Thoughts on Modern Art

Art a term that is used so broadly, not to mention Modern Art comes with varied opinions, revised histories finally noting the women artists of history, and many categories. So, were do we begin?

Having worked in the gallery world for 28 years and being an artist myself I am sure that my views are varied further to say the least.

Contemporary Art, also have many definitions, it can quite simply mean living artists. It has also become a term that catches art that usually is not representational. It also can mean artists that push media to the limits presenting them in a new and contemporary way.

So, art in the modern time encompasses so many things which are exciting, challenging, and controversial at times. This art is a deep expression of the artists creating in a world that for lack of a better word currently dwells on the negative which is often the exact opposite of most artists’ works. It is true that many art images are a direct reflection of the times with images that cry out for social change, this can also be noted throughout history during times of war, and crimes against man and nature.

Living and working in the Santa Fe, the second largest art market in the United States, I tend to look at art as beauty, uplifting and inspiring.

With that said, you can see almost anything in Santa Fe; from the roots of the Native American and Spanish history so very rich in the culture here to everything else. Having the only Museum dedicated to a woman artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, to the NM Museum of Art, and the International Folk Art Museum, and the Native American Museum to name just a few of many.

Along side of the museums are over 200 art galleries making Santa Fe an art center of the southwest. We have the pioneer galleries that brought contemporary art to Santa Fe before it was popular here to now having a very large selection of contemporary galleries including Veilleux Fine Art.

Often times I am asked about how to invest in art, or why to collect a certain artist, of do I think it will match the sofa? All good and important questions as you are selecting something very personal for your home or office.

My response is that you should buy art because you love it. All the other factors will work themselves out. If you collect what you love it will go with the sofa and the artist may be a noted artist in history one day. Of course it is always good to know what level an artist is currently, which is often reflected in the pricing of an artist.

Then there is always the current trend in art which seems to be Asian at the moment, so you will see serge of art in American galleries and museums. I often wonder why everyone hops on the band wagon with trendy art. With that said, there is room for all art as it is the creative expression of the artist weather we appreciate it or not. If art provokes emotion that it truly has done its job.

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Knights and Film Music

The Knight is an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of courage and honour.

Knighthood was characterized by two elements, feudalism and service as a mounted combatant. Both arose under the reign of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne, from which the knighthood of the Middle Ages can be seen to have had its genesis.

Knights were trained in hunting, fighting, and riding. They were also trained to practise courteous, honorable behaviour, which was extremely important.

This behaviour was a Code of Honour, made of solemn oaths, like to protect the people and to live by honour and for glory.

Danger was part of a Knight’s life, and you can feel dangerous surroundings in this orchestral demo.

Part of the track is from the music soundtrack I’m composing and producing for the Nintendo DS videogame Baalzebul. It is an innovative fantasy role play game. The first playable demo will be completed soon.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy setting.

It was developed by Mythic Entertainment and simultaneously released in North and South Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand on September 18, 2008.

The game revolves around the continual worldwide conflict that the Warhammer Fantasy setting is known for, and the game is geared toward ongoing, constant war laced with dark humor.

These tracks are demonstrations of my skills and creative ideas and in each post I’ll explain the inspiration that moves them, the images I would like you to see while listening to them and the feelings.

Astronauts and Funk Music

This first post is dedicated to big 80s space operas, movies, novels and sci-fi culture. This is also a trip to old good 80s with their catchy rhythms, synths and guitars.

This first demo starts with a space choir, an opening orchestra and choir theme, I can say epic and grand, that creates images of galaxies, shuttles, astronauts and the infinity of the universe.

The choir evolves into a rock instrumental piece, with 80s synth effects that add a spacey feel to the entire track. I can name it “space rock”.

The next style is jazz, a universal style that will never end to please our ears, today, and in the next centuries.

Synths are back in an 80s pop mix, while a really catching funk part ends the demonstration, making us really uplifting and excited.

I dedicate this music work to Richard Garriott, Lord British in Ultima and significant figure in the video game industry.

On October 12, 2008, Garriott launched aboard Soyuz TMA-13 to the International Space Station as a self-funded tourist, returning safely 12 days later aboard Soyuz TMA-12.

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To the audience of music

There was recently given a concert in New York mainly consisting of works by Mozart. When a soprano afterwards would perform some songs by Webern (music soon a hundred years old but Atonal) the audience BOOED her out! OPUS, the leading musical magazine of Sweden, therefore put the question, why Swedes don’t boo at concerts.

The short answer is simple. They are brought up not to, and whoever violates the pattern therefore risks “making a fool of himself”. The longer answer is somewhat more complicated, but still logic to those who have the energy to look a little deeper into the crystal ball.

All avant-gardists who have advanced to some level live in some kind of symbiosis with the culture knowledgeables of the media. Together they form a hype and a trademark. This trademark is in most cases equivalent to the personal name of “the artist”. After a number of times in the limelight they are suddenly celebrities.

Then it’s especially important to remember, that this celebrity status has only been reached by “State sponsorship” and clever (culture) lobbyists who all pull in the same direction tonally. All this, however, has been done over the heads of the audience, which, at a first night, has no choice but to join in the collective ritual of applauses.

