"Daddy, why this song is never played on the radio?"

A week ago or so, I was bringing my daughter Alba home after swimming, and I was playing "Futile devices", one of the most catchy songs from the last Sufjan Stevens album. Alba, whose tastes use to be quite good (in spite of the unavoidable hooking on Justin Bieber, may Disney be damned forever) was quietly listening, and when the song was over, she said she liked it very much.

Then she asked "Daddy, why this song is never played on the radio?".

It was one of those moments of "father-rolling-eyes", as it was quite difficult to explain such an issue for a 12 years old little woman.

I tried to explain that radios play only music from bands who pay to be included in playlists. And that most of the good music being currently made never appears in radios, so that music from people like Sufjan Stevens (one my current very favourite musicians) are always missing. I tried to stress that it is worth to digg for music beyond the massive channels, as you can find real jewels receiving little or no attention at all.

And this prompted me to realize that the current young generation is receiving among the worst possible music diet in the last fifty years.
As I said often, I am convinced that music made in 2010 is just as good as at any other time, and there are some tops of the iceberg that demonstrate it.

But the big, big, big problem is that the music business is its worst shape ever, and therefore they are completely focused on making money at any price, no matter how shitty is the music, or how fast it is going to disintegrate, once the hype is over.

Let me focus on my country, but I'm pretty sure the situation is similar everywhere:

If you are an early teenager as my daughter, it's very probable that you have been exposed during the last years to Disney Channel, who are becoming more and more ridiculous while promoting miserable music being lypsynched by goodlooking nobodies without any talent whatsoever (other than being goodlooking and young). The few times I've heard so-called songs from the so-called singer Hannah Montana, my ears were bleeding.

Then you turn on the radio and of course you go to the mainstream radio: the Top 40, and you listen to what? Again more Disney shit, and when it does not come from Disney, it can come from either Lady Gaga (for whom I can only say that I detest her more than Madonna, which is saying) or any of the X Factor [i]wonders[/i].

Gone (forever?) are the times when big labels were nurturing talented musicians to reach their maturity and become actual, massive superstars (who's the Prince in the making of 2010?).  Gone are the times when the Top 40 included at the top positions music from Elvis or Prince or Beatles or The Rolling Stones (I mean, coming from new albums of young musicians, not in the n-time compilations of old superstars).

And the worst of all is that people with huge talent do exist and do make stunning music, TODAY. In my book, they are called Sufjan and Antony and Erykah, to name only three. And I'm sure there are many others. But they are simply under the radar (with only a few exceptions) for the main radios & tv channels. They belong to the category of "why this song is never played on the radio?".

And the worst of all is that this miserable state of affairs in music, is happening right at the time when internet allows to get in touch with all kinds of music, in a couple of clicks. Which makes for a sad contradiction: when it is easier than ever to discover and enjoy good music, the good musicians are finding more problems than ever to ensure their work is known by masses.

Of course I realize there are many issues behind this situation, including the file sharing and the changing paradigm in music industry, from a disc-driven business to a gig-driven business. But still I see my daughter playing shit from youtube (she, who is clearly enabled to appreciate and enjoy good music) and I can't avoid to feel a little depressed.

Anyway, I want to finish this with a positive tone: I am trying my best to make Alba discover truly good music, even in the catchy category, and I admit that my efforts are compensated often.

Reality vs football

I just finished browsing quickly the headlines at different newspapers from different political signs, both Spanish and from other countries. With diverging intensity, there is a strong focus on rumours about the hypothetical/possible/probable/almost sure (depending on the source)  intervention of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to rescue the Spanish economy.

Yet people is raving or crying (depending on their favourite team) after yesterday's victory of Barcelona over Real Madrid in one of the most hyped football matches of the season, which has become almost the single topic of conversation and writing today, in conversations, newspapers and other media.

I tried to get some perspective, and it is indeed a curious case of escaping the real happenings by focusing on unimportant events linked to sports.

Romans said centuries ago that people needed panem et circus. But it's sad to realize today that people is only focused on circus and doing little to ensure that panem remains available.

