Hey kids! You too can now defeat Birdman’s arch-nemesis The Condor with this spiffy Birdman Action Figure! Batteries not included. Fox Searchlight has released a fantastic 1990s-style Birdman action figure television commercial to celebrate the film‘s recent “Best Picture” Oscar win.
March 3rd is International Ear Care Day
1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of developing hearing loss due to the unsafe use of personal audio devices and exposure to damaging levels of sound in noisy entertainment venues, according to the World Health Organization. Under the theme “Make Listening Safe”, WHO draws attention to the rising problem of noise-induced hearing loss due to recreational exposure to loud sounds.
Data from studies in middle- and high-income countries analysed by WHO indicate that among teenagers and young adults aged 12-35 years, nearly 50% are exposed to unsafe levels of sound from the use of personal audio devices and around 40% are exposed to potentially damaging levels of sound at entertainment venues. Unsafe levels of sounds can be, for example, exposure to in excess of 85 decibels (dB) for eight hours or 100 dB for 15 minutes.
“As they go about their daily lives doing what they enjoy, more and more young people are placing themselves at risk of hearing loss,” notes Dr Etienne Krug, World Health Organization (WHO) Director for the Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention. “They should be aware that once you lose your hearing, it won’t come back. Taking simple preventive actions will allow people to continue to enjoy themselves without putting their hearing at risk.”
Safe listening depends on the intensity or loudness of sound, and the duration and frequency of listening. Exposure to loud sounds can result in temporary hearing loss or tinnitus which is a ringing sensation in the ear. When the exposure is particularly loud, regular or prolonged, it can lead to permanent damage of the ear’s sensory cells, resulting in irreversible hearing loss.
WHO recommends that the highest permissible level of noise exposure in the workplace is 85 dB up to a maximum of eight hours per day. Many patrons of nightclubs, bars and sporting events are often exposed to even higher levels of sound, and should therefore considerably reduce the duration of exposure. For example, exposure to noise levels of 100 dB, which is typical in such venues, is safe for no more than 15 minutes.
Teenagers and young people can better protect their hearing by keeping the volume down on personal audio devices, wearing earplugs when visiting noisy venues, and using carefully fitted, and, if possible, noise-cancelling earphones/headphones. They can also limit the time spent engaged in noisy activities by taking short listening breaks and restricting the daily use of personal audio devices to less than one hour. With the help of smartphone apps, they can monitor safe listening levels. In addition they should heed the warning signs of hearing loss and get regular hearing checkups.
Governments also have a role to play by developing and enforcing strict legislation on recreational noise, and by raising awareness of the risks of hearing loss through public information campaigns. Parents, teachers and physicians can educate young people about safe listening, while managers of entertainment venues can respect the safe noise levels set by their respective venues, use sound limiters, and offer earplugs and “chill out” rooms to patrons. Manufacturers can design personal audio devices with safety features and display information about safe listening on products and packaging.
To mark International Ear Care Day, celebrated each year on March 3rd, WHO is launching the “Make Listening Safe” initiative to draw attention to the dangers of unsafe listening and promote safer practices. In collaboration with partners worldwide, WHO will alert young people and their families about the risks of noiseinduced hearing loss and advocate towards governments for greater attention to this issue as part of their broader efforts to prevent hearing loss generally.
Worldwide, 360 million people today have moderate to profound hearing loss due to various causes, such as noise, genetic conditions, complications at birth, certain infectious diseases, chronic ear infections, the use of particular drugs, and ageing. It is estimated that half of all cases of hearing loss are avoidable. To address this issue, WHO collates data and information on hearing loss to demonstrate its prevalence, causes and impact as well as opportunities for prevention and management; assists countries to develop and implement programmes for hearing care that are integrated into the primary health-care system; and provides technical resources for training health workers.
The dangers of digital: Brian Eno on technology and modern music
“It’s very difficult, and it’s continually under debate actually,” said Eno. “It doesn’t just apply with African recordings. It’s a problem everybody is having at the moment. Do I resist the temptation to perfect this thing? What do I lose by perfecting it? It’s difficult. Because now it is possible to mend anything, correct anything. The rhythm’s a bit out on that bar? OK, we’ll just stretch it a little bit. We can quantize everything now, we can quantize audio so the beat is absolutely perfect. We can sort of do and undo everything. And of course, most of the records we like, all of us, as listeners, are records where people didn’t do everything to fix them up and make them perfect.
