Don't ever make V mad!

This is what happens when you try to do some cleaning around the house, and your boyfriend gets really annoyed because instead of talking to him, you just... clean. Some say that ignorance is bliss, but when it comes to ignoring your mad, insane, hysterical and most likely brain damaged boyfriend, the consequences could be similar to this:

It's still a mess around the house since we've just got back from our so called holyday and now all our clothes just lye around the house, in a complete disaster. I didn’t have time to clean cause this week I’ve got home from work very late and I just crashed in front of the TV, falling asleep in 10 seconds, which I never do. Insomnia was my best friend until now. I’m getting old I guess.

This is how our loft looked like after two hours of cleaning. :)

Stories from the city, stories from the sea

I have to say that I’m done with publishing photos of myself. Those were the first and last ones. That’s it! / So, let’s get back to our business!

I remember a very nice part of a movie I’ve seen a few years ago, a very popular one, Kill Bill Vol. II. At the end of the movie, when she finally meets Bill, he tells her a little story about super heroes. For a long period of time I thought that Spiderman was way better than Superman, and Batman is the lamest of them all. BUT, after I heard that story in Tarantino’s movie, I rethought the whole concept of Superman, and that’s how he is now my biggest superhero.
Billy said that Superman was born with superpowers, he was not a human transformed into superhero. Unlike Spiderman, who had to change his costume into the Spiderman one, and hide his real identity, Superman had to change his outfit just to hide the fact that he is, indeed, Superman. That was the proof that Superman is the natural hero, and Spiderman was just a man with strange powers. This is somehow obvious, but the way he said it made me understand who Superman really is. And while I was watching the movie, I remembered one episode of Superman, when he actually turned back time to save Louis from dying.
So, he can fly, he has a very nice sense of humor, he doesn’t need weapons and cars to travel and, the most important part, he can see trough clothes! I still don’t know how the bad guys always manage to find kryptonite, but then again, we need a main plot in the movie.

OK Corral @ Heineken Music Thirst 2008

OK Corral is one of the finalists in Heineken Thirst 2008 competition. Please support them by voting here: http://www.heinekenmusic.ro/thirst2008/consumer/
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Thank you!

cats and flex

Vienna

me bored in vienna part III

boring vienna part II

Vienna Part I

boring vienna!

Goodbye Bucharest!

So, this is my last post on the blog for a couple of days, since tomorrow at this time I’ll be rocking in Vienna with V. I wanted so much to find a cool party in this weekend and thank god I found the perfect one. Gregor Tresher @ Club Flex, on Saturday. This is a great opportunity for us since OK Corral signed with Great Stuff Recordings. So, not just pleasure, but business too. Also, we are thinking of going to Munich too, only if we have the time.
Except that, this is the first time when I’ll visit a country that’s not in the desert. I hope the plane won’t crash :)) I’ll have some Xanax before the plane takes off and I’ll probably be ok, maybe a glass of wine too. :))
So far, today has been a great day and I hope this weekend will be a fun one, I need a vacation, and a good one!

I'm all in

I like many things in life, I hate even more, but there's only one thing that I love and hate at the same time: Poker - Texas Hold'em. I started playing poker a few months ago, when I was still working for Gandul, the newspaper. At the beginning of September, I bought chips and poker table and I started playing with my friends. Obviously, since I stink at math and my logic just doesn't exist, I’m the worst poker player alive. That's why I hate it. Initially we were playing tournament, and it was fun, but I was pretty hysterical and frustrated because I couldn’t play so well. Me and seven other friends met at v's place (and mine) and played for hours. But... everything changed when we discovered cash game. First of all, I learnt how to play and I started winning money, not too much, but something!
The most memorable poker night was a couple of weeks ago. We played for almost 7 hours and it was the first time when I actually gambled and did tricks. I left the table at 6 am with double the money I started. One of our friends was the master of bluffs and kept on winning with worst hands, like 2 / 7, 3 /8 and stuff like that. It was hardcore.
The most important thing in poker is patience. If you’re not patient, you will lose, no matter what cards you have and how well you know how to calculate your chances of winning a hand. Even though you may win a couple of pots being lucky, overall you will lose, and if you don’t know how and when to stop, you can lose a lot, even your mind. :)
As a conclusion, I learnt that poked is, really, art. Since I have a total lack of talent in poker, I’ll keep on losing money and entertaining my friends with my stupid decisions.

Here you can see some videos from High Stakes Poker – Las Vegas. Daniel Negreanu rules!

High Stakes Poker Season 1 - Ep. 1

High Stakes Poker - Season 1, Ep 2.

Final Fantasy I

I must admit that i really feel sorry for myself. I started playing Final Fantasy I in january, when V bought his PSP, and i still haven't finished it. I killed almost all the monsters, discovered every secret, even the ones very well hidden, and when i got to the last chapter, i quit playing because i couldn't see anything aymore. I almost got blind from all that playing. Final Fantasy I is not a game suitable for PS, especially it you're half blind like i was :). Now, since i'm back in business and i can see with my own eyes, using eye drops every 10 minutes, but that doesn't matter, i have to kill the last monster. I tried killing him day after day but it was way to powerful for me. I think i have to level up a bit more. Anywayz, i'll kill that guy eventually, but it's not that important. The reall problem is that in some secret levels i discovered some nasty monsters. 2 in each level. Every level has like 20 floors and it's a killer. The main idea is that when you reach the 20th floor, you are allowed to kill only one monster, and after you kill it, you are automatically sent back at the beggining of the first level. You cannot kill all monster at the same time. And, guess what: once you've killed one and you are transported back to the surface, when you return, both monsters are alive!!!!! And this is the easy one, the second level had 40 floors and i almost broke my PSP trying to reach the 3rd floor. Especially because you cannot escape these level unless you kill one moster. If you die the game is not finished, you're just sent back to the beggining. The only way to get out without killing yourself is using Exit spell, that if you have it. Obviously i didn't buy exit, because you are allowed only 3 spells / level and at level 6 i both something else, can't remember really what, something like cure i believe. I met Omega, the coolest monster in the game, he was nice to me, really nice, killed me in 2 seconds. 9999 damage. I had 999 points of life. Now... don't ever start playing a game you know you don't have the time for it, and especially if you don't want to ruin your brains out :).
Thios site was very useful concidering that i discovered the combination of buttons that showed me the world map when i was level 30 already: http://www.ffrepublic.com/final-fantasy-1.

Now.. really?

After a really horrible day i decided that it's time to go home, at last. I spend the last hours in front of the computer, smoking my ass off and writing press releases, biographies and stuff like that. I need a break. I'm looking forward into going to vienna this weekend, i would've liked to go back to egypt, just to chill out, relax, listen to some nice music, take sun baths on that empty beach and most of all, being away from all this. I wish o could just get away for a while, and be in a place where i don't have to talk to anybody. Maybe Alaska. Less people, less stress. :) Being PR is a hard thing, you know. First of all, you need to be a very social person, which i'm absolutly 100% NOT! I could live with just 3 - 4 humas around me for the rest of my life and i wouldn't miss anybody else.

Eh, until that lucky day comes, when i can stay on that beach, MY beach, that empty space, i have to do, guess what: write some more!

Good damnit my brains will blow up!

This is what i'm talking about:

Podcast 27

While i was researching for something, i ran into this website: http://www.sidlovesturbo.com/. Here you cand find mixes from artists like Jori Hulkkonen, Tiga and much more. It's obvious that i was impressed with Jori's mixes, there are two actually, because they include a lot of tracks from the 80z, and also new tracks he made.

As i listen i realise that there's something strange about him. Too much good music in one man, that's alomost impossible in our era.

En fin, nice tunes, you should give it a listen!

You can download the lasted mix, podcast 27, created on 27/03/2008 here.

The first one, podcast 19, published on 19/11/2007 is avalibale here.

Lisa, the queen of all queens

So, it's no surprise to anyone that i love almost anything that moves and has furr. A few days ago i presented Ebola, my hamster, now it's time to make Lisa famous!

Back to the roots

When i grow up i wanna be a rock band


The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)



I can`t really say that i`m too impressed by their live performance with this song, but i still like it a lot.

Still, i can`t wait to see Kaiser Chiefs live, this summer, at Bestfest.

Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby - WIIIIII! :))

The Mist

I`ve just came back from the cinema. I saw The Mist, a film by Stephen King. SF in all ways, but very human and emotional, pretty violent too. I recomend it. It`s not a typical USA movie and it has the weirdest ending i`ve even seen (after the others). It`s sad and it gives you the creeps.

Roland TB-303 - Aceeeed for life!

Roland TB-303 Bass Line este un sintetizator cu sequencer încorporat, produs de compania Roland în 1982, care a avut un rol determinant în dezvoltarea muzicii electronice contemporane.
TB-303-ul a fost vândut iniţial chitariştilor care vroiau să exerseze singuri şi aveau nevoie de acompaniament la bas, 303-ul fiind instumentul ideal pentru acest lucru. Sintetizatorul s-a produs timp de 18 luni, rezultatul fiind de 10.000 de unităţi. În zilele noastre, aparatul este considerat a fi piesă de colecţie, vânzându-se la preţuri între 800 şi 1000 de dolari.

Spre sfârşitul anilor `80, producătorii de muzică electronică din Chicago i-au descoperit utiliatea în contextul dezvoltării acestui gen de muzică, urmând ca la începutul anilor `90, să se dezvolte noul curent numit Acid, în care 303-ul era utilizat cu preponderenţă. Acel sunet specific acid-ului se producea prin repetarea unui pattern de note în cadrul TB-303-ului în timp ce se modifica filtrul CutOff, resonance sau envelope modulation. Accentul 303-ului controla modificările amplitudinii notei, filter resonance-ul şi envelope modulation, permiţând variaţiuni în timbru. Pentru a-i da TB 303-ului un timbru mai dens, mai zgomotos, este adesea folosit un efect de distors, fie cu ajutorul unei pedale, fie supraîncărcând intrarea audio a unui mixer. Rezultatul este un sunet mult mai bogat din punct de vedere armonic.

TB-303 are un singur oscilator audio care poate fi configurat pentru a produce fie un sawtooth wave, fie unul square, un envelope generator cu un controler de decay, un lowpass filter cu o reducere de -18 dB pe octavă şi controlere pentru cutoff frequency, resonance şi parametri de envelope modulation.

Pe la mijlocul anilor `90, cererea de unităţi TB-303 a coincis cu dezvoltarea muzicii electronice de dans şi tocmai de aceea majoritatea producătorilor de echipamente de acest gen au început producerea de multe instrumente similare TB-303-ului, numite "clone". Primii care au produs acest gen de clone au fost Novation Electronic Music Systems care a lansat primul echipament portabil generator de linii de bas în 1994, urmând TeeBee-ul produs de Syntecno, MS-404 şi Freebass FB-383.

Pentru că popularitatea acestor clone creştea necontrolabil, Roland a hotărât să lanseze propria lui clona de 303, producând MC-303 Groovebox. În ciuda eforturilor de a păstra aceaşi linie ca pentru TB, MC-ul era un produs complet diferit de original. Diferenţa majoră era în includerea unui sintetizator digital în schimbul circuitului analog inclus în primul.

În 1997, sintetizatoarele în versiunea software au început să câştige tot mai multe teren, unul dintre cele mai populare fiind emolatorul ReBirth produs de Propellerhead Software, cei care au produs şi soft-ul Reason. Pentru cine nu ştie, Proppellerheads a fost o trupă extrem de populară care ne-a vizitat ţara în urmă cu câţiva ani, cântând în deschiderea concertului Moby.

Printre artiştii care au folosit acest Roland TB-303 se numară: Aphex Twin, The Future Sound Of London, Massive Attack, Air, Moby, Underworld, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Pet Shop Boys, Orbital şi chiar Daft Punk. La toate aceste nume il adugam si pe Jori Hulkkonen, artistul F Com., responsabil si pentru So Run The Tears As Wine" Acid Symphony.

Clipurile concertului la care a participat si Jesper Dahlback sunt ceva mai jos in blog.
Pentru ca vazand acele clipuri mi-am amintit ca am facut si eu o prezentare a 303-ului in defuncta clubbing mag, am decis sa urc materialul aici.

Hope it helps!

My first Korg

This is my (and V.) first Korg.

I wish i had more time for it. :(

More to come... :D

Thaddeus Cahill's "Dynamophone/Telharmonium" (1897)

Let me introduce you the first synthetiser ever built.

Dynamophone/Telharmonium - 1897

In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented (pat no 580,035) what was to become the "Telharmonium" or "Dynamophone" which can be considered the first significant electronic musical instrument . The first fully completed model was presented to the public in 1906 in Holyoke, Mass.






The Telharmonium was essentially a collection of 145 modified dynamos employing a number of specially geared shafts and associated inductors to produce alternating currents of different audio frequencies. These signals were controlled by a multiple set of polyphonic velocity sensitive keyboards ( of seven octaves, 36 notes per octave tuneable to frequencies between 40-4000Hz) and associated banks of controls.
The resulting sound was audible via acoustic horns built from piano soundboards in the early models, later models were linked directly to the telephone network or to a series of telephone receivers fitted with special acoustic horns - this was the only way to amplify the sound in this preamplifier era (Cahill's invention had predated the invention of amplifiers by 20 years). The Telharmonium supplied 1 amp of power to each telephone receiver on the network this was much more than the telephone itself but was enough to be able to hear the music without lifting the receiver speaker to the ear however this also masked and disrupted any other signal on the line. The instrument was usually played by two musicians (4 hands) and reproduced "respectable" music of the time: Bach, Chopin, Grieg, Rossinni etc.

Go here for more details: http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/telharmonium/

A couple of years ago, when i was wrinting for an electronic music magazine, Clubbing Mag, i had to write the technical page, so i decided to start with the first electronic music instrument ever built. I was extremply happy to find out about the Telharmonium. It is a wonderful piece of art.

Unfortunatly, they stoped manufacturing this instrument because the wireless technology evolved and it was obvious that people would rather use that than this way of transmiting music.

This is how it looked: