to load them into the Sony Playstation 2. Her fingers got on the bottom of one and we got a message asking us to put in an authentic Sony PS1 or Sony PS2 disc. I took the disc out and rubbed my shirt on the surface. It was running fine after that.

Most of my games are not kid-safe, so I may have to look into some cheap games that will entertain her when she visits.

Tags: Video Games, Spyro, Sony Playstation, PS2, Atari, Family, Katamari, Atari Flashback

Here’s a brief excerpt from “The Boomer Sisters In The City,” my current work-in-progress. It is set in NYC, and the main themes are patience and art. The Uncle David character in this scene is a television news reporter (loosely based on my brother-in-law)

“It’s show time!” Uncle David said with a fierce grin. He adjusted his brightly-colored fedora and someone handed him a microphone. Then he stepped in front of the camera, with his back to the workers.

“I’m here at the corner of Chesterton and Lewis Street, where a cleanup crew from the Urban Graffiti Law Enforcement bureau, or UGLE, is about to go to work. The mural behind me was begun in 1991, and has been maintained and updated by the neighborhood residents ever since. Despite attempts by local community leaders to have the mural declared a protected landmark, the UGLE team has determined that it is graffiti and ought to be erased.”

BJ and Jekka held each others hands tight, wincing as the men in gray took their rollers and put huge swaths of white paint over the beautiful dancers. Jekka couldn’t bring herself to take a picture of that.

“Mr. Keith Ott, the UGLE director, has launched an UGLE war against what he calls art crime. The wave of mysterious graffiti across the city which began with the phrase ‘soon it will be’ has now expanded to include paintings of white horses, blue flowers and, most recently, diamond rings, leading some to speculate that a certain cereal-box leprechaun is behind it all.” David laughed at his own joke. “But regardless of who is responsible, Mr Ott and his UGLE team have made it their mission to protect the citizens of this fine city from any criminal decorations.”

Tears were flowing freely down BJ’s cheeks now, as she watched the dancers disappear under the merciless white paint. Jekka whimpered, but neither girl could look away. Somehow, they felt it was important to be here and watch the mural’s last moments, as if they were keeping the dancers company or holding the hand of a dying person.Site Feed: http://projectbluelynx.blogspot.com/atom.xml

“Most Haunted” inexplicably appears on the Travel Channel on Friday nights. Friday nights = a good time for ghost stories. Travel Channel = ???

I worked with a lady at the Travel Channel who was one angry and paranoid bitch. She inexplicably (that word again, hmmm) took an intense personal dislike to me even though our jobs were in completely non-competing functions. I have since learned that I was hardly alone in that respect. Usually, when I think of Travel Channel I think of the mean lady who yelled at me and others for no discernable reason.

But I digress.

Yvette Fielding and Derek Abracadabra (I forget his real name, but it starts with an A - oh wait, it’s Akorah) host. Derek Akorah is a psychic medium. They go to different places they’ve heard are hauted and taunt, tease and plead with the ghosts until they do something to make Yvette shut the hell up.

Although at times humorous, sometimes it’s really scary. When the spirit does show him/herself - roughly 60% of the time - there is a great rush of activity. Lots of “bleeps” to block out special British swear words that might offend American ears. Also a good deal of moving floor camera shots as everyone rushes out of the room bumping into various items and gasping.

Sort of like a 6th grade slumber party game of “Bloody Mary.”

Last night’s was stupid scary. FIRST of all, they went to an 13th century inn built on a pagan burial ground on top of two laylines (like in the DaVinci code). A spirit tries to posess Derek, we see one of the crew get knocked over and beaten by another spirit (the result of an “if you’re here, show yourself to us” plea). Pretty creepy.

Mr. Man said “some people would think we are crazy for living here.”

That’s because, you see, our lovely home is in a lovely building built in 1930 and we think it’s haunted. Our neighbor have also all heard weird noises or seen odd things, although we are hesitant to speak too much of them.

Supposedly, if you talk about them while in the building, it makes them bolder.

Our ghostie roommie is rather benign. Aside from the regular kitchen crashes at 3:30am (which we only hear if we are awake at that time), he/she likes to hide our writing implements, move knives so that their blades point out, and imitate our voices so that one of us thinks the other is yelling from the bathroom. You go to check and the response is “I didn’t say anything - I’ve just been sitting here.”

The other day I was rummaging around in the refrigerator and thought Mr. Man came in to check on something on the stove. When I stood up he was sitting in the living room. We had the discussion that begins with me assuming that he was doing something to the food, him assuming that I wanted him to do something to the food, me clarifying that no - was there something that he did to the food that made it so I couldn’t serve it right then?, and then the working towards the understanding that he was NOT actually ever in the kitchen.

The only thing I see regularly that freaks me out is in the hallway. I will be standing waiting for the elevator and out of the corner of my eye I see someone standing in front of my neighbor’s apartment. It’s a man in a dark suit. If pressed I would guess he is a tad shorter than average, regular to slim build. I’ve even fancied that I saw a hat. Of course, when I turn my head he is gone.

I just wonder what happened to this man that he thinks he has to stand outside of this door for all eternity? In the hallway, for gosh sakes. It makes me a bit sad.

All the same, I’m glad he’s nost standing outside of my door.

posted by it’s just a box of rain @ 9:35 AM

That’s how Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired Magazine and creator of The Long Tail concept, put it during his keynote at the inaugural O’Reilly Media Tools of Change for Publishing Conference taking place this week in San Jose.

The goals of the conference are:

-To raise “the level of technology knowledge and discourse in the publishing industry”
-To provide “a meeting ground for everyone involved in the future of publishing”

It’s a big week and I suspect a much more relevant one these days than the recently held BookExpo.

As comforted as I was by Anderson’s acknowledgment of the staying power of the book I was as dazzled by Manolis Kelaidis’ little creation called blueBook.

In the books he produces “the digital and physical co-exist in a product that would offer the benefits of both.”

How it works:

The book has a processor embedded into the cover. When you click on a hyperlink in the book the processor connects to your computer via bluetooth to trigger the required action.

Some possibilities:
-a children’s book on animals might activate sounds and videos on a screen when the printed picture of the animal is touched.
-Reference books may contain inline glossaries linked to Wikipedia or Google.
-Keywords in novels trigger incidental music.
-Buttons on academic papers connect to discussion forums or send feedback to the author.
- Textual advertising

Though it doesn’t offer much more technologically than an e-book it does preserve the form of the book and might just be a more palatable use of technology for us book people.

Thanks to BookTwo.org for his post on bookBlue.

Here is Neil Edde’s take from the conference floor.