As a Firefox user (and a web designer) it really bugged me when IE7 came out with its crystal clear type rendering, partly because I held a grudge against Internet Explorer for making my job so difficult, but mainly bacause it made firefox look like out-dated technology, showing up straggly un-aliased text on my laptop screen.

It wasnt until I reinstalled my Operating System, and was going through (the excellent) Tweak Guide for Windows XP, was it that I came across Microsoft Cleartype and ta-daa, once turned on for my laptops LCD screen (aparrantly its only LCDs that need it) made Firefox render text beautifully. Phew, I can rest easy now…

Filed under: Design, Web by Ralph
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Just a quick note to let yiz know that shitmat will be playing in the Legal Eagle this weekend as part of a REDRUM fund raiser.

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So I’m a bit late in posting anything about the incredibly sweaty, but great Bang Face Weekender. In short it was great, it was nice to be at a festival, but also to have a bed to lie in and a bath to bathe in, thus un-banging my face a little bit.

Highlights for me were Shitmat (I’ve seen him previously, but never really enjoyed a set by him as much as I did this time), DJ Scotch Egg - mental as usual, even at 6am! Mala’s set was great too, and µ-ziq was fantastic - little moments of genius, also the weather deserves a mention, especially because we were right beside the seaside.

Lowlights: Venetian Snares was atrocious, I think he was quite drunk when he played or something, he started off his set with some obscure tracks, but after losing the (somewhat young) crowd a bit, starting banging out the classics which picked the crowd up a bit, but then he started (trying) to mix, but was appallingly off beat every time he did. When he started playing one of my favourite Vsnares tracks - the Doormouse Megamix I recall turning to my friend in the crowd and saying ‘if he fucks this one up theres no hope for him’ and mere seconds later he did. Bah. Aaron Spectre was a bit of a let down too, it seemed odd that everyone was using decks, especially for mr Spectre, as he usually has his mp3 collection plus MIDI controllers at the ready. He was still pretty good, but not a patch on the other times I’ve seen him. MAJOR LOWLIGHT: Missing Bogdan! AAAAGGHH! Us stupid fucks standing downstairs waiting for him to come on while he was playing upsatirs. D’oh! Major downer.

Anyways here’s the rest of the weekend in video form:

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to celebrate the official start of summer, here’s a video:

Now go find a christian to burn

As an added bonus, laugh at the crap acting, bad dialogue, and violence against women of the 2006 remake of the Wicker Man starring Nicholas “I’m all Shuck Up” Cage:

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An cautionary/instructional rap to rival the likes of White Lines, or maybe even the Wendy’s training rap

Does this mean CSS/XHTML is now street? Or does it mean that Hip Hop is finally dead? A pivotal moment in music history no doubt…

Filed under: CSS/XHTML, Design, Web by Ralph
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Check out Bjork’s new video for ‘Wanderlust’ by Encyclopedia Pictura. Best Bjork video in a long time Imho!

Apparently There will be a 3D version out to buy at some point in the near future

Filed under: Events, Music by Ralph
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One for your diaries - A night of Breakcore, and Folk - A match made in Valhalla.

What better way to welcome the start of summer than 2 rooms of Folk and Breakcore colliding head on? A friend of mine has decided to asssemble a motley crew of artists from the worlds of Folk and Electronic music, and a few that sit somewhere in between.

There will be sets from Homo Ludo, Richie Kaboogie, a welcome return from The Geek, a re-united Lakker, Raw Gash (crazy trad/breakcore mentalness), Automatic Tasty, Melody Masher and some live music from the Ease, the very talented Katja Garcia, Olivia Maxwell, and Jonny Dillon.

Secret Policeman Burning yet to be confirmed. OH JESUS CHRIST NOOO!

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Adobe have released an online application version of its flagship product Photoshop, called Photoshop Express
I guess this is moreso aimed at casual users of Photoshop, or people who just want to perform simple tasks like red-eye reduction or croppping/resizing/rotating. They also give you 2GB free storage for your pics. Not too shabby. You can also link into other image sites such as Facebook, Photobucket and Picassa (no flickr!) and upload/download images between the APIs.

There’s a simliar project going on elsewhere, at A.viary.com - which aims to be more like an online version of CS3, complete with vector imagery, desktop publishing, and even a font design tool. Only the bitmap editing tool has been released so far though, and only if you sign up and wait or get an invite from a friend.

There was an interesting point raised on the a.viary.com blog recently, as a response to people pointing out the irony of Aviary using adobe Flash as a platform to create a ‘rival’ to Photoshop. Of course a web app is never going to be as good as one installed on your computer (not yet anyways!) , but they also made a good point (and this applies to Photoshop Express too) that the main piraters of Photoshop are “casual users” that only want the program to make the odd adjustment to their photos, or doss about, so by providing the main components of photoshop (or the most used ones) these online apps are infact helping adobe to fight the piracy that is so widespread in its product range.

Filed under: Design, Web by Ralph
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Right so here’s the first draft straight from the horses mouth -

Sex Pistols, Jape, Underworld, Hayseed Dixie, The Gossip, Kormac & BSQ Band, Sigur Ros, Sinead O’connor, Adrian Crowley, Micah P Hinson, Grinderman, Blitzen Trapper, Lionheart Brothers, Silver Apples, George Clinton & The P-Funk Allstars, Tobias Froberg, Josh Ritter, Tindersticks, Constantines Teiter, Cathy Davey, Midnight Juggernauts, That Petrol Emotion, Yacht, New Young Pony Club, Turin Brakes, The Breeders, Tartitt, Christy Moore, Noisettes, Kila, Faust, Goldfrapp, The Yard Dogs, Michael Franti & Spearhead, One Day International, The Roots, Boss Volenti, The Waterboys, Foals, My Bloody Valentine, Lisa Hannigan, Wilco, CSS, Juana Molina, Tinariwen,Mark Geary, Franz Ferdinand, Dublin Gospel Choir, Absentee, Duffy, Dawn Landes, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Candi Staton, Large Mound, Emmy The Great.

Just as I suspected alot of the leaked list were hangers on from previous events. Glad to see that The Breeders and George Clinton are there,  although Supegrass seem to have gone. Here’s hoping they’ll be added again at a later date.

Most noteable addition award goes to Grinderman.

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So according to a post on Thumped this will be the first line-up announcement for the Electric Picnic:

Sigur Ros, The Sex Pistols, Franz Ferdinand, Underworld, Super Furry Animals, The Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Mercury rev, My Bloody valentine, Moby, Fat Boy Slim, Massive attack, Bloc party, Tindersticks, Supergrass, The Cure, The Breeders, Elbow, CSS, George Clinton, Chic featuring Niall Rogers, Gary newman, The Human league, 808 State, The Orb, Faust, Neon Neon, Jamie Lidell, Foals, Lee Scratch Perry, Baaba Mal, The Wedding Present, Sebastian Tellier, Henry Rollins, Billy Bragg, Marty Mulligan, Saul Williams, Booka Shade, Transglobal Underground, Goldfrapp, Two Gallants, King Creosete, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, Damien Rice, Duke Spirit, Crystal Castles, Tinariwen, Red Snapper, Fuck Buttons, Micha P Hinson, Dan le sac V’s Scroobius Pip, Fish Go Deep, Grand National, Lisa Hannigan, Cinephile, Kings of Convienience, David Kitt, Donal Dineen, Gossip, Plaid and Rodrigo y Gabriella.

Seems to be a lot of acts that have played previous picnics, so maybe there’s a few mix ups.

Highlights of the list for me: Supergrass - haven’t seen them in years, used to be one of my favourites, George Clinton - even if George is a bit past it these days, his ‘P-funk Allstars’ (or whatever they’re called now) still know how to put on a good show, The Breeders - also one of my mid-nineties obsessions and Lee Scratch Perry - can he still pull it off at this age? Who cares, the crazy shit he’ll say will be entertainment enough (plus I reckon he can pull it off).

The official announcement will be made this evening at 6pm, so expect a follow up post to confirm/deny.

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