M Is FOR MASHUP - July 25th, 2012
Great Mashups For July
By DJ Useo
Normally, when summer comes,the mashup 'scene' slows waaaaaay down. I've experienced that year after year. In addition, the theory that mashups are dead continues to be repeated as if repetition alone will make it true. Now, in the year of 2012 the traditional slowness has reversed with an incredible burst of new mashups every day. I've even seen people making more comments. A nice change to be sure. I reckon there won't be so many people stating that mashups are dead. The quality of work is changing, too, with a large majority of tracks shining with appealing combinations of source artists. If you'll allow me, I'll offer you five swell new mixes to make my case.
01 - Daftbeatles has released 'Heart Of Glass' (Blondie vs Philip Glass). Gorgeous strings vs lovely female voice. This one is a clear hit with mashup fans.
( soundcloud.com/daft-beatles/blondie-vs-philip-glass-heart/ )
02 - Vctr is coming on strong with his popular new mix 'Chasing The Sun' (Hardwell & Mario Larrea & Joe Maz feat. The Wanted). It combines three great DJ's into one helluva super club mashup.
( soundcloud.com/officialvctr/hardwell-mario-larrea-joe-maz )
03 - Giobat has mixed up the bootleg mashup 'Let's Go Summer Jam' (Calvin Harris vs. The Underdog Project). It's an instant ear grabber with that eternal Summer vibe that we all treasure.
( soundcloud.com/giobat/calvin-harris-vs-the-underdog )
04 - Reborn Identity is perking up many listeners with his 'Rumours Have It' (Adele vs Fleetwood Mac). Just in time for the renewed flood of F-Mac listeners their new box set will bring.
( soundcloud.com/rebornidentity/rumours )
05 - Beto Artistas' 'Baby I'm Yours' (Breakbot vs Daft Punk) got the attention of many bootleg fans with it's techno contrast. You'll love it.
( official.fm/tracks/8wJz )
With the links above you can easily stream or download the mashups & experience why mashups ain't going nowhere.
Mix Of The Week
The Hamburg duo Kollektiv Turmstrasse by Christian Hilscher and Nico Plageman have a wonderful new electronic house mix available. It has incredible tracks from themselves mixed expertly into 'Live Mix (2012-07-22)'. Such a joy to move to it.
( www.blastfm.ch/djsets/show/115 )
Mashup Tip : Avoid using overused tracks. It's the mashup kiss of death.
Latest Useo Thing
'Inglorious Under The Westway' (Blur vs Viper X) combines Blur's new song with Viper X's new song. Fast meets slow, & people are really responding to it.
( soundcloud.com/dj-useo/inglorious-under-the-westway )
Podgornio, The Mashup Psychic Predicts
Mashup DJ's will universally adopt tip jars to their web sites next week. Give generously.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Frank Rich: Mayberry R.I.P. (New York Times Magazine)
Declinist panic. Hysterical nostalgia. America may not be over, but it is certainly in thrall to the idea.
Noam Chomsky: "Destroying the Commons: How the Magna Carta Became a Minor Carta" (Huffington Post)
Down the road only a few generations, the millennium of Magna Carta, one of the great events in the establishment of civil and human rights, will arrive. Whether it will be celebrated, mourned, or ignored is not at all clear.
Fort Worth woman 'humiliated' after Love Field pat-down
Deaton - who has a medical condition - said Transportation Security Administration agents at Dallas Love Field crossed the line after they noticed something hanging from her stomach. She told them it was a gastric tube to flush toxins from her body.
Bill Forman: Spiel time with Bill Maher (Colorado Springs Independent)
A not-so-cordial conversation with the controversial talk show host.
Scott Burns: How Much is a Future Year Worth? (AssetBuilder)
There are two kinds of people in this world. Spenders. And Savers. There is no middle ground.
Sunnychanel: "Judging a Book by Its Cover: A Six-Year-Old Guesses What Classic Novels are All About"
What happens when this recent kindergarten graduate judges a book by its cover? Here are the results: …
David Weir: Indie Author S.C. Stephens Reveals What Makes Romance Readers Click (Smashwords)
I had multiple requests from fans for paperback copies of my books to put on their shelves. I wanted them on my shelf, too, so I started looking into self-publishing. There are several different websites available, but I decided to use Createspace.com, since they are linked with Amazon.com. Once the paperback version of Thoughtless was available, people started asking if they could purchase the ebook. It was a hard decision for me, but after a tremendous amount of encouragement, I decided to treat writing more as a career and less as a hobby, and start charging for my material.