The only alternative would be to boo or to refuse to applaud, that is civil disobedience, which most people lack the civil courage to carry through in for instance a direct transmission. If the audience would be disinterested, it wouldn’t come to a first night at the town concert hall? Oh yes, it certainly would.

The programme committees always place the new work together with great acknowledged music on the same concert. So the audience gets force-fed in the same way as by water chlorination. The audience has no possibility to drop the newwritten piece by going home in advance, although they would want to. For then they would miss also the rest of the repertoire for which they bought an expensive subscription!

Certainly there are many who are curious about “novelties”, but how many would return, if the work is given a second or a third time, to a separate concert, without tickets paid for in advance? If in spite of all the audience would hear this novelty one more time, it would for sure be allocated by quotas by some State financed institution or commission, for instance the music radio channel, only acclaimed by the Modern Music Ghetto people themselves.

Just look at for instance the statistics of the radio Concerts by Request for the last 30 years. In this sole instance, where the audience decides the programme, yours truly can not recall one single Atonal work, although it must have occurred in later years, as a particular exception…

European and especially Swedish musical audiences have thus become reduced to a kind of “cattle voice”, the acclaim of which seldom marks the quality of a piece. The applauses have become more concerned about the celebrated soloist, conductor or symphony orchestra and their performances!

To complete the hypocrisy, all reviewers then write about “standing ovations” and “the critically acclaimed work” etc. etc. Do you think they ever disclose, that the “voluntary” demand in the record shops by the audience is completely absent? All contemporary known composers have lobbyists and pushers everywhere in every single musical institution. Together with the media they constitute today a formidably heavy group.

They have succeeded in the trick of forcing commissioners to also view the matter as an issue of equality between Atonal and Tonal music! At the same time the audience is indirectly accused of being rigid and to have prejudices that have to be broken. So, all natural processes of selection have been eliminated, just like they are in the world of the wars between the sexes by quota allocation.

By this system and evolutionary science, nothing will then be created fit for life. Men and women do have most in common in their constitution and are therefore of equal value as human beings. This is so to say scientifically proved. But it is equally scientifically proved, that the language of the Atonal music has nothing in common with its Tonal counterpart!

Atonal music lacks a grammar understandable to the ear. Therefore everything sounds like undefinable dissonances with no possibility of memorization. Tonal music (pop and classical) on the other hand has a very well defined grammar consisting of major and minor keys, which can be perceived by anyone except the deaf.

In that kind of music both consonance and dissonance are intermixed according to an accepted grammar. In a study from ”Brain – A Journal of Neurology” the researchers even arrived at the conclusion that only brain-damaged people could have preferences for music mainly consisting of dissonances.

Contrary to what avant-gardists with interpretation monopolies advocate, the Tonal music language is neither culturally nor socially determined. Preferences to Tonal music have, hark well, a purely biological explanation in the brain.

This has been easily proved by studies in babies and animals, after which a highly merited fundamental researcher in psychology (Diana Deutsch, USA) proved already in 1983, that not even normal, grown-up musicians’ brains could ”process” Atonal music.

Therefore I hereby nominate the modern “Atonal sect” to one of the most arrogant groups ever within culture.

All necessary research, analysis and background to these claims are presented in the book “Reverse Polka, or, Cheated of the Music”. (Yet only published in Sweden: “Baklängespolkan går eller Blåst på musiken”)

The painful thing is, that even without pressure groups, the works of the dead Tonal composers remain a hundredfold more alive than the works of their modern “colleagues”.
Classical music has only diverse “Societies” that run a sort of internal activity of meeting and sharing mutual interests.

That music has no other “pushers” than Unorganized private consumers without “votes”, commonly called the audience. My question to the modern State quota people: For whose benefit are you working? For the benefit of the audience or for the benefit of all potentially unemployed “composers”? I already know the answer. You only work by instructions “from above” as they vaguely call it…

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Surveying the Land of Scape

Making a film sucks. It’s hard. Really hard. When it’s finished, and people sit in darkness, silently watching in a matter of minutes what may have cumulatively taken years of work, it’s worth it. But really, the process couldn’t be harder. Start with the fact that an alarmingly high number of people will look at you in utter pity when you mention you’re making a feature film. Mix in some healthy doses of family doubt, maybe a pinch or two of high school friends making ten times more money than you in a real job, and that’s just the beginning. But don’t get me wrong, I’m an optimist.

Maybe it’s my optimism that continues to lead me, often blindly, toward my goal of becoming a professional (see definition of professional: paid) director. Having directed a ninety-five minute feature film already, you might be wondering if the guy writing this article enjoys pain. Sure, maybe a little. But with experience at my fingertips, my second feature had to be easier, right? No. Not a chance. The following is a chronicle of my pain experience, and some of the many problems that arose.

I spent six months writing the script and raised a budget mainly by begging investors (see definition of investors: family) for money. The sum of which was not very much. Just enough to pay a skeleton crew of ex-students, get a deal with the acting union SAG and rent some camera equipment. The law of filmmaking says this: the closer one gets to filming, the more will go wrong. One week before filming and things were really getting dicey. I was still converting my script to a series of shots that I wanted to film, rehearsing with actors, coordinating logistics and dealing with problems. That’s what filmmaking really is, by the way, problem solving.

