YouTube strikes again

For the past few days, the thumbnail server code that tells an embedded player which thumbnails to show seems to think you can nest a jpeg inside another jpeg. If you're here, or on any other site with embedded YouTube videos, for that matter, the player still works but the screen appears blank and black. Just hit the play button on the second player below to confirm that. This bug is presently discussed in a fair bit of detail on the YouTube Help Forums.

The following player should work (it's not from YouTube):

Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti from Shadowgate Imageworks on Vimeo.

Albemarle Senior Choir performs Gioachino Rossini's "Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti" (Comic Duet for Two Cats). Performance at Miller Chapel, on the grounds of the Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, Saturday, July 18, 2009. Marianna Parnas-Simpson, Albemarle musical director, conducting.

This next one will work (I predict) once the code is fixed:


And so it did.

There are also so many videos being corrupted since the shift a month ago to 2GB uploads that it's stopped being funny... and I had a really great sense of humor about this stuff. That sense of humor, though, has been eroding lately, probably due to my sense of downright exhaustion, trying to field user questions and pass along pithy (or immensely verbose) observations to YouTube staff. A staff that at present seem to be dealing with far too many fires at once to be able to do more than respond haphazardly to the handful of users they've allowed to "bubble up" issues for their attention.

One more vid for the lolcat fans out there:



If I weren't so messed up in the head, I would have probably stopped doing this a few months ago, for the sake of any shreds of sanity that still remain. Unfortunately I find this whole phenomenon mesmerizing. Who knows, maybe I can turn the experience into a screenplay?

We don't really need to go into that just now, do we? I think I'll be perverse and stick two embedded players for the same videos into this post (see above), just so I can more readily see if and when the coding has been fixed.

Happy (College Radio) Daze

Since I didn't get to play this set for the NAMI Benefit, I've taken it to its psycho extreme. Here for your delectation or avoidance is a set that is sort of a tribute to WOBC-FM (Oberlin College Radio) as it was from 1977 to 1979. Except possibly a little stranger. And since the benefit is over, I decided not to stick entirely to a playlist that could have been heard in '79. Contrary to my usual practice of posting playlists days after the fact, if at all, this is being posted pre-show. My show for tonight may start a little late, but should start shortly after 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific time at the Velvet in Second Life, or on Shoutcast for those who don't do avatars.

In scoping things out I also just discovered that someone considers WOBC the 6th best college radio station in the country. Go figure. Check them out sometime (during the academic year may be better?)

Looking at their current playlists, surprisingly little has changed. Don't worry... it won't be painful much. A preview of the playlist is provided after the jump. It might be altered by your requests or my strange whims.

Playlist:

(Don't mind the lapses in numbering, I'm hiding some of the tracks I may or may not actually play.)

1. The Fiery Furnaces - Benton Harbor Blues Again (WOBC 91.5 Webcast)
...
3. Ladytron - I'm Not Scared (3:58)
4. Weather Report - Birdland (5:59)
5. Brave Combo - Waltz in C Minor (2:14)
6. Lou Reed - Perfect Day (3:48)
7. Frank Zappa - You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here (3:41)
8. Priscilla Lopez;Don Pippin - What I Did For Love from A Chorus Line (Album Version) (3:45)
9. Frédéric Chopin - Prelude for piano No. 4 in E minor ('Suffocation') Op. 28/4, B. 123/2 (2:29)
10. Brian Eno - The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch (3:05)
11. Jerry Hadley, June Anderson, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, Della Jones, Kurt Ollmann - London Symphony Orchestra e Chorus - Leonard Bernstein - We Are Women (3:34)
12. Gerard Schwarz, New York Chamber Symphony & Teresa Stratas - Ausfstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny: Havanna - Lied (1:55)
13. London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Adrian Boult - Variations On An Original Theme ('Enigma'), Op.36: XIII: Romanza: *** (2:33)
14. Anna Prucnal - I ragazzi giu nel campo (lyrics by Pier Paolo Pasolini) (3:23)
15. Willie Nelson & Calexico - Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) (Album Version) (5:19)
16. Harald Paulsen - Moritat (2:20)
17. Susan Sarandon - Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me (2:31)
18. Brian Eno - Baby's On Fire (5:19)
19. Mediaeval Baebes - Umlahi (2:14)
20. Wiener Philharmoniker - Khovanshchina - Prelude (Dawn on the Moscow River) (5:59)
21. Hungry Lucy - Ode (3:07)
22. Neil Young - Vampire Blues (Remastered Album Version) (4:11)
...
27. Pink Floyd - Bring The Boys Back Home (1:26)
28. Little Feat - Teenage Nervous Breakdown (2:13)
29. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer ( LP Version ) (4:20)
30. RZA - Ode To Oren Ishii (2:05)
31. Björk - Overture (3:38)
32. The Supersonics/Tommy McCook - Ode to Billy Joe (3:56)
33. Roxy Music - Both Ends Burning (5:16)
34. The Bastard Fairies - Ode To The Prostitute (3:23)
35. Theo Bleckmann & Fumio Yasuda - Ostersonntag (Brecht) (1:52)
36. The Orb/The Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Pandaharmonium (5:28)
37. David Bromberg Band - Summer Wages (3:54)
38. Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas [From Paris, Texas] (2:54)
39. Happy Rhodes - Phobos (5:13)
40. Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (3:40)
41. Frank Zappa - Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up (5:42)
42. Wiener Philharmoniker - Pictures at an Exhibition - The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga) (3:03)
43. Leszek Mozdzer - Piesn o Milosci (fragment) (1:32)
44. Justin Brown, Michaela Fukacova & Odense Symphony Orchestra - The Six Realm: III. The Hungry Ghost Realm (6:11)

46. Depeche Mode - Tora! Tora! Tora! (Album Version) (4:28)
47. Azasaurus Regina - Various Modems (1:09)
48. Nellie McKay - Yodel (1:36)
49. Elvis Costello - You Belong To Me (2:25)
50. Dreigroschonoper Band - Zuhälterballade (3:01)
51. Joy Division - Shadowplay (3:51)
52. Das Palast Orchester & Max Raabe;HK Gruber - What Good Would the Moon Be? aus "Street Scene" (An American Opera von Elmer Rice nach seinem gleichnamigen Bühnenstück), 1946 (4:32)
53. Franz Schubert - Winterreise, song cycle for voice & piano, D. 911 (Op. 89): Book II, Im Dorfe ("Es bellen die Hunde, es rasseln die Ketten") (2:42)
54. Dead Kennedys - When Ya Get Drafted (1:22)
55. The B-52's - Party Out Of Bounds (Album Version) (3:21)
56. The Patti Smith Group - Pissing In A River (Digitally Remastered 1996) (4:52)
57. Mediaeval Baebes - This World Fareth As A Fantasye (4:07)
58. Hélène Grimaud - Après une lecture de Dante, Fantasia quasi sonata from Années de pèlerinage, 2e année " I'Italie " S.161I, Italy (15:22)
59. Leonard Slatkin - Carmina burana/O Fortuna (2:43)
60. Three Songs After Poets By Arthur Rimbaud (1:40)
61. Three Songs After Poets By Arthur Rimbaud (2:00)
62. Three Songs After Poets By Arthur Rimbaud (1:26)
63. Mediaeval Baebes - Temptasyon (3:19)
64. Joshua Bell;Esa-Pekka Salonen;The Philharmonia Orchestra - Anna's Theme (Instrumental) (2:52)
65. Pink Floyd - Pigs On The Wing (Part One) (1:25)
66. Leo Kottke - The Last Of The Arkansas Greyhounds (3:17)
67. Genesis - For Absent Friends (1:42)
68. Yvonne S. Moriarty - Am I Not Merciful? (6:33)
69. Talking Heads - Don't Worry About The Government (Album Version) (3:00)
70. Manos Hadjidakis - The Urchins Down in the Meadow (2:30)
71. Luis Rossi - éxtasis tanguero (3:05)
72. Rainer Maria - The Awful Truth Of Loving (LP Version) (4:57)
73. Glenn Gould - Variations Chromatiques (14:10)
74. Berceuse, Op. 57 (4:11)
75. The Clash - Hateful (2:44)
76. Flobots - Stand Up (4:39)
77. June Tabor - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (6:24)
78. Vangelis - Sword Of Orion (1:55)
79. Brian Eno & Laraaji - The Dance #3 (3:21)
80. Donna Summer - Hot Stuff [12" Version] (6:43)
81. Brian Eno - Put A Straw Under Baby (2004 Digital Remaster) (3:25)
82. Talking Heads - Buildings On Fire (3:38)
83. Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side (4:17)
84. Grateful Dead - Good Lovin' (5:59)
85. New Riders of the Purple Sage - California Day (2:37)
86. Little Feat - Mercenary Territory (LP Version) (4:26)
87. Joe Strummer/Mescaleros - Redemption Song (3:27)
88. David Bowie - Cracked Actor (3:01)
89. Tom Waits - Nobody (2:50)
90. Keith Jarrett - Köln, January 24, 1975, Part IIC (6:56)
91. Randy Newman - Short People (LP Version) (2:51)
92. Tim Curry - Sweet Transvestite (3:23)
93. Fela Kuti - Zombie (12:24)
94. Randy Newman - Jolly Coppers On Parade (LP Version) (3:49)
95. Eagles - Life in the Fast Lane (4:45)
96. David Grisman - Blue Midnite (LP Version) (3:40)
97. Warren Zevon - Play It All Night Long (LP Version) (2:52)
98. Ani DiFranco - Manhole (3:44)
99. Regina Spektor - Man of a Thousand Faces (3:11)
100. Goxnadly - Werewolves of Acid Planet (3:24)
101. Panic! At the Disco - Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off (3:21)
102. Al Franken - Senator Wolfman (11:18)
103. The Dresden Dolls - The Jeep Song (4:50)
104. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - The New Stone Age (3:41)
105. Louis XIV - Paper Doll (Album Version) (3:25)
106. Jacques Brel - Les Bourgeois (2:53)

