Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Pasta


Tonight, it should be noted that there is a lunar eclipse finishing and I have completed my second night of fresh pasta making. A great experience that I want to improve upon. Not perfect, my noodles have been on the moist side. Tasty tender fettucine noodles mixed with gluten like dumpling balls. One night it accompanies salmon and roasted red peppers tonight it's chicken and marinara.
Edited on 4/23/08
Sorry this was a long time ago. Remember the lunar eclipse? Me neither.
I need a motivator.
The image is from a pizza I made a while back.
I have given up on fresh pasta making until further notice.
Pizza is so much easier to make.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Worse than I thought imaginable.

Oceans 12. What a shit movie. Entertaining but all in all a mess that was at times not that fun to watch. I don't know if this was Steven Soderberghs idea for or a homage to Italian crime/ comedy/ heist / action adaventure cinema but I ended up hitting my head in frustration many times to watch this and trying not taking it to seriously. The only thing going for it was the soundtrack. David Holmes created a score and used other Italian library music cues from the 70's ( Ennio Morricone and Giuseppe De Lucca ) to beef up the feel and dynamics for certain scenes. I only wish the story was better to fit the better music.
I always thought David Holmes to be a lazy producer. I never liked the one album I had heard " Let's Get Killed". Always felt he had good taste in music, samples and breaks but the music was flat and I found myself thinking about something else I should be doing or listening to. Ocean's Twelve is a bit different and focused.
In no way is this a reccamendation to see the movie. Far from it.
Try to see this instead.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Ghost Box: Haunted Electronic Folklore

The Ghost Box label began  sometime in 2004 by Jim Jepp and graphic designer Julian House to look towards the past for inspiration without sounding retro but unique and new.  Artists ie. The Advisory Circle, Eric Zann, Belbury Polly, The Focus Group and Mount Vernon Arts Lab tend to draw heavily on musique Concrete, library music, soundtracks from the 60' and 70's, found sounds, old theme songs, folk and psychedelia. None of the music sounds serious, turgid, or weighed down by academic nonsense and preciseness. Each bit of music sounds like it could acompany any  instructional film from 30 years ago.
Even with their similarites  each group and artist sounds nothing alike but share a interest in imaginary worlds, " English" Surrealism, folklore and vintage electronics. Creating tiles like " The Farmers Angle", " The Willows", " We Are All Pans People", " Mind How You Go" add to the unique and odd feelings asscociated with each release.
All covers are designed by Julian Hose and have an iconic 60' s type of collage combined with vintage Penguin paperbacks, instruction manuals and educational books for British  elementary school children. Julian has also designed album artwork for  notable music acts like Broadcast, Stereolab and Primal Scream. He has also had his artwork featured in British publication Wire. 
The Focus Group a pseudonym for Mr. House creates their tracks using tape loops and found sounds. The songs that have beat combo rhythms and  are hurky jerky affairs that often resemble  a English Negativland minus much of the social commentary and sense of humor. 
If you have any interest in early Doctor Who, Tomorrow People, 321 Contact, 70's Public Television shows especially the ones on during weekday afternoons you might have watched had you been home sick from school then the label might be for you. They are pricey an average cd can cost somewhere around $20. You can opt to buy their music on iTunes for about half that but you don't get the complete artwork and little details that make Ghost Box releases so unique.