Untitled

[dorky-doric-blog]

Ultrachip 2011 starts tomorrow

This is a reminder to what I stated already. See you all at The Forest, Edinburgh chip-heads, it's gonna be awesome :)

[dorky-doric-blog]

The Bugle's Andy Zaltzman at the Edinburgh Fringe... Part 2.

yes, Edinburgh and scottish-based buglers, you are in for a treat. I've just returned from the curiously coiffured baron of bullshit and (not to mention CERTIFIED satirist) Andy Zaltzman's Fringe show at the stand this year. (WARNING PUNS HAVE RETURNED WITH A VENGEANCE)

Awesome as it was, In light of last year's triumphant debut of suitable bugle themed clothing. This year the theme - justifiably, in my opinion - has move to confectionary. Given how suitably enfatuated they are with a certain product eminating from belgium these days. I took direct inpiration from my own attempt at creating a coat of arms for them. and done exactly that, and have come up with the bugle's own belgian waffle (with a suitable bit of sketching using some nutella chocolate spread)... Very worthy of the peurile satirical podcast Dontcha think? :P

  And andy Himself seemed to approve when I presented it to him after his show. :)

  John, Andy, if you're reading this and you've bitten all the fingers off the hands that feed you at timesonline. Fund the podcast buy making and selling these confectionary items. Have this idea on me. :)

[dorky-doric-blog]

SINGING PENIS NEWS NOW!!

I hope everyone that reads this is now a bugler, If not they you bloody well should be. In the latest epsidode of this hilarious podcast (mp3 link) after about nearly half an hour impressively (& depressingly) satirising the american Debt ceiling. They start to honour the Downright amazing sonic feat of the tiny water boatman, with john doing so with his own "Heavenly Piece" >=D

Enjoy:

Singing_penis_news.mp3 Listen on Posterous

[dorky-doric-blog]

For all those about to study advanced trigonometry... This one's on me!

I studied Mechanical Engineering for my degree, And before that I did obligatory trigonometry at school.

The following animated image would have made me understand - in 5 seconds - what it took me the best part of 2 months to get my head around at classroom level in my pre-university years. 

You're welcome :)

[dorky-doric-blog]

Internet Service in Europe: Competition actually works...(?)

I'm beginning to feel really sorry for my fellow tech and net geeks across the atlantic. Given how bad petent trolls have become and the lack of available choice you have in terms of internet service (Even Mobile internet as I myself have personally discovered on my recent jaunt over there)  means that those companys have you consumers bent over a barrel with your trousers & pants down ready to insert!

That last analogy came to light after I realised I had the following Engadget article in the bookmarks of my phone for the last month or so and totally forgot about it. In it there is a very informative video of journalist Rick Carr going about Europe determining what has made internet service over here seemingly better than what can be had in the states. And he points out both the pros and cons (ie folk in rural areas being left out whilst high densitiy population areas reap the rewards) of this.

Read more on engadget. 

[dorky-doric-blog]

"This American Life" Tackles the bain of tech innovation: patent trolls.

Being the gadget hungry geek that I am, Regular readers of this know that the patent system in the (not so) good ol' US of A right royally pisses me off. And I don't even live there!! >=[ over the last hour or so prior to scribbling this I was listening to an online-hosted NPR show This american life that tries to navigate the patent minefield  - which if it continues developing at the current rate, would need this kind of vehicle in order to do so. 

Aside from taking how obsurd the situation is, what you'll take away from listening to it, amongst other things, is the following:

The insane costs for dealing with patent suits or settling away from them, which is ultimately passed to the consumer.

The ironic current career of the person who coined the term "patent troll".

Many tech patents exist that cover manythings tech savy users, start-ups, and code monkeys take for granted. and are repeatedly issues for the same functions

The existance of a patent for a certain bread based "invention" that made me wish i did a similar thing with my own posterior.

I think all recent tech startups should just move to new zealand and be done with it!!

The program can either be downloaded or streamed from here.

Via Engadget Alt

[dorky-doric-blog]

Akira the don loves living in the future...

As does Art Brut's Eddie Argos, MC lars, Scroobius pip, and some other guy I haven't heard of... hey 4 out of 5 aint bad :P. And I agree with eddie on ghostbusters 3!!

Via ATD's site

[dorky-doric-blog]

Feline De-activation complete...

And all it takes is a trip to the stationary cupboard :P....

Via B3ta

[dorky-doric-blog]

This won't be "the only time" I listen to this!

In an earlier post, I mentioned Inverse Phase's Kickstarter to recreate "pretty hate machine" in Chiptune. Well he's only gone and reached his funding goal. As an immediate reward for this he has released his gameboy-composed version of "the only time" as a teaser of what's to come. So far it is sounding brilliant and I can't wait for the rest of "pretty eight machine" to come to light!! Enjoy:

  The Only Time (Gameboy MonoMix) by Inverse Phase

[dorky-doric-blog]

Tron Legacy, Starring Megaman as Sam Flynn

one of my favorite films in recent years is Tron Legacy. The following comes from youtube user pierremanry And given how much of a chiptuney retro-gamey geek I am... Well... obvious Squee-ing is obvious.