Problem A: the actor in your opening scene, the scene that is the most important save for the ending scene, tells you a week before filming that he doesn’t own a car and the filming location is 300 miles away. Problem B: the costume rental house will not accept insurance, so you must charge 4 times the value of the clothes on your credit card as insurance. And it’s a period piece movie, so there’s a lot of expensive clothes. And the total charge is so much you don’t have enough credit cards to put the charges on. Scratch that, there’s a credit card you never use in your chest of drawers at home. So you max out your credit cards, hope to hell no one damages or loses or steals the clothes, buy your actor an Amtrak ticket and make a note to pick up a very large bottle of antacids at Costco to help stave off ulcers that you know are on their way. Yes, this is all true.

Even now, I dread looking at a FICO score. Four days before we were to leave from Los Angeles for Santa Cruz, disaster struck. A quarter mile from the sixty-acre horse ranch we were going to film on, a fire started. I had no backup locations. Half the budget for the film had already been paid out. I couldn’t get it back. We had to film. I checked the fire report hourly, popped antacid tablets and realized that we’d film in some random forest even if it meant getting arrested for trespassing or filming without a permit.

All ten of us drove up to a summer rental house and crammed ourselves into our tiny, modest hovel. Later that day the fire dissipated, the police barricades came down, and we found out our location had been saved. Now came the fun stuff. Filming. I had a total of 12 days to film 76 pages. A Hollywood film typically shoots about 3 pages per day. Do the math on my movie. Yeah, we had a lot to film in a really short amount of time. The first shot of the first day took place in a colony for the diseased. We had ten extras to help make the colony feel real. Five actually showed up on a very cold morning. Three actually got back into their cars thirty minutes before filming and left. And these were people who were going to get paid! We had two extras to make a colony feel like a colony. Equipment wasn’t working right. Light was changing fast. And as always, there were lots of things to think about. Those antacids became like Pez to me. I put myself and most of the crew in early nineteenth century clothes and we started filming. Problem solved. Kind of.

Every second on set sends a problem the director’s way. People have questions. People want to know what you think about fill-in-the-blank. It is a director’s medium, for his better or worse. Throughout the twelve days, we had more problems than grains of sand on every beach in the world. I had arguments with the crew. A production assistant got bored four days in and left. Not good when your production assistant is also your makeup artist, wardrobe and caterer. The main prop for the film, a mask the villain wears, showed up very very late into filming via mail.

And on top of all of that, our opening scene became a disaster. If you can’t hook people in the first five minutes of your film, what’s to keep them from continuing to watch? No pressure. The opening included two horses. Not a problem when shooting on a horse ranch, right? The ranch would only give us one horse, and told us this fact an hour before filming. Next problem, it was an Appalachian horse. And it kicked my actor off several times. I was near tears. The scene was definitely not working. The actor who came up via Amtrak for the day had come in vain. And he was going to leave for Los Angeles the next morning. And I had four days of filming left. I was not going to cover the number of pages I needed to finish the film. And on top of that, I now needed to write a new opening scene after a very difficult and very long 12-hour day.

Every morning, after 6 hours of sleep, I would get up, figure out what scenes we were shooting and prepare for each scene. We’d spend the entire day and sometimes nights filming. We’d usually get back to the house around 8pm, eat dinner, watch the footage we shot during the day, transfer the footage and sound to hard drives, go to sleep and start the process over. Now, with only 4 days left, I also had to come up with a new opening. I wrote something and we filmed it on our last day. Having already cut 8 pages from the script while we were filming, I wasn’t too happy about filming a scene twice.

But the new opening scene has cut together incredibly well. In fact, the film is my finest work to date. If a filmmaker’s problem solving skills are his tools to building the film, then problems are the essence of filmmaking. Without these problems, creativity stagnates and the product is awful. I’m convinced that Scape wouldn’t be as good as it is without the stomach-churning dilemmas that appeared throughout the process. Now, as I finish writing this, I’m preparing to write my next screenplay. You’re probably wondering if I read what I just wrote. I know, I don’t make sense. Oh well, you have to do what you love. I wonder if the person who coined that phrase did?

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Living as Independent Developer

Manuel Marino: You declare yourself and your team as “video game enthusiasts”. How much being a “videogames fan” is important in creating games?

Andres Martinez: All companies have their own stories, but in our case, developing and self-publishing our games has been difficult, with low sales during several months at our beginnings, and still low if they get compared to a regular studio. The only reason we have been able to survive is our passion for the art of game creation.

Can we say that the old games of the past were “better”? What can we say to the nostalgic gamers?

20 to 30 years ago the video game space was totally different. Accessibility to video games was very low, the product itself was like an experiment and the assumed audience was reduced, fortunately for us, we fell into that target, and we enjoyed every bit of Space Invaders, Galaga, Pac-Man, etc.

Some may say that it was better for game developers at that time because it was easier to create totally new and different IPs (Intellectual Properties). But the reality is that, they created myriads of games and only a few stood up to catch the public’s attention. Additionally, they were tremendously limited by technology and market penetration.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think old games were better or worst. But I think that our judgement is usually biased by the emotional attachment we have to those old great experiences.

How is the Independent developers world?

If we can name our day to day activities at baKno a “world”, then it is great!. Being able to make a living out of our own game creations is a wonderful feeling. None of us worked in this industry before and we don’t know how it is to distribute games through an experienced third party, maybe sales are much higher, but I suspect that for those particular jobs your independence is quite compromised.

What’s the difference between being “indy” and being “in the industry”?

We don’t consider baKno to be an industry player yet, we are independents as explained before, but it does not excludes the possibility of being an influent member of the gaming industry at the same time.

Videogames are more a “work of art” or a “industry product”?

All baKno games are a “work of art” built upon an “industry product” foundation. This foundation provides a minimum quality, design and support standards, and it becomes the canvas where the artist paint his game creation.

What can be done to make modern games better and innovative?

Creating better games is not that difficult, just use your common sense to take advantage of the ever-growing processing capacity, graphics and audio capabilities and internet bandwidth. As an example, you can enhance a simple old-school cards game with better graphics and effects, and maybe adding a multiplayer option with audio chat capability. Creating quality innovative games is an art, and for that there is no recipe or guideline to follow.

Why is it that I find games from independent developers being more innovative?

Innovation is weapon that cuts both ways. The more you innovate in a game, the higher the chance of being a great hit or a great failure. Established studios have serious economic responsibilities like payroll or rent, and they cannot afford to risk the company viability in a single game. On the other hand, and usually not even knowing about it, independent developers working from home are the risky creators of real innovative game experiences.

Internet can be of help?

Sure. In general, for casual games Internet has been the medium to reach massive audiences by offering free-to-try downloads, something that would have been impossible (very expensive) by mailing free CDs. In particular, baKno relies heavily on the Internet not only as a distribution medium but also as an effective way to communicate with our customers, and also to enhance the game experience with additional online features.

What are your next projects?

We are working now the online gaming for Billiards. We want to create a subscription service before mid-year. And by the end of the year we want to create a game with 100% pure baKno IP.

How do you see the future of videogaming?

As an interesting mixture of platforms, game genres and players’ demographics. Internet is going to be the default distribution medium, there won’t be a single dominant gaming platform, more and more people will embrace video games as an entertainment alternative, and most important: the general public will recognize the cognitive development value provided by video games (most of them).

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Social Networking and the Left Coast Eisteddfod 2009

There is an art to constructing social networks. Anyone can join Facebook, start a group, give it a catchy title and invite everyone on their contacts list. But building a true online “community” involves a lot more than that. My preferred tool for this job is the “Ning” platform.

One such project that I am involved in at the moment is Americymru. The site itself is an American Welsh heritage site and it welcomes members from anywhere in the world who are either Welsh, of Welsh ancestry or who have a love of Wales ( Cymruphiles? ) for whatever reason. The site has proved highly popular and is rapidly approaching the 1000 member mark.

The question is, of course, what purpose should such a site serve? Should we all vie with one another in forum discussions for the distinction of being the most enthusiastic supporter of Welsh culture? Should we all devote ourselves to learning the Welsh language? ( not a bad idea ) Or perhaps we should all exchange holiday snaps of our most recent visits to Snowdonia? Of course Americymru is a social network and so it is used for all of the above purposes and a host more besides.

How much better though to put these networks to a novel and creative purpose. In Wales the “Eisteddfod” tradition ( which is basically a talent competition ) dates back to the 12th century. Here is how the Wikipedia defines it:-

‘An eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. The tradition of such a meeting of Welsh artists dates back to at least the 12th century, when a festival of poetry and music was held by Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176 but, with the decline of the bardic tradition, it fell into abeyance. The present-day format owes much to an eighteenth-century revival arising out of a number of informal eisteddfodau. The word eisteddfod is derived from the Welsh word eistedd, meaning “sit”.’

We decided to use Americymru to organise an international “online” Eisteddfod.

We have departed from the traditional formula in several significant respects. There are Welsh Pirate Lookalike and Tom Jones Impersonators competitions along side the standard literary and poetic categories. We feel that these features will enhance the appeal of the “event” and give it a more contemporary feel

All the competitions are open to everyone. Neither Americymru membership nor Welsh origin are requirements.

The poetry and short story competitions are already starting to attract some talented entrants and judges Lloyd Jones ( short stories ) and Peter Thabit Jones and John Good ( poetry ) will have some hard choices to make.

The online Eisteddfod will culminate in a live event in Portland in August 2009. It is here that winners will be announced and prizes awarded. It is also our intention to hold a series of concerts featuring major Welsh and American Welsh artists and performers. In short the “Left Coast Eisteddfod” will be a celebration of all things Welsh and in particular of the American Welsh heritage which has so enriched the history of the American nation. It will also introduce this tradition to a whole new audience and seek to involve the widest possible participation.

It is also possible to build a “constellation” of supporting blogs around your social networking “event”. In our own case we have been fortunate to enjoy the support of artists such as David Western who is probably the worlds finest carver of traditional Welsh lovespoons. He explains the reasons and the means of his supoport for the event in the following quote from his “David Western’s Portland Eisteddfod Lovespoon” blog:-

“To support the development of the Left Coast Eisteddfod next year, I am donating a handcrafted, one-of-a-kind Welsh lovespoon which Americymru will raffle off to help raise needed funds.

I’m proud to be able to contribute to the creation of the Eisteddfod and to help highlight Welsh people and their culture here in North America. Everyone knows the Scottish and Irish and it is through events like the Eisteddfod that people will come to know the Welsh.”

