December 2009
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-12-27) →
Rufus Wainwright (34)
St. Vincent (26)
Michael Praetorius - Paul McCreesh - Gabrielli Consort and Players (24)
Chumbawamba (23)
Antony and the Johnsons (17)
Imported from
5 tags
Skype mic on AspireOne with Ubuntu Karmic
I’ve had problems getting sound to work on Skype on my netbook (running Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 Karmic). Specifically, no sound capture with the mic.
This seems to be a combination of a Pulseaudio problem and an oddity with the AspireOne hardware. The following workaround, from the Ubuntu forums, works for me, though I have no idea why:
Open alsamixer and change the mic volume...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-12-20) →
The Auteurs (50)
Public Enemy (46)
The Hidden Cameras (44)
The Clientele (30)
Ampleforth Schola Cantorum (22)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
“If the Christmas No 1 turns out to be an angry, confrontational rock track that...”
– Charlie Brooker on Rage Against the Machine
“The second most wonderful [Christmas I ever had] was one in the Norwegian...”
– Nonbelievers, please leave Christmas alone - Garrison Keillor
I wuv you, Mark E. Smith
Trying to find the most inappropriate lyrics for the “heart lyrics scroller” on an online lyrics site. This would seem a good contender: the song whose fifth line (according to music industry legend) killed The Fall’s chances of signing to Motown Records.
As TV continuity announcers would say, viewers are warned that this programme contains strong language from the start…
...
“Liberal today under a liberal government, it will tomorrow become the formidable...”
– Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
“In the Christian past, it was common for people who had led dissolute lives to...”
– Closing words from Slavoj Zizek’s First As Tragedy, Then As Farce
“I wonder how [Marx] fails to see how the establishment of a universal...”
– Mikhail Bakunin, 1872
“Force does not work the way its advocates seem to think it does. It does not,...”
– James Baldwin, quoted by Pankaj Mishra (also quoted by him yesterday).
Am I imagining this, or is Charles Moore basically calling on people to vote BNP here? From his latest Spectator column:
The refusal [by David Cameron] of the Lisbon referendum … has confirmed the “they’re all the same” idea. We were promised a referendum, by Labour and Tory alike, and now we won’t get one. The why-bother-to-vote argument grows dangerously strong.
...
“It is not the nave of its central thesis which makes this book so compelling,...”
– The phenomenal Slavoj Zizek - Terry Eagleton review In Defense of Lost Causes
"Better ice that melts than fire that goes out"
“That was the night you first took note of me,” Isabella says now to Alois, pulling him into the sudden flow of her memories. She sounds like a rambling old woman, she knows this even without Barbara’s concerned and uneasy stare. But Alois is not surprised at this feat she demands of him; after all these years he can find his wife without signposts.
“Better ice that...
“Whatever the outcome in Iran, it is vitally important to keep in mind that we...”
– Slavoj Zizek, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, p.124.
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-12-6) →
The Magnetic Fields (112)
Rufus Wainwright (36)
Transvision Vamp (29)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (22)
Hans-Ola Ericsson (14)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
“It is indeed true that we live in a society of risky choices, but it is one in...”
– Slavoj Zizek, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, p.13
“The best indicator of the Left’s lack of trust in itself is its fear of...”
– Slavoj Zizek, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, p.75. “Its own comfortable position as a critical voice fully integrated into the system, ready to risk nothing” - is that a perfect description of the Guardian or what?
“Liberalism is, in its very notion, “parasitic”, relying as it does on a...”
– Slavoj Zizek, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, pp.76f.
“And her husband was one of those blokes / The sort that only laughs at his own...”
– Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs’ Tears
Teeth, by Spike Milligan
Teeth
English Teeth, English Teeth! Shining in the sun A part of British heritage Aye, each and every one. English Teeth, Happy Teeth! Always having fun Clamping down on bits of fish And sausages half done. English Teeth! HEROES’ Teeth! Hear them click! and clack! Let’s sing a song of praise to them - Three Cheers for the Brown Grey and Black.
“Lousy Lane traverses the Grim River, a body of water that is nine-tenths mud and...”
– From the opening paragraph of The Reptile Room, the second Lemony Snicket book.
November 2009
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-29) →
Low (51)
Spiritualized (34)
Aimee Mann (18)
Neil Diamond (14)
The Clientele (14)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz