Monday, March 22, 2010

VJ Brewski's Video Mashup Site!



Oi! I just stumbled across this video mashup site, which is actually quite professional. Seeing that I dabble in movie mashes I found it appropriate to post here. I saw this one with Fergie and Salt N' Pepa, and it is well done, check it out:


**Also, the site this video was found at can be found at VJ Brewski's site at the following link: VJ Brewski's SiteSearch Amazon.com for fergie

Health care reform, Just the Facts: Immediate changes, others that will happen over time « SpeakEasy


It has been a historic and might I say "an epic few days" as President Obama's Health Care Reform bill that has just been passed by the US Congress and will be officially signed into law on Tuesday morning. A truly climactic conclusion to nearly a year-long too-and-fro for the Congress and the American People. For a brief and concise summary of changes that will be occurring immediately and progressively over the course of the next decade click the link posted just below, print it out, and share it with as many others as you can so that people can have an idea of the facts of these highly anticipated changes, what will actually be changing and when. Cheers to all and what a year it has been, after all of that I think each one of us deserves a beer or slice of cake or something to celebrate! Healthcare Legislation Changes Immediate and Progressive

VJ Samsonite's New Music Song of the Day is.....


Today, I bring you a newcomer to electro-pop/synth-pop, who is really making an smashing impression and adding her own unique touch to it all. Today's Song is "Bulletproof," by U.K. artist La Roux, which comes off of her debut self-titled album (released in June of 2009). La Roux, means "the read-head" in french for all of those who don't already know. I love La Roux's sound because it harkens right back to one of my favourite musical era's, the 1980's, and no doubt she has been compared to many of the new-wave artists already. I was delighted and surprised to actually hear a mainstream radio station here in the USA playing this song the other day, which means that she really has made it big (as the radio-stations here, generally all owned by the same company) tend to play the same loops over and over again, and if your stuff isn't on the loop then it generally doesn't hit the airwaves here. Bulletproof is the song of many ex-girlfriends no doubt, but there is one in particular that comes to my mind when I hear this song, and thus it has that personal appeal to me I suppose. Excuse the advert at the beginning, so typical of youtube to disable the embedding abilities, and thus for some ludicrous reason, and thus I had to use this one as last resort). The video is great stuff, and reminds me so much of the old Eurythmics 80's music videos, in fact that is where I reckon the idea came from but I could be wrong. So without further ado here is Bulletproof:

Sunday, March 21, 2010

VJ Samsonite's New Music Song of the Day is.....



Today I have the pleasure to introduce you to a Canadian Indie Rock band called "Tegan & Sara." The song is called "Alligator," and comes off of their "Sainthood," album which was released in 2009. Tegan and Sara are the leads (playing both guitar and keyboards), they are identical twins, they both write and sing the songs they write individually. They have a little bit of a punky/sassy sound, but it remains fresh and inspiring. The group hails to out of Calgary, Alberta Canada, which can be quite a cold place, but then I suppose that is what you get when you go anyplace above about the 47th parallel or so. Thus, I have now posted new music artists from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. There will be much more to come so stay tuned...
Tegan and Sara - Alligator [Official Music Video] from NicoleIsMyName on Vimeo.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

VJ Samsonite's New Music Song of the Day is...


..."I Don't Want to Party (Party)," by Aussie indie rock duo Philadelphia Grand Jury. Yes, I know the name makes them sound American, but they ain't, this duo hails at us from their sunny + beachy hometown of Sydney, Australia. In fact I realized that these first 3 new music posts I have done are quite diverse, in terms of the band's countries of origin, and thus I will make sure that tomorrow's new song comes from a band from yet another country. Getting back to the "Philly Jays," they are quite a talented duo with a fresh new rock sound and clearly have talent. This song is my favorite by them yet, and they keep on impressing me all of the time. The album, called "Hope is for Hopers," came out last year and hit number 34 on the ARIA albums chart. This Aussie duo deserves some coverage and some airtime for sure, check out the song below (sorry no video to this one yet):

Friday, March 19, 2010

The 2nd Financial Quarter of 2010 and a Looming U.S. Commercial Real Estate Crisis!


