DVDon't

We bought a DVD the other day.

Solveig was in Sainsbury's and saw Thomas And The Magic Railroad* was on offer for four quid, so she picked one up for the kids. Upon arrival, she (or more probably Theo) popped it into the DVD player and pressed PLAY. Nothing happened. She ejected it, blew off any dust and had another go. Nowt. Just the dreaded "Loading..." icon in the top right corner of the screen. Cue disappointed kids and the return of Peppa Pig to our screens.

We took it back and exchanged it, assuming the disc was faulty in some way. But the replacement was exactly the same, refusing even to load the disc, let alone actually play. Short of believing there was a batch of discs with a manufacturing defect, I was curious to see if the disc would work in a computer drive, rather than our standard domestic DVD player. So I popped it into a laptop and it worked fine. No other DVDs have ever failed to work in the normal player. Weird.

Figuring that making a copy of something that doesn't actually work wouldn't really be breaking any laws, I set to with ripping it. Obviously it has the latest copy protection; not a massive problem, there are ways and means. Less than an hour later, we have a working copy of the film which runs perfectly in the DVD player and the kids are happy.

But what kind of industry cripples its media so much that a standard domestic player cannot even read it? And isn't that now the opposite of the problem we used to have with CDs, whereby copy-protected discs wouldn't play in PC data drives but were fine in regular audio CD players?

Somebody somewhere needs to have a damned good think...

* dreadful Americanised 'Polar Express'-lite set on Sodor - don't bother :)

Stuffie?

I blipped this, but it's worth pushing again.

Uffie + Starkey = Massssssssssive tune.

All That Jazz

Our team Christmas lunch this year was at Ronnie Scott's jazz club, where you can enjoy an afternoon of food and wine accompanied by sets from three different performers (credit to Dei, our editor, for this inspired idea!) We heard a piano trio, then a great tenor saxophonist and finally a female vocalist, who really whipped the audience up into a festive frenzy, especially with her versions of classic Christmas numbers done in the musical style of the audience's choosing (the dub reggae 'Silent Night' was hilarious). It was a pretty tremendous way to spend an afternoon.

However, part of the deal is that everyone joins in for a big number at the end on kazoos (nicely laid out with the cutlery at each place setting). This was great fun, but even better was when they asked for volunteers to come up for a jam on the famous Ronnie Scott's stage, which has been graced by innumerable all-star names from the music world, past and present.

I didn't need asking twice, but I did let Jeremy go first for a microphone level test; old habits die hard. What's that? Is there a recording of this spectacular event? I thought you'd never ask:

And massive thanks to Alex for his off-the-cuff iPhone camerawork :)

First person...

...to hack into Peter Mandelson's home internet connection and download an illegal torrent of Transformers 2 using his account, wins a date with Megan Fox.

Get to it, geek squadron.

Harry Up

Spotted a poster on the tube at Moorgate for new film 'Harry Brown' starring the legendary Michael Caine. Looks like another great British urban movie which I hope to be able to check out sooner rather than later, but the killer for me is this awesome bit of driving drum & bass over the credits from Plan B (who also stars in the film...) with Chase And Status:

Colour Me Amazed

Those of you with psychology degrees may well scoff knowingly but I found this a most fascinating twenty minutes or so:

Four Local Gay Parrots Go For A Pint

More Mitchell & Webb genius (and splendidly on topic for my little corner of the blogosphere)

Kicking Off

So it all starts again today with a 5.30pm kick-off away at Everton. Now this is by no means an Arsenal blog - there are many that fulfil that role way better than I could) but I do chip in from time to time when something piques my interest. Like this, the Arsenal Pledge (I've always been more of a Mr Sheen man myself):

All well and good, but where are all the other players?

I want to see Fabianski's pledge to not come charging out of his goal like a freak every five minutes, Song's pledge to look less like he smoked a massive reefer before putting his shin-pads in and Eboué's pledge to be a bit less Eboué (or should that be fewer Eboué...)

Anyway, off we go. Come on you Gunners!

You Do The Moth

Burial and Four Tet have collaborated on a 12″ release, each apparently having had a hand in the production of each others tracks; a fantastic 'style-meld' from two of my favourite producers.

‘Moth’ is the most immediate with huge deep kicks and detuned synths and vocal shards - Burial house anyone?

