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Monday, January 31, 2011
Vocal Tweets
by Chris Bodenner Google's response to the new Internet blackout in Egypt: Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service?the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection. We worked with a small...
Ex-Apprentice unites British press - in loathing
Alex Epstein emailed more than 700 people to offer his services, revealing all their email addresses in the process. They were not happy
Lost in Showbiz has noted before that these are tough times for the media, and tough times breed enmity. No more the boozy fraternity of old Fleet Street: in the fight for the attention of a dwindling readership, it's every man for himself and no palling around with the opposition.
It takes a rare commodity to unite Britain's journalists, but thankfully just such a commodity has revealed himself: former Apprentice contestant Alex Epstein, who earlier this week sent an email variously offering his services as a TV reviewer, a "creative business PR/marketing agony uncle" and "a critic on all things, business-related or wider".
He offered a brief resume of his achievements on The Apprentice, which seemed a trifle supererogatory. Surely no one has forgotten the man who managed to distinguish himself in the eyes of the marketing manager who wrote about The Apprentice for this newspaper as "an arrogant twonk", "a halfwit with a startling lack of self-awareness", and "an incompetent knobber who knows nothing about marketing". It also included a link to his website, much of which is devoted to hymning his former employers, the intriguingly named Masternaut, in the manner of a needy, drunken and increasingly irksome acquaintance whose conversation revolves around the attributes of the partner who recently left them for someone who perhaps seemed less of an incompetent knobber.
He sent the email to more than 700 people: not merely the business press and the broadsheets, but wedding publications, web developers, the specialist food press ? who could perhaps benefit from his unique vision regarding pies ? and the specialist dance music magazine Mixmag. He also cc'd rather than bcc'd them, thus revealing all the recipients' email addresses to everyone else. One recipient, a Derek Lock of Frommers, responded, "We're a travel company, perhaps you'd like to leave the country." "You're a total shambles," offered the Daily Mail's Showbiz editor. Her counterpart on the Express agreed.
Lost in Showbiz is at a loss to understand the angry and sarcastic tone many recipients adopted and says: come on, hacks! Can't you see what a happy day this is? Old enmities put aside! Political differences swept away at the click of a button! We've found something we all agree on! We've come together! Right now! Over an incompetent knobber!
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New band of the day ? No 957: Hayvanlar Alemi
This Turkish band create music of cosmic intent and complex interplay, combining improvisatory rock, psych and freakbeat
Hometown: Ankara, Turkey.
The lineup: Ozum Itez (electric guitar), Isik Sarihan (percussion), Hazar Mutgan (bass).
The background: Have we done a Turkish psychedelic rock band before in this column? If we have, it was surely a long time ago, in which case we sincerely apologise for being remiss in leaving it so long. Hayvanlar Alemi ? which means "the world of animals" in Turkish, but don't worry, you'll glean nothing there ? are a four-piece operating at the interface between improvisatory rock, psych, folk and freakbeat. Are freakbeat and psych the same thing? Again, we need to check. Operator, get us Jon Savage, quick.
We sort of know where we are today: we've got the co-ordinates, even if the map's a bit blurry. We're in the domain of the drone, the area of the extrapolated solo, the meandering jam, the instrumental freak-out. This is music to head-nod to, music of cosmic intent and complex interplay. The extent to which it draws on Turkish idioms is unclear, although there are textures, tones and timbres being purveyed that obviously have their provenance in Ankara and environs. It would take all week to explore their vast catalogue of free self-released CDs (plus two official albums, the first sold online here and the recent follow-up, Guarana Superpower ? and we don't even want to talk about their Hayvanthropological Field Recordings Series). Luckily we have a press release that tells us everything we need to know about a band that venture every which way, from "west African blues to pulsating Thai rhythms, surf rock to post-punk head trips".
Here's what we make of them: Neptune Sunset Casino is positively Tom Verlaine-ish, like something from side one of Television's Marquee Moon (namely, Marquee Moon), although we'd be the first to admit that our knowledge of acid-tinged instrumental derring-do isn't as extensive as it might be and that there is probably going to be a far more accurate series of reference points than this. Then again, listening to another track, Med Cezlr, we defy anyone out there to suggest a more pertinent comparison than the Byrds' sizzling raga-rock circa Eight Miles High and The 5th Dimension album. Pet Sisede Cin Tonik is completely different ? think Eurasian ska, as though a bunch of musicians in a bazaar had decided to do frankly berserk things to Madness' Night Boat to Cairo. Ineffable Dresscode, like Neptune Sunset Casino, is one of few tracks by the Alemi with an English title. Not that they reveal much. Neither do the lyrics, mainly because there aren't any. That instrument rings a bell, though ? or rather, plucks a string. Never mind the balalaikas? Oh, they're Russian.
The buzz: "They ooze the alternative history of rock'n'roll from every pore" ? The Wire.
The truth: We're all Guarana summer holiday ? to Turkey, via deep space.
Most likely to: Affect cognition.
Least likely to: Do the nutty dance.
What to buy: Guarana Superpower is available now on Sublime Frequencies. Hayvanlar Alemi play the Barbican on Friday 13 May.
File next to: Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Television.
Links: myspace.com/hayvanlaralemi.
Tuesday's new band: Sound of Rum.
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Why This Street Protest?
by Conor Friedersdorf This is the sort of event that confuses me: An invitation-only political retreat for rich conservatives, run out of the spotlight for years by a pair of Kansas billionaires, became a public rallying point for liberal outrage...
Patricia Velásquez Jennifer Morrison Adrianne Palicki Amanda Righetti Michelle Branch
Kindle e-books now out-selling paperbacks
Last year we saw e-books outsell their hardback counterparts, but another arguably more important milestone has just been passed: e-books now outsell all paperback books on Amazon. Now for every 100 paperbacks Amazon sells, 115 e-books are sold, making e-books the most popular book format available. That number excludes the free and out of copyright e-books that Amazon distributes too, otherwise the ratio would be even higher.With over 810,000 e-books available from Amazon's Kindle store alone, it looks like the days of the paper book are numbered. Whether you like it or not, e-books are here to stay, and paper will eventually go away.
Kindle e-books now out-selling paperbacks originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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DT Spain Announces Top 50 Sexiest Women
It seems like celebrity ladies keep getting hotter each year, and DT Spain magazine has just announced their picks for the 50 Sexiest Women of the World.
Coming in at #1 is Russian model hottie Irina Shayk, who also happens to have nabbed herself the hottest soccer stud in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Newly single Scarlett Johansson scored the #4 spot, proving that she?s still got game after divorcing mega hunk Ryan Reynolds.
Heidi Klum came in at #10, while Alessandra Ambrosio and Gisele Bundchen, who were both on the Colcci runway at Sao Paulo Fashion Week, ranked #8 and #14 respectively.
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Teach for America Gets $100 Million in Funding
Teach For America, the educational organization founded by Wendy Kopp, as a result of her senior thesis at Princeton, has been moderately successful since its founding in 1989. The organization hires recent college graduates from prestigious institutions, training them for the summer in a dorm-like setting and then placing them into low-income, traditionally underserved schools.
I say it has been moderately successful because the teachers are required to only commit for two years. The program has been successful in getting the brightest, most talented and energetic teachers into the classroom -- receiving 46,000 applicants for just 4,400 teaching slots last year -- but the problem is keeping them.
Perhaps they will address this issue with the $100 million they just received, according to the AP, to launch their first-ever endowment in hopes of making the grassroots organization a permanent fixture in education.
Teach for America has many vocal opponents -- particularly teachers' unions -- who are critical of the lack of experience of these new teachers who are put into classrooms without going through the traditional certification that requires years of training and advanced degrees.
Others offer more philosophical criticism: can recent Ivy League grads respond to the cultural differences of low-income, often inner-city or rural, largely African American student populations?
But Teach for America alums say the criticism is both unfounded and inaccurate. Ayanna Taylor, a Teach for America alum, and graduate of The University of Pennsylvania, worked for 10 years in the classroom, and continues to work as a consultant for public and charter schools around the country. Other alums she said went through the program continue to teach and work in other areas of education reform.
Have critics compiled statistics on the number of traditionally trained teachers who stay on after two years? Or elect to work in traditionally underfunded schools?
"Teach for America changed the concept of what a teacher could be," says Taylor. "Teachers were put into classrooms with extensive knowledge of their content area. It also gave the teaching profession some cachet -- to have Ivy League grads decide to earn $25,000 a year and many of them stayed with the profession after the two year requirement."
According to statistics from Teach for America, 10 percent of alumni are still teaching or are working in the trenches for education reform. It points to studies that show its teachers are at least as effective as those who enter the teaching profession in more traditional ways.
The idea of an endowment started with philanthropist Eli Broad, who pledged $25 million from his Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and encouraged others to commit to the project. Three more foundations stepped up with matching funds: the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Robertson Foundation and philanthropists Steve and Sue Mandel.
Right now the organization gets its budget from nonprofits, corporations and federal grants, but it's a shaky way to depend on funding each year. With the increased funding, the organization hopes to double the number of teachers and increase the amount of communities they serve from 39 to 60.
What critics often miss in talking about Teach for America is that it offers some poorly underserved schools some of the brightest minds in the country. If Teach for America combines that with proper training, the increased funding will likely keep the program around for a while and it will be a force to be reckoned with.
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Radio review: Chris Evans
Mention of Jools Holland's early-morning piano regime made guest Elton John swear in disgust
"Keep it brief, keep it bouncy and everything's going to be fine," Chris Evans (Radio 2, Friday) told listeners with his optimistic, bushy-tailed energy. And it was, until guest Elton John (pictured) responded to Evans telling him that Jools Holland likes to play the piano first thing every morning. "Oh, fucking hell," said John. "The remark was so eugh," he added.
His apology was catty, making the next song choice ? Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word ? both appropriate and funny. "I am very, very sorry for that awful word I said: Jools Holland," the singer declared. After the 9am news, Evans told us that another apology was coming and it did, restating how nauseating the morning tinkling of ivories habit seemed. "Nowt as queer as folk," John said, still digging at Holland. The following track, Trouble by Ray LaMontagne, also bristled with sudden topicality.
It's a shame that this inevitably occluded much of John's time on the programme in the new regular Friday guest slot. Before the f-word slip, he had been funny and the chat had wandered away from the usual fodder, to hostess trolleys (John has one) and the problems of taking tablets to encourage hair re-growth when trying for a baby (that's Evans). It was a fun listen. Maybe radio's just going through a sweary phase.
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Still Going Strong
by Chris Bodenner Early news via EA: 1048 GMT: Very loud chants now around Tahrir Square as new demonstrations proceed. One appears to be from Shubra, a couple of kilometres away. Al Jazeera correspondent says this is the "most organised"...
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