Lucy Mangan: the shoe might fit, but that doesn't make it right (Guardian)
What is it with kids' shoes these days? Most of them seem designed to constrain, cripple or sexualise the wearer.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
wrote:
answered:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
Sea Forts
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Day 16
Gulf Fritillary
Came across some Gulf Fritillary larva
on the back fence, so it looks like we'll have a third year of raising butterflies. : )
Click on any picture for a larger version.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lovely marine layer hung around til lunchtime.
He Gets It
Matt Damon
Matt Damon says there's a sense of fury in the U.S. over banking scandals and financial inequality that neither Democrats nor Republicans are addressing in their presidential campaigns.
The 41-year-old actor made his comments at Comic-Con in San Diego, where he was promoting the sci-fi thriller "Elysium," about a future in which the ultra-rich escape a dying Earth to live in a poverty-free, illness-free orbiting habitat. The film is set for release next March.
Damon said he expects President Obama to be elected to a second term in November but isn't as staunch a supporter as he once was.
"I'd be shocked if (Mitt) Romney won. You know, I think Obama is the clear choice. But I've said before I'm really disappointed in him, and I am, particularly because of the banking stuff. He so misread that," Damon said. "That sense of unfair - the sense that we don't have a country anymore when people don't feel like they have a chance, like it's going to be fair. ... If people feel like the deck is stacked against them, then they stop playing by the rules. Because why play by the rules? The game is fixed, right?"
"I don't think the Republicans or the Democrats really understand the level of anger at the sense of unfairness that the majority of people in the country feel," he said.
Matt Damon
Return Medals Over H8
Eagle Scouts
The Boy Scouts of America's stance of not allowing openly gay people to serve as troop leaders or members has inspired several Eagle Scouts to return their hard-earned medals and renounce their membership.
Boing Boing writer Maggie Koerth-Baker first posted a story about how her husband, Christopher Baker, a former Eagle Scout, returned his medal to the Boy Scouts of America. The post, which included Baker's letter to the BSA, drew a strong reaction from the Boing Boing community. So much so, that other former Eagle Scouts began returning their medals as well.
This is no small sacrifice on the part of the Scouts. Becoming an Eagle Scout is serious business that involves years of hard work, at a time in a person's life when goofing off is often more of a priority. In Baker's letter, he wrote, "Today I am returning my Eagle Scout medal because I do not want to be associated with the bigotry for which it now stands. I hope that one day BSA stands up for all boys. It saddens me that until that day comes any sons of mine will not participate in the Boy Scouts."
Koerth-Baker said that the strong reaction wasn't much of a surprise. Over email she said, "I had seen, over the past week, individual letters having a huge impact on Facebook. But they weren't connected to one another. I wanted to do something that linked all these men and made their decisions something bigger than just individual choices."
She continued: "When I posted Baker's (her husband's) letter, I had hoped it would have the kind of impact that it seems to be having. I'm really gratified to know that this is something people connect with so strongly." It is perhaps worth noting that Baker is not gay, nor are any of the other men who have submitted their resignation letters to be posted on Boing Boing.
Eagle Scouts
Webcams Make Accessible
Alaska Bears
A new video initiative is bringing the famed brown bears of Alaska's Katmai National Park directly to your computer or smartphone.
Without having to go there, you'll be able to watch mature bearscompete for salmon at Brook Falls and other sites and cubs tumbling over each other as they play. Starting Tuesday, a live Web stream ( explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls ) will allow the public to log on and see the brown bears in their natural habitat.
The project is a partnership with explore.org, which set up four high-definition cameras in Katmai, spokesman Jason Damata told The Associated Press. Three of them are at existing viewing stands where bear fans come to watch the animals.
The cameras provide access to a national park that is difficult to reach and expensive for most tourists. It is about 275 miles southwest of Anchorage, but no roads lead to Katmai. A trip there involves multiple airplanes and a lot of advanced planning: it's hard to get a lodge reservation at Brooks Camp before 2014. Camping is allowed, but on a reservation system that goes online Jan. 5.
Alaska Bears
Rock Hall To Honor
Chuck Berry
One of rock's pioneers will be celebrated by theRock and Roll Hall of Fame this fall.
Chuck Berry will be honored by the hall as part of its American Music Masters series.
Berry was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In October, the icon will be the subject of a weeklong celebration by the hall and Case Western Reserve University. It kicks off Oct. 22 and ends with an all-star tribute concert on Oct 27. Performers have yet to be announced, though Berry is set to take the stage.