Commodity Prison(s)

This video is a response to two movies I saw recently, movies that are in many ways connected to one another. The movies are Dušan Makavejev's SWEET MOVIE and Pier Paolo Pasolini's SALÒ. Hard movies to love, and in the case of SALÒ, a movie some seem to believe was partly responsible for Pasolini's brutal murder, not long after its release. SWEET MOVIE also led to its share of sorrow for some of those involved in its making.

Both movies are about (among many other things) property, consumerism and human nature at its most extreme and repulsive. People do not tend to thank others for making them look too closely in the mirror.

In part because using their original approach to these subjects would probably result in instant censorship and banning from various video sites, I've taken another tack here, one that I expect will probably result in no shortage of bewilderment among some, because its impact is so oblique.

If you want to see this in HD, it may be best to follow the links to vimeo.

Commodity Prison from Shadowgate Imageworks on Vimeo.

This is also a sort of response to discussions that have been running, off and on, in a vimeo group where I've been a bit vocal, and where I first learned of the works of James Benning, who may or may not have found inspiration in the same two movies.

That discussion can be found at The Pictures Don't Move and in particular, in the forum for that group.

Hungry, Hungry Piranhas

A new product after long last, inspired by a late night conversation at the Velvet. I've spent so very long doing nothing but DJing, and refamiliarizing myself with Blender felt sort of like getting a few gentle love bites from these guys.


Unfortunately it's not a dress or other outfit, but I suppose you could wear them if you choose. They're available at my Second Life store, dropdeadcute.

Video must be rotting my brain.

Expect further development, varieties, maybe even a controller HUD if anybody decides to buy these little guys. I might even make some that look like actual piranhas, rather than the toxic pigments that would be sure to exist in the glaze for these sweet little things, if they were actually available in real life. I don't know, maybe I need to contact some old co-workers and see if I can find out how to contract with a sweatshop? Or maybe not.



How I wish I had something witty to say right around here.

Anthems, Sin and Sing Sing

It was a fairly dead night. Or maybe my set drove them away. Anthems, sin and singing. Not necessarily in that order. I think I might be losing my touch, or it could just be that so many were away for the holiday weekend.

Those who were there (a few of my usual "stalkers" and someone new from Brittany) were appreciative, but probably also tired. And the numbers just weren't there for a huge conversation.

But Nickel was kind enough to help clean up my random (aren't they all?) color-changing particle script. It worked great when I tested it out, though I haven't tried to edit it yet. It definitely looks more elegant and direct than the cannibalized approach I'd taken with all the extra, pointless variables that were survivals from an earlier random shape-morphing script.

Playlist

1. Various Artists - The Anthem of Communism (2:22)
2. Moxy Fruvous - Maple Syrup Time (3:35)
3. Cotton Henry - Eskimo Nell (2:04)
4. Roy Zimmerman - Norwedish Hate Anthem (0:50)
5. Fountains of Wayne - Imperia (1:57)
6. David Byrne - Big Business ( LP Version ) (5:06)
7. David Bromberg - Suffer To Sing The Blues (Album Version) (4:54)
8. David Bowie - Rebel Rebel [US Single Version] (2:59)
9. Roy Zimmerman - Jingle Bell Iraq (2:22)
10. The Chipmunks - Jingle Bells (2:36)
11. Marvin Gaye - Star Spangled Banner (LIVE NBA Allstar 84) (3:12)
12. The Diplomats - Dipset Anthem (4:08)

