Barbotian Ocean 2.0

Some kind of a collection of random crap
Wed Jul 23

I’m so glad someone besides me has time to do “hobbies” like this. Well done little piece of Americana. You can thank Jeremy KIndall for this; h eevidently has more free time on his hands to cruise YouTube for DLR-related clips. You could call it something of an obsession on his part.

David Lee Roth on American Idol!? (via larrydavideo)

Wed Jul 16
Separated at birth. Say no more.
Separated at birth. Say no more.
Sat Jun 28

I just finished reading Bill McKibben’s entertaining and insightful “Wandering Home,” where he chronicles his walk from Mt. Abe in Vermont across the Champlain Valley to his cabin in the Adirondacks. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear that he’s the guy behind 350.org, which is trying to incite a global movement to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million. We’re currently at about 385, a number which, if not reduced, “will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth,” according to 350.org’s reckoning.

I love this animation; it wordlessly conveys the sequence of global warming and 350’s mission to reduce it, eliminating the language barrier to grasping the concept in the process. Nicely done.

350.org: Because the world needs to know (via 350org)

Tue Jun 24

I’m no doubt late to the party on this one … LittleBoots already listed this as an influence, so clearly the cool kids are already all over it.

But there’s no getting around the joy of watching an actual robot do The Robot. Pure bliss. And one thing I have over the cool kids - I was actually ALIVE and conscious in 1978.

Dee D. Jackson - Automatic Lover (1978 Original Video) (via bchfj)

Mon Jun 23
I’m sorry to report that Boy George has been denied a visa, thus curtailing his efforts to tour the US this summer. Poor George! Here’s the official press release: “At the moment, Boy George cannot come to the United States of America because he has been refused permission to enter by the USA Administration. This is not in respect of anything he has done in the past but because he is facing a trial in November in London for something that happened in April last year.” I like that “this is not in respect of anything he has done in the past …” Apparently, April last year is not “in the past” in the UK. His crime? According to Wikipedia, it was merely the following: “On 30 April 2007, Boy George was arrested for allegedly assaulting and falsely imprisoning a Norwegian man in his home in East London.” Oh, THAT’s all? And for that they deny him a visa?

I’m sorry to report that Boy George has been denied a visa, thus curtailing his efforts to tour the US this summer. Poor George!

Here’s the official press release:

“At the moment, Boy George cannot come to the United States of America because he has been refused permission to enter by the USA Administration. This is not in respect of anything he has done in the past but because he is facing a trial in November in London for something that happened in April last year.”

I like that “this is not in respect of anything he has done in the past …” Apparently, April last year is not “in the past” in the UK.

His crime? According to Wikipedia, it was merely the following: “On 30 April 2007, Boy George was arrested for allegedly assaulting and falsely imprisoning a Norwegian man in his home in East London.”

Oh, THAT’s all? And for that they deny him a visa?

Sat Jun 21
Oh man, nerd synth porn haters beware … big-time compilation of photos of the synths that made the eighties, for me, so … memorable. Pictured here is the Jupiter 8 that the keys player in my first high school band used in our stunningly life-like renditions of “Jump!” and “Baba O’Reilly.” Sick, innit? But then I came across “Vintage Synth Explorer” and just about lost it. That’s some serious flashback to freaked-out trips to Chuck Levin’s back in ‘82, drooling over all the weird crap I could never hope to afford (at least, while I still had some hope of using to score some points with chicks). And this stuff is seriously weird - the EMS AKS was the first analog I ever had the joy of exploring (made some really crackpot whale-sounds “songs” in an electronic music class in college, and that was the end of it). It was put to best use on Dr. Who, I believe. Oh, and probably a dozen Orb and Aphex Twin records since …

Oh man, nerd synth porn haters beware … big-time compilation of photos of the synths that made the eighties, for me, so … memorable. Pictured here is the Jupiter 8 that the keys player in my first high school band used in our stunningly life-like renditions of “Jump!” and “Baba O’Reilly.” Sick, innit?

But then I came across “Vintage Synth Explorer” and just about lost it. That’s some serious flashback to freaked-out trips to Chuck Levin’s back in ‘82, drooling over all the weird crap I could never hope to afford (at least, while I still had some hope of using to score some points with chicks). And this stuff is seriously weird - the EMS AKS was the first analog I ever had the joy of exploring (made some really crackpot whale-sounds “songs” in an electronic music class in college, and that was the end of it). It was put to best use on Dr. Who, I believe. Oh, and probably a dozen Orb and Aphex Twin records since …

Thu Jun 19
Steve Fossen proving that men can make lingerie sexy, too
Steve Fossen proving that men can make lingerie sexy, too

I like Heart as much as the next guy (as long as the next guy really only likes “Barracuda,” “Crazy On You,” and “Magic Man”). But I was listening to a station out of Plattsburg, New York tonight, my last in the Green Mountains before the long journey back south to DC, and was fondly reminded of the many hours I spent before the walnut woodgrain hi-fi at my parents’ old beach place in Rehoboth, 100 KHI gluing the really good stuff directly onto my pre-adolescent neurons with Testor-like tenacity. 

Gerry Rafferty, Journey, Foreigner, and even Cliff Richards’ one attempt at rock, “Devil Woman,” were par for the course then as now. But when “Magic Man” came on tonight (the DJ was working a theme, I suppose), I was gripped by the need to see the rock in action - and, courtesy of YouTube, I was not disappointed. If not floored by Roger and Howard’s dueling guitar solos, Ann’s soaring (dig the shriek at 4:17!) if occasionally problematic (7:51, and she checks herself because she knew she sucked) vocals, or Mike DeRosier’s de rigueur drum solo (on a four-piece-plus-timpani kit, no less) and his clever replacement of the infamously putrid “wee-oo-wee-oo-oo-we-oo-we-oo” synth part at 4:29 with a semi-spastic drum roll, then you will most certainly throw yourself prostrate before the flaming rock-encrusted altar of Steve Fossen’s man-boob enhancement corset (see detail, above). 

That is rock and roll, friends.

Heart - Magic Man (via aginggaijin)

Wed May 28
Mmkay. I like yoga. And I like golf. But somehow what this dude is doing to his golf club is totally unsavory.
Mmkay. I like yoga. And I like golf. But somehow what this dude is doing to his golf club is totally unsavory.
Tue May 27

This passes for entertainment in my house. 

Nick Wiggles his Nose (via YouTube)