David’s blog has already encouraged others to try their hands at this ancient craft and his work in general is vital in order to ensure that this art form continues and thrives into the 21st century.

It is my belief that the potential for social networks to drive artistic creation and collaboration is immense and I am very excited to be a part of a project which is exploring this potential.

In closing I would urge you check out the online Eisteddfod ( linked and accessible from the home page of Americymru ), consider entering one of the competitions and above all, think of novel ways to utilise your own social networks so that they can become a real spur to human creativity and not merely glorified “chat” rooms.

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Film transfer, a graphical Art

Badly faded slides or prints can be rescued once they have been digitised. You can use a simple scanner, but you will get the best results using a proper film scanner.

Once you have the slides digitised then a lot can be done with the images, increasing image density by using blending modes and levels adjustment layers, cloning to remove blemishes, dust, mould and texture renewal.

All of this is done using professional graphic software, not so easy to use without a training.

About the creative skills involved in the procedure, the technician artist has to choose between different solutions, like colors or brightness. Choosing also a specific procedure instead of another involves a creative idea. So a blend of different skills, creative and technical are necessary in restoring old films.

Of course, the most important movies to restore are about unforgettable moments, like your wedding. But think also about other moments, like a graduation, a significant accomplishment, a sentimental place, the honeymoon, golden anniversaries.

They are unique memories worth preserving for remembering today and for generations to come.

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Sounds like music and networking

Matti Mattila: About blogging, you have an active blog, when did you start writing it?

Manuel Marino: I started ManuelMarino.com in October 2007.

What inspired you to first start blogging?

First of all the idea to freely surf and read everything about anything always fascinated me. I think this is why people love to have many blog feeds to read daily.

Next to this idea is the one to freely write interesting articles for the Internet community. Both gives a kind of freedom that I never felt before.

What is your blog about?

ManuelMarino.com is about music, arts, philosophy, poetry, independent artists, humanities and freedom. I invite experts and sincere professionals and artists to write articles.

I believe very much in freedom, honesty, sincerity and I’m able to feel these when I meet people. There are many good persons in the world, but sometimes we are too much obsessed by everyday life to understand this and find this.

How much time do you spend blogging every week?

Probably I spend too much. I love blogging, read other people’s blogs, surf and find interesting news.

What inspires you to write an entry to your blog?

Usually my ideas about news, culture and art, sometimes my intuition. We need more intuition, people tend to forget the importance of it and uses too much their left brain.

How do you spread a word about your blog?

Well, word of mouth, mainly backlinks, more than 30,000 on Yahoo. But a tracker gave me also a global number of 70,000 so I can say between 30,000 and 70,000.

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A new year ahead, and Arts win

When economy, pragmatism, materialism and left brain methods fail, Arts help and right brain can give you what you need: love, hope, creation, imagination, a change.

Museums record higher than expected attendance in all the world.

But it is not only a kind of healing salve. Arts help you understand better the world, yourself, the others and the society.

Many of you will say: but we just need to be Rational, Analytical, Objective. Wrong! you are not a machine!

Arts will teach you that problems can have more than one solution, that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity.

Small differences can have large effects.

You don’t live to work, you work to live, and you live to be happy and to love.

We just need to grab the intuition we lost with all the materialism in the world. I know it’s not an easy task :) but 2009 will be an year of change for everyone, and for the best. I wish you all the best, my friends, and Happy New Year!

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Amie Street, share music of every genre

Amie Street is a place to discover, download and share music of every genre, from all over the world.

It is innovative: it uses a new approach to selling music. On Amie Street, the community determines the price. Every song starts free, or very cheap, and increases in price, up to 98 cents, as more and more people purchase it.

This variable pricing system ensures that the public gets music at a fair, community-driven price point, and makes it easy for you to find the type of music you want. It’s literally free to download new music on Amie Street, and you know when you pay 98 cents for a song a lot of people think it’s really good.

It’s a social music store, as it’s no secret that friends are one of the best ways to find out about new artists. To encourage members to share and talk about the music they love, Amie Street gives you money to spend on more music when you recommend your favorite songs.

On Amie Street, you are rewarded with cash for more music downloads when you recommend a song that continues to rise in price. For example, if you find a great new song when it’s free and recommend it to your friends, and that song eventually increases to 98 cents, you get that difference of 98 cents back into your account to spend on more music.

Woodwind & Brasswind offers a guaranteed low price on the largest and most diverse selection of band and orchestral instruments and accessories.

It has more than 1 million items in its inventory from manufacturers all over the world.

Woodwind & Brasswind is celebrating its 30th anniversary offering its customers the best selection of products at the best prices with unmatched expertise and customer service.

Global Financial Crisis and Books

The Subprime Solution: How Today’s Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It. In this trenchant book, best-selling economist Robert Shiller reveals the origins of the crisis and puts forward bold measures to solve it. He calls for an aggressive response, a restructuring of the institutional foundations of the financial system that will not only allow people once again to buy and sell homes with confidence, but will create the conditions for greater prosperity in America and throughout the deeply interconnected world economy.

The New Paradigm for Financial Markets. George Soros argues that the current crisis differs from the various financial crises that preceded it. He bases that assertion on the hypothesis that the explosion of the US housing bubble acted as the detonator for a much larger “super-bubble” that has been developing since the 1980s. The underlying trend in the super-bubble has been the ever-increasing use of credit and leverage.

