15 years without Jeff Buckley

Today is the 15th anniversary of Jeff Buckley's death, which was in my opinion THE big loss for music in the 90s. I have written before about him in this blog, and I think his figure is bold enough, as of 2012, to require any further recommendation from a humble music lover as me.

So I just wanted to express here my admiration for a raw genius whose potential was miserably wasted in a river, and to suggest everybody to listen at least once to the only album, and obvious masterpiece, he released in 1995, "Grace".

Cristina Lliso: new album available to listen at Rockdelux

The full new album from Cristina Lliso, "Si alguna vez", can be heard in full at the website of the Spanish magazine Rockdelux. If you never heard about this lady, this is the perfect time to start to enjoy a wonderful voice.

Debunking myths about debts in different countries

I have been playing a bit with the possibilities of Wolfram Alpha search (highly recommended), and found out this enlightening table: The debts of different countries, ranked in total amount (government debt):

As you can see, a few myths are broken on first regard. And more than a few things appear to be completely illogical.

A few comments:

The total debt of the above European countries is $ 8.587 trillion.
The total debt of USA is $ 15.22 trillion, i.e., roughly double that of Europe. Yet problems with the stability of euro are in all headlines, while USA is safely printing money to avoid problems with markets.

The total debt of UK is more than double the debt of Spain; yet Spain is in all headlines these days, while the UK is safely printing money to avoid problems with markets.

The total debt of Italy is roughly four times the debt of Spain; yet the prime for debt in Spain is over 500 (compared to rates paid by Germany), while that of Italy is around 430.

Does this make sense?

Press conference by Mariano Rajoy today at 13 h

Given the circumstances happening in recent days, I think we can't expect very good news. But at least Rajoy will appear personally to announce the news, whatever they are.

A surprise from Pentax on June 1st

According to widely discussed news from the Pentax Spanish facebook page, Pentax has a surprise ready for June 1st. No idea on what's going on here, but worth to have a look, since I keep on having a soft spot for Pentax cameras.

Geniuses of music can be deeply despicable people too

I swear it is the case.

The Return of D'Angelo: insightful interview in GQ Magazine

In a rarely insightful interview, GQ Magazine diggs into the story of D'Angelo, since his beginnings and the success of the first album, to the unexpected consequences of the How does it feel video, and going also to his low days in the ugly company of some substances.

The article is  truly excellent, providing plenty of information for people interested in this extremely talented musician. And what's more interesting, it gives hope that D'Angelo's always-forthcoming album might actually see the light of day in 2012.

Pentax K-30 officially introduced

And now it's here: after the "leak" of a few days ago, here you have the new beast officially introduced by Pentax. Plenty of information around the net.

To summarize: I just wrote a message to a friend who is planning to buy a new, entry-level dSLR camera these days. I told him that, if I was in that situation, the K-30 would be at the top of my list, since this camera looks to me as a K-5 at roughly half the price (compared to its initial price). This is an oversimplification, of course, but yet I think it is the main conclusion: a lot of camera for the price of a simple entry model.

From my perspective (as an owner of a K-10D purchased back in 2007), I am all envious since the difference in capabilities and image quality is certainly astonishing. But still I intend to keep on using my beloved K-10, for many reasons described sometime ago in this blog.

Antony and the Johnsons: new live album to be released on August 6

Antony & the Johnsons will release a live album, entitled "Cut the world", on August 6, 2012, including orchestral versions of songs included in previous albums, recorded in Copenhagen with The Danish National Chamber Orchestra. Besides it will contain this track, taken from the current show "The life and death of Marina Abramovic":

 

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Antony and the Johnsons, "Cut The World" @ Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari, 01/10/2011

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I quote from Antony's website:

Antony and the Johnsons will release CUT THE WORLD through Rough Trade August 6th and August 7th via Secretly Canadian. CUT THE WORLD is a collection of live symphonic performances of songs from the band's 4 full length albums (SWANLIGHTS, THE CRYING LIGHT, I AM A BIRD NOW, S/T). Recorded in Copenhagen, DK with The Danish National Chamber Orchestra, CUT THE WORLD features arrangements by Nico Muhly, Rob Moose, Maxim Moston and Antony.

Additionally the title track "Cut The World" is featured here for the first time. It is one of Antony's new songs for The Life and Death of Marina Abramovi? directed by Robert Wilson and staring Antony, Marina Abramovi? and Willem Dafoe.

CUT THE WORLD was recorded live on September 2nd and 3rd, 2011 at the DK Concert Hall in Copenhagen, DK and represents Antony's continued meditation on light, nature & femininity. Antony discusses his ideas on the track "Future Feminism", a speech he made during one of the concerts. Addressing the affects of patriarchy on the global ecology, Antony explores the possibility of shifting towards feminine systems of governance in a gesture to restore our world.

Track Listing:

Cut The World
Future Feminism
Cripple and the Starfish
You Are My Sister
Swanlights
Epilepsy Is Dancing
Another World
Kiss My Name
I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy
The Rapture
The Crying Light
Twilight

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Antony - Future Feminism

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Córdoba, May 2012: patios

Well, after spending some time digging in the pictures I made of the Patios celebration, here you have a selection. Some of them were made with a Sony Xperia Neo V, because the batteries of my Pentax K10D were exhausted after a few shots. Most of these patios are located around our home, since this year, unfortunately, I had no opportunity to visit those located a bit further. I hope you enjoy them.

