Great quote from Theodore Roosevelt: the man in the arena

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.

Saw IronMan 2 at the London IMAX, blew me away

Just had to post this IronMan2 trailer again as a lot of the film's soundtrack was from the AC/DC songbook. Loved tapping away at AC/DC while the rest of the crowd gave me strange looks from the sidelines... but who cares?! Great movie, see it at the IMAX: you'll be blown away (expand video below to full-screen for best effect)!

Digging DJ Clipz's clownstep anthem "Rubbish"

Been enjoying this regression into D&B over at last.fm: this video vaguely reminiscent of the Coldcut videos from 2007 and Banksy-esque references throughout. (Note to self: The yellow and red robots remind me of Gordon Brown pushing Nick Clegg around saying "Nick, get real" in Morten Morland's 15-second satirical video of the 2nd UK Election Debate but that's by the by.)



Also get a (rather DIY) how-to vid on how to create your own clownstep track: the sounds get really squelchy around @2:00 and then positively mad around @5:05!! And if that hasn't done your head in... maybe you need to plug your ears in first! Can definitely see a health and safety hazard if there ever was a DJ Clipz vs Part Chimp night: mad clownstep tweaks and ear-splitting noiserock. Ouch ;-)

Hilarious: the 1st (UK) Election Debate in 15 seconds

You have to see this, very funny (via the International Herald Tribune's article here).

Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek - Spaced out hip hop with "Memories Live"

Another great track just unearthed over at last.fm... just kick back and savour the beats.

Do what you love. Stop doing what you don't. Right. Now.

Check this barnstorming inspirational speech (courtesy of RebelCinema) from Web2.0 Expo New York!

I didn't think much of Led Zeppelin... until this

Jimmy Page just blows me away here in their "Dazed and Confused": as always hit the full screen button for best effect!

More from AC/DC, now the soundtrack for IronMan2

Check the 720p HD version on the video below, and expand to full-screen: you won't be disappointed!

AC/DC is on a highway to hell

Gotta love those pyrotechnics... click on the expand button to view in full size glory!

A youthful B B King at his best

Check out this rare footage: not just the cool blues guitar riffs, some barnstormingly good singing too!

red hot chilli from back when!

Suck my kiss direct from Moscow's Red Place

The Fly, rooftop views of London included!

Wake up people!

Rage Against The Machine now heading up the Download festival in June '10 alongside AC/DC! A flavour of things to come...

Gorillaz Feel Good Inc flashback

Stumbled on this again after a while... not too bad on the guitar either ;-)

Trailblazing handmade amps for guitar freaks

Cool article at wired.com about the latest trend in handmade amps that are rugged enough for repeated gigging (and other abuse). Click here to go direct to the guys making the stuff. Wired.com's picturebook after the link.

Lithium rights deal for Japan to supply booming hybrid car industry

Breaking story on the Nikkei just a few hours ago: the Japanese government has teamed up with Toyota Tsusho and an unnamed Australian company to land rights to Lithium mines in Argentina. Starting at 15k tons/yr in 2012, the move is a first step to guaranteeing supply to Japan's booming hybrid car industry and the broader automotive segment. The two companies will create a joint-venture that will be co-invested by all three partners, although all materials excavated will be managed solely by Toyota Tsusho.

It is unclear what role the Australian partner will have, although my guess is they could probably run the heavy lifting part of the process (drilling, excavation, mine mgmt) with the Toyota Tsusho trading company taking over the logistics, supply chain and processing part. In a world where China is securing large commodity deals left and right across the globe esp. on the African continent recently, this is still a rather small deal for Japan in one of its more high-profile emerging industries. Expect to hear more deals like this.

(original source in Japanese only: http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/main/20100120ATFS1903919012010.html)

Slim touchscreen Lenovo tablet at CES easily docks into lightweight "netbook skin"... flashbacks of Idoru

One of the two coolest things I've seen at CES this year (other than the Sony 3D gaming booth). Major flashbacks of the multicoloured tablets Korean kids carry around in William Gibson's masterpiece Idoru. I've been waiting for this since the book came out in 1996... already that long?! We're still probably about 5yrs off that vision (ie. no eyeplugs at CES as of yet), but we just got one step closer ;)



Now all we need is the nanotech construction goo to make the tablet docking "netbook skins" all the more lightweight and organic... oh well, another couple of years to wait then.

#1 Jpn mobile carrier Docomo now lead shareholder in #1 Korean carrier KT, mull common mobile future

After a largely unsuccessful foray into licensing its mobile internet technology i-Mode into Europe in the early 00s, and a number of minor deals with emerging market carriers, the leading Japanese mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo has upped its shareholding in the leading Korean carrier KT from 2.2% to 5% by switching its convertible bonds into common stock.

Now the largest shareholder of KT (after the Korean Pension Fund, Korea's largest govt-sponsored institutional investor), Docomo execs will join KT execs to form a new board/committee to oversee the adoption of a common mobile handset sourcing plan and common investment strategies into 3rd party carriers worldwide.

(for the original article in Japanese from the Nikkei, see here)

Cool x-disciplinary approach to replicating biological visual recognition systems using computer systems!

See the inspiring and witty video posted by the Rowland Institute at Harvard:
(from their recent paper A High-Throughput Approach To Discovering Good Forms of Biologically-Inspired Visual Representation, orig. RT smartplanet.com)

Snatch wars... absolutely hilarious

Rediscovered this after a long time: got to be the funniest movie on YouTube...