The Finance Crisis and Rescue: What Went Wrong? Why? What Lessons Can Be Learned?. It features thought leaders from the Rotman School explaining the financial crisis and rescue from a variety of perspectives.

Videos everywhere with Spotzer

Manuel Marino: Ciao Dennis! First of all, what is your role in Spotzer?

Dennis Brouwer: Hi Manuel, my role is VP Video Productions.

MM: What do you think about internet videographers community? seems there is a big community out there!

DB: As you can imagine I believe strongly in the internet videographers community, at the end of the day that’s the future or the biggest part of the production of video for internet and in later instances the television.

Both you and I have been growing up in a world were the television was always superior above the internet for were it came to the quality and the importance.

When I now look at my children what they (5 and 7) do with the internet and how school is moving them into that direction. And look at how the world of the production has changed I think with the constant renewing internet technologies and the production possibilities its inevitable to conclude that the world changed and is changing still.

MM: So what all of this will lead to?

DB: Where we move to eventually is not crystal clear but what even a blind man can see is that the classical production is a dead end street. At least were it comes to mass productions. There will always be an urge for Oscar winning productions but the mass will do with the ones that are not winning the prices. And therefore be happy with the current quality. This off course is arbitrary because what is quality in general, but that’s a total different discussion.

Some 15year old do not even recognize the 4k film images and are not aware if they look at SD, HD or BluRay. And I dare to say that thats because they got used to the “crappy” youtube image quality.

Having this said it opens up the discussion that I raised before; what is quality? Again its arbitrary. But what we as creative professional people can see is that the method of the production is changing rapidly.

MM: What about the short videos industry? Spotzer is really doing well in this area.

DB: We here at Spotzer believe that the market for the short promotional video is only just beginning. There are a lot differentiators that make the short video successful or not. We do acknowledge that there need to be a sales proposition in every video for every customer. We also believe that every video needs to be more or less tailor made for as far as we can achieve that for the incredible low budgets that we work with.

A very good personalisation tool off-course is the music that goes with every video, that is one of the items we make a video personal with. Obviously there is also video and voiceover to show the personal touch in the video. But a consumer could interpret-ate the video also as being stock material, the voiceover in contrary is very much personal because we let the customers name come back a few times always.

MM: When we first met you told me that Spotzer was going to expand to all Europe.

DB: We have started up our productions in Austria, Finland, Sweden and will shortly start in Poland and Czech / Slovakia. And we have found out that the customers are very happy with the end-result. Specially the quality that we deliver is very highly appreciated.

MM: What did you produce, beside the promotional videos?

DB: Beside the promotional videos we have also produced a big library of what we call “Ready to Air” videos. We have been delivering those RTA’s to Hearst and Merchant Circle in the USA and they offer these video ads to their customer base.

This is a very different product because every second of video is already produced and edit in the video, the changeable items in the video are: slogan, call for action and end-card.

And again we sell them at remarkable low prices!

MM: After this very interesting interview I just suggest to check Spotzer website at once! Thank you Dennis!

E-commerce, a cultural fact?

Global E-Commerce and Online Marketing: Watching the Evolution By Nikhilesh Dholakia is a great book that explains all of this.

Specialists from business and academia present a meticulously researched, compelling examination of the effect that globalization, innovation, and relentless technological competition are having on the development of e-commerce and marketing. The editors offer practical managerial insights, important empirical findings, and new ways to comprehend the intricacies of the fast-morphing world of electronic business.

Another book that really catched me is Cyberpop: Digital Lifestyles and Commodity Culture by Sidney Eve Matrix.

Cyberpop: Digital Lifestyles and Commodity Culture is an analysis of cyberculture and its popular cultural productions. Each chapter focus on a particular cyberfiguration, including Hollywood films (GATTACA, The Matrix), popular literature (William Gibson’s Neuromancer, Scott Westerfeld’s Polymorph), advertising for digital products and services (AT&T’s “mLife” campaign), video games (Tomb Raider). Each close reading illustrates the ways in which representations of digital lifestyles and identities which typically fetishize computers and celebrate a “high tech” aesthetic encourage participation in digital capitalism and commodity cyberculture.

What I’m seeing on Internet and around me is an impressive and crazy explosion of virtual shops, like StreetWear-And-Red.com (also StreetWearAndRed.com). Goal of the shop is providing cool designs for the urban and street fashion along with elegant ideas for the modern gentlemen.

In the same explosion I can put my ebook and also my new CD with Rock and Metal Guitar Solos for Multimedia.

I’ve got just a fear, that all of this is going to result in a soap bubble in the future. How much will we be fascinated by the virtual world and how much can we stay far from reality? (Or virtuality is going to be our new reality?).

Very Simple Audio Mastering Guide

BUY NOW Page – So I had this idea to write a “very simple” guide, and, I must say, it is really simple, anyone can begin mastering with some success after reading it. I give also a couple of “tricks” so you can begin really soon to obtain a professional quality master. Of course this will not make you a mastering wizard, I’m in this field since 1998 and I continue to study… (yes, those famous tomes! heh). But I’m sure your music tracks will be much better and I really hope you’ll send me positive emails about the book!

The price of this document is 5 dollars only, this is why the main purpose of writing it was helping my friends and of course helping you, the new musicians with their first audio tools.

