The 404 425: Where the stress fractures in our metatarsals seem to have spread to my ankle Video
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The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., celebrates a nondescript converted bread truck for its instrumental role in developing the first mobile and wireless Internet connection. News.com's Kara Tsuboi introduces the engineers behind a feat that happened three decades ago this month.
The 404 348: Where we need a doctor's opinion
On today's show, find out ways that kids now are using abbreviations in text messages to hide things from their parents. Apparently, "RU/18" is something that kids these days are getting on their cell phones. Also, Pfizer is giving away free three-month supplies of Viagra and Lipitor because of the recession, but only if you were on the drugs before you got laid off. We hope Justin isn't itching to get fired for this deal.
The second promo for Panic Cell for the track "Save Me", became the most voted for promo in the history of the rock satellite channel Scuzz, remaining in the top ten for eighteen weeks and at number one for six weeks. This was another three day shoot starting with the band performance. We wanted to shoot them in a confined metallic space like a shipping container with very low light. Unfortunately the logistics of filming in a freight container were too great so we came up with the idea of using the back of a truck. The truck we had in mind was too expensive to hire so we used the AFM lighting truck. We dressed the interior and hung 40 light bulbs only three of which were actually live, then cheated the band around into different positions to give the feeling of an enclosed space. The interiors were shot in the bathroom and living room of my flat and were lit by Tim, the master of understatement, with one kino tube and a bit of reflective milar. The exteriors were shot in a drainage pit at the bottom of a field in east sussex. The week before the shoot I'd dug a hole and sunk a plastic barrel into the side of the pit, the idea being we would stand our actor in it then fit a kind of sleeve around his waste and dress the earth around him. Unfortunately the barrel filled with freezing water. Add to that, he was topless and it was January. We shot quickly.
The whole world was fooled into fearing a huge storm of worminess that never happened. Was it because we were prepared or because it really wasn't that big of a deal at all? We also avoid most of the April Foolery and talk some Nehalem processors and BlackBerry App World.
Sunday's Best: "Don't Let It Fade"
"There?s a fine line between stick-to-it-tiveness and self-delusion," quips Sunday?s Best drummer/producer Tom Ackerman, "and right now I think we?re happily confused as to where we stand." Seated next to lead singer/guitarist Ed Reyes, who smiles, Ackerman continues in the tone usually reserved for the telling of embarrassing childhood anecdotes, "we have endured a seriously tough winter: a horrible fall tour, the departure of a founding member and primary songwriter, the changing of booking agents, the quitting of our manager/lawyer, as well as my personal troubles of divorce and rehab. Most bands probably would have quit." A great deal of "Behind the Music" style antics have transpired in the last nine months for the Los Angeles-based quartet, despite their somewhat typical beginnings. Sunday?s Best formed in 1997 when Reyes met guitarist (and then drummer) Ian Moreno while working at KXLU, Los Angeles? seminal college radio station. Sunday?s Best first signed with crank! records and released the Where You Are Now EP, and hit the road. Then they signed to Polyvinyl Records and released their first full length, Poised to Break, in October of 2000. After a great run at college radio and some key high profile shows in New York, the band limped home from their 6 week Fall tour and then seemed to implode. Shortly after arriving home from tour, the booking agent and the band parted ways, the manager stopped calling, and Ackerman checked into rehab and his wife filed for divorce. To top everything off, before Ackerman could complete his rehab stay, Pedro Benito, a primary songwriter and founding member, resigned. The days ahead seemed pretty dark. "I thought I was going to be arrested any minute for forging prescriptions," explained Ackerman, "between that and the dissolve of my five year relationship/marriage, band matters seemed relatively distant in my overall perspective." And yet, in the months that followed, when things seemed the bleakest, the true character of the band was revealed. Reyes took over the business aspects of the band and switched to guitar, James Tweedy was added to play bass, and the band got back to doing what all good bands do: writing music. And with the help of a new booking agent Mike Kelly, the band has been playing West Coast dates since late February (with Dashboard Confessional, the Weakerthans, Cursive, the Juliana Theory). The band is about halfway through writing songs for the follow-up to Poised to Break, and has plans to record in the winter and tour in the fall. Reyes caps off the interview with his own thoughts of the bands resolve, "we just kind of stripped everything down and started having fun again. It?s not really all that epic if you consider we just did what friends usually do when the shit hits the fan: we stuck together.
