M Is FOR MASHUP - December 24th, 2014
Have A BMBX Christmas!
From DJ Useo
Anyone who reads this weekly column knows I loves me some Halloween music. However, did you know I love Christmas music, too? I've caroled, played Handel's "Messiah" with professional orchestra & choir, & one of my favorite songs is actually "The Little Drummer Boy". ( Try it, you can sing the words to nearly any song, lol ) But now, If you enjoy the music of the Yuletide season, you're in for the best you can find!
The BMBX long mix site has been around about 14 years now, I'd guess, & it's a big tradition there to post Christmas mixes every December. As fine as they've been in the past, ( They've been excellent! Archives all working! ) the new batch this year will blow your mind! Allow me now to begin the titles, & url's.
01 - Warvadal brings us "Homie For The Holidaze". This joyous passage is an hour & a minute of tunes selected by a master. The music goes from Elephant Eardrum, to Kid Hum, to Raddiculous. What that means is you're getting totally fresh Christmas music! Warvadal is a great long mixer, so expect to be totally pleased.
Stream, or download here
( www.bmbx.org/2014/12/homie-for-the-holidaze/ )
02 - "Condiments of the Season" from Hidden Persuaders runs 80 minutes, & you'll be glad it does. Not only do you get some fine label Christmas tunes, but there's a bunch of great Christmas mashups in there. It runs through the Pet Shop Boys, to Vic Damone, to Patti Page. All too quickly this gem passes by. It's egg nog a riffic!
Stream, or download here
( www.bmbx.org/2014/12/condiments-of-the-season/ )
03 - S*A*T has provided "
Santa's Long Lost Christmas Album", which is generous at one hour, 18 minutes. Over 24 tracks you'll find all kinds of Christmas music. There's familiar artists like Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, & Ella Fitzgerald, but the twist is they're all modern remixes. They fit perfectly with the many unmixed tracks so that it all adds up to one excellent Christmas mix.
Stream, or download here
( www.bmbx.org/2014/12/santas-long-lost-christmas-album/ )
04 - DJ Riko is probably the King Of Christmas long mixes. In my mind he is. Every year since I remember, DJ Riko releases an awesome Christmas mix. He's been as reliable as Santa, & he doesn't keep a "naughty" list. Lol. This 2014 version of DJ Riko's Yuletide flow runs through James Brown to Earth, Wind & Fire to Percy Faith, & so many more. It truly embodies the modern Christmas audio spirit.
Stream, or download here
( www.bmbx.org/2014/12/merry-mixmas-2014/ )
To top off the 5 hours of music represented above, here's a few wonderful Christmas mashups from some mixer pals of mine. Merry Christmas, youse two.
G3rst brings you "Carol of the Tolling Bell" (Metallica vs Shawn Lee) as heard on "Santastic 9 the Christmas mashup album" .
( www.g3rst.com/ )
He also has 2013's "Sleigh Me Like A Pirate" ( Flynt Flossy, Yung Humma & Whatchyamacallit vs André Rieu ) still available for your seasonal pleasure.
( hearthis.at/g3rst/sleigh-me-like-a-pirate/ )
Tweylo is a wonderful mixer, & he really nails the Christmas vibe with "17 Forever" ( Rob Thomas vs Audra Mae vs Eurythmics )
( soundcloud.com/tweylo/17-forever )
So, Merry Christmas to y'all! I hope you listen to the mixes. Yule be glad you did!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Patricia Williams: Anti-intellectualism is taking over the US (Guardian)
The rise in academic book bannings and firings is compounded by the US's growing disregard for scholarship itself.
Lisa Skye, Paul Rasche: "Where Aren't They Now? 10 Overlooked Deaths of 2014 (Part 2)" (Cracked)
… every year at this time, Cracked likes to stop and memorialize the less famous deaths that probably flew under your radar: …
Parker Bauer: The craft of fiction and the art of rewriting (Weekly Standard)
Historically, we've had witchcraft, priestcraft, warcraft, and occasionally a spot of statecraft. Today, we have craft beers in corner bars and craft talks at conclaves of writers around the country. Craft is mellowing with age.
Rob Goodman: How to be Intoxicated (Chronicle)
Most of what's oldest about us humans is still younger than drinking.
Mark Coker: Is Kindle Unlimited Devaluing Books? The Dark Side of Exclusivity (Smashwords)
In my previous post, I examined how authors can succeed despite the challenging sales environment for ebooks. Today, I examine how Amazon's Kindle Unlimited could jeopardize the independence of indie authors.
Paul Berman: "The Crack-Up: F. Scott Fitzgerald Might Have Warned 'TNR' About Dumb Rich People" (Tablet)
Farewell to my beloved magazine, my old and treasured home.
Stephen Cave: Everlasting glory (Aeon)
There are few fantasies so absurd as the idea of living on through fame. So why does immortality still beckon?
Cherry Steam (DeviantArt)
Downloadable Doctor Who Bookmark.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warm.
