It's August. It's Monday. Delay it for 6:20. Later on if you want to get all philosophical around the water cooler, segue from here into a discussion of sampling, appropriation of pop culture reference points, and what defines art and culture in 2010. Then take it to licensing and legal complexities if you're nasty. … [Read more...]

Has your board asked you to craft a social media strategy for your organization? Are you unable/unwilling to stop and think through what options make the most sense in light of your mission? No problem!* *(Be advised that the site employs coarse language, if you're sensitive to that sort of thing.) [via] … [Read more...]

I have joined forces with two fellow amateur gourmets and started blogging about my kitchen exploits. It took a swift kick (from a certain friend we've heard from in this space before) to convince me that there was enough time in the day to add this activity, and now that I'm in it, I am hooked. So where previously I have tried to sneak the occasional pseudo food posting into this space, now things will be neatly divided--just as the internet intended! This divide and conquer mentality, however, … [Read more...]

The last time I cruised through NYC I had the chance to chat with Tristan Perich about his 1-Bit Symphony in advance of its official release on Cantaloupe next week. The article and video that resulted are online now on NewMusicBox. I have to say the music itself is fantastic, but the trappings it comes packaged inside add a great deal to think about as well. Plus there's something amazingly powerful as far as audience connectivity is concerned in getting to do something as simple as … [Read more...]

I've managed to miss all the installments in the Step Up movie franchise (aside from the over the top trailers showcasing the struggles of dancers working out rich/poor, uptown/downtown, ballerina vs the street cliches), and the latest "now-in-3D!" chapter doesn't quite sound like the place to wade in: Preposterous plot devices, leaden acting, and clunktastic dialogue are acceptable in a dance movie, but bad choreography is not, and it's during the dance scenes that Step Up 3D fails. (from the … [Read more...]

When I saw this tonight, I thought it was a commercial advocating in favor of net neutrality, which is, um, kinda weird, considering. … [Read more...]

From The Independent: German, Austrian and Finnish musicians have created an audio/visual symphony played literally from the heartbeats of 12 musicians in São Paulo, Brazil using ECG sensors. And...cue song. But seriously: The FILE site explains that the "software analyses the data and generates via different algorithms the real-time musical score for the musicians, the electronic sounds and the computer graphic visualization." [via John C and Kelley G] … [Read more...]

In this weekend's news feed: The New York Times follows a BMI licensing executive around the American Southwest on bar, club, and coffee house calls. Anecdotes involving strippers and guns ensue, but the deeper issues resonate beyond the clichés. The law vs. common perceptions vs. recession budgeting vs. kill-them-with-patience strategies: Getting paid--it's...complicated. It struck me as kind of odd that ASCAP got little more than an "oh, yeah, and them too" reference, since I think it might … [Read more...]

Through writer angst and ice cream truck melodies, I have adored One Ring Zero's output. Now, just on the heels of Dr. Dre's revelation that he's been looking to the heavens for musical inspiration, ORZ drops their own set of odes to the solar system. You can listen in and sample here. … [Read more...]

From Vibe: ON A COMING INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM: You mentioned a hip-hop album without rapping. Will we ever hear a Dr. Dre instrumental album? Oh yeah, that's in the works. An instrumental album is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I have the ideas for it. I want to call it The Planets. I don't even know if I should be saying this, but fuck it. [Laughs.] It's just my interpretation of what each planet sounds like. I'm gonna go off on that. Just all instrumental. I've been studying … [Read more...]