Thinkcage

All Messed Up

This is a really great look into the agony Yorke seems to feel about the crisis of our global environment and the powerlessness that many of us feel. In particular he weighs in on what many consider the hypocrisy of the band being extremely environmentally conscious but then staging huge stadium rock shows which use tons of energy.

Personally, I can really identify with much of this:

When Yorke feels things, he really feels them. He’s vigorous and passionate, and far from the dour grump he’s often portrayed as. It’s just that he gets ultra-stressed by things that many of us choose to ignore, and melodrama can ensue.

I often feel the same way despairing over issues that I feel so sad, so strongly about. I can be so emotionally overwhelmed by the oppressive weight of these issues and feeling so alone as I watch my fellow man zip through life apathetically. Really I think apathy is the worst of the world’s evil right now – if more people cared about eachother and our world and our future, I’m certain things would be so much better.

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Oh man how exciting is this? Pearl Jam’s rumored taping of the VH1 showcase, Storytellers, has finally been announced and will air at 9PM Central time on July 1.

From www.pearljam.com:

Watch the first-ever Pearl Jam Storytellers July 1 at 10 PM Eastern/Pacific and 9 PM Central. Don’t miss this exclusive, intimate performance featuring new songs as well as past favorites. For a sneak preview check out vspot.vh1.com. Then, after the show airs, get on back to VSpot for footage you didn’t see on TV!

I can’t wait!

I wrote a little article about podcasting on the Element Fusion blog. Normally, I’d cross-post something like this, but this one is just not something that belongs here at Thinkcage as I am never, ever going to podcast. I’m just not one of those who is gifted with the kind of pipes that anyone would want to listen to. Heck it is bad enough that you have to read my rambling — I can’t imagine having to listen.

That said, this one was written as a overview for those who are new to podcasting. We’re getting tons of questions from our customers who have heard the buzzword but don’t know much else. Especially from churches who are very keen to offer audio versions of their weekly sermons; podcasting is a perfect delivery mechanism for that. Maybe this is a link you can pass to your clients to help them along.

Check it out, Podcasting 101.

There was a funny exchange in an episode of South Park a few years ago in which Chef and Mr. Garrison discussed how white people have been appropriating black culture:

Mr. Garrison: Chef, what did you do when white people stole your culture?

Chef: Oh. Well, we black people just always tried to stay out in front of them.

Mr. Slave:[straightens up] How did you do that?

Chef: Well, like with our slang. Black people always used to say, “I’m in the house” instead of “I’m here.” But then white people all started to say “in the house” so we switched it to “in the hizzouse.” Hizzouse became hizzizzouse, and then white folk started saying that, and we had to change it to hizzie, then “in the hizzle” which we had to change to “hizzle fo shizzle,” and now, because white people say “hizzle fo shizzle,” we have to say “flippity floppity floop.”

Now I’m not going to claim this has anything to do with Black culture but I do feel a little like a soccer mom listening to 50-Cent on a Top-40 radio station as I write this. You see, even a year after DJ Danger Mouse’s, The Grey Album hit us over the head with the possibilities of the genre, I still didn’t get the whole mash-up scene until just recently. So believe me I know that I’m way off the bloggerati radar when I try to declare just how cool this is. On a blog in 2005 no less.

But I get it now. Mashuptown has shown me the way. There are a lot of types of mash-ups, but I think the ones that really appeal to me take two songs and make them better. A perfect example is today’s link: Callin it back by Banders and Mash, which is a mix of AC/DC’s Back in Black and Lyrics Born’s Callin it out. For me this one really shows the power of a mash-up to take a song like Back in Black, strip off the cheese, and use it to power a great rap lyric. Rap has been tough for me to listen to partly because I just dig guitar rock. But the sheer cheese factor and terrible vocals of AC/DC really make you forget how good that riff is. Problem solved.

Also worth noting is Spending one of these nights with Kelly’ by Aggro1. I’m not a real big fan of either original song but I have to say that this mash-up is so great because it just feels natural. Fantastic.

Catch ya later at the flippity floppity flop.

I’ve been guilty of listening to far too much Virgin Radio UK over the past few weeks. Streaming radio from all over the world is a great thing. In the fall, I stream the local NFL broadcast of the Green Bay Packers games – there is nothing better for a transplanted Wisonsinite than listening to the local guys call the game.

I have to admit, part of my fascination with Virgin Radio is the cultural quirks. Hearing London traffic reports, or the UK versions of commercials for products I am and am not familiar with is a hoot. And the mix isn’t half-bad either.

I’m sure from a coporate influence standpoint it is no less pure than the local pop stations here in Oklahoma City (which I refuse to listen to), but something in me says the Brit pop like Keane, Travis, and Snow Patrol beats the crap out of the US pop pantheon of Britney Spears, J-Lo, and Ashley Simpson.

Give it a listen

This NY Times Article really captures the iPod phenomenon. In the article U2’s Bono describes their recent relationship with Apple:

Speaking just after the event, Bono, U2’s lead singer, said the band was not charging Apple a penny to be in the ad. (The band says it had turned down as much as $23 million to use its music in other commercials.) In its three-year life, the iPod has achieved such “iconic value,” Bono said, that U2 gets as much value as Apple does from the commercial, by promoting its music and the new Red and Black U2 edition of the iPod, for which the band gets royalties.

Until the iPod’s myriad competitors figure out that this is what they are competing against, hardware specifications be damned, this is going to remain a one horse race.