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ANYWAY, ANYWHERE... I ONLY AGREED TO 10 SHOWS, SAYS JACKSON
Fans who paid top dollar for
Michael Jackson's London shows may want to sell them fast at eBay. Michael
Jackson has just hit out at the shows promoters, saying he believed he only
signed up to play 10 shows - not the 50 he is scheduled for - at the venue.
"I went to bed knowing I sold 10 dates, and woke up to the news I was
booked to do 50," he claimed.
Randy Phillips, head of
promoters AEG, who organised the gigs, refuted Jackson's claim that he was not
originally fully aware of the length of the residency. "This is not
true," he said in a statement. "The size and scale of this show would
not be possible without an extended run which Michael has been fully on board
with from the very beginning."
SWINE FLU VICTIMS RISE TO 11 IN $INGAPORE
Despite paying $ingapore's
ministers multi-million dollar salaries, the island was the first to slip into
a deep recession, waste tens of billions on soured investments and is now
impotent in stopping the spread of swine flu. On June 4, the government
announced another three in $ingapore had contracted the deadly flu virus,
bringing the total number to 11. Last week, there was only one.
June is the holiday month in
$heep City. With more people outdoors, the chances of catching the airborne
disease rises.
There's nothing unique about
$ingapore, except that its ministers demand and are paid multi-million dollar
salaries. They are the highest paid civil servants in the world.
AUSTRALIA ABLE TO AVOID RECESSION
The stimulus payments have
helped lift consumer spending. The Australian economy has unexpectedly avoided
falling into recession after its economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the first
three months of 2009. Increased exports and consumer spending helped the
economy to rebound from the 0.5 per cent contraction recorded between October
and December last year. - BBC
Australian ministers are paid
far less than their $ingapore counterparts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8080446.stm
June 12: Hong Kong: Air Supply. HKCEC - Hall 5BC. Tickets: HK$480, 470, 380, 280.
June 13-July 2: New Zealand & Australia: Simon & Garfunkel will play the following concerts in
Auckland Vector Arena, NZ (June 13), Brisbane Entertainment Centre (17), Sydney
Acer Arena (20, 21), Melbourne Rod Laver Arena (25, 26), Adelaide Entertainment
Centre (30) and Perth Burswood Dome (July 2). Ticket prices to be announced.
June 16: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Air Supply. Grand Ballroom, Hilton. Tickets: RM498, 358, 258,
138.
June 19: Hong Kong. John Ford Coley and Julienne Taylor. Hong Kong Arts Centre.
Tickets: HK$450, 350.
August 12: Taipei, Taiwan: Nine Inch Nails. Nankang 101.
Aug 13: Taipei, Taiwan: 2009 Summer Rock Summit, featuring All-American Rejects,
Hoobastank and Linkin Park. ROGER WATERS PREPARED TO TRADE HIS WALL FOR WEST BANK WALL
Ex-Pink Floyd man Roger Waters
has offered to play his Wall concert in Israel if the West Bank part-wall,
part-fence in the country is taken down. On a visit to the Ayda Refugee Camp in
the West Bank on June 2, Waters spoke out against the controversial barrier,
which was erected in 2002.
"This is a bad thing. This
is wrong. This is not helping anybody, this thing," Waters said of the
wall, which stretches for roughly 670km (420 miles), and is eight metres high
in some places. "If they take this thing down," he continued, "I
would be delighted to come and do a concert here. In fact, I would insist on
it."
RINGO, PAUL AND WHO'S BOB?
Here's a nice rumour making the
rounds. Ringo Starr is set to join Sir Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan to record
new tracks over the summer. The ex-Beatles drummer is keen to join his former
Fab Four bandmate and the music legend after hearing of their plans to
collaborate. The expected collaboration came about after Paul expressed an
interest in working with Dylan, who admitted it would be something he would be
very "excited" to do.
Ringo, 68, has been described as
the "perfect middleman" for the two stars due to his long-time
friendship and musical relationship with 66-year-old Paul, while he has also
previously performed live with Bob, 68.
A source told Britain's Daily
Express newspaper: "The word is Ringo is likely to play drums on a couple
of tracks once Paul and Bob have put some songs together."
PEARL JAM ALBUM TO GO TO TARGET AND INDIE STORES
The major labels have lost another
big name act. Pearl Jam have recorded a commercial for retail giant Target, and
revealed that their new album will be released with a consortium of partners as
opposed to a US label. Target will release the album in the US but independent
record stores will also be distributing the next Pearl Jam album.
Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis
said that Target agreed to allow other partners on board and are "cool enough to realise that little independent record stores are not
their competition". The first single is due in July.
EMI, PLEASE RELEASE ME, LET ME GO - JOSS STONE
Joss Stone is reportedly
desperate to leave her record label EMI - and is willing to pay back £2 million
to the company to free herself of her deal. Given a £7.5 million advance in
2006 for a four-album deal, reports have emerged that Joss was willing to hand
back £1.2 million of the advance as well as £800,000 earnings from her
forthcoming album 'Colour Me Free' in order to leave the label.
However, EMI are taking legal
action against the Devon-born singer, reports the Daily Mail. The Rolling
Stones, Radiohead and Supergrass have all left EMI since it was bought out by
Terra Firma in 2007.
KOKO TAYLOR 1928-2009 R.I.P.
Chicago blues icon Koko Taylor
died June 3 afternoon at age 80, after surgery May 19 to correct a
gastrointestinal bleed.
"She was recovering slowly
but surely, and then she had a real bad night," said Marc Lipkin, a
spokesman for Taylor's longtime Chicago-based label, Alligator Records. Taylor
was recovering from her surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital when she
died. She had performed only weeks earlier at the Blues Music Awards ceremony
in Memphis, Tenn., where she received her record 29th Blues Music Award. She is
best remembered for her hit Wang Dang Doodle.
UNREAL
Hip-speak suggests we should
chill. Here's what Hayley Williams of Paramore [the Twilight band] had to say
late in April about her band Paramore's next album: "So about these songs.
What can i say? I'm stoked! I can't wait for people to hear what we've done.
Like it or not, I'm prouder than ever. Mostly because I don't believe it
happened. We made a record that is exactly what we set out to make. There's
fast, there's slow, and in-between... happy, angry, desperate and over it. And
i can't believe it's real."
Paramore's Riot rode to success
on the coattails of Twilight, the movie. How about a bit more "BITE"?
EXENE CERVENKA HAS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
X frontwoman Exene Cervenka has
revealed that she has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She has a solo
album due later this year. Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune condition in
which the immune system attacks the central nervous system. Ronnie Lane was a
longtime sufferer.
JOHN ZORN AT EQUINOX FESTIVAL, LONDON
American composer and improviser
John Zorn will perform a rare solo concert commissioned especially for this
year's Equinox Festival. Zorn's prolific output has made him one of jazz and
improvised music's most important pioneers. His previous engagements at the
London Barbican have been astoundingly well received, don't miss your chance to experience John Zorn in a more intimate and personal
setting. This is one show this summer not to be missed! Limited
tickets available. This will be John's ONLY UK performance this year!
The Equinox Festival will be
held from June 12-14, London. More info at equinoxfestival.org. Tickets at equinoxfestival.org/tickets.html
RECORD LABEL PISSES OFF CHER, SHE SUES
After years of waiting for
royalty payment that never came, Cher has filed a lawsuit June 2 against
Universal Music Group for allegedly failing to pay her royalties from two
compilation albums from 2000 to 2003. The singer says that the label failed to
pay her and former husband Sonny Bono's children royalties and "engaged in
wrongful tactics" to avoid making the payments. "The claims are meritless, and we are confident that we
will prevail in court," Universal Music Group spokesperson Peter
Lofrumento told the Hollywood Reporter.
DOG STOPS PIRATED DVDS FOR $INGAPORE'S $HEEP
A DVD-sniffing anti-piracy dog
named Paddy has uncovered a huge cache of 35,000 discs in Malaysian warehouses,
many destined for export to $ingapore, industry officials said on June 3
reports AFP. The black Labrador helped enforcement officials who carried out
raids last week in southern Johor state which neighbours $ingapore, the Motion
Picture Association (MPA) said in a statement.
Paddy was given to Malaysia by
the MPA to help close down piracy syndicates who churn out vast quantities of
illegal DVDs. The dog is specially trained to detect chemicals in the discs.
"Post-raid investigations
revealed that two of the targets were actively involved in exporting pirated
DVDs to $ingapore," it added. The MPA said just-released titles such as
"Terminator Salvation", "Night at the Museum: Battle of the
Smithsonian", "Angels and Demons" and "Star Trek" were
among the movies seized.
NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY
Here are some new Blu-ray and
DVD releases from across the Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following
titles were released May 29, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-ray
DVDs sold in Malaysia are NOT true Blu-rays as they have gig sizes that fit a
dual-layer DVD9. Buy at your own risk:
EXTRA! FORCED SAVINGS HAVE TO GO UP,
UP AND AWAAAAAAY!
If
times are hard, times will get even harder come July 1, 2009. Changes to
$ingapore's pension scheme, the CPF (Central Provident Fund), mean more money
must be kept with the $ingapore government and cannot be withdrawn at
retirement. From July 1, a further $13,500 cannot be withdrawn, despite the
current recession when every dollar is needed.
On July
1, the CPF Minimum Sum will be raised from $106,000 to $117,000 [a rise of
$11,000]. Also on July 1, 2009, the Medisave Minimum Sum and Medisave
Contribution Ceiling will be raised from $29,500 to $32,000 [a rise of $2,500].
So if
you turn 55 from July 1 onwards, you will withdraw $13,500 less, regardless of
whether you need the money or not.
The
money will be kept in what is called a Minimum Sum Fund which will pay
$ingaporeans a monthly stipend over 20 years. Too bad if you die before 20
years. You won't see your money.
In
2003, the $ingapore government changed the rules and will stop the practice of
allowing $ingaporeans to withdraw 50 per cent of their pension by 2009. A new
Minimum Sum Fund was started and this sum will be raised to reach $120,000
(2003 dollars) in 2013.
As announced in 2003, by then PM
Goh Chok Tong, from 1 January 2009, the percentage for withdrawal will decrease
from 50% to 40%, and thereafter be further reduced every year by 10 percent to
zero. Therefore, from 1 January 2013, CPF members must meet the CPF and Medisave
Minimum Sums first before they can withdraw any money at age 55.
But for
$ingaporeans who don't even have enough in their minimum sum fund, the
government will allow them to withdraw $5,000 from their Ordinary Account and
Special Account balances. Consider this an "ang pow" [red packet
money].
As of
March 31, 2009, there were 1.62 million active CPF members. By withdrawing
$13,500 less, the PAP government makes an instant saving of about $21.8
billion. That's a lot of money the
government wants to keep on your behalf.
This
new CPF rule makes the saying "hope you die before you get old"
meaningful.
What
Goh Chok Tong said on August 28, 2003 in particular para 87 to 95.
For
more:
See
latest "Temasek portfolio lost US$39.91 billion"
Temasek
sold its near 2 per cent stake in Britain's second biggest bank in December and
January, one of the sources said. The sources declined to be named due to the
confidential nature of the investment. Temasek and Barclays declined to
comment, and details of the price it sold at were not known. - Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSWLA574220090603
The
newspapers here run ads saying "the truth is out there". How true. If
not for foreign press reports, the local media would remain ignorant that a
powerful $ingapore government company has lost hundreds of millions of
$ingaporeans' money again. What role does the $ingapore press play?
They are
"nation-builders".
"Good long-term investments
with risks thoroughly assessed?, if you say so Mighty Thar-Man. If you say
so."
IF YOU WANT YOUR CPF MONEY,
AND MIGRATE
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem.
OBAMA CALLS FOR SUU KYI RELEASE
US President Barack Obama has
called for the "immediate and unconditional" release of Burmese
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In a written statement, Mr Obama said he
strongly condemned Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest, which has lasted for most of the
last 19 years.
She is now being tried for
violating the terms of her detention in a case which has drawn widespread condemnation. The Nobel laureate faces up to five years in
jail, if convicted.
"Aung San Suu Kyi's
continued detention, isolation, and show trial based on spurious charges cast
serious doubt on the Burmese regime's willingness to be a responsible member of
the international community," Mr Obama said in a statement. "It is
time for the Burmese government to drop all charges against Aung San Suu Kyi
and unconditionally release her and her fellow political prisoners," he
added.
Ms Suu Kyi, 63, had been due
for release on Wednesday after her latest six-year detention, but was
re-arrested this month after a visit to her house by a US man who had not been
invited. She took the stand for the first time on Tuesday to tell the court
that she was not immediately aware of the late-night visit but was informed
later by her assistant.
Ms Suu Kyi is
widely expected to be convicted at the trial. $HEEP CITY, $INGAPORE HAS FIRST SWINE FLU VICTIM
On May 27, $ingapore
confirmed its first case of Influenza A (H1N1), aka swine flu. The 22-year-old
woman is currently being treated at the Communicable Disease Centre at Tan Tock
Seng Hospital. She flew in to $ingapore on an SIA flight, SQ25 on May 26 and
was seated at Row 55 according to a $ingapore media report.
The report said she developed
a cough while onboard the SIA flight. Changi Airport's thermal scanners missed her as she apparently did not have a fever then. Health
authorities are now searching for fellow passengers. Passengers who had
travelled in the same flight and were seated in rows 52 to 58 are urged to call
the hotline at 1800-333 9999.
A TRUE FAN, CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG
Her parents Serge Gainsbourg
and Jane Birkin recorded Je T'aime Moi Non Plus and the song was promptly
banned by $heep City's board of censors. Last week, daughter Charlotte
Gainsbourg won glory at Cannes. She was awarded the best-actress trophy at the
French film festival for her role in Lars von Trier's controversial film
Antichrist. You don't have to bet that Antichrist will face $ingapore's wrath
to get a ban, just like mom and dad's song from decades ago.
The film brought howls of
outrage and a near riot at the post-screening press conference after it was
shown earlier in the festival. Quite apart from the various ways she tortures
her husband, played by the American actor Willem Dafoe, Gainsbourg's character
attacks her clitoris with a pair of scissors. Consider that an allegory of how
a country mutilates itself by chasing its citizens to take up citizenship
elsewhere.
For her next album, Charlotte
is reportedly working with Beck.
DiCAPRIO AS FRANK?
Leonardo DiCaprio is
reportedly set to play Frank Sinatra in a forthcoming Martin Scorsese film
about the late Rat Pack crooner. The UK Sun reports the film will show
Sinatra's reported involvement with the Mafia. Wait till Nancy hears about it.
THE CLOSEST TO A BOWIE NEWS ITEM
David Bowie's son Duncan
Jones [born Zowie Bowie] has directed a new science fiction movie 'Moon', set to be released in summer. The actors include 'Skins'
actress Kaya Scodelario and actor Sam Rockwell. Kevin Spacey appears as the
voice of a computer. The space thriller was produced by
Stuart Fenegan and Trudie Styler, wife of Sting. Jones said of the movie
in a statement: "People who appreciate science fiction want the best for
the world, but they understand that there is an education to be had by
investigating the worst of what might happen.
"That's why 'Blade
Runner' was so brilliant; it used the future to make us look at basic human
qualities from a fresh perspective. Empathy. Humanity. How do you define these
things? I wanted to address those questions."
VISUAL HISTORY OF DEEP PURPLE MK1 to MK4
The Eagle Rock label is set
to release Deep Purple - History, Hits & Highlights '68-'76 double DVD on
June 1. Each disc is over two hours long and contains black and white and
colour footage of the band at its prime. DVD1 covers the bulk of the MK 2 band
with clips from Beat Club, Top Of The Pops, German TV and Australian TV.
DVD2 evenly covers Deep
Purple MK 2 to MK 4 with TV shows in Belgium, France, at Leeds in the UK and on
New Zealand TV. Of special interest is the New Zealand footage of a 1975
documentary and of the MK4 band playing Smoke On The Water. There's also a 15 min
rehearsal for Beat Club of No No No. Full listings here
http://www.deep-purple.net/review-files/deep-purple-dvd/deep-purple-dvd.html
NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY
Here are some new Blu-ray and
DVD releases from across the Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following
titles were released May 22, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-ray
DVDs sold in Malaysia are NOT true Blu-rays as they have gig sizes that fit a
dual-layer DVD9. Buy at your own risk:
EXTRA! DUBAI, $HEEP CITY SUFFER BIGGEST HOME PRICE SLUMP
Dubai, once home to the
world's biggest construction boom, is now the scene of the world's biggest
property slump, according to figures published May 26 by estate agent Knight
Frank. House prices in the desert sheikhdom dropped by an extraordinary 40% in
the first three months of 2009, outpacing falls anywhere else in the world
after an investment bubble burst.
$ingapore,
the nation worst hit by the collapse in world trade, saw the second biggest
fall, with property prices down 16.2% in the quarter. Still not world class, only managed a No. 2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/may/26/dubai-property-crash
$INGAPORE'S CHANCE TO OWN PLAYBOY
Adult magazine mogul Hugh
Hefner is reportedly lining up British billionaire Sir Richard Branson to take
over his Playboy empire reports ContactMusic. Hefner's company - founded 56
years ago - is battling the recession and the rise in internet porn, with the
firm recently posting losses of US$13 million for the first three months of
2009. Sources suggest the asking price is set at US$300 million. A Playboy
spokesperson denies any offers have been made, but admits Hefner would
"listen to proposals that could create value for all of our
shareholders".
Every $ingaporeans dream is
to own Playboy. The magazine remains BANNED IN DA $INGAPURA. Don't wait, bring cheque book along $ingapore.
On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's parliament. Only state-sponsored "protests" are allowed in $heep
City, $ingapore.
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem.
The Kills' frontwoman Alison Mosshart has issued a statement
regarding tabloid rumours that she and Jack White recently engaged in a fight
while drinking in a New York bar. According to Mosshart, she and The White
Stripes man, with whom she's collaborating in the new band The Dead Weather,
did no such thing.
"I don't usually bother responding to ridiculous fabricated
tabloid rumours, but this one is particularly grotesque," she said.
"The stories circulating from a UK tabloid of a 'fist fight', or Jack
punching me, or the two of us 'being at each others throats' are untrue."
Of course since The Dead Weather album and tour are due, all these
"rumours" could also be positive publicity.
HE'S A PRINCE
Back in 1986, Prince convinced up and coming actress Kristin Scott
Thomas to act in his movie Under The Cherry Moon. He even got her to bare her
breasts. The movie flopped. Now 23 years later, Prince has written her a song
on his new album MPLSound. Better With Time has the lyric:
"This might seem
strange/Since so much time has passed/And since only one of us/Still looks the
same/Your words not mine, baby/You're still fine yes you are/ Like wine, you
get better with time."
Kristin Scott Thomas starred in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
LILY ALLEN'S TWITTER
Fresh from her Twitter page:
"There is a difference between a modern day celeb and someone
who writes and sings songs. I don't wanna be a celeb. My point was, I'm pretty
sure that my music is what got people talking, I'm confident I could sustain a
singing career without the paparazzi.
"And finally, who wants celebs. There are talented people,
watch their movies, appreciate their songs, f*** the rest. It's ass."
Dun waste yer time at the A$$planade.
Readers have occasionally written in asking for the videos in the
BigO Video Archive to be shared. While we do not have the bandwidth, we are
trying this alternative. As a start, we are sharing the rare Linda Ronstadt
Rockpalast show at the Stadthalle Offenbach in Germany on November 16, 1976.
The full-screen, NTSC show is currently available at Dimeadozen.org (250184), a
bittorrent site, with currently more than 350 people downloading it. Readers
need to register at the site before they can download. While the video quality
is very good (but nothing compared to today's high-def broadcast), fans will
undoubtedly enjoy Ronstadt's sterling performance and easy rapport with the
audience, apart from hearing classics such as That'll Be The Day, Silver
Threads And Golden Needles, Crazy, You're No Good and Desperado.
JACKSON SHOWS DELAYED
The first night of the Michael Jackson Comeback has been pushed
from July 8 to July 13 because the "King of Pop" needs more time to
rehearse. The following four nights have been rescheduled to next year in March
2010. Fans, who were told of the rescheduled dates in an e-mail, have reacted
with a mixture of anger and support, the BBC reports.
"What difference is a week going to make in the grand scheme
of things?" wrote Pam A on a Michael Jackson messageboard. "I had
plane tickets booked from Canada," wrote a fan calling themselves janmic.
"I'm supposed to be returning home on July 9th. I am really not
impressed."
The seismic shift has been blamed on the expensive stage show. As
promoter AEG suggested in its statement: "This show has grown in size and
scope, thereby necessitating more lead time for manufacture of the set,
programming the content for the massive video elements, and, most importantly,
more time for full production and dress rehearsals." Mr Jackson's behavior
are more suited to that of a child.
AEG are offering full refunds to fans who cannot make the new
dates but not refunds for plane tickets or hotel accommodations. Looking at the
eight month-long reschedule, we suggest you take up the offer. Too bad if you
paid black market prices for your tix.
NEIL YOUNG'S ARCHIVES
DELAYED
The 'Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963 -1972) has been delayed.
The new release date is June 8. Promise?
FRANK BLACK ON THE NEW
MUSIC BUSINESS MODEL
Pixies frontman, Frank Black, says nowadays touring is more
important than ever for bands because fewer people are buying albums. "The
rendezvous point between the patron and the artist has been moved from a record
shop or online... to live shows," he said. "People are excited about
live personal appearances. They'll buy tickets for that. That's a great thing
for live music. But now everyone's touring, which is great for roadies and
nightclubs and theatres. But now everyone and their mother is on the road. So
that means there's a lot of competition for your dollars."
"I think what has to happen is everyone has to get used to
making less money and have to charge less money," Francis declared.
"Everything's got to get cut down to more of a five-dollar world. People
will say, "Oh yeah, I'll pay five bucks to see that or for a T-shirt or a
record. I think it's gonna become more of a five-dollar world than a $25 world,
$50, or a $150 world.
"I realise to some people I may sound like a hypocrite
because the Pixies are getting ready to release a box set. I think the limited
edition version retails for $450. But that art already exists - the demand for
that particular product has been researched by the people putting it out. If
people don't buy it, we'll all be fools.
"I think everyone should sell whatever product they want to
sell for whatever price they want to sell it for, but ultimately the market
will dictate what it is and people will have to charge less money for
everything. Record companies have been overcharging people for way too long and
now this is the trouble that they're in. They created this situation because
they were just a little too greedy," he said. Tell Michael Jackson about
that.
WHOSE 'BUDDY' IS IT ANYWAY?
"A poem thought to have been written by Bob Dylan when he was
only 16 was actually written by Canadian country singer Hank Snow, it has been
discovered. Christie's auction house, which is auctioning off the hand-written
poem, Little Buddy, next month, made the announcement yesterday (May 19) after
Reuters alerted that the lyrics matched those in a song written by the late
country singer.
"Additional information has come to our attention about the
handwritten poem submitted by Bob Dylan to his camp newspaper, written when he
was 16, entitled 'Little Buddy'. The words are in fact a revised version of
lyrics of a Hank Snow song," Christie's said in a statement."
So it's really second-hand verse after all. Bob Dylan is no Dylan
Thomas.
JUDEE SILL'S BELATED
TRIBUTE
Judee Sill was "a California singer-songwriter who released
two albums packed with religious overtones, hungover reveries, and Graham Nash
collaborations before dying of a drug overdose in 1979." The Pitchfork
writeup also says in 2005, Asylum reissued both of her albums. And on September
22, American Dust will release Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee
Sill. Not exactly a who's who of superstars, this indie release does have Ron
Sexsmith and Beth Orton. The tracklist:
01 Ron Sexsmith: "Crayon Angel"
P.S. Latest archaeological findings may one day prove that Jesus
was not a cross maker or carpenter but a stone-cutter. Apparently wood was not
in much supply in his village.
LUCIFER RISING, FOR REAL?
The soundtrack for Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising is getting a 4LP
vinyl release on indie label Ajna [anyone heard of this label?] on June 21. The
album will be credited to Bobby Beausoleil. Jimmy Page has long been associated
with this soundtrack. From the press release:
"Now, for the first time, all of the music composed for the
soundtrack project has been compiled into a single public release. The Lucifer
Rising Suite begins with the 1967 version of the soundtrack and continues
through a logical sequence of the recordings made in the years spanning
1976-79. With respect to the latter, the original master tapes were mined for
music that had not been heard by anyone in nearly three decades. The newly
unearthed recordings were then restored, cleaned up and combined with those
previously released to make the anthology as complete as possible."
NATALIE COLE'S KIDNEY
TRANSPLANT
If Natalie Cole is a $ingaporean, she can go shopping to buy a
brand new kidney. But on May 19, Cole who has been receiving kidney dialysis
three times a week since September, underwent kidney transplant surgery in Los
Angeles. The kidney came from a deceased organ donor through a regional organ
procurement agency, and the surgery took place at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
According to a statement, Cole is now "resting
comfortably" and recovering from the surgery. She has postponed her summer
tour dates for the next three to four months as advised by her physicians.
$ingapore has legalised the sale of kidneys. It's a new business.
HIGHER-END MEDIA PLAYERS
FOR HIGH-DEF VIEWING Pt 2
With more movie fans watching high def shows in the MKV format on
their large-screen TVs, it is inevitable they will look for media players that
can support the format. Before the launch of the Western Digital HD Media
Player (featured last week), movie fans who downloaded such files were already
using Syabas Technology's Popcorn Hour. This player is widely available and is
distributed in the US, Europe and Asia. Syabas is the Malay word for
"congratulations". The US-based company has a manufacturing plant in
Penang, Malaysia.
The Popcorn Hour (www.popcornhour.com), whose model A-110 (S$398)
was released towards the end of 2008, is generally seen as a workhorse because
of the vast number of video and audio formats it supports. Video containers:
MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V); MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG); MPEG2 Transport
Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS); VOB; AVI, ASF, WMV; Matroska (MKV); MOV
(H.264), MP4, RMP4.
Apart from playing WAV, WMA, FLAC and OGG audio files, the Popcorn
Hour also offers audio pass through for the following: DTS, Dolby Digital,
DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus. The Popcorn Hour comes
with HDMI 1.3 connection.
But getting a Popcorn Hour and hooking it up to your TV is one
thing. There is the assumption that those who pick up the Popcorn Hour are
techies. This is not a simple plug-and-play machine and it might be best to go
through the start-up manual first as there might be a need to amend some
settings (changes are made using the remote control).
As the Popcorn Hour has internet access, users have another area
to look into. Those who connect the Popcorn Hour direct to the router using
landline or the internet cable are "fine" as the player automatically
detects the internet. For those who want to go wireless, you need to get a
wireless adaptor (S$88). Again the user needs to set up the wireless connection
the way one does with a laptop or notebook.
For those who do not want the hassle of connecting an external
harddisk to the Popcorn Hour, they can install a harddisk inside the player. In
$heep City, $ingapore, the Popcorn Hour is only available either online
(www.popcornhour.com.sg, S$418) or directly from the distributor
(ServTouch-Wywy) and they do not sell harddisks. So buyers will need to bring
along their own harddisks or install it themselves! And for those would like
the functionality of the Popcorn Hour but lack the wherewithal to set it up
themselves, tough luck guys. The Popcorn Hour sellers in $heep City don't do
house calls.
And if you are getting the Popcorn Hour in $heep City, it's
recommended that you ask the distributor to update the player with the latest
firmware. One of the advantages of Popcorn Hour's open source code is that it
allows for users' contribution, changes and updates. It also means the Popcorn
Hour forum should be added to your list of internet bookmarks.
Then again, as the reviewer in afterdawn.com says: "Popcorn
Hour continues to sell well and is in high demand due to its low price and its
ability to support more formats than, say, the rival Apple TV device. Popcorn
Hour is one of the few media hubs with the ability to natively play Matroska
[MKV] and XviD and also offers direct access to YouTube and Vuze."
This is the device Creative Technology should have invented.
Meanwhile, still in $heep City, a slightly pricier alternative is
the Snazio Cinema NMT (S$499; S$659 if it includes 1TB harddisk) whose features
are similar to the Popcorn Hour:
- HDMI-1.3 and Optical Audio with HD Audio pass-through for DTS
HD-HR, DTS HD-MA, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD;
- Internet Streaming: YouTube, Podcast Flicker CNET-TV DL.TV
Internet Radio and more
- Professional Full HD Video Output - 1080i (50/59.94/60), 1080p
(24/25/29.97/30/50/59.94/60)
While the specs for the Popcorn Hour and Snazio are generally
impressive, anime fans might want to note that these media players do not
support ASS subtitles (needless to say are common in anime movies).
Those who are technology-challenged might want to wait for the day
when there are simpler plug-and-play higher-end machines but when the issue of
"home care" is raised, one electronics shopkeeper in $heep City is
willing to charge S$100 to come to your home to help you set up your system.
It's likely the media players scene will get more competitive,
especially when the higher-end Chinese and Taiwanese machines are launched.
Already a popular low-end player is the made-in-China MyGica, which sells for
S$88. This handles mainly AVIs but not MKVs.
NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE
CAUSEWAY
Here are some new Blu-ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released May 15,
2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are NOT
true Blu-rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at your
own risk:
EXTRA!
THE INVINCIBLE IRON
"RICE BOWL" MAN & HIS SUPER FRIEND
"For people in
government like me, having to deal with these sums of money which we have
accumulated through the sweat of our brow over the last 40 years, you have to
pay the market rate. And then you've got an incompetent man and you've lost
money, by the billions. So get a sense of proportion." [MM Lee in 2007]
"You know, the cure for
all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government. You get that
alternative and you'll never put $ingapore together again: Humpty Dumpty cannot
be put together again... and your asset values will disappear, your apartment
will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your
security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's
countries, foreign workers." [MM Lee April 5, 2007]
$INGAPORE'S INVESTMENTS
'RATIONAL AND WITHIN RISK LIMITS' - JANUARY 2008
"Govt doesn't comment on each deal, but it is assured that
investments in subprime-hit banks are rational and within risk limits."
- $ingapore's Minister of Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Jan 22,
2008. A super friend indeed.
TEMASEK TAKES US$4.6
BILLION LOSS ON MERRILL INVESTMENT - MAY 2009
Read a scathing commentary on Temasek's head Ho Ching, also the
wife of General Lee Hsien Loong, $heep City's prime minister: $ingapore's Lesson: Buy High, Sell Low
"If nothing else, the record of Temasek gives the lie to
notion spread by $ingapore's ruling clique that they are the best guardians of
the people's savings. Paternalism morphed into an arrogance whose full cost to
$ingaporeans is for now hidden by the opaque nature of the government's
accounts, and the very partial revelations provided by Temasek. $ingaporeans,
gather your purse-strings and, together, pull."
http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1880&Itemid=233
THE MIRROR OF OPINION
"This was not an investment. It was a GAMBLE. The government
wasted $ingaporeans savings."
- The young, restless and cynical Mirror Of Opinion, May 22, 2009.
On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's parliament. Only state-sponsored "protests" are allowed in $heep
City, $ingapore.
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem.
May 12: To go out in a small boat along $ingapore's coast now is to feel like a mouse tiptoeing through an endless herd of slumbering elephants. One of the largest fleets of ships ever gathered idles here just outside one of the world's busiest ports, marooned by the receding tide of global trade. There may be tentative signs of economic recovery in spots around the globe, but few here. Hundreds of cargo ships - some up to 300,000 tons, with many weighing more than the entire 130-ship Spanish Armada - seem to perch on top of the water rather than in it, their red rudders and bulbous noses, submerged when the vessels are loaded, sticking a dozen feet out of the water. So many ships have congregated here - 735, according to AIS Live ship tracking service of Lloyd's Register-Fairplay in Redhill, Britain - that shipping lines are becoming concerned about near misses and collisions in one of the world's most congested waterways, the straits that separate Malaysia and $ingapore from Indonesia. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/business/global/13ship.html?_r=1 CARGOSHIP COLLISION MAY REIGNITE $INGAPORE CONGESTION CLAIMS May 4: An Iranian general cargoship was close to sinking after an early morning collision with an Indonesian-flagged cargoship in the $ingapore Strait last week [April 24]. The Maritime & Port Authority of $ingapore maintains that the port's anchorages are not overcrowded and concerns over navigational safety are unwarranted. http://www.business24-7.ae/articles/2009/4/pages/07042009/04082009_4d9b3adcaea54a3f80479a3af6c54888.aspx The matter remains unreported by $ingapore's government-controlled media. SRI LANKA'S M.I.A. GETS ACCUSED AGAIN OF BEING TERRORIST SYMPATHIZER Pitchfork reports: Give M.I.A. credit: As her fame has grown exponentially over the past few years, so has her political involvement. Lately, she has put a lot of effort into drawing attention to the ongoing civil war in her home country of Sri Lanka and to the widespread human rights abuses happening there. She has thrown support behind a controversial aid mission, talked about the issue on Tavis Smiley's PBS talk show, and hollered at Oprah to throw some light on the subject. But because of these efforts, M.I.A. has risked being demonized as a terrorist sympathizer. In a new MySpace blog post, she has responded to those accusations once again. $ingapore, which boasts hundreds of BILLIONS in reserves, recently donated the GENEROUS amount of US$30,000 to Sri Lanka. On May 1, the $ingapore Government said it will contribute US$30,000 to UNICEF, which is one of the aid agencies involved in the humanitarian relief efforts in Sri Lanka. http://app.mfa.gov.sg/2006/press/view_press.asp?post_id=5080 Sorry Sri Lanka, $ingapore's 2009 Kindness Week was in April and lasts all of seven days. JEFF AMENT ROBBED IN ATLANTA Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament was the victim of a violent robbery outside Southern Tracks Recording studios in Atlanta, where the band is recording their ninth studio album. According to a police report, Ament and a band employee pulled up to the rear of the studio on the afternoon of April 27 when three assailants brandishing knives emerged from the woods wearing black masks and gloves. The robbers smashed the windows of a rented Jeep and grabbed a BlackBerry before demanding more money. In total, Ament was robbed of $3,000 in cash and $4,320 worth of goods. The bassist was chased and knocked to the ground, sustaining a
head laceration which was treated by EMS. The attackers - who also stole
Ament's passport - escaped into a waiting black Nissan Maxima. The incident was
captured on a surveillance camera, but no arrests have been made. - Rolling Stone JACK WHITE OPENS RECORD STORE Jack White, who now resides near Nashville, has opened Third Man Records - White's new (cash only) record store and label - in March. He has also formed a Nashville band, The Dead Weather, with Kills singer Alison Mosshart. The new album will be out soon. White is one half of The White Stripes. SINATRA FILM TO BE DIRECTED BY SCORSESE Martin Scorsese is set to direct a biopic based on the life of Frank Sinatra, it was announced May 13. This will be the first feature-length film about the legendary crooner, who starred in several films himself during his lifetime. STEWART COPELAND'S BEN HUR Police drummer Stewart Copeland has a new soundtrack to sell, Ben Hur Live, a multi-media show to be staged in London come September. And at a BBC news program, he refused to rule out further shows by his former group, The Police. Which soon resulted in press headlines that the Police would not rule out further tours. He said: "I'd recommend that every artist should do it every 20 years. So call me in 20 years." So back to the news. Copeland has also just completed composing the soundtrack for the forthcoming show 'Ben Hur Live', a project which he described as a "no brainer." He describes the show as "music mixed with media, some thrashing drums with an ethnic element, a Middle Eastern feel". The climax of the performance reportedly features a live chariot race involving 20 horses. No other policemen are involved. HIGH DEF FOR YOUR TV The next format war will be between physical media like CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray versus all-in-one media players that stream digital downloads whether audio or video from your hard drive to your TV sets or hi-fi systems. With more shows being shown in the high def format, readers might
like to check out these media players for high-def viewing. The growing
popularity of high-def shows has resulted in many of these shows being saved in
the MKV format. In terms of picture clarity, the MKV format can be said to be a
step below high def but a step above the usual DVD. Launched in the US and the UK towards the end of 2008, Western Digital's HD Media Player is easy to use and relatively easy on the pocket (S$199). Store your MKV movies in your external harddisk. [The media player is not a harddisk.] Using a USB port, connect your external harddisk to the media player. HDMI and composite video connections are available for you to connect the media player to your high def TV but according to one reviewer, users will need to get their own HDMI cable. For the more technically inclined, Western Digital's media player supports the following high def video formats: 1920x1080p 24fps, 1920x1080i 30fps, 1280x720p 60fps resolution. Apart from MKV files, it also supports MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, and MOV (MPEG4, H.264). In terms of music, WD's media player supports the following formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA. An audio receiver is required for surround sound output. AAC/Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only. According to a reviewer in techreport.com, "Video performance
was very impressive, and the WD TV handled everything I threw at it with ease.
The real tests involved HD content. Starting with a 720p rip of The Dark Knight
(encoded with x264 into MKV at around 8Mbps), the WD TV was able to play the
file without issue and even recognized my included subtitles. Picture quality
was superb, as well... I started with a 1080p trailer for Star Trek encoded in
AVC with an average bit rate of about 12Mbps, with stream peaks of almost
20Mbps. The WD TV didn't even break a sweat. I think it's safe to say that this
thing has plenty of horsepower for any HD content." Meanwhile, Seagate's Freeagent Theater (S$179) might be touted as HD friendly but it only goes so far as 720p/1080i. It supports MPEG-4, Xvid up to 1280 x 720 60 fps; MPEG-2 and photos up to 1920 x 1080i 30 fps. In terms of audio, the Theater supports MP3, AC3 (5.1 audio - Dolby Digital) WMA, WAV and OGG formats. The major drawback (which will put a lot of fans off) is that the Theater does not support MKV files and there is no HDMI connection. As a sort of poor cousin to WD's media player, all its promo can muster is to say "enjoy and share your photos, movies and music on your TV in the comfort of your lounge." BLU-RAY, DVDs OR DIGITAL DOWNLOADS? For the time being, the physical disc is still the way for US consumers. According to a study by the NPD Group in the US, 88 per cent of consumer home entertainment dollars go toward DVD and Blu-ray Disc purchases and rentals. Each US consumer spent an average of $25 per month on all types of home entertainment. Most of that money, 63 per cent, was spent on DVD purchases; 7 per cent was spent on BD purchases; and 18 per cent went to DVD and BD rentals. Most consumers don't use digital options to watch a full-length movie, although the numbers have grown over the last year. Just 9 per cent was spent on Video on-demand (VOD), and 3 per cent went to digital downloads and online streaming. The NPD study "Entertainment Trends in America" was conducted online and is based on more than 11,000 completed responses from U.S. consumers. Both Western Digital and Seagate have delivered a cheaper alternative, a unit that streams digital video files from PC to TV, priced under US$200. TAIWAN LEADS THE WAY FOR BLU-RAY PLAYERS Kenmec Mechanical Engineering, an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider based in Taiwan that recently started making Blu-ray players [BD], has stated that it expects to sell 60,000 players under the company's own brand in Taiwan, as well as ship another 150,000 units to ODM clients mainly in Europe and the US during this year. Kenmec also plans to expand its product line-up to include mini BD players, BD players with BD burning functionality, IPTVs and portable BD players. Meanwhile, Admiral Ronnie of $ingapore is banking on 3D cinema as the next generation. NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Here are some new Blu-ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released May 8,
2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are NOT
true Blu-rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at your
own risk:
EXTRA! THE ELECTRONIC POLICE STATE 2008 As the 2009 rankings may soon be out, it's timely to recap the current rankings of the 52 states studied by cryptohippie.com. Here are the Top 12 police states in the WORLD. 1. China Rankings are determined by the following criteria: According to the site they "are not measuring government censorship of Internet traffic or police abuses, as legitimate as these issues may be. And, we are not including evidence gathering by traditional, honest police work in any of the categories below. (That is, searches pursuant to honestly obtained warrants - issued by an independent judge, and only after the careful examination of evidence.) "The seventeen factors we included in these rankings are: Daily Documents Border Issues Financial Tracking Gag Orders Anti-Crypto Laws Constitutional Protection Data Storage Ability Data Search Ability ISP Data Retention Telephone Data Retention Cell Phone Records Medical records Enforcement Ability Habeus Corpus Police-Intel Barrier Covert Hacking Loose Warrants Read the full report for 2008 here https://secure.cryptohippie.com/pubs/EPS-2008.pdf BOYS IN THE JUNTA
On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's parliament. Only state-sponsored "protests" are allowed in $heep
City, $ingapore.
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. Kelly McGillis, the actress who won millions of male fans across the world when she played the love interest in the iconic 1980s film Top Gun, has come out as a lesbian. The girl who lit Navy pilot Tom Cruise's afterburners says that at the age of 51, and after two failed marriages, "I'm done with the man thing. You need to move on in life." She's currently single and looking for a partner. In an interview with the lesbian website Shewired.com she said that coming out was "an ongoing process from the time I was probably 12". She added: "I had a lot of things happen that convinced me that God was punishing me because I was gay." These incidents included her being attacked and raped as a young actress in her New York apartment in 1982. - The First Post, May 1, 2009 JAY BENNETT SUES JEFF TWEEDY It has come to this. Ex-Wilco guitarist/keyboardist Jay Bennett is suing Wilco singer/songwriter Jeff Tweddy for US$50,000 in damages for unpaid royalties as well as no pay for his part in the 2002 Wilco documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, The Chicago Tribune reported. Seeing as how this suit is coming just as the new Wilco album is due, there's no love lost since Bennett left Wilco in 2001. The internal friction in Wilco has been there since the band formed. Wilco itself was the result of the fracturing of Uncle Tupelo when Jay Farrar departed. Tweedy than renamed the band Wilco. HOT DATE The only good news to come out of the Motor City: The Detroit News reports that White Stripes drummer Meg White will marry Jackson Smith, son of punk legend Patti Smith and the late MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith. The date has not yet been decided. WHEN THE INTERNET STARTS TO STOP Internet users face regular "brownouts" that will freeze their computers as capacity runs out in cyberspace, according to research to be published later this year. Experts predict that consumer demand, already growing at 60 per cent a year, will start to exceed supply as early as 2010 because of more people working online and the soaring popularity of bandwidth-hungry Web sites such as YouTube and services such as the BBC's iPlayer. It will initially lead to computers being disrupted and going offline for several minutes at a time. Beginning in 2012, however, PCs and laptops are likely to operate at a much reduced speed, rendering the Internet an "unreliable toy." When Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British scientist, wrote the code
that transformed a private computer network into the World Wide Web in 1991,
the Internet appeared to be a limitless resource. However, a report being
compiled by Nemertes Research, a respected American think-tank, will warn that
the Web has reached a critical point and that even the recession has failed to
stave off impending problems. - www.foxnews.com THE CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG It is now the turn of singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam [aka Cat Stevens] to claim that Coldplay have nicked bits from one of his songs. He claims his 1970s track Foreigner Suite is the basis of Coldplay's mega hit Viva La Vida. He'll have to join the queue as American guitarist, Joe Satriani, has already launched legal proceedings alleging his 2004 song If I Could Fly forms the band's global smash. In 2005, Chris Martin of Coldplay told Rolling Stone: "We're good, but I don't think we're that original. I regard us as being incredibly good plagiarists." Make of that what you will. Go here and fast forward to the 5.15 mark to hear the similarity of Foreigner Suite to Viva La Vida. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmOXNlID2Xs&feature=related SAY 'UNCLE' TWICE Bob Dylan has beaten The Enemy to the top of the UK album charts. Dylan is simultaneously No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 200 list as well. His new LP 'Together Through Life' went straight in to the top of the charts, while The Enemy's 'Music For The People' reached Number Two. 'Together Through Life' is Dylan's first UK Number One album in nearly four decades, since 'New Morning' was released in 1970. He becomes the oldest man to top the UK album charts. Congratulations, grandad. PAUL RODGERS: NOT AFRAID OF SWINE FLU Only a pig would be afraid. Paul Rodgers says the reason the new Bad Company tour next month is so short - about a dozen shows in the USA, is that he wants to concentrate on making music. "Well, you know, I've travelled and I'm not worried about stuff like that [swine flu]. I usually find, to be honest with you, that most of those things are exaggerated way out of proportion. You know, I'm not afraid to travel, it's just I want to be able to focus more on waking up in one place and working on music, I think really, and that's really the reason. I think next year I'll probably be touring my brains out." Fans can see Paul and the rest of Bad Company when the group kicks off their reunion tour on June 20 in Charlotte, North Carolina. For all the dates, head to BadCompany.com.
MULTI-SYSTEM, MULTI CODED BLU RAY PLAYERS ON THE WAY While one shop in $heep City, $ingapore has advertised a multi-coded Blu-ray player [it's either the Samsung BD1500 or the Panasonic BD30*], a US company is preparing to launch a Blu-ray player that will play practically everything including the popular MKV format which netizens have used to share Blu-ray ripped discs. The OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player is a universal player. It plays Blu-ray, DVDs [official and DVD-Rs], audiophile DVD-As and SACDs and also formats like Kodak Picture CD, AVCHD, MKV, and other audio/video/picture files on recorded discs or USB drives. The player also has HDMI output and can handle Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. For audiophiles, this player also has stereo analog connects and digital optical and Coaxial outputs. This player also supports both PAL and NTSC DVD discs. It also comes ready to be used anywhere in the world as it has a universal power supply where you can adjust the voltage depending on which country you're at. Best of all it takes all of 10 seconds to load a Blu-ray disc. Other Blu-ray players are famous for taking a long, long time to get to "ready". The pre-production model already has excellent reviews from audiophiles and the price point is around US$500. Oppo have now sent out invites to interested parties to buy a player. It will be sold late in May. The pre-order price is US$499. Unlike the Early Adopter Program, which was limited to US residents, this sale is open to people in Canada (and also in Argentina, Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates). Note only hip cities are invited, not $heep City, $ingapore. The player's only let down is that it is region coded. It follows
the rules set by Hollywood studios to divide the world into regions. So it will
only play Region 1 DVDs and Region A Blu-ray discs. Audiophiles have even set
up an FAQ page for the Oppo http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-83-faq.html#media-files HKflix says, "The Momitsu BDP-899 is the only Blu-ray player available that will play any region Blu-ray disc, as well as play any region standard DVD, on an NTSC TV. If you're looking for an all-in-one device that will play nearly any disc available, this is your device. It also comes with a plethora of additional features not commonly found on Blu-ray players, such as USB input and auxiliary A/V inputs." This player's Achilles Heel is it cannot playback mkv formatted discs. Read a rave review here: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/hardwarereviews/momitsu_bdp-899.htm *NOTE: The "multi-code" refers to DVDs only. The two players sold in $ingapore can ONLY play region "A" Blu-ray discs. Apparently there are no $heep in $ingapore who know how to modify a Blu-ray player. Creative? You wish. BLU-RAY ENLIGHTENMENT To help avid Blu-ray fans who are well-travelled and continue to do so, here is a site that lists Blu-ray discs that are region free [no code]: http://regionfreemovies.com/ HIP CITY TAIWAN GETS GREEN LIGHT TO MANUFACTURE BLU-RAY DISCS U-Tech Media of Taiwan, announced May 5 that it has obtained certification from the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) for the production of 50GB (double-layer) BD-ROM discs. This makes U-Tech the first replicator in Asia outside of Japan to receive that certification. The company expects to begin shipments in the third quarter of 2009. The company expects that the new 50GB BD-ROM certification will help U-Tech compete for Blu-ray disc orders and boost its shipment volumes. TRADE IN YOUR OLD DVDs FOR BLU-RAYS HMV stores across Canada began a promotion which runs for the entire month of May, where customers who bring in used DVDs will receive a C$7 credit towards the purchase of special marked Fox and MGM Blu-ray discs. Originally conceived to promote the responsible recycling of used DVDs, the program has since morphed to provide used DVDs to children's hospitals and libraries and out of landfills. Additionally, HMV Canada will be offering special one-day deals where by turning in 10 DVDs and buying 10 Blu-rays will also yield a $10 gift card in addition to the $7 credit per DVD title (essentially a $8 rebate per DVD turned-in). Another great idea that didn't come out of $heep City. NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Here are some new Blu-ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released May 1,
2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are NOT
true Blu-rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at your
own risk:
EXTRA!
