50 50 is a compilation of 50 videos of people
50 50 is a compilation of 50 videos of people singing 50 Cent songs.
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kottke.org posts about music
Simlish is the fictional language spoken in
Simlish is the fictional language spoken in the Sims games. Several music artists have recorded songs sung in Simlish.
Video of a live performance of Creep
Video of a live performance of Creep by a Radiohead quite different than today’s version.
The Golden Ratio and its appearance in
The Golden Ratio and its appearance in the music of Nintendo’s Zelda games.
A dad sings NWA’s Fuck The Police
A dad sings NWA’s Fuck The Police to his young son using some creative realtime censorship. “‘Cause he’ll tickle you ‘til you’re giggling.” (via the grumpiest)
A 666 tribute to David Fincher featuring video
A 666 tribute to David Fincher featuring video of 6 of his commercials, 6 of his music videos, and 6 of his movies.
List of sampled songs used by Daft
List of sampled songs used by Daft Punk. Here’s a video of some of them.
Beatboxing flautist + Super Mario theme song = YouTube gold.
Beatboxing flautist + Super Mario theme song = YouTube gold.
A list of unboundedly long songs, songs
A list of unboundedly long songs, songs that “continue until the singer decides (or is forced) to stop”.
Neat music video by a band called
Neat music video by a band called The Longcut that uses infographics to tell the story of a boy and girl falling for each other.
Complaints choirs…that is, groups of people
Complaints choirs…that is, groups of people who sing their dissatisfaction in front of live audiences. “In Helsinki the most favourite topics were ring tones of mobile phones, people who smell in public transport and the fact that Finland always looses to Sweden in competitions: in Icehockey and in Eurovision.” (thx, nancy)
Steve Jobs’ thoughts on music and DRM.
Steve Jobs’ thoughts on music and DRM. Sounds like he’d rather that music sold via the iTMS didn’t have DRM built in.
“iConcertCal is a free iTunes plug-in that
“iConcertCal is a free iTunes plug-in that monitors your music library and generates a personalized calendar of upcoming concerts in your city.” (thx janelle)
Music industry: CD prices are being driven
Music industry: CD prices are being driven down by $9.99 albums on iTunes Music Store. “Physical retailers are pressuring the labels downward on price (of course, Wal-Mart is the biggest culprit) because they don’t want to be undercut by iTunes 9.99 on all single albums. We’re rapidly moving to a 9.99 world on the big sellers (the ones stocked in Target and Wal-Mart and Best Buy).”
OhMiBod is the ultimate iPod accessory: a
OhMiBod is the ultimate iPod accessory: a vibrator that hooks up to the iPod and buzzes in time with the music. “I will never listen to music the same way again.” Don’t miss the playlists compiled specifically for OhMiBod use. NSFW. (thx, tania)
Wikipedia explains R&B: “She orders
Wikipedia explains R&B: “She orders a milkshake and begins to blow bubbles into it (a possible allusion to oral sex). She continues to prance throughout the restaurant and walks into the kitchen, ‘helping’ the chef remove biscuits from the oven as she purposely moves her buttocks (which the biscuits are shaped like) near his face to possibly make him wish to have sex with her, yet he shows no interest in her and she leaves in dismay.”
A list of 16 genuinely good Oscar-winning songs.
A list of 16 genuinely good Oscar-winning songs. As noted in the comments, Lose Yourself by Eminem should have been included.
Music video for Rock Me Amadeus by
Music video for Rock Me Amadeus by Falco. Not to be confused with the Dr. Zaius song from The Simpsons.
Chicago Bears vs. Prince rematch at Super Bowl XLI
When the Chicago Bears take the field against the Indianapolis Colts in early February for Super Bowl XLI, a former foe of the Bears will be close at hand. A kottke.org reader writes:
The “Super Bowl Shuffle” earned The Chicago Bears a [1987] Grammy nomination for best Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Duo or Group. They lost to Prince and the Revolution’s “Kiss”.
Prince is headlining the halftime show at the Super Bowl this year. Will there be a battle of the bands at halftime between Prince and the ‘86 Bears? Come on, The Fridge needs the work! In the meantime, here’s the Super Bowl Shuffle music video:
Oh, the humanity. Kiss has held up much better. (thx, m)
Celine Dion singing a cover version of
Celine Dion singing a cover version of AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long. Sadly, what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas. (via bitterpill)
Singer Ben Gibbard, from The Postal Service
Singer Ben Gibbard, from The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie, is playing a part in the film adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, to be directed by John Krasinski, who plays a character on the US version of The Office, which is based on the original UK version by Ricky Gervais. To sum up: indie rock book nerd tv junkie explosion!