In a statement released Tuesday, 85-year-old Berry said he is "looking forward to reelin' and rockin' in Cleveland."
Chuck Berry
Cast Sues
'Modern Family'
Five stars of "Modern Family" have banded together and are suing to void their contracts to work on the hit comedy, arguing that the contracts are illegal under California law.
The suit filed Tuesday by series stars Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell and argues that their contracts with 20th Century Fox Television violate a California law prohibiting personal service contracts from extending for more than seven years.
The lawsuit asks a judge to rule the contracts are illegal and should be voided because they prohibit the actors from other work. The lawsuit states the contracts bind the actors to work on the series from February 2009 and June 30, 2016.
"'Modern Family' has been a breakout critical and financial success," the lawsuit states. "That success, however, has been built upon a collection of illegal contracts."
The show was recently nominated for 14 Emmy Awards, the most of any sitcom.
'Modern Family'
Phone Hack Charges
Rupert
Britain's phone hacking scandal entered a new and expanded criminal phase Tuesday, with charges brought against two former members of Prime Minister David Cameron's inner circle over a campaign of illegal espionage that has rocked the country's establishment.
The Crown Prosecution Service announced Tuesday that Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks - both former editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-shuttered News of the World tabloid - were among eight people being charged with conspiring to intercept the communications of at least 600 people between 2000 and 2006. The alleged victims included everyone from a murdered teenager to Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Phone hacking first came to public attention in 2006, when police arrested private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and the News of the World's then-royal editor Clive Goodman on suspicion of hacking into the voicemails of members of Britain's royal household. Coulson quit as the tabloid's editor after the pair was convicted, but insisted he'd had no inkling of their wrongdoing.
For the next five years, the tabloid's owner, Murdoch's News Corp., would claim that the illegal activity was an aberration - the work of single rogue reporter. But a stream of lawsuits as well as enterprising reporting by the Guardian and The New York Times eventually exposed a massive cover-up.
Once so powerful that many referred to him as a permanent cabinet minister, Rupert Murdoch's influence in Britain crumbled, and politicians who once assiduously courted the Australian tycoon have rushed to distance themselves from him.
Rupert
Reputation Shattered In UK, Embraced As GOP Kingmaker In U.S.
Rupert
News today that eight of Rupert Murdoch former editors and reporters have
been charged with phone hacking crimes, coupled with Murdoch's recent
resignation from directorship of
several News Corp. companies that publish his British newspapers, marks
the latest signs that the mogul's once-powerful place among British
media and political elite has evaporated to almost nothing. Once crowned
as an all-powerful kingmaker whom prime ministers courted and enemies
feared, Murdoch, in the wake of the phone hacking scandal and the sea of
broadening criminal investigations, remains a man besieged by bad news.
With each passing week
and month evidence has continued to mount, suggesting Murdoch's media properties were run at times as criminal
enterprises, with formal charges now made that more than 600 people had
their voice mails hacked by Murdoch employees. Earlier this year, a
Parliamentary report found Murdoch "not fit"
to lead a major international company.
Yet at the same time Murdoch is forced to withdrawal from Britain's
political life, his profile is rapidly rising
in the United States thanks to the unprecedented role News Corp's Fox
News is playing this election cycle as it openly, and forcefully,
campaigns against President Obama. The dichotomy between Murdoch's
standing in Britain and America is striking, for rarely has a media
mogul had his fortunes sink so low on one continent, while
simultaneously rise so high on another.
His reputation in the UK may lay in tatters, but Murdoch remains without
a doubt the most powerful media player in Republican circles today
simply because of the right-wing megaphone Fox News has become as it
completely overshadows the Republican National Committee and other
traditional political power bases and serves as the de facto
headquarters of the GOP in America.
Rupert
Strange And Sudden Massive Melt
Greenland
Nearly all of Greenland's massive ice sheet suddenly started melting a bit this month, a freak event that surprised scientists.
Even Greenland's coldest and highest place, Summit station, showed melting. Ice core records show that last happened in 1889 and occurs about once every 150 years.
Three satellites show what NASA calls unprecedented melting of the ice sheet that blankets the island, starting on July 8 and lasting four days. Most of the thick ice remains. While some ice usually melts during the summer, what was unusual was that the melting happened in a flash and over a widespread area.
"You literally had this wave of warm air wash over the Greenland ice sheet and melt it," NASA ice scientist Tom Wagner said Tuesday.
The ice melt area went from 40 percent of the ice sheet to 97 percent in four days, according to NASA. Until now, the most extensive melt seen by satellites in the past three decades was about 55 percent.
Greenland
Condoms In Porn On Ballot
LA County
Los Angeles County officials have approved a ballot initiative that will ask voters to decide whether porn actors should be required to wear condoms in sex scenes.
The Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to ask voters whether to require adult filmmakers to get health permits from the county for film production.
The initiative is backed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and spokeswoman Lori Yeghiayan says condom use is one condition of getting the permits.
The city passed an ordinance earlier this year requiring condoms to be used in any porn that is granted a filming permit.
LA County
TV Channel Caters To Fully Veiled Women
Egypt
The only visible female face in the Cairo-based studio of a new Islamic TV channel for women is that of a puppet. The human stars are all veiled from head to toe, with only their eyes showing.
Maria TV is run primarily by women. They operate cameras, present shows and interview female guests ranging from doctors to students of Islamic theology. But they cannot show their faces during the broadcasts, and no men are allowed on air during the female programming, not even for phone-ins.
The channel, which was launched on Saturday to coincide with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is the brainchild of Ahmed Abdallah as part of a broader effort to expand his religious pan-Arab satellite station Ummah TV.
The shows range from beauty programs where presenters simply discuss make-up tricks without actually showing any to shows about medicine and marriage. The puppet is used in a satirical show that pokes fun at major news stories.
Maria TV is named after the Coptic Christian slave given to the Prophet Muhammad, whom he married and freed.
Egypt
Museum Exhibit
DB Cooper
The Washington State History Museum in Tacoma plans to open an exhibit in August of next year on the D.B. Cooper skyjacking mystery.
State Historical Society Director Jennifer Kilmer tells The Daily News it's part of an emphasis on more contemporary events.
A man identifying himself as Dan Cooper hijacked a Portland to Seattle flight in November 1971. He picked up $200,000 in ransom money in Seattle and took off for Mexico, then parachuted somewhere over southwest Washington. The skyjacking remains unsolved, but some of the marked $20 bills he was given were found in 1980 along the Columbia River.
The exhibit will include some of the money. It also will illustrate features of an old Boeing 727 that have been changed in modern planes to prevent skyjackings.
DB Cooper
So. California Hunter
Utah 'Goat Man'
State wildlife officials have identified the man who has been spotted dressed in a goat suit among a herd of wild goats in the mountains of northern Utah.
Phil Douglass of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said Monday the mystery man is a 57-year-old hunter from Southern California.
Douglass told the Standard-Examiner that the hunter called officials and provided enough information to put their curiosity to rest. Douglass says he didn't ask for a name.
The man told Douglass he was preparing for an archery hunt of mountain goats next year and testing a goat suit. Douglass says the hunter came to Utah because he heard it was easier to get near goats for training.
The man described his suit as a hooded painter's uniform and a fleece.
Utah 'Goat Man'
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 16-22. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 10.17 million.
2. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 8.99 million.
3. "The Bachelorette" (Sunday), ABC, 8.86 million.
4. "The Bachelorette After the Final Rose," ABC, 8.8 million.
5. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 7.61 million.
6. "60 Minutes," CBS, 7.46 million.
7. "Two and a Half Men" (Thursday), CBS, 7.43 million.
8. "NCIS," CBS, 7.2 million.
9. "The Bachelorette" (Monday), ABC, 7.16 million.
10. "Hell's Kitchen" (Monday), Fox, 6.333 million.
11. "Masterchef" (Monday), Fox, 6.327 million.
12. "Big Brother 14" (Thursday), CBS, 6.27 million.
13. "Masterchef" (Tuesday), Fox, 6.16 million.
14. "Hell's Kitchen" (Tuesday), Fox, 6.02 million.
15. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 5.8 million.
16. "Big Brother 14" (Wednesday), CBS, 5.78 million.
17. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 5.75 million.
18. "Person of Interest" (Tuesday), CBS, 5.56 million.
19. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 5.54 million.
20. "Big Brother 14" (Sunday), CBS, 5.37 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Sherman Hemsley
Sherman Hemsley, the actor who made the irascible, bigoted George Jefferson of "The Jeffersons" one of television's most memorable characters and a symbol for urban upward mobility, has died. He was 74.
