skynoise

The Seven Great Electronic Wonders of the world surely includes ‘Japanese television’. As good an introduction as any to the delights contained within, is the splendourific : TVinjapan.com. (The Japanarama compilation is another, introduced to me by the Mu-Meson Archivers ). TV in Japan web curator, and supervising producer of ‘Attack of the Show’ TV series in the states, Gavin Purcell, does the email ping pong:

What’s unique about japanese TV and what attracts to it?

Japanese TV is like some sort of odd looking glass, it’s like all the stuff western TV is yet twisted with this very wicked and oddball sensibility. The Japanese (even famous Japanese) have very little problem with looking goofy – it humanizes them a bit to others. Which I find infinitely cool.

3 things burnt into your eyeballs, impossible to see on any other national television?

The whole Gaki No Tsukai stuff – my favorite scene is the classroom where the students are famous comedians and they must not laugh or they’ll get beat.

The Zuikken English girls – women who do aerobics to teach English. I think they’ve travelled the worldwide internet now which was an interesting thing to see as the guy who originally posted them to youtube had emailed me specifically about them. That’s one of the coolest parts of TV-in-Japan that I definitely get to get in on the ground floor of somethings that ultimately blow up pretty big.

And the Chimpan News Channel – am totally obsessed with monkeys. Always have been, always will. A show made ‘For Animals, By Animals’ and hosted by a chimpanzee named “Gomes Chambalain’ was totally made with me in mind. I love how he has other monkeys working for him as well.

( Anyone who has ever seen some of my VJing, will understand my grinning to this – jp )

Based on various gameshows, the Japanese seem to really enjoy public humiliation. Can you explain?

Well, I think it might have something to do with that in some way the humiliation makes them human. After all, everyone has experienced humiliation at one point in there life and can relate. I know for sure I can.

What lessons can be learnt about Japanese sexuality by watching their TV?

I don’t feel qualified enough to answer this question. Sorry.

Presumably your site earns enough advertising to cover costs, so how do you feel building a site out of copyrighted material, and how do you feel about copyright in the case of tv clips?

Ultimately, what I do is a relatively grey area. No, I don’t own the clips and yes I do make some (very little) profit from the posting of them. However, I personally don’t host the clips, I embed them from YouTube and therefore I’m really just pointing to places to find them. Yes, that’s a little bit of a cop out, but I truly feel I’m bringing value to the table as someone willing to sort through junk and separate out the cool stuff. It’s for a select audience but definitely an audience that cares about the stuff and would totally buy it if available to them. I’d love to get in contact with all of the Japanese production companies – I’m sure I could help them sell a TON of DVDs. I constantly have requests for Pythagoras Switch on DVD!

Given the Japanese love of gadgets and technology, surely there must be plenty of wild Japanese netcasts online – do u watch any, or does tv still dominate?

I have yet to see many netcasts at all out of Japan, however I imagine that could be partially because I speak so little of the language. However, I did read (maybe at the awesome Neomarxisme blog) that the Japanese are still very tied to the idea of the television production companies the ‘the producer’ and haven’t glommed onto the whole user-generated media thing yet. However, I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff out there I have not idea exists.

How do u feel about Google’s acquisition of youtube?

I feel all right. Actually, check that, as a web entrepreneur myself, I feel great for the YouTube guys. I’m still not sure how it’s going to affect the service (or TV in Japan) but I think the bigger it gets the better. The amount of clips per day keeps going up which is great for everyone.

How has YouTube’s policies affected your site?

The 30,000 Japanese clips coming down was a bummer but it’s been happening since the beginning of the website. The hard part is that it means that a lot of my posts now are without the video reference within them. It really sucks when you write up a long post about something really cool only to go back a few weeks later to find they’ve taken down the clips – eg my long post on the Japanese TV show Shimokita Glory Days. I did a lot of research and wrote up a lengthy article which I felt did a very good job of describing the show when accompanied with the clips I posted. Now, those clips have been removed and it’s much harder to understand. That sucks.

Destiny obviously has you as a gameshow host wearing an animal mask, but what are your future plans for the site before then?

I totally see myself there as well. Perhaps, with someone ready to beat me if I can’t stop laughing. Which I so wouldn’t be able to do. Hmmm, future of the site – it’s really hard as it’s ultimately a total labor of love. It’s not easy and it doesn’t make that much money. I’d love to bring a couple more people on as bloggers with me, get a few more posts up per day perhaps and then maybe start selling some cool Japanese things as well. Ultimately, it all comes down to time and as a father, a TV producer and my other secret web project I’m working on, it’s as much as I can do to give myself the hour or two each day to spend on finding the clips. My wife asked me the other day if I thought I’d ever get sick of it and I told her I thought no. I am just a huge fan of weirdness and Japanese TV has that in spades.

Thanks Gavin!

Went with Louise (ze Flying Scribbler) to see a bunch of saucy ex-Brisbane girls ( including Tiger Lil from the Happy Sideshow Circus) do their burlesque, acrobatic cabaret schtick in the famously travelledSpiegeltent on Friday night. ‘Tarnished’ was the name of the show, and ‘La La Parlour’ the dancing girls who sprawled across the stage like tumbleweeds. And fireworks. And high-heeled Broadway kickers. When they weren’t dangling from the ceiling, climbing up curtains, contorting in all manner of stacked-up multi-limbed positions – or doing the splits onto cream-cake. Choregraphed with humour and great music selections too. Super-rad! Eat it up if they come to town.

Jimi Hendrix in some parallel universe, instead of sitting on rooftops channelling UFO sounds through his guitar, poured his energies into freak-o-naut transportation design. Needless to say, the offerings below pale in comparison.

In The Air

Via Treehugger.com the rebirth of a pedal-powered-blimp(!) can be savoured in it’s full glory. It’s actually a helium filled blimp that uses a combination of pedal power and gas engines for propulsion, reaching speeds of up to 25kph, something they are hoping to boost to 40kph with their newer design. On the blimp tip, Werner Herzog’s doco ‘The White Diamond‘, is well worth watching, a film about an obsessive British engineer building a miniature helium balloon capable of silently floating over the rainforest treetops for scientific observation. Inevitably the story goes deeper and weirder as time goes on.

Bike-Sailing

Hailing as “the next evolution in cross-country cycling”, the Pterosail(.com) is a custom made recumbent trike that uses a unique sailing system that can either be used to fully power the trike or used in conjunction with pedaling, depending on how much wind is available. The sailing system can also convert wind energy into electrical energy for storage in 2×24-volt deep cycle marine batteries. This stored electrical power can then be used to power a small electric-assist motor. In case you missed that, we’re looking at 3 x multiple zero-emission propulsion sources: Human Power, Wind Power, and Electrical Power.

Down To Earth

Two wheels good. Aye aye. And bicycles have evolved in the inner city to include a wide variety of folding bikes, for those looking to zip to and from public transport. None quite as small though, as the 12 pound bicycle with tiny wheels, nurtured into existence by Clive Sinclair ( who developed the ZX Spectrum back in the 20th century ). Video of it in action and more details at www.a-bike.co.uk.

Japanese bicycle researchers not to be outdone, have come up with the world’s first 2wheel drive bicycle – which literally “comes with an extra chain mechanism to transfer power from the bicycle’s pedals to both wheels instead of just one.” Video after the drop.

And more bike power.