“So the question that everybody’s asking is, is it getting any better as a result of all this? But it’s such a hard temptation to resist. You’re recording a song and find a note that is really quite out of tune. In the past, you’d have said, it’s a great performance, so we’ll just live with it. What you do now is retune that note. So you’re always asking yourself, have we lost something of the tension of the performance, of the feeling of humanity and vulnerability and organic truth or whatever, by making these corrections? It does make you question the role of new technology in the studio. And, of course, there are all sorts of reactions against it. You have Jack White with his studio in Nashville, which is all analogue, he doesn’t have any digital equipment in there. And I’ve worked with bands who’ve said, we’re going back to tape. They’ve got in all the stuff, 24-track recorders, all the gear – but within half a day they’re saying, fuck, we can’t edit this stuff. They’re just not used to working that way.
“There’s a very interesting exercise, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, not to use cmd-Z when you’re writing something. I write quite a lot on a Mac and like everybody I go back and change things. If you say to yourself, today I’m going to write exactly as if I was sitting in front of a piece of paper and writing – Jesus, it’s a whole different mind-set. Because you have to start thinking before you start writing. It’s really hard to go back to that. I’m not saying there is any advantage in going back to it, it’s just interesting to try it, to remind yourself of how completely you are now part of this new technology of writing.”
Q&A with Rolf Potts, author of the upcoming 33 1/3 on The Geto Boys
Rolf Potts is a journalist, essayist, and travel writer who has reported from more than sixty countries around the world. He is the author of two books, Vagabonding, and Marco Polo Didn’t Go There. His writing has also appeared in venues such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic Traveler, Salon.com, Slate.com, Sports Illustrated, The Best Creative Nonfiction, and The Best American Travel Writing.
His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include driving a Land Rover across the Americas, piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. His research for 33 1/3 took him to Fifth Ward, Texas, the inner-city area northeast of downtown Houston that gave rise the Geto Boys and their pioneering gangsta rap sound.
What, in particular, drew you to writing about this album?
I discovered The Geto Boys in college, and I became obsessed with their demented depiction of life in Houston’s Fifth Ward. At the time I was also a fan of Nirvana, a band whose Nevermind album has curious parallels to The Geto Boys. Both albums were major-label debuts by acts that had first been signed by regional indie labels (Seattle’s Sub Pop, Houston’s Rap-A-Lot), and both explored themes of rage and nihilism, albeit from different ends of the tonal spectrum. Perhaps most significantly, both Nevermind and The Geto Boys demonstrated that young men from backwaters like Aberdeen, Washington and Fifth Ward, Texas could tweak the stagnated assumptions of the rock and rap establishment and help nudge popular music into edgier new directions. Though Nevermind was probably more influential to my musical tastes than The Geto Boys, I never considered visiting Aberdeen. Grunge music was by definition an expression of the Pacific Northwest, but it wasn’t necessarily about the Pacific Northwest. Hip-hop, on the other hand, depicted sense of place with street-level specificity. Just as previous generations of young men had read swashbuckling pulp-travel narratives and dreamed of seeing Borneo or Siberia, I listened to the lurid lyrics of the Geto Boys and grew intrigued with the world behind the world they described.
After graduating college I worked as a landscaper in the Pacific Northwest for one year to save money for an eight-month van trip around North America. Seeing Houston’s Fifth Ward was my main impetus for stopping in Texas, and the experiences I had when I arrived there tweaked my assumptions in a complicated way. My book started out as an inquiry into why The Geto Boys inspired me to take that journey.
Via 333Sound
Madonna Announces 2015 Rebel Heart Tour
The list of Madonna concert dates for her highly anticipated 35-city ‘Rebel Heart’ Tour were officially announced today by Live Nation with the opening night scheduled for August 29th in Miami, Florida. Additional performances to follow include New York, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Vancouver, Montreal and several other cities including San Juan, Puerto Rico. Following the North American leg of the Rebel Heart Tour, Madonna will begin the UK/European series of dates on November 4th in Koln, Germany with stops in major cities including Barcelona, London, Paris and Glasgow amongst others. A complete list of tour dates follow this release. Tickets for The Rebel Heart Tour go on sale starting Monday, March 9th. Additional tour dates for Asia and Australia are expected to be announced soon. The Rebel Heart Tour is produced by Live Nation Global Touring.
“Madonna continues to be one of the most successful touring artists in history – her shows are legendary and we are thrilled to have her going back on tour,” Arthur Fogel, President – Global Touring and Chairman – Global Music.
The “Rebel Heart” Tour follows the March 9th release of Madonna’s Rebel Heart album on Interscope Records (Germany and Japan March 6; Europe/UK March 9; North America March 10). Rave reviews for Madonna’s 13th studio album include: The Sun (UK) “The Queen of Pop will reign again – Madonna is about to release her best album in 17 years and one of the greatest of her career.” NY Times: “They won’t experience the celebrity of Madonna the fashion statement but the Madonna who has kept us listening for decades: Madonna the musician”.
Following Madonna’s stunning performance on the Grammys®, three songs from Rebel Heart topped the Global iTunes Chart. The multi-Grammy® winner’s s current single “Living For Love” is at No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Charts – her 44th time at the top spot. Madonna also recently performed on The Brits in London and is scheduled to appear and perform on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the US for the entire week of March 16th. Other global TV performances include France’s Le Grand Journal on March 2nd, Italy’s ITV on Sunday March 8th, an interview on The Today Show on March 9th and 10th and a performance and interview on the Jonathan Ross ITV UK Special airing March 14th.
Along with extraordinary critical acclaim as an artist, songwriter and producer, Madonna’s reputation as one of the most successful live performers of all time speaks for itself. The 2008/2009 Sticky & Sweet tour is the highest grossing tour of all time for a solo artist and the 2012 MDNA tour was the most successful tour of that year.
General Sales for Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour will go on sale starting Monday, March 9, 2015. From March 9th – March 30th every North American ticket purchased online will come with an exclusive digital download of the SUPER DELUXE version of “Rebel Heart” which includes 6 bonus tracks (including 4 previously unreleased studio tracks).
Icon is Madonna’s official fan club. Lifetime Legacy members of Icon will receive first access to tickets and VIP Packages starting March 3, 2015. Fans may purchase an “Icon Live Pass” today, which gives them access not only to ticket & VIP Package pre-sales, but also a free membership to Icon, the official Madonna fan club, access to a tour devoted forum and an exclusive tour gift. Fans who are already registered simply need to upgrade their account with the Icon Live Pass on Madonna.com.
Citi® is the official card of Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour. For concerts in the United States and Paris, France, Citi® cardmembers will have access to a presale beginning Wednesday, March 4 (10am) through Friday, March 6 (4pm) for applicable concerts going on sale to the general public on Monday, March 9; and a presale beginning Wednesday, March 11 (10am) through Friday, March 13th (5pm) for applicable concerts in the United States going on sale to the general public on Monday, March 16. For concerts in the United Kingdom, Citi cardmembers will have access to a presale beginning Wednesday, March 11 (10am) through Friday, March 13 (4pm) for applicable concerts going on sale to the general public on Monday, March 16. For complete presale details visit: www.citiprivatepass.com
For complete tour and ticket information, please visit www.madonna.com and www.livenation.com.
MADONNA
REBEL HEART WORLD TOUR 2015
NORTH AMERICA / PUERTO RICO:
Date City Venue
Aug. 29 Miami, FL American Airlines Arena On Sale Mar. 9
Sept. 2 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Sept. 5 San Juan, PR Coliseo de Puerto Rico On sale Mar. 21
Sept. 9 Montreal, QC Bell Centre On Sale Mar. 14
Sept. 12 Washington, DC Verizon Center On Sale Mar. 16
Sept. 16 New York, NY Madison Square Garden On Sale Mar. 9
Sept. 19 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center On Sale Mar. 9
Sept. 24 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center On Sale Mar. 16
Sept. 26 Boston, MA TD Garden On Sale Mar. 16
Sept. 28 Chicago, IL United Center On Sale Mar. 9
Oct. 1 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena On Sale Mar. 23
Oct. 3 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall On Sale Mar. 16
Oct. 5 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre On Sale Mar. 9
Oct. 8 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center On Sale Mar. 16
Oct. 11 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place On Sale Mar. 9
Oct. 14 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena On Sale Mar. 9
Oct. 17 Portland, OR MODA Center On Sale Mar. 23
Oct. 19 San Jose, CA SAP Center at San Jose On Sale Mar. 9
Oct. 22 Glendale, AZ Gila River Arena On Sale Mar. 23
Oct. 24 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Oct. 27 Los Angeles, CA Forum On Sale Mar. 16
EUROPE / UK:
Nov. 4 Koln, Germany Lanxess Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Nov. 7 Prague, CZ O2 Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Nov. 10 Berlin,Germany Mercedes-Benz Arena (02 World) On Sale Mar. 16
Nov. 14 Stockholm, Sweden Tele 2 Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Nov.17 Herning, Denmark Jyske Bank Boxen On Sale Mar. 9
Nov. 21 Turin, Italy Pala Alpitour On Sale Mar. 16
Nov. 24 Barcelona, Spain Palau Sant Jordi On Sale Mar. 16
Nov. 28 Antwerp, Belgium Sportpaleis On Sale Mar. 9
Dec. 1 London, UK O2 Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Dec. 5 Amsterdam, Holland Ziggo Dome On Sale Mar. 9
Dec. 9 Paris, France Bercy On Sale Mar. 9
Dec. 14 Manchester, UK Manchester Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Dec. 16 Birmingham, UK Barclaycard Arena On Sale Mar. 16
Dec. 20 Glasgow, Scotland The SSE Hydro On Sale Mar. 16
That time Walt Disney and Salvador Dali made a movie
In 1946, Salvador Dalí collaborated with Walt Disney animators on Destino, a surrealist animation that was storyboarded but scrapped due to budgetary concerns. Destino wouldn’t be finished until 2003, when Roy Disney resurrected the project.