NO IRON RICE BOWL: BUFFETT TOLD, NAME YOUR SUCCESSOR Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, yesterday [May 1] faced shareholder demands to name his successor following five consecutive quarters of declining profit at Berkshire Hathaway. More than 35,000 investors turned out to question the investor known as the "Sage of Omaha" at Berkshire's annual meeting in the Nebraska town yesterday. After more than 40 years at the helm, Mr Buffett's job will be split between his son Howard, who will become chairman, and an as yet unidentified chief executive and chief investment officer. Mr Buffett, 78, said all the candidates for the position of chief executive already work for Berkshire Hathaway. Mr Buffett continued to paint a pessimistic picture about the prospects for the US economy. PANIC ATTACK "Health scares are like terrorist ones. Someone somewhere has an interest in it. We depend on others with specialist knowledge to advise and warn us and assume they offer advice on a dispassionate basis, using their expertise to assess danger and communicating it in measured English. Words such as possibly, potentially, could or might should be avoided. They are unspecific qualifiers and open to exaggeration... "...Meanwhile a real pestilence, MRSA and C difficile, was taking hold in hospitals. It was suppressed by the medical profession because it appeared that they themselves might be to blame. These diseases have played a role in thousands of deaths in British hospitals - the former a reported 1,652 and the latter 8,324 in 2007 alone. Like deaths from alcoholism, we have come to regard hospital-induced infection as an accident of life, a hazard to which we have subconsciously adjusted. "MRSA and C difficile are not like swine flu, an opportunity for public figures to scare and posture and spend money. They are diseases for which the government is to blame. They claim no headlines and no Cobra priority. Their sufferers must crawl away and die in silence." - Simon Jenkins, A Panic Stoked In Order To Posture And Spend, in The UK Guardian, April 29, 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/29/swine-flu-mexico-uk-media1 WHAT KILLED DBS' CEO
The $T headline seems misleading. "But his weakened immune system made him susceptible to infection... His condition rapidly deteriorated over the last 48 hours and he succumbed to the infection." MRSA Rates [in $ingapore] Higher Than You Think Think about it. 48 die every year from MRSA in $heep City. And it's NOT front page news. Please don't try to organise a protest. See below. BOYS IN THE JUNTA
On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's parliament. Only state-sponsored "protests" are allowed in $heep
City, $ingapore.
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. According to the NME, Bob Dylan's new album 'Together Through Life' is provisionally sat on top of the UK album chart, with the mid-week sales revealing a comfortable lead over The Enemy's second record 'Music For The People'. NME.COM says mid-week sales for the album stand at around 17,000 as of April 28, while The Enemy's 'Music For The People' are near the 13,000 mark. If 'Together Through Life' stays on top throughout the week it will be Dylan's seventh UK Number One album. MICHAEL JACKSON INTERVIEW COMING Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand says Michael Jackson has
agreed to be interviewed by Ferdinand. The ManU football player has just
started a digital lifestyle magazine, No. 5, and Ferdinand says Jackson called
to wish him luck. "I was shaking when I got off the phone. It was a real
surprise," Ferdinand said. "I'm hoping to interview him for a later
edition and he's invited me to one of his concerts to come backstage and speak
to him about it." So what can we expect to read? CITIGROUP AND BANK OF AMERICA 'MUST RAISE BILLIONS IN EXTRA CAPITAL' The Guardian on April 28, reported that "leaked preliminary results" of US government stress tests on banks suggest the financial crisis is far from over. Citigroup and Bank of America have both been told that they must raise billions of dollars of extra capital, according to a report that suggests the financial crisis is far from over. The Wall Street Journal reported April 28 that the stress tests conducted by the US government on 19 banks found that both Citi and Bank of America need more funds to cover future losses caused by the economic downturn. Read here http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/28/citigroup-bank-of-america-stress-tests When Citigroup raises more capital, it will dilute $ingapore's stake in the bank. Is this a good investment by GIC or a bad gamble? Whatever, $ingaporean money have been wasted. Citigroup's share price as at April 29 was US$2.89. IF YOU'VE NOTHING BETTER TO DO, IT'S MASTURBATE-A-THON DAY This year's Masturbate-a-Thon Day falls on May 2. The Center for Sex & Culture will hold its 9th annual fundraising and consciousness-raising event at its 1519 Mission Street suites and the building's adjacent theatre in San Francisco. Doors will open at 11 am for competitors seeking to best the current world time record (currently 9 hours and 33 minutes for males and 7 hours and 6 minutes for females). The event can be watched live at their website. Maybe the guy who thinks we can wait 30 years for our bank
investments to bear fruit might like to give it a try. Failure is an option.
After all, it's an iron rice bowl. Last year's winner was from Japan. FLAMING LIPS ON THE BORDERLINE On Record Store Day last week, The Flaming Lips released a special single with a cover version of Madonna's Borderline. When asked to explain the meaning of the disco hit, frontman Wayne Coyne says, "I think she's singing about orgasms." "You know, she's talking about reaching the borderline and whoever this man is, he's trying to make her orgasm and gets her right close but then isn't able to do it. Everyone I talk to didn't know that! And then I realized how ridiculous it is for a 40-year-old man to be singing about orgasms." Come as you are. JAMIE CULLUM HEADS TO HONG KONG Platinum-selling artist Jamie Cullum will showcase at Music Matters in Hong Kong in June and use the event to announce his new album. Cullum was recently heard on Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino singing the film's theme song as the credits rolled. "It is so exciting to be back in Hong Kong and I am honoured to be given the opportunity to perform at Music Matters" said Jamie in a statement. "Asia is always a highlight for me on tour; amazing food and a huge wealth of musical talent. The fans in Asia rock, they never fail to provide a warm reception". CANCELLED The spate of cancellations continue. This week Tori Amos and The Doves cancelled gigs in the UK. In the US, indie band Japandroids cancelled. The most famous no-show was Talib Kweli's at University of Minnesota. The singer was stuck in transit at O'hare airport. Five hundred students decided to riot as a result. Riot police were called to the campus. Talib's looks like the odd-man out. Otherwise is it poor ticket sales or serious illness? AMERICAN WOMAN INVENTED FROM BOOTLEG TAPE Burton Cummings: "American Woman (by The Guess Who) just 'happened' one night on stage. If memory serves me correctly it was at a curling rink in Mississauga called the Broom and Stone. Randy started playing the now-famous guitar riff and I just started singing whatever came into my head. "All those lines about 'war machines' and 'ghetto scenes' and 'colored lights can hypnotize, sparkle someone else's eyes' were just there in one of those 'stream of consciousness; moments. This was the late '60s and cassette machines were a relatively new invention. "There was a young guy there bootlegging the show on a portable cassette machine. We confiscated the tape and literally 'learned' American Woman from listening to it." Taken from the liner notes of Bachman Cummings Songbook released in 2006.
Japan has again shown off one of its greatest innovations - square watermelons. For years consumers struggled to fit the large round fruit in their refrigerators. And then there was the problem of trying to cut the fruit when it kept rolling around. But 20 years ago a forward-thinking farmer on Japan's south-western island of Shikoku solved the problem. The farmer, from Zentsuji in Kagawa prefecture, came up with the idea of making a cube-shaped watermelon which could easily be packed and stored. To make it happen, farmers grew the melons in glass boxes and the fruit then naturally assumed the same shape. Today the cuboid watermelons are hand-picked and shipped all over Japan. But the fruit, on sale in a selection of department stores and upmarket supermarkets, appeals mainly to the wealthy and fashion-conscious of Tokyo and Osaka, Japan's two major cities. Each melon sells for 10,000 yen, equivalent to about US$83. It is almost double, or even triple, that of a normal watermelon. You'll need to earn the salary of a multi-million-dollar $ingapore minister to keep a steady supply of cuboid watermelons in your fridge. Even with that salary, it's unlikely you can "innovate" and invent a cuboid watermelon in $heep City. NEW YORK DOLLS TO TOUR The New York Dolls have announced a tour of the US in support of their forthcoming album 'Cause I Sez So', due May 5 and produced by Todd Rungren. The band will also perform a special private show on the day of the album's release at the John Varvatos store on Bowery, formerly the home of legendary punk venue CBGB. Detailed tour dates here http://www.nme.com/news/nme/44255 LIVE PEACE IN TORONTO DVD DUE IN JUNE John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band Live in Toronto '69 will be made available as a DVD by Shout! Factory on June 23. The historic concert was filmed on Sept 13, 1969, at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, which also happened to be the eve of the release of Abbey Road - the Beatles' last recorded work. In Lennon's band were Yoko, Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White. DA Pennebaker captured the show on film. The DVD also features an interview with Yoko Ono from 1988. [with thanks to Ernie Clark for submitting this item] NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Here are some new Blu-ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released April
24, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are
NOT true Blu-rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at
your own risk:
EXTRA! CHICKEN DELIGHT April 23, 2009: A man from Chambeshi in Kasama, Zambia, is reported to have had sex with a chicken which later died. Both police and hospital sources confirmed the Sunday morning incident. An eyewitness saw a chicken convulsing outside and called the owner of the house to come and see. She said when the owner came she saw some strange fluid coming out of the chickens' mouth. She brought the chicken for a medical examination. The examinations revealed that the fluid was human semen and they were advised not to eat the chicken. The chicken was later sent to a veterinarian but died on the way. In an exclusive interview with ZANIS, the owner of the chicken declined to disclose the suspect but confirmed that this was the second time it has happened. She said the suspect was in her house. Last year, a similar incident happened in Mbala, Zambia where a man, with two wives, had sex with a cow and was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment by the High Court. - ZANIS/ENDS/MC/EB. Only a man with a small penis can do this. Hello! MEN WITH BALLS STAND UP IN $HEEP CITY, $INGAPORE Police were surprised in $ingapore on April 27 when more than 100 construction workers from China gathered outside $ingapore's manpower ministry to complain about unpaid wages and cancellation of their work permits, witnesses said. The workers sat for about two hours at the steps of the ministry, at a busy intersection near the Chinatown district, and even shouted at ministry officials and police officers to air their grievances. At one point, police warned the workers to disperse within five minutes or face arrest. They left but daringly regrouped across a road from the ministry, and voluntarily dispersed about an hour later. The police, all $ingaporeans, did not arrest a single Chinese worker. The workers told AFP, a foreign news agency, they had not been paid their wages after their Chinese 'boss' absconded with the money. They also complained that their work permits had been cancelled without warning. Some of the workers told $ingapore government officials that they had not committed any crime and could not be arrested, but police told them they were illegally trespassing on government property. It is NOW a crime to assemble in public without a permit. Even an "assembly of one person" is NOT PERMITTED in $heep city. "The government should punish the company, not punish us by cancelling our permits. We just want our compensation so we can go back to China," construction worker Zhou Qing Ren, 40, told AFP. "We have got no money to eat now and no proper place to
stay," another worker shouted.
On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their
freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's
parliament.
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. Sometime last year, it was revealed that China OEMs have now got the licence to produce Blu-ray players. Some models were also introduced at tech shows in the US. Now there are rumbles that the Chinese are planning to hit the market this Christmas with players selling for the first time below the US$100 price. During last year's holiday season, Blu-ray players could be found for as low as US$128, though quantities were limited due to the availability of product and the high demand for the high definition players. With sales this year predicted to be at least twice of what they were last year, it is expected that the US$99 price point will become the norm for entry-level players, rather than as part of a special sales promotion. A website for Blu-ray fans thinks it is highly unlikely that Sony, Panasonic and Samsung "will participate in entry-level game of slim-margins, and will likely leave that to the new Chinese manufactures and new products from Magnavox or Sylvania". According to a new quarterly report by Futursource Consulting, the research company expects global shipments of Blu-ray Disc players to reach nearly 12 million units this year. CRAWDADDY'S PAUL WILLIAMS NEEDS FUNDS Called by many the "father of rock criticism" after founding Crawdaddy Magazine at the age of 17, crucial early champion of Philip K Dick, author of the underground classic Das Energi, confidant of John Lennon, biographer of Bob Dylan and traveling companion to the Grateful Dead, Paul Williams has lived a half dozen remarkable lifetimes, and his work as rock critic, holistic philosopher and avant-garde underground gadfly forms a unique and indespensible link through the past 40 years of pop and rock culture. In 1995, Williams suffered a traumatic brain injury in a bicycle accident, leading to early onset of dementia, and a steady decline to the point where he now requires full-time care. The burden on his immediate family has been immense. A website has been created to ask for your help, in the form of
contributions of any size, to assist in Paul's continued care and medical
attention. U.S. BANK PROFITS APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR This is starting to feel like amateur hour for aspiring magicians. Another day, another attempt by a Wall Street bank to pull a bunny out of the hat, showing off an earnings report that it hopes will elicit oohs and aahs from the market. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and, on Monday, Bank of America all tried to wow their audiences with what appeared to be - presto! - better-than-expected numbers. But in each case, investors spotted the attempts at sleight of hand, and didn't buy it for a second. With Goldman Sachs, the disappearing month of December didn't quite disappear (it changed its reporting calendar, effectively erasing the impact of a $1.5 billion loss that month); JPMorgan Chase reported a dazzling profit partly because the price of its bonds dropped (theoretically, they could retire them and buy them back at a cheaper price; that's sort of like saying you're richer because the value of your home has dropped); Citigroup pulled the same trick. By Andrew Ross Sorkin, April 20, 2009. Read the rest here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/business/21sorkin.html?_r=2 As the $ingapore government has foolishly invested multi-BILLIONS of $ingaporeans savings into failed bankrupt banks in the U.S. and Europe, every time there is a report of the slightest hint of recovery and the local nation-builder media will be trumpeting loudly. Informed readers should bear one thing in mind. These banks are
insolvent. No tiny amount of "profit" can fill that hole.
