click to enlarge
---o0o---
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Only 44 days of Republican madness remain.
Only 44 days of Republican madness remain. It seems like the longest 44 days, ever.
---o0o---
1,600 cops keep the peace between 700 Nazis and several hundred protesters in Berlin
German Youth give the finger to 700 Neo-Nazis
About 1,600 German cops, mostly in riot gear and helmets, were deployed in a Berlin suburb today to keep 700 Neo-Nazis and a few hundred protesters separated (roughly a 1:1 cops to citizens ratio). The police arrested more than 40 demonstrators trying to block the Nazi march Saturday.
The protesters chanted "Nazis out" and "Get Lost", and then tried to confront the 700 neo-Nazis, who carried black and red banners with the slogans "Young people need a future".
The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) is described by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as racist, anti-Semitic and revisionist (namely that they deny the holocaust).
Television pictures showed cops using water cannons to disperse the left-wingers who held banners saying "Berlin against Nazis". Wrecked cars could be seen in the streets of Berlin's Lichtenberg suburb, where the march and protest took place.
Dustups between the left and right are frequent in Germany, however, neo-Nazi demonstrations are often banned to avoid the violence.
---o0o---
Friday, December 05, 2008
Concealed firearms okayed in national parks!
According to the Associated Press today, people will now be able to carry concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. "An Interior Department rule issued Friday allows an individual to carry a loaded weapon in a park or wildlife refuge..."
Now, when those guys drinking Old Crow and Seven-Up in the next campsite play Insane Clown Posse at maximum volume, you probably won't be quite so sanguine about moseying over and asked them to turn it down.
---o0o---
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Alien Lore No. 146 - The 2006 Australian UFO Wave
a still from the last clip in the film/video - click to enlarge
This is a great compilation of the "2006 Australian UFO Wave" -- a massive UFO hoax created by Christopher Kenworthy. Make sure to watch the entire video--the giveaway comes in the very last two videoclips. Thanks to Jeff Clinton, once again, for feeding into our Alien Lore series.
Kenworthy writes: "All the clips from my UFO hoax project, which have been viewed by over 8 million people." While the hoax project was underway many UFO researchers and others wrote to say they were convinced. Kenworthy says about the project: "Between June and mid-August 2006 thirty-one clips of UFOs were created. The UFO videos were distributed over the Internet via websites and video podcasts."
"The project was hugely successful, being viewed by many millions of people. Very few people suspected that the clips were manufactured. Gradually, the level of plausibility was reduced, but only when the last two clips were uploaded did a large number of people get suspicious. "
"It's also worth noting that two of the UFO clips we distributed were quite genuine - and no researcher was able to pick which two they were.I wanted to give people a taste of the drama and excitement of a UFO Close Encounter, creating a genuine sense of wonder." (See http://www.christopherkenworthy.com/ for further details on this fascinating project).
---o0o---
Poem: Meaning
1
Some people say
Life would have no meaning
If we lived forever;
Others among us say
Life would have meaning
If we did.
2
The meaning of life
Is like the rings running circles
'Round a tree trunk.
If you remember back
On your last trip
To the natural history museum,
The best tree sections
Have pins on their rings:
Mayflower arrives in America;
Declaration of Independence;
Civil War ends;
Man walks on the moon.
3
Wouldn't it be something
To not konk out
And see rings tagged
Race wars end;
Israel and Palestine merge;
Poverty eliminated;
The return of Jesus;
And alien diplomats arrive?
---o0o---
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
One of the best a capella songs ever: Thriller by François Macré - massively multitracked a capella
Nice! François Macré performs Jacko's thriller (written by Rod Templeton) using only his voice (with a little bit of digital chorus and reverb). He used 64 tracks to layer the sounds. I remember Brian Wilson's Imagination, where he also used a bazillion tracks. . .but he only did the voices, not the rhythm and melody tracks.
Here is Macré 's commentary from YouTube on the song:
Here is a remake of the "Thriller" song that I've entirely recorded with my own voice, using 64 A'cappella tracks. There is therefore no instrument, synthetizer, beatbox, or even to sampler, but only the sound of my voice livened up with Reverb and slight Chorus on certain tracks.
Regarding looping parts, I've simply used the "looping" technique. Moreover, in the whole piece (which contains several thousand notes), I transposed 8 notes, which were impossible for me to sing in high-pitched. Because of my tessiture, I also must have resigned myself to sing certain parts in head voice, more particularly on the track corresponding to Michael Jackson's solo vocal.
I've accomplished this non-commercial project at home, only with a mobile PC, microphone, headphones and webcam - in nearly 350 hours. It's just an artistic challenge, accomplished during my hours of free time, whose purpose is to make smile my close circle and net surfers. Nonetheless, I'll be happy to record in professional studio, original songs with this technique, if a label was interested to work with me on a SP or LP entirely based on this innovative concept of "Massively Multitracks A'cappella".I hope you'll have as much pleasure to hear and watch it as I had to accomplish. Don't hesitate to leave me your comments or, for labels and composers, to contact me through my MySpace profile : http://www.myspace.com/francoismacre
Here is Macré 's commentary from YouTube on the song:
Here is a remake of the "Thriller" song that I've entirely recorded with my own voice, using 64 A'cappella tracks. There is therefore no instrument, synthetizer, beatbox, or even to sampler, but only the sound of my voice livened up with Reverb and slight Chorus on certain tracks.
Regarding looping parts, I've simply used the "looping" technique. Moreover, in the whole piece (which contains several thousand notes), I transposed 8 notes, which were impossible for me to sing in high-pitched. Because of my tessiture, I also must have resigned myself to sing certain parts in head voice, more particularly on the track corresponding to Michael Jackson's solo vocal.
I've accomplished this non-commercial project at home, only with a mobile PC, microphone, headphones and webcam - in nearly 350 hours. It's just an artistic challenge, accomplished during my hours of free time, whose purpose is to make smile my close circle and net surfers. Nonetheless, I'll be happy to record in professional studio, original songs with this technique, if a label was interested to work with me on a SP or LP entirely based on this innovative concept of "Massively Multitracks A'cappella".I hope you'll have as much pleasure to hear and watch it as I had to accomplish. Don't hesitate to leave me your comments or, for labels and composers, to contact me through my MySpace profile : http://www.myspace.com/francoismacre
Northwest driving school: driving on ice
This video comes from Portland, Oregon--our neighbor to the south--during one of its famous winter ice storms. Thanks to Jason Larsen for pointing this one out...
---o0o---
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)