The six-minute short follows the love story of Chronos and the ill-fated love he has for a mortal woman. The story continues as the woman dances through surreal scenery inspired by Dalí’s paintings. There is no dialogue, but the soundtrack includes music by the Mexican composer Armando Dominguez.
https://youtu.be/1GFkN4deuZU
Jim Henson Early Commercials Featuring Muppets And…Coffee?
Long before he found fame with the Muppets, Jim Henson made a name for himself in the world of advertising with Wilkins and Wontkins, producing a pretty violent series of commercials who showed what happens when you drink too much coffee, or not enough.
http://youtu.be/ZxLyuw5bdyk
Amanda Palmer Gets It Right On Being An Artist
Rock star, crowdfunding pioneer, and TED speaker Amanda Palmer knows all about asking. Performing as a living statue in a wedding dress, she wordlessly asked thousands of passersby for their dollars. When she became a singer, songwriter, and musician, she was not afraid to ask her audience to support her as she surfed the crowd (and slept on their couches while touring). And when she left her record label to strike out on her own, she asked her fans to support her in making an album, leading to the world’s most successful music Kickstarter.
Even while Amanda is both celebrated and attacked for her fearlessness in asking for help, she finds that there are important things she cannot ask for-as a musician, as a friend, and as a wife. She learns that she isn’t alone in this, that so many people are afraid to ask for help, and it paralyzes their lives and relationships. In this groundbreaking book, she explores these barriers in her own life and in the lives of those around her, and discovers the emotional, philosophical, and practical aspects of The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help. In one of many, many brilliant passages, Amanda talks about the harsh criteria for what it means to be an artist, and the little voice in your head, telling you you’re not worthy of such ideas, no matter how many hours of practice or experience you have.
People working in the arts engage in street combat with The Fraud Police on a daily basis, because much of our work is new and not readily or conventionally categorized. When you’re an artist, nobody ever tells you or hits you with the magic wand of legitimacy. You have to hit your own head with your own handmade wand. And you feel stupid doing it.
There’s no “correct path” to becoming a real artist. You might think you’ll gain legitimacy by going to university, getting published, getting signed to a record label. But it’s all bullshit, and it’s all in your head. You’re an artist when you say you are. And you’re a good artist when you make somebody else experience or feel something deep or unexpected.
How to mess with your brain with M&Ms
This optical illusion will blow you away. Exactly 200 tiny handcut squares of paper placed at specific points on a checkerboard pattern make for an interesting illusion.
U2’s Deal With Apple Pays Off Massively
Annoyed as some Apple customers may have been over being “force-fed” U2’s new album last fall, the impact of the free release is still visible five months later. Twenty-three percent of all music users on Apple’s operating system listened to at least one U2 track in January-more than twice the percentage who listened to the second-placing artist, Taylor Swift (11%).
KEY NUMBERS
- 23%of iOS-device music users listened to U2 in January
- 11%listened to Taylor Swift
- 8%listened to Katy Perry
Apple teamed up with the powerhouse rock group to make its latest album, “Songs of Innocence,” available to iOS users for free in the month following the smash debut of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. In the face of user complaints about not wanting the album, the amount of memory it consumed, etc., U2 publicly apologized and Apple posted instructions for how to remove the album from a user’s device.
Loud as the complaints may have been, however, Kantar determined that nearly every iOS device user who listened to U2 in January – 95% of them – listened to at least one track from the new album.
Following U2 at 23% and Taylor Swift at 11%, 8% of music users on iOS listened to at least one Katy Perry song in January, 8% also listened to at least one Maroon 5 song, and 7% listened to Rihanna.
Source: Kantar
