Shaun Ryder/Grandpa Simpson?

Via Guy Garvey on 6music. Is Shaun Ryder actually Grandpa Simpson? Listen here about 40 seconds in.

g.

Oh to have co-workers to kill.

Which might seem like a harsh title for a post were it not in response to this:

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers from Warp Records on Vimeo.

Alternatively: "What happens when one of my fave animators makes a video for one of my fave musicians? A CGI bloodbath in this case."

I was gently chastised yesterday by Brother Neel (as only brothers can) for writing that he described as 'terse': In my mind I have simply been reducing the mass of information we are increasingly expected to deal with, but I concur that this may have been at the cost of quality entertainment here at the Slog. Thankfully Dr. Dawg (that's right, DOCTOR) is reliably verbose (when he's not writing theses).

So, some further nuggets:
1. Kill Your Co-workers to me is another installment of wonderfully confident video game tinged upstep from Flying Lotus, whose faultlessly well appointed album Cosmogramma has been on repeat in the studio before and will be again.
2. I have complained to the unresponsive ears of the Facebook feed before about 6music's inability to count the members of Flying Lotus (one).
3. I am unreliably informed that Mr. Lotus is the great-nephew of the late Alice Coltrane and John Coltrane.
4. Beeple first came to my attention for drumming reasons with this CG folly.
5. I suspect Mr. B. Eeple may have come across Kritchard's robotic kreations before, and if not, should do.

To return to the title, a large part of the reason I have stopped blogging in general so much is that I have been in search of co-workers, indeed work of any kind, but co-workers in particular would be nice. I have come across some in Dundee, in Brian and Hamish, and indeed at the Studios, but would still on the whole prefer to be one of a full-time design team and to have a more steady, sensible working routine. This is such that I can a) preserve my sanity, b) actually make a living rather than scrape a survival, and c) have more time for making things and not talking about making things (or at least talk about it in the sense of analysis rather than marketing). The whole reason I'm in this untenable position is due to the addiction that is semi-professional musicianship of course. But I think a happy life/work/music (NB. music = life NOR work) balance is still possible with the support of the right others.

owzat?

this has been a post by ROY and took MORE THAN AN HOUR. geez.

Illuminating, on Type

A good Guardian read, extracted from Just My Type: A book about fonts, by Simon Garfield

Roy

N_ILK!

As they say, if you weren't there, you missed yourself (which doesn't make any sense as a saying I know, but it's not for the first time).

N_ILK: Loops Haunt - Radiohead refix, Hurache and Rubber Sun Grenade remix from Paul Gault on Vimeo.

N_ILK: Inspector Tapehead - A Fillet of Bozo & WCMJ from Paul Gault on Vimeo.

Roy

I'm Comic Sans, Asshole

For all you typography geeks.

by Gareth via Steve W.

Ahoy me hearties

Follow Pa johnson on his round britain sailing adventure here... In his words:
"Since my unfortunate M.I. earlier this month, I’ve decided to complete my rehab by sailing non-stop around Britain, anticlockwise, leaving tomorrow (Tuesday 31st August). My friend, Keith Patrick and I, will leave from Dunoon marina in the Holy Loch at about 5pm and expect to take around 17 days.
We will publish a blog at http://yewdap283.blogspot.com as and when we have a mobile and internet connection – please feel free to leave comments there or to my alternative email address johnson.iain@gmail.com if you wish.
The passage plan takes us down the Irish sea, around the Scilly Isles, up the English Channel, the North Sea to above Shetland, out to St. Kilda and, depending on time & weather either back through the North Channel or round the south of Eire and back up the Irish sea to Whitehaven."

David McCandless (Information is Beautiful) on TED

TheSlog favourite David McCandless gave a TED talk recently - its great to hear him explain some of his visualisations and how he got into doing them. Thanks to Georgey for first pointing out his blog.

Inspector Tapehead's album crawls into the ether!

But where can I buy it?

Here!

Will it come with any hand crafted Roy typography?

Yes!

What's it like writing the numbers 1 to 300 and the number 300 300 times in 2 hours?

Surprisingly OK!

So what's the album like?

Surprisingly OK!

Is there an expertly timed video for promotional purposes only?




Roy is in good spirits.

Garden EP by dBass - you got yours?

Just a wee reminder that the dBass EP is available now via Bandcamp..

If it was my home

A scary tool that shows you how big the gulf oil spill would be if it was centered on your home.

gareth

New pics up

Have had an evening of sorting through photos and as such have updated my Flickr for the first time in a while! Too much to talk about but shall list the sets:
Homegame, Whitehills windfarm, Edale, Scope, Love Calculator, Dundee, Dumfries and Galloway before Christmas, and even Paris!

Here's one at random:


I am Roy.

Haarfest announced.

Fence Records News � Haarfest!

Fence's Haarfest festival has been announced for Monday 16th to Saturday 21st of August, and as a pleasant surprise confirmation to me, features both Inspector Tapehead, and a certain Jon Rogers and pals of Product Design in Dundee. Good times.

Roy

Allotment tonight

This is very late, having done one of these gigs already, but allow me to publicise tonight's performance of Allotment 4 at least.



NTS say:

Produced by Angie Bual and Caroline Newall, the final Allotment offers an alternative night out by embracing cyberspace and the phenomena of social networking. An artistic take on websites including Facebook, MySpace and My Single Friend, Allotment will bring virtual networking experiences to life. Through live music, art and performance, the final Allotment experience will enable punters to reclaim the art of conversation, make new friends and take part in some dating games. As the night unfolds, three secret locations will also be brought in to the mix.

I say, I would never dream on basing a piece of musical work on a website, so can't really back up that statement! Fergus and I are, however, interested in the social dynamics of immprovisation, and as such we are putting on a version of Scope, the jam session where visual and musical improv coalesce. Following the practices we did last summer, this idea has come to fruition in a modified form, with Inspector Tapehead forming the core band. There are three 20minute sessions throughout the night, each time with the lineup including a different guest musician and visual artist. So at Allotment we can offer you:

Fergus Dunnet
Inspector Tapehead (Jonnie Common, Chris Croasdale and me, Roy)
Stuart Macpherson (dbass/JSS/formerly of Engine)
Justin Eade (Glimpse)
George Murray (dBass/One Ensemble/GIO)
Aby Vulliamy (One Ensemble/Nalle)
Jenny Soep (Drawing the experience)
and last night we had the percussive prowess of Peter Kelly (Moon Unit/ formerly of Galchen).

Check out this link for the event info, it's in Govancross Shopping Centre from 8pm tonight and last night was a corker.

Roy

Mr. Murphy on the Shanghai Expo

entschwindet und vergeht: Shanghai Expo - Armchair Review!

I think it is safe to say that Murphy is the only person capable of writing an architecture review that makes me laugh out loud.

That might have been read as it being the quality of his writing that is laughable, but I must stress that is not the case: it's purely the wit. Read it, chump.

Roy

A picture of my favourite pavilion follows..



Hoho. Seriously though, the Danes win hands down:

Janelle Monáe - Tightrope - Late Show with David Letterman

This just has to be seen to be believed! I wish I was in her band..

Roy

Eyjafjallaj�kull and Maths Sculpture � Maxwell’s Demon

Eyjafjallaj�kull and Maths Sculpture � Maxwell’s Demon

On the topic of that volcano..

Found this great image while surfing on the topic of hexayurts: mathematician Edmund Harriss, who has an interesting blog here, and has done some new layouts for hexayurts.

What the real big society means for the economy, charities and copyright

Two excellent mini docs just posted to the Guardian videostream from Heydon Prowse and William Pine:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/may/11/ethical-living-diy-big-society

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/may/12/ethical-living-real-big-society-two



These make essential viewing in my opinion, if only to come some some way to understanding where I'm coming from: ie. spending my time and earnings on the sometimes seemingly pointless area of open design. Its the empowerment stupid.

Roy

the coalition on CCS

What do certain sloggers make of this extract from our new government's new manifesto?

• The establishment of an emissions performance standard that will prevent coal-fired power stations being built unless they are equipped with sufficient CCS to meet the emissions performance standard

• Continuation of the present government's proposals for public sector investment in CCS technology for four coal-fired power stations; and a specific commitment to reduce central government carbon emissions by 10% within 12 months.

We are agreed that we would seek to increase the target for energy from renewable sources, subject to the advice of the climate change committee.

Liberal Democrats have long opposed any new nuclear construction. Conservatives, by contrast, are committed to allowing the replacement of existing nuclear power stations provided they are subject to the normal planning process for major projects (under a new national planning statement) and provided also that they receive no public subsidy.

We have agreed a process that will allow Liberal Democrats to maintain their opposition to nuclear power while permitting the government to bring forward the national planning statement for ratification by parliament so that new nuclear construction becomes possible.

This process will involve:

• The government completing the drafting of a national planning statement and putting it before parliament

• Specific agreement that a Liberal Democrat spokesman will speak against the planning statement, but that Liberal Democrat MPs will abstain; and clarity that this will not be regarded as an issue of confidence.

My questions: is this wildly different to current policy? And what on earth do the last paragraphs mean in practical terms??

Roy

Maps!

Delightful exhibit on at the British Library until September: Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art. For those that haven't figured it out yet, yes I am a map addict, but bias aside, I love this map. Click through to explore...

gareth

Enez myspace up

The demo for Enez is now up on myspace here, we'll be doing our second performance ever at Moniaive Folk Festival on the 8th May. All comments welcomed..