The mexican band “Maná” is one of the latin bands with more worldwide repercussion; that´s a fact. Yesterday I was listening to Maná’s “MTV Unplugged”, an album that offers an interesting song compilation, in an excellent acoustic version. But beyond its undeniable musical quality I will enhance a circumstance that never stops to amaze me in every album they bring up: The main characters of Maná’s songs Read the rest of this article »

http://www.suzukimusic.com/qchord/

Anyone, musician or not, can instantly sound like a pro at the touch of a button. You can’t make a mistake!

A few days ago I was searching for synthesizers on ebay when I found an auction for something called “omnichord” (click here to see an auction for a similar item). After some research I found that the Suzuki Omnichord was actually a kind of “automatic music maker”. First released in 1981, it featured several rows of keys, able to play melodies or “autochords” (a chord was obtained by playing a single key). Even more, it had a touchplate that allowed you to Read the rest of this article »

A new Valentine’s Day is coming soon. If you are the kind of people who feel “obliged” to make some gifts but you don´t like it so much, then you are my kind. What do we do in those cases? Well, we sit and wait for an inspiration which often brings the form of a perfume or music. However, since you won’t be giving perfumes during all your life, music is the option which offers more possibilities. It has to be romantic, of course, because if your couple is enraptured by any theme of the album, she/he will probably turn it into “the couple song” (for some months, at least). Read the rest of this article »

When I first wrote an article on Hitachi´s waterscape, I defined the device as a “study for new, more intuitive ways of accessing data in electronic devices”, also pointing out that the technology could be used not only for browsing through data but for playing interactive videogames too. Now, it seems that other major companies are making noticeable movements into these directions. Read the rest of this article »

Many times I’ve thought about what would have been the first music I ever heard in my life. I don’t expect to find a concrete answer, but I like to imagine it.

That’s one of the reasons I am fascinated by “Genesis”, the soundtrack composed by french Bruno Coulais for the homonym filmic documentary about the origin and course of Life. It illustrates what I like to call “inward music”. Read the rest of this article »

I’m going to seize the première of the last film directed by Sam (“American Beauty”) Mendes, “Jarhead”, just to talk about War considered from a different point of view. “Jarhead” is the most recent opportunity for realizing that war movies have generated a sub-genre: the antiwar movies, which reflect the feelings and expectations of the soldiers before the war, and their angst, doubts and behaviour when exposed to real combat situations. Read the rest of this article »

Is it worth being a secondary role? Many of us think that these roles are completely necessary for raising a series or TV program up to a first rate show. This is my particular tribute to those people whose short and memorable interventions make our lives more gratifying. Here’s an example: Read the rest of this article »

http://www.radicauk.com/product/05%20-%2075039.htm

Play with one or stick two or more cubes together to build an interactive world(…) As you stack, they’ll interact and visit one another’s cubes.

http://www.takara-usa.com/toys/cubee/index.php

(…) if you interconnect additional Cubees, the one on top of the singing pyramid will belt out the lead while the others “sing” back-up.

Even though the possibilities of interaction between electronic toys has been already explored for a while (like in the most recent versions of the Tamagotchi or the Digimon), it looks as though there’s a new generation of toys on the horizon which are characterized by their ability to interact with each other regardless of the active presence of the user.

These toys generally come shaped as cubes which provide special connectors on several of their sides. Each cube is entertaining by itself, but in order for the interactions to happen, the user should Read the rest of this article »

The Alan Parsons Project was the result of a union between producer and sound engineer Alan Parsons and creative director Eric Woolfson. Sharing some interests like horror movies and literature, they tried to create one project, a conceptual opus titled “Tales of mystery and imagination”. This album was to be a musical resemblance of Edgar Allan Poe’s work. Read the rest of this article »

http://www.doommovie.com/

The researchers at this Red Planet station have unwittingly opened a door, and all hell has broken loose. A legion of nightmarish creatures of unknown origin lurks in every corner and stalks the countless rooms and tunnels of the facility, killing what few people remain.

