Yup. I got an invite to a Marina and the Diamonds showcase from Warner Music Scandianvia. The exclusive gig was yesterday night at a location called Södra Bar in the South side of Stockholm. The place was totally packed and Marina was surprised that many people showed up. She’s traveling around Europe and the States to promote The Family Jewels album together with two guys, one on keyboard and one on (electric) bass. They performed, I don’t remember — five or six tracks including Numb, Hollywood and Obsessions. I knew it was going to be good, and it was. When she left the stage I said “thank you” and she said “thank you” back. Luckily no one else heard since I told her when she passed by, haha.

OK, it’s time to include the mighty WordPress Audio Player in this blog, first track out is Marinas “Hollywood” recorded live on my iPhone last night.

Seems to work just fine, doesn’t it? I love WordPress.

Next up is a video I shot with my trusty Panasonic HD cam. The track is “Numb”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What about the album then, what do I think about it? Well, I’m not that into it actually. I think the album version of “Hollywood” is, how should I put it — wrong? The video version is better, I think it’s the extra verse in the beginning that ruins it. The tracks on the album are all good, no doubt about that but I don’t understand why she didn’t include the track “Starlight” from her rather large catalog of great songs. I love that track. I still listen to her older, previous stuff, maybe I’m used to her songs being a bit less polished than those on the album, I think she’s better when it’s more raw and not overly produced.

A woman from the record company said Marina will be coming back to Sweden in August playing the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg. Looking forward to it, I’ve never been to WoW — I might go there.

Another month has passed. Thank you and adiós to February. My 365 Project is still going strong. As I mentioned in the January post, the artistry is not important — it’s taking one photo every day and send it to Flickr that counts. Enjoy.

You know what? I just realized I can write a post even though I have nothing in particular to say. I don’t even know why I’m posting.

I bought a Werther’s product. I’m old now — I can do that without feeling weird about it. That and the fact that the wrapper was so nicely designed made me buy it. The chocolate itself was really bland and kind of tasteless. Well, sure — it tasted of chocolate but is was a senior citizen kind of taste. I guess I’m not old enough to buy any of Werther’s offerings just yet. But the packaging was nice. I think J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost would appreciate the packaging too. He’s also into that kind of thing. Here he is talking about hidden stuff, packaging, mystery and questions. The talk is from TED.com.

I go to the TED site every now and then. You never leave the site thinking you want your 20 minutes back, it’s always worth it.

I spent a few hours waiting for the Tsunami expected to hit Hawaii last night. I knew the media was hyping the thing well above reason and that’s why I kept a close eye. I followed a live stream from CNN. Experts and idiots gave us their thoughts, no one actually knew anything — as usual — and in the end a woman came forth telling the media that there would be no Tsunami.

I absolutely hate the way modern day news media thrives on scaring viewers and readers. Just look at the “headline” in that video player window above. They tell us that the waves are hitting Hawaii and yet there are pictures of sailboats, guys standing on the shore fishing and a few surfers trying to catch waves that are so small they are better off surfing in their bathtubs back at the hotel. Mainstream media takes us for fools, sure, some of us are but I’m not and I don’t like the way they do their reporting — if you can call it that. That’s it for now, cheers.

It’s my birthday today, thought I’d celebrate by writing a post. It’s been a while — about 20 days. But, I’m my own boss and I post when I please. So, let’s get to it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve seen a bunch of behind the scenes stuff from movie productions and TV sets but the thing is — I had no clue the use of green screen was this prolific. It seems like every damn scene, no mater how bland or insignificant, is shot with the help of computers with 3D software. When I first saw the video I was kind of upset, I felt stupid for not realizing that what I’m watching isn’t… real. Amazing stuff none the less.

Stargate Studios, the company behind this modern day witchcraft is based in Pasadena CA. Some of the TV-shows they’ve been involved in includes; Eli Stone, Mad men, Grey’s Anatomy, Lipstick Jungle, Monk and The Office. The list goes on and on forever but the thing is — these are shows without special effects, right? You know what I mean, don’t you? Sure, there are tonnes of effects in Heroes and Stargate Studios is behind that too — but that’s a thing I can understand.

I just realized that Stargate Studios is also a Visual Effects company. Maybe that’s why my brain refused to accept the fact that these effects are everywhere. They are not special, they are visual, you don’t notice them and I guess that means they did a pretty good job. Haha!

I’m about the last person on earth to see Avatar. Never wanted to see it in the theater since I can’t stand the 3D effect. The disorientation, dizziness and uncomfortable feeling I experienced after watching The Final Destination 3D left me with a bad aftertaste. That’s why I didn’t jump on the Avatar bandwagon.

Then this Torrent showed up on my beloved Torrent site TorrentLeech.org. Just look at the quality of those screens straight from VLC. I could not resist. I used my people skillz and a guy down the street whom I’ve never met before downloaded the movie on his computer and I saw it at his place. I can’t remember where he lived because I left in a hurry just as the movie ended and his house burst into flames and exploded.

What about the movie then? I didn’t like it. CGI people, CGI feelings and CGI dialogue. Too bad — it could’ve been one of my all time faves but no. I have no faith in hyped up stuff. Never had, never will. Great quality on that copy the guy downloaded though…

Tip: use arrow keys to navigate through the gallery!

All the photos were taken with my iPhone 3GS. Some people find it hard to take sharp pictures with no blur when shooting with the iPhone. It’s not hard at all – in fact, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. First off, the picture is taken when you let go of the shutter button, not when you press it down. This is how you should do it; put your finger on the shutter button, frame your shot and chose a focus area (you can brighten a shot by focusing in a dark area), hold the iPhone as steady as humanly possible and let go of the shutter button. Boom, instant iPhone photo skill improvement!

Oh my, this post is getting a bit longer than I expected. On to the last part. How did I go about making this post? Well, the Flickr gallery is generated via the WordPress plugin FancyFlickr and the nice effect that expands the photos and darkens the blog background is non other than the legendary Lightbox 2 plugin. There you go! I might change to another plugin in the future, there’s always better stuff out there that I have to try.

February, here I come…

Links:
FancyFlickr
Lightbox 2
My January 2010 Flickr set at Flickr.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Marina is at it again with yet another good version of the track ‘Hollywood’. This is brand new — only 482 views on YouTube.

Click here to view the embedded video.

From YouTube-info:

Gonzales dreamt up and conducted a full orchestral reworking of Hollywood, inspired by the songs lyrics. Marina & Gonzales came together to record one performance for an Eastern European TV show…this footage has only now been uncovered…

I guess “only now been uncovered” means “shot, edited and uploaded the other day”. I found this video yesterday on some UK newspaper site and I was happy to see she made it available on her YouTube account. Hollywood is released on 1st February 2010 via 679/Atlantic, and taken from Marina’s debut album ‘The Family Jewels’, out on 22nd February 2010. I think I’ve said it before — I can’t wait!

Links:
Gonzales – Wikipedia
Marina and the Diamonds – Blog
Marina and the Diamonds – MySpace

Now this is strange. I came home late after a night of DJing downtown. Just as I was finally heading for bed all hell broke lose outside…

Was the monster from the movie Cloverfield on the prowl in my usually (almost) dead quiet neighborhood? I have never — and I mean NEVER heard noises like these before. I grabbed my video camera and went out on the balcony. I just want to make it absolutely clear, I did NOT fake the sounds in the video. Turn up the volume to get the full effect.

Click here to view the embedded video.