Fredstuff.com

365 Project July 2010

Fred — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 22:37:51 +0000

365 Project 2010. Here it is, the set for the month of June. Not much to say really — it’s just a bunch of pictures I took. Still doing it though and I’m proud of that. Just five months left of 2010!

Link:
My July 2010 Flickr set at Flickr.com

Kodak 1922 Kodachrome Film Test

Fred — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:08:42 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

I found this stunning clip yesterday while browsing some site completely at random. This is one of the earliest tests Kodak did with its (back then) brand new Kodachrome color motion picture film. This was done in 1922, 13 years before the first full length color feature film (Becky Sharp, 1935). The flicker seen in the video occurs due to the fact that the camera is cranked by hand — or hand wound — another possibility is that the film varies in density due to old age. How the hell do I know all this? Well, I read it here.

All this technical stuff aside, the images are simply awesome. The first time I saw the video I was kind of mesmerized to the point of not being able to move. The way the models/actresses carry themselves in this simple camera test is so otherworldly and interesting. The poses and expressions… ah, heck — it’s like being there, in another time. Beautiful stuff!

Gonzales – I Am Europe

Fred — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:06:29 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

I thought I’d start posting nice looking music videos. I constantly bookmark them on YouTube so why not share my findings? Gonzales playing chess like a mad man. Tiga is also in this video — in a suit!

Directed by Adam Traynor
Edited by Pierre Boittard

Links:
Gonzales – Wikipedia | Last.fm

Music: Robyn – Hang With Me

Fred — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:59:18 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Robyn’s next album, Body Talk Pt. 2 will be out on the 6:th of September. The track “Hang With Me” was also included on Body Talk Pt. 1, but in a more acoustic version. This is the “full” version of the track. Video directed by Max Vitali who also did her video to “dancing On My Own”.

I fund another version of the track recorded live at “the Rimmel Room”, whatever that is. Still, it’s a fantastic rendition of Hang With Me.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now if only I can get the damn melody and words from Robyn’s “You Can’t Handle Me” out of my head when listening to this track.

Fun fact: At the very start of the (first) video there’s a brief shot of the legendary synthesizer Sidstation made by Swedish geek-gods Elektron. If you manage to find one that’s for sale, prepare to pay a lot of money for it. Check it out here.

Links:
Robyn | Official | MySpace

iPhone App: Camera+

Fred — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:05:47 +0000

I love when non-tech (normal) people say they have no need for an iPhone. I have several friends like that. After spending a few hours with a bunch of them they started to realize the power of this device. The slightly mocking “There he goes again showing off his damn phone” turned into “Who wrote that song?”, “Is the game over yet — what’s the score?”, “When is that movie coming out?”, “Hey, show him the trailer to that movie!”, “What song is this?”, “So that’s what Pyongyang looks like from above?!”. Then they start asking about the data plan and the monthly fees, genuinely interested in “that damn phone of his”. I love it!

I’m going to treat you just the same, starting with this post. First up, a photo app called Camera+. Developed by pro photographer Lisa Bettany of Mostly Lisa fame. She wrote a post on her blog about the app. First up, three pics I took with Camera+;

These are straight from the iPhone with no additional editing. Other pics from my Camera+ set (including the 3 above) are available in full size at Flickr. You can take photos inside the app and you can import already existing photos from your camera roll — a feature sorely missing in the inferior photo app Hipstamatic. I even use the app as a time killer digging up older pics from the camera roll when on the subway editing away just to see what I can come up with.

When done editing you can save the pic back to the camera roll or easily upload it to Flickr/Facebook/Twitter. If I decide to do another year of my 365 Project (photo of the day) I’m sure I’ll use Camera+ a lot. This year I can’t since I decided to only use the “raw” pics from the iPhone camera. The included effects are to numerous to mention here, check out the links at the end of this post for more info. Lisa made a promo video for Camera+;

Click here to view the embedded video.

This app is totally worth $1.99. I know this because I have a few other photo apps installed; PS Mobile, MoreLomo, Format126, Polarize, MoloPix and Hipstamatic. To be fair, Hipstamatic is a cool little app and I have a bunch of the extra in-app bought content. I use it from time to time but Camera+ is simply THE best photo app out there at the moment. Love it!

Links:
Camera+ | Site | App Store
Mosly Lisa | Blog

Remix Magic #6 Rosanna – Waterfall

Fred — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:04:45 +0000

Brand new remix coming up in a sec! The guilty part this time; Fear of Tigers. This guy is simply amazing and I need to do a post (and possibly an interview) about him in the future. So, who is Rosanna? I had to do some research. After reading the incredibly short Wikipedia entry on Rosanna I instantly knew who she was. She was part of the Swedish girl band Play who toured the States with some pretty big acts between 2001-2005. The band split up and last year a Swedish TV channel made a reunion-reality-show trying to get the group together again. Rosanna passed on the “opportunity” focusing on her solo career.

To get things rolling she’ll be releasing her first single “Waterfall” on Popjustice’s brand new label Popjustice Hi-Fi on August 22 of this year. Some additional info from the Popjustice Hi-Fi site: “Rosanna is twenty two years old and is brilliant at making charismatic, hot-blooded pop music. She says that the genre in which she operates is best described as “big emotional, chaotic, beautiful pop”. Time for some music then;

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is the single version on the track. It stands incredibly firm on it’s own, no mystery since it’s produced by Jim Eliot. His previous work include (among others) Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Kylie, Royksopp and Ladyhawke. Just for fun I’ll post another version with just a tiny tape recorder and a guy on the piano. From the YouTube description: “Teknologgatan is a collective of musicians and bands from Stockholm with Rosanna Munter, Rocket Boy, Icona Pop amongst others.” I guess the piano guy is Rocket Boy, haha! Here goes:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And now, finally — the AMAZING remix by Fear of Tigers. As I mentioned earlier I’m going to do a full post on him in the not to distant future so I’ll just drop the remix down below and be done with this post — that’s how bad I want you guys to hear it. Listen, NOW! Rosanna – Waterfall (Fear Of Tigers Remix).

Click here to view the embedded video.

The “video” is not all that, but it’s the one with the highest audio quality.

Remix Magic #5 Spark – Shut Out The Moon

Fred — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:22:42 +0000

I’ve had the demo of this track for a while now. Thought it was a good track but nothing special. Then the other day a friend sent me a link to the Monsieur Adi Remix of “Shut Out The Moon” and I was hooked. Yet again a remix made me check out an artist that was pretty much unknown to me. Spark is (or was) on tour with Marina And The Diamonds and her track Shut Out The Moon will be released in a few days (12:th of July 2010) as a digital download. The remix is out on the 13:th and is up for preorder over at Pure Groove. That’s it, that’s all I know about her.

OK, on to the actual music. I’m going out on a limb here posting THREE version of the track. First up is the Demo of the song:

Then onto an “acoustic” version performed with a keyboard outside on a bench — “just a little taster” as she describes it on her Tumblr blog.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And finally the remix. I think I’m going to quote Spark again regarding the track; “It’s not a typical remix, but that’s why it’s special. This man made something beautiful.” Yup, I concur. The first word that came to mind when I heard the track was “skev”, a Swedish word meaning something along the lines of “skewed”. Can’t explain it — don’t care. Haha! Monsieur Adi made remixes for (among others) Ellie Goulding, Frankmusik and Marina And The Diamonds. Here we go, Spark – Shut Out The Moon (Monsieur Adi Remix):

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is one of those tracks that makes me disable the Last.fm scobbler after a while, I don’t wanna come across as a complete psycho listening to one track over and over and over. But, it’s true. As with the other artists I’ve bogged about here I’m really, really looking forward to what Spark has in store for us.

365 Project June 2010

Fred — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:25:59 +0000

Wow. Just, wow. That was a fast one wasn’t it? At least I got some nice pictures out of the month of June. OK, some were bad and uninspired but a few stand out, like the one from the 29:th. That day I realized I had no picture to upload, I had to come up with something so I shot a camera and positioned it so that it had a reflection in the lens of the view from my kitchen window.

I’m very pleased with my Flickr Pro purchase, I’m going to put it to good use and create sets for my Nikon DSLR and another, more random set is already growing. I really like the Camera+ app for the iPhone. It’s on sale on the App Store at the moment — a great buy.

So, hello July, I hope you present me with some great opportunities and try to keep the skies nice and blue, OK?

Link:
My June 2010 Flickr set at Flickr.com

Remix Magic #4 Lykke Li – Breaking It Up

Fred — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:04:39 +0000

I’m really, REALLY behind on this one. Not the blog, I don’t care about the update frequency — I’m talking about Lykke Li. Her debut came two years ago and I started listening to her about a week ago. The Swedish scene was somewhat swamped with female newcomers back then and I think I just couldn’t cope with ‘em all at once. The track that got me hooked on Lykke was yet again a remix, without it her album “Youth Novels” would be pretty much unbeknown (yes, it’s a real word) to me. Yay remixes!

So, here we are — a new musical realtionship is in its budding prime. First up: the original track “Breaking It Up”. According to the YouTubes this is an “alternative video” filmed by Christian Haag in one take, live.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I like the video and I like the track. The remix video on the other hand is pure garbage — but the track is yet another example of some outstanding remix magic courtesy of two guys from London, namely “Punks Jump Up”. Name of the track: “Lykke Li – Breaking It Up (punks Jump Up Remix)”. Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m looking forward to Lykkes next release, whenever that is due.

Amazing collection of links:
Lykke Li | Official | MySpace | Last.fm
Punks Jump Up | MySpace

WWDC 2010 iPhone 4!

Fred — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:09:45 +0000

Yup, there it is, the iPhone 4. I just sat through Engadget’s live blog from WWDC 2010. Good ol’ Steve up on stage touting his new offerings. I’ve had my iPhone 3GS for a while now — 6 months? — and I think I had a post planned about my experiences with the device, comparing it to my previous phone. I miss three features from the Nokia 6220 Classic; the Xenon flash, the 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens, and if battery life is a feature, battery life. Those were the things I really liked about the Nokia, I hated the rest. Or rather, I liked it until I got the iPhone.

So, the just now announced iPhone 4 — what do I like about it? Simple. The 720p 30fps video. I’m sure I’d shoot more video with the new model, the video on the 3GS is OK but I dislike the old school, ugly as hell 4:3 format with 640 x 480 pixels. Ugh! It’s really 2003 — or 1973, or… — you get my point. Jobs also announced iMovie for the iPhone, yay! Can’t wait for that to come out. I have several camera apps installed, both free and paid, but I’ve never taken the step into mobile video editing on the iPhone. I’ve had my eyes on a few video apps, the one that seems best so far is the VeriCorder 1st Video (iTunes link), it certainly looks the part and from the in-use videos I’ve seen on the web it acts the part to. It’s got that solid, almost boring UI — like Avid. iMovie on the iPhone, bring it on! Oh, and when you’re at it: GarageBand! Haha.

The new iPhone has a higher resolution screen. That’s no biggie. It sports a new 5MP camera with some kind of flash, semi-stoked about that one. I think the cam on the 3GS is fine for point and shoot stuff. It has a new battery promising longer usage. That’s nice, I’ll have that, please. Then there’s the new front facing camera. What the hell? Why? No one I know use video calling and the few times I tried it myself I absolutely cringed (same with Video calling in Skype). It’s great for the hearing impaired though. Good for them. The new form factor is pretty nice, no biggie for me. It’s the new video features I’m looking forward to. 720p baby!