Wikileaks disclosing massive information on US relationships with other countries

In another big smash, Wikileaks appears in today's edition of several major newspapers, including the very influential The New York Times. This time they disclosed massive amounts of information concerning the relationships between the US and other countries, by publishing loads of confidential cables where these matters are discussed openly.

There is plenty of interesting information to digg in, but I was particularly attracted by the comments from the GW Bush administration of Zapatero (which are not exactly compliments), or by the documents stating that US was spying on the UNO communications.

Bad day for the US foreign policy, and great day for the freedom of speech.

Paying homage to teachers

A couple of weeks ago, my son and one of my daughters participated in an event to pay homage to a few people from my city, Córdoba. They were involved in the part concerning Felipa, a teacher recently retired from the primary school.

Felipa was the teacher of my son for two years; during that time, we were surprised to see the strong attention devoted by this lady to different arts, as poetry, literature and painting. Besides doing the usual teaching at the primary school, she was clearly interested in seeding the love for art in children. And my wife and me appreciated a lot her commitment, since it was clear it was having a bold effect on the attitude of our son.

Surprisingly enough, we have heard that other parents are complaining because, according to them, this teacher was not doing a good work, when in our opinion, it was exactly the opposite: besides a good teaching on primary matters, she was stimulating the cultural and artistic interests of the kids in her classroom. As an example, we learned that our son had written a poem after the death of our dog, a couple of years ago, and he did it without any request. And he knows the name of many writers, for whom he shows an honest interest, which is quite weird in a kid of 10 years.

Anyway, may this little comment serve to pay also homage to outstanding teachers like Felipa, who beyond the official duties, are commited to promoting culture and arts in kids. Many more teachers of this kind would be needed in the education system.

Sufjan Stevens: new video for "Too much"

I received today an email with updates from Asthmatic Kitty Records, and it contained information on a new, colourful video for "Too much", recently released by Pitchfork tv. Here you have it:

Three interviews with Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon

The regular readers of this blog don't need further introduction on that genius of music, with a troubled health lately, called Paddy McAloon. Possibly one of the most underrated musicians of the 80s, with the exception of those with an eye on the finer details.

Anyway, I am reading often a web devoted to Prefab Sprout, unsurprisingly called Prefabsprout.net, where you can see news on the band. They mention that, due to the recent release of "Let's change the world with music" in the US, Paddy made some interviews. Here you have the links, in case you want to learn something more about Paddy & his music:

Interview with Torquill Campbell, from Stars
Interview with Russ Slater, from Popmatters.com
Interview with Noel Murray, from A.V. Club

Paddy is not only a stunning musician with unmatched creativity: he's also an extremely nice and very, very, very intelligent person.

The end of printed newspapers?

The title of this post is an intended provocation, but who knows, maybe it is not so far fetched:

After years of rumours, it seems that finally we will have big news in the field of paid electronic newspapers. According to recent rumours from reliable sources, it seems that media giant Murdoch and Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, are going to make a joint introduction of The Daily, the first electronic newspaper designed from scratch to be strictly a paid, electronic-only newspaper.

Further information has been posted by Gruber here.

I think the potential implications of this announcement are huge, and I personally think this is a bold sign of things to come in the next years. Printed newspapers might become a thing of the past, or almost, in the same way that CD and DVD are becoming a thing of the past, right now.

Whether these are good or bad news, I honestly don't know.

Amnesty International on the situation in Sahara

The recent problems in Sahara related with violence from Morocco are unfortunately not receiving major headlines in the world. Yet Amnesty International, among other organizations, are taking note:

MOROCCO URGED TO INVESTIGATE DEATHS IN WESTERN SAHARA PROTEST CAMP

11 November 2010

The Moroccan authorities must open an independent investigation into events that led to a number of deaths and injuries at Gadaym Izik, a protest camp near Laayoune, Western Sahara, Amnesty International said today.

 

The government says nine people were killed during Monday's operation and in its aftermath, including eight members of the security forces.

Local human rights activists have told Amnesty International that 11 camp residents were seen lying injured on the ground, some of whom were bleeding while others had been burnt. 

