Big Day Out 2007

Another year, another big day out, and another disappointing Boiler Room line up. Sure, all the acts that played this were top notch, but I don’t know, maybe the all-dance events like Good Vibrations, Field Day and Parklife keep scoring all the crowd pullers, but I wasn’t too impressed with the Boiler Room this year and spent a good deal of my time seeing bands.

Having said that though, the Herd were the first band I saw, and testament to the draw of hiphop, especially in Adelaide, they had the Boiler Room packed and pumping in the early afternoon. They have such energy and vitality on stage, and bringing John Schuman out for their cover of Redgum’s “I Was Only 19” was a very pleasant and welcome surprise.

The floor thinned out considerably for Digital Primate, which was a shame because he was really good. Playing his own tunes, with his rappers jumping up next to him and kicking some delicious rhymes, he was better suited for a later time slot. Also at this time I decided to get a drink. What a farce that was! Lining up for 30 minutes in the hot sun just to get tickets to go line up again for a drink? From a logistics perspective I can see why they did it – only a few places that deal with cash so no money goes missing from the bars, but from a punters point of view the idea is almost as stupid an idea as trying to prevent people wearing the Australian flag.

Spank Rock surprised me. I knew MC Spank Rock was a no show, but I expected the Spank Rock DJs DJ Devlin and DJ Darko to be far more hiphop orientated than they were. They only did a couple of their own tunes and played a lot of dance orientated stuff in mashup style, mixing up Mylo and AC/DC and the Rocky Theme, with Pacerock hyping the crowd rather than rapping to the music. They reminded me of the Nextmen or Z-Trip, and I really wonder how different they would have been if Spank Rock had made it.

I went for a wander after this, managing to catch My Chemical Romance, who, I grudgingly admit, were rocking the crowd far beyond my expectations. I’ve never really listened to them, and what I’ve heard on the radio I can’t say I like them, but I didn’t run away with my fingers in my ears screaming “You Suck!” at the top of my lungs like I have to other bands in the past.

Making my way back to the Boiler Room for Peaches, I was not disappointed by her on stage shenanigans. Sucking water out of fake boobs during Shake Your Dix, ripping off her tight black jumpsuit to reveal porn style electric pink underwear, she dominated the audience with her sexy style and on stage presence. And I love how many instruments they swap for every song – I much prefer to see people playing samplers on stage than relying on DAT backup tape.

Needing a rest, I wandered over to the Lilly Pad, and managed to catch King Kapisi, New Zealand’s king of hiphop. I don’t care what people say about Scribe, King Kapisi wipes the floor with him. Better rhymes, better attitude, just simply better.

After Kapisi came Afra & the Incredible Beatbox Band. And my word, they are aptly named! Beginning with the Shadow’s Apache, made famous by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, the proceeded to box out various beats from Michael Jackson to James Brown, and classic hiphop like ‘Let Me Clear My Throat’. The Japanese rapping was pretty cute too, and these guys are the best beatboxers I’ve seen to date. Although I’m seeing Rhazel next weekend, so my opinion is open to change.

After Afra, I went and checked out the Streets, who played far too much of their slow stuff, so I went to see Jet instead. I must admit in the past I’ve not liked Jet, thinking them to be too derivative, but seeing them live really made me appreciate their sound a little more.

Speaking of sound, Muse blasted some awesome rock, but not knowing too much of their stuff I sought out something I knew and could bop along to. Enter You Am I, another Australian band I have never given much credit to, but on the smaller Green Stage they seemed much more intimate and comfortable than last time I saw them.

Tool kicked off their set with probably the only Tool song I could identify as them, but I stuck around for a while and enjoyed the heavy rock, until hunger got the better of me and I went to grab some food. Here I was subjected to the wailing of Her Latest Flame, which made me glad I don’t go out to see local bands anymore. I understand you’re an angry teenager, but do you have to scream about it? Listen to the other bands on the line up – Tool and Muse didn’t produce eardrum busting yelps!

After dinner, it was time for the Violent Femmes, and I was happy as a pig in mud dancing and singing along from the first note of ‘Please Don’t Go’ to the last I heard, ‘Add It Up’. I loved the fact they played ‘Country Death Song’, one of my all time favourite Femmes tunes, and Brian Ritchie was great on the Xylophone for ‘Gone Daddy Gone’.

Leaving the Femmes before the end of their set was a heart wrenching decision, but I had a job to do. I had to go see Crystal Method to see if they’d disappoint me for a fourth time. In the past they’ve been average or simply downright crap. The ease I got into the Boiler Room confirmed my suspicions that the Crystal Method aren’t as popular as past BDO closers, but I grudgingly admit they played an alright set. Recognising their own remixes of Prodigy, New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, along with their own ‘Born Too Slow’, and capping off with their squealchy and tough ‘Keep Hope Alive’, they exceeded my expectations, but my expectations were pretty low.

All in all it was another great Big Day Out, but there was nothing absolutely mind blowing this year, like two years ago when I heard Wolf Mother for the first time.

To see the bigger versions of these photos, go to www.ringo.com

All in all it was another great Big Day Out, but there was nothing absolutely mind blowing this year, like two years ago when I heard Wolf Mother for the first time.
To see the bigger versions of these photos, go to www.ringo.com

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years!

My resolutions are pretty simple - Get fitter, eat heathier, save some money, work on my mixing more, and get paid for more of my writing.

Oh, and the usual, get my license and get laid more, neither of which happened last year.

James Brown is Dead: Long Live the Godfather of Soul!

RIP James Brown 1933-2006

"The pope told me that I should never come to church, because I can do more out there (on the street)… Music is the soul of the people. That’s why I’m the Godfather of Soul. I wouldn’t want to be anything else — wouldn’t want to be a king, or an emperor. I just want to be with the people." - James Brown

James Brown was a musical genius and his influence is found in all genres of modern music; without him there wouldn't be any music worth listening to.

A consummate performer and prolific artist, his music will live on through soul, funk, and hiphop, all which owe their success to this wonderful artist!

I'm so, so glad I went and saw him earlier this year in Melbourne, and although I've only got a few blurry photos, his stage presence, even at 73, will live with me forever.

Blogger Update

So, I've gone ahead and updated this blog to the new blogger software, and editied previous posts and removed the tags and used the blogger software itself to tag my posts.

So far I like it.

The "labels" should be called "tags", but for now I'll let that pass.

I'll have some kind of "tag list" or "tag cloud" up and running as soon as I figure out how to do it.

I'm also looking at getting the RSS feeds from MySpace and IGN into this blog too.

Christmas Gift Idea #25

Want to buy me a Christmas Present and don't have any idea of what to get me?

I really want a new radio, and this one is great for Boob lovers! (and really, who isn't a lover of boobs!)

This battery operated radio is AM/FM and uses the rubber feel nipples for tuning & volume control.

It is a a definite "Turn On"!!!!

I'm TIME's Person of the Year!

Time Magazine's Person of the Year is You!



Yes, You. And me, and everyone who has published online.

I think it's a fantastic idea, although the idea of putting a mirror on the cover is strangely reminiscent of the Dude from the Great Lebowski film.



However, in Crikey, Christian Kerr, a media journalist, hits out at them.

He claims that TIME is running scared of 'new media', which crikey counts themselves as, and this is a way to get people to buy the magazine.

He says the idea of having a mirror on the cover was stolen from some 1970s band's record cover - and fair enough, it's not a new idea, but come on, can he be a little more 'new media' and use a popular culture reference most of us will know, like for instance, the Big Labowski?

Anyway, I sent them a letter, and it got published. Here it is:

Re. "Old media needs to take a look in the mirror" (yesterday, item 17).

OK, I know it was a Monday, but why is Christian 'need to change my first name to Wayne' Kerr so cranky about the Time article?

Sure, the "traditional" media is under threat, but they also do have a point, although technically they're 3-5 years too late.

As someone who has been involved with the Net since its fairly early days in the early 90s, I have noticed that the utopia of a free media and information promised in early scholarly articles hasn't come from wanker academics or journalists like Kerr, but from ordinary slobs like myself.

I was the one responsible for leaking the Ratbag sellout of Midway* to the major news sources via my blog. I was the one who got the Hilltop Hoods recognised by Melanie Safka (my review is on her website).

Sure, it may not be uncovering Howard's illicit liaison with Bob Hawke's wife or anything mindblowing like that, but it DID get international attention, something impossible ten years ago.

And that's Time magazine's point.

If Kerr is too up himself to accept this, maybe he should write his own blog in his own time and with his own money like the rest of us, instead of riding the coat-tails of an organisation that has to beg for subscriptions to a newsletter full of pompous asses and half truths!

* sellout as in buying us out then closing us down

New Mix Online!

New Mix Online!

Here's the MP3 of a mix I did the other weekend.

It's called "How I Rock", which isn't me blowing my own horn (Ok, well maybe a little ) but actually came about after I mixed 'The Smiths Tune' (which samples 'How Soon is Now') with 'When I Rock'.

It's a little less hard than I normally like to play, but I've been playing a lot of early night sets recently so have adjusted my style to suit the crowds. And this sound is tending to go off in Adelaide at the moment.

The recording is a bit dodge. It's not too bad in quality - so I thought I'd upload it and give you'll a listen - but it could be a lot better.

As to my mixing, well, I would be lying if I said I couldn't be happier, because I can always be happier with a mix, but to date it's one of my best and cleanest mixes. It's pretty damn good if I do say so myself!

Here's the Track Listing:

Slyde - That's It
Stanton Warriors - Dip & Get Low
30hz & Baobinga - Know Ya
Plump DJs - Soul Vibrates
General Midi - Good To Go
Cut & Run - The Smiths Tune
Split Loop - When I Rock
Stanton Warriors - Hope Time (Rogue Element remix)
Jay Cunning & Smithmonger - Never Stop (Split Loop remix)
Drumattic Twins - Pumped Up Funk
Azzido Da Bass - Dooms Night (Stanton Warriors remix)

Download "How I Rock" now!


And now I've finally hooked up my old PC to my dex, providing I can count on the audio card (it's a bit dodge but think it's a driver / software issue) I should be able to record more of my mixing and post it online.

So Bolt doesn't Like Borat

So, Andrew Bolt and some wanky socialist don't like Borat?

Here's my response:

I confess I haven't seen the movie, but I have seen enough of Cohen's Shows to realise what this movie will be.

If people are too ignorant to get the joke, to know about Cohen and Borat because they can't be bothered thinking about anything outside their own little window, sucks to be them.

His act simply wouldn't work on people who weren't ignorant. But there's so many people in the world who are so shallow and close minded that his act will continue to work for many, many years.

Maybe if we had a better education system, better global outlook, and a better society overall, Cohen's humour would be what you claim it is - cruel and manipulative.

But the fact so many don't question him, don't challenge him when he's being racist, sexist and homophobic - enough people to get a successful series and movie made - is the really sad part of his act.

If you have trouble recoginsing the predudices of people in the film, maybe it's because it's your own predudices coming into play.

You claim it is 'courteous people' being made fools - no it isn't.

These people go along with him - for whatever reason - and never once do they say "hey, you're out of line" or "stop doing that" or "I don't give a fudge where you come from, stop insulting those people". Never once do they challenge him, and many go along with him. That's worse than fooling people in the first place. Who is more fool?

The Nazi's killed millions because people refused to speak up against what they knew was wrong, and Cohen is pointing out even many years later people are just as ignorant, even with our internet and globalization.

Hopefully Borat will make people more aware of what they do and how they act. Then Cohen has done what he wants to achieve, and that's a damn better outcome than feeling warm and fuzzy because of portaloos.

Oh, and those "Frat Boys" aren't the innocent fools you make them out to be...

"While Cohen and his production team certainly have a knack for finding and taking advantage of the, shall we say, socially questionable citizens of the "U.S. and A," it's hard to imagine that this suit has much merit. First off, a quick look at Seay's Myspace pictures suggest that "gettin' drunk and havin' a good time," are pastimes he regularly engages in -- not behaviors that the producers likely duped him into. Second, he, along with everyone else in the film, signed an agreement relinquishing any rights to take action. Third, the scene in question is so despicable (even though Seay appears less awful than his two frat brothers) that it's hard to imagine any judge or jury feeling sympathetic to his cause." (link)

Save the Glass House

Personally I'm not a great fan of the Glass House, but I find it incredibly strange thatthe ABC axed it given the amount of viewers it attracted week after week.

In the current government climate, I think shows that send up news, politicians and celebrities is important.

This show was NOT a news program, so it doesn't need to be "balanced or unbiased".

If you think it's unfair that the Glass House has been taken off air, there's a petition online to save it...

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savetheglasshouse/index.html

Funny comic

Pretty much sums up the way I'm feeling at the moment...

How real are the commentators?

I was thinking about something whilst looking at Andrew Bolts blog today - How many of those people are REAL people with real desire to know more and debate the issues Bolt puts forth, and how many are news corp stooges and cronies?

Likewise with the AdelaideNOW blog, which is full of praise for the new layout?

I don't like the new page because the stories are different from the Advertiser, meaning if I want to read the front page I have to go buy the paper, which I refuse to do. I'm not paying for one or maybe two stories. Also, you used to be able to read the paper and stories from up to a week previously, but I can no longer find that functionality on the website.

Sure, I can go online and read other sites, but when Adelaide only has one news source, it kind of makes it a little hard to find stuff about us from an Adelaide perspective. But that's besides the point.

Anyway, on Sunday there was a story by Amanda Blair, an ex Adelaide radio jock, about how DJs and radio hosts are aware that most callers to the station are fake.

And it got me thinking... how do we know these blog commentators aren't fake?

The posts are moderated anonymously, and there's nothing to tie people to their posts like other sites like Kotaku or even a web forum.

I added a comment to the AdelaideNow website, and hopefully Rod, the editor, can answer...

Hey Rod,

Just like to get your opinion on something...

Given that the fake radio caller thing has been blown wide open by the Sunday Mail (well, for those listeners too stupid to realise the truth beforehand anyway), I'd like to know what guarantees do we have that people responding to these blogs aren't just newspaper people posing as 'concerned readers'.

Because the posts are moderated before we see them, I feel that this is very open to abuse, much like the Radio calls.

Surely a registered user database would be better than anonymous posting coupled with anonymous moderating.

Adelaide Now Sucks Even More

Can Adelaide's newspaper get any worse?

Top story on "Adelaide Now", the web portal for our newspaper, The Advertiser, is Top tipster admits it's all for Show, the story of six year old Henry Stevens being the top of not his class, not his sport, but of the footy tips.

The fucking footy tips!!!

He's a headline for you. FOOTY TIPS ARE BULLSHIT!

Sorry to burst little Henry's bubble, but there is absolutely no skill involved in being on top.

How do I know this? How can I make such a bold claim?

Because in both my footy tipping competitions I'm (on or near) top and I THOROUGHLY DISLIKE footy! Click HERE to see the ladder if you don't believe me...

I don't watch it. I don't follow it. I don't support a team. I don't know any players' names and every week I have to try and remember which team is on top and what colours they are.

I'm all for feel good stories, but come on Advertiser... there's so much else which is newsworthy in this state that the story of a six year old kid who wins footy tips should NEVER be the leading story.

Another day, another wanker... This time it's Piers Ackerman

What is it with these so-called journalists? When I can do a quick two minute google search that basically tears their stories and opinion to shreds, it really makes you question how the fuck they got employed in the first place...

I DO like the fact that they are willing to have their albeit idiotic thoughts opened up to people to comment on, and wish more would partake in the fun.

Piers Ackerman has yet another jab at the ABC over of all things Playschool. Maybe they should have a Playschool for fat, old journalists.

Here's my reply to him... a bit more vehement than my response to Bolt, so less likely to be published.

It says on your blog page that you're one of Australia's best journalists. If this is the case then God help the media!

You're simply an idiot. This has got nothing to do with the ABC and everything to do with your pathetic and on going ABC bashing. When will you stop beating a dead horse?

This change has been happening in ALL children's programs, and isn't just a leftist change. Take a look at how Sesame Street has changed.

A simple search on google will find that it's being used to spread pro-American propaganda through Muslim countries (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3200699.stm) to the changing of cookie monster to promote healthier eating by singing "Cookies is a sometimes food" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4432415.stm)

But then a simple google search is probably beyond your capabilities.

Andrew Bolt's brilliant journalistic mind...

Andrew Bolt on the Herald Sun is bashing the 'left wing bias' in today's media.

Very admirable, but he totally misses the point.

On his second post about the Lebanese taxi apparently bombed by Isreal being a hoax (and talk about beating a dead horse) He says "Well, we know now beyond doubt, thanks to Zombietime, that the story was completely false".

I had to post a comment, and I'll be interested to see if it's published. Here's what I wrote:

Um, no we don't.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the real truth. Mr Bolt is a lazy, inept journalist.

Here we see his absolutely brilliant journalistic mind at work: Take one source and treat it gospel truth.

The Zombietime people just look at photos and surmise the outcome. It is hardly irrefutable proof that what occurred is a hoax.

To really tell if this occurred, you'd need to travel to Lebanon and interview people from both sides of the conflict, interview observers and witnesses, analyse the metal around the hole looking for burn residue.

But if you are happy to report a biased, unfounded and quite possibly false piece of photographic comparative analysis as truth and demand an apology from other sources who report a different truth, then that's your problem, not mine.

However, you're the one being paid as a 'journalist'.

Then again, you're not really a journalist, are you Mr Bolt?

Just like owning a guitar is not enough to make you a rockstar, you're just being paid by a newspaper to put your words on a page...

Why is there no Australian religion?

I was listening to my last.fm reggae station and whilst reading about some of the artists, I decided to look up more on the rasta movement.

This got me to thinking about religion in general, and to why there is no Australian founded 'religion' as such.

The Rasta movement began amongst the poor slaves in Jamaica and is their expression of religion against that of the white man.

Similarily Kwaanza, was set up by a Black person in America to celebrate black diversity in the holiday period.

Even Scientology and the Church of Latter Day Saints can be seen as being created to address flaws in previous religions that do not address the specific actuality of being American.

And the different sects of the Christian faith such as the Lutherans evolved to address different interpretations of the bible.

So, why is there no Australian religion?

Sure, there's the Dream Time of the Aboriginals, but as a nation we don't respect them or their culture, so it's understandable that no one really takes any serious notice of that.

But why, when our nation was founded by convicts, many of whom where politically and religiously persecuted, has no real religion developed that is distinctly Australian?

Sure, our constitution states that "The Commonwealth of Australia shall not make any law establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth", but that hardly dissuades people to make up a religion.

If I was, say, an Irish Catholic (and apparently my ancestors were) and I was shipped here because I stole of loaf of bread, I would reject both the State and the Religion of that state.

The Christian God didn't help me, a poor Irish person just trying to provide for his family, from being caught and then being shipped to a strange land where the seasons are backwards, the sky is different, it doesn't snow, and the animals all look fucking weird.




I mean look at the Platypus... if that thing isn't enough to make you reject God if you're an 18th Century convict with no education then I don't know what else could!

With a mess of cultures and religions and backgrounds all in the one place, I'm surprised that, unlike America which has a ridiculous number of stupid religions popping up all the time, a distinctly Australian religion hasn't emerged.

So I was talking to God the other day...

So I was talking to God online the other day...


Me:
Hi God, Wassup?
God:
Hi there . I am a Christian.
Me:
you're a cunt
God:
Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Am I a cunt? Maybe.



And later in the conversation:

Me:
fuck you
God:
Why are you so mean?
Me:
coz you're a cunt
God:
Good reason. Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Am I a cunt? Yes.

Interview with DJ Krust

Interview with legendary dnb producer DJ Krust on his new album and the dnb scene in general.

read more | digg story

Interview with Bass Kleph

Stu Tyson aka Bass Kleph is rising up both the Australian and International breakbeat ranks as one of the hottest producers in the scene...

read more | digg story

Vote for Funky J in the inthemix50!

The search is on again for Australia's favourite DJ!

Vote for Funky J in the inthemix50! Just click the graphic below!

Dating...

Why do lots of women on dating websites list "astrology" as a hobby and therefore think that this is something guys would want in a future partner?

Do they really think men are interested in that crap?

....


Err... not that I've ever looked at a dating website apart from research purposes...

Tags:

• dating
• astrology
• women
• why

More Beer!

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Tags:

• alcohol
• beer
• personality
• quiz

DRINK DRINK DRINK

1. What is your favourite beer?
Coopers Pale Ale.

2. Favourite mixed drink?
Scotch & Dry

3. Favourite Shot?
Tequila

4. Who's your favourite person to go drinking with?
Lissy.

5. Favourite bar?
Mojo (mainly coz I quite often get free drinks)

6. If you are trying to get really drunk, you drink...?
Red wine and Spirits. But then I usually vomit, and I hate vomiting

7. Favourite day of the week for drinking?
Friday.

8. First drink you ever had?
Apparently I was fed Bundy and Coke when I was 2 years old by accident.

9. First drink you got drunk from?
Brandy. Can't stand the stuff now.

10. When was the last time you drank?
Yesterday.

11. Last time you got really drunk?
Friday 5 May at Scribble Jam. Was taking photos, and was drinking coz there was no one I knew there.

12. Last time you got sick from drinking?
See above. Although I didn't actually spew, but I almost did.
Last time I spewed was last year sometime, after Going out drinking with my mate Paul.

13. Last time you passed out from drinking?
See above, but I was at home so it was ok...

14. What's your favourite holiday to drink?
Good Friday.

15. Have you ever started drinking before noon?
Yup. The day of the Big Day Out it's traditional for me to have a beer for breakfast.

16. Favourite thing to eat when drunk?
BBQ food. Sanga and bread and sauce.
Or if I'm drinking wine, then cheese and crackers.

17. Favourite drinking game?
Starwars drinking game.

18. Favourite person to have drunk conversations with?
Lexy and Grif

19. Favourite person to call when you are drunk?
I don't call people, but I sms them. And it's generally anyone's name I can read on the phone's display.

20. Favourite song to sing at the bar?
Whatever everyone else is singing.

21. Best drunk story you ever heard?
My mate was walking from his girlfriends house to his house in Elizabeth, couldn't make it so passed out on someone's lawn, with a newspaper over him to keep himself warm. When he woke up, his sunnies had been stolen, but nothing else.

22. What famous person would you like to go drinking with?
The guys from Pop Will Eat Itself.

23. Where's your ideal drinking location?
At a BBQ. I love beer and BBQ.

24. Any alcohol related arrest?
Nope. I never get too messy out and about...

Tags:

• alcohol
• beer
• personality
• quiz

Quick Catch Up!

Ok, some things that have been going on lately:

• Heaps of photos on my Photo site, including ones from playtime & inbound
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• My review of the Suicide Girls is available in dB (and it's not kind... )
  
  
  
• My review of Hilltop Hoods 'The Hard Road" is the feature album in dB magazine.
  
  
  
• DJing Breaks at 'The Jam' at Mojo on Fri 12 May... we'll have an all new line up too!
  

Tags:

• reviews
• photos
• inbound
• update

Photo Gallery now up!

Just a quick post to let you all know I now have a Photo Gallery linked to my main site.

I'm still in the process of tweaking it, but you can access it from:

http://photos.funkyj.com

Blog Address Changed!!!

For all you guys linking and viewing this site, the link has changed!

it's now simply : http://blog.funkyj.com


I've also now got a game focused blog up on IGN.com


So Sciolism will be where I rant and rave about everything and anything, MySpace will be about music and events mostly, and IGN.com will be about gaming...

Sure, there will be cross over and such, but I'm trying to attract the most readers possible to my words! :D

Suicide Girls

So I went along to the Suicide Girls show last night.

It's billed as a burlesque show, but it's just a bunch of slappers taking their clothes off.

I really didn't enjoy the show at all.

The stripping was average, and the venue was so not suited to that kind of show.

Also, the crowd was full of goths.

I fucking hate goths.

I used to just say that I hated goths to annoy my goth friends on the internet, but, no, I discovered last night that I REALLY hate goths.

My review of the Suicide Girls should appear in dB next week... It's not very kind...

My Delicious!

If you haven't heard of del.icio.us then what kind of internet geek are you?

http://del.icio.us/funkyj is my list of bookmarks!

Feel free to browse and recommend some for me!

A couple of new toys!

ok, so I went out and got a decent digital camera the other week, because I was sick of going to events and taking crappy photos like the ones from the Big Day Out and Good Vibrations.

It's a Fuji film FinePix S5600













I also got to play in Berri the other week, and gave my camera it's first proper run.

It worked REALLY well. As I only had a 16 meg memory card, I put the camera on it's lowest resolution setting and the photos are excellent.

You can check the pics on the inthemix.com.au website.

I also picked up an xbox360 the other day at launch... Yeah, I know, I'm a geek...

Took my camera out and took some pics for Xboxworld.com.au. More pics at the site.
Been playing 'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion' mainly, which I'm enjoying quite a bit, but I don't think it's the be all of RPGs.

If you don't know, the Xbox360 live service tracks a lot of stats about games, and anyone can access them. If you want to see my gamer card, well, here it is:

I've also managed to get a new bed, matress, bedroom furintune, lounge and computer...

Feature article with Hilltop Hoods

My interview with the Hilltop Hoods is the Feature front page story in dB magazine.

CLICK HERE to read it, or pick up your copy of dB where ever you see it!

Mew mix online!

I've got a new mix online!

It's called OneTake, because it's one man's take on breaks, and was done in one take* - I was just pulling these out of my record box and trying to mix them as I went along...

Click HERE to download

Track Listing:
Fasten Your Seatbealts – Pendulum vs Freestylers
Overneath – Aquasky & Meat Katie
CreepShow (Soul of Man remix) – Plump DJs
Mindfunkpsychedelic – Elite Force
7 Nation Army (Adam Freeland Mix) – White Stripes
Lovers not Fighters – Evil Nine
Midnight – Breakfastaz
Bullet Time – Autobots and & Deep Impact
SwingPunk (Aquasky & Masterblaster Remix) – Factor E
The Spanish Tune – Autobots and & Deep Impact
Ultrafunkula – Autobots and & Deep Impact
Get Into It – Far Too Loud & Code Zero
Rock That Shit (Smithmonger remix) – J-Bass & Journeyman


*technically it was 2 takes, but during the first take my minidisc recorder ran out of batteries

Getting Up: contesting the ban

The guys at jumpbutton, an excellent Australian games and culture startup magazine have posted An open letter to Philip Ruddock regarding the OFLC decision to refuse classification to the computer game, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

Head over, give it a read, blog about it, and then write to Mr Ruddock and have your say about how wrong this decision is.

Google

How come on the one hand google is scared the Chinese government, but will stand up against the USA government?

I hate this type of hypocrisy.

Obviously Google see see more profit in supporting the barbaric and opressive laws of China than supporting the oppressive and barbaric laws of the USA...

Good Vibrations 06

Myself and a whole heap of South Aussies headed to Melbourne to see Good Vibrations last weekend. What an amazing party!

I got there early because I wanted to see Danielsan and Agent 86. They were both pretty good. I wandered about for a while, checking out the stages and settled in front of the main stage to see a band - now the set times says it was Mr Jigga, but I have a feeling it was actually the Sneaky Sound System... either way they were rocking the funk very well.

When my friends rocked up it was a case of simply hanging out and walking about, so I caught bits of DJ Peril, RU Cl and Data Rock, all of whom were fantastic, particularly Data Rock.

One of the standouts were Breakestra, who were very funky and played some of my favourite Breakestra tunes, such as Impeach the President. I also managed to catch some of Estelle, who was pretty spunky!

I just had to see Shaun Ryder and Kav of the Happy Mondays on the Laundry Stage... and I gotta say time has not been good to ol' Shaun... he was so pale, fat and splotchy, and could hardly mumble the words to his own songs! Although it was good to hear some Happy Mondays, Gorillaz, Stone Roses and other great Madchester music.

I wandered over to the B Bar to catch The Nextmen, who were one of the best at the show. Fantastic tunes, played very well. I simply love the happy breaks / hiphop they were playing, and I can't wait to see them again!

After them, I bolted to the Roots stage to catch the end of Talib Kweli and Jean Grey. Apparently Jean rocked it, but I only caught one of her tracks and about 2 of Talibs, which was disapointing, but they still rocked.

DJ Z-Trip was one of the main reasons I went to Melbourne, but he also played Adelaide on the Friday night before, so I was a little disapointed with his set as it was essentially the same. He still rocked it though, and Supernatural has an unnatural talent on the mic! Most amazing MC I've heard.

But the whole reason I went was to see was the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Although the warm up was good, with the band jamming and the other MCs shouting "James Brown" alot, he took about 10 minutes to arrive on stage. But when he did - OH MY GOSH! Even though he's almost 80 years old, he's still got it. Resplendent in a red sparkly suit, he funked out big time! Ok, so he may not have been as active as he was 20 or 30 years ago, but he is still a consumate performer! And that's yet another one of my all time favourite "must see performers" I've witnessed, and by gosh it was great.

It was fantastic that so many South Aussies headed over, there were about 30 of us all up, and running into everyone here and there was simply awesome. There probably won't be another time when there will be so many of my friends interstate! I had the best time in years!

Big Day Out 2006

This years Big Day Out wasn't really all that memorable or spectacular, apart from me DJing of course!!!

I DJed after Ian, the guy who used to do Pop... he plays 80s/90s 'goth' and alternative music, I couldn't hear what I was mixing AT ALL, I just had to mix in the headphones and hope it sounded ok, but it was HEAPS of fun!!!

I played some Finger Lickin funk and bootys, then dropped jungle... Had HEAPS of people come up to me and thank me for playing it... one guy even ran off and got all his mates to come back to listen to me

I played for nearly and hour and a half, and dropped some harder breaks to finish...

I couldn't record it, and I have absolutely no idea what it sounded like, but I think I did a good job... had heaps of people dancing, and knew they were dancing to me coz they all cheered when I dropped certain tracks, like Super Sharp Shooter and Fasten Your Seatbelts...

Man, it was so much fun... I gotta make sure I do it again next year!!!

New interviews online!

I have recently added some more interviews to the website, bringing the total to 55 interviews...

The latest additions are: Statler and Waldorf, Kosheen, Roots Manuva, Bass Kleph, Depeche Mode, Ils, Krafty Kuts, and Stereo MCs.

My Space

Yes, I've succumbed to peer pressure and got a My Space page set up.

I'm going to use the blog to refer back to this blog, which will probably refer back to there... oooh, so po-mo!

But check out my My Space page and add me as a friend, and I'll return the favour!

Job Status...

OK, well, it seems I've gone and got myself a job.

As a games tester.

In Adelaide.

As you may imagine, I'm stoked. Although I would like to move eventually, probably to Sydney, I have been getting into the Adelaide groove once again.

I know that as long as I don't let it become a rutt, by being silly about certain things, I will enjoy living here again.

And having a new job, doing new things, is always good for the soul.

Oh, and I'm DJing at the Big Day Out!

I'm playing 6-7pm on the Silent Disco Stage, which sounds freaky but cool...

This from the BDO Press Release:

From the Netherlands we will be presenting what may be the future of dance parties…The SILENT DISCO. Take one dodgem ring, remove the cars, add 400 specially made radio headsets and start the party. The real head spinner is ha you have two DJs to choose from. The effect is quite surreal.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Someone mentioned to me that I haven't posted on my blog for a while, which was good twofold because it reminded me to blog, and also indicates somebody reads my shit!

Well, I had a massive Christmas and New Year!

It all started on the 23rd, when I went to see Calyx, Dom & Roland and Pendulum at Earth Nightclub. Rather than me letting you all know how it was, I'll direct you to read my review!

Christmas this year was a million times better than last year - no bad dreams, no missing busses or tains, and no racist pricks! I went up to mums and I got some Joop, a pillow (which hasn't helped my shoulder at all... dodgy physio!) and some cash. I gave her a portable phone with an inbuilt answering machine.

Christmas night was cool - went up to Maz's and had a bit of a spa. My girlfriend (I think that's what I can call her... she's a girl who is a friend... and we are kind of seeing each... kind of...) was acting a bit weird though... Well, I thought she was... maybe i was just paranoid! I don't know, we have an odd relationship. She has some issues with her ex, but don't we all, and on top of that I don't know where I'm going to be working/living, so it's kind of hard to start something serious... although I think I'd like to with her... She's a little hottie and we get along quite well. She has the cutest butt... but I digress...

Then on the 29th I headed out to see Krafty Kuts and Stanton Warriors. I've been pushing breaks for years, and finally it seems Adelaide is getting into it! Again, rather than me typing out what I thought, I'll let you to read my review! Suffice to say that that was the BEST breaks night in Adelaide, and a sign Adelaide is finally accepting breaks!

Right after that finished, at 6 am I flew to Sydney for Shore Thing and Field Day. I wanted to shop in the city on Friday, but I ended up sleeping the day away. Lisa and Simon took us out to one of their friend's girlfriends birthday dinner, and I wasn't really impressed with the food... I think we have better Thai resturants in Adelaide.

On Saturday caught up with an old friend Venita, and realised there's lots of ex-South Aussies living in Sydney. That night we visited some more of Lisa and Simon's friends, then went out to see Fat Boy Slim at Shore Thing. I had a ball! James Taylor was rocking it before Fat Boy Slim stepped up, and Fat Boy Slim played a lot of classics - both his and others - and wasn't too housey or cheesy!

Field Day was a scorcher... 44 degrees! It was an amazing day though... Evil Nine were awesome, but pity they weren't on later. Stantons rocked it again, and I enjoyed Sanchez and I'm not normally into his sounds. DJ Format played some nice funk and hiphop and made me not too sad I missed out on Andy Smith in Melbourne. Infusion were good, but Stereo MCs were better, even though the crowd was rather muted. Kid Kenobi was rather average, but Soul of Man were another highlight! After a 44 degree day, we had 100 km/h winds, and the breaks stage was closed down, so I had to see Bob Sinclar play... I hated every tune I heard Bob Sinclar play, especially that whack one with the whistling 'Love Generation'... OMG Can a tune BE any more annoying??? Moving Krafty to the main stage was the best decision they could have made, but MC Dynamite was whack though... he can do heaps better! KISS came on at the end, and although it was weird, I saw the humour in it, even if every other person around me complained.

I had to fly back at 6am the next day... well, thought it was 6am but it was actually 7... oh well, better to be early than late for a plane!

When I got back I slept all day, and then on Thursday I went saw King Kong with Lisa. I really enjoyed that. What I didn't enjoy was having to bail on her at 4 in the morning because my shoulder is so fucked!!! I don't know what I've done, but if I lie down for more than a few minutes it aches like hell. I really, really hated to bail on her, but I had to come home and take painkillers.

We caught up again on Sunday and went to see the Goonies at the Moonlight Cinema, which was also really nice...

Midway shafts Ratbag Studios...

Midway shafts Aussie developer, Ratbag Studios

OK, here's what happened.

On Sunday, Greg Siegele got a phone call saying that Matt Booty and the HR guy were coming down. They arrived Tuesday, and we held a meeting at 2pm. We were told that we hadn't reached suitable quality levels in our deliverables, and that as a result Midway had decided to close the Adelaide Studio, and that we were all laid off. We were told that we had a day to offer suggestions to keep the studio open.

We suggested - bringing in people from OS, reducing the scope of operation, reducing the size of the team, and moving to another budget title, and a few other things.

We also had calls from the Premier and Federal Government asking if there was any assistance they could offer. With only one day notice, we had to decline.

Yesterday we had to go in, grab all our personal stuff, and delete our music, pictures, documents, emails, etc off our hard drives. We were given our redundancy notices. We went into the Ballroom next door, Greg put a tab on the bar, and we got hammered. They also ordered Pizza, which was always an in-joke around our office. When we've had bad news in the past, beer and pizza were ordered for the staff.

Some people have already found work interstate and overseas.


Now, I'm going to take off my journalist cap, and say what I really feel...

Midway are CUNTS.

We were exstatic when they brought us out - it was our chance to work on a game and not pander to different publishers and be fucked around like we had on Saturday Night Sprintcars, Dukes of Hazzard, and our Activision project.

The testers were given full time contacts, and I saw it as a chance to get into game design or more senior QA role down the track. But Midway have dashed all those dreams.

I feel sorry for those who've moved from Interstate and overseas. We had one guy move from the UK and start on Monday. He worked a total of 15 hours and then was told he was sacked. There's people who bought houses and land here, moved their families here.

And of course, it wasn't REALLY about our game. It was about the $29.1 Million loss Midway made this quarter. But instead of looking about why they're losing money (could it be because they're making generic, bland, MTV-audience friendly games, like LA Rush perhaps??? Maybe if they didn't pay Matt Booty and the other Senior execs $millions a year) they decided to close down two of their studios, thus destroying an Australian gaming insitiution in the process.

Our game was looking fantastic. They looked at a November 15 build, which admittedly wasn't great, but we had and made a Verticle Slice (which is essentially like a fully fledged demo of the game) deadline last week, with some people working from 6am to midnight every day of the week, Saturday and Sunday included.

We looked at our PS2 game on identical monitors next to the major games in the genre - True Crimes 2, GTASA, Driv3r and the original GTA, and our game looked like an Xbox game - even I was amazed at how much effort and work had gone into the game in the last 4 weeks.

The game featured stuff never attempted before in a driving / GTA style game, and it was stuff that was actually working as a mechanic and looked great too. If you've got a mechanic that's fun to do over and over, you've essentially got your game. Bungie said that about Halo.

I am of course utterly devastated and heart broken. This was my dream job. Not only that, the people I worked with were amazing. You simply don't find talent like that anywhere else in Adelaide. Those people made me realise Adelaide isn't all that bad, that people can be creative and intelligent and different here and get ahead in life whist still living in one of the nicest cities in the world.

I guess you can't get ahead here.

I'm at a total loss as to what to do. There's not many jobs for games testers in Australia or really elsewhere in the world, not permanent anyway.

There's NOTHING else for me to do in Adelaide, except call centre work, which is a soul destroying, meaningless existence according to most of my friends.

I am totally shattered.

When Robyn left me Ratbag was the only thing that kept me from losing it altogether. Now what the fuck do I do?

One Enchanted Evening

Ok, so I've been busy / lazy and not updated my webpage...

Lots going on in my life, but not much I really want to share with the world... it's kinda personal, and I don't want to jeopardise things by blogging about it yet.

BUT

I do have a new DJ mix for you to download and enjoy...

It's called "One Enchanted Evening" and I did it on the evening of a rave called "Enchanted Forest 2006"...

Tracklisting:
Spin Spin Saccharine – Sneaky Pimps
Gonna Keep On – Soul Of Man
Good Times (Atomic Hooligan remix) – J Cat
Direct Hit – Aquasky
Bump & Grind (Krafty Kuts remix) – Friendly
Tricked – Bootylicious
Once Upon a Time – Dreadzone
Put Up Your Hands – Scam
Murder in the Jamrock – Cut & Run
Boom Blast (Deekline & Wizard remix) – Freestylers
Greenlight – Breakfastaz
Both Knees (Breakfastaz remix) – Split Loop
Obssessive Nature – Kiro Vs Undecided
Kinky – Plump DJs

The difference a year makes...

Ok, I normally don't blog about feelings and shit... I generally leave that for all the whack emo kids on MySpace, but I had to post this.

This time last year I was probably at the lowest I had been since a high school kid.

I felt worthless, pathetic, unloved, and rejected.

Most of that was because of my break up with Ribbon, which hit me harder than I ever expected. She was the first real love of my life. When we broke up I was shattered. And it took me a REAL long time to get over it.

Part of the reason it took so long is that DAMN houseboat trip... STUPID STUPID STUPID!

Anyway, a year later and everything is looking up. Job opportunities are opening up new and exciting horizons, I'm making lots of friends in and out of work, and I'm just feeling overwhelmingly happy with the way things are going.

I'm disapointed Ribbon and I never became close again, and probably never will because she's in the UK, but I hope everything works out well for her.

Newsfeeds & Podcasts!

For the more observant of you out there you may notice a slight change to the website, again a shameless attempt of greater promotion of my website.

I now have Feedburner links to this Blog and my two podcasts - FunkyJ's Interview Podcast and the City Zen Radio Archive.

Feel free to subscribe to the feeds and download my podcasts!

Doom the Movie

Saw it last night (for free... thanks Dan!)

quick review:

Good:
The music score is by Clint Mansel of Pop Will Eat Itself (he also did music for Requiem For a Dream and Sahara)
The Rock's face does indeed look like the hapless marine in the original Doom game, especially when he gets the BFG.
Good lighting that matches Doom III's feel (although this is probably more a reflection on the goodness of the game than the goodness of the movie)
The first person scene is pretty good.
Samantha Grimm (Rosamund Pike)

Bad:
Doom I (the game) had a better storyline. The film was predictable and lame.
The acting is pretty dull. The Rock is the Rock, Keith Urban is under utilised, Rosamund Pike doesn't get her tits out, and the dialogue is pretty damn awful most of the time.
NO HELL! Doom is all about demons from hell. Anything else is NOT Doom.
Moreover they kept refering to Mars being "Hell" and the monsters as "Those Demons", but the creatures were genetically engineered... make up your friggin mind.
Not enough gun play - Doom is all about killing demons.
The end credits are whack... what were they thinking!?!

oh god, I've turned into an old man who writes letters to the editor!

But I couldn't help myself!

RAP & RnB IS NOT HIPHOP!!!

read my letter in the latest Escapist Magazine...

iTunes Australia Finally opens!

yeah, it was yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to blog about it... although I did make a forum post on XBWAustralia.

Here's part of the Press Release I got about it:

Apple today launched the revolutionary iTunes Music Store in Australia, giving Australian music fans the same innovative features, breakthrough pricing and seamless integration with iPod that have made iTunes the world's most popular music jukebox and online music store. The iTunes Music Store is now available in 21 countries and features the most music of any digital music store in Australia with over one million songs from major and independent record labels and over 1,000 music videos. Priced at just $1.69 per song, $3.39 per video and with most albums at $16.99 including GST, the iTunes Music Store in Australia is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online.

"We're thrilled to bring the revolutionary iTunes Music Store to Australia," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "iTunes features the largest catalogue of local and international music in Australia with over one million songs, enabling music fans to purchase their favourites with one click and have them automatically sync to their iPod."

Exclusive music featured today includes tracks from Australian artists Missy Higgins, Bernard Fanning, Paul Mac, Evermore, Gyroscope and The Dissociatives. Extensive catalogues are available from Australian greats INXS, Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly and Slim Dusty. In addition, there are iTunes Originals from local heroes Spiderbait, and international stars R.E.M., Alanis Morissette, LL Cool J, PJ Harvey and Sting. International exclusives include Madonna's entire catalogue, digital box sets from U2 and Stevie Wonder, albums with digital booklets from Jack Johnson and Elvis Costello and more exclusives from Black Eyed Peas, Tiesto, Bloc Party, Elbow, Hayley Westenra and Jamie Cullum. Exclusive videos include U2, an online Beastie Boys exclusive and an extensive Madonna catalogue. The iTunes Podcast Directory features over 25,000 Podcasts, including featured Australian Podcasts from ABC, Triple J, Triple M and SBS Radio.

Interestingly enough, today the iTunes store from within iTunes keeps timing out... must be getting hammered pretty hard I suspect.

I'm going to spend the weekend editing my interviews, and converting my CityZen Radio shows into MP3 format, and add them to the podcasting section.

Considering my Grand Master Flash interview has had over 200 hits, I'm hoping my podcast will bring more people to my website...

Maybe I'll even put some adverts on it to get a bit of cash from all this work I've done... ;)

Lego!

Jengo Fett

There was a mini lego showcase on in Adelaide at the Myer Centre over the school holidays.

This is one of my photos.

More Here

More Apple Hate!

Why do people think Apple is the bizniz when it comes to "user friendly"?

For example, I listen to LOTS of mix CDs, and when I import them to iTunes it does it by Artist / CD Title, so now I've got about 14 million 'artist' folders with one 'album' folder with one song in them. That's NOT very well organised, and I can't see a way to change that.

The ONLY way I can see around this every single time I put a mix CD, is to make sure I press "ctrl + I" and mark as "record is a compilation", which of course isn't user friendly at all, BUT A FUCKING PAIN IN THE ARSE!

Oh, and god forbid if you ever let iTunes organise your music folder... I did that at home and it RUINED MY MP3 COLLECTION.

I have lots of mashup and legitimate user created MP3s that have a name like "artist_TrackTitle.mp3" and nothing inside the file - I know what it is by it's MP3 name. But iTunes doesn't like that.

It took me 6 hours to correct the "organising" iTunes decided to do, which was more like coming into a library, grabbing anything that doesn't have the title and author written on the inside cover, and throwing it into the air.

And yet Apple / Mac users claim Apple is better than PC / Microsoft... pfft!!!

Parklife Review

I walked to the venue as I was in a walking mood, and whilst it was a fair away from the city centre, it was a lovely spring day and I enjoyed looking at Sydney on the way there.

The area of Parklife was massive, probably the equivalent of Adelaide’s Rymill Park. There were 3 main stage areas, plus lots of space in between. The line up to get in wasn’t too bad, taking about 10 minutes to get in once the gates actually opened.

After grabbing a drink, the first set I listened to was James Taylor and Price Cuts, who were spinning on the main outdoor stage. Nice funky breaks and a little bit of hiphop.

On the smaller Dedouin stage, Uncle Ho was doing a live thing, and that was really cool. Nice sax playing under trippy beats. I stayed in that area for FunkTrust, who rocked the gathering crowd playing funky hiphop. I love hiphop DJs who scratch and cut, and was very impressed with these dudes.

Kid Kenobi was on the Outdoor stage with MC Sureshock, and basically from this moment on I stayed listening to the music at this stage. It was mostly breaks and hiphop – my two favourite styles. Kid Kenobi and Sureshock tore it up – I was glad because Kid Kenobi can rather cheesy at times, but this was a rather good set. It’s funny how the Sydneysiders pay out the MC, whereas in Adelaide it’s Sureshocks’ skills as an MC that give’s Kid Kenobi a little more respect amongst Adelaide’s dnb loving heads.

Ugly Duckling was up next. I love UD, they remind me of the early Beastie Boys. They did mostly older, well-known tunes such as eye on the gold chain and just a little samba, but also did a new tune that takes the same riff as a Solesides tune, which was pretty good.

Rennie Pilgrem jumped up onto stage next, with MC Chick-aboo busting out rhymes for him. I was very impressed with what he played, lots of new TCR stuff, as well as a few Pilgrem favs such as Emit/Collect and Cous Cous. He played some pretty rocking tunes – filled with guitar samples and a fairly rock and roll vibe, much like Evil Nine’s stuff.

During his set I had to take a breather, and headed to see A Skillz at the Bedouin stage. There were a lot more people now, and unlike earlier, there was little noise bleed from the main stage. From where I was sitting I couldn’t see A Skillz, but I could hear him cutting it up wildly.

Roots Manuva and his band begun on the main stage, and I sauntered over to check him out. Man, he is GOOD! It’s bloody criminal he’s not played in Adelaide. He’d go off here big time. I wasn’t able to stand for much of his set, but sat down near the lake, facing the stage grooving away.

I wanted to see some of Numark, as he’s one of my favourite DJs, but the Drumattic Twins came on the main stage and got my booty off the ground and shaking again! These guys are fast becoming my favourite breaks act - they were ‘best of show’ for Winter Breaks last year, and were easily the best set of the night. Playing lots of Finger Lickin’ stuff, including Plump DJs, Soul Of Man, and their own stuff, and lots of acapellas and making on the spot naughty bootlegs by looping hiphop and RnB vocals over the top… fantastic!

One word springs to mind with the Freestylers – inconsistent. They started off really strong with fasten your seatbelts and Cut & Run’s Starwars sample laden Dark Side but then they went into hiphop, and then cheesy breaks like push up, then drum’n’bass and then back to heavy breaks. I expected a much more flowing set, and better mixing. They seemed to be cutting in with other tracks too soon, or too late. I’ve heard countless Freestylers live sets and they were much, much better than this. MC Sirreal was calling for more foldback, so maybe the sound was fucked. I was just disappointed that they weren’t mind blowing I guess, but it was still good to hear some of that nasty breaks being played and seeing the crowd go off.

The crowd was awesome, filled with some right trippers and some absolutely fantastic looking women... although the Sydney peeps I was hanging out with said that was a little unusual to see so many fine bods... they must have heard I was going and made an effort =)

I took some pictures and you can find them >HERE<

All in all well worth the trip over and getting Bronchitis ;(

I enjoyed it so much I got a ticket to Field Day

Parklife Photos!

Crowd shot,
originally uploaded by Funky J.

I'm still a little trashed so will write my impressions of ParkLife in Sydney a little later, but this was the first time I got to really give my camera phone a good workout.

The pictures didn't come out too badly, but the phone says 4x digital zoom and I couldn't figure out how to zoom - it only wanted to zoom in video mode - so I took the pictures just with the wide angle.

Anyway, pictures have been uploaded to my Flickr site...

Camera Phone and iPod

Yes, thanks to Strathfield, I've got a new Sony Ericsson K700i and iPod!!!

Sure the phone model is a year old, but it takes decent photos, some of which are already up on my Flickr site, and it sure beats my VERY old nokia 3310!

Plus my iPod is already full of ninjatune goodness with the latest Solid Steel and Pest albums, plus my own podcasts

Oh, and this weekend I'm off to wonderful Sydney for ParkLife 7, which has so many breakbeat acts I think my head may explode trying to see them all!!!

Best of all, it looks like it's going to be PERFECT weather for the entire weekend... YES!

Albums that Made Me Who I Am

I saw this on another blog whist searching for lyrics, and thought it was a pretty neat idea.

So, here's my list of albums that Made Me Who I Am today... in no particular order...

1. Cure For Sanity - Pop Will Eat Itself.
   The incredible PWEI burst into my life in 1990 with their 3rd album Cure For Sanity. At this time I was a miserable little twat, but these guys exposed me to a music that was high energy, full of wicked samples, and full of life. This album actually led me to seek more "dance" style music which has led to me DJing breaks today
   
2. Stone Roses - Stone Roses
   Are the Stone Roses the greatest ever alternative band? Their dreamy lyrics and layered guitars still do my head in. We used to joke that the songs on this album went for so long because they got too stoned and forgot to stop playing, and that was something we could relate to.
3. Beat Street - VA
   I loved Beat Street as a kid. I used to try to breakdance and scratch on my mum's record player, and get in a heap of shit for wrecking the needle. I still can't scratch, and I definately can't break, but this was the formative piece of music that led to me liking hiphop today.
4. Power - Ice T
   This album along with Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show introduced me to the political side of hiphop & rap and the fight against opression through music.
5. Joshua Tree - U2
   Although I don't like to admit it now days, U2 used to be one of my favourite bands. Again, this album raised my political awareness, and I really like Bono's voice on these early recordings.
   
6. Back in Black - AC/DC
   Ok, I'm showing my bogan roots here, but AC/DC simply rock.
7. Ill Communication - Beastie Boys
   Although ALL the Beastie Boys albums have helped form my musical tastes, it was this one that cemented them in my heart. Sabotage is still one of the greatest filmclips ever, and SureShot will always get me in a good mood!
8. Experience - Prodigy
   What kind of raver would I be if I didn't have this album listed? Although the Prodigy have declined in worth over the years, their tunes such as Out of Space and Everybody's in the Place are true classics that DJs still crank today, either in original form or through remixes.
9. AWOL - VA
   A Way Of Life, the drum and bass album based on the legendary club / rave blew me away when I first heard it, and led to a love of dnb that lasted from 1994 to about 1997, when dnb went dark and boring. This 'oldschool' sound I love today, and would much rather hear this than say, Pendulum's take on dnb.
10. Freestylers - We Rock Hard
    Even moreso that Fat Boy Slim's Better Living Through Chemistry, it's this album which influenced my move into nuskool breaks. The funky beats, the wicked samples, the dnb / ragga style MCs, and just the sense of fun these guys dish up on this album made me move away from dnb and into the arms of breaks.
11. Refried Food - DJ Food
    The first NinjaTune album I remember hearing, and I loved it instantly. The funky ass beats, scratched up samples over fucked up noises grabbed my attention fully and led me into a love affair with "trip hop", which then led to nuskool breaks.
12. Sgt Peppers - Beatles
    They were on drugs, and so were we. Also, as I studied music and art, it impressed me that they were taking concepts such as cutting and looping tape into pop music when it was essentially experimental, artistic wank.
13. Exit Planet Dust - Chemical Brothers
    Another album which impressed me with the mash of samples and funk beats, and led me into playing the stuff I play now.
    
14. Judgement Night Soundtrack - VA
    Although the movie wasn't very memorable, the soundtack was awesome - hiphop and heavy metal including Cyprus Hill with PearlJam! I guess this was my first introduction to the concept of "mash up" or "booty", and I still enjoy it.
15. Thriller - Michael Jackson
    Although I was shit scared of the video clip, Thriller was a great album. As it turns out, it's actually Quincy Jones' production I like more, as I'm not a big fan of Jackson's latest works, although this and BAD still rock

There's tonnes more, but that will do for a brief look at the music which has led me to be the person I am today =)

Guess what?

I'm a socialist!

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (10% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

No surprises there...

Interview with a Naked Woman Wrestler

I can't believe I haven't posted this on my blog yet...


I interviewed "Ninja Chops" from the Naked Women's Wrestling League (NWWL) for dB magazine the other week.


It was an interesting experience to say the least, and possibly my best article to date. I may put the audio online soon, but then again I sound like a moron on it as she totally threw me by being in character (she appears as 'herself' on bonus section of the DVD)

A positive article on games

From a Jewish paper no less!

This researcher has been looking into games over a fairly long time, within a multi-disciplinarian field, and has discovered games aren't all that bad...

What a surprise!

Haaretz - Israel News - Games of life

long time no post

Been busy at work, the project I'm working on is rolling out, and had no time to really blog. Haven't even been really posting on the usual forums either.

Been made full time, which is good news. Means this Xmas I won't be stressing about money for once.

Have been playing a lot of games though. Got Pirates & Outlaw Tennis for Xbox, and Resident Evil 4 for Game Cube. RE4 is fucking cool.

The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games

This has been blogged a few times around the web, and I thought seeing as how I talk about games amongst other things I'd blog about it too.

Games Revolution have gone through some surprising stats and discovered the Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games.

It plots the growth of violent crimes along a graph taken directly from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics and adds a timelime which shows when Playstation was introduced.














As can clearly be seen, since the introduction of the Playstation, violent crime has steadily dropped.

Now, I'm not going to go as far as to say that Playstation is responisble, but it is fair to say that the claims that violent games make people more violent are in fact a load of bullshit.

If the alarmists claim that violent video games cause violence, wouldn't these statistics, provided by the DOJ, show something different?

If even 10% of the total of 'gamers' out there were prone to violent actions as a direct result of gaming, this chart would show a lesser drop in the curve since the introduction of Playstation. As it becomes more popular, you should expect a rise in the curve, but that does not occur.

So, what can we do about these media and alarmists who keep throwing the violence begets violence arguments in our collective faces? We can arm ourselves with knowledge, we can point them to these statistics, we can point them to our own experiences, and hopefully they'll find some other poor whipping boy... hopefully they'll actually find a more relevent one and actually get things done!

Los Angeles Times: Hillary vs. the Xbox: Game over

The controversy over San Andreas (here and here are my opinions on the matter) has led to Congress of the USA, viaHillary Clinton, to probe Rockstar.

This comes shortly after her wish for a $90 Million Study into the effects of Vidoe games on Children. Whilst it's commendable, it's not going to be fair - who pays $90 Million to be told "your theory is wrong"?

That's the whole worry about any report paid by for someone with an agenda.

But, Steve Johnson, author of "Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter" has written an awesome open letter to Clinton in the LA Times.

It begins:

I'm writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children, and in particular the courageous stand you have taken in recent weeks against the notorious "Grand Theft Auto" series.

I'd like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility has captured the attention of millions of kids — a game that instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real-world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing.

I'm talking, of course, about high school football.

Los Angeles Times: Hillary vs. the Xbox: Game over

This is precisely the people who like and play video games are trying to make.

What will this study compare games to - reading a book and if so what book: Harry Potter or Henry VIII? Television - if so watching what: Seasame Street or the Real World or Fox News or the BBC? And, will there be test cases with decent parents who teach their kids how to behave well, and cases where kids have access to real firearms and are allowed to run amuck?

I'm writing to Ms Clinton myself, asking these exact questions. Hopefully her agenda doesn't get in the way of her intelligence.

But of course people like Jack Thompson are never going to be pursuaded, but that's why the words 'luddite' and 'moron' were invented.

Can anyone say "er der!"???

From the magnificent Guardian Newspaper, a survey today has 'discovered' online file sharers 'buy more music'.

Sure, it's only an incredibly small sample of 600 people, but every single person I know who downloads also buys records or CDs.

The problem ISN'T downloading. It's the music.

When Record Labels pay for air time and the Australian Recording Industry Australia chart features that fucking frog RING TONE at number 1 and that ever annoying chimpmunk Lonely tune at number 2, record execs can no longer point their fingers at downloading for the pathetic state of music sales.

IT'S THE RECORD COMPANIES MISMANAGEMENT that has caused the decline in spending on music, and nothing else. It's their refusal to support anything even remotely new or interesting for the last two decades that has caused people to look elsewhere for entertainment.

Furthermore Video Games and DVD/Video sales have increased tremendously, and as people have only so much money of course music will decline - something has to.

Every decade people bemoan the death of music, and I've gotta say this is the worst decade so far for popular music. I can't even stand Triple J anymore, prefering independent community stations like Radio Adelaide and 3D Radio, or internet radio like Breaks.fm, and Last.fm.

Maddox on GTA:SA

Maddox is one of the few funny people on the web.

I have my own opinions of the whole stupid debate on Red Assed Baboon but Maddox does a much better job at pointing out the idiocity surrounding this 'controversy'.

Adelaide Festival Theatre in The Sims2!

Now this is Freaking COOL!

Chcknmn297 has created a version of the Adelaide Festival Theatre complex for the Sims 2.



Click Here!



(yes, I do play the Sims 2. I'm not ashamed of it)

living alone

So, essentaially for the last two weeks I've been living alone.

My old flatmate moved out with her girlfriend, and my new flatmate isn't set to move in until this weekend.

And it's been rather fun.

I thought I might dislike it, being alone, but although I did miss the company of another person, it was actually quite good.

I liked the fact:

- I could walk around nude (not that I did - too cold!)

- I had no real responsibility to another (not that I don't want it - but I didn't have to go home and feed a cat for example)

- I could leave the dishes for a week (not that I did - I needed to wash so I could use the wok)

- I could be as loud as I wanted (not that I'm too loud anyway - except when DJing)

It was quite a lot of fun too... I stayed up to all hours of the morning on a 'school night' playing games and watching TV without worrying about waking anybody.

BUT having said all of that, I'm really looking forward to my new flatmate moving in. We lived together about 7 years ago, but that was bad - she and my other flatmate were seeing the same guy, she was crazy and it was just all a big headfuck.

But now she's grown up (as have I) and become a very mature and lovely girl who I'm happy to share my cute little house with (photos soon - I promise).

In Case Of Emergency

My good friend Trudi, who is currently in London, emailed me this great idea...

East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency ( ICE ) " campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston.

The idea is that you store the word " I C E " in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency".

In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them.

It's so simple that everyone can do it. Please do.

Fantastic and simple idea that will hopefully catch on.

buffy

buffy,
originally uploaded by Funky J.

how cute is this photo??!

This is buffy, the gender confused cat (we thought it was a girl that was pregnant until we took it to get desexed!).

I've got more photos up on my Flickr site.

I dunno how many I'll post all up... Most of the one's I have taken are quite old or really crap...

Whoops!

Whoops! This, I can't blame on Apple or iTunes, but only myself...

I thought I'd be smart and let iTunes organise my files for me, forgetting that quite a few of the tunes on my harddrive are either incorrectly tagged or not tagged at all.

So now I have files all over the place!

My perfectly ordered system (perfectly ordered for me at any rate) is now totally buggered.

It's not all cherry apples for Aussie podcasters!

Screw Apple and it's treatment of Australians!

What am I going on about this time??? iTune's well lauded podcasting 'feature'.

Sure, you can subscribe to any podcast you want, but guess what?

You can only add a podcast to the iTunes database if you have a valid Apple Store account.

Because you can't put an Australian address down for your credit card, that means no Australian can get a valid account, so WE ARE unable to add OUR podcast to the iTunes database!

I've been sitting here for the last hour just trying to find a way around this stupid limitation, but to no avail!

Even if you put your AOL screen name in, but have Australia listed as your country in your profile, then you get a "your country doesn't have enough people in it to matter to us!" error...

I would ask someone who does have an Apple account to enter it for me, but I want control over the information supplied to Apple.

If I'm missing something, if I'm wrong about this, I'm more than willing to be educated on the task of getting my podcast on the Apple list... just leave a comment!

*oh yeah, wondering why you got a 404 error when you clicked the iTunes link? Because iTunes doesn't operate in Australia yet either...

I think

someone should remix "The Forrest" by the Cure in dnb / nu skool breaks style...

Podcast added to website!

Yes, in a vein attempt to jump on the bandwagon of iPods and Podcasting, I've started my own podcast!



I'll update it every week or so until all the interviews I've still got on disc are available, then update it as I do various interviews throughout the year.

OK, I did it...

No, not the camera... yet.

Gees, it's only been an hour and a half! I'm only that impulsive when it comes to records!

I think I'll get a camera phone, or a Gizmondo, so I have it with me always. Anyway, I digress.

No, I've created a Flickr website!

The address for all my photos, and perhaps some of my artwork, can now be found at :

www.flickr.com/photos/funky_j/

I've gotta look for the photo's I've actually taken, they're still packed most likely, but will scan and post them soon enough.
In the meantime I'll post some of myself and my friends, most likely taken by my ex housemate or ex girlfriend.

That's it! I'm getting a camera!

Although I'm crap at taking pictures, there's just too much I see which needs photos taken of.

Like the time I saw the woman who looked like Popeye.

Or the suited people all gathered in a semi circle around a jumping man (REALLY had to be there... or see a photo)

but I've been inspired by Pipstar's flickr website as well as the other's there.

I've got some old photos about the place which I might scan and put up... not entirely sure WHO took them, but they're on my harddrive so they must be mine ;)

OK, yes, I'm procrastinating, but I work best under pressure...
(just keep telling yourself that J...)