‘Wolf Cub’ definitely has more of a Four Tet feel to the instrumentation but with those South London late-night atmospherics lending an uneasy air to proceedings.

Anyway, I suggest you buy it. Now. Go on!

(via nialler9)

Cliff

No, not the leathery perma-tanned Centre Court crooner but a beautiful track from my man-of-the-week Mike Skinner.

And the video is very clever; I leave it to you to spot why (OK, think 'Memento'):

(Also for Tim at 7amkickoff - enjoy!)

The Prodigy Are Fags*

No, they really are, look:



Great video :)

* Oh come on, I thought that was quite good...

Go For The Juggler

OK, so Eduardo's cheeky volley was good, but this lot are incredible:

Pros: The opposition would never get the ball off them.
Cons: They'd spend the entire match in the centre circle.

(via the quite interesting qikipedia)

Skream In For The Kill

I recently heard this on Mad Decent radio and Sinden's podcast, gave it props on blip.fm, which instantly Twittered it and now I'm embedding the YouTube on my blog. How ridiculously Web2.0 is that?


(I also just discovered the improvements to YouTube embedding: customised playback area, choice of sizes and optional 'related videos' strip. Much better :)

Back In Your Boxxy

Feel free to ignore this post if you are over the age of fifteen, or have a life, or both. It will make no sense to you. Run away now.

*waits*

OK? Anyone still here? Right then...

The Rise Of Boxxy

The Fall Of Boxxy

The same internet machine that could propel you to the top of the Youtube charts and hand you online fame will happily chew you up and spit you back out just as quickly, with zero remorse or consideration for the consequences. This is the reality of the internet today, this case is not the first, and surely not the last. Catie, at least, well and truly learnt the power of the world wide web. Somehow, I doubt that will be of much consolation to her.

Utterly. Bonkers.

Darth, Like, Whatever

Some chap in Texas realised that his friend had never seen the Star Wars trilogy, but reckoned she knew enough of the plot to narrate it. Being a comic artist and animator, he then put this together, as you do:

The "counselor" (sic) and also the extended "Han/Hans" debate did make me chuckle :)

(via Neatorama)

MacBook Wheel

This is amazing. Apple has introduced a revolutionary new laptop with no keyboard, based around the iPod 'click wheel' system of navigation. This could revolutionise the user interface as we know it:




Very good, Mr. Onion.

Benny Who?

UPDATE: IT NOW SPEEDS THEM UP!!!!

It's a bit dark, but this makes me smile:

Freyja gets Benny Hillified

(and you too can 'Benny Hillify' any YouTube video here.

Kung Pong?

This is great:



Quite what it has to do with a mobile phone is somewhat debatable, but still, nice work :)

PythonTube

Brilliant idea. Who would have thought it, eh? Fans of your oeuvre might want a place to go to get high-quality versions of your archived work. Amazing. Yes, we might even click a few ads and buy a few DVDs, T-shirts and the like.

MontyPython's YouTube Channel

Now, if you wouldn't mind going and having a quiet word with the buffoons at the RIAA...

Rhapsody In Blue And White Stripes

Another fantastic Danny Baker moment - a version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with every word replaced by a footballer's name. Why? Just because. Listen:


Update: since I bothered to edit the MP3 down, there is now a YouTube version with video and everything:


All together now "Cousins Sealey Mathers ... Pugh Geeeeee".

Brilliant. People are staring at me in the office, chuckling like a simpleton.

At De End Of Der Day

This guy is hilarious, I really like 'Squeaky' Stevie G and the fact that it's apparently been recorded in Lidl:



Actually, Lidl sounds like it should be a Scouse dialect; perhaps a particularly obscure one from the less-leafy bits of Toxteth.

Eh, what's up with 'im? Calm down, he's just talking that Lidl (and that).

Aphex Twin Girl

I'm sure this is all over the intertubes, but it's very cool (and just the sort of thing I'd like to try with Freyja, if I ever get any free time whatsoever again :)

French Orelsan

J'aime ceci beaucoup:

Orelsan - Changement
by 3emebureau

Anyone who can rhyme "tetes des jeunes" with "Playstation" is OK in my book :)

What A Brick

This is quite charming. Only took two days, apparently:

Ken Lee

OK, I give up, failblog wins:


Tulibu dibu douchoo? Gesundheit!

Smelly Bears Seen Exiting Woods

Following on from this and this, come the (renegade) masters of the bleedin' obvious with this:

Girl Talk Flouts Copyright Law (NYTimes.com)

You. Don't. Say.

However, this line from the wonderfully titled Barry Slotnick (happy days at school, Barry?) I think tilts it inadvertently more towards Greg Gillis (but then again I never did finish that law degree):

“What you can’t do is substitute someone else’s creativity for your own.”

No, that would be stealing. But there is a long history of putting bits and pieces and sounds together and calling it musique concrete, no? So who decides how much is a substantial part and how much is just a relatively insignificant bit of a larger work - that has to be the courts. This could get interesting, if someone really wants to challenge him. It's not just one (highly recognisable) sample looped over and over whilst MC Thingummy does his schtick over the top - this is possibly a new genre.

Of course, if they have any brains left up their noses, they will simply do the sensible thing and clamour like mad to be part of his next compilation - think of the publicity, dudes...

Thoughts?

Watch Girl Talk

After offmessage posted about the brilliant Girl Talk mashup album, 'Feed The Animals' (well worth checking out if you can still find it) there are now video versions of a couple of sections of it which have popped up on YouTube:

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals (2 of 14)

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals (3 of 14)

Very nicely done, sir.

Wii Can Haz Football?

Blimey, this looks awesome:



Now who do I know with a Wii who lives, say, 500 yards down the road, Paul?

Watch! The! Football!

There are some moderately important football matches being played this afternoon so I thought this might get us in the mood:



Up the Arsenal...

Eee We Go Again

Whilst I generally leave the Freyja updates to Solveig, as she does them so much better than me, I couldn't help but feel I ought to bring this to the attention of my fellow gadget-loving dads (=>'dadgets'?):

Asus Eee + BBC iPlayer + cBeebies = Bye bye, Daddy; see you later.

Hang onto your Eees, chaps!

This was a public service announcement brought to you by The Concerned Dadgets Association of Great Britain.

More Galvanised Marmite, Tintin?

No, I don't know what it stands for, but I like it:

MGMT: Time To Pretend

I'm thinking half a pound of Tears For Fears, with a couple of heaped tablespoons of Depeche Mode (on Mogadon) and a pinch of Talking Heads.

You?

Happy 25th Birthday, Eduardo

Arsenal striker Eduardo Alves da Silva is 25 today.

Rather a shame that his leg was shattered in two places on Saturday by an utterly disgraceful high tackle in the third minute from Birmingham City fuckwit* Martin Taylor**, isn't it?

~SQUEAMISH WARNING~
~DETAILED PICTURES HERE~

If it was malicious, and he intended it, ban him for life. If it wasn't, and he is just clumsy, he shouldn't be playing in the Premier League. Most Sunday morning pub teams (and I have played for a few) wouldn't accept tackles like that from their defenders; shin high, studs up, sliding in at speed.

Contrary to many, I am placing the blame firmly at the door of Alex McLeish, Birmingham City's manager. It is almost certain that, in the dressing room before the game, he fired his payers up with the instruction to "go and let them know they've been in a game", "get yourselves in their faces early doors" and "the way to beat Arsenal is to kick them up in the air". Unfortunately, if you do that with players of obviously limited ability, people get hurt. If that is indicative of how English club managers tell their teams to play against Arsenal, maybe that European Super League isn't such a bad idea. At least the swan-diving, shirt-pulling, face-spitting Italians play decent football :)

Seriously, though, I am livid. I don't buy any of this 'freak accident' bleating from certain sections of the media (and Garth Crooks can just fuck right off, while we're here). The studs-up challenge was banned for a reason. With the number of 'potentially career ending challenges' analysed on Match Of The Day each week, you'd think the authorities might have reviewed the punishment for such atrocities and forced both clubs and players to address the idea that this is unacceptable and remove it from the game. But no, as it stands, Martin Taylor will serve the same ban as Jeremy Aliadiere got for bitch-slapping a Liverpool player that same afternoon. Thank you, the FA, the Premier League and all you bloated paté-munching FIFA/UEFA suits - I hope you're happy.

Get well, Eduardo. Soon, if possible, but fully at least.

UPDATE: Patrick Barclay in the Daily Telegraph says similar

* you will know that I rarely swear on my blog but I cannot bring myself to describe him as a 'footballer'.
** whose nickname is 'Tiny', I assume referring to his brain.