I know impressive musicians, talented pianists and guitarists that consider Digital Audio Workstations like monsters. They had mainly classical academical education and it is difficult to explain them how a compressor works. Now with my ebook they’ll finally understand the basics about compressors and dynamics, and maybe won’t see anymore the DAWs like monsters! :)

The B52’s, London Roundhouse

It was on a hot and very sweaty summer night in London’s trendy Camden and a packed audience of all ages and types gathered at the re-opened Roundhouse. They were all there to see that perennial party band, still together for over 30 years, the B52’s. It was ridiculously hot with many people standing and sweating profusely, but this didn’t diminish the anticipation of the crowd one bit. This became evident before the band even came out with many of them singing along vociferously to Talking Head’s ‘Psycho Killer’ when played by the club’s DJ. Then the lights went down and the words “Hello London, we’re the B52’s” was greeted by a loud roar as the band walked out onto the stage.

Touring to promote their first album in 16 years Funplex, the B52’s showed the sell-out crowd they still have the ability to turn out superbly crafted pop songs. The line up of Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson and Keith Strickland have proved over the years they are masters of the art of catchy, pop songwriting and they treated the crowd to all of their hits and more in their uniquely frivolous and eccentric manner. The B52’s have crafted and honed their electro-beat, new wave, dance sound over 30 years and it’s still impossible to categorise.

Backed up by three backing musicians, the B52’s were in fine form. The soaring harmonies of Wilson and Pierson sounded as good as ever, while the wonderfully camp interjections of Schneider made sure everybody in the audience had a smile on their face for the duration. Along with the more humorous and wacky songs like ‘Private Idaho’ and ‘Party Out Of Bounds,’ with ‘Give Me Back My Man’ and current single ‘Juliet Of The Spirits,’ the B52’s proved they can also do serious and soulful. Their set consisted of the obligatory songs from the current album such as ‘Funplex’ and ‘Pump,’ interspersed with many of the old favourites like ‘Strobe Light,’ and ‘Mesopotamia.’

Judging by the enthusiastic reaction to the older material, it was obvious that the audience consisted of many of their older, long-term fans but there was also a surprising amount of young fans, many of whom were perched up high on their father’s shoulders. To the audience’s delight, the hits came thick and fast with Wilson and Pierson’s sixties style dance routines, Schneider’s deadpan but camp delivery and Strickland’s choppy and distorted ‘rock style’ guitar. What with their wild and wacky image it’s easy to overlook, but make no mistake, these guys are all excellent musicians in their own right.

The harmonies of the two ladies are as good as you’ll find anywhere in popular music, whereas one time drummer Strickland now stands at the front of the stage, giving us all the classic ‘rock’ guitar style poses. Schneider isn’t as animated as he used to be but the B52’s wouldn’t be the same without his perfectly timed ‘camp as they come’ vocals.

To the crowd’s delight, they inevitably get to their most well loved song ‘Love Shack.’ It is one of those songs that always gets everybody dancing at parties and wedding receptions. Where everybody from the youngest children to the oldest grannies knows the words and the Roundhouse crowd were no different. “The whole shack shimmied” barks Schneider and the crowd sing along as one. Personally, I was surprised they didn’t save ‘Love Shack’ for the encore but the crowd didn’t seem to care.

We eventually got two encores. ‘Rock Lobster’ which was the first B52’s song I ever heard as a teenager in 1980 and ‘Planet Claire’ with it’s 1960’s secret agent movie vibe. The sweat soaked crowd were on their last legs by then. The Roundhouse management obviously thought that the English summer wasn’t long enough to justify installing air conditioning, but many were ready to feint at the end. This wasn’t enough, however, to stop most of the crowd from leaving with large grins on their faces. It left many of us feeling that the world is a more fun place with the B52’s in it.

Stop jogging and listen to some new music

Madonna, the world’s tastiest sweetheart, has announced more non-stop treats for her legions of legendary and devoted fans. Following the latest news that “Hard Candy” has debuted at Number 1 around the globe, it has been confirmed that Madonna’s “Sticky and Sweet Tour” will begin (hip) hopping around the world on August 23rd in Cardiff, Wales with stops in major European markets through September including London (11-September) and Paris (20-September).

Hard Candy features collaborations with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. The main themes are love, music and sex and sometimes seems that Madonna repeats herself. Not bad, considering that this album is a great example of the best american pop music.

To be more clear, we can define it unforgettable pop with wonderful choruses. The style is more urban-oriented, than the past disco tracks, and Madonna’s best eighties are back, creating a unique cocktail of different genres.

This is Madonna eleventh and final album for longtime label Warner Bros and it surely represents another mark on current pop culture.

About the Tour, it will feature a lot of past favorites as well as focusing on Madonna’s Hard Candy. She will be supported onstage by different famous artists, as example Paul Oakenfold in London, and Bob Sinclair in Paris.

More than one million tickets have been sold, means about 90% of the total, so better to run as soon as possible to get your ticket!

At the same time, I would recommend to check also Coldplay events. Chris Martin is taking his band back on the road for what promises to be their biggest tour to date to celebrate their hugely anticipated new album ‘Viva la Vida’ and hit single ‘Violet Hill’.

