:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Monday, February 15, 2010 ::

RIP McQueen

Alexander McQueen's suicide last week came as a shock to me. I was a massive fan of his designs and will miss the left-field thinking, way-out designs, theatrical displays and humour he brought to the fashion world. Once you hear about the death of his mother the week before, remember Isabella Bow's suicide last year, and read any of the many other opinion pieces in any given paper the surprise will diminish, but the loss is no smaller.

Ignorant neigh sayers and fashion haters may have used the occasion to shout abuse about him having deserved it simply for having worked in fashion, and all sorts of conspiracy theories have started crawling out of the woodwork. For example, in the Beeb's Six ways Alexander McQueen changed fashion you'll see someone has commented, "Why no mention of the enormous amount of satanic symbolism in his designs?" as if it were one of the most significant things he had done.

Intrigued enough to see what evidence there was of this a quick google led my inevitably to the Lada Ga Ga forum, catalyst of some of the most whacked out celebrity conspiracies theories on the net. There we find out that by using a pentagram on the runway and his use of chess pieces in his chess themed show (how else?) shows "satanic Illuminati symbolism everywhere. I'm not saying he was mind controlled or programmed but he was definitely into the occult."

It sounds like bollocks to me but I know I loved his work. The two videos above are great examples of his work although I'd also urge you to (re)watch his robotic work and engineering, this retrospective, and his Bjork video. I'm sure we will still be feeling his influence for years to come.

R.I.P.

Labels: Fashion, RIP

:: Dan 15.2.10 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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First Chas and Dave split up, and now there are no original Sugababes left. What's the world coming to?

Sugababes Timeline here

Labels: Music, RIP

:: Dan 23.9.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Skip to the End #23 - 25th June - with Juxtaposeur [57MB MP3]
Tracklist

Jansky Noise - Something good is going to happen (DVR040)
Release date: 22 June 2009
Pressing: unlimited MP3 album
All tracks recomposed by Jansky Noise/Andy MacGregor
Compiled in Madrid for June 20th-21st 2009

Download ZIP file (hosted by iivix) [45MB zip]



Parasite - Conscious Reggae Mix for Charlie
"Charlie Olsen passed away on 7th June 2009. He was my best friend, lover for a time, and like a brother to me. He was a true warrior and was always there for me when I needed him most. Charlie will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him, especially me.
To celebrate and remember him I have laid down a selection of some of his favorite conscious reggae and hip hop tunes. The mix ranges from Sizzla, Damien Marley, Richie Spice and Willie Williams to Dead Prez, RZA (from the Ghost Dog soundtrack) and a bit of Stivs thrown in for good measure, which he used to pump from his bedroom window on Sunday mornings (much to the dissaproval of the church goers across the street)!
Charlie, this one goes out to you bro. Love you always xxx"
RIP Charlie. Whenever I met him he was a really nice and very funny guy.

Acroplane does it again...!
Somatic Responses - Mercury



THE UNKNOWN STUNTMAN . sound+ project four [about & tracklist]



MP3 [1398MB]
ZIP with art [143MB]

Guest DJ Bjork



ScrubberFox - Wire up my Hurumpf LP [107MB zip] on The Centrifuge

Sign up to the Little Boots mailing list for a 6MB preview album mix. Not a great mix though. It doesn't test the address btw.

Labels: MP3, RIP

:: Dan 3.7.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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RIP Brian.

Due to a recent death in the family GussetBlog has not been looked after for the last few weeks. Normal service will return shortly.

Labels: RIP

:: Dan 3.7.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Jilk - A Plot to Place Bits [61MB ZIP on site]
Released: 31 May, 2009 Catalogue ID: IDEA005


Skip to the End - 28th May - with Juxtaposeur [57MB MP3]
Tracklist etc.
Thanks for the link back, Pete.

BUN-E:
Syntheme says, "Heyup, here's the 4th monthly mix by Net Lab" [65MB zip]

Tracklist

New Shitmat website
Lots of mixes and downloads to check, for example...
you be virgil and i'll be ted dibiase.zip
DJ Fruitpolo @ Bangface Weekender 2009.zip

R.I.P Neil Kymatik
The Kymatik Mix Archive is now online

Exile in Saville...



...live in session on Rob Da Bank

Labels: MP3, RIP

:: Dan 5.6.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Pontiac RIP: storied brand falls victim to crisis



I've always loved the black Pontiac Firebird Trans-am used in Smokey and the Bandit. A later 1980s Firebird is better known as Kit from Knightrider. It's truly an iconic car. See it's placement in this (US centric) list of The 50 Most Famous Cars Of All Time. [NB The list is wrong as it places the BMW Mini from the shitty Italian Job remake yet fails to mention the original Italian Job or proper Minis at all.]

Labels: Cars, RIP

:: Dan 29.4.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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RIP Patrick McGoohan

Labels: RIP

:: Dan 15.1.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Nooooooooo!!!
RIP Music Thing

Labels: blogs, Music, RIP

:: Dan 8.1.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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RIP Oliver Postgate
He was an inspiration.
See my post on the Small Films screening at the Watershed in July.
It was a magical experience.

Bagpuss was a Miaoist

Labels: Animation, RIP

:: Dan 11.12.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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RIP Rick Wright

Labels: RIP

:: Dan 16.9.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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“to all the people that knew and loved jand. I am sorry to have to break the news that John, died 20/06/2008.”

I never met John Anderson. He was another one of my blogger friends that I never got around to hooking up with, despite a couple of email conversations attempting it. He asked me to contribute to his g3rm blog, later reborn as g3rmy, although I contributed only a tiny percentage of the content there, and most of that was cross-posted with this blog.

I was unable to make it to his funeral earlier today, but my thoughts are with his family and friends, especially to those who have had to break the news to others (via the blog and via facebook, the first time I’ve seem a death reported in the form of a friend request). Unless anyone convinces me otherwise I plan to leave g3rmy as it is as a memorial to John, an index of his thoughts and his state of mind. RIP.

Labels: blogs, g3rm, RIP

:: Dan 16.7.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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George Carlin: Seven words that shook a nation

Read George Carlin's books for comedic brilliance

Labels: Comedy, Religion, RIP

:: Dan 24.6.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Urban explorer pays for his hobby with his life

"To urban explorers, it's known simply as Hearn, one of Toronto's top destinations for camera-toting adventurers with a fondness for abandoned buildings. From now on, they will also know it as the place where a fellow enthusiast died after a three-storey fall into a coal hopper on the weekend. ...
Now that there's been an accident, he expects things to change at Hearn, and if that comes at the expense of [the] hobby, so be it."

RIP

Labels: News, RIP, Urban Exploring

:: Dan 23.6.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Following Humphrey Littleton's death last week, the Beeb pull together this small but perfectly formed article on the art of innuendo.

Labels: Humour, RIP

:: Dan 1.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Two teenage boys have been jailed for life for the murder of a woman who was killed for dressing as a Goth
I can't remember whether I've commented on this case before or not but I have been following it.

Passing sentence at Preston Crown Court, Judge Anthony Russell QC described the attack as "feral thuggery" which raised serious questions about the "sort of society which exists in this country".
He added: "This was a terrible case which has shocked and outraged all who have heard about it.
"At least wild animals, when they hunt in packs, have a legitimate reason for so doing, to obtain food.
"You have none and your behaviour on that night degrades humanity itself."

Strong words, totally justified. It's a sad, sad society we live in. Any form of prejudice grieves me but this one in particular stands out as she was so beautiful and caring and it is such a pointless waste of a young life. My heart goes out to her boyfriend, whom she was trying to protect, and to all her friends and family. RIP

Labels: News, Politics, RIP

:: Dan 29.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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"From Dr Who to the Dark Side of the Moon, the members of the Electronic Music Studios used pioneering technology and ideas to create a radical new soundscape for the 20th century."



What The Future Sounded Like
Documentary, 27 minutes
HDV and Digital Betacam
16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound

"Post-war Britain rebuilt itself on a wave of scientific and industrial breakthroughs that culminated in the cultural revolution of the 1960’s. It was a period of sweeping change and experimentation where art and culture participated in and reflected the wider social changes. In this atmosphere was born the Electronic Music Studios (EMS), a radical group of avant-garde electronic musicians who utilized technology and experimentation to compose a futuristic electronic sound-scape for the New Britain.

"Comprising of pioneering electronic musicians Peter Zinovieff and Tristram Cary (famed for his work on the Dr Who series) and genius engineer David Cockerell, EMS’s studio was one of the most advanced computer-music facilities in the world. EMS’s great legacy is the VCS3, Britain’s first synthesizer and rival of the American Moog. The VCS3 changed the sounds of some of the most popular artists of this period including Brian Eno, Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. Almost thirty years on the VCS3 is still used by modern electronic artists like The Emperor Machine.