RERUN
FRESH
Loses Bid For Rights
Stan Lee Media
A Colorado company lost its latest fight against Disney over the rights to Marvel's iconic comic book characters Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled it could not claim ownership to certain superheroes such as Spider-Man and Iron Man.
In its decision, a panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Stan Lee Media, which sought profits from the $5.5 billion the company says Disney made from movies and merchandise featuring Marvel's superheros.
Stan Lee Media no longer is affiliated with comic book writer Stan Lee. But the company argued it had the rights to at least some of the characters under a 1998 agreement. Lee later sent Stan Lee Media a letter terminating the agreement because the company had breached the deal. He gave the same rights to Marvel, spawning the series of courtroom battles. Stan Lee Media has sued Marvel and others over the characters' copyrights in at least six cases, all of which have been dismissed, according to court documents.
In oral arguments in October, Disney argued there was no conceivable way the company could state a viable copyright claim.
Stan Lee Media
Thin Blue Line Of Racists?
NYPD
From the dingy donut shops of Manhattan to the cloistered police watering holes in Brooklyn, a number of black NYPD officers say they have experienced the same racial profiling that cost Eric Garner his life.
Garner, a 43-year-old black man suspected of illegally peddling loose cigarettes, died in July after a white officer put him in a chokehold. His death, and that of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, has sparked a slew of nationwide protests against police tactics. On Saturday, those tensions escalated after a black gunman, who wrote of avenging the black deaths on social media, shot dead two New York policemen.
What's emerging now is that, within the thin blue line of the NYPD, there is another divide - between black and white officers.
Reuters interviewed 25 African American male officers on the NYPD, 15 of whom are retired and 10 of whom are still serving. All but one said that, when off duty and out of uniform, they had been victims of racial profiling, which refers to using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime.
The officers said this included being pulled over for no reason, having their heads slammed against their cars, getting guns brandished in their faces, being thrown into prison vans and experiencing stop and frisks while shopping. The majority of the officers said they had been pulled over multiple times while driving. Five had had guns pulled on them.
NYPD
Ohio Officials Order Removal
Zombie Nativity
A suburban Cincinnati man's zombie-themed Nativity scene has caused quite a stir in his neighborhood, with some considering it a holiday treat. But others see a nightmare before Christmas.
Responding to two anonymous complaints, officials in Ohio's Sycamore Township said on Tuesday they have ordered Jasen Dixon to take down his display by Friday because it violates local property maintenance codes.
Dixon, who manages a haunted attraction in Indiana, faces a $1,000 fine if he does not remove the 10-foot by 10-foot structure he built three weeks ago.
He said he made the models for the zombie Mary and three wise men and borrowed props to make the Joseph and Jesus zombie figures. The baby Jesus is pale with totally white eyes, while the other life-sized figures are partly skeletal.
Dixon, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years and never received any other citations, was also cited for junk and debris on his property that he said was never an issue before. He said he is still considering what to do with the manger scene by the township's Friday deadline, the day after Christmas.
Zombie Nativity
'Zombie Church'
Slovenia
"In the name of the Bell, the Pan and the Holy Pot..." Slovenia's newest religion may have the strangest of scriptures, but in a country plagued by corruption scandals, its anti-graft gospel has gained a huge following.
The Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing has become the country's fifth biggest religion in less than a year, according to its founder Rok Gros, with already over 10,000 faithful in a nation of two million.
Once a model EU and eurozone state, Slovenia has been hit by spectacular church and state corruption, with one jailed former prime minister still securing massive support in recent elections, while other public figures have remained in high positions despite allegations of impropriety.
But it was the jailed former premier Janez Jansa who gave the Church its name when he dismissed those who demanded his resignation as "zombies". Protesters adopted the insult as a badge of honour.
Slovenia
Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion
Michael Grimm
A US congressman pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion Tuesday, the latest stain for a lawmaker dogged by controversy but who won re-election last month despite indictment on criminal charges.
Michael Grimm (R-Stereotype), a former FBI agent who represents parts of New York's Staten Island and Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return that underreported wages and sales in 2009.
The House Republican, whose federal court trial was due to begin February 2, faces up to 36 months in a federal prison. A judge set sentencing for June 8.
In a 20-count indictment in April, prosecutors accused Grimm, 44, of paying employees with envelopes of cash and of lying under oath about his responsibility for handling payroll.
Grimm made headlines in January after being caught on camera threatening to throw a reporter off a Washington balcony after the journalist asked Grimm about the investigation.
Michael Grimm
To Stand Trial
Columbus Short
Columbus Short was ordered to stand trial on a felony battery charge after a witness testified that the former "Scandal" actor delivered a running punch on a man who wasn't looking his direction.
Superior Court Commissioner Mark Zuckman ruled Tuesday that prosecutors had shown enough evidence to support the charge, but expressed doubts about the credibility of some of the testimony from the man Short attacked.
Short struck Fenton Hyche III in the parking lot of a Los Angeles bar on March 15. Hyche suffered a concussion and fractured eye socket after arguing with Short at a family gathering at the bar.
The actor's attorney, Michael M. Levin, argued his client was acting in self-defence because Hyche was prepared to fight Short. However, Hyche's father had intervened and was holding his son's forearms when the actor delivered the punch, according to testimony Tuesday.
Columbus Short
Birth Control As 'Treason'
Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described efforts to promote birth control as "treason", saying contraception risked causing a whole generation to "dry up", reports said Monday.
Erdogan made the comments on Sunday, directly addressing the bride and groom at the Istanbul wedding ceremony of the son of businessman Mustafa Kefeli, who is one of his close allies.
He told the newly-weds that using birth control was a betrayal of Turkey's ambition to make itself a flourishing nation with an expanding young population.
Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, a doctor with two children, had at the weekend also caused controversy by declaring pregnant women did not have the right to decide how they would deliver their child.
Turkey
A Brief History
Unpunished Spying
This is the story of John Brennan's CIA spying on Congress and getting away with it.
Last March, Senator Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA of spying on the Senate intelligence committee as it labored to finalize its report on the torture of prisoners. "I have grave concerns that the CIA's search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution," she said. "I have asked for an apology and a recognition that this CIA search of computers used by its oversight committee was inappropriate. I have received neither."
CIA Director John Brennan denied the charge. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "We wouldn't do that. That's just beyond the scope of reason in terms of what we'd do." It would be months before his denial was publicly proved false. "An internal investigation by the C.I.A. has found that its officers penetrated a computer network used by the Senate Intelligence Committee in preparing its damning report on the C.I.A.'s detention and interrogation program," The New York Times reported. "The report by the agency's inspector general also found that C.I.A. officers read the emails of the Senate investigators and sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department based on false information."
Late last week, that internal "accountability board" announced the results of its review. If you've followed the impunity with which the CIA has broken U.S. laws throughout its history, you'll be unsurprised to learn that no one is going to be "dealt with very harshly" after all. "A panel investigating the Central Intelligence Agency's search of a computer network used by staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who were looking into the C.I.A.'s use of torture will recommend against punishing anyone involved in the episode," The New York Times reports. "The panel will make that recommendation after the five C.I.A. officials who were singled out by the agency's inspector general this year for improperly ordering and carrying out the computer searches staunchly defended their actions, saying that they were lawful and in some cases done at the behest of John O. Brennan."
Done at the behest of Brennan, who once feigned ignorance about the actions in question, going so far as to declare them beyond the scope of reason! "While effectively rejecting the most significant conclusions of the inspector general's report," the story continues, "the panel, appointed by Mr. Brennan and composed of three C.I.A. officers and two members from outside the agency, is still expected to criticize agency missteps that contributed to the fight with Congress." Who'd have guessed that a panel appointed by Brennan to look into malfeasance presided over and in some cases ordered by Brennan would decide that neither Brennan nor any of the people Brennan leads should be held accountable?
Unpunished Spying
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Dec. 15-21. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: Seattle at Arizona, NBC, 19.29 million.
2. "NCIS," CBS, 17.53 million.
3. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 14.14 million.
4. "60 Minutes," CBS, 13.18 million.
5. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 13.03 million.
6. NFL Football: San Diego at San Francisco, 12.96 million.
7. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 12.88 million.
8. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 12.07 million.
9. NFL Football: New Orleans at Chicago, ESPN, 11.07 million.
10. "The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 10.61 million.
11. "Saturday Night NFL Pre-Kick," CBS, 10.27 million.
12. "Scorpion," CBS, 10.07 million.
13. "Mom," CBS, 10.01 million.
14. "Survivor, CBS, 9.79 million.
15. "Football Night in America, Part 3," NBC, 9.71 million.
16. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 9.54 million.
17. "Saturday Night Kick-Off Show," CBS, 9.34 million.
18. "Person of Interest," CBS, 8.94 million.
19. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 8.8 million.
20. "The Mentalist," CBS, 8.68 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Jeremy Lloyd
Jeremy Lloyd, who co-created British hit TV comedies "'Allo 'Allo!" and "Are You Being Served?" and also appeared on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," has died at the age of 84, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Lloyd penned "Are You Being Served?," which was set in a department store, with David Croft, who died in 2011. The show was partly based on his time working as a suit salesman in a London store. The series ran on the BBC from 1972-85.
The show had two spinoffs, "Grace & Favour" and "Come Back Mrs Noah," both co-written with Croft.
The duo's other TV hit was the BBC's "'Allo 'Allo!," which was set in Nazi-occupied France. It ran from 1982-92.
Lloyd appeared regularly as an actor on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," where his upper-class British accent was popular with U.S. audiences. He also wrote for the show.
Lloyd was married three times, including to the actress Joanna Lumley for a short period in 1970. He married his third fourth wife, Lizzy Moberly, six months ago.
Jeremy Lloyd
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