Which of the following works would you
Which of the following works would you choose to be lost, if only three could be saved: Michelangelo’s Pieta, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, or Einstein’s 1905 paper on relativity? Not so sure I agree with the conclusion here…surely Einstein’s paper stands as a work unto itself, apart from the discovery it contains. Plus, maybe someone else (or a group of someone elses) wouldn’t have given us relativity as elegantly and usefully as Einstein did. (via 3qd)
Comparison of the iPhone with other smart
Comparison of the iPhone with other smart phones…a nice companion piece to the comparison of my cardboard iPhone to various iPods, mobile phones, etc. So far, the market thinks that Apple’s got something good on their hands: Apple stock was up $7.10 today while RIMM (makers of Blackberry) dropped $11.16.
The Apple iPhone
Apple’s new iPhone looks like a thing of beauty. Widescreen touch interface, no buttons, runs OS X, useful widgets, integrated email, Google Maps, Google/Yahoo search, visual voicemail (see who voicemail is from before you call), SMS, Wifi, etc. etc. Oh, and it plays music.
A lot of people are wondering just how big this thing is. Using the technical specs from apple.com, I grabbed some cardboard, scissors, and glue and made a scale model of the iPhone. Here it is:
My hands aren’t that big (I can barely palm a basketball on a good day), but it still seems to fit pretty well. How does it stack up against similar devices?
Here’s the iPhone vs. my current mobile phone, the Nokia 7610:
iPhone vs. a 5G iPod:
Thickness of the cardboard iPhone vs. the 5G iPod:
1G iPod shuffle, 3G iPod, 5G iPod and the iPhone:
iPhone vs. a TiVo remote and a Wii remote:
That’s all the gadgets I could find on a couple of hours notice.
I also dug up something I wrote a couple of years ago in the gigantic text file I keep on my Powerbook of ideas for kottke.org posts. 99% of the stuff in that file is completely dunderheaded, but I have to say I hit close to the mark on this one:
true convergence of phone + mp3 player will happen when someone solves this user experience puzzle: physically not enough room for two optimized interfaces (one for calls, one for music) on same small device. possible solution: no buttons, replace with touch screen that covers the whole front with one-touch switching between modes…
Once we’re able to get our hands on it and use the interface, the iPhone could turn out to be a disappointment, but they’re heading in the right direction at least. More thoughts soon.
(Like this story? Digg it.)
Music video for the Softlightes song Heart
Music video for the Softlightes song Heart Made of Sound features handmade typography, Post-It Notes, and stop-motion animation. See also: the opening credits for Napoleon Dynamite, Stefan Sagmeister, and Michel Gondry. (via buzzfeed)
My year in music, 2006
Last.fm keeps track of what music I like so I don’t have to. Here’s a list of my favorite artists from 2006, apparently:
1. Boards of Canada
2. Ladytron
3. Cloud Cult
4. Marumari
5. Gnarls Barkley
6. Metric
7. John Digweed (good coding/writing music)
8. Röyksopp
9. I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness
10. Alexandre Desplat (Syriana soundtrack, haven’t listened to this in six months)
11. Mogwai
12. Sigur Ros
13. Mint Royale (I didn’t even like this)
14. Daft Punk
15. The Smashing Pumpkins (golden oldies)
16. Fischerspooner
17. Coldplay
18. Broken Social Scene
19. Sound Advice (Gnarls/Biggie mashup)
20. Bloc Party
21. Ulrich Schnauss
22. Sasha (good coding/writing music)
23. Wolf Parade (didn’t like this either)
24. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
25. Arctic Monkeys (nor this)
Not sure this is such an accurate representation of the music that I enjoyed this year. And where’s CSS? I’ve been listening to them a ton in the last couple of weeks and they’re not even on the list. Upon closer inspection, it looks like last.fm doesn’t include the current month in their “rolling year charts”.
Ikea instructions for making Dick in the Box
Last Saturday, Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg collaborated on a music video for a new holiday gift idea: Dick in the Box. If you haven’t seen the video yet, go now and then come back…it’s pretty funny and you won’t understand the rest of this if you haven’t seen it. So go!
You back? So, my favorite part of the song is the instructions and yesterday while we were alternating between watching the video like 50 times and assembling some IKEA furniture for the office, I had the obvious idea. Ikea instructions for making Dick in a Box:
More Dick in a Box: Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead version, Line Rider version, some guy dancing in his living room with a box fastened to his crotch with a belt version, and a this is either brilliant or completely stupid (DURRR! DURRR!) video response.
Chan Marshall (AKA Cat Power) on the
Chan Marshall (AKA Cat Power) on the Richard Avedon photo of her in the New Yorker: “I was so drunk I could barely stand up. I couldn’t zip up my pants because my stomach was killing me. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t wearing underwear until the magazine came out.” (via conscientious)
Paper Thin Walls is offering an mp3
Paper Thin Walls is offering an mp3 mix tape of their favorite music writers’ favorite songs of 2006…that’s 31 mp3s for free. (via art fag city)
The WSJ has some background on Lasse
The WSJ has some background on Lasse Gjertsen’s excellent Amateur video.
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