Lotus Notes is probably the worst widespread software ever designed. Even worse that some of the finest Microsoft products (think Frontpage). Check out why. As a user of it until last month, I definitely agree. This website, called the Interface Hall of Shame comments lots of badly designed and conceived software, and anybody in the IT field should visit it, especially fellow developers.
Another fine delivery from the Grand Royal scuderia
Roughly once in a year, I fall for a punk/metal album, instead of my sensitive indie pop standard. Last year has seen the triumph of the System Of A Down eponymous LP, between the dEUS and the Guided by Voices eras. The current band that has conquered my CD(and mp3 !)-player(s) is the american outfit At The Drive-In, who just released their first LP on a major label, the one and only Grand Royal, yes, the one that brought us Luscious Jackson and Ben Lee, among others.
Relationship of Command begins by two songs a bit too ‘punchy’ for a first encounter, but at the middle of the third (the single ‘One Armed Scissor’) their melodic genius suddenly appears ; and raises the sound to an achievement it will never leave until the end of the CD. Think Rage Against the Machine meets Neutral Milk Hotel meets the Pixies. Think rough guitar riffs but subtle song harmonics. My piece of advice for the week (the month ?). Cheers to Mike D. and his fellow b-boys for another brilliant signature.
Links-a-gogo
- My new boss is fond of Lego (the new ones, with engines, processors, a programming language and movement sensors!). Geeks…
Anyway, it seems some folks have designed a truly complicated-but-exhaustive wargame system to make Lego armies fight in your basement. Re-Geeks… [link thanks to Adam] - For the Frenchies : You can now trace your family name’s history during the XXth century in the French « départements », as well as your first name’s popularity thourough the years.
- Again for French-speaking people, here’s Patoche website, with all the (mostly metal) concerts he ever attended, plus setlists and pictures. He’s a friend, and one of the most entertaining folks I’ve worked with.
- Did I mention that the Internet is full of geeks ? Here’s an almost comprehensible list of the notables properties of some numbers between 0.412454… and 1010100. For people with a lot of spare time.
Seeds of the Pumpkins
Farewell gig yesterday for Billy Corgan & friends here in Paris. Well, I know most american hip indie kids find the Smashing Pumpkins « an awful band since they’re sellout », but we tend to see things in a slightly different way down here in Europe. Anyway, I HAD to see once in my life the band that made Siamese Dream, and it seems like it’s their last tour.
Support : Sunna ; honest band, working very hard to conquer the kid’s favors ; surprisingly, their label is Melankolic, the next step after Day One towards eclectism ? It’s disturbing that bands with an overground ambition tend to do this kind of light metal music again, it brings us back to the Nirvana years…
The Pumpkins concert began very awfully. They’ve slowed the tempo of wonderful songs like ‘Today’ or ‘The Everlasting Gaze’ to a point where it wasn’t at all the same tracks, and then they added some free-jazz piano improvisation à la Pink Floyd over it (Did Billy want to prove he’s as good as a musician than Radiohead ??). It was terrible. I was thinking I had a nightmare : « Oh my God, this is the Adore Tour ! I have to wake up !! ».
Act II : Billy took the electric guitar, and here it goes for two songs (including ‘Bullet with Buttefly Wings’) played… with an increased tempo ! At least it was interesting to hear. But after half an hour, the real show begun. This was the Smashing Pumpkins magic. The wonderful voice of Billy, Jimmy’s energic drumming, James’ modesty and virtuosity, and the special asset : Melissa, so sexy with her bass guitar. A really remarkable light show. An audience going crazy. Only fantastic songs on the set list.
The most moving moment was the second encore, when Melissa introduced the musicians in a perfect French, with her adorable voice. The last song was ‘1979’, an obvious choice, and a very fulfilling apex to the show. Billy stayed on stage a couple of minutes after the song ended, just to enjoy those magical moments when 12 000 people give you love and respect.
Whatever the venue, whatever the band, whatever your position in the room are, the most exciting person to be is the guy on stage.
Not the folk who would cry if he were not ashamed, not any of the few thousands seeds of the pumpkins.
PS: Don’t forget to download Machina II/the friends and enemies of modern music, their last and free album, not available in stores.
Let’s talk business. I’ve got ONE ticket for Placebo at the Olympia, Paris, for the 4th of November. I won’t be able to go there, so I’m looking for somebody who would like to exchange it against a ticket for the same show the day after (nov. the 5th).
I can also sell the ticket for a very reasonable price, although I’d really prefer the first solution. What I call reasonable price is much under the current bids on ibazar : [1] [2] or [3], for example.
Hey, the pictures from the murder-party are uploaded. Check it out.
And now I’ve a huge need for sleep.
So, I left the Sofaris last friday. I’m gonna work for a new company now.
