iPod Touch

My old iPod officially kicked the bucket. No worries because I had the Best Buy extended warranty. So here is a test post via my new iPod Touch!

The Obligatory Coachella Post.

FRIDAY, APRIL 25: Jack Johnson, The Verve, Raconteurs, The Breeders, Fatboy Slim, Tegan and Sara, Madness, The Swell Season, The National, Animal Collective, Slightly Stoopid, Mum, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Stars, Battles, Aesop Rock, Midnight Juggernauts, Does it Offend you, Yeah?, Minus the Bear, Spank Rock, dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Diplo, Adam Freeland, Santo Gold, Jens Lekman, John Butler Trio, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deacon, Architecture in Helsinki, Sandra Collins, Busy P, Cut Copy, Black Lips, Datarock, Professor Murder, Reverend and the Makers, The Bees, Porter, Rogue Wave, Modeselektor, American Bang, Lucky I Am.

SATURDAY, APRIL 26: Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death Cab for Cutie, Cafe Tacuba, Sasha & Digweed, Rilo Kiley, Dwight Yoakam, M.I.A., Hot Chip, Cold War Kids, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, DeVotchKa, Flogging Molly, Mark Ronson, Turbonegro, Scars on Broadway, Islands, Enter Shikari, Calvin Harris, Boyz Noize, Junkie XL, Cinematic Orchestra, Jamie T, The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, Carbon/silicon, Erol Alkan, Yo Majesty!, Little Brother, Bonde Do Role, St. Vincent, Akron Family, MGMT, Institubes DJs (Surkin, Para One and Orgasmic), James Zabiela, Sebastian, Kavinsky, Dredg, The Bird and the Bee, Grand Ole Party, New Young Pony Club, 120 Days, Yoav, Electric Touch, Uffie

SUNDAY, APRIL 27: Roger Waters (“Dark Side of the Moon”), Love & Rockets, My Morning Jacket, Spiritualized, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, The Streets, Metric, Danny Tenaglia, Simian Mobile Disco, Booka Shade, Murs, Dmitri from Paris, Autolux, The Field, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Les Savy Fav, The Cool Kids, Sons & Daughters, Sia, Holy Fuck, Black Kids, Black Mountain, The Annuals, Kid Sister w/A-Trak, Man Man, Duffy, I'm from Barcelona, Manchester Orchestra, Deadmau5, The Horrors, Austin TV, Shout Out Louds, Plastiscines, Brett Dennen

Wow:
Portishead
Kraftwerk
Death Cab for Cutie
Rilo Kiley
MIA
Stephen Malkmus
The Streets

Moderate Interest:
Love and Rockets
Spiritualized

WTF:
Jack Johnson
Roger Waters

Get your Rock Band Guitar working with Guitar Hero 3 (PC)

I was very surprised to learn that there wasn’t very much information on how to get this working or if it was even possible. Hopefully this little mini-guide will aid you in your journey to rock. Fortunately, after some reading and testing, more reading and testing, I can confirm that it is possible to use your Harmonix Xbox 360 Rock Band Guitar on your PC to play Guitar Hero 3.

What you need:
Harmonix Rock Band (Xbox 360) USB Wired Guitar
Xpadder: Joystick to Keyboard emulation software
Guitar Hero 3 (PC)

Activision and Red Octane were damn certain to make sure only their brand of guitar was compatible with GH3. Well, if you’re like me and prefer the Rock Band guitar then all you need to do is follow these steps.

Initial Setup:
1. Download and Install Xpadder.
2. Plug in your Guitar
3. Map the keys in Xpadder’s Setup



4. Start GH3
5. Map the keys in GH3’s Controller/Keyboard Setup



6. Switch to Lefty Mode
7. Exit GH3

Playing:
8. Unplug your Guitar
9. Start GH3
10. Advance through introduction screens using the keyboard (this is important, as if your Guitar is plugged in GH3 will detect it and make it wonky)
11. Minimize GH3 by hitting Alt-Tab
12. Plug in your Guitar
13. Load Xpadder
14. Maximize GH3
15. Check to make sure lefty mode is disabled
16. Rock out

Again, there may be a much easier way of doing this, but I sure couldn’t find it. I’ll add video and screenshots tonight. So you can see exactly how I am mapped in both programs.

MacBook Air.

The aesthetic is simply brilliant, but a heavy price tag (starting at $1800) considering all the stripped out features. No DvD drive, replaceable battery or network jack, I guess Apple assumes their customer base will always have a wireless signal (wherever they are). It is roughly 800 dollars more than the MacBook for something that is essentially two pounds lighter and severely gimped.

But damn it’s pretty.

Easy Love.

Have you ever heard a song and wondered if it had a video? Sometimes it's not always good to go looking. I feel like I should go to confession after watching that. Better save this one for home kiddos. ;)

New Indy?

Alright, so this morning I'm checking the news, trying to see if Wade Phillips got canned after the Cowboys monumental collapse. I usually hit up ESPN.com first, as they tend to break these sorts of things, or at the very least speculate on such topics. As I click into the NFL section I’m welcomed with the motherload of ads for the new film: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I quickly clicked on the Indy ad and was taken to the website of this new feature film. The advertisement revealed a drawing of Indy how we remember him in the 80’s- young and fit with brown hair. Once the website loaded I was greeted by pictures of Harrison Ford as modern day Indy, grey hair and certainly much older looking. It was jarring at first, I felt myself reverting into “Star Wars Prequel Mode” bracing, waiting for my childhood to be raped again.

Now hold on a second, sure he’s old, he’s grey, but he still looks fairly rugged. This just might actually work. This will hopefully be structured similar to “The Last Crusade” where Indy assumes a more adult Dr. Jones (parallel to the role Sean Connery played). They need to ensure that there isn’t an ounce of CGI in this film, and tell an entirely new story. Also, the creative staff must try hard to be inventive and not rely too heavily on previous films or jokes; after all we don’t need a remake. The new Indy might also benefit from something shocking at the end, like tease the death of Indiana Jones.

Coming out May 22nd, that’s soon!

U2 Guitar Hero?

Scouring the gaming news this morning- I noticed that Kotaku reported on a rumor that Activision could release a Guitar Hero “U2” themed game. It's probably a good thing this isn't in the Rock Band format, my rendition of "Lemon" would probably sevrely hurt the eardrums of those in the same room.

So let’s explore the possibilities of a U2 Exclusive Guitar Hero game:

Costumes
• Young Bono, Adam, Larry, Edge
• Joshua Tree/Rattle and Hum, give me the Bono mullet!
• Achtung Baby/Zooropa, Macphisto, The Fly and Mirrorball Man
• POP, short hair Bono and the Muscle T-Shirt!

Venues
• Small Club Gigs
• Something very similar to Red Rocks in Colorado
• Joshua Tree tour stage
• ZooTV tour stage
• Popmart tour stage
• Elevation tour stage (definitely the heart)
• Vertigo tour stage

Ten Songs this game MUST include:
1. Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Acrobat (PLEASE!!!!)
4. Where the Street Have No Name
5. Bullet the Blue Sky
6. Discotheque
7. Gone
8. Stay (Faraway, so close)
9. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
10. Lemon

I’m probably a little overambitious in my requests. Most likely they will just plug some U2 MP3’s in the Guitar Hero machine and crank out the most uninspired Guitar Hero cash-in to date. The sad thing is, I’ll be first in line to buy this.

Visions of Virtualization.

I’m inclined to blog right now.

I’ve been back from Russia for about a week now, my sleeping schedule has finally returned to normal. Upon further analysis, the vacation definitely occurred at a key moment, with business closing out at year end. There were several instances I had nightmares about my job while I was away. One night in Russia I woke up with extreme urgency, almost like something you would see in a movie. That night I felt overcome with that chaotic stress I had felt during Q3 and Q4 of this last year. In a way I was relieved that it was only a dream, but the dream felt very real (as cliché as that sounds). From time to time I had visions of VMware (the company who I basically owned the relationship with) showing up in a stretch limo dragging me off on the next plane to the US- because they can’t function without me holding their hand. Fortunately, I’ve returned to peace- so much so that I think the shit-storm has finally subsided for the time being. This probably explains the unexpected urge to blog.