Music is from midimachine

[dorky-doric-blog]

Kind of Bloop? kind of Poop, more like!

No it isn't my review of Andy Baio's "kind of bloop", a chiptune cover of Miles Davis' "kind of blue", neither of which - at the time of scribbling - I have listened to. However What the title of this post does describe is my feelings to the situation that Andy finds himself in. He wasn't taken to task over the music, but "copyright" over the hand created pixelart photo of Davis on the cover, by the image's original photographer Jay Maisel:

Read about his experience & ordeal over on Andy's Blog: Waxy.org : Kind of Screwed

My take: Laws, Rules & regs are now old and are exploited too much either by the original artists and content creators (Maisel in this case), or the lawyers that act on their behalf, for financial gain. Call me something of an idealist but I don't think modern humans in this digital age are so stupid that they would enterpret that Baio was the original creator of blue and photographer of that image, largely for the following simple reason: Neither the NES, Gameboy, or Even Andy himself was around at the time that "blue" was recorded (1959). Let's let common sense prevail. If Someone was to discover "Bloop" before "blue" via whatever means. With the Crediting that Andy has done towards the original work, Davis would subsequently have apotential extra listener and fan. And consequently more finances going towards Davis' Estate, possibly increased potential exposure to Maisel's work (maybe resulting in increased revenue and commisions) if said new fan is willing to dig a little deeper! 

Jay Maisel, you are a great big tool, And not the kind on roofs or made out of snow that make us laugh and smile either!! >=[

[dorky-doric-blog]

A look Back at Animaniacs with the nostalgia critic

Animaniacs was one of my Favorite Cartoons growing up, along with toons of the looney and tiny variety. I seemed to be the only who appreciated it Growing up in dank, dour, Humorless north-east Scotland. After all, what's not to like about humor like this? :

And This:

And, most hiliariously of all... This!! 

 one thing that totally skipped my attention around this time last year, was net televisionist and blogger "the nostalgia critic" AKA "that guy with the glasses"  got together with A large chunk of that show's creators, and scribblers, and voice artists for a very thorough interview all about this show (and some tiny toons as well) and it well worth an hour of your time if, like me, you were a fan of the show:

See part 2 and 3 over on "that guy with glasses"

[dorky-doric-blog]

Link gets the portal gun...

Portal Started life in 3d, then worked backwards since its release, resulting in 2 quite fun 2D versions. This one from wecreatestuff, And the Infamous and Brilliant Ascii Version from the great Joe Larson. However it transpires that Nintendos resident Manboy elf thing link has acquired himself one of these Aperture science acrobatic aides, and goes about having fun in Hyrule in his own way...

via dorkly.

[dorky-doric-blog]

Seether Make Contender for best music video EVER!!

This is a couple of years old, but this relevent to my interests/internets. This is South African Band Seether doing a cover of George Michael's Careless whisper. And combined with a song from the 80s they make it with retro-pixelarty 8-bit graphics from the 80s, and feature lots of themes and pop-culture references from the 80s, And it is amazing!! Enjoy...

Thanks Joe

[dorky-doric-blog]

The artists formerly known as Rymdreglage Pay tribute to Terminator 2

Ninja moped, (for that is now this swedish duo's name) were the guys whe went all trippy chippy & lego-ey in the awesome 8 bit trip are back, and this time they are paying tribute To the 20th anniversary of AHNULD's guardianship of John Connor from a liquid metal cyborg in their own way... And in this case that's creating a massive paper mountain whilst burning through fucktons of candles to an awesome chiptune sountrack. Enjoy...

 NYmag Via Anthony Carboni

[dorky-doric-blog]

Swede Mason's Jeremy Clarkson Beatbox

I had seen stuff like this before, a couple of years back courtesy of "youtube" player Kutiman. However one musical Mashup-er that has come to light in recent weeks, And that's Brit based  B3ta member "Swede Mason" (official site) The main thing that has sent loads of attention his way is him making masterchef go all "pete tong". But that's not the bit of output I like the most, Here it seems that Jeremy Clarkson Likes Beatboxing... And powerslides... Lots of Powerslides >=D Enjoy:

[dorky-doric-blog]

Bill Bailey on "The devil's chord"

I got my festival thrills this year Nerding out across the atlantic, Last year I cought download. One of the acts this year at sonisphere WAS (since it took place at the weekend just gone) Brit Comedian Bill Bailey... As a prelude to this performance, he made the following video which one of my bookface friends posted up And It's all about "the devil's chord".... Enjoy. 

He's given it a bit more practice, and he is willing to give Lars and James a run for their money :P