Traditionally a bad thing, Doom has been a reason for expectation and happiness to almost every person that has played computer games since… (since too long, I´m getting old!). “Wolfenstein” was the beginning, but the Doom series was a hit that made the 1st-person shooter genre one of the most popular between gamers, and its last installment was no exception, with luscious graphics, chilling sounds and, among everything, an unparalleled atmosphere that literally took you to hell.

Showing these credentials, and after a myriad of copies sold, it just seemed natural that someone wanted to make a movie based on the game. In fact, Doom, the movie is reasonably close to the game, though it´s not quite it… Read the rest of this article »

“It’s Christmas time!”. Many of you will remember Jack Skeleton, the main character in a wondrous tale created by Tim Burton and directed by Henry Sellick, “The nightmare before Christmas”. So, you’ll also remember when Jack found the Xmas town, singing the rhythmic and funny “What’s this”, (composed and sung by Danny Elfman), cheering on the new discovery and shouting out loud “It’s Christmas time!”

I’m going to be a Jack’s “alter ego” for a moment, in order to give you some arguments for loving Xmas, not in a usual way, but based on the film that we are reviewing. Read the rest of this article »

http://aiplanet.sourceforge.net/

The next evolution will be leaner and meaner, with some cool features you might not expect.

Finally, after two years, Dave Kerr has released an update of aiplanet, the open source dynamic ecosystem simulation. Furthermore, he has also announced that a new version is in the works, one that, in his own words, will be “a radical improvement on the first version”. For this to happen, he´s working on a new engine, called AIR, which will not only add new features but also make the development much easier. Aiplanet V2 will probably take many months to be released, but it is already very good news to know that new work is being done.

Besides this announcement, it also worths to read the interview that Tom Barbalet, from Biota, made to Dave just a few days ago. The interview gives an excellent overview not only on the underlining principles behind aiplanet, but also on the development process of an amateur project. Read the rest of this article »

http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkZlOyYGs

My song “Arguments 04″ seems to have received enough good reviews as to be chosen to be yesterday´s “Track of the Day” at Garageband. Thanks!

http://www.kingkongmovie.com/home.html

a movie by Peter Jackson

With his newly discovered star and coerced screenwriter reluctantly onboard, Denham (…) heads out of New York Harbor… and toward a destiny that none aboard could possibly foresee.

When I knew that Peter Jackson was working on a remake of King Kong, I remember to have doubted that it were a good idea. After the 1933 classic hit the theaters, several versions have been made with more or less fortune, and I wondered if it was too soon for a new one, if there was anything new to show, besides the awesome special effects that the remake would surely bring.

Now that I have seen the movie I wouldn´t say that I was wrong, though I think that it well deserves to be watched and will probably stand out as the most accomplished version to date, only second to the original. Its greatest value is the cast: all the main actors, and many of the supporting ones, have worked their characters as to make them credible, even memorable. Adrien Brody composes his Driscoll with expresiveness and ellegance; Naomi Watts shines (literally, indeed), portraying an Ann Barrow as brave as fragile; Carl Denham (reminds me of Orson Welles), shows us the many facets of Jack Black, who would do anything to achieve glory and wealth, always conscious of the results of his actions, often pursued by guilt, never able to admit his defeat.

Then, of course, there´s Kong, which if not the greatest is surely the Read the rest of this article »

Create millions of Mozart musical masterpieces. Start with the flute and add in the piano. Drop the piano and bring in the violin. It’s that simple!

Since after twenty something years studying music I´m not even close to that, I guess I should be clever for once, quit school and buy one of these . Jokes aside, if I had babies I would probably get them a magic cube (or any of the other musical cubes available). The difference between this toy and a normal music box is that while playing a tune the child can mute the different parts by pushing the buttons with the pictures of instruments, exploring the different combinations and “analyzing” how they blend together in a piece. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say “explore several Mozart famous tunes”, rather than “create”. In order to create, young one, you must become a conductor by studying for many years. And then, even then, you´re just recreating, because composing is a different issuBWAAAAAA I WANT MOMMY!!! (yikes, I guess I´ll leave these things to her).