- Madonna Tickets
- Coldplay Tickets

Mobile Games and Technologies

Currently, we can forget the keys of our house when we leave, but not the mobile phone. People are everywhere with their phones talking, chatting, the phone has a very important place in our life. Mobile phones are not only a communication device, are computer themselves, with a cpu, ram memory, persistence storage.

Games in this context are very important because you can get full advantages of the capabilities of a modern mobile phone that becomes this way a game console. Today, people of all ages play with their phones. They get fun and share multiplayer games over Bluetooth or Internet.

The technologies that involve games development are: Java (J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Linux, Brew). Each one has different capabilities depending on which device are installed.

An important issue is about the technological limits of the devices. Each one has different limits of memory, cpu, color depth, resolution. That push us to do a porting solution of every game to reach the greatest number of mobile devices. This limit obliges us to be more creative, makes us seek how to entertain people with simple games with a few levels. We must create images simply using the old technique of pixel art.

Mobile games are experimenting a constant evolution. In few years, most of the mobile phones will have 3D graphics accelerators such as Nokia N95 phone. The future is very promising, we will find devices that can compete with Sony PSP and Nintendo DS.

Walk Hard: a Retro-Styled Philosophy?

Dewey Cox kills his brother and begins an impressive quest to become a legendary artist. All is based on the “feeling guilty” system. He feels guilty, so he swear he’ll become big to please his brother soul (that was a talented young pianist). Feelings of guilt occur because deep down in your subconscious you have become emotionally attached to an event that you feel in some way responsible for, either you feel that you did something wrong, feel that you didn’t do enough or feel that you should have done something.

Of course, he killed his brother! Yes, but can we say he is punishing himself trying to become a legend? In the end of the movie there is the answer to this question.

Another philosophy behind the movie is the “Walk Hard” philosophy. It’s also the first song of the movie (and of the soundtrack album, a must!) and I really love it. Dewey say, that even if you’ve been told time and time again that you’re always gonna lose, life’s a race, and he is in it to win it. Some kind of people always try to control us, making us obedient. It’s a kind of psychological war out there! Dewey says no to this system and wants to free himself and walk hard up to the top of the mountain high. He still got a dream and a burning rage to live.

This is everything about being artists, about artists goals and principles. Probably also a retro-styled philosophy of the past, maybe also modern someway. But it is connected also to the “feel guilty” issue.

He has a dream, becoming a legend. Is it a real dream? Or he just wants to please his brother soul? He is not strong enough to resist to temptations. Sex, drugs are part of his everyday’s life. Is he really happy while pursuing his dream? Are we able to really understand what is our personal dream and life’s goal? I think that happiness is all about this, to really understand our goals. This is what Dewey finds at the end of his long and troubled life. I wish us all to discover this before the end of our lifes :)

Country Music Star Is Unleashed!

Apparently being the runner up in Kenny Chesney’s “Next Big Star Competition” in May of 2008 is just the springboard that Country Music’s next star needed, as Laura Roppe’s debut CD (homepage) can attest to. The CD “Girl Like This” will soon take the country music scene by storm, as this engaging singer/songwriter is more than just country music ear candy.

For many years, her career in music had taken a back seat to a legal career, marriage and being a mother, but when the ‘music itch’ became too strong, she resumed her career in music. In 2006, Laura was the lead singer of the popular Southern California cover band CoolBandLuke, belting out cover tunes from artists such as Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Blondie, Lucinda Williams, and Kelly Clarkson. Combining an eclectic mix of influences (such as the Indigo Girls, Carly Simon, Shania Twain among many others) and Laura’s unique voice and fresh style, the debut CD is a compelling array of edgy country girl sounds and rare, intoxicating country flavors.

Let’s explore the music: The single, “Mama Needs A Girls Night Out,” is certain to top mainstream Country Radio and is full of fun country music, memorable lyrics (“babies on the brain” and “put your skinny jeans on”) and a “Mom’s Gone Wild” chorus that every mother who hears the cut can identify with. And when you add inventive guitar work, titillating fiddle work and stellar musicianship-you have a recipe for success. The title cut, “Girl Like This,” combines a Shania Twain-like sassiness with an infectious melody and will be right at home on the Country Music Charts.

“Fly Fly Fly,” with Edie Brickel-like vocals, is a fun, country ditty and just makes you tap your foot with anticipation and sing along. “Float Away” may remind some of Jodie Messina, but others may hear vintage Carly Simon and the song is sung with angelic precision and passion. The cut “Little Daughter” may be her signature ballad, with poignant, emotional lyrics that is sung and played with tenderness and warmth that shows you that it is sincere.

Other songs include the sashaying cut “Ooh La La,” with great guitar licks adeptly mixed with her unique country growl and spicy solos. “Come To Me” is another fantastic country number, with dreamy lyrics and achingly tender acoustics. “Sing A Love Song” is full of inventive harmonies and an irresistible chorus. And the cut, “Crazy About You And Me,” just may be a new look at love gone wrong and has a delicious catchiness to it.

All in all, there is not a weak cut on Laura Roppe’s debut CD, “Girl Like This”. The music transcends typical country music boundaries and is full of expressive vocals, polished country pop and well-crafted instrumental sections and will certainly take the country music scene by storm. This stunning debut is just what country music has been looking for and I, for one, can’t wait to hear more!