The Philadelphia-born Hemsley first played the blustering black Harlem businessman on CBS's "All in the Family" before he was spun off onto "The Jeffersons," which in 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985 became one of TV's most successful sitcoms - particularly noteworthy with its mostly black cast.
With the gospel-style theme song of "Movin' On Up," the hit show depicted the wealthy former neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker in Queens as they made their way on New York's Upper East Side. Hemsley and the Jeffersons (Isabel Sanford played his wife) often dealt with contemporary issues of racism, but more frequently reveled in the sitcom archetype of a short-tempered, opinionated patriarch trying, often unsuccessfully to control his family.
Hemsley's feisty, diminutive father with an exaggerated strut was a kind of black corollary to Archie Bunker - a stubborn, high-strung man who had a deep dislike for whites (his favorite word for them was honkies). Yet unlike the blue-collar Bunker, played by Carroll O'Connor, he was a successful businessman whose was as rich as he was crass. His wife, Weezie, was often his foil - yet provided plenty of zingers as well.
Despite the character's many faults - money-driven, prejudiced, temperamental, a boor - Hemsley managed to make the character endearing as well, part of the reason it stayed on the air for so long. Much like O'Connor's portrayal of Archie Bunker, deep down, Hemsley's Jefferson loved his family, his friends (even the ones he relentlessly teased) and had a good heart. His performance was Emmy and Golden Globe nominated.
Sherman Alexander Hemsley, though, was far less feisty. The son of a printing press-working father and a factory-working mother, Hemsley served in the Air Force and worked for eight years as a clerk for the Postal Service.
Having studied acting as an adolescent at the Philadelphia Academy of Dramatic Arts, he began acting in New York workshops and theater companies, including the Negro Ensemble Company. For years, he kept his job at the post office while acting at night, before transitioning to acting full-time.
He made his Broadway debut in 1970's "Purlie," a musical adaptation of Ossie Davis' Jim Crow-era play "Purlie Victorious." (Hemsley would later star in a 1981 made-for-TV version of "Purlie," as well.) It was while touring the show that Hemsley was approached by Norman Lear about playing a character on the sitcom that would become "All in the Family."
Hemsley joined the show in 1973, immediately catapulting himself from an obscure theater actor to a hit character on the enormously popular show. Two years later, "The Jeffersons" was spun off. Among the numerous "All in the Family" spin-offs ("Maude," ''Archie Bunker's Place, "704 Hauser"), "The Jeffersons" was the longest-running.
The character, the owner of a chain of dry-cleaning stores, was devised, Hemsley said, as "pompous and feisty."
After "The Jeffersons" was abruptly cancelled, Hemsley starred in the sitcom "Amen" as a fiery Philadelphia church deacon, Ernest Frye. The show latest five years, running 1986 to 1991.
Hemsley frequently turned up as a guest on sitcoms like "Family Matters," ''The Hughleys" and even, in a voice role, "Family Guy." He twice reprised George Jefferson, appearing as his famous character on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and, in 2011, on "House of Payne."
Hemsley, whose films include 1979's "Love at First Bite," 1987's "Stewardess School" and 1987's "Ghost Fever," released an album, "Ain't That a Kick in the Head," in 1989.
Sherman Hemsley
In Memory
Chad Everett
Chad Everett, the blue-eyed star of the 1970s TV series "Medical Center" who went on to appear in such films and TV shows as "Mulholland Drive" and "Melrose Place," has died. He was 75.
Everett's daughter, Katherine Thorp, said he died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles after a year-and-a-half-long battle with lung cancer.
Everett played sensitive surgeon Joe Gannon for seven seasons on "Medical Center." The role earned him Golden Globe nominations in 1971 and 1973.
With a career spanning more than 40 years, Everett guest starred on such TV series as "The Love Boat," ''Murder, She Wrote" and "Without a Trace." Everett most recently appeared on the TV shows "Castle" and "Supernatural," where he appeared as an older version of Jensen Ackles' character Dean Winchester.
Everett's films credits included "The Jigsaw Murders," ''The Firechasers" and director Gus Van Sant's remake of "Psycho."
Everett was born Raymon Lee Cramton in South Bend, Ind., and graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit before moving to Los Angeles and becoming a contract player with MGM.
In perhaps his most memorable recent film role, Everett played a lothario who engages in a steamy audition with a young ingenue portrayed by Naomi Watts in director David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive".
Everett is survived by his two daughters, Katherine and Shannon, and six grandchildren. He was married to actress Shelby Grant for 45 years until her death last year.
Chad Everett
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