(more after the break)

13. Roy Zimmerman - Multinational Anthem (2:39)
14. America - Muskrat Love (3:07)
15. GrooveLily - Screwed-Up People Make Great Art (4:36)
16. The IT Crowd - Piracy Ad (0:51)
17. Elvis Costello - Sulphur To Sugarcane (5:59)
18. Terrence Mann, Victor Garber, Greg Germann, Annie Golden, Eddie Korbich, Jonathan Hadary, Debra Monk, Lee Wilkof and Patrick Cassidy - Another National Anthem (From "Assassins") (6:08)
19. Philip Glass - Anthem, Pt. 2 (3:48)
20. Suzanne Vega - Blood Sings (3:17)
21. Leonard Cohen - Anthem (7:20)
22. Coco, Steel & Lovebomb - Les Chrysanthemes (5:39)
23. Theo Bleckmann & Fumio Yasuda - Maskulinum-Femininum (1:49)
24. Frank Zappa - The Mammy Anthem (5:41)
25. Roy Zimmerman - The Man, the Myth, the Mccain (3:15)
26. John Zorn - The Ballad of Hank McCain [Vocal Version][*] (5:27)
27. Martin Wolfson - Morning Anthem (0:49)
28. Kraftwerk - Radioaktivität (Single Edit) (3:19)
29. Roy Zimmerman - Buy War Toys for Christmas (3:01)
30. Patti Smith - Death Singing (3:44)
31. Leap Year - The Rational Anthem (4:57)
32. Carter Burwell - Way Out There (From "Raising Arizona") (1:56)
33. Magical Polaris - Dan Lirette Hearts Lowtax (2:43)
34. Three Dog Night - Pieces Of April (4:12)
35. PJ Harvey - I Think I'm A Mother (4:02)
36. Sinéad O'Connor - Jealous (4:17)
37. Panic At The Disco - Mad As Rabbits (Album Version) (3:48)
38. Melissa Etheridge - Breakdown (3:54)
39. Hege Rimestad - Krishnas Kusine (Krishna's cousin) (3:19)
40. The Bobs - Angels of Mercy (3:04)
41. Erin McKeown - Queen Of Quiet (1:48)
42. Mary Gauthier - Our Lady of the Shooting Stars (3:29)
43. Tom Waits - What's He Building? (3:20)
44. Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill - Jersey Plunk/The Trouble with Women (Quartet) (3:00)
45. Cliff Eberhardt - Summers in New Jersey (3:47)
46. Arthur Siegel, Denise Nolan, Vera Knotty, Nancy Hilner, Mona Lott - Way Out West In Jersey (2:54)
47. Elvis Costello - Lost in the Stars from Lost in the Stars (3:56)
48. Odette Florette And Jean Lenoir Orchestra - Fiancée Du Pirate (3:20)
49. Felicia Day - Penny's Song (1:23)
50. Teresa Stratas & Richard Woitach - Buddy On The Nightshift (2:45)
51. Theo Bleckmann & Fumio Yasuda - Über Den Selbstmord (Brecht) (3:20)
52. Scott Merrill - Call from the Grave (3:22)
53. The Bobs - Alabama Song (3:01)
54. Ute Lemper / Jurgen Knieper - Trouble Man (3:45)
55. Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill - Very Very Very/Wooden Wedding (2:40)
56. Theo Bleckmann - Like Brother and Sister (4:44)
57. The Persuasions - Oh, Heavenly Salvation from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (3:36)
58. Count Your Blessings (3:14)
59. Liz Phair - 6'1" (3:06)
60. R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe (Original Hib-Tone Single) (3:47)
61. Gerard Schwarz, New York Chamber Symphony & Teresa Stratas - One Touch of Venus: I'm A Stranger Here Myself (4:07)
62. The Dresden Dolls - Sing (4:40)
63. Nancy Andrews - Deep Down In The Seine (3:52)

Double jeopardy @ Le Velvet

Started out subbing for one and wound up playing from 10pm until around 2 am. Everyone was there and we barely talked about Michael Jackson at all. The playlist appears below the "fold." It started out being about babies and yoga and then the requests started.



Playlist:

1. Ben Folds Five - Satan Is My Master (1:33)
2. Flobots - Anne Braden (4:21)
3. Le Tigre - Phanta (3:14)
4. Stuart Davis - 8 Days in the Lotus (3:08)
5. Nelly Furtado - Baby Girl (3:47)
6. Anne Sofie Von Otter/Elvis Costello - Baby Plays Around (3:12)
7. Ben Folds Five - Twin Falls (2:25)
8. Dar Williams - The Babysitter's Here (3:57)
9. Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body (Album Version) (3:48)
10. Frank Zappa - Baby Snakes (1:50)
11. Belle & Sebastian - Dirty Dream Number Two (4:14)
12. Mike Craver - Butterfield Stage (2:12)
13. Dressy Bessy - Baby Six String (4:34)
14. Damien Rice - Baby Sister [Live From Union Chapel] (4:24)
15. Richard Shindell - I Saw My Youth Today (3:20)
16. The Young Gods - Alabama Song (5:51)
17. Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By (3:47)
18. The Smiths - Pretty Girls Make Graves [Troy Tate Version] (3:35)
19. Felix Da Housecat - Pretty Girls Dont Dance (0:29)
20. Nellie McKay - Swept Away (1:53)
21. Sigur Rós - Fljótavík (3:49)
22. Tom Waits - Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love) (3:37)
23. Veruca Salt - Sleeping Where I Want (3:19)
24. Jacques Loussier - Nocturne No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 37, No. 1 (1:56)
25. Snow Patrol - Isolation (2:36)
26. Metric - Patriarch On A Vespa (4:32)
27. Belle & Sebastian - We Rule The School (3:27)
28. Ladytron - I'm Not Scared (3:58)
29. Paul Siebel - Louise (3:42)
30. Panic! At the Disco - This Is Halloween (3:37)
31. Lou Reed - Perfect Day (3:48)
32. Billy Bragg & Wilco - Walt Whitman's Niece (3:53)
33. Bob Marley - Redemption Song (Live) (4:06)
34. Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band - Too Sick To Reggae (3:06)
35. The Fifth Dimension - Puppet Man (Digitally Remastered 1997) (2:58)
36. Flobots - Same Thing (3:29)
37. Laurie Anderson - Baby Doll (3:38)
38. Cry Cry Cry - I Know What Kind of Love This Is (4:30)
39. Trio Bravo+ - Rondo Ukraine (3:45)
40. Rollercone - Palais Mascotte (5:46)
41. Dido - Us 2 Little Gods (4:48)
42. Fifi - Mirror In The Bathroom (2:35)
43. Máire Brennan - Song Of David (4:08)
44. Feist - I Feel It All (3:39)
45. Lollies - Sweet Home Alabama (1:57)
46. Frank Zappa - Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up (2:52)
47. Buffalo Springfield - Broken Arrow (6:13)
48. Darcie Miner - Ohio (3:49)
49. Tom Waits - Rains On Me (3:20)
50. Lura - Romaria (3:59)
51. Marianne Faithfull - Ghost Dance (3:45)
52. David Bowie - Fill Your Heart (3:07)
53. Robyn Archer - Alabama Song (3:43)
54. Roddy McDowall - The Seven Deadly Virtues (1:26)
55. Theo Bleckmann & Fumio Yasuda - Moon Of Alabama (Brecht) (3:49)
56. Stuart Davis - Wand (3:24)
57. Dust Poets - Good Enough For Me (5:22)
58. Veruca Salt - Wolf (4:19)
59. Tom Waits - Clap Hands (3:48)
60. Das Palast Orchester & Max Raabe;HK Gruber - Alabama-Song aus "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny", 1929 ((Oper in drei Akten von Bertolt Brecht)) (3:32)
61. Neil Young - Motor City (Remastered Album Version) (3:12)
62. America - Ventura Highway (3:47)
63. Lori McKenna - The Needle and the Damage Done (2:26)
64. Bill Whelan - American Wake (The Nova Scotia Set) (3:08)
65. Kathleen Ferrier; Bruno Walter: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler: Kindertotenlieder - Nun Will Die Sonn' So Hell Aufgehn (4:51)
66. Fleet Foxes - Tiger Mountain Peasant Song (3:30)
67. The Mountain Goats - Love Love Love (2:48)
68. Brian Eno/David Byrne - America Is Waiting (Album Version) (3:38)
69. Joy Division - Digital (2:52)
70. The Gothic Archies - Freakshow (2:55)
71. Tomoyasu Hotei - Space Cowboy (2:32)
72. Jef Stott - Aegean Dub (5:08)
73. Charlie Haden - Is This America? (Katrina 2005) (3:40)