Back in November 2009 I was reading an article from online magazine site "EFAM," (Escape from America Magazine) concerning a looming crisis in the US commercial real estate market due to lots of "bad paper coming to maturity" at that time. What made me think of this article so many (but not so many) months ago was that I stumbled across another article from 2006 which was discussing how a looming housing market bubble was about to burst, and it did indeed in 2009. I found these articles to be significant in nature, and certainly to hold significant implications for any sort of economic recovery in the US in the forseeable future. What might this entail? I find it interesting that all of these rotten loans are no doubt coming to fruition in this year's (2010) second financial quarter and yet no one in the news media is even looking at it? Is it all just a big hoax to scare people, or will it be as bad as they say? If so, will the US Govt. just hand heaps of "no strings attached" cash to the big bank executives (and our pals at AIG) when they come running and screaming just like we did during last years housing crash??
I would like to note that that whole thing didn't work out to well, and that a different strategy might be considered this time, but I am no economist or even self-proclaimed expert. Time will surely tell and its only about a month away now! In the well-to-do meantime check out the article and come to your own conclusions. Find the article at:EFAM Commercial Real Estate

VJ Samsonite's New Music Song of the Day is...


Today's song is "Dance Wiv Me," by UK rapper Dizzee Rascal. This song really isn't all that new as it has been out since 2008, but it is catchy and I really dig the way that the Dizzee Rascal is able to meld his Brit-hip-hop style with electronic beats and blips, it makes for a great combo that a few hip-hop and rap artists are starting to break into more. Calvin Harris accompanies Dizzee Rascal on this track, and I believe he even does the synth side of it. The Rascal doesn't get too much play here in the States though, in fact I would be pleasantly surprised if any Yanks were actually familiar with his work, and so I am pleased to be able to introduce this sick-as artist to all ya'll. No doubt there are already a few other Rascal songs that will be appearing on this vlog later on, but that is for another day, enjoy....

Thursday, March 18, 2010

VJ Samsonite's New Music Song of the Day is...


The song for today is called "Home," by Folk-Rock band, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. This band comes at us from Los Angeles, in the good ole USofA. Don't be surprised now if you don't see many US bands on here, but then again I might be wrong, who knows what could be posted next... Now this band is a delightful "ensemble," (I mean that literally) who tells a good story with their music (as most do), but this band does an exceptional job at it and I reckon they deserve some credit for it. This very same song was ranked number 15 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2009 (the largest music poll in the world from a brilliant Australian Radio Station), and it comes off of their first full-length record "Up from Below." Asi que, without further ado, I give you Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes:

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

VJ Samsonite's "New Music Song of the Day and Debut" is...


So, this is my blog, and I have essentially made a Vlog (that is video web-log) already, so I figured that I am so into music and have a strong to desire to share music I like (who doesn't), along with the fact that radio stations in the USA just don't play any real diversity of artists or new music (plus or minus 5 years) that Americans have really been missing out on. So Doctor Evil has prescribed us Yanks a daily injection of high quality new music, and thats just a start! I am going to start doing some posts as my alter ego "DJ Samsonite" (daily if possible) of new artists and songs that I think deserve some extra coverage. Also note that I will still be posting multiple topics on my vlog, not just exclusively music or anything else. Seeing that youtube has the music videos, this is the format I will be using on my posts. So here goes...
*****This first post is a song called "Magic," by New Zealand artist Ladyhawke. For those of you who haven't heard of her, yes there was an 80's movie with Matthew Broderick called Ladyhawke, and no I don't know if that is where she got her name. This chick rocks! She won an ARIA music award in 2009 for best breakthrough single and self-titled album, but I really don't have lots of facts for you. In fact for all these artists I post, and for all those obsessive critics out there, if you really want to know "stats and facts" about about them just check them out on wikipedia. Now there is one remix of this song that I like called the "Swiss Remix," but I like the original better, and yes, I have created a wonderful movie-mash with this song as well, but keep that on the DL... Check it out*****




**check in here daily for all your new music needs!"

Friday, March 12, 2010

Rolph Potts - Travel Do-Lecture


Seeing that I spoke so much about the Rolph Potts Travel Do-Lecture in the last post, and seeing that I find it to be inspiring as well as containing a bit of wisdom I have thusly chosen to post it aqui en esta pagina de web. It speaks for itself, so watch it immediatly...

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Do-Lectures and "Bio-mimicry"

I recently was reading the blog of Tim Ferris, author of "The Four Hour Work Week," and watched a video he posted by another author named Rolph Potts. Rolph Potts wrote the book called "Vagabonding," which is all about his extensive worldly travels, experiences, and advice on how others can do it too (though I haven't got around to reading it yet myself). In this process of clicking and watching these embedded video blog posts, I discovered a wonderful website with heaps of free video-blog lectures (and the same site with the Rolph Potts video) called "The Do-Lectures." This site is a great resource for great free lectures on heaps of topics and it is bold in its approach to progressive change in a world that is currently going through the birth-pangs of a new global economic structure as the old capitalist ones collapse before our very eyes. Thus, this post is my plug for the Do-Lectures site, among others.
I would most recommend watching the video I have posted just below by Michael Pawlyn, on Bio-mimicry. Bio-mimicry is an amazing and not-so-new idea (excellently framed and summarised in his lecture) that nature already has all the answers to almost anything one could possibly want to do or develop in terms of products or industry. What the hell am I talking about?? Well, let me give an example; biologists found that oysters have evolved in such a way that they have developed a natural (and organic) adhesive that allows them to stick to rocks and other surfaces efficiently and effectively even when immersed in sea-water. A biologist studying the oysters discovered this adhesive and mentioned it to an industrial engineer and a few other professionals, who then researched and copied the adhesive used by the oysters to develop industrial adhesives that not only are proven by nature to work extremely well, but also are organic in nature, sustainable, and are not made of dangerous unnatural chemicals that are hazardous to life-forms and the environment. What a novel idea that all of the research and development for everything from aerospace engineering to natural sweetners has already been performed by mother nature. Biologists feel that these ideas are out there for us to utilize and produce not only sustainable and balanced products, but even restorative ones that would actually leave the environment in better condition than before humans. I still feel I have not explained it very well here so please do yourself a favor and check out the video below. Cheers to all.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The EV's are Coming!!


EV's? Didn't we have them back in the 90's, only to be smashed by the Iron Cowboy boots of GM, and then and brushed under the carpet by the oil industry? I was skeptical too, then I saw a commercial on the tv (whilst slogging away on the treadmill at the local gym), and lo and behold there it was, a commercial for the "soon to be released" Nissan Leaf. Sure the name leaves much to be admired, but it is the real thing, not some decaf version, but an actual EV!!
The car itself actually looks pretty cool, something similar to the Toyota Prius. The key point here though is that it will be the first full-scale, widely available, manufactured, and actually commercialized "Zero-Emissions Car" on the market. Chevrolet (who for some reason I thought didn't even exist after last years big 3 Car Company Meltdown) is releasing the mercedes-benzish-looking "Volt," which will definitely appeal to American consumers who can dish out the $40,000 USD to claim one for themselves. In fact I have read elsewhere the Chevy and Nissan are competing to release their car first, but I don't really see it as a competition, you see, the Volt is merely a hybrid (which means carbon emissions, come get your Carbon Monoxide folks). Whilst being a very sexy looking hybrid vehicle, its hardly news, in fact hybrid vehicles have been on the global market since 2003! Hey Chevrolet, ever heard of the Toyota Prius or the Honda Insight??
That aside, the Nissan Leaf is the real deal, and Nissan says it will be priced somewhere between $25,000-35,000 USD, and that it will travel a purported 100 miles on a single charge. Also, the batteries will be leased, but the buyer will own the rest of the car?? I reckon that Nissan is setting it up so that the low-batteries can be taken to a "way-station," (probably at gas stations) where they can be simply swapped for a fully charged battery at no additional cost to the owner, thus allowing one to not have to stop and charge their own batteries every time they start to run low. Many states have been installing charge stations along busy highways as well, these ideally will be 220 VAC outlets or higher as the batteries take longer to charge on the lower current outlets. This will however, lead to another side business of installing home-charging stations. In my opinion, not having to inhale as many noxious (not to mention cancer-inducing) fumes will make it all worth it in the end.
The main take-away point here is that it is finally actually happening! The EV, which always seemed to be "just a few more years away" is going to be here by December this year (that's 2010 for you Einstein's out there). This is huge, and it means that many other car companies are going to be jumping on the band-wagon, assuming of course that the Leaf is a smash-hit, and with the public interest and dominance of the Toyota Prius in recent years, I can see that happening. Check out the links below to see what I am talking about. Nissan Leaf