As a departure gift, my colleagues offered me an Aiwa MM-VX100 portable MP3 Player. This is a truly wonderful gift, which fulfills the geek in me. This very small and light box works with only one battery and contains up to 64 MB of mp3 files. Speaking of that, I’m looking for a software that can reliably and quickly convert an mp3 file to a lower bitrate. All my files are at least at the regular 128 Kbps rate, and I need to decrease their size to upload an interesting number of them on the player. From the hundred MP3 encoders I’ve downloaded so far, only MusicMatch can do that, but it’s dreadfully slow… If anyone of you know a reliable and powerful tool, your help will be highly appreciated.
The role-playing game was a real success (the entire set of picture, at a larger size, is coming later). It was a murder-party, actually. Everybody has done the best for the game to be entertaining, and I have to thank them all for being such great friends. Special hugs to Ninie for the chocolate cake (miam!), Franck for having played the most difficult character (the murderer !), Pierre for the numeric camera (way cool !) and Nita for the food and the preparation. And to all the players for having spread so much false rumors, and then having came and asked me about the « Beast » or the « Two Stairs, one up, one down » stuff that never existed in the first place. That’s the great part of being the organizator.
Amplified to Rock: Nanette’s weblog, which I’ve being reading for the last couple of months, is in its heyday. I hope it will last. I have a hard time trying to write her an e-mail to express my admiration (those things are always difficult to me, especially with people I don’t even know), so the least I can do is to encourage you to make a visit there, and read this post that I consider like one of the best pieces I’ve read lately. In my own way, I deeply connect with what she says.
Like a lot of people, I’ve bought and loved Radiohead’s Kid A. This is an exquisitely delicate work, from a band now in adulthood (the bends was harsh like teen-age, ok computer sophisticate and varying like you are in college years). Every site even remotely interested in music has pages and pages of words about it, so I won’t add my stone to this burden of information.
What I want to talk about is those people that almost made me have doubts about this album. First and obviously, Tanya shoot brillianty the LP down in flames (go and read the whole of her blog I hate Music *now*. I completely disagree with 85% of the posts, but it is so well-written, accurate and FUNNY that I just love it). But that was really foreseeable. Other disappointed folks include Jerwin, Catherine, and much more disturbingly the good-tasted Adam Kempa who all despise Kid A. I had to think a bit about that. Am I just blinded by hype and EMI marketing strategy ? Then Jerwin asked the definitive question : would Radiohead have never existed and this be the new Madonna, or even Britney Spears, album, would everybody still like it so much ?? My own personnal answer is yes. I would deeply love tracks like Everything in its right place or The national anthem, and lyrics like « the best you can is never enough » (Optimistic) anyway. I’m pretty sure about that. So my three days period of uncertainty is over now (24 is an age where you can start having your own opinions quietly and to know why you keep them).
PS: To the credit of Adam, he said he didn’t like the new album because of his personal tastes, and not that it’s bad.
TheSpark.com’s Personality Test :
I just did it this week-end. It said I’m an Activist (Concrete, Feeler, and… Extrovert !), which I tend to utterly deny… but Nita said that it’s really what I am. I’d say that she may be right (she’s smart, you know !), since I’m in a process of maturation that leaves me in the dark about what I am truly. I would have said I’m a « Dreamer », or something like that, but that probably was me two years ago.
The best part of it is that you can type your friends’ e-mails (if they did the test, of course), and see your percentage of compatibity. Nita and I are (only) 57% compatible… But I tried with other blogging girls’ e-mails, and we were even less compatible. Perhaps am I remotely compatible with girls in general ?..
If you intend to try the test, let me know, and I will check our score.
[link thanks to nanette.]
Sign #4531 that I’m getting older.
I bought this ticket for the Elliott Smith show. It seemed to me, the day I purchased it, that it was a great idea to go and see the guy play. And today, I had to go to the gig. I’m just back.
But, to tell you the truth, when I’ve left the office at 6, I couldn’t see a good reason why I bought this ticket instead of any other. I have to explain : I’m not a fan, I’ve not been following his career for years, I just know the last album (out of around four, I guess), and moreover I cannot clearly tell you most of the tracks’ titles… So, my point is : I wasn’t really feeling like going to this concert.
Can you realize this ? I didn’t really want to go and see a rock gig… THIS is a sign I’m getting older.
Anyway, the good part is that I truly enjoyed it. What isn’t noticeable on Figure 8 is that Elliott Smith does indie music. Half of the show was like fig.8 on overdrive, that was cool ! And the other half, stuff from the XO era I guess, was even better, even more… indie is the word that comes to me. Tomorrow, I’ll get those tracks (I’ve been really moved by this song probably called ‘The morning after’). I’m really happy ’cause I’ve re-discovered a great songwriter. If you’re interested, he did John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’ as a third and last encore, a beautiful moment.
I probably won’t be posting often next week, since I have a lot of work at the office, and a role-playing game to prepare at home.
When I told ya I’m a survivor !.. I was on a similar greek ferry just one goddam week ago, sailing towards the port of the island of Paros too. Ok, I wasn’t in this same ferry nor doing the exact same trip, but it’s pretty disturbing.
God’s wrath missed me once more, but what about the next time ? Or maybe I’m just paranoid….
An interesting lecture on stars and universe. [thanks to evhead]