The Choofer has been Busy

Oh the things I've done this week...

A mate gave me some music to 'back up off-site' for him.

Now, I have to confess that the early 90's was a very arid time for me in terms of music. My ex complained loud and long about my liking for new music. Her idea of good music was Phil Collins and Bryan Adams...while I was more into the music that TripleJ was playing. I wanted to listen to Pink Floyd, The Stranglers, Violent Femmes...even KORN would have been better than having to put up with another whining saccharin infused ballad from some Top 40 crooner. I was somewhat restricted in what I was allowed to bring into the home in terms of music too. CDs not on the 'Allowed By management' list would mysteriously become unplayable due to scratches.

Then along came mp3. Well, mp3 file formats had been around for a while. I just hadn't got too involved in ripping discs, mainly because I was into computer security at the time, as well as running an IT business. Music was on the back-burner so to speak. Ironically, I had ammassed a collection of around 300+ 'purchased' CDs between 1994 and '96. It's just that I didn't get to listen to the stuff I'd bought for myself. So,  when I did play with an early copy of Exact Audio Copy, I began that journey of digital conversion of my collection...BWAHAHAHA!!!! Fuck you and your "I have no idea how 'Never Mind The Bollocks' got scratched", I have it ripped to my computerator now Bitch!!!!

Well, not really. I just quietly backed up my music in my computer dungeon downstairs.

Back to the real story...but before I do, I have to thank a couple of other people for reawakening my love of music as art, not a meal ticket.

First up, Big Bill (his name and history has been changed to protect his privacy.  Big Bill was a work buddy in the late nineties. An ex detective who chose IT over drug busts. He was a mature aged IT student at the same Uni I was at. We became study mates and friends early on. Bill showed me that it was OK to still like the Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Souix and The Banshees and The Pistols in the 90's. I had become mind numbingly fucked by an overdose of Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles and the like by my ex and he helped me get off those bad things.
The second is my partner/lover/best friend. She introduced me to the stuff I'd been missing through the 90's and after; System of a Down, Creed etc. Without them, I may still be in music limbo...

Back to the story
My mate gave me the following to back up:

Lou Reed - Ecstasy

Rage Against The Machine - Live at The Grand Olympic Auditorium

Karnivool - Sound Awake

Mammal - The Majority

Audioslave - Self Titled

Audioslave - Out Of Exile

Audioslave - Revelations

SoundGarden - Badmotorfinger

SoundGarden - Superunknown

System of a Down - The Vinyl Classics

Serj Tankien - Elect The Dead

Aaah, me wipers are broke constable...

No, I didn't set this up. My missus saw this bloke a day or so ago driving up the street in the rain doing this. When she saw him driving up the road again, she grabbed the camera and waited to see if he came back down the road. Yep, he did. She saw him again later, but his wiper was broken this time...because he was talking on his mobile phone.

Howard Zinn - Historian and Civil Rights Advocate, Passes on at 87

"The lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government will try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies.."

Howard Zinn, in an address to Spelman College in 2005.

There is an Obituary at the NAACP site:
http://www.naacp.org/news/press/2010-01-29/

Microsoft Paying For Ubuntu Development? One For the Geeks

I was reading another Slashdot post today. I dunno, I reckon it's more a case of Microsoft helping to pay for Ubuntu development through Yahoo! searches. Pretty prophetic stuff:

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ubuntu Moves To Yahoo For Default Firefox Search                                             |
|   from the can-you-say-bing dept.                                                            |
|   posted by kdawson on Wednesday January 27, @08:16 (Yahoo!)                                 |
|  
| https://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/01/27/0118244/Ubuntu-Moves-To-Yaho
| o-For-Default-Firefox|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "Starting in Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx release, [0]Firefox's default search engine will be switched from Google to Yahoo.
The switch was made after Canonical 'negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo.' Google will still be available as a choice. Since Yahoo search is now powered by Microsoft's Bing, this would seem to mean that Microsoft will be paying people for using Ubuntu."