"What The Future Sounded Like colours in a lost chapter in music history, uncovering a group of composers and innovators who harnessed technology and new ideas to re-imagine the boundaries of music and sound. Features music from Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Roxy Music and The Emperor Machine."

RIP Tristram Cary

Labels: Electronic Music, Film, RIP

:: Dan 27.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Jazz legend Lyttelton dies at 86
Veteran jazz musician and radio host Humphrey Lyttelton has died aged 86. The chairman of BBC Radio 4's comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue recently had surgery in an attempt to repair an aortic aneurysm. The latest series of the quiz programme was cancelled after Lyttelton was admitted to Barnet Hospital in north London on 16 April. BBC Director General Mark Thompson described "Humph" as "a unique, irreplaceable talent".

quote:

Hello, & welcome to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

In the 19th century, the docks became central to Bristol's industrialisation, and two great monuments to this period remain today - the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and the SS Great Britain. With its mighty stone block towers and steel rope construction, it's little wonder the ship sank on her maiden voyage, after she was hit by a huge paddle-wheel that fell off the bridge. In those days, clocks in Bristol and the West Country were between 10 and 20 minutes behind London, but with the coming of the railway, these had to be 'regularised'. Some towns refused to comply, however, and to this day when it's 12 noon in London, in Weston-Super-Mare it's still...1963.

In 1910, Britain's first commercial aircraft factory was established at nearby Filton to manufacture the 'Bristol Boxkite'. Despite the Boxkite's limited range, commercial flights soon began, with routes going as far as...the string would stretch. In the 1950's, the factory turned to making luxury cars such as the 'Bristol Bulldog' and the 'Bristol 401', which still have an enthusiastic following today. Every summer, the owner's club meets to display their classic vehicles, and while they chat and swop stories, members' wives proudly clean and polish their Bristols which are then displayed and judged by the mayor.

Labels: Radio4, RIP

:: Dan 27.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Conversations with a science visionary
Clarke's three laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
   
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
   
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Labels: Literature, RIP, Sci-Fi

:: Dan 20.3.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Edited text from the two links:

Bobby Fischer, who died on Thursday aged 64, was a high school dropout who may have been the greatest chess player of all time, but ended his life in eccentric seclusion.

He turned the chess world on its head when he wrested the world chess title from Soviet domination in 1972, beating world champion Boris Spassky, in a Cold War chess showdown in Reykjavik known as the match of the century. But while the theatrics made him a celebrity he also succeeded in alienating himself from all but a small band of friends and chess enthusiasts. Despite having a Jewish mother, Fischer was a vicious anti-Semite, using broadcasts at far-flung radio stations to accuse Jews of everything from his legal woes to an alleged conspiracy to kill off elephants.

Fischer returned to chess in 1992 with a rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia, then in the throes of the Balkan wars. At a press conference he spat on a US government notice warning him he was breaking sanctions and proceeded to defeat Spassky once again, winning more than three million dollars on which he boasted he would never pay tax.

In 1996 he created Fischer Random Chess (Chess960). Fischer's goal was to create a chess variant in which chess creativity and talent would be more important than memorization and analysis of opening moves. His approach was to create a randomized initial chess position, which would thus make memorizing chess opening move sequences far less helpful.

In 2004 Fischer was taken into custody at Tokyo's Narita airport for travelling on a passport which Washington said was revoked.

With Japan deliberating for months on whether to send him to the United States, Iceland came to his rescue in 2005, granting him citizenship in tribute to his role in making the island.

"The Jew-controlled United States is evil. They talk about the axis of evil. What about the allies of evil? What about the US, England, Japan, Australia and so on? These are the evil doers," said Fischer.

I can see the biopic already.

Labels: Chess, RIP

:: Dan 19.1.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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"Karlheinz Stockhausen, who died aged 79, was the leading pioneer of electronic music and of the new uses of physical space in the performance of music; he was regarded by many avant-garde musicians of his generation as the most significant German composer since Richard Wagner, but his appeal to the general public was more restricted." [source Telegraph]

"Ridiculed by many in the musical establishment for his increasingly outlandish ideas and self-agrandissement ("my personality is a universal statement"), alternately dismissed as charlatan and revered as a genius, Stockhausen once compared the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York's World Trade Centre to "a work of art"." [source AFP Google news]

Labels: Electronic Music, RIP, Stockhausen

:: Dan 8.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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