According to reports, thousands of Sahrawis were also forcibly removed from the protest camp by Moroccan security forces.

 

"This was clearly a very serious incident and one that threatens to fuel further tension in Western Sahara," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa programme.

 

"The Moroccan authorities must launch an immediate, independent inquiry and get to the bottom of what occurred and consider asking the UN to assist.

 

"We need to know what sparked the security forces' action and whether the force they used was reasonable and proportionate or excessive. If excessive force was used, those responsible must be held to account."

 

According to accounts received by Amnesty International, the first residents knew of the impending security forces' action was at about 6am on Monday when a helicopter flew over the camp ordering the residents to leave.

   

Minutes later, the security forces are said to have forced their way into the camp, beating residents and using tear gas and cannons firing hot water to force them out of their tents which were then burnt or bulldozed.

   

The Moroccan authorities say that the operation was necessary to free camp residents who were being held there against their will. They say too that the security forces encountered serious resistance. 

Morocco's official news agency has reported that five police or other security officials were killed and three others died on Tuesday from injuries they had sustained, and that one Sahrawi man was accidentally killed by a speeding police car in Laayoune. His death is being investigated, according to the authorities. 

Little information has yet emerged directly from residents who were removed from the camp and the site itself has been effectively sealed off by Moroccan security forces. 

In Laayoune itself, a few kilometres west of the camp, demonstrators are reported to have attacked and damaged public buildings, banks, shops and other properties in the aftermath of the security force operation. 

The Gadaym Izik camp, an informal settlement of tents and makeshift dwellings containing thousands of people, was established last month by Sahrawis angered by what they say is their marginalization by the Moroccan authorities and in support of their demand for jobs and adequate housing. 

The Sahrawis say that though they are indigenous to Western Sahara, they do not receive a fair share of the benefits from the region's natural resources and land, and that the local authorities have failed to respond to their demands for better socio-economic conditions. 

Monday's violence coincided with the start of new informal talks about the future of Western Sahara between the Moroccan authorities and the Polisario Front, a group which calls for the independence of Western Sahara and runs a self-declared government in exile - the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The talks were convened in New York at the behest of the UN's special envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross. 

"This latest incident highlights once again the urgent need to include a human rights monitoring component in the Mandate of MINURSO, the UN body which monitors the cease-fire agreement between Morocco and the Polisario Front reached almost 20 years ago in 1991," said Malcolm Smart. 

"The absence of a specific human rights monitoring component has undermined MINURSO's effectiveness and allowed human rights abuses to pass without adequate investigation."

Sufjan Stevens playing "Too much" live at Fallon night show

You can hardly imagine a weirder tv appearance than this:

Excellent review of Pentax K-5 at Pentaxforums.com

Today I received an email from Pentaxforums.com, announcing the release of their first in depth review of a camera, and it is devoted to the new Pentax K-5.  I just checked it and it is well worth to read, extensive, very informative and with loads of details about the new camera and its features.

In my book, the Pentax K-5 is the most tempting model from Pentax since the introduction of my beloved K10D: it has all the endless features of the K-7, which was somehow the top-notch body for advanced photographers without a top-notch sensor. With the new K-5, Pentax has the best of both worlds: pretty much the same body of the K-7 (which in my opinion is almost faultless), this time with a processor which is clearly best of breed. And the results seems to evidence it is clearly a winner camera.

Interview with Ned Bunnell at The Online Photographer

Do not miss it. It is extremely interesting for photographers interested in Pentax products. Among the many interesting bits, he denies the recent rumours that Pentax would stop the production of their glorious limited lenses, but there is much more to read. So again, do not miss it.

Medium format shootout at Luminous Landscape: Pentax 645D vs Phase One P40+

These are good days for Pentax; further on their analysis of the Pentax 645D, Luminous Landscape posted the results of a challenge between a well stablished model from Phase One (one of the traditional names in digital medium format cameras) and the 645D.

The conclusions would surprise more than one, and they hammer the successful comeback of Pentax to this field, where they were very popular in the analogue years.