The world's most famous, and strangest puppeteers are heading to New Zealand in May with their international smash hit show. The world-wide popularity of the performance has seen them sell well over a million tickets to audiences of all ages and continues to be wildly popular with Australian audiences. Puppetry of the Penis was initially conceived by Simon Morley as the title of a highbrow art calendar, showcasing 12 of his favourite penis installations (known as "Dick Tricks" to the uninformed layperson). It was on New Year's Eve in 1997, with a garage full of calendars to sell and burgeoning requests for live demonstrations, when Simon finally decided to unleash his talent on the world. His natural choice of performance partner was David "Friendy" Friend, whose reputation as the life of any party was quickly growing. Their debut at the 1998 Melbourne International Comedy Festival was a huge hit, kicking off an eight-month tour of Australia. $ingaporeans who can't wait for them to come to $heep City, click here for their tour dates in New Zealand http://www.puppetryofthepenis.com/tours.php PIRATE BAY SHOULD WALK THE PLANK SAYS SIR PAUL Sir Paul McCartney told BBC Newsbeat, Apr 20, he believed that music should be paid for and that the punishment of jail and fine meted out to the Pirate Bay 4 was "fair". Four men were sentenced to a year in jail and fined £2.4 million for their involvement with the file-sharing website, being convicted of sharing music and videos in Stockholm last week (April 16). Sir Paul's famous quote: "If you get on a bus you've got to pay. And I think it's fair, you should pay your ticket." Music by Sir Paul's former band, The Beatles, have yet to be officially allowed to be sold via downloads. PINK FLOYD SUE EMI FOR THEIR MONEY Here's another bunch of alleged "crooks". Pink Floyd are suing their record label, EMI, over royalty payments. They have filed a lawsuit April 20 claiming that EMI have "miscalculated" royalties owed to them through sales of their back catalogue. Wouldn't Pink Floyd like to quote Sir Paul, "If you get on a bus you've got to pay. And I think it's fair, you should pay your ticket." DRUNKEN MASTER CHAN'S KOWTOW First kung fu actor Jackie Chan told a business forum in China that Chinese "need to be controlled". He said April 18, 2009, "I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not. I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled." He also said freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong and Taiwan made those societies "chaotic". "If we [the Chinese] are not controlled, we'll just do what we want." China is a totalitarian one-party communist state. By April 21, Chinese people insulted by Chan's speech were firing away. Pro-democracy legislator Leung Kwok-hung told AP that Chan had "insulted the Chinese people". Now Chan through his spokesman, Solon So, says Jackie Chan was misquoted. Apparently Chan was talking about freedom in the entertainment industry, not Chinese society at large. Drunken Master was the title of Chan's hit film in 1978. Jackie Chan should come and stay in $heep City, $ingapore as $ingapore is a TOTALITARIAN STATE where freedom of assembly has just been outlawed. What's allowed in $ingapore is the freedom to "shop, shop, shop." SECRET TO MARITAL BLISS? DON'T HAVE KIDS An eight-year long study has found that married couples satisfaction declines after the birth of the first child. The study of 218 couples found 90 per cent experienced a decrease in marital satisfaction once the first child was born. "Couples who do not have children also show diminished marital quality over time," says Scott Stanley, research professor of psychology at University of Denver. "However, having a baby accelerates the deterioration, especially seen during periods of adjustment right after the birth of a child." An unrelated study in 2006 of 13,000 people found parents are more depressed than non-parents. The new research, funded by a grant to the University of Denver from the National Institutes of Health, is detailed in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30138330/ 3D FORMAT WAR At the NABShow this year in Las Vegas, one thing is very clear - 3D Blu-ray is no closer to being a reality than it was last year reports www.blu-ray.com. Too many companies wanting to use their own standard for 3D home presentation are fighting it out. The 3D DVD format has just been finalised although there hasn't been much interest in it. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is expected to hold talks on a standardized 3D format this summer, but that will likely have to wait to be published until mid-2010. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is also working on their own, separate standard which would make the choice of 3D technology irrelevant. Meanwhile, consumer electronics manufacturers are moving forward with their own technology. Panasonic made the biggest splash at this year's CES by showing off their working 3D Blu-ray technology, but it is unlikely that other manufacturers would willingly adapt the specs (and pay Panasonic royalty fees). JVC and Mitsubishi have 3D HDTVs on the market, but neither have plans for providing a player (of any format) to generate the content. Sony is not commenting at all. With a year lead-time required to put 3D products in the market place, it is now unlikely we will see a 3D Blu-ray standard approved before next year, and therefore, no products before 2011. And by then, who would care? Some fans who have seen 3D DVDs have also been unimpressed. This is the general view expressed bluntly, "Every 3D movie I've watched on DVD has looked like crap." In July last year, $heep City, $ingapore hosted a 3D film and technology festival. A member of $ingapore's junta made this comment. Admiral Ronnie Tay, CEO, Infocomm Development Authority of $ingapore said: "This is part of our efforts to grow the Digital Media and Entertainment sector, including developing $ingapore into a global Digital Marketplace, as part of $ingapore's iN2015 infocomm masterplan." It's going to be war, Admiral Ronnie. Don't back the wrong side. Here are some new Blu-Ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released April
17, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-Ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are
NOT true Blu-Rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at
your own risk:
PIRATES' PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Viewers across the Causeway who pay more for movies sourced from
Blu-ray discs (around RM15) expect better picture and sound as compared to the
"ordinary" DVDs (RM5). Buyers might want to check their discs before
making their purchase as a recent copy of [Blu-ray] Die Hard looks as though it
was sourced from a laserdisc. Compared to the Blu-ray ad that appears before
the movie, Die Hard's image is not sharp and the colours are muted and flat.
Buyers beware. EXTRA! NOTHING FOR FREE IN $INGAPORE There's no such thing as welfare or free medical help. Because the PAP-led government has built this city on tough love, it is not a "welfare state". But wait... what's this? "$ingapore Airlines knows that you love their service and beautiful stewardesses. But what about their city? The 'Fabulous $ingapore Stopover Holiday' package beckons passengers to make a stopover in $ingapore with the first night starting at $1 for hotels such as the Allson Hotel, Hotel Royal and Peninsula Excelsior. Hotel upgrades are available starting at only an additional $20. But wait, there's still more... Deal: When you book an Stopover Holiday you get an assortment of extra deals beyond the super-cheap hotel night, including: free admission at $ingapore attractions such as the Jurong Bird Park, National Orchid Garden (pictured), $ingapore River Bumboat Tour and Singapore Zoo, plus 50% off meals at select hotels and outlets, a Free $ingTel Prepaid Mobile hi!Card, local public transportation, airport transfers and more. When: Book by May 15, 2009, for travel to be completed by end of September 2009." Oh, it's NOT FREE, tourists still have to pay $1. Who is footing the bill for tourist welfare? HIT AND RAPE, A NEW CRIME "A sick paedophile who ran over a 13-year-old girl on her bike then raped her as she lay unconscious claimed he 'just wanted to help.' Björn P. (30) from Lübbecke was driving through the small town of Hille, North Rhine-Westphalia, when he spotted Kathleen (name changed), who was riding her bike home from her friend's house at 8 pm on Easter Monday [April 13, 2009]. He intentionally hit her with his car, and then picked up her unconscious, bleeding body and drove to an empty parking lot, where he raped her. Kathleen was thrown five metres through the air and suffered a broken jawbone and serious brain injuries when she landed in a field. Police commissar Werner Wojahn said: "The perpetrator dragged the bleeding girl into his car and drove to an empty parking lot." It was there that he raped her. After he had sexually assaulted her, Björn P. let his young victim go and she stumbled home barefoot and badly injured while police were out searching for her." Kathleen has no recollection of what happened, but a witness put police on the right track. They traced the Renault and found the teenager's bra in the boot. The dad-of-five admitted to the horror sex crime after police tracked the incident back to his house and discovered that his car had a smashed windscreen from the impact, and that the young girl's bra was in the boot. He came clean in court and said: 'I had lusted after a young girl for a long time.' Now the paedophile has told his lawyer Andreas Chlosta: "I had drunk seven bottles of beer and wanted to go home. The girl rode out in front of me on a narrow path between fields and then the accident happened. I just wanted to take care of her and drive her home. Then something overcame me. I can't believe what I did. I am scared that I won't be able to see my five sons again and that my girlfriend will leave me." - Bild.de (Germany) BOYS IN THE JUNTA
On April 13, 2009, citizens of $heep City, $ingapore found their
freedom of assembly suddenly removed by a new law passed in $ingapore's
parliament.
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. $INGAPORE PASSES LAW, CONFIRMS TOTALITARIAN STATUS $ingapore passed a law effectively putting a stop to freedom of assembly on Monday, April 13, 2009. Like Myanmar and North Korea, all outdoor activities that are cause-related will need a police permit, no matter how many people are involved ie not even one lone protester is allowed. The law allows police to order a person to leave an area if they determine he is about to break the law. That is a change from the current law requiring a permit for gatherings of five or more people. The bill also allows police to stop people from filming law enforcement. The police never give permits to opposition parties. Who fivesaguck? GUILTY Phil Spector was found guilty of second degree murder in a verdict handed down in Los Angeles April 13. Spector, 69, was convicted of shooting and killing actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles mansion on February 3, 2003. The jury deliberated for approximately 30 hours. They had the option of convicting him of involuntary manslaughter instead of second-degree murder, but chose not to do so. His attorney argued that he should remain free on bail until the May 29 sentencing, but Judge Larry Paul Fidler sent him directly to jail. The famed music producer was also found guilty of using a firearm to commit a crime, according to the verdict read by Los Angeles Superior Court jurors. Spector, 69, could face 15 years to life in prison as a result of the second-degree murder conviction. Spector was the pioneer behind the 1960s Wall Of Sound technique for The Ronettes and The Righteous Brothers and producer of choice to the stars including The Beatles. BLESSED ARE THE PISS-MAKERS A former police officer Joseph Houston pleaded guilty in a plea bargain after being charged with assault and battery and of "open and gross lewdness" at a Metallica concert Jan 18, 2009, Cape Cod Online reports. After downing roughly six beers before the Metallica concert even started, Houston made his way to his seat where he then "physically and verbally harassed a family that had traveled to Boston from out of state and were seated in the row in front of Houston and his brothers," Cape Cod Online reports. Then: "Houston pulled down his pants, exposed his penis and urinated on a man's shirt, seat and the floor beside him, according to what the family told police. With his penis still exposed, Houston lunged at the man's sister, according to the Brewster police investigation." After the incident, Houston was fired. GOD MUST BE A BOOGIE MAN Softcore porn franchise Girls Gone Wild is claiming record sales after one of its cable ads accidentally aired during a live telecast of the Good Friday service at the Vatican. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a Girls Gone Wild commercial was broadcast throughout the Philadelphia market at 2 a.m. by Comcast. A spokesman for the cable company said the ad was aired inadvertently due to a test of the Emergency Alert System, during which the channel airs regular programming, which in this case included an advertisement for "Girls Gone Wild's Search for the Wildest Bar in America" DVD. Now GGW CEO Joe Francis says he received a record spike in sales. "We may have tapped into a whole new market. It seems that many of the same people interested in the Pope's message are also interested in ours." According to the Inquirer, the commercial reached the network's entire local area, but only one person called to complain. Francis said he was "happy to have shared an audience with the Pope." - www.thrfeed.com REDISCOVERING JAPAN "Reunited early-Seventies Japanese monsters, Flower Travellin' Band, were the biggest thrill at SXSW 2009, playing at vintage strength on the final date of their first-ever U.S. tour. The set included flaming chunks of the band's 1971 apex, the album-length suite Satori (originally on Atlantic Japan), with guitarist Hideki Ishima re-creating his searing-raga sustain on a sitarla (a custom guitar with a sitarlike neck) and singer Akira "Joe" Yamanaka still hitting the extreme highs in his operatic-samurai range. The group also played songs from a new prog-leaning studio album, We Are Here (Pony Canyon), but beginners should start with reissues: the brutalized Savoy Brown and King Crimson covers on 1970's Anywhere and the guaranteed enlightenment of Satori." - Rolling Stone THE COMIC LIFE OF BERTRAND RUSSELL AS TOLD BY GREEKS You read that right. Greeks not geeks. A graphic novel of the life and philosophy of England's Bertrand Russell is coming in October to be published by Bloomsbury. It will take the comic format to new vistas. Logicomix: An Epic Search For Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou with the art team of Alecos Papdatos and Annie Di Donna, will be published simultaneously in the U.S. and Britain. This graphic novel was first published in Greece in 2008 and became not only the first Greek graphic novel but a financial success as well. Logicomix is a full-color 336 page book (US$22.95) that also features a glossary of technical terms and prose annotations on all of the historical figures in the book. There's a 10-city book tour that will focus on universities in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle and other towns and there's a website, logicomix.com, that features media and background information on the writers; the remarkable artist team of Papadatos and Di Donna as well as behind-the-scenes video on the making of the book. While the life of Bertrand Russell is the core narrative of Logicomix, the book's focus is really on Russell's life work - a passionate and ultimately futile attempt to establish a foundation for modern mathematics on clear and concretely stated logic. Beginning in the early part of the 20th century Russell and other prominent mathematicians sought to establish a set of rigorously conceived logical proofs that would eliminate the paradox and circular logic typical of mathematics of the era. Logicomix is the story of that passionate search for philosophical truth and along the way documents both the efforts of Russell (in particular the writing of his seminal book Principia Mathematica coauthored with Alfred North Whitehead) and a long list of prominent turn-of-the century intellectuals who struggled with these questions in the pursuit of an unattainable intellectual deadend. The original Greek edition was self-published and financed by co-author Apostolos Doxiadis. The original edition was also a full-color work. - PW Comics Week SWEDISH COMICS Porn yes, but who ever heard of Swedish comics? When a Swedish student and cartoonist named Niklas Asker first wrote to USA's Top Shelf Productions publisher Chris Staros asking him to be his thesis adviser, it seemed like a long shot. But after seeing the student's artwork, Staros not only accepted his request, he later decided to publish the thesis at Top Shelf as a book titled Second Thoughts, hitting shelves later this month reports PW Comics Week. Last year, Staros accepted an invitation to attend the Swedish Small Press Expo as a guest of honor, an experience that opened his eyes to a young, flourishing comics scene, and convinced him to bring some of its brightest lights to North American shores for the very first time. "When I was over there, you could tell that the Swedish small press community was coalescing in a really serious way," says Staros, who saw his trip as a chance to be an ambassador from the world of American alternative comics. "I made it a point to talk to everybody; I bought mini-comics from every person who was exhibiting. I wanted to get a sense of what everyone was doing." Staros was particularly impressed by the work of Mats Jonsson, a Galagos editor whose graphic novel Hey Princess sold over 10,000 copies in Sweden, and Simon Gardensfors, who chronicled 120 wild, itinerant days on the road in a book called 120 Days of Simon. After meeting with the two creators and reading English translations of their work, Staros decided to publish them as well; both books are now slated for Top Shelf 2010 releases. Galagos is a Swedish comics magazine. According to Klenell, a combination of government funding and scholarships for artists and publishers in Sweden "has made it possible for us to build a strong [comics] scene... despite the fact that we are a very small nation." With a population of only nine million, compared to 300 million in the United States, Sweden already boasts two schools devoted to comics, and sales of top books comparable to American small press graphic novel sales. NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Here are some new Blu-Ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released April
10, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-Ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are
NOT true Blu-Rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at
your own risk:
========== THE LAST WORD ON RATS IN $INGAPORE "Rats were writhing on pieces of cardboard laid out between stalls at the Geylang Serai Temporary Market [in $ingapore] when pest controllers got there on Thursday morning. "Rows of them were stuck in the green glue, part of traps laid out the night before, in an effort to spring clean the temporary structure, now infamous for the Indian rojak stall which is the focal point of $ingapore's worst outbreak of food poisoning. "By noon, pest controllers had cleared away 61 rats, said Mr Kwok Kim Poh, who oversees the day-to-day running of the market for its management committee." - from FarmingUK.com. The report refers to mass food poisoning in $ingapore in early April which killed two and hospitalised 48. A total of 154 people were made ill. A second case of food poisoning, this time from eating a steam-boat meal, was reported last week with 19 people made ill. $ingapore continues to be plagued by a dengue fever and Hand Foot & Mouth Disease outbreak carried over from the previous year.
EXTRA! THE RESULTS OF $INGAPORE'S CLEANLINESS CAMPAIGN 40 YEARS LATER...