Four Wheels Good

Spesh when they’re skateboard wheels. So Tony Hawk has his very own playstation game. And fellow ex-Bones Brigade ( the beatles of branded skating back in the late 80s ) member Tommy Guerrero has been releasing beats and music on Mo Wax and other places. None of which really compares to the raw stuntpower of Bob Burnquist and Danny Way. Bob’s getting a lot of press for his skating on the ‘largest skateboard ramp in the world’, which is 75 feet high at the top and includes a 70foot gap and allows speeds of up to 55 miles an hour on it. And sure, he’s also grinded a rail that took him over the edge of the Grand Canyon, where he parachuted down. Danny though, has jumped off the 82 foot tall huge guitar at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe, landing onto a 55ft quarter pipe, has leapt out of a helicopter and landed on a half-pipe, developed and shredded a mega ramp in a DC video a while back, flying astonishing distances through the air from ramp to ramp more like a snowboarder than a skater, and has even launched himself on a jump ramp over the Great Wall of China. Incredibly, he broke his ankle during an attempt, but completed it the next day with painkillers and strapping. ( videos and more )

Eight Wheels Grand ( Melbourne, Nov 2006 )

Rollerskaters in camoflauge jumpsuits zip past. Backs covered in blood-red screenprinted XL font : “Operation Enduring Love”. They have bandanas covering their mouths and are handing out cards to bemused passers by. One of the cards is an ace of spades, with a handscribbled fat-texta quote on top: “You can only be free when you have nothing to lose.”

Even More Wheels “Le Grander”

Goddamn those French Rollerskating men with wheels all over their body!
via and i feel fine

( Apologies to the survivor manual this image was grabbed from. Usually the buildings are closer together, to demonstrate how a body might leap over an abyss, and grasp a pair of flailing hands onto some sort of solid surface. As this would be inappropriate for this week, the buildings have been moved further apart.)

Making the digital tactile, midi provides a bridge, an interface, between computers and the rubberised universe of imagination, allowing the cubicle bound to more expressively control sound ( or colour and light ). Transcend the mouse~!

Vat Ist Midi?

Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Which means it is not audio, but a protocol invented for communicating between synthesizers and music machines to enable one machine to play another. Generally it’s note on / note off, as well as some timing information and controller (knobs, wheels, and sliders) information. Understanding midi allows connecting up of various music machines and computer software with hardware midi controllers – generally a range of knobs, sliders and triggering buttons for controlling your music or video etc. That’s it really. There’s a lot more in the details, well documented by people like these:

Software, hardware, anatomy of a midi message and much more – by Peter Kirn, In Makezine.

What it is, how it works, why it’s important and how to hook it up in your home studio – by “Rich the Tweakmeister”

MIDI and audio concepts explained in non-technical terminology – borg.com

Look Ma—Hands! Choosing and Using MIDI Controllers – Jim Aikin.

How to write a song with Music Software : Recipes for Song Construction with Midi Sequencers and Synthesizers.

Tutorial on MIDI and Music Synthesis.

If in doubt, let borg.com hammer it home :

“MIDI is the language of gods. Lesser life forms communicate in more primitive, less artistic manners such as barks, chirps, roars, or any of the many human verbal languages in use throughout the globe. But, gods communicate using MIDI messages….. The MIDI Technical Fanatic’s Brainwashing Center is a cyberplace dedicated to those individuals who wish to attain a higher level of existence than that of the plodding, MIDI-illiterate scum around them. Here, you will find MIDI technical documents and programming information, MIDI tutorials which explain various MIDI topics in easy-to-understand terms, MIDI software tools, examples of some very good uses of MIDI (in the form of well-constructed MIDI sequencer files), and blueprints for the surgical installation of a MIDI jack upon the human body so that a musician can directly communicate with his MIDI gear.”

And when you’re done – Try to Explain MIDI Drunk.

Midi Equipment

MIDI Sequencers can be software and hardware and generally allow timed sequences of events to unfold at a given tempo. Other
MIDI devices are dedicated to enabling performance and the sending of various midi signals ( on/off as well as values ). Aside from midi keyboards, there are midi saxaphones / flutes / piano accordians and an Australian designed ‘Digital Trumpet’ ( made by Morrison ), and a whole swagger of dedicated DJ related controllers. Mawzer controllers are high-end modular midi controllers that can be reconfigured depending on a gig’s needs. Faderfox controllers can be similarly slotted together. And pawn shops, trading magazines, Ebay and now amazon.com are littered with second hand devices.

Midi Weird

More fun though is to build, or seek out the more unusual gadgets for interfacing to creative expression. Again, the internet is your friend – sites like Music Thing uncover endless oddball inventions and instruments from portable roll up style electronic drum kits through to hamster powered midi controllers. Remember the speak and spell toys? People ‘break/circuit-bend’ them and sell them, adding MIDI to remotely trigger thousands of sounds—words, word fragments, garbled speech, percussion and bizarre sound effects.

Entering a ‘midi’ query at MakeZine will find a huge range of weird midi projects built by home enthusiasts. An easy-to-build MIDI detector packaged in a small Japanese action figure, a site that converts web pages into MIDI you can listen to, wearable motion capture MIDI controllers, wireless MIDI gloves, a homemade MIDI controller in a C64 case, a musical midi sofa, midi blender, midi gun etc etc etc midi-etc.

Create Digital Music have plenty of gold too, such as an article highlighting software that’ll convert your drawing gestures ( on/off & position, pressure & pen angle ) on a graphics tablet into midi for your audio or VJ software, as well as a tablet theremin~! “le rad!”

DM2 to MIDI is an application for Windows that allows you to use the DM2 (Digital Music Mixer) by mixman as a regular MIDI controller.

MIDI Over Internet

OS X tiger – now includes a MIDI Network driver, allowing you to send and receive MIDI over a network connection.
Other options : imidi ( mac )
midi overlan for PC – MIDI cross-platform solution for communication between MIDI applications over a local area network.
ipMIDI (pc)

DIY MIDI controllers

Guide to using PIC microcontrollers and Basic Stamps by Ross Bencina.
A Basic Stamp consists of a tiny circuit board on which is soldered a PIC CPU, a timing crystal, and some EEPROM memory for program storage. Non-commercial DIY Projects for MIDI Hardware Geeks.

Extending with MIDI

Bome’s Midi Translator translates MIDI messages (e.g. from a keyboard or a control surface) to different MIDI messages, or to emulated keystrokes for controlling other programs. Bome’s Midi Translator is PostcardWare for private use.

Numerology is a modular sequencing and Audio Unit hosting environment designed for performing musicians. It works by giving the user an organized workspace within which they can quickly create and connect together a variety of modules for sequencing, MIDI generation, automation, audio synthesis and effects.

Mac OS X MIDI Applications

midimouse – a small, easy-to-use and very simple program. It sends MIDI-controller-messages (CC) by moving the mouse over its (resizeable) window. While moving the mouse (with or without mouseDown) over the X-/Y-axxis, each axxis sends a CC, so you might send values within up to 4 configurable Controllers.

JunXion is a Mac OS X data routing application that allows the connection of any USB game controller and defines, in an easy user interface, the translation of each key or joystick action into a specific MIDI event. The resulting MIDI data is then available to any audio/music software that runs on that Mac or can be send to external MIDI interfaces.

MIDI Files online

Plug these into your audio software of choice for easy remixing / adoration / mutilation. VGmusic – 21,000 video game music midi files! holy crappola, there’s a lotta game-console glitch funk oozing outta this site. mididb – If it can be found on a jukebox, or comes with a high rotation music video, then the track can probably be found here.

21C Midi?

OpenSound Control (“OSC”) is a protocol for communication among computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices that is optimized for modern networking technology and has been used in many application areas.

See also Gibson’s ‘MaGIC’ - “short for Media-accelerated Global Information Carrier – makes standard Cat-5 Ethernet cable act like a super cable, capable of carrying up to 32 channels of 32-bit, 48 kHz uncompressed digital sound in both directions (64 channels total), with a control stream 100 times as powerful as MIDI over a single wire. It eliminates latency and jitter, allowing professional real-time sync of hundreds of instruments and devices (250 µs point-to-point latency over 100 meters). Gibson has made MaGIC non-proprietary to promote unrestricted development of new applications.”

Vidi-yo~! Another round-up of developments in the land of moving pixels.

Web Video

Hard not to notice Google’s purr-chase of youtube recently, a landmark event for online video and notable more for the value it places on social networks and user generated media, than the price ( $US1.6billion of google stock, not cash, mere grains from the google shores ). As Susan Mernit noted Google could’ve bought the New York Times for the same price, but as media shifts online, conversations and networks, collective tastes and filtering are becoming more valued than the old one-to-many approach of traditional media. Whether Gootube can simultaneously please both the copyright holders and the network of users, remains to be seen, there being plenty of other online video infrastructure to play within if Gootube gets too restrictive or advertorial.

Something missing in many of the online debates about the Gootube merger is that around half of the network’s most viewed clips are created by users ( as pointed out by a series of ‘YouTube trends reports’ ). That’s significant. The most viewed clip is of course, the ‘Evolution of dance’ an extensive swiping of pop culture’s most memorable dance moves. Virginia Heffernan of the NYtimes reckons part of this clip’s popularity is do with it’s lack of language, allowing it to transcend national boundaries. And why should youtube get all of the advertising from that clip’s 34 million views? Revver.com is one alternative to that, providing a slice of ad-revenue to the creators. In the end though, whether people jump ship to another video host or not, youtube will awlays be remembered as the most significant key trigger for shifting people to publishing video online.

‘The Amazing YouTube Tools Collection’ hosts a huge range of various scripts, code, tools for integrating youtube into your site or blog, or enhanced searching, gathering and auto-downloading of clips.

Converting those flash video (.flv) files from youtube / google video etc… into editable quicktime clips is best done on mac with the free www.isquint.org software, or www.rivavx.com on PC ( free 30 day trial, but undoubtedly free alternatives exist).

Neave.tv is worth a look for an amazing interface to present clips from Google Video, YouTube and Blip.tv.

Coming soon : www.tapeitofftheinternet.com :: TIOTI combines great design, TV-torrent tracking, favorites, recommendations, RSS feeds, tagging, groups, wiki’s, and a lot more ‘Web 2.0′ stuff.

Video Peoples

http://aliveinbaghdad.org : A videoblog of Iraqi news which shows in highly personal manner the effects of the war and the daily reality of kidnappings suffered amongst the community.

Matt Hanson, who founded One Dot Zero in the UK, and is currently helping develop the collaborative feature film ‘Swarm of Angels’ , has had a book out for a few months which I’ve just noticed : Reinventing Music Video : Next-generation Directors: Their Work and Inspiration. Looks promising.

Viral Videos

www.p2p-art.com : “Filter” – A 73 minute experimental film made by Anders Weberg, and available only on the peer to peer file-sharing networks. “This film and all the files used creating it was deleted 2006/09/15. The original artwork is first shared by the artist until one other user has downloaded it. After that the artwork will be available for as long as other users share it.”

Fast Film : an astonishing hybrid of paper origami and relentless cinema collage, has finally become viewable online.
“guitaaaar sooolo shreddingshreddingshreddingshredding” will make more sense after watching the Incredible Mouth Band.

Software

Firefox extension forone click downloading of youtube, google videos etc.
perian.org – free software that enables quicktime based applications to play .flv files within them…
Flash based VJ app – http://www.onyx-vj.com/
Democracy Player - mac & pc software for subscribe to video channels, download bit torrent videos, and watch .flv files all in the one cool player.

Hardware

http://red.com – Launch date for the hyped video camera draws nearer, 12 Megapixels, 60 frames per second, 35mm lens, lots of other crazy specs, costing $US17,500 instead of a few hundred thousand. Inevitable, and somehow not as exciting as the lo-fi genius of using a Nintendo DS as a VJ Controller : Home-brew coders in Europe have hooked up VVVV software to their Nintendo DS, using it’s Wi-Fi capacity to enable remote VJ control action~!