New Pentax K-30, leaked at Pentaxone.fr

Well, the much awaited and rumoured new DSLR camera from Pentax has been leaked at the French forum Pentaxone.fr, and then it got spread to Pentaxforums, where I discovered it: it's the brand new Pentax K-30. The actual source of this image is a pdf catalogue of French online shop Boulanger, available here (see page 67, top left). According to Pentaxforums, it is the new intro-level camera from Pentax in the DSLR class. The new beast will have 16 Mp, video in full HD and will be completely protected from water. It seems the official announcement will happen sometime next week.

To complete this leak, a guy under the nick of kavolis, at the forum efoto.lt, discovered that Amazon.uk also offers the new Pentax K30 at their website; they say that release date is June 25, 2012.

Markets and economy, explained for dummies

It would be much more fun if that wasn't the truth:

Pitchfork: Interview with Kevin Shields, from My Bloody Valentine

For the older guys around, maybe some of you remember a legendary band, My Bloody Valentine, which became a fully fledged legend with only an album, "Loveless". Well, they are releasing remasters of their work, and this is an interview published at Pitchfork, where the leader of My Bloody Valentine, Kevin Shields, discusses about the history of those remasters and a number of side issues dealing with their ownership. Very interesting stuff.


In fact, these remasters have recently been qualified as excellent by Pitchfork.

Obama says same-sex marriage should be legal

It was about time:

New York Times: Obama says same-sex marriage should be legal

Classic flashmob at Copenhagen metro: Let the beauty free

I think this is really beautiful:

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Flash mob in the Copenhagen Metro. Copenhagen Phil playing Peer Gynt.

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Pouring more public money on banks in Spain

Yesterday, it was announced that one of the big banks in Spain, Bankia, will be rescued by receiving 7,000 millions of euros so that it can continue working. A big controversy resulted from this, since we were very recently subjected to reductions in the budget of health care and education running roughtly at 10,000 millions, and now a big chunk of it will go to compensate the bad work from private entities.

As usual, the profit is private, but the loss is public, and the ultraliberals have no shame in doing this kind of job.

Hollande won: a new hope

With the load of articles and discussions on the victory of François Hollande, I guess there's little to add. Just let me say that I personally hope it will mean the beginning of a new kind of politics in Europe, one which is not only founded on the zero deficit policy.

Sometimes I feel these are pivotal times for Europe: either the crisis is the seed for a new beginning, or maybe it is time to fold. Hopefully the first option will prevail.

Censorship of hot dance by Kate Upton in youtube

It is hard to believe, but this dance by model Kate Upton has been censored by youtube as it is "too hot". And yes, I double checked and we are in 2012.

Pepe Gotera y Otilio, hard at work to fix the Canon 5D mark III

There has been a load of comments on the issues experimented by owners of the brand new Canon 5D mark III regarding unexpected leaks of light coming to the sensor due to it being improperly isolated, i.e., that the only light arriving to the sensor did not come through the lenses, but also by other ways.

Well, I learned today, via DSLR Magazine, that the guys at LensRentals.com have posted pictures of the fix. And it reminded me of a famous comic of my kid years, Pepe Gotera y Otilio, who were in charge of "fixing" problems, particularly regarding home works, and did it in a very ugly and dirty and unprofessional manner, which is summarized in Spanish by the word "chapuza". After seeing these pictures, I think this is also a "chapuza". Both pictures were posted by LensRentals.com:

Before the fix:

After the fix:

Yes, you got it right: the fix consisted in putting a piece of black tape.

Nikon D800: Rave review at Luminous Landscape

As I have written before, my dream camera would be a Nikon D800 with a handful of primes. But I am an amateur photographer, and not a rich one, and I don't do photography for a living. Hence this is out of my reach.

Yet reading reviews like the one posted by Michael Reichmann at Luminous Landscape make me drool big time, since it seems he is more than blown away: he is enamored with this camera.

"Moi président de la Republique"

François Hollande did an excellent job in yesterday's debate with Sarkozy, but this was in my opinion the best part:

New Safari features I don't like in Mac OS X Mountain Lion DP3

While using Safari in OS X Mountain Lion, I noticed two things I clearly not like:

First, the separate field to perform google searches has disappeared. It means that, in the current version, there is a single field where you can type the web address, and if you want to type a google search, you have to do it in the same place. Not a good idea in my book. Furthermore, it is confusing, since often you don't remember the exact address and type it incorrectly, and then google takes it as a concept of search. Given I am less fan every day of google tracking my moves, I don't like this behaviour, at all.

Second, in previous incarnations of Safari, there was an option in the menu "Window" called "Activity". It offered a detailed list of the actions carried out by Safari when loading each page, and it was an useful and easy way of discovering links to download specific files, as audio files, pictures, etc. Now, for whatever reasons, this "Activity" window has disappeared as well, so you need to use alternative ways of finding those files.

After digging a bit in the net, I found out that you can enable the Developer menu (in Advanced preferences), and this gives you access to a new feature called Web Inspector, which you can add to the tools bar of Safari. It gives plenty of information to things happening under the curtain, but I found it too complicated and certainly less straightforward in order to download files.