Tom Meighan / Sergio Pizzorno / Chris Edwards / Ian Matthews Stardate: Summer 2006. As these words are being written, Kasabian are jetlagged, but happy. Three days ago, they returned from Mexico City, where a disused supermarket full of saucer-eyed devotees treated them like returning heroes. "They even sang along to the keyboards in Processed Beats," exclaims Serge Pizzorno. And then when we did the new stuff. It was..." Pizzorno is rarely lost for words. When he is though, here's Tom Meighan to pick up the baton "...legendary. I've never felt a force like it." Can a record be legendary before it has even come out? You might think you know Kasabian. After all, the dissolute Glimmer Twins of the post-Britpop firmament made no secret of their sources on that eponymous first album. A couple of years after Meighan and Pizzorno met in Leicester, aged 11, it was 1993 and Oasis were making the rock'n'roll dream seem like a goal attainable to a generation of schoolkids. Recorded at the now-mythical farm where they arrived for a party and never got around to leaving, Kasabian's eponymous debut bypassed most critics and connected dramatically with an audience that recognised them as one of their own just as Oasis had done with Meighan and Pizzorno in 1993. Kasabian sold over 700,000 in the UK and the band were the undisputed victors of last year's festivals, putting in bristling performances at Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds and T In The Park. But if a debut album is all about showing your influences, this is the point where Kasabian truly show us who they are. The first thing you'll notice about Empire is that no other band in the world could have created it. The confidence is perhaps understandable given the lack of fanfare with which they managed to instantly shift 8000 tickets for their Ally Pally show last year. But the scale of its vision though is something else entirely. Asked a while back to describe the album's eponymous opener, Meighan's instant response was, "Marc Bolan smoking crack with Dr Who." "No other band apart from Radiohead would have the balls to put in a tempo change like that," adds Pizzorno. Under the circumstances, you decide it's impolite to tell him that Radiohead didn't get actually around to it until their third album. This time around the demonic amyl throb of Serge's electronic soundscapes feed into the very core of Kasabian's music. The flood of ideas is unstoppable. Propelled along by handclaps and Ian Matthews' inspired Studio 54 style drum fills, the filthy analogue glambience of Shoot The Runner will be inescapable between now and Christmas. Last Trip, appropriately, comes on like a postcard from the furthermost outpost of a 4am bender Meighan's brittle, anxious exhortations leading the way over an arrangement which recalls a beefier version of Suicide's primitive electro-pulse. Three songs in and Empire already sounds like an index of rock'n'roll possibilities. When it comes to taking the credit for their music, Kasabian rarely need to be encouraged. In this case though, they're swift to acknowledge the invaluable input of producer Jim Abbiss who, according to Meighan, "was very good at dealing with situations in the studio." Was that necessary? One imagines that when a double act like Meighan and Pizzorno disagree, they must really disagree. "Actually, we bicker," says Meighan, "But it's only ever when we're drunk. You know that Hot Chocolate song, It Started With A Kiss? Well, with us, it ends with a kiss, but starts with a bottle. But Jim kept our heads clear, so that there was no anxiety, like 'what the fuck are we gonna do next?'"
"The World's Greatest Prom" DVD clip: "Photos"
Once a year, prom mania grips the entire population of Racine, Wisconsin. The city's extravagant celebration begins with a rowdy parade where students compete for the most outrageous form of transportation, driving fire engines, 18-wheelers, even riding elephant-back through the city streets. Prom-goers from seven city high schools converge on one citywide prom to make red carpet entrances bombarded by the flash of cameras and screams from bleachers filled to capacity. Meanwhile, in sports bars and living rooms across the city, residents keep their eyes glued to the live television coverage of the spectacular event. If the Academy Awards were moved to the heartland, this is what it would resemble.
Buzz Report: A very special Gadget of the Week
This week, we're talking robots, exploding rocket ships, and what happens when the star of many violent movies suddenly has to 'think of the children!'
Eternia featuring Jessica Kaya: "Love"
In celebration of March's Women's History Month, Canadian hip-hop recording artist Eternia examines the prevalence of violence against women in Canada and around the world. Eternia is drawing from the third single "Love" released from her Juno-nominated album "It?s Called Life" to raise awareness for Amnesty International's campaign to Stop Violence Against Women. This sensitive and critical issue is portrayed through the music video for "Love," which features guest vocals of Eternia?s sister ? Jessica Kaya, and which is slated for release in Canada, Australia and select US markets throughout March 2006. "In their lifetime, more than one in three women around the world report being abused or suffer from other forms of violence," explains Eternia. "Love" is the most personal and meaningful song I have ever created; it illustrates the struggles of physical and emotional abuse my mother suffered at the hands of my father, while having to raise us. Many women endure abusive relationships, thinking that is the only way to survive and raise their children. "Love" is my way of expressing a mothers' ultimate sacrifice for her children." Non-profit organization The 411 Initiative For Change (411), uses musicians as the media to engage and educate young people on pressing social issues. 411 facilitated this collaboration between Eternia and Amnesty International. "Amnesty International is the world?s largest human rights organization," explains 411 Executive Director Tamara Dawit. "Artists, like Eternia have the unique humility to use their prominence in bringing awareness to issues of importance to young people. With just over half of the women in Canada reporting having been victims of at least one act of violence since the age of 16, this is an issue of great importance to Canadians." Amnesty International has more than one million members around the world ? which includes thousands of Canadians; ? who are putting pressure on decision-makers to stop violence against women in families, communities, and war as well as violence tolerated by government authorities. "Each person can help stop violence against women, but only if we speak out," asserts Eternia. "I hope that I can inspire other young people to affect change in their communities." Eternia has rocked rhymes from crowded subway cars in the Bronx to shows across Canada, the US and Australia. Following a slew of successful singles, videos and feature releases, her first full-length, It?s Called Life, came out in Canada and Australia in October 2005.
Brian Cooley tells you three simple steps to get the most out of your home entertainment system. Learn what you need to know about seating distance, room lighting, and window treatment.
