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Archive for the ‘music’ Category

More than 30 years later, REO Speedwagon becomes, well, a video game

posted by brad wong on 2009.12.02, under history, music, video, wow

 

I admit that I read The New York Times because I’m interested in what one of the nation’s best news companies puts online throughout the day.

There are the insider stories, the only-in-Manhattan pieces, the inside-the-Beltway analysis and the occasional throat-clearing essays.

Overall, a pretty good and quick way to get caught up on national and international headlines.

So, when I spotted the words, REO Speedwagon, on the company’s homepage, I went for the mouse to click and read.

I hadn’t heard those words in, well, at least 15 to 20 years. They once were prevalent in my brain and American pop culture.

The Times reported that the band popular in the 1980s has been turned into a video game. The game’s details really didn’t interest me.

What did was a basic reaction: Wow, REO Speedwagon is still around.

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For its music, SOUR turns to fans in a form of video crowdsourcing, democracy

posted by brad wong on 2009.07.09, under context, music, technology, video, wow

 

(UPDATE: The video has disappeared from Vimeo. But the above version is from YouTube. You can find a version on the group’s Web site.) 

More than six years ago, I interviewed Glen Hiemstra, a man who uses the title of futurist, for a short profile.

As I recall, he kept referring to science fiction that day. His reasoning:  What might seem like far-fetched ideas from science fiction can become reality years later. 

In other words, science fiction helps us think in new ways. Or to think different. I think you can throw music and art into the same category.

I say this after watching the above work of musical trio, SOUR. The song is called, “Tone of everyday.” The people in the video live around the world. Individual Web cams captured each one.

I think it’s safe to call it a form of crowdsourcing.

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Really? You think China’s 5,000-year-old history is old? You hear about that flute?

posted by brad wong on 2009.06.24, under history, music, wow

If you think camera film is old school, it’s time to think again.

And if you believe the high end of China’s history, 5,000 years or so, stretches way back on the global timeline, well, shift continents for a moment.

And your thinking, too. Try seven times those 5,000 years.

Archaeologists in Germany have announced they discovered a bone flute – dating back at least 35,000 years ago, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

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