• Archives

  • Categories

Weekly Digest for March 4th

vimeo (feed #4)
youtube (feed #3)
vimeo (feed #4)
twitter (feed #6)
Vimeo ad takes over your screen. Must see. http://bit.ly/aGN9gq (via @quaykoo) [timkeeling]
youtube (feed #3)
youtube (feed #3)
youtube (feed #3)
vimeo (feed #4)
Liked 2 videos.
youtube (feed #3)
  • Share/Bookmark

OK Go create two blinding promos, and then can’t show anybody

Promo directed by James Frost. It appears to be based on Swiss artist duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss’ film, ‘The way things go’ (trailer), like W+K’s Honda advert. If that’s not enough for you, here’s a different and no less outstanding promo for the same song. Why can’t I embed this video? The answer, explained by OK GO’s very own Damian Kulash Jr, is because EMI won’t let me or even the band:

Embedded videos — those hosted by YouTube but streamed on blogs and other Web sites — don’t generate any revenue for record companies, so EMI disabled the embedding feature. Now we can’t post the YouTube versions of our videos on our own site, nor can our fans post them on theirs. If you want to watch them, you have to do so on YouTube.

But this isn’t how the Internet works. Viral content doesn’t spread just from primary sources like YouTube or Flickr. Blogs, Web sites and video aggregators serve as cultural curators, daily collecting the items that will interest their audiences the most. By ignoring the power of these tastemakers, our record company is cutting off its nose to spite its face.

The numbers are shocking: When EMI disabled the embedding feature, views of our treadmill video dropped 90 percent, from about 10,000 per day to just over 1,000.

So, is there a lot of money to be made on Youtube promo views, that the record company feels they’re missing out on?

Clearly the embedding restriction is bad news for our band, but is it worth it for EMI? The terms of YouTube’s deals with record companies aren’t public, but news reports say that the labels receive $.004 to $.008 per stream, so the most EMI could have grossed for the streams in question is a little over $5,400. (read complete letter)

I can only assume it’s progress that OK Go have been allowed embedding of the main promo.

  • Share/Bookmark

Weekly Digest for February 25th

youtube (feed #3)
Liked 2 videos.
blog (feed #8)
youtube (feed #3)
blog (feed #8)
twitter (feed #6)
Overheard in Uniqlo ‘do you have any more jumpers? I can only find them in funny colours’ [timkeeling]
youtube (feed #3)
Liked 2 videos.
twitter (feed #6)
@Em_makelemonade Another good quote! Will you write them up? I think sartorialist said it better imho [timkeeling]
blog (feed #8)
Shared 2 photos.
twitter (feed #6)
Articulate amateur photographer arrested for ‘anti-social behavior’ – films the entire process http://bit.ly/9vImVf [timkeeling]
twitter (feed #6)
@Em_makelemonade Times article about LFW bloggers http://bit.ly/aLfZfm [timkeeling]
youtube (feed #3)
vimeo (feed #4)
vimeo (feed #4)
twitter (feed #6)
RT @sampling45: NEW MUSIC PROMO! I have just directed a video for Manchester-based band: Performance.
http://vimeo.com/9652487 [timkeeling]
  • Share/Bookmark

Weekly Digest for February 18th

twitter (feed #6)
Read about ‘The Robin Hood Tax’ http://timkeeling.com/blog/?p=413 [timkeeling]
twitter (feed #6)
RT @iD_magazine: RIP Alexander McQueen. [timkeeling]
twitter (feed #6)
RT @tmorello: Hey Rage Fans UK: You wanted it. You got it. www.theragefactor.co.uk FREE SHOW JUST ANNOUNCED. June 6, Finsbury Park [timkeeling]
twitter (feed #6)
.@itsnicethat Have you seen the Wooshii promo? Great hook http://vimeo.com/9183184 [timkeeling]
youtube (feed #3)
vimeo (feed #4)
twitter (feed #6)
YEASAYER’s new album ‘ODD BLOOD’ now on Spotify http://open.spotify.com/album/2bsFKcPHwxq9Ib2e8SneTe [timkeeling]
blog (feed #8)
blog (feed #8)
Published 2 posts.
vimeo (feed #4)
twitter (feed #6)
@quaykoo no way, sexual healing is a tune! [timkeeling]
blog (feed #8)
Published 2 posts.
twitter (feed #6)
RT @Spotify: New Four Tet album, There Is Love In You, now up on Spotify. http://bit.ly/aKB3TQ [timkeeling]
twitter (feed #6)
@quaykoo can’t get enough right now. Do you have a blog? [timkeeling]
youtube (feed #3)
twitter (feed #6)
@iammattking your street style pics are brilliant [timkeeling]
lastfm (feed #5)
Listened to 10 songs.
twitter (feed #6)
RT @hatopress Hato Press is on Facebook: http://tiny.cc/hellohato [timkeeling]
twitter (feed #6)
@alexparish Oh mate, Florence & Machine’s album was killer. Who were you backing? [timkeeling]
youtube (feed #3)
Liked 2 videos.
blog (feed #8)
Published 5 posts.
vimeo (feed #4)
Liked 5 videos.
twitter (feed #6)
RT @dontpanic: Founder of Pirate Bay launches excellent new concept http://flattr.com/beta/ [timkeeling]
youtube (feed #3)
Liked 4 videos.
twitter (feed #6)
@kuatofkuat BA as in Buenos Aires? [timkeeling]
twitter (feed #6)
@kuatofkuat Could I get a hold of those tips you’re writing? Otherwise I’m winging it on Timeout & Lonely Planet recommendations only [timkeeling]
blog (feed #8)
Shared 4 photos.
  • Share/Bookmark

Who wants to live forever?

Perhaps not forever, but I wouldn’t mind living for the foreseeable future.

Some excellent news for me then, as the University of Newcastle in the UK and the University of Ulm in Germany have published research that takes us a step closer to explaining why cells are senescent.

The research, published by the journal Molecular Systems Biology, shows that when an ageing cell detects serious damage to its DNA – caused by the wear and tear of life – it sends out specific internal signals.

These distress signals trigger the cell’s mitochondria, its tiny energy-producing power packs, to make oxidising ‘free radical’ molecules, which in turn tell the cell either to destroy itself or to stop dividing. The aim is to avoid the damaged DNA that causes cancer. (via FT)

Find the root cause of ageing, and we’re one step closer to finding a life-extending drug.

Fingers crossed it will be as cheap and widely available as Paracetamol, although i have my doubts. LEF tells us why:

The reason for high-priced generics is not because the active ingredients are expensive. On the contrary, compared with complicated nutrient extracts, the ingredients in drugs are usually synthetic chemicals that cost… pennies.

The culprit behind overpriced generic drugs is an archaic regulatory environment that functions to protect pharmaceutical financial interests, forcing consumers to pay artificially inflated prices for their generic medications. (via LEF)

However, whether this could be seen as ‘evil’ would depend on how much the pharmaceutical companies were driving profits back in to research.

  • Share/Bookmark

Newspaper Club

Exciting Monday morning development: Newspaper Club. An easy way of getting stuff printed onto Newsprint.

In a nutshell:

We think the web is wonderful and printed newspapers are a tremendous, highly-evolved way of reading stuff. We think combining the two is a good idea. We’re not about news or any particular form of content, we’re about ink on newsprint.

For a 12 page tabloid, the minimum full CYMK print run is 500. Spot colours are not currently supported – big ugly sad face.

  • Share/Bookmark

YEASAYER RELEASES A NEW ALBUM

Yeasayer’s new album ‘ODD BLOOD’ is now on Spotify.

Many organic elements are left behind and replaced by sounds and rhythms that inspire the body as much as the mind. At times Yeasayer sound as if they would be at home playing live in scene from Blade Runner or inside one of Oscar Neimeyer’s concrete modernist temples from the 1960s. (via ODD BLOOD press release)

The album art is by Benjamin Phelan. According to a press release provided to Pitchfork,  it ‘is the study of a future with a distorted biology’.

  • Share/Bookmark

Spotify Playlists, 3 & 4

Here are my recent playlists on Spotify.

I’m on the lookout for new emerging artists. If you listen to the playlists and think there’s something in the same vein worth checking out, please let me know.

Teacake 3, 01.2010
http://open.spotify.com/user/timkeeling/playlist/7lathTtcCE36JwodZCz5U3
Yeasayer – Ambling Alp
Atlas Sound – Walkabout (w. Noah Lennox)
Department Of Eagles – No One Does It Like You
Toots & The Maytals – 54-46 Was My Number
Blakroc – What You Do To Me
Turner Cody – Corner of my Room
The Flairs – Levretto
Professor Green – Upper Clapton Dance
Bran Van 3000 – Drinking In L.A.
Badly Drawn Boy – The Shining
Bon Iver & St. Vincent – Rosyln – Soundtrack Album Version
Mazzy Star – Into Dust
The Flairs – Truckers Delight – Alex Gopher Remix
The Dodos – Fools

Teacake 4, 02.2010
http://open.spotify.com/user/timkeeling/playlist/4z3hCW2N0OYuHi4knROfdm
Fools Gold – Surprise Hotel
Yeasayer – O.N.E
April March – Chick Habit
Justice – Phantom pt. II – Boys Noize Remix
The xx – Basic Space (Jamie xx Space Bass Mix)
Massive Attack – Splitting The Atom
The xx – Islands (Delorean Remix)
Hot Chip – Alley Cats
Four Tet – Angel Echoes
British Sea Power – Man Of Aran
Volcano Choir – Island, IS
The Antlers – Kettering
Gorillaz – Stylo (Album Version) (Feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack)
Bowerbirds – In Our Talons
Clinic – The Equalizer

Related Post: ‘Spotify Playlists 1 & 2′

  • Share/Bookmark

a National Supermarket

How we could lower taxes in the UK?

Kuwait is a tax free country. The oil industry accounts for 80% of government revenue. For British people, we can be taxed as much as 40% of our wage. This is because the UK doesn’t have a government-owned export that will make as much money as Kuwaiti oil.

I propose the government start a national supermarket. From now on, I will refer to ‘national supermarket’ as: Comarket.

We all have to buy essentials like food, drink, clothes etc. The supermarkets make a lot of money from citizens buying these items. The money the supermarkets make is not kept in the UK. For example, worldwide shareholders take a cut of the profit made in the UK, which they can spend in another overseas market.

The UK taxpayer is paying more than they need to. Imagine Comarket, where the food is sourced as locally as possible, the staff are on fixed wages country-wide, and most importantly, the profits knock down the amount the UK taxpayer forks out in tax.

The fundamental reason why this would work: You buy your food at Comarket because it will lower your taxes. The taxpayer is already spending £x in Asda, Tesco, Morrisons etc. They spend the same in Comarket for the same products if not more fresh local alternatives, but it lowers their taxes.

  • Share/Bookmark

The Robin Hood Tax

Great acting from Bill Nighy to advertise a new organisation, ‘The Robin Hood Tax‘, hell-bent on taxing bankers. The idea is compelling:

The Robin Hood Tax is a tiny tax on bankers that would raise billions to tackle poverty and climate change, at home and abroad.

By taking an average of 0.05% from speculative banking transactions, hundreds of billions of pounds would be raised every year.

That’s easily enough to stop cuts in crucial public services in the UK, and to help fight global poverty and climate change.

  • Share/Bookmark