First review of the new Pentax 645D at Luminous Landscape

The first review of the brand new smash from Pentax, the 645D camera that redefines the field with a stunning image quality at an unbelievable price, is out, published by Luminous Landscape. This is their conclusion:

The 645D has changed the landscape of medium format digital.  Pentax has given us the best handling MFSLR at the lowest price thus far. Image quality is excellent, and the high ISO is very usable.  The Mamiya DF and Hasselblad H bodies have suddenly started to look very long in the tooth.  All is not perfect, because Pentax really needs to release a full line of digitally-optimized lenses.  The 55mm SDM is but a start, and a few question marks hover over the quality of their 'legacy' lenses.  

All in all, however, Pentax has done a good job. The 645D is a photographer's camera.  And that's the highest praise there is. 

Morrocco government imposing sovereignity in Sahara, and killing people

For unknown reasons this is noit doing international headlines in big media, but fact is that during this week, Morocco attacked a campament of refugees from Sahara, belonging to the Polisary Front, and reports speak about many deads.

The history of Sahara, since Spain left it right before the death of Franco, to now, has been a full shame. A proposed referendum, stimulated by UNO, never took place due to delaying tactics of Morocco. And at this time, Morocco is imposing, in fact, its power in that region, even if the international community, the UNO, and Spain have never acknowledged the Sahara to be part of Morocco.

Overall this is a miserable story, and one that puts to shame the Spanish politics. Our country abandoned to its destiny in Sahara, in times of trouble; and afterwords,  it has never helped the local inhabitants, those descendent from a population which was part of Spain for years, in order to reach autonomy, let alone an independent country.

In the mean time, Morocco is acting as the owner of the region, utilizing all kind of ugly strategies to ensure that its interests are protected, and regardless of the opinion of the international community.

El Torcal de Antequera

A couple of weekends ago, we visited a very nice place located near Málaga, in the South of Spain: it's called El Torcal de Antequera, and it has amazing karst rock formations. There are different walks, adapted even for kids, making it possible to visit for families. Hereafter I am showing you some pictures taking on a sunny afternoon; as usual, Pentax K10D with standard 18-55 lenses.

Pentax will release a mirrorless interchangeable lenses camera in Spring 2011

The Spanish site quesabesde.com has published a short article, based on insider information from reliable Pentax sources. According to them, Pentax will introduce a new mirrorless interchangeable lenses camera in early 2011, which sales starting in Spring 2011. The sensor will be of the APS-C size, and no information is known regarding the mount. They spedifically discard the possibility that Pentax could join the micro4/3 format, mentioning an hypothetical new mount based on the classic K mount from Pentax.

Overview of fan audio releases from the Prince Fall 2010 European Tour

As reported previously, Prince has been doing a Fall 2010 tour in Europe (with an escapade to Abu Dhabi next week). This tour included a few important changes in the composition of the band, compared to that which played in the Summer 2010 European tour: namely, the replacement of Cora and Josh Dunham by John Blackwell and Ida Nielsen on drums and bass, respectively; the addition of Renato Neto to the band, as keyboard player; and the participation of Sheila E. in the initial gigs, although for unexplained reasons, she was missing in the Italian gigs.

Fortunately for fans of Prince music, there is a team of people recording regularly the Prince live appearances; these recordings are later treated to improve their audio quality by some audio wizards; and icing on the cake, there are some designers making stunning audio artwork for these releases. At the end, we have authentics works of art, with excellent audio quality & beautiful artwork, released by fans, for fans, no money involved: all of this is entirely made for the love of Prince music.

Herafter I will summarize my pick among the sets that have been released by fans, documenting the European 2010 Fall tour; for full information regarding dates, venues, band line-up, etc, I suggest you to check the fantastic Princevault.com website. A complete reference on Prince unofficial recordings is available at The Digital Garden.

As you will see, these releases are a real team effort, involving different people in the work of recording the shows, making the artwork and performing the audio treatment. And let me repeat: all of this work is done entirely for the love of music, no money involved whatsoever:

Bergen, October 18th, 2010:
No fan release has been made thus far.

Copenhagen, October 20, 2010: FBG35, Prince Copenhagen 20Ten (main show at Forum, aftershow at Amager Bio)
Clone Funk (recording of main show), Freddy-G Recordings (recording of the aftershow), Reverend (artwork) and Free Boot Generation (audio treatment).

Herning, October 22, 2010: Prince Live 2010 Herning Messecenter
Freddy-G Recordings (recording), Enfant Terrible (artwork) and Free Boot Generation (audio treatment).

Rome, November 2nd, 2010: FBG36, Prince Rome 20TEN

Dynamic Duo (recording), Reverend (artwork) and Free Boot Generation (audio treatment)

Milano, November 3rd: Milano 20Ten

Fan release (no artwork available yet)

Brussels, November 6th, 2010: FBG37, Prince Viage 2 (still unreleased)

The Dynamic Duo (recording), Reverend (artwork) and Free Boot Generation (audio treatment)

This show received authentically rave reviews from hardcore fans, and I think there is a huge expectation to listen how it sounds.

Antwerp, November 8th, 2010: Hang on a minute... (to be updated).

Now let me end this post by thanking all the people involved in making these releases available, for free, to fans of Prince music. And let me also stress that you won't find any of those releases posted in this blog; hence do not request them at the commens, as such comments will be ignored.

The impressive low light abilities of the new Pentax K5

Just go read this thread at Pentaxforums; nothing else to add: it is obvious that the Pentax K5 has a mindblowing capability to get pictures at very low light, without noticeable noise.

And by the way, as reported today by The Online Photographer, the DxO Mark rankings for the Nikon D7000 have been released; this camera uses the same sensor as the K5, although the information captured by it is analyzed in a different way (this is pretty much the standard in today's cameras: the sensor being the same, the output is personalized by each brand). Ok, so the fact is that the output quality is lower than that of K5 (although it is true that the difference is tiny: score of 82 for the K5, 80 for the D 7000).

Pity that my budget does not allow this dream at all at this time; otherwise I would buy a K5 as a Christmas gift for myself, that's for sure.

ETA will end in the next years, according to Jesús Eguiguren

Following with Spanish politics topics, I found out a document released by Spanish tv La Sexta, summarizing another interview with Jesús Eguiguren, for the tv show Salvados; he's very well known as one of the Socialists who has been deeply involved in negotiations with the terrorist group ETA, in order to achieve its dissolution.

In this summary, he clearly states that ETA will declare a definitive end of actions by December 2010, and that he's convinced it will be the begining of the complete disappearance of ETA.

I remain extremely skeptical, but still I am crossing fingers so that I am completely wrong and he is completely right on this issue.

Must-read interview with Felipe González in El País

Yesterday's issue of the Spanish newspaper El País included an extensive interview with Felipe González, who probably needs no introduction. It is absolutely a must-read interview; I have not finished reading it yet, but I can already state that, after reading his reflections on different topics, it is shameful to compare this leader to the people who are currently running our country; furthermore, it is shameful compared to all of those who could possibly win the next elections, be it from the left or from the right.

The fact that the person writing this comments (I mean, yours truly) is in the early 40s, is a bad indication on how things are going on in Spain, regarding the status of the political parties of all signs. Usually, people tend to trust other people of the same generation. In my case, and I'm afraid I am not alone on this (mostly, after reading the late sociological studies published by the CIS), it's sad but it is clear: former political generations were quantum leaps ahead the current ones.

The Pentax K5 ranks at number 5 in DxO Mark, all cameras confounded!!

Picture copyright: DxO Mark

I just found out that the respected DxO Mark website (devoted to the analysis of the raw sensor performances from all kind of DSLR cameras in the market) has published its latest results, including those for the brand new Pentax flagship, the K5.


And the surprise is there: in their just updated ranking, the sensor of the Pentax K5 is at position number 5, topping ALL of Canon DSLR sensors, and preceded only by such prestigious cameras as the Phase One (P65 and P40), Nikon D3X and D3S and Pentax 645 D.


In other words: putting apart the medium format cameras, only the two top Nikon models are giving better results than the Pentax K5 (and those cameras are full frame, unlike the K5).


If that is not an accomplishment, I don't know what it is. Much props to Pentax for a work well done.


The excellent Spanish website DSLR Magazine has posted an article analyzing these results (they are collaborators of DxO Mark), and they couldn't be more enthusiastic: here's their conclusion:

¡En esta cámara réflex monocular de alta gama, Pentax monta el que –por el momento– podemos considerar, simplemente, el mejor captor APS-C de los que hemos evaluado hasta la fecha!

En conjunto la Pentax K5 saca 9 puntos de ventaja tanto a la Alfa 55 como a la Nikon D90 (mejor captor APS-C hasta la fecha).

El el apartado de respuesta en índice ISO con bajos niveles de luz, la Pentax K5 es un 1/3 de punto superior respecto a sus competidoras más próximas.

Pero donde realmente destaca la Pentax K5 es en el muy importante aspecto del Rango Dinámico: ofrece, a 80 ISO, nada más y nada menos que 14,1 EV en modo "copia" y 13,6 EV en modo "pantalla". De hecho, en Rango Dinámico, ni siquiera la Nikon D3x ("full frame") alcanza los niveles de la Pentax K5.

Parece que Pentax aplica un poco de procesado (RAW smoothing) por encima de 3.200 ISO, pero se trata de algo poco agresivo y que casi pasa desapercibido.

Translation:

In this high level DSLR camera, Pentax is using -at this time- what we can simply consider the best APS-C sensor among those we have evaluated thus far!

Overall, the Pentax K5 has an advantage of 9 points over the Alfa 55 and the Nikon D90 (best sensors until now).

In the part of ISO response at low light, the Pentax K5 is 1/3 points superior to its closest competitors.

But where the Pentax K5 realy excels is in the very important aspect of dynamic range: it offers, at ISO 80, nothing more or less than 14.1 EV in copy mde, and 13.6 EV in screen mode. In fact, in dynamic range, not even the Nikon D3X (full frame) reaches the levels of the Pentax K5.

It seems that Pentax is applying a bit of processing (RAW smoothing) over ISO 3,200, but it seems something little agressive and goes almost unnoticed. 

Icing on the cake, The Online Photographer is also singing the K5 praise. It seems Pentax has a clear winner in their new flagship. 

Removing Flash from a MacBook Air provides 2 additional hours of battery runtime

I was shocked this week when I learned at Ars Technica, in their review of the new MacBook Air, that removing Flash support provides 2 additional hours of battery runtime, which means, 4 h with Flash, 6 h without Flah:

We did find (quite by accident) that Apple may have more reasons behind not installing Flash by default other than the stated reason of ensuring that users always have the most up-to-date version. Having Flash installed can cut battery runtime considerably—as much as 33 percent in our testing. With a handful of websites loaded in Safari, Flash-based ads kept the CPU running far more than seemed necessary, and the best time I recorded with Flash installed was just 4 hours. After deleting Flash, however, the MacBook Air ran for 6:02—with the exact same set of websites reloaded in Safari, and with static ads replacing the CPU-sucking Flash versions.

I have made no test myself, but yesterday I removed Flash support from my MacBook Air. That battery runtime difference alone is more than enough, in my book, to remove Flash.

Amy is back: reasons for hope?

After listening to this new song recorded by Amy, a version of an old classic recorded for a tribute to Quincy Jones, I was positively surprised: maybe she is truly ready for a comeback in full force, who knows...

New Panasonic GF2, introduced in Paris

This information was posted by 43rumors:
A big picture has been shown in Paris, depicting the new Panasonic Lumix GF2 camera; I quote part of the information posted by 43rumors:

The GF2 looks like the Panasonic LX5! And with the new Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 lens lens it is the smallest mirrorless kit on earth! It has 12 megapixel (The same G2 sensor), records FullHD, a complete new imaging processor, touchscreen and announcement is expected at 6am London time (November 4th).

All in all, it seems that the competition in this field is getting hot.

November rose

I am shooting often, during the last months, the flowers in your backward. Today I made a picture which shows a rose in November, in all its glory.

And since I had the camera at hand, I had to take another shot of a somehow unwelcome tradition in our home, but one that seems unavoidable lately: