May 2011 in Córdoba: Cruces

As in previous years, I enjoy a lot the May celebrations in Córdoba, and is always a pleasure to walk around and find beauties like these:

"4 lust", unheard song by Prince & Jill Jones

In a quite surprising move, Jill Jones posted today an unheard song made with Prince. It is called "4 lust", and I am quite unsure on how long will it last available at youtube, but hey: for the time being, here you have it (the video is just a picture, nothing of interest there... or maybe something...):

Is the Prince & Warner Brothers relationship warming up?

I started watching the recent Prince appearance at Lopez Tonight and am quite surprised, since at the begining, they mention it is done at the Warner Brothers studios. And then, I found further information here:

This is the part about Production:

Executive producer(s): George Lopez, Robert Morton

Location(s): Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, California

Running time: 60 minutes (with commercials)

Production company(s):

2.2 Productions

ParaMedia

Telepictures Productions

Warner Horizon Television

Then, if you look for information about tbs, the tv channel broadcasting this show, then hop, who would you guess is the owner?

Turner Broadcasting System

Warner Bros. Entertainment

(Time Warner)

I have not seen this mentioned before (maybe I missed it in the days I've been out), but I find quite curious to see that this show (which was almost completely devoted to promote the forthcoming Prince live shows in LA) is taped at studios owned by WB, produced by a company owned by WB, and broadcasted in a tv channel owned by WB. Quite a few coincidences, right?

Not sure if it is just a random event; but if not, maybe it means that the relationships between Prince and WB are less cold than reported.

(BTW sorry if all of this was obvious for some of you, but since I never watch US tv, I had no idea about this George Lopez, his late night show, or the tbs tv channel, before this Prince appearance.)

Erykah Badu set at Coachella 2011

She is THE woman to follow in music, in 2011. In my opinion, of course.

Here you have her set at the Coachella festival 2011, provided by Urban Music Direct.

A week off for Easter holidays

I will be one week offline for the Easter holidays, or rather, for the "Semana Santa" holidays, as it is called here in Spain. We will visit a few nice places with no internet connection, so we will enjoy the pleasure of being completely unplugged.

Have fun you guys and gals, and I will start posting again at this blog around April 25th.

Prince to play in Paris, Le Stade de France on July 2, 2011 (?)

Yesterday night, the French radio station RTL (with good links to live show promoters) announced that Prince will play at Le Stade de France on July 2nd, 2011. We will see whether this is confirmed later, but just in case someone wants to check, you can listen to the RTL podcast where this show is announced (15 min 35 sec). Specifically, Georges Lang, the show host, says (after introducing the song Sign o' the Times):

"Prince en concert le 2 juillet, au Stade de France à Paris; enfin à Sant Dennis, c'est à coté de Paris".

Thanks to a couple of friends for the heads-up.

Happily turning 40 (in 2007)

I wrote this, when I was entering my 40s, back in 2007; and curiously enough, I completely subscribe these reflections, now that I am close to reach my 44 birthday:

I don’t use to celebrate birthdays in the net (although I do in the real life). 

But today I’m turning 40 and, given the supposed “40 crisis” often discussed about, I thought I would post this thread to say that I’m 40 and I’m fine. 

The father of a close friend of mine (in the 80s now) says that the best time in his lifetime was around his 40s, and this was somehow surprising to me (given the crisis I mention above).

Now I think he might well be right. Each time in life has its good and bad sides, as usual. But being 40 by now, I appreciate that I reached a point where I feel, probably, more balanced than ever before. Sure I enjoyed my young years as much as I could, and I have some terrific memories from those years, but I don’t think they were the best. I went also through dark periods around my 30s, which made me learn big time, from the world around, but basically from myself.

As a result of all that, and as probably happens to each and everyone of us, you get to a certain point where you know what you want, and what you can, and somehow you manage to meet an equilibrium point between both.

Besides that, I think (taking into account every period in my life: the good, the bad and the in-between) that I have been overall a lucky guy. (In fact, sometimes I feel I am too lucky).

In short, this thread is somehow a celebration of life, and a shout to say that:

Hey, it’s good to be in the 40s!!

issuu for iPad

Yesterday, by chance, I was showing to my father how to use the iPad to access the issuu.com website, possibly the best website to see pdf files. And I discovered they have updated the site (one year ago or so), so that the content is no longer shown by using Flash, but rather HTML5. Besides they have a new interface for iPad and it looks really nice. Besides, I just verified it also works fine for iPod Touch and therefore also for iPhone.

Further information at Macstories.net.

An iPad 2 for my parents (III): moving forward

A week ago or so, we went again to my parents' house (me and our kids) and we had a great time: they were looking at old family pictures together, guessing who were those all young guys; then I showed them how to send a picture by email to friends.
We also installed a Sudoku app (a favourite game of my father), and we added the email addresses of the kids to their agenda.

Next time I plan to install a few ebooks, and also to show them how to use FaceBook; I don't want to overwhelm them by showing too many new things at the same time. At this point, it seems they are most interested in pictures and browsing the net. In fact, I don't know how, but they managed to install the app of the Spanish newspaper ABC.

Still they feel like newbies in the whole tech business, and it was funny to see the kids outdoing them (much to the disgust of my father...).


And now, after a couple of weeks using it, I think our gift was a very good idea, since my parents are using the iPad very often, and they are clearly moving forward.

Some days ago, I showed him how to use FaceTime (a videoconferencing app) and he was shocked to find it is so simple.

Yesterday I installed iBooks and showed to my parent how to use it to read e-books, which works great (and particularly, the possibility to increase the font size is very interesting for my father, has he's got some vision issues). Besides, I showed him how to watch the episode of a tv series he had lost during the live broadcast: it is available at the tv website and it is very easy to select and watch. On his side, he had learned how to change the home screen picture, where he had put a picture of him with all his grandsons, taken during his last birthday.

He was also amazed while using the Google Earth app and the Maps app to find out routes between different cities (as he's planning a trip for next summer with some friends).

All in all, I am impressed since their adaptation to this device is being easier than I expected, even if there are many things they have still to learn. But the fact that people of almost 80 years can get hooked by this device means the design of the OS is a big hit.

Erykah Badu's video for "Gone baby, don't be long"

Reading Pitchfork today, I learned that Flying Lotus had collaborated with Erykah Badu to produce this video for her song "Gone baby, don't be long", one of the best in her recent album "New Amerykah part two: Return of the Ankh".


Erykah Badu - Gone Baby, Don't be Long from beeple on Vimeo.


Besides, the article at Pitchfork states that Flying Lotus is doing further work with Erykah:

Back in February, Erykah Badu dropped a heady video for New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh cut "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long", co-directed by beat impresarioFlying Lotus. It seems like that collaboration was more than just a one-off, though, as FlyLo has been working on new material with Badu.

Flying Lotus himself announced that he was producing for Badu last night during a show at the University of Southern California. The news comes on the heels of FlyLo announcing on his Twitter that Badu will DJ during the Stones Throw/Brainfeeder Pool Party that's going down this coming Sunday, April 17, during Coachella.  Suffice to say, the mind boggles as to what these two artists could come up with together. For now, watch the video for "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long" below. Thanks to Justin Hampton for the tip.

Imaging Resource and Carl Weese posting reviews of the Pentax K-5

I remember that, back when I was looking for information to buy my first digital SLR camera, I read plenty of stuff at different places. But one of the reviews which impressed me big time (and strongly controbuted to my purchase) was the one made by Imaging Resource about the Pentax K10D.

Yesterday, Imaging Resource posted their review of the current top Pentax DSLR model, the K-5. As usual, the review is extensive and apparently they have a very good opinion of the K-5. Pity of having so many mortgages, as otherwise this camera would be first in my to-buy list. The review is here.

Interestingly, Carl Weese, a photographer who did a stunning job reviewing the Pentax K10D, also posted recently his impressions after testing a K-5 for a couple of weeks, and it seems he's less favourably impressed than Imaging Resource. His comments were posted a couple of days ago here.

Walking around Yeguas river, near Cardeña

A week ago, we had the pleasure of doing a slightly long walk (for our standards) in the natural park of Cardeña y Montoro, at the North of Córdoba, around Yeguas river. We were 9 adults and 9 kids, and the total lenght was almost 12 kms, which is not bad considering that some of the kids were 6 years old.

Here you have some samples taken during that walk; the wheather was magnificent and the fields are in astonishing condition, with plenty of water everywhere and spring at its top. I was particularly fond of the beauty of the dehesa, a kind of environment typical of the South of Spain, where Quercus trees abound in large fields of grass. They are the paradise for Iberic pigs, one of the very best delicatessen you can taste in Spain. Besides, we were informed that this is the region of Spain where you can see a higher density of Iberic Lynx, a species in strong danger of extinction. Yet we were not lucky enough to see any of them (which is quite expected when you walk in the company of noisy kids).

Light and music spectacle at the Alcázar in Córdoba

In the program of activities to support the candidature of Córdoba as European Capital of the Culture in 2016, we have recently seen a new spectacle at the Alcázar, where you can see, in the night, a combination of pictures projected on walls and colours mixed with water from the fountains, while listening to music from local guitar artist Vicente Amigo. We went to see this spectacle with our kids last Saturday, and here you have some pictures:

Video for "Swanlights", from Antony and the Johnsons

This is available at Pitchfork tv:

The Digital Garden is back

Those of you who are fans of Prince possibly are aware of the existence of The Digital Garden, a website cataloging and reviewing unofficial Prince recordings that started working in November 2009.

Due to a number of issues, the site was inactive and later seemingly disappeared from internet. But fortunately, The Digital Garden is back in full force, and according to my news, it seems the site has been fully revamped, updated and besides with an expanded team. So it seems we have THE internet resource for all those fans who want to know what's happening in the world of Prince unofficial recordings.

The site will be open on April 12th, 2011, so stay tuned. I wish the team behind this site the best of lucks.

25th anniversary of Pixar

Pixar is the essence of cinema, in 2011. Is that simple.

And I'm not alone in saying it; reputed Spanish critic, Carlos Boyero, is plainly stating it as well.

Obviously, they are very happy at Pixar, including computer animation genius John Lasseter, and another genius well know for other accomplishments as well: Steve Jobs. The delight I had when watching Ratatouille, or the begining of Up:



If you are not moved by this wonder, you are made of stone.

And what about the begining of Wall-E?




That pure delight, that pleasure of watching cinema, is indescribable.

May them continue for many years showing to the cinema industry how things should be done; particularly, in these years when Hollywood seems to have lost its mind, and when good cinema is mostly restricted to quality TV series, rather than good movies on big screen.

Prince: 21 Nights in Los Angeles (The Forum)

After many rumours of Prince to perform in the LA area, Prince personally called to the George López show, live, to announce that he's going to perform 21 nights at The Forum, near LA, starting on April 14:









Tha capacity of The Forum is 17,800 (as reference, The Staples Center has 18,000-19,000, depending on the setup), although it is an older building: it was built in 1967 by the owner of the LA Lakers at the time (vs 1999 for The Staples Center). But from the information I gathered, it seems that we are speaking about roughly the same capacity.

The Staples Center is owned by AEG, while The Forum is owned (much more fittingly) by Faithful Central Bible Church. Although there are mentions of negotiations with MSG, so that supposedly they could purchase The Forum. However, as of today, the Faithful Central Bible Church logo is still shown at The Forum website.


On a side topic, I found that MJ did his rehearsals in this very place. Which adds a bit of irony to the story: MJ was supposed to break up the record of Prince at the O2, where he played for an unprecedented number of 21 nights in the summer of 2007. And now Prince will perform again 21 nights , this time in LA, at the same place where MJ was rehearsing... history has some weird turnings, sometimes.

Spring definitely here

No words needed, these are just a few pictures taken this afternoon at our patio with my beloved Pentax K10D and the manual Tamron 90 mm f/2.5.