Category Archives: Kultcha

It seems to me that there are a number of connections (not all of them wonderful, either) between this Swedish library initiative to allow library patrons to check out living people for a 45-minute chat and this London Zoo exhibit.

A while back, probably in the DangerMouse era, about half of everyone who is anyone in the techno corner of the blog world got very excited about mashups. Former DJ that I am (a fact that inevitably shocks my students, proving that they clearly have a very partial image of their professor), I went and started downloading mashups.

But they just didn’t do that much for me. Maybe I’m too much the purist or something.

But here’s a marvelous mashup that I think really works, producing a new whole that equals the sum of the very classy parts: No One Takes Your Freedom. Wish I knew who it was by. It’s by DJ Earworm. Is there more where that came from? And, yes, there’s more where that came from!

Here’s some free advice:

Do NOT listen to The Future Bible Heroes‘ “Losing Your Affection”. Not even if Neil Gaiman endorses the band. The problem isn’t that it’s especially wonderful or awful, although it’s not at all bad, but the lyrics rattle around in your head for DAYS.

Who needs to through the day with lines like

• “I would rather rub the hair of a bear in her lair/ In the opposite direction,” or
• “I’d rather be the queen at the guillotine/ in a bloody insurrection” or, most insidious of all,
• “I would rather be the dog food in front of the dog/ than be losing your affection.”

rattling around in your head?

Note to self: Avoid WVUM until it’s safe again.

I'm not officially guest blogging until tomorrow, but couldn't resist commenting on the Eurovision Song Contest . I have always thought that this contest was an example of how very bad a harmonised European culture could be. And these days this harmonised European culture is often expressed in English. But it never really seemed to matter – after all, no-one has to watch the thing. This year, however, it may matter more because of the imminent Dutch referendum on the EU’s constitutional treaty. EUobserver cites an article in De Telegraaf on 21 May which reports angry Dutch reactions to the contest based on the prominence of Eastern European countries in the final. Just one more piece of evidence that the referenda on the constitutional treaty may in fact be referenda on enlargement (although odd because a number of the Eastern European Eurovision participants are not members of the EU).

Gorillaz: Feel Good Inc. — it's very pretty, it sounds good, but does it mean something? Not that there's anything wrong if it doesn't…

Wallace and Gromit have a movie coming out this fall, The Curse of the WereRabbit!

There's a trailer and also a short about the making of the movie accessible via clicking “video” at this site. The short is spoiled by some pretty dorky narration, but it will interest true fans.

Er, Helena Bonham Carter has a part? Well Gromet, that's almost as good as cheese.