Dr. Stephen Arthur Allen (euphonium) playing Napoli.

posted by Jaitu at 22:03

This isn't the sort of thing I normally post, then again what is?
When I was younger (so much younger than today) I used to play brass a bit. I played bugle, cornet in a silver band and was learning to play trombone. At the time I enjoyed playing quite a lot but didn't like having to do things at prescribed times (I still don't). As a result I would enjoy band practice but never wanted to go. Ultimately I had an orthodontic brace fitted which meant I couldn't play and when it was removed I never picked up a brass instrument again.

The point of that almost pointless nostalgia is that there are other members of my family who stuck with the whole musical discipline thing. The clip below is of my Cousin Stephen. I'll be honest, I'm not someone who keeps up with my family anywhere near as well as I probably should and after my sister sent me the link to the clip I had to use Google to find out a bit more about what Steve is doing now.

SCINTILLATION

posted by Jaitu at 18:26

SCINTILLATION, by Xavier Chassaing, is described as "... an experimental film made up of over 35,000 photographs. It combines an innovative mix of stop motion and live projection mapping techniques." SCINTILLATION is a simple yet beautiful short film. I particularly like the final shots where lights seem to chase themselves around the detail of some plasterwork. it reminds me of colour cycling animation in Deluxe Paint when I used to play with the Commodore Amiga.

The music in the clip is provided by Fedaden and clearly borrows from Jacques Loussier's jazz arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Air on the G String before heading swiftly off in a more experimental direction.

SCINTILLATION from Xavier Chassaing on Vimeo.

Animal Sounds

posted by Jaitu at 12:43

Here's a short animation set to an amusing little song, by "The State", that I originally ran across in an audio only form on LonelySandwich but that my net access policy at work wouldn't allow to listen to but would allow me to watch this version, with pictures, of.

WARNING: Contains one use of a bad word, that begins with 'F', towards the end.

Direct link to the clip here.

Vocoders : Electro-Harmonix Voice Box Demo

posted by Jaitu at 18:53

A short video to demo the Voice Box multi-functional vocal synth processor. The main function seems to be as a vocoder or 'talk box' that takes one input, usually someones voice, and tunes it to match a second input.
WARNING: This features a very catchy tune that'll have you singing "you got someone on your side" under your breath for the rest of the day.

And I never mentioned Frampton.

Oh okay then. Probably the most famous use of a 'Talk Box' vocoder:

Real World Guitar Hero On A Bike

posted by Jaitu at 07:46

Okay the title may be a little misleading as there is no-one actually playing Guitar Hero in this clip. Instead you have a guy riding his bike along a route that has been marked out with the fret board arrangement for "Prisoner Of Society" by The Living End as you would see find it on Guitar Hero with the difficulty set to hard.
Along with the incidental details, like the occasional pyrotechnic, one easily missed but excellent detail is the LED strip across the handle bars that flash in the correct sequence and in time with the floor markings.

Originally seen on : laughingsquid.com

Video Shot With 360 Degree Panoramic Lens

posted by Jaitu at 19:02

I stumbled upon this video that has been around a little while and was suitably impressed by it. It's shot using a lens that captures a full 360 degree panoramic view.
I'd very much like to find out more about that. There is a quite a clear and prolonged shadow of the hardware visible on the guy with the headband from around 1 minute and 13 seconds in that suggests the camera is aim upwards at a mirror. Quite likely the support structure is hidden between the sides of the image.
[UPDATE: Probably something along these lines: 0-360 Panoramic Optic™. You have to 'Unwrap' the captured image which would add a fair bit of post processing to any video sequence.]
I suspect that a lot more could be made of it but this is a pretty good proof of concept. The track isn't too bad either. It's got a good beat.

Cut Chemist - 1st Big Break from eyestorm on Vimeo.

Found on : DesignLlama

Wrong.

posted by Jaitu at 10:10

Another clip from YouTube that has nothing to do with anything.
This one is of an inappropriate design for a kids slide.
OK, the quality of the image and camera work leave a lot to be desired but it's almost worth it for the terrible rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody alone.

I'd Recommend More Than-A-Lot

posted by Jaitu at 15:41

No, this has nothing to do with any kind of insurance product.

Thursday night we went into London with our neighbours to see Monty Python's Spamalot. Spamalot is a musical stage show based, mostly, on the classic film Monty Python And The Holy Grail. The film focused on Arthur - King of the Britons and his quest to find the holy grail. The show follows roughly the same course with some minor and some major changes to make it more suitable for stage production and to set it quite distinctly apart from the original source. There is more than enough of the original to keep fans happy but I don't think you have to be a fan or have any prior knowledge of Python to enjoy the show. One of our party is not too keen on the movie but found the show to be an excellent evening's entertainment. All the new material fits nicely and is genuinely funny stuff. There is a touch of the post-modern self-referencing that I would ordinarily put down as an easy way out but in the context of Python's anarchic humour is is not an issue.

I cannot recommend this show highly enough.

Below is a clip from Australian television with a report on the London show. It is from a couple of years ago and features the original cast. Possibly the entire cast has since changed and currently Sanjeev Bhaskar is playing the part of Arthur brilliantly.

Also the Aussie reporter seems to think that Holy Grail and Life Of Brian are the same film.

Classic Rock

posted by Womble692 at 15:30

Hurrah!!! Van Halen have reformed....sort of. Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Wolfgang Van Halen. Eddies son has taken over bass duties from Michael Anthony but the fact that Dave and Ed can be in the same room as each other is awesome. I have always had a soft spot for Van Halen, i have eclectic tastes in music which range from metal to blues, to jazz to country and mixing in a little bit of pop and rap. But i adore music which people probably find cheesy.
Van Halen is one of those bands, this year has seen some great reunions, Crowded house, Van Halen, Rage against the machine to name but a few and now i hear that there are talks amongst Led Zeppelin reforming with JohnBonhams son on drums!!!! How super excellent would that be? ROCK ON!!!
Also Del Amitri's singer, Justin Currie, has a solo album out this year called Waht is love for, he is possibly one of the greatest lyricists of all time with a truly innate ability to find a simple truth which strikes a chord with so many different people on so many different levels. And i am still yet to see the reformed Police at twickenham as well as Ryan Adams and The Cardinals!! Good year for music this one. Just thought i would share as im excited!!!

Keep watching the salad shredding machines of doom


D

Bugger...The amp blew up!

posted by Womble692 at 11:38

Well the new band, Cold Roses, had its third gig on saturday. Easing into the first set, crowd (more than 10 people so i call them a crowd) were appreciative and then Snap, Crackle and Pop and all i can get from the guitar amplifier is a loud feedback. O dear. Somehow get through the next 2 songs by switching it on and off for the parts i need to play and then have to stop the gig for 5 minutes whilst we get Keith (second guitarist) to give me his amp and he sends his signal from his processor unit to the PA. At the halfway interval i survey the damage to the amp and its blown the valves again, only just had it repaired so a call to the company to sort that, however its the second time its done it so new amp time......not what the wallet wanted, however the lure of amp shopping makes me smile again. Soldier on through the second half of the gig and im not happy at all with the overall sound or performance but people seemed to like it and i always maintain if you can play a gig without getting bottles thrown at you then you have done fine. Few things to sort out in the coming rehearsals like getting the rest of the band to turn down but it will be fine.

Been a long time since i last posted here, mainly because i forgot my login details. Few things to report, got a new job, IT Operations Manager for a roofing and cladding company, second week in and there is lots to do! Lot of systems and processes need overhauling, more challenging than that is the company culture, that will take time to change.

Purchased a new motorbike which i pick up on August 11th. Its a Suzuki GSXR 750 K7 Phantom (limites edition of 200). Nice!!!! Going to be a bit of a power hike from my last motorbike which was a Suzuki SV650S. K purchased a new bike as well, a new pointy SV650S and should get that this week. I had already chosen my number plate but when she decided to buy a new bike she arranged to get matching number plates, only one letter different.......hmm how cheesy is that going to look when we are out together?

What else to say...O yes we made our wedding rings!! K and I went to Cornwall and hired out a jewellery workshop to make our wedding rings. K makes silver jewellery in her own workshop and i have also had a bash at it but apparently platinum is harder to work with and requires "special techniques" (i later found out this meant heavier hammers and hotter blow torches!)
K went for a plain 3mm platinum band which i made, turned out rather well if i say so myself and I went for a 9mm platinum band in a brushed effect. K had great issues getting mine to solder and stay in shape properly, took 5 attempts and 2 jewllery makes and 2 massive gas blow torches to get it right but in the end we are happy with it which is good as it worked out more expensive than buying them. However we did make them ourselves which is special to us.

Well that is it for this post, apologies for the length and time between. just checked out the RTDL2 store and seen a few shirts i fancy.

Laters

D

Bands And Tracks

posted by Jaitu at 21:35

Last night ElDiablo and I met up with TechMaster and a few other friends to see Womble692's new band play at a local venue. We all had a good time and I took a couple of hundred photos, many of which fall into the category of 'artistic' by which I mean blurry. I'll let Womble692 go into more detail of the evening from the stage-front perspective if he wishes to. Suffice to say it constantly amazes me how he manages to make such wonderful sounds from what is really nothing more than a plank and some elastic bands.
Before heading out to the gig ElDiablo and I thrashed a couple of Aston Martin DB9s around the famous or maybe infamous Nordschleife circuit at the Nurburgring. Needless to say this was done from the comfort of a sofa and made possible by Forza Motorsport on the XBox. Anyway that little story, truth though it is, was really only an excuse to embed this clip. Imagine our racing skills to be like this only stretched over 24 miles.

Some Justice

posted by Jaitu at 18:23

Not just the title to one of my favourite tracks of the early 90's by Urban Shakedown but an apt title for my first post in a couple of months.

Regular readers of RTDL2 (if such people exist) might remember my tale of criminally poor fashion sense. A couple of weeks ago a story ran in the press stating that the public could no longer report such crimes directly to the Police and that they would no longer be investigating unless the Banks involved reported it to them.
I was pleasantly surprised therefore to get a phone call a few days later from Dagenham CID. It turns out they had confiscated a personal computer during an investigation and that my credit card details were amongst hundreds of others held on it. They asked if I had seen any unusual activity and I told them the whole sorry story. When I mentioned the name Tim Chuk the officer responded, "That's the Fella."
At the end of the conversation the Police apologised for taking up my time to which I replied that it was fine and I was glad to hear something was being done about it to which he added " eventually".

Anyway, You Tube won't let me embed the Some Justice clip so here's the link again and a few choice morsels to bring back some memories. I still have all of these on 12" vinyl except the last one which was one of my absolute favourites and which I foolishly lent to someone I am no longer in touch with.

Everybody do the jumpy two-step now.

Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era - Far Out


2 Bad Mice - Bombscare


The Night Writers - Let The Music Use You

Not All Pain

posted by Jaitu at 19:29

After reading the excellent item by ElDiablo on Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev I decided to order some of his films. I already own Stalker (both on VHS and on DVD) and this morning placed orders for Andrei Rublev, Nostalgia, The Sacrifice and Solaris (not the Clooney remake). I also had a browse around the video library of Babel for clips from his films and was surprised to find more than a few.

While on YouTube I set off down one of those random paths that these sites are so good for and found the clip below. Not only does it feature music by Air - French Band, a group I very much like, but visually it takes a very simple idea and works it to great effect.

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