Discuss this story at:
    http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/01/27/0118244

Links:
    0. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2010-January/030065.html

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

I am a New Fan of Folk Uke

I'm not much of a ukulele fan...nor do I like country music as a rule. I could count on one hand the 'Country and Western' that I'll listen to. However, I do like some of Willie Nelsons stuff, especially his cover of 'Blue Skies' and Gorrel & Carmichael's 'Georgia'.As a kid, I got hooked on CW McCall's 'Convoy' and still remember the lyrics, but I don't tell too many people. I even had a fling with John Denver, thanks to my mother's love of his music, until she found out he got high when he wrote songs. My appreciation of his music deepened after that news. I think mum threw his records out.

But I'm not talking about 'country' music. I'm talking about folk music. Now, folk music I like. Michelle Shocked, The Waifs, Arlo Guthrie and now, 'Folk Uke'.

Folk Uke have some brilliant lyrics and some song titles that will test your safe filter. I won't try to describe them. You need to listen and watch. Folk Uke have a strong musical background, but I'll let you discover that for yourselves and let their music stand on its merits, rather than its pedigree.

This first video kind of gives away their 'little' secret:

'Shit Makes The Flowers Grow'

'Knock Me Up'

You'll find a good interview/bio here:
http://www.cincygroove.com/?q=node/344

Chinese Pull 'Avatar' Due to its 'Anti-Authoritarian' Theme

This comes direct from Slashdot...

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China                                               |
|   from the hard-to-be-blue dept.                                                             |
|   posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 19, @17:43 (Censorship)                               |
| 
|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

SimonTheSoundMan notes that [0]Avatar is being pulled from screens in China for being too successful, and too provocative in its anti-authoritarian message. (The 3-D and IMAX versions will remain.) "The communist nationb s state-run movie distributor China Film Group is unexpectedly yanking the James Cameron-directed blockbuster 'Avatar' from
1,628 2-D screens this week in favor of a biography of the ancient philosopher Confucius starring Chow-Yun Fat. ... According to a report in the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, the move was made at the urging of propaganda officials who are concerned that 'Avatar' is taking too much market share from Chinese films and drawing unwanted attention to the sensitive issue of forced evictions."

Discuss this story at:
    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/01/19/2241229

Links:
    0. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/01/avatar-pulled-from-2d-screens-by-chinese-government.html

Another 'My Favourite Movie' List

In no particular order, these are some of the Aussie movies that I like (well, those I can remember off-hand anyway)...

Running On Empty
 

Mad Max

Mad Max 2

Stone
(and here)

He Died With A Felafel In His Hand

I Think His Name is Bruce

He featured on the cover of the British 'Oz Magazine', the October/November 1969 issue.

I've always liked this image. I wonder if he is still alive, or if anyone knows anything about him.
Maybe I could hunt down a back issue of Oz and see if I can find out.

Get ready. Nimbin MardiGrass is in May

Get ready, cause here it comes:

MardiGrass is the biggest and best pro-cannabis festival in Australia. This year, MardiGrass will be held  on the 1st and 2nd of May, in Nimbin of course.

I'll be there this year come Hell or High Water.

Check out more information at the following sites:

http://www.nimbinmardigrass.com/

http://www.nimbinmardigrass.com/2010/

http://www.youtube.com/nimbintelevision

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62X4rpvuP54

Medical Marijuana Inc Announces First National Educational Expo

Medical Marijuana Inc (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) is proud to announce the launch of its first National Educational Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Theatre Room on January 16 & 17, 2010. Featured prominent industry experts and celebrities include the former NORML Director and current CFO of Cannabis Science, and the founder, editor, & publisher of Marijuana News, Richard Cowan; and Medical Marijuana Inc Chairman, Bruce Perlowin. Special guest speaker and long suffering marijuana defendant, Robert Platshorn, author of "The Tuna Diaries" (featured in "The 35 Year Anniversary Issue of High Times Magazine") will regale you with tales of smuggling, federal court trial and "doing hard time" (3 decades in prison). Bobby's post release commitment to changing public opinion through education and information is engaging. Interact with The Executive Officers of MJNA, including the Director of Investor Relations, who will be present and available for consultation.

Complete announcement is here:

Medical Marijuana Incorporated Unveils a Sampling of Its All Star Cast of Industry Speakers to Appear at Upcoming National Educational Expo in the Los Angeles Convention Center