The Cuckoo Bird

A song that piqued my interest in the documentary which I mentioned in the previous entry.

Desperate Man Blues

An inspiring documentary about a man and his passion of collecting blues and jazz records. Joe Bussard is one of those rare people who actually protect and preserve a cultural pillar without expecting anything in return.

I am well aware of the cheesy intro sentence, but that is what it is. Personally I always liked old jazz records, and fervently detested U2 (by reference that Bono is the biggest crap in the world and symbolizes pop and rock music in general) and derivatives (anything that is recorded after 50's) for a very long time. Actually crappy music is why people get high on drugs and consume insane amounts of alcohol in pubs. That and low self esteem. And the prospect of getting some action. And the fact that they falsely reward you for things you would regret otherwise. I could go on but this is not an AA support blog.

Of course 'tis my environment who dictates me which musical aesthetics should be considered worthy of attention. So I will recoil to my pseudo zen philosophy that all ages have sincere and true music, and that you just have to look for it.

Nevertheless, the "old bastard" as he puts it, has tens of thousands of records, all classics. He apparently did it by traveling the back roads of Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia, knocking on the doors of derelict or old-timer houses, most of which do not even have a road connection. His short rant in his myspace page explains much more:

"I'm an Old Bastard! I collect vintage 78's from the thirties. I don't like anything made after the the thirties. Rap music is pure garbage Now don’t classify that stuff as music, good Lord. You run into a teenager, 16 or 17, ask them what noise is. “I don’t know.” How could they know ‘cause that’s all they hear. All you gotta do is listen. It’s a shame that all that’s great in this country is gone. Rock music is garbage – Straight from hell. Look at the people who do it. Idiots, they’re like animals. 99% of ‘em’s drug heads. The Beatles are crap You ought to step on them. That’s what you do with beetles. It’s just a sign of the times, a bunch of weirdos banging crap. It’s too bad their plane made it over here. If one had to crash that should have been the one. That would have helped our music situation for years. Elvis Presley – Couldn’t stand him Stupid looking thing. I’m just tellin’ it like it is All you gotta have is a pair of ears and something in between that resembles a brain. I really believe that anybody who listens to that hard rock stuff has to be on drugs, ‘cause a person with a normal brain couldn’t listen to it. Go to www.vintage78.com and see my site. Or you can check out the new box set at www.fonotone.com"

As a lesser music appreciator in this era it is nice to get to listen a true music appreciator from an earlier one. If not the music, the methodology and the enthusiasm should be duly noted. Long story short, for wonderful music and sincere music appreciation go visit whatever links I posted on this entry.

Click for posters but not necessarily art.

Clickforart is a website where you can buy original art, posters, and printed cushions (namely cool limited edition art goodies). It seems to me that it is just another good idea to capitulate on our reptilian primal instinct: buy artsy stuff so people won't notice the deep abyss that lies within your soul. The good part is, you can select it to be framed. They do have some cool stuff as the site description clarifies accurately, but I will never forgive them for making me write "cushions" in the tags box. Click the link to visit.

Kero One

Apparently a self made rapper/recorder/mc/dj/recordowner/etc., Kero One recorded his own music, created his own record label, and tried to distribute it. Then somehow he became an overnight prodigy in Japan. That goes to show it does not matter how hard you work, but how lucky you are. On other news: quite good music.

Kero One myspace.

6-Shooter Film Series makes cinema fun again.

Six Shooter Film Series is a collective of original films each from a different country and each explores a different genre. I for one cannot wait to see Big Man Japan which is about a middle aged/slacker Japanese super hero. The movie pokes fun at Japanese cult 'giant monster demolishing city' genre with a dash of dark humor. For more information about Six Shooter Film Series follow the link.

Crazy 4 Cult 2

Cool classic/cult movie illustrations. You can buy the originals if you have the money. Follow the link.

x818

x818 is a collective of tumblr's and websites of similar nature full of interesting concepts, photos and mp3's around certain themes. What are those themes? Slot car wall sculptures, diy storages, a collection of old hotwheels adverts, gloomy, black and white old Tokyo photos... For more you will just have to have a look. While visiting do not forget to question contemporary minimalism and its effects on blogs.

Sir David Frederick Attenborough

David Attenborough is a renowned naturalist and broadcaster, and if you are from this world you probably will recognize his voice. His documentaries are nothing short of bed-time stories in terms of clarity and ability to stimulate imagination. Best consumed with a glass of milk and cookies, or a spliff... Click the link to see those that are on google videos.

Free indie of the year: 2008

The bytejacker presented the free indie of the year a couple months ago. Follow the link to get your hands on some indie gaming if you are bored of mainstream $50 trash.

Riddick: the game looks ridiculously awesome, maybe because it is.

Let's face it, Riddick is one of the cooler characters of the movie industry. Chronicles of Riddick is an amalgamation of games, movies, and animations, and it is dark, sci-fi, and brutal. Thus it is as close as the movie industry can get to European illustrator's crazy ass sci-fi illustrated comics. Corny like Conan yet rightfully so, and exploiting this fact to the full extent to achieve a well built story with interesting yet familiar elements, Riddick is an obvious fertile ground for a dark space stealth survival game with its own detailed mythological background.

Atari is taking care of the project and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is set to hit the shelves on Spring 2009.

There is a nice article about it at destructoid.

loscil

A friend told me of this band insisting that it really is good studying/working/coding music. It turns out he was right.

From their myspace description:

"loscil started in 1998 as part of Vancouver's "Multiplex" multimedia collective. In 2001, loscil joined Chicago's Kranky label and released "Triple Point". There have been 3 subsequent Kranky releases; "Submers" in 2002, "First Narrows" in 2004 and most recently, "Plume" in 2006. Along with these full length CD releases with Kranky, loscil has released a vinyl only EP with New Zealand's Involve records and made several compilation appearances including the recently released "Idol Tryouts 2" by Ghostly International. There is also a net-only release of drones on the net label one."

Follow the link for their web page.

Bill Viola

I am not an art critique but Bill Viola's modern video art strolls on the hills adjacent to the epitome of aesthetic if nowhere else. I had a chance to see one of his works in Den Haag, Holland thanks to a friend who is doing a thesis on his works. I can summarize it as inspiring and soothing yet powerful imagery and ultra slow motion making sweet love one's mind.

Compared to eerie and lucid, almost poetical composition of his works real life seems to be a caffeine induced rat race on a labyrinth, entangled corridors full of leftovers of unlucky competants, with no end (or cheese) in sight.

Follow the link for his works.

National Film Board of Canada

Apparently NFB has released most of their films online. I am not very knowledgeable about their movies but if they are as tasty as their bacon and as well composed as French-Canadian girls then I cannot see why I should not give it a try. Click the link below for their homepage.

NFB of Canada

Lost in a moment

lost in a moment from dennis wheatley on Vimeo.

Beautiful bossa /jazzy sound by "shrift" and a well shot video. Add a sushi bar in Tokyo to the recipe and you get an audio visual experienve which triggers feelings similar to those of inexplicable happiness on a laid back sunday evening with rainy skies.

shrift

Introduction

Detritus is a blog about interesting media, articles, games, etc. that I come across while browsing the internet. As the name suggests it hopefully will feed on internet's brown, muddy, stinking and foul detritus as some tend to be quite extraordinary; one cannot fully argue that it is not nutritious as well.

It will hopefully be updated every day, with the exception of Tuesdays and Fridays.

As a reddit follower and being a person addicted to information in general, I will try to filter the puss and eventually maintain a pasteurized glass of hot blog with honey.

Cheers.