---

September 30, 2004

the more you learn, the less you know

MeFi and the Singularity Huge over-my-head commentary on science fiction and possible world changing developments.

---
Posted 10:41 pm by Wrighty — Comments (0)

---

September 29, 2004

How to make a comic without drawing

Avenger Toys: Disassembled

(Via MeFi)

---
Posted 1:55 pm by Wrighty — Comments (0)

---

September 23, 2004

1999 was the year the RIAA began writing checks the record industry couldn’t cash.

A Small New Future

“These numbers are certainly evidence that, after 1980, the corporate music industry had given up on its golden age in favor of churning out purposely characterless dreck. The story behind Up!, Shania 27 29 Twain’s album following Come On Over, offers strong proof.

Released in November 2002, Up! marked the nadir of cynical pop. It was the masterwork of a well-seasoned team practically bioengineered to exploit — Shania Twain, a Canadian native who achieved breakout success by masquerading as a Nashville star, and her husband, a white South African named Robert “Mutt” Lange, the producer of an increasingly bland series of crossover stars, from Foreigner in the ’70s to Huey Lewis in the ’80s to Michael Bolton and Celine Dion in the ’90s.

Up! was intended as the pair’s triumph of commercial genius. Twain admitted that she deliberately rejected songs that smacked of introspection or personal detail. Up! was even released in three distinct mixes appealing to different target markets. The country-oriented “Green” mix featured banjo, pedal steel and fiddle; the pop-oriented “Red” replaced those with strings, guitars and keyboards; and the “Blue” international edition added a touch of Eurotrash beats.”

Also well worth a read: 3 Myths About the Recording Industry Debunked

(via MeFi)

---
Posted 6:44 pm by matthew — Comments (0)

Reveal me do!

Ceefax Turns 30

“Before the advent of the internet and 24-hour news channels, Ceefax was at “the forefront of journalism", according to BBC chairman Michael Grade.

“It led the way in the breaking of stories,” he added.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell described Ceefax as the “precursor to the internet news revolution". “

In my opinion the best thing about Ceefax technology was Digitiser (RIP 1993 - 2003) on Channel 4.

---
Posted 3:31 pm by matthew — Comments (0)

---

September 16, 2004

Too tough to die

Johnny Ramone loses cancer fight

“Johnny Ramone is the third member of the seminal band to die in the past few years, leaving Tommy Ramone as the only surviving member of the original line-up.

Singer Joey Ramone, whose real name was Jeff Hyman, died in 2001 from lymphatic cancer.

Bass player Dee Dee Ramone, real name Douglas Colvin, died of a drug overdose the following year. “

Update:

Johnny Ramone: The Times obituary

“Lou Reed’s dictum that “One chord is fine, two chords are pushing it, three chords and you’re into jazz” might well have been the maxim of Johnny Ramone, the guitarist of the band that invented punk rock. For more than 20 years, between the Ramones’ formation in 1974 and their final split in 1996, Johnny Ramone stood stage right, legs planted, eyes down, hammering out some of the most influential chord sequences of the late 20th century.”

---
Posted 10:50 am by matthew — Comments (0)

---

September 14, 2004

“Stretch your Johnson”

Now we can see what the Sheppard has been up to in Bournemouth over the summer with this; a map of the global sources of spam:

world-spam-2048.jpg (2048 x 1085 jpg)

(More stats)

I always thought his house looked like a Bond-villain hideaway…

---
Posted 9:58 am by Wrighty — Comments (0)

---

September 13, 2004

“He’s thrown a kettle over a pub, what have you done?”

Brent and Finchy on Mars

---
Posted 4:20 pm by matthew — Comments (0)

---

September 9, 2004

“…creators of the Advance Fee methodology and related business technologies”

University of Nigeria

“Many have heard of our successful email programs that include advance fee collections and other programs that are very popular among the citizens of The United Kingdom and United States. Over the years we have refined these practices and created even more effective ones. Enroll today and achieve the financial freedom you have always longed for.”

---
Posted 10:49 am by matthew — Comments (0)

© 2001-2008 Matthew Sheppard & Paul Wright