Inky Inky Finger

QlockTwo

QlockTwo. A simple idea, done well. I want one. Unfortunately for me, they start at €885. You with the cash at the back though, you can buy QlockTwo here.

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Leo Varadkar TD

Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar decided to go for the comedy approach when dealing with NAMA on his website this week. He offered to sell NAMA his apartment for its Long Term Equivalent Value of €420K, despite it only being worth around €250K at the moment. Given that NAMA buys debts off banks and not property off people, I think he might be barking (deliberately) up the wrong tree, but it’ll prove a popular stunt to those who don’t understand NAMA at all. Irish politics at work, eh?

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Charlie Brooker

In his own words, no less, Charlie Brooker describes himself as a bigot. What kind of bigot? An anti-Apple bigot! Head over to the Guardian for his take on the cult of the Mac, and why he’s happy to stay using Windows.

In other news, his Screenwipe / Newswipe empire grew last night to include Gameswipe, which was an interesting look back on the history and genres of videogames down through the years. It’s a pity it was only a one off show. What did surprise me though was that it is produced by Zeppotron, who are owned by Endemol, the people who bring us Big Brother.

It’s a bit like finding out the Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show is produced by Fox News. (It isn’t.)

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The age old debate between the “DJ as artist” and “DJ as jukebox” rears its ugly head over again, this time over on Haido’s blog.

“… i had a pair of girls come up to me and repeatedly ask for: pop music; songs with words; songs people know; songs people can dance to.”

This happened at a club called Transmission in the Button Factory a little while ago. Unperturbed,  Haido went on to play what he wanted to play:

Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
SmartTech – Took The Trompeta
Green Velvet – Flash
The Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar (Pete Heller’s Expanded Mix)
Daft Punk – Around The World
Joe and Will Ask? – Fabric of Win (ft. SaintSaviour)
Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity of Huge
Kid Cudi – Make Her Say (Nadastrom 88 Dub)
Midfield General – Disco Sirens (Boy 8-Bit Remix)
MGMT – Time To Pretend (Diplo Remix)
La Roux – I’m Not Your Toy (Jack Beats Remix)
Little Boots – Stuck On Repeat (Alexander Robotnick Remix)
Machines Don’t Care – Afro Jacker
Telephoned – Pop Champagne
Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You
Sharon Phillips – Want 2 / Need 2 (Trentemøller Remix)

In fairness to Haido, that’s a pretty accessible set list, so on this occaision I’d have to say that the girls in question were just in the wrong club. They obviously wanted chart pop and R’n'B, which they were never really going to get in Transmission.

Having been on the receiving end of these requests on many an occaision myself, the way I look at it is this – as a DJ you’re only beholden to two things:

1. The Club
2. Your Own Taste

The Club is essentially the promotor or venue manager, whoever it is that has asked you to play. Your taste is your taste. This is where it gets a little tricky though. The promoter or venue manager is perfectly within their rights to ask you to accomodate requests if they want to. This nearly always leads to conflicts. Give in, and you are a jukebox, playing against your own taste (sometimes). Hold out, and you’ll probably get replaced.

The only solution I’ve ever come up with is to choose to only play in places where I have free reign over what I play. Requests might be accommodated on occaision, but are discouraged. The bottom line for me is, if I’m going to DJ, I want to enjoy it, and that means not being directed by third parties. Some people I know on the other hand love requests and interacting directly with the punters (in relation to exactly what to play next), but that’s not for me.

So DJs, what do you think?

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Gold USB Drive Toy

£55 for a 1GB USB flash drive is more than a little over priced, but it is shiny.

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Boda Fett Hoodie by Marc Ecko

Pure geek, no chic from these licenced Star Wars hoodies, jackets and t-shirts from Marc Ecko. The Boba Fett one above was so popular last year it’s back along with a bunch of new additions including the hideous sequined Darth Vader t-shirt below. Click any of the images to go to the Marc Ecko site. Oh, and for the super geeks, there are also Halo 3 ODST jackets and t-shirts!

Disco Darth Vader by Marc Ecko

R2-D2 & C3-PO Jacket by Marc Ecko

Darth Vader Hoodie by Marc Ecko

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R.E.M. at the Olympia

In 2007 R.E.M. decamped to Ireland to write and rehearse, culminating in a series of five live gigs in the Olympia in Dublin, which were recorded for release at a later date. That date is October 27th, 2009. The release will consist of a double CD with 39 songs called appropriately enough R.E.M. Live At The Olympia, and a DVD movie called This Is Not A Show, taken from the graphic displayed on stage before their performances as pictured above.

Here’s a clip of R.E.M. playing an old favourite of mine, Drive, taken from the movie, which has its premiere on September 29th at Sound Unseen in Minneapolis.

The full tracklisting of the CDs looks like this:

1 Living Well is the Best Revenge
2 Second Guessing
3 Letter Never Sent
4 Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance
5 Disturbance at the Heron House
6 Mr. Richards
7 Houston
8 New Test Leper
9 Cuyahoga
10 Electrolite
11 Man-Sized Wreath
12 So. Central Rain
13 On The Fly
14 Maps and Legends
15 Sitting Still
16 Driver 8
17 Horse to Water
18 I’m Gonna DJ
19 Circus Envy
20 These Days
21 Drive
22 Feeling Gravitys Pull
23 Until the Day is Done
24 Accelerate
25 Auctioneer
26 Little America
27 1,000,000
28 Disguised
29 The Worst Joke Ever
30 Welcome to the Occupation
31 Carnival of Sorts
32 Harborcoat
33 Wolves, Lower
34 I’ve Been High
35 Kohoutek
36 West of the Fields
37 Pretty Persuasion
38 Romance
39 Gardening at Night

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Movember 2009

It’s that time again when the Mo’s get to separate the men from the boys all in the name of men’s health. I helped out and donated some money last year. Maybe I’ll go the whole hog this year and grow a flaming Mo? Here’s the skinny from their own site.

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer.

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partner – Action Prostate Cancer, Irish Cancer Society. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala Partés are held to thank Mo Bros and Sistas for their support and fund raising efforts.

The idea for Movember came about in 2003 when a few mates were having a beer in a small bar in  Melbourne, Australia. Inspired by the women’s health movement, it was recognized that men were lacking a way to engage and actively involve themselves in their own health. During a conversation about fashion and past trends, the idea came up to bring the moustache back for one month, and in doing so, have some fun, raise a small amount of money and hopefully encourage men to talk about their health with each other.

Since this time, Movember has continued to grow each year, both in terms of participation numbers and funds raised. In its first year, 30 Mo Bros took part in Movember and last year, across the globe more than 173,000 Mo Bro & Sistas got on board, raising more than €14 million across the Movember’s men’s health partners gloabally.

I hope some of you feel like taking part too.

Movember Ireland 2009

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Annie Mac Nikes

Interesting choice of colours from Annie. On her website you can win a pair of her limited edition Whoop Whoop Nike Air Max 90s.

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Machine Says Yes from FC Kahuna was one of the best albums of the last ten years, and amazingly ahead of its time. It came out on the short lived first run of the City Rockers label in 2002. After the temporary demise of the label, the album was picked up by Skint in 2003. It spanned a lot of different electronic styles, from the breezy chill-out of Hayling (video above) to the blissed out tech house of Glitterball, via the nasty stuttering of Nothing Is Wrong.

I was expecting FC Kahuna to go on to bigger and better things, to maybe take their place as the newest live electronic act on the circuit, but for some reason they just faded away after a few Skint singles and remixes (as far as I know).

So it was a pleasant surprise to hear via Alex Metric that they’re back and have been sending out new material. I’ve not heard any of it yet but I’m really looking forward to it. Anyone with any more details, pass them on!

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