Got this from the Flat Earth Society this AM...

THOMAS DOLBY REMIXES RADIOHEAD

80'S ICON 'SAT SHIVERING BY NORTH SEA' TO CRAFT ETHEREAL REMIX

(Suffolk, UK April 21st 2008) Influential electronic musician and early MTV icon Thomas Dolby has produced a stunning remix of Radiohead's current single 'Nude'. The dreamy, semi-ambient mix is reminiscent of Dolby's work as a collaborator with the likes of Joni Mitchell, Prefab Sprout and Joan Armatrading.

Continuing the innovative marketing approach for their album 'In Rainbows',
Radiohead has allowed users to download individual 'stems' of the song to create their own remix, and upload it for public listening and voting. Thomas Dolby has never met Radiohead, and his remix was unsolicited. Instead, he simply downloaded to song parts from iTunes for $0.99 each and created his own mix, submitting it to http://www.radioheadremix.com along with nearly 2000 other fans. Most of these remixers are amateur enthusiasts and virtually unknown, but Dolby is perhaps the best-known participant to date. He explains how it came about:

'I was trying out my new wireless router to see if I could get reception down on the beach in front of my house,' said Dolby. 'Sitting there shivering beside the North Sea with my laptop, huddled in a blanket and listening to Radiohead's 'Nude' stems on iTunes, with the waves lapping the shore and a crowd of seagulls fighting over a crab shell, I got an idea for a lovely remix.'

Entitled 'Nude (Bathing In The Icefloe Mix)' it is available for free at http://www.radioheadremix.com/remix/?id=1825. There are no plans to release it commercially. Thomas Dolby—these days often regarded as the original steampunk--made a return to touring last year after a hiatus of nearly 15 years. During this time his technology company Beatnik Inc was responsible for engineering the ringtone synthesiser embedded in nearly 800 million mobile phones made by Nokia and other manufacturers. In the mid-90's Beatnik also powered the first ever Web-wide remix contests for artists like Queen Latifah, Britney Spears, N'Sync and David Bowie. How does Dolby feel about being on the 'other end of the wire' and submitting his own Radiohead remix along with thousands of fans?

'Well as a fan myself I'm happy to pay homage to Radiohead just because I adore their music. But objectively, it's great that a band of their stature would open up their intricately crafted music to regular users. And I love the fact that anyone with affordable music software gets to have a go, and might end up with the most votes. It's a true meritocracy in this amazing age of YouTube and MySpace, where big record labels and stadium rock bands are on level playing field with the hordes of brilliant amateurs out there who have never had an audience of their own.'

Hear Thomas Dolby's 'Nude (Bathing In The Icefloe Mix)' at http://www.radioheadremix.com/remix/?id=1825

For more information contact Lisa Klein lisa@Optic-Noise .

YO YO COP!

If it doesn't show up CLICK HERE!

Orchid Lament, created by my buddy Brian Cooper, and directed by Dianne Cooper.



This episode: Orchid's daughter tries to come to terms with fairy disphoria, when she realizes her boyfriend is turning into a fairy as well. Not a "Richard Simmons" fairy. A "Tinkerbell" fairy.

by the artists at Zombieduck Films!

I found this music video to be completely gratuitous. Two Thumbs WAY up!

Hey, just to let you know, my laptop suffered a major stroke the day before yesterday... ("Files on my hard drive? No... and what is this 'operating system' you speak of?")

Somehow the computer can't find the partition on the HD that holds like, all the information on the thing.  So I have a guy coming in to look at it today. We're going to make it better. Stronger. Faster.  And hopefully a lot less stupid. And for less than six million dollars!

Plus we're in the midst of an ongoing family tragedy, that's taking some time... My wife's grandmother fell and hit her head in the nursing home she was in, and is in a coma that they don't expect her to wake from...

And her uncle (who has Down's Syndrome) has vegetation in his heart valves, and low blood count... they're thinking leukemia.  

And this has all been in the last 36 hours.  OY.

So if I'm out of touch for a while, you know why.

Scroll all the way down! (Take your time... I would.)

I could have done this all day, but alas, real life intrudes where plans falter.

Can we all agree, that DAMN! I have the sexiest damn friends list on the planet? Lemme get a witness!

I have to give props where props are due. This was sent to me via e-mail from my friend Twyla. I don't know if SHE wrote it (it sounds like her, mostly), but it's DAMN funny.

================

'New Rules for 2008'

New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com ! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days --- mowing my lawn.

New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Lobster?

New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keep sakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Good, we're done.

New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but, without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a 'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,' ooooh, you're a huge asshole.

New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringin g me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass . And it translates to 'beef with broccoli.' The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN Recently televised the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait, they're already doing that. It's called 'The Howard Stern Show.'

New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote &g t; so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.

New Rule: And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell If he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, Dude. I just want to wash my hands

New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than Minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every a viable piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, 'Do you want fries with that?

Ok, every one keeps asking me "What do I want for Christmas?"

To which I reply "Peace, Love and Brotherhood."

And no one believes me. Because they know me to be the most self centered person they know. And most of the time they'd be right. (I came THIS CLOSE to posting my Amazon Wish list.)

But honestly, not so much this year. Too many things to think about, and too many things that have made me stop and think.

If you feel you must get me a gift, find a charity, like The Red Cross, Salvation Army, Goodwill, Catholic Charities, Wichita Film Festivals or something like that, and donate the money you would have spent on us to them. And just think fondly of us.

If you STILL feel like we should have to HAVE something, Do this:

(and be gentle, I'm making this up as I go along.)

Draw something, take a picture, write a poem, something creative. Heck, just sign your name if that's all you can do Put it in a Christmas card and mail it to us. (I'm not posting my address here. It's all over my site -www.mirthquake.net- if you need it.)

You see this is our first Holiday in our new house. And though our tree is up, the area around it looks a little... barren. So I'd like to have a Wall of Friends this holiday... whether you're an old friend reacquainted on this site, or we're new friends thrown together by the winds of creativity, adversity or burritos, we'd love to have you participate.

I'll take pictures and send them to each of you via the site, so you can start your own wall of friends next year. And I'll scan each one and add a gallery to my site, so you can share in the warmth.

Sound like fun? (just be sure to write your email and address in the card so when we take it down and put it in THE BOOK we can still contact you!)

So Happy Hannukwansmas!

M

"StupidTester.com says I'm 0% Stupid! How stupid are you? Click Here!"


I have no Idea why I took it... But I'm glad I did poorly!

Hey, I need to give you all the CathARTic State of the Union address, but I'm not gonna.

"But WHY?" I hear you ask. "We can't LIVE without knowing!"

"Because," say I, "It's going to be on its OWN myspace page!"

Yup! CathARTic FINALLY has its own MySpace Page! Please go add it as a friend!

http://www.myspace.com/catharticartevents

And we have HHHUUUGGGEEE plans for next year. But you're gonna have to be a friend to find out!

ANd yes, I changed up my Friends list again. The criteria this time? These are all people I know in real life, and/or potentially know so well that I could walk up to them, hug them, and they'd either hug me back, or stand there awkwardly and wonder what the hell had gotten into me.

Hmmm... would YOU hug me back, or tell this big chimp to get out of your dance space? Is it entirely too late to posit such a question? You betcha. (And it sounded weirdly needy. Chimp needs a nap!)

So GO SIGN UP ON THE CATHARTIC PAGE and we'll talk soon!

Mirthy.