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Avatar Review


For those of you who still haven't seen James Cameron's new blockbuster smash (and 3D) hit, "Avatar," you are in for a ride. The plot involves a mercenary/marine being sent to a nearby star-system which includes a moon called Pandora, where he becomes entangled with the local Indigenous humanoid tribe as he learns there way in an artificial body termed an avatar.
Pandora (a moon of a Jupiter like planet) is similar to Earth and teeming with life (often glowing like neon-lights). This depiction reminded me much of the "Earth," DVD series and some of our not so well known resident life-forms here on Earth (Gaia). Of course what do the modern Earthlings do first thing, they start to strip-mine the surface, and to rape and pillage it of all its resources for some precarious form of profit. Which, at humanity's current level of consciousness, is most likely what would happen if such a planet were in arms reach of humanity's current influence. But the movie itself is a beacon of something new arising. This movie is essentially a consciousness-raising program, with intense 3D visuals, surround-sound, and all the other goodies that come from your IMAX cinema experience, it is a sensory overload experience. In my opinion this is a good thing, and in this case, this movie clearly reveals the folly of militaristic culture and their disconnected ego-centric perspectives of Life. It also is a program that teaches the viewer about the "one-ness of life," and the simple, yet complex interconnected network of energy which flows through and unites all forms, which quantum theory has been discovering to be true in recent years. What does this mean? Consciousness (aka Life, Awareness aware of itself, God, whatever you want to call the formless dimension) is breaking into the traditionally egoic realm of blockbuster films, among other places. And, of course, we are all united at some very basic level, which means there is nothing any one individuation of energy (ie a person) can feel, think, say, or do that doesn't effect the whole in some way. The realization of this of course is the end of the concept of separation, which also indicates the end of the collective human ego.
Another aspect of this film to be addressed is the recognition of the plight of Indigenous peoples. This film speaks to the enormous amount of suffering and pain inflicted upon indigenous people throughout human history by the West and its Ego-dominated cultures throughout the past. In the the movie they are another species of humanoid, calling themselves the Na'vi. The only difference between the plight of the Na'vi and those Earthly indigenous cultures is that the Earthly ones did not have happy endings. Whether the indigenous cultures of Earth recognize it officially or not, Avatar carries important messages to many unconscious people that has potential to cause important shifts in them. It also addresses the importance of living in balance with your environment, which can only truly be reached when there is a balance inside between form and formless.
All in all, this film will raise the consciousness of all the humans who watch it, and it will thus raise the Collective Human Consciousness of all humanity to some degree. I would thus like to thank Director James Cameron for this amazing contribution that addresses humanity's collective madness and exposes it for what it is. One of the only other films I have seen in the recent past to have achieved this so well (and there are many others too) that I will mention here is "There Will Be Blood." And as has been said, "the seeing is freeing." In my opinion Avatar will win the best picture award at the academy awards this year, unless it does not.
Alas, for those of you who have not yet seen this 3D masterpiece, be prepared to have your consciousness raised, and who knows, the energy of Eywa just might help you tune-in to the energy of Gaia a bit. Cheers everyone.