"An unfortunate few die of what they caught in the hospital, rather than the disease they had been warded for." Interestingly, $T reported last month that 48 die each year or 1 every week due to hospital infections. The report said that "infectious diseases experts here claim that each of Singapore's three largest hospitals sees 'almost one death, six to nine new clinical infections and up to 60 new individuals colonised per week.' Those are not small numbers." MRSA Rates Higher Than You Think REST IN PEACE
The $T headline seems misleading. "But his weakened immune system made him susceptible to
infection... His condition rapidly deteriorated over the last 48 hours and he
succumbed to the infection." "What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. The mayor of an Italian town pounded by this week's earthquake has asked pop superstar Madonna for material help. Madonna, who is of Italian heritage, has apparently donated a substantial amount. Her grandparents lived in Pacentro till 1919. Pacentro's mayor appealed to Madonna personally for help after more than 200 people died in the devastating quake in the Abruzzo region of Italy. TAIWAN FAN RECORDS NEW OASIS SONG An apparently new Oasis song has appeared online reports NME. The
unidentified track was recorded by a fan during the soundcheck for a recent
show in Taipei City, Taiwan, reports fan site live4ever.us. The song, which
features just Noel Gallagher, can be heard below. SIMON & GARFUNKEL TO TOUR AUSTRALIA Simon and Garfunkel have announced seven shows in Australia and one in Auckland, New Zealand. They last reunited for a tour in 2003 - the first time they had played together in 20 years. The pair will kick the tour off with a gig in Auckland on June 13. As previously reported the duo confirmed they would be reuniting again earlier this year when Paul Simon played a solo show in New York and Art Garfunkel joined him on stage. SRI LANKA AT WAR WITH M.I.A. A clash of words has erupted between the Sri Lankan navy and Sri Lanka's most famous pop star, Mia Arular. The navy wants to blow to kingdom come any unauthorised vessels sailing into Tamil-held territory. But activists and charities say the ship will be transporting food and medical supplies to the Wanni. M.I.A. supports this mercy relief which is said to leave England in April. An official from the Sri Lankan Navy told the UK Daily Mirror that the Navy had been alerted that the ship will be carrying more than 2000 metric tonnes of food for the Liberated Tamil Tigers of Elam in the guise of aid for civilians. M.I.A has issued a statement saying that while her baby will grow up with healthcare, food, free education, freedom of speech and religion and liberties that people in democracies take for granted, babies born in the Tamil-speaking war zone of Wanni are being deprived of all these things. She added, "The Mercy Mission will carry dry food and medicines for Tamil civilians in the Wanni within the Sri Lankan Government's 'safe zone'. Many have already perished from starvation and preventable disease. We cannot ignore these genocidal conditions, and if the aim of the SL government is to protect the lives of the civilians, then this ship will reach its destination and lives will be saved." FOX NEWS FIRES REPORTER FOR WOLVERINE REVIEW It's safer to report that Iraq has "weapons of mass destruction" apparently. Fox News confirmed this week it had fired Roger Friedman. The statement read: "Fox News representatives and Roger Friedman met today and mutually agreed to part ways immediately. Fox News appreciates Mr. Friedman's 10 years of contributions to building FoxNews.com and wishes him success in his future endeavors. Mr. Friedman is grateful to his colleagues for their friendship and support over the past decade." Huh? Friedman wrote a review of the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine
the previous Thursday and posted it on the FoxNews site. Apparently it upset
the film's makers as the copy was an illegally leaked workprint. We're not sure
of the legality of dismissing someone over what is at best a "small thing". MEET THE REMASTERED BEATLES Finally on April 7, just in time for the second Great Depression, Apple and EMI announced a major release of The Beatles catalog in both stereo and mono and newly remastered. In fact, Apple says the music has been worked on for the past four years. "The albums have been re-mastered at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four-year period, utilizing state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, 'carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analog recordings,' according to the statement." What's on offer are the 12 Beatles albums plus Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack and both Past Masters collections combined into 1CD. Each of the CDs includes expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos, and for a limited period each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. Two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released, one in stereo and another in mono. Both boxes will contain a DVD compiling all the documentaries that are found on the CDs. The Beatles In Mono boxset will contain the 10 albums originally released in mono "plus two further discs of mono masters, featuring a similar track listing to the "Past Masters" compilation" found in the stereo box. The mono discs will only be sold as a boxset. Stereo albums (available individually and as a box set): 'Please Please Me' 'The Beatles In Mono' (box set only): 'Please Please Me' We'll soon learn of the remastering is up to scratch as the worldwide CD release will be on Sept 9, 2009. Call the police. Start saving your welfare dollars. VISIONS OF SEBASTIAN Belle & Sebastian mainman Stuart Murdoch has assembled a bevy of ladies to sing his songs on a new solo album, God Help The Girl, which we take has a double meaning. The album features Murdoch-penned songs sung mostly by girls he found through a competition on social networking site iMeem. 'God Help The Girl' is released on June 22, with the single 'Come Monday Night' released on May 11. Fans can download 'Come Monday Night' for free by signing up at Godhelpthegirl.com BRITISH MUSICIANS EARN £139 MILLION FROM ROYALTIES British musicians are earning £20 million more from their royalties than last year. Homegrown talent earned £139.6 million overseas in 2008 - compared to £121.2 million in 2007. According to BBC News four of last year's globally biggest selling albums were British artists. Coldplay stood as the best-selling, Duffy was fourth while Leona Lewis and Amy Winehouse (whose album 'Back To Black' was actually released in 2006) came sixth and seventh. In $heep City, $ingapore musicians and artists have their palms faced upwards. But don't blame them. For decades pop culture was viewed by the ruling PAP government as "yellow" and decadent. But it sells... LONDON GIG FOR THE DOLLS The New York Dolls are to play a rare gig at London's 100 Club this May. The band, who release their new studio album 'Cause I Sez So' on May 4, will play the gig on May 14. Tickets for the 100 Club show go on sale on April 7 at 9 am (GMT). BLOCKBUSTER SET TO CLOSE A onetime giant in the movie rental business, Blockbuster Inc,
said this week that it may not have the money to continue as a "going
concern". In a filing to the US stock exchange, the company revealed that
it may not be able to meet the terms of a recent US$250 million loan, and that
there was "substantial doubt" about its ability to continue as a
business in the near future. In the 1980s and 1990s, the company was at its
peak, putting scores of mom-and-pop video rental shops out of business. For the
past several years, however, the company has struggled to stay relevant amid heavy
competition from the likes of Netflix, the iTunes Store, Hulu, Amazon's Video
on Demand and others. Here are some new Blu-Ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released April 3, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-Ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are
NOT true Blu-Rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at
your own risk:
========== THE LAST WORD ON HOW TO OVERCOME A BANK CRISIS "Three things had to happen. Firstly, the banks must have confidence that the valuation of the troubled assets in question is accurate; then the management of the institutions receiving subsidies from the government must be replaced; and thirdly, the equity investors are always wiped out." - Elizabeth Warren, chief watchdog of America's US$700bn (£472bn) bank bailout plan, will this week call for the removal of top executives from Citigroup, AIG and other institutions that have received government funds in a damning report that will question the administration's approach to saving the financial system from collapse. Read the April 5 report here $ingapore's prophet of Temasek, Lee Kuan Yew, who heads the government's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, invested BILLIONS of $ingaporeans savings into Citigroup and other financial institutions.
EXTRA! 5,000 JOBS AVAILABLE IN $HEEP CITY, $INGAPORE April 4, 2009: Filipino President Arroyo said some 5,000 new jobs will be available for Filipinos in $ingapore with the expansion of the Resort World at Sentosa Island. Mrs. Arroyo said the country has sent a delegation to $ingapore last month to explore possible job opportunities for migrant Filipino workers in the face of a global economic crisis. Administrator Jennifer Manalili of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said she went to $ingapore last month with Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to discuss available slots for Filipino workers with Resorts World chief executive Tan Hee Teck. "They are expanding and there will be openings for workers for hotels, casinos and performers," Manalili said. "Universal Studios will also have a theme park so they told us they want to hire Filipino talents and performers. They noted that Filipinos are good in music and in dance so they might come here to conduct auditions either next month or in June," she added. Manalili said the government will send a team again in early May to "finalize discussions and requirements for Filipino workers." Resorts World plans to open four of its six hotels by the first quarter of 2010 and expects to fill up some 10,000 job vacancies. http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics4_april4_2009
LEGALIZE PROSTITUTION TO STIMULATE ECONOMY March 25, 2009: Prostitution has been around forever, and it continues to thrive even in countries with draconian punishment for prostitutes and their clients. Prostitution will never be wiped out, all governmental efforts to get rid of it are doomed to fail. There will always be guys who are too horny, and girls who are desperate for money to make ends meet. The world's oldest profession is here to stay, and it's time that we accepted this reality. If the sex trade is legalized, taxed and regulated, it will benefit society it many ways. Working girls not only stimulate their customers, but they also stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, when prostitution is illegal it's the underground economy that benefits. Right now it's only pimps and other scum who profit from the sex industry. But if sex for money is legalized and taxed society would benefit. The legalization of prostitution is the right tonic for our ailing economy. Fighting prostitution is a very expensive endeavor that we can no longer afford at a time when our economy is in a crisis mode. Instead of wasting the taxpayer's money on police manpower and defense attorneys, revenue should be used to create jobs and in other ways that will stimulate the economy. If the above reads like the PAP's rationalization for setting up two casinos in $ingapore, it is. Read Robert Paul Reyes' complete essay here http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/95914 PENIS FESTIVAL TO STIMULATE ECONOMY Click here for more. "What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. Heaven And Hell, the band featuring the post-Ozzy Osbourne members of Black Sabbath, will release its first album under that name, "The Devil You Know," April 28 on Rhino. This is the band sans Ozzy but with Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice's first studio release since the 1992 Sabbath album "Dehumanizer". Songs include "Bible Black," "Rock & Roll Angel," "Breaking Into Heaven," "Atom & Evil" and "Eating the Cannibals." Heaven And Hell have been touring for the past few years and NOT been playing the Sabbath canon of Paranoid and Iron Man. LOU REED TO TOUR WITH METAL MACHINE MUSIC Lou Reed is ready to perform his '70s noise album 'Metal Machine
Music'. The previous time this album was performed was in 2007, when German
music ensemble Zeitkratzer decided to perform the piece live. Reed agreed to
participate and the performance was released as a live album. Reed will perform
Metal Machine Music live with the Metal Machine Trio: MM3, featuring Ulrich
Krieger on tenor sax and Sarth Calhoun on continuum and live processing. The
shows will be on April 23 and 24 at the Blender Theater in Gramercy, NYC.
Previously, Reed toured with the Berlin album, playing the whole album live. Mick and Keef ultra detailed action figures from Japan. These are made using the image of the duo from 1972 or thereabouts. Missing is Keith's Jack Daniels. Made by Medicom, each figurine is 7 inches tall with accessories including microphones, guitars and display bases. Order them here.
From destination-out.com: Cecil Taylor turned 80 yesterday. Octogenarians in the house, say yeah. To honor the occasion, we're pleased and privileged to present an exclusive track from Taylor's upcoming album Ailanthus/Alitssima. This 2-LP set was recorded during Taylor's Village Vanguard duo stint with Tony Oxley in July 2008. It was a spectacular two-week run, and the artists have culled the best performances from over 10 hours of recordings. Ailanthus/Altissima: bilateral dimensions of two root songs will be available on vinyl only - in a limited run of 500-odd copies. More details on the record and its full contents are available at the Triple Point site [triplepointrecords.com]. They're taking pre-orders now. If vinyl's your bag, you know what to do. Drew was lucky enough to catch one of the sets at the Vanguard last year. He directs your attention to this fine, fine write-up over at Hank Shteamer's place [http://darkforcesswing.blogspot.com/2008/07/conversant-tayloroxley-at-vanguard.html] for as detailed and lovingly articulate a description as you're going to get. At 80 years old, he miraculously displays an undimmed vitality, athleticism that bests players half his age, and a musicality that's simply unparalleled. Go to http://destination-out.com/ for free track "B1".
Word was already going round that Eric Clapton would appear with the Allman Brothers Band as part of the band's 40th anniversary gig at the Beacon Theater in New York. On March 19, Clapton showed up and he performed, with the group, Key To The Highway, Dreams, Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad, Little Wing, Any Day and Layla. Fans can still watch the gig online - at a price of US$125. The Allman Brothers Band's entire run of 15 shows at the Beacon Theater in March 2009 can be viewed on the paid-for-view Moogis website (www.moogis.com). The shows were originally streamed live, looped over the next 24 hours and then streamable on demand for six months after the run is over. While the site claims the subscription price of US$125 is less than the price of an orchestra ticket, it is still a hefty sum. It's a package deal and there is no special offer for those who want to watch only one or two shows. The low-res free video sample on the site offers decent quality picture with very good sound. It is not mentioned if the picture quality is the same for those who subscribed. Moogis was started by Butch Trucks, percussionist and founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. Supported operating systems for Moogis: Windows XP/Vista/2003; Mac OSX/Leopard. TORI AMOS ATTRACTED TO SIN Tori Amos' new album 'Abnormally Attracted To Sin' will be released May 18. A single from the album, 'Welcome To England', arrives later on May 25. A deluxe edition of the album, featuring a bonus DVD containing 16 'visualettes' directed by Christian Lamb, is also being released. The UK version contains a bonus track, Oscar's Theme. Aside from catchy album titles, that's it. MARK KOZELEK STOPS AT TWO LIVE ALBUMS One is not enough. Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon will release two live albums on the Caldo Verdo label. On May 12, Lost Verses Live, a 74-minute document of Kozelek's solo shows in four different American cities in 2007-08, will be released on CD. The tracklist leans heavily on his Sun Kil Moon material. The album will be available digitally on May 1, and you can pre-order it right now. The vinyl version is due in June and will include live takes on "I Am a Rock", "Last Tide", and "Floating". As a bonus, anyone who preorders anything from Caldo Verdo now
will get another Kozelek live album for free. Kozelek recorded Find Me Ruben
Olivares in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Zaragoza. Here are some new Blu-Ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released March
28, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-Ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are
NOT true Blu-Rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at
your own risk:
VIEWING ROOM
A publicity stunt? An April Fool's Day prank? A leak. On April 1, a workprint of the forthcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie was shared on the internet. News report said the film, directed by Gavin Hood, has so far been downloaded more than 75,000 times. As a workprint, certain effects shots are not completed - wires can be seen attached to the actors; and green screen and even unfinished computer-generated sets or backgrounds can be seen. The filmmakers have some liberty with the Wolverine story and the
Marvel Universe. While it sticks to the "official" line that
Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) was born in Canada in the 1800s, he has a brother,
Victor Creed or Sabretooth (played by Liev Schreiber), and both brothers have
regenerative powers (they cannot be shot or maimed) and they don't seem to age
once they reached adulthood. Fighting through various wars, including War World
I and II and the Vietnam War, the two brothers are recruited as part of Team X,
a special unit of the Army. [Sabretooth was a long-time enemy of Wolverine in
the comics.] For a while, Wolverine lived as a lumberjack but he agrees to take part in an experiment where he is injected with adamantium, which enhances the strength of his claws, not to mention the strength of his body. He escapes from the facility and, taking a page from the Superman comics, seeks shelter in a barnyard (in the nude) where he is helped by an elderly couple. Running away from Team X, Wolverine meets up with other Marvel characters such as Gambit and helps Cyclops and other mutants who have been imprisoned to escape. Even Prof X puts in a guest appearance. One highly critical reader wrote on aintitcool.com: "The CGI is missing and the movie looks horrible without it... Even if you see the workprint you're still going to have to go see it in the theatre to fully experience the full movie with CGI effects fully intact." But this widescreen workprint is not a blurry or shoddy piece of work. The picture quality of the movie, in avi format, is very good and it is a complete film, with end credits intact. However, it does not look as if it has the same budget, especially when it comes to effects, as, say, Iron Man. According to a BBC report, the source of the leak of the 20th Century Fox film is the subject of much speculation. Although it does not have a timecode or a studio watermark, there is a brief caption at the beginning of the film which reads 'Rising Sun Pictures' and is dated 2 March 2009. However, there is no evidence to suggest the Australian effects company was involved in the leak. The film is scheduled to open on April 29 in the UK and on May 1 in the US. THE LAST WORD ON 'GIRL PORN' "In a traditional sense, porn is defined as 'something with no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire,' according to the Webster's dictionary definition. 'Twilight,' the hit vampire series by Stephenie Meyer, is precisely that... "Though the series is often labeled 'pornographic,' the text is surprisingly devoid of explicit sex. But Twilight's brand of porn, otherwise known as 'girl porn', does not rely on graphic material to captivate its female audience. Rather, this special type of porn manifests itself in the form of emotional binges, excessive romanticizing and interaction with impossibly perfect male characters. "Girl porn has existed for years in the various forms, from the clever and sophisticated Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte novels to the less tactful bodice-rippers by garden-variety romance novelists. Both kinds have had their share of success, though neither has claimed the limelight the way 'Twilight' has." - Linnie Leavines in her Juxtaposed Notions column, March 8, 2009 takes a hammer to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. "The series devotes a total of 2,443 pages to sappy prose, abused adjectives, nauseatingly detailed descriptions and sub-par dialogue. References to Edward's 'glorious, heavenly, seraphic' beauty tally at a vomit-inducing 165 in the first book, and only increase as the series progresses."
EXTRA! $750 MILLION RACING MONEY $ingapore will be hosting the Formula One Grand Prix for five years with an option to extend the deal by another five years. The first one was staged last September. $ingaporeans, the $heeple of $ingapore, will foot the bill - estimated at S$150 MILLION a year. Or S$750 MILLION for five years. The amount is paid to the event organiser, $ingapore GP. The expected income from tourist arrivals is slim at best. For the past four months, tourist arrivals have fallen. Again, no one is questioning the PAP government on this "quality" investment. With the world economy not expected to be revived over the next few years, the $750 MILLION will be blown away by the end of the first five years from 2008 to 2012. Remember Suzhou Industrial Park? Remember Optus? Remember Shin Corp? Remember Las Vegas Sands? Remember UBS? Remember CitiGroup? Remember Merrill Lynch? How does the $ingapore government decide on its investments? Nobody knows except the government.
GM CHAIRMAN TO LEAVE U.S. CAR MAKER The chief executive of struggling US car company General Motors - Rick Wagoner - has agreed to step down. He has headed GM since 2003. He will leave his post immediately at the request of the White House, a government official confirmed. President Barack Obama is preparing to outline terms for offering more help to GM and fellow car giant, Chrysler. The two firms have already received US$17.4bn (£14.4bn) in bail-outs. Chrysler has requested a further US$5bn while GM says it needs US$16.7bn more. PEUGEOT CITROEN SACKS CEO France's biggest carmaker, Peugeot Citroen, has sacked its chairman weeks after it announced huge losses and a massive programme of job cuts. The firm said it had removed Christian Streiff because of the "extraordinary difficulties" the motor industry faces. The French government has already agreed to lend Peugeot Citroen 3bn euros (US$4bn; £2.8bn), with a similar loan being agreed for rival firm Renault. THE IRON RICE BOWL MAN
- Lee Kuan Yew, 84, as reported in Bloomberg, April 30, 2008. The prophet of Temasek has not said more about buying bank stocks. He is the head of Government Investment Corporation of $ingapore [GIC], which made the risky bank investments. The value of the $ingapore government's investments in banks stocks is estimated to be US$24 BILLION. At current prices, the value of $ingaporeans investments has fallen dramatically. When the going gets tough, make sure you have an iron rice bowl. "What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. Sony have unveiled their latest Walkman, which they hope will challenge the dominance of Apple's iPod. The new X Series has a similar touch interface and cover flow to the popular iPod Touch, but also utilises physical hardware controls. It utilises Sony's patented OLED display on a screen that is smaller than the Touch at three inches, and it boasts built-in noise cancellation. The new Walkman ships on May 10, and is available for pre-order at £283. The previous great challenge to the iPod was made by $ingapore's Creative Technology. We cannot remember the name of their MP3 player. TWO-MONTH WAIT FOR NEIL YOUNG'S ARCHIVES VOL 1 Finally a firm date has been given for the 10-DVD set of Neil Young's Archive Vol 1 - June 2. It will also be issued in the blu-ray format and as an audio set of 8CDs and 2DVD-Audio discs. Young's business partner Elliot Roberts and Shakey Pictures head L.A. Johnson played back the upcoming release at the Austin Music Hall during the SXSW in Texas. To get an idea of the depth of this archive, the interactive component even contains Young's private letters to his parents when they were getting a divorce in the '60s. There is video footage of the recording of the Harvest album in the barn in Nashville capturing Young putting down 'Alabama'. How the protest song Ohio was created and recorded is also on tape. Back in 1968, Young started collecting everything about his life and recruited Joel Bernstein to store and catalogue the content. "Every show was recorded on the tape of the time, like cassette, or filmed from then," Roberts said. The first volume starts with The Squires and ends in 1974. Finally, the movie Journey Through The Past, included, can be seen. The Blu-ray will retail for US$299. The DVD for US$199 and the CD box US$99. Some extras are currently offered to fans who pre-order now. A
7-inch vinyl featuring two songs by Young's early band the Squires,
"Mustang" and "Aurora" and a preview of the set, "Disc
0 - Early Years 1963-1965", will also ship pre-June 2nd for those who pre-order. PORN STAR PROTESTS BANKSTERS FOR STRIPPING ITALIANS OF THEIR SAVINGS Milan, March 17 - A panty-clad Italian porn star shook up the Milan stock exchange March 17 by accusing flummoxed financiers of ''stripping Italians of everything but their underwear''. Laura Perego, 22, crept into the bourse in a cloak and threw it off as she jumped onto a table in her panties and body paint in the Italian national colours, shouting: ''I want to launch a message to all those who mismanaged our savings''. Perego, a Sicilian who says she ''wants to use (her) body to send messages'', repeated her accusation several times to the bemused brokers before being bustled out of the building. - ANSA The new Public Order Act to be passed in $heep City, $ingapore will not allow anyone to stage a peaceful protest here regardless of the number of protestors or the issue being raised. NO PROTEST OF ANY KIND WILL EVER BE ALLOWED IN $INGAPORE. Is that the human thing to do? Time to migrate from this TOTALITARIAN HOTEL. MAN'S BEST FRIEND "Meet Michelle Owen. Concerned that an ex-boyfriend had used her laptop to search for child pornography, the Indiana woman asked police to search the computer for illegal images, but had her plan backfire when cops discovered two videos of her engaged in illicit acts with a dog. Owen, 24, was charged last week with two felony bestiality counts in connection with the video files, which a detective found in the laptop's 'recycle bin.' At the time Owen asked cops to search the computer, she was locked up in the Johnson County Jail on a public intoxication charge (which violated the terms of her release in a prior drunk driving case). According to a police affidavit, a cop told Owen that he had found videos of her on the laptop and asked if she 'knew what those files might be.' Owen replied, 'The one with the dog.' Cops believe that the dog in question, Toby, is a beagle. After asking if she was 'going to be charged with this,' Owen said that the videos 'were just something she did when she was drunk and barely remembers it,' adding that she tried to 'delete them the next day when she was sober.'" - The Smoking Gun (US) Read the police report here http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0318091dog1.html LAUGHING STOCK? Woodstock, the 1969 rock music event's co-founder Michael Lang says he is seeking funding for a 40th anniversary concert of the legendary festival to take place this summer. Two previous anniversaries were celebrated in 1994 and 1999. Lang says he wants the festival to be free, environmentally friendly and to possibly take place in New York. "There would be a lot of legacy bands [performing] - The Who, Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joe Cocker maybe. And it would be people like Steve Earle and Ben Harper. There's certainly room for the (Red Hot) Chili Peppers and Dave Matthews... that would be the shape of the music," he told Billboard. SQUISHY PUMPKINS Jimmy Chamberlin, the former drummer of the Smashing Pumpkins, has explained on his blog why he left the band suddenly last Friday. "By now you have heard the news of my departure from the Smashing Pumpkins. I will say, without going into any unnecessary details that this represents a positive move forward for me. I can no longer commit all of my energy into something that I don't fully possess. I won't pretend I'm into something I'm not. I won't do it to myself, you the fan, or my former partner. I can't just, 'Cash the check' so to speak. "My best goes out to Billy and I'm glad he has chosen to continue under the name. It is his right. Music is my life. It is sacred. It deserves the highest commitment at every level and the Pumpkins are certainly no different. I'm sorry but it really IS that simple. There is no drama, bad blood, or anything else but a full commitment to music." Does "cash the check" mean he won't sell-out his music? Of late Pumpkins music has been used for commercials. Rolling Stone magazine listed "the Morgan Freeman-narrated Visa commercial featuring 'Today', the Hyundai ad featuring new track 'F.O.L.' that aired during the Super Bowl, 'That's the Way (My Love Is)' in a Ford commercial, the Guitar Hero: World Tour exclusive track 'G.L.O.W.'." The Smashing Pumpkins is now survived by frontman Billy Corgan who has gone into the studios to record the next album, probably with session musicians unless James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky turn up. The other more "terrible" consideration is that all of Corgan's recent moves, his solo work, the ill-conceived Zwan and the recent Pumpkins reunion tour, have all come up short, commercially as well as artistically. The recent move to sell their songs for commercials seemed like the only thing left to do to keep the band afloat and their music on air. Recall that the Pumpkins in the past used to give away proceeds from their concerts to charity. Time to get to the lifeboats... SPRINGSTEEN REVS UP THE MAGIC One of the two March rehearsals at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, has circulated on the net but the audience recording isn't of the stellar quality Japanese fans can make. But if you do get a chance to get that tape, you can listen to how the upcoming Springsteen and E Street Band tour will sound like. For a start there are new faces in the band. Max Weinberg's 18-year-old son Jay looks like he will be drumming for the band when his dad is away on the Conan O'Brien Tonight Show. And he sounds fantastic. Other newcomers are backup singers Curtis King and Cindy Mizelle, members of Springsteen's most recent side project, the Seeger Sessions Band. The duo were front and center with their vocals on a rocking version of Woody Guthrie's "I Ain't Got No Home," which featured the Springsteen-amended line "The banking man is rich/ and the working man is poor/ I ain't got no home in this world anymore." Ain't that a fact.
Legendary Motown drummer Uriel Jones has died from complications following a heart attack, aged 74. The last surviving member of session band The Funk Brothers, Jones was responsible for powering classics by Marvin Gaye and The Temptations. He was a catalyst for the latter's 'psychedelic soul' period on songs such as 'Cloud Nine' and 'I Can't Get Close To You'. However it was Gaye who first brought Jones to Motown, and played on such hits as 'Aint That Peculiar', 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' and 'Ain't No Mountain' High Enough'. NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Here are some new Blu-Ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released March
21, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-Ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are
NOT true Blu-Rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at
your own risk:
"My first reaction [upon hearing of the ruling] was to roll my eyes and think, 'Here we go again... Whenever we publish anything on $ingapore, we take a risk that we'll be sued. "People go to jail in $ingapore for this offense - so I was worried about that possibility. If I had received a jail sentence, I would not have gone to $ingapore to serve it, and there's no way the U.S. would have extradited me, but it could have impeded my travel elsewhere." - The Wall Street Journal's Melanie Kirkpatrick, in an email to The Daily Princetonian, March 2009. Ms Kirkpatrick is deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page and a member of its editorial board. She was found in contempt of court by $ingapore High Court Justice Tay Yong Kwang on March 19. Kirkpatrick was also fined 10,000 $ingapore dollars, or roughly US$6,550.
She also said she believed the "biggest losers" in these cases were the $ingaporean people, who "have a hard time getting complete information and a range of views other than those the government wants them to hear."
EXTRA! HOW WARREN BUFFET REGAINED HIS SELF-CONTROL Here is an article from Dan Ariely's Amazon Blog [Mar 23, 2009] about the problems great men have with self-control. Especially in business, self-control is important, to make the right decisions at the right time. Leaders who cannot should seek help. Even the most analytical thinkers are predictably irrational; the really smart ones acknowledge and address their irrationalities. We find a great example in Alice Schroeder's "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life." Warren Buffett is a numbers-driven investor whose life choices and business decisions would make the vulcan Mr. Spock seem over-emotional. A teenage horse handicapper who grew up into a deep reader of Moody's and Standard and Poor's reports, Buffett is the archetypal quant: a data-processing, information-consuming, hard-thinking, analytical machine. His ability to outperform the market by basing his decisions on hard data and on an uncanny understanding of business fundamentals earned him the moniker "Oracle of Omaha." Buffett's success as an investor required not only deep analysis of financial documents but also a large measure of self-control to avoid getting caught in market bubbles and panics. Buffett's rule "buy when everyone else is selling, sell when everyone else is buying" requires enormous self-assurance to execute. And yet, even the Oracle of Omaha is not immune to the allure of irrational behavior. He is what Behavioral Economists call a sophisticate: someone who understands his irrationality and builds systems to cope with it. (The other types of people are the "rational," who never deviates from optimal behavior, and the "naif," who is unaware of his irrationality and therefore doesn't do anything to address it.) Uncommon a person as he was, Buffett had a very common concern: he feared gaining too much weight. Rational agents don't gain weight because they always consider all the possible consequences of all actions. Naifs plan to start their diet tomorrow. But Buffett - who breakfasted on spoonfuls of Ovaltine - understood his predictable irrationality: people eat without consideration for the long-term effects; that's why they gain unwanted weight. Being a pragmatic person, he decided to curtail overeating with a commitment device. He gave unsigned checks for $10,000 to his children, promising to sign them if he was over target weight by a certain date. Many people use commitment devices to try to keep their weight down, but Buffett's idea had a big flaw: his children, spotting a rare opportunity to get money from the notoriously frugal billionaire, resorted to sabotage. Doughnuts, pizza, and fried food mysteriously appeared whenever Buffett was home. In the end the incentives worked: even with his children's sabotage, the Oracle kept his weight down, and his checks went unsigned. But had he been purely rational, no commitment device would have been needed.
The media in $ingapore also reported the following: "Madam Quak Han Lui, 71, is believed to have fallen on the platform and then onto the tracks just as a train was pulling into the station." "The train driver braked immediately after hitting her. Her body was found under the third carriage, with her head and right arm severed." Her death disrupted MRT traffic for 50 minutes. Many Singaporeans
have died in a similar fashion in recent years caused by "fainting
spells". Train authorities have learnt how to restore service quickly. "What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. If you still own a record store, time to look for another business. Live performance is now a bigger money spinner than records in the UK. Will Page, Chief Economist at music royalties agency PRS, says revenue from ticket sales, performance royalties and VAT has now overtaken that from recorded music. Page announced a "changing of the guard" at trade event the International Live Music Conference on Saturday (March 14). He calculated that across all facets, the live industry was worth £904m in 2008. This overtakes recorded industry's trade value of £896m, as published in the BPI's January newsletter. Money saved by not buying CDs and DVDs is being spent on a night on the town. Makers and retailers of consumer electronics should take note.
Bob Dylan released a four-page statement at his bobsite and revealed that the new album due April 28 will be called 'Together Through Life'. Dylan says he wanted to make a record that sounded like the '50s, like the classic rock and roll albums from the Chess and Sun studios. The album started life as a song for a movie by French director Olivier Dahan. But as he was writing, the mood took hold and an entire album of songs came out. Still, 'My Own Love Song' will be used for the new movie. According to a Rolling Stone scribe who heard the new album, Dylan has the accordion pumping throughout and the feel's much different from the previous two albums. A look at what appears to be the album cover from Dylan's site suggests His Bobness is looking at life from the "backseat of my car". Great rock 'n' roll? http://www.bobdylan.com/ LIKE A ROLLING STONE The White Stripes' Jack White's latest band is called The Dead
Weather. White plays drums. Others in the band include Alison Mosshart from The
Kills, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age on guitar and Jack Lawrence
from Raconteurs on bass. The Dead Weather have already recorded their first
album, due soon on Jack White's own Third Man Records label. White launched the
label this week and showcased the band. VIRTUAL BEATLES Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are looking at releasing the Beatles' back catalogue through their own websites. The two surviving members, along with the estates of the late John Lennon and George Harrison, have been negotiating with Apple about an iTunes release. But Harrison's son, Dhani, told Blender that they are not satisfied with the offer made by Apple and they may go elsewhere. He said: "We're losing money every day. So what do you do? You have to have your own delivery system, or you have to do a good deal with Steve Jobs. But he says that a download is worth 99 cents, and we disagree." There are still no sites that sell Beatles tunes as digital downloads.
Kylie Minogue performed the Peter Allen classic 'I Still Call Australia Home' at Sound Relief, March 14, in Melbourne. The Aussie pop princess flew to her hometown from India where she was working on a Bollywood movie. Kylie chose the Peter Allen signature tune that has been adopted as the Australian travellers anthem to sing before 78,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Sound Relief is expected to raise more than A$5 million for Victorian Bush Fire and Queensland flood victims. Once an Aussie, always an Aussie. Good on you mate. JACKSON'S CONCERT TICKETS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER Michael Jackson wants to make some money as he says "farewell" to his fans. With 50 shows at London's 02 Arena all sold out, he should make a pretty penny. But it's no secret Jackson has a high-spending lifestyle. So news has now leaked that AEG, Jackson's promoter, has held back at least 50,000 tickets [priced at £50-75] to sell through secondary sites [scalpers] to fans at a price of £770 each. These remainder tickets are the very best seats in the house, located in the front 20 rows of four prime blocks (A1, A2, A3 and 101). Michael Jackson is expected to earn anywhere between US$50 and 100 million from the London dates. If the unsold "sold out" seats do indeed sell, AEG will generate some US$53 million from hospitality packages alone. Read Who's bad? Jacko concerts 'not really sold out' TRENT REZNOR TAKES A STAND ON TICKET SCALPERS While Michael Jackson's handlers are busy making deals with ticket scalpers, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor is telling his fans "don't buy from scalpers". With tickets for the upcoming Nine Inch Nails tour with Jane's Addiction set to go on sale on March 20, Trent Reznor took to the NIN forum to talk about "scalping" as it used to be called when the practice was illegal. Many artists [MICHAEL JACKSON] often keep the best seats in a venue and sell them on the secondary ticket market for a huge profit. "There are some people who would be willing to pay US$1,000 and up to be in the best seats for various shows, but MOST acts in the rock/pop world don't want to come off as greedy pricks [U2, MICHAEL JACKSON] asking that much, even though the market says its value is that high. The acts know this, the venue knows this, the promoters know this, the ticketing company knows this and the scalpers really know this," Reznor says. Nine Inch Nails get 10 per cent of seats in an amphitheatre for themselves. Usually they're the best seats in the venue, but rather than pass them on to a re-seller to make a huge profit, they offer them to the fans in a presale, taking measures to ensure buyers don't turn around and profit off the tickets. "We limit the amount you can buy, we print your name on the tickets and we have our own person let you in a separate entrance where we check your ID to match the ticket," Reznor writes, arguing that the entire secondary ticket market could be eradicated by following a similar protocol for all tickets. "The ultimate way to hurt scalpers is to not support them. Leave them holding the merchandise," Reznor tells his fans, "Don't buy from scalpers." The bottom line on scalping - Reznor says "it's not something we morally feel is the right thing to do". - [ Source Rolling Stone.] CONTRACT KILLER The US rock band, The Killers, were forced to cancel their concert in Amsterdam, when real killers threatened to bomb the venue. The US rockers had been scheduled to perform at the city's Heineken Music Hall on Thursday evening [March 12], but the show was called off after police were given the warning from a caller in Belgium. Six men and a woman have been arrested on charges of preparing a terrorist attack and show has now been rescheduled for May 29. FREE PETE DOHERTY Nope, he's not in jail. But his new album, 'Grace/Wastelands', has been made available to stream for free online, over a week before it goes on sale in the US. The entire album can be heard for free on Myspace Music right now, and can be found at the album's official profile at myspace.com/ gracewastelands. No need to rush. THE ROADSINGER Yusuf Islam's next album, Roadsinger [To Warm You Through The Night], is due May 4 on Island Records. This new album will be a return to his pop roots [his Cat Stevens days]. "With this new album... I'm back to doing what I do best - painting pictures with music and storytelling on a very human, positive, intuitive level through lyrics and song, so I can help people feel good again. I guess in some ways the new album picks up where the Cat Stevens the public knows left off." Guests include James Morrison, Michelle Branch and Holly Williams, granddaughter of Hank.
Aretha, where did you get that hat? Detroit milliner Luke Song has received more than 5,000 orders for the spring version of the hat that Aretha Franklin wore at US President Obama's inauguration earlier this year. Mr. Song's business has increased rapidly since the inauguration, and he expects his sales to increase from US$1 million last year to US$6-$7 million dollars this year. As a young man, Mr. Song, 36, had no intention of taking over the business his parents, Han and Jin Song, started after emigrating from South Korea in 1982.
System Of A Down's drummer, John Dolmayan, purchased through an auction a copy of Action Comics #1 for US$317,200. The musician and secret dealer of rare comics says he bought it on behalf of a "client". There are - reportedly - only 100 copies of Action Comics #1 in existence. NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Here are some new Blu-Ray and DVD releases from across the Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released March 14, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-Ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are NOT true Blu-Rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at your own risk:
 THE LAST WORD FROM A TAX AVOIDER
"People think people like me are overpaid and over-nourished, and they're not wrong. What they're missing is, how does a songwriter get paid? "It's not the place for rich rock stars to ask for more money, but somebody should fight for fellow artists, because this is madness. Music has become tap water, a utility, where for me it's a sacred thing, so I'm a little offended [by illegal downloading]." - Bono of Irish rock band U2, March 13, 2009 in USA Today. U2 and
Bono have long left Ireland to avoid paying taxes in their country of birth.
When radio stations and websites pay royalties, the big rock acts take the
lion's share. In fact, older acts and others sometimes are ignored and left
unpaid by these so-called rights societies.
PARADIGM SHIFT FOR PARADISE ISLAND? A Feb 24 DBS report suggests 99,000 jobs will go by the end of 2009. $ingapore's tax haven loophole also looks set to be plugged. With two casinos opening in the next 12 months, will this be enough to reinvigorate $heep City? Take a look at New Zealand for a revolution of the mind. New Zealand legalised prostitution six years ago. THINK OUT OF THE BOX $HEEPLE. March 17, 2009: When "Sophie", a medical worker from Christchurch, fell behind on her mortgage payments last year, she found that her job was not paying enough. Her only option was a temporary career change: she became a prostitute. "I needed money fast so I didn't lose my house," she explains. A soft-spoken 30-something with a shy smile, Sophie does not look like the stereotypical scarlet woman, even in the low-cut dress she wears at work. She does not feel like one either. "I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I'm a vegetarian," she says, adding that she had qualms about her new job. But the central-city parlour she joined - basically a pub with a sitting area at the front and bedrooms at the back - was not the drug-fuelled dive she had imagined. "All the women here are lovely," she says. "We spend a lot of time sitting and talking. I'll stick it out a bit longer." Some might question the morality of Sophie's choice, but legally it cannot be faulted. Since the Prostitution Reform Act of 2003, brothels have been allowed to operate more or less freely. Sex workers have the same rights as everyone else. In the eyes of New Zealand's law, the oldest profession is just like any other. This policy stands in marked contrast to Europe. In 1999 Sweden criminalised the purchase of sex services, and several countries are introducing similar laws in an attempt to combat trafficking. Ask New Zealand sex workers what they think of Swedish-style strictures, and the response is overwhelmingly negative. "Whether you're prosecuting the men or the girls, you're still prosecuting the business," says "Lucy", 23, from Wellington. Lucy works in Bon Ton, an exclusive establishment in the capital where an hour-long session costs NZ$400 (£140; US$200). She says the reform has given her the opportunity to work for a legitimate business in a safe environment. "I make twice what I was earning in retail. I am appreciated by customers and my boss. I can work whenever I want to - it's by far the most gratifying work I've ever had," she says. Read the rest of 'Selling sex legally in New Zealand' by Henri Astier http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7927461.stm If gambling dens can be called "international resorts", step inside "love" $ingapore.
THE TRUCK DRIVER "I don't think they should flush any more money down the Citibank toilet. I don't think they should flush any more money down any of these toilets. Tell them to 'sink or swim,' " - David Ziegler, a long-distance trucker finishing breakfast at the Mother Load Diner in the old gold mining town of Idaho Springs, Colo., said the AIG bonuses had convinced him that the U.S. should stop bailouts altogether, March 17, 2009 AP report. THE IRON RICE BOWL MAN - Lee Kuan Yew, 84, as reported in Bloomberg, April 30, 2008. The prophet of Temasek has not said more about buying bank stocks. He is the head of Government Investment Corporation of $ingapore [GIC], which made the risky bank investments. Who do you think should lead GIC?
"What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. DEVO-TED Devo have a new album. It's still untitled and due near the end of the year. The last time the band released anything was in 2007 with a single, Watch Us Work It. The previous album was 1990's Smooth Noodle Maps. But they will soon be touring with a gig at SXSW and one more in England where Devo promise to play their debut album live, complete for the first time.
March 8, 2009: A respected pastor, best-selling author and founder of a major ministry to teens predicts an imminent "earth-shattering calamity" centered in New York City that will spread to major urban areas across the country and around the world, part of what he sees as a judgment from God. David Wilkerson, author of "The Cross and the Switchblade," a book about his ministry to troubled New York street kids that was later made into a movie starring Pat Boone, tells readers of his blog this weekend that he is "compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message" about his prediction. "An earth-shattering calamity is about to happen," he writes. "It is going to be so frightening, we are all going to tremble, even the godliest among us." Wilkerson's vision is of fires raging through New York City. "It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires, such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago," he explains. "There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting, including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God's wrath... " The full prediction here. When the value of the US dollar drops to banana currency, bonfires
will be lighted all across the USA, starting in Wall Street, NYC. Looting will
be the only alternative to survive. Wilkerson urges everyone to stockpile a
30-day supply of food and other necessities to deal with the catastrophe he foresees. ========== Michael Jackson has announced the dates for this upcoming 10 "This Is It" shows in London. Jackson will start his residency at the O2 Arena on July 8. These are his comeback and farewell shows. Since the initial announcement last week, Jackson has added another 11 shows to meet the "overwhelming" demand. Ticket sales start today, March 13. Go figure. FREE NOEL GALLAGHER Not that he's tied up or anything, but on Sunday [March 15] The UK Sunday Times will be giving away an 11-track CD with the newspaper which, alongside the downloads, gives readers the full tracklisting for 'The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)' concert. A donation has been made to Teenage Cancer Trust in respect of the use of these recordings. On March 16 the full album will be available on sale digitally (only) from a selection of online retailers. Gallagher performed these songs solo at the Royal Albert Hall on March 27, 2007. 'The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)' features classic and rare tracks from the Oasis canon along with several cover versions of some of Noel's favourite artists. Songs by The Beatles and The Smiths are featured here along with a very special duet with Paul Weller performing The Jam's 'The Butterfly Collector'. FLAMING LIPS MAN FLAMES ARCADE FIRE According to Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne, Arcade Fire are actually a lot pompous in real life. At least that's what he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. Here's the humorously antagonistic quote: "I'm a fan of them on one level, but on another level I get really tired of their pompousness. We've played some shows with them and they really treat people like shit. Whenever I've been around them, I've found that they not only treated their crew like shit, they treated the audience like shit. They treated everybody in their vicinity like shit. I thought, 'Who do they think they are?' I don't know why people put up with it. I wouldn't put up with it. I don't care if it's Arcade Fire or Brian Eno. If either of them walked into a room and treated people like shit I'd be like, 'Fuck you, get outta here'. "People treat Arcade Fire like they're the greatest thing ever and they get away with it. Those sort of opinions change my view of their music. They have good tunes, but they're pricks, so fuck 'em. Who does Arcade Fire think they are? I've been around groups. I've been around the Edge from U2 and he's the fucking sweetest guy ever. I was around Justin Timberlake when he was young and he was just a normal, nice, kind person. Anyone can be polite and kind and people who have the privilege and money and attention should understand that. If they don't, then fuck 'em." Note: This isn't the first time Coyne has flamed his fellow musicians. Talking to The Guardian about one-time tour mate Beck in 2003, he said, "When you hear his songs, you think he must really have some tender feelings, but then you find out it's a made-up thing." TURKS DISCOVER SOURCE OF HOSPITAL SUPER BUGS Last week, $heep City $ingapore followed Turkey's lead to contain bacteria in our hospitals. On March 6, 2009, researchers from the Ondokuz Mayis University in Turkey led by Fatma Ulger released a study that suggested cell phones belonging to hospital staff were found to be tainted with bacteria, including the drug-resistant MRSA superbug, and may be a source of hospital-acquired infections. Dr Ulger tested the phones and dominant hands of 200 doctors and nurses working in hospital operating rooms and intensive care units. Ninety-five percent of the mobile phones were contaminated with at least one type of bacteria with the potential to cause illness ranging from minor skin irritations to deadly disease. Most worrying was that one in eight of the handsets showed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a virulent strain that has emerged as a major health threat in hospitals around the world, including $ingapore. Only 10 per cent of staff regularly cleaned their phones, even if most followed hygiene guidelines for hand washing, the study noted. "These mobile phones could act as a reservoir of infection which may facilitate patient-to-patient transmission of bacteria in a hospital setting," the authors warned. The study was published in BioMed Central's Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials. In the United States, where national statistics are available, MRSA is the cause of more than 60 per cent of all hospital infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MRSA in 2005 infected 94,000 people and killed 19,000 in the United States... - Breitbart WOODSTOCK COMES TO BLU-RAY Warner has announced that they have bumped up the release of 'Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Directors Cut 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collectors Edition' Blu-ray disc to June 9, to coincide with the DVD release. This box set will feature two extra hours of performances from 13 groups who played at the legendary festival, but never made it onto the film, along with a reprint of Life magazine commemorative issue, a lucite lenticular display of festival photos, assorted memorabilia and an iron-on patch with the classic bird-and-guitar Woodstock emblem. Technical specs have not been announced at this time, but you can expect a 1080p VC-1 video presentation along with a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. The film will be on 2 discs with extras while disc 3 will contain the 18 unreleased performances. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release will be: Customize Your Own WoodstockPlaylist (from the 18 bonus performances) and BD-Live features including MediaCenter, My WB Commentary, & Live Community Screening. Here are the 18 Bonus Performances 1 Joan Baez "One Day at a Time" NEW BLU-RAY/DVDs ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY Here are some new Blu-Ray and DVD releases from across the
Causeway at your favorite DVD shops. The following titles were released March
6, 2009. It should be pointed out that these Blu-Ray DVDs sold in Malaysia are
NOT true Blu-Rays as they have gig sizes that fit a dual-layer DVD9. Buy at
your own risk:
"$ingapore's foreign reserves fell to US$163.55 billion at the end of February 2009 from US$167.09 billion a month earlier and was lower than US$171.74 billion a year earlier, the Monetary Authority of $ingapore said Monday. The central bank doesn't explain changes in its monthly reserves position." - Se Young Lee, Dow Jones Newswires, March 9, 2009. That's a year on year drop of US$8.19 BILLION. No explanation is ever given in the world's most transparent economy, $heep City.
EXTRA!
THE EARLY BIRD WHO CAUGHT THE TURD Citigroup is now officially a "ward of the state" although CEO Pandit and his band of pirates are still allowed to collect their paychecks and hang out by the water cooler. Citi's survival depends on the reluctant generosity of the US taxpayer who is now its biggest shareholder. The mega-bank has slumped from US$58 per share to $1 per share in less than 2 years. It's now more expensive to buy a grande latte at Starbucks than it is to buy three shares of Citi... and, at least with the Starbucks, the buyer gets a buzz on. There's no upside to the Citi deal. It's a dead loss. - Mike Whitney in his essay Dithering On The Edge Of The Abyss,
Counterpunch, March 9, 2009. THE RAPE OF $INGAPORE
As we correctly predicted, the U.S. is beginning to call in its markers. If you read the fine print on the U.S. conversion of its Citigroup debt to ordinary shares in the company, you could have predicted it too. Here's the fine print: The U.S. said it will convert its stake in Citigroup to the extent that Citigroup can persuade private investors, including several big foreign government investment funds, to do so. The U.S. Treasury Department will match the private investors' conversions dollar-for-dollar. The arms have been twisted successfully, and the U.S. will convert 25 billion dollars of capital into Citigroup ordinary shares. So whose arm got twisted? We don't know all of the victims, but $ingapore's GIC was, most likely, the largest. $ingapore will convert its preferred notes, which yielded 7 per cent, to ordinary shares. $ingapore will do this at a price of US$3.25 a share below the conversion price of US$26.35 as agreed when it invested in the preference notes. This means $ingapore is paying US$3.25 a share for Citigroup, and giving up their 7 per cent yield of US$482 million a year for no yield at all! Friday, on the NYSE, Citigroup plunged to US$1.50 a share. Let's do the math. $ingapore is paying US$3.25 a share for shares worth $1.50. $ingapore is paying doubles (2.17 times to be exact) the going price for Citigroup shares. That dilutes $ingapore's initial investment in Citigroup for the original US$6.88 billion to US$3.17 billion - a loss for $ingapore of US$3.71 billion. Lee Kuan Yew, $ingapore's de facto ruler, has said that Citibank has an excellent franchise, and that $ingapore has invested for the long term - 20 or 30 years - far beyond his life expectancy. - John Harding Shafted by UBS, lynched by Merrill and gang-raped by CitiGroup is how $ingaporeans feel. More insights into the goings-on in $heep City at the banner below. And buy the book. FOR THE MAN WITH THE IRON RICE BOWL
This extraordinary object is among 2,500 featured in Brought to Life,
the London Science Museum's new multimedia website exploring centuries of
medical history. If this can curb sex drive, hopefully someone will invent a
device to prevent dictators from buying bank stocks on impulse. "What's the use of worrying, it never was worthwhile... So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE..." - $ingapore's National Anthem. For more... email mybigo@bigozine.com with the message, "Put me on your mailing list."
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SHARING VIDEOS
TOP GUN GIRL IS GAY
DICK TRICKS
THIS DIE HARD A LETDOWN
LADY MADONNA DONATES TO ITALY
HELL...
THEY'RE BACK
CECIL TAYLOR AND TONY OXLEY LIMITED
SONY'S X-MAN TO FIGHT
APPLE'S iPOD
MOTOWN'S URIEL JONES R.I.P.
1935-2009
THE LAST WORD FROM A FINED
JOURNALIST
OLD BOB NAMES NEW ALBUM
'I STILL CALL AUSTRALIA HOME'
HAT GOES FOR A SONG. NOT
DRUMMER BUYS ACTION COMICS #1 FOR US$317,200
END OF THE WORLD?
