No Greyhound

Gun crazy isn't the only kind of crazy going around, oh no. There's Rambo-knife crazy, too: A Greyhound passenger stabbed and then beheaded the kid in the seat next to him last night. With a "Rambo-style knife." WTF?

The kid (victim) was 20, sleeping with headphones on, and en route to his home in Winnipeg. I was the same age the last time I took Greyhound. It was a relatively short trip from Chicago to DeKalb, to return to school after a holiday break. I was held up, a gun stuck in my ribs, while using the urinal in the men's room. I only lost twenty bucks, though, and intend to keep my head when it comes to going Greyhound. Which is to say, I vowed to never associate with that station or that bus line again.

I realize I'm making a huge generalization, but... what is it about that bus line that attracts the bat-shit crazy element? And why isn't the visual luggage search at security catching things like Rambo knives?

GUNS!

This past weekend, thousands of Chicagoans brought guns to church.

6,705 guns, to be exact, as part of the city's gun buy-back program. ("Buy-back?" Doesn't this imply that the city sold the guns to them in the first place?) Everyone turning in a gun got a $100 pre-paid MasterCard, while supplies lasted. Some folks think that's not going to make a long-term difference, since no actual gun-wielding idiots were taken off the streets. Speaking of idiots, the NRA is suing the city and two suburbs to make room for more guns on the streets.

As if on cue amidst all this gun-crazy gun-loving comes a rarity from seminal copyright infringers Negativland: the New American Radio version of "Guns!". It's not the same version that appeared on the SST Records original 1991 release, which was Negativland's attempt to earn the label some revenue after the big U2 lawsuit. Download the MP3 at Kill Ugly Radio. Burn it and the U2 tracks to CD so you're prepared for any Copyright Infringement Buy Back programs that might turn up.

See also:
Negativland: U2
Negativland: Guns!
Negativland: Fair Use - The Letter U and The Numeral 2

Home Studio Interview with Portishead's Adrian Utley

Music Thing points us to Sonic State's three-part interview with Portishead's Adrian Utley. With his daughter in his lap, Utley discusses the making of Third from the comfort of his home studio. Plenty of gear porn and shop talk for you, my fellow music geeks.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Previously on PYLB: Third, Finally.

Google & Radiohead Build House Of Cards

Here's a nice companion to my last post: Radiohead's new video for "House Of Cards". No cameras were used in the making of it. Google Code has a page dedicated to it, where you can download said code and mess with it yourself, and check out the making-of footage. That's pretty cool, and very "open-source" of them.

Here's the video.



Here's the making-of.



It's worth noting that this is not just a Radiohead promotion. This is a significant marketing move for Google, tying a major international rock band to a variety Google properties like YouTube, iGoogle, Gadget Ads and Google Code in one succinct effort. Smart stuff, even if the song's lyrics seem to contradict the actions of the Google empire.

Meeting The Walrus

I've traditionally stayed away from most things having to do with The Beatles -- partially because I always thought they were a bit too corny too often, and partially because I felt they already had more fans than they needed -- but this is one of the few exceptions: I Met The Walrus. The video's description does it more justice that I would do in paraphrasing...

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it.

I can't imagine what it's like for Jerry Levitan to see this interview animated and go on to an Oscar nomination for best short. The animation is brilliant, but I'm sure the subject matter has a little to do with the over-flow of attention as well.