Hey! Long time no see!!! Sorry about that. There were some complications going on with the settings in the Matrix of Life; some corrupted code that I needed to take care of.

As you can see, it's a pretty difficult programming language to play around with.

So, I’m going to explain some things that have been going on – or, more like, have gone on. For example, everyone in my class yesterday had an official publishing party, without the girls and poles of course (and, instead, all boys), so what we were supposed to do was make a public speech where you introduce the winner of a certain award. The award was for the best participant in orgies. And, if you haven’t noticed, I have just finished cracking a joke. Though it probably wasn’t quite funny.

Some of us were given special roles, though, since we made considerable progress, or could not do much more progress than had already been done. I have a perfect 13 for my ITBS, meaning, my reading and writing capabilities are supposedly at college level, and I’m only in eighth grade. If I can’t brag, I can gloat. If I can’t do it in public, I can do it on a blog – however public a blog is as well.

So what role did I play? I was “DJ” (Dick Jerker) – though I think that’s more of a euphemism. I was just the put-music-during-transitions-from-public-speech-to-public-speech person, which was quite enjoyable for me, since I like poppin’ and then showin’ off my tunes (as in my penis).

I'd rather listen to myTunes.

Like, Cult of Personality, or some other cool ones like White Light by Gorillaz, Feather by Nujabes (featuring some other guy who does the rapping), Prodigy, Motorhead, but, of course, Led Zeppelin.

I had perfect timing on the breaks for the most part, and people actually liked the music. I tried to put music of all genres insofar as they fit the occasion. Mostly hip hop and rock. This is because audience’s won’t always have the same tastes – some will think rap is shitty. I’m not a big fan of rap, except for some jazz rap. So I compromised, and put some jazz rap, which I call candy rap.

Candy rap.

Primarily because it has a sweetening instrumental sound that soothes the ear, backing up the rap so it sounds like spoken word – I also call that hip hop.

I always knew my music wasn’t shitty, like a pile of shit. Sometimes the audience bobbed their heads, and sometimes the “award winners” (actors, really) would dance to it also, just to make themselves look absolutely ridiculous.

I was the Jesus of music during the whole show, yet I had not gotten nailed.

DJ Jesus: "I turned whine into music. And I turntabled music into dance."

My language arts teacher also decided to let me borrow his Operation Ivy CD for me to listen to, also. It was radical, dude. \m/

Damn it, it’s getting dark. And I hate that, because it sort of numbs my mind a little. But, oh well. I’ll find some excitement and adventure again eventually.

I’ve started to try and work things out again with Mickey, after some inner emotional doubt, and then a bit of sullen-ness. Which I think didn’t help much, and I hope she feels better. Sometimes I have no idea what direction I’m taking, or whether I’m doing something awry. But that will only be relevant when it doesn’t work out, right? Right. I hope so.

And, Abe? Well, things have been going fine with him and me, as friends, really. I still rate him a 45. While, last school year, it would’ve been a 25. He says he wishes he would’ve never met me or talked to me, which was a severe blow.  But then he said, well, I’m better than I was last year. I guess he said that only because my eyes met the ground once he said the former. I don’t completely understand, though, of course.

Now I’m going to go to a Thanksgiving family party, to stuff some turkey anally.

Excuse the sexual language, ma'am.

I have a lot of things to give thanks to. Like, maybe boobs, shaven Turkeys, myself..but, I don’t think I’m ready for Thanksgiving. I feel more compelled to ask for something than to give thanks. I want things to get back as they once were; well, just that they ride towards the better.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and have a safe long weekend!  Make sure you eat lots of turkey and get plenty of rest for all of those BLACK FRIDAY shoppers heading out early tomorrow.

-Prodigies

Hi There Everyone,

Great News I now have an official Facebook Fan Page!

Simply search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” on Facebook and Join my Fan Page today as that is where
photo’s and Video’s and News is being posted more regulary than at this blog.

So my advice is to join my facebook fan page and keep checking back here on a regular basis as the plan is to release
some exclusive photo’s and videos via this blog every now and again which will not appear on my facebook fan page and
then also put some stuff on Facebook which won’t appear here!

As you can see in the above video I sleep very well even when in noisy room’s, indeed
I reckon I could sleep through an earthquake I take after daddy like that : ) !

To finish for today here’s a quick video clip which daddy made by accident when he
was trying to take a picture of me on his mobile phone..

So Remeber to go to Facebook and search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” in the Manchester Network (England)
and join my Fanpage today!

Keep checking back as I have some important and amazing news coming very soon!

Hugs

Ashleigh

Hey everyone! Thanks for tuning in to the second Hubie Sounds on NSB Radio last night, we hope you enjoyed the show!

This show is now available for you to download from the NSB Radio archives! Just click the link below:

• Download Hubie Sounds 002

Here’s the show tracklist…

* DeeJay Punk-Roc – I Hate Everybody (Independiente)
* TC vs Parker ft. DJ Moneyshot – Where’s My Monkey (CDR)
* Major Lazer – Hold The Line – dMon Remix (CDR)
* Jurassic 5 – Swing Set (Interscope Geffen)
* Roxy Music – Love Is The Drug – Greg Wilson Edit (Tirk)

** Hubie Loves… NuFunk **
* All Good Funk Alliance – Weakness Of A Trade – Marc Hype & Jim Dunloop Remix (Funk Weapons)
* Chris Joss – A Part In That Show – Basement Freaks Remix (ESL Music)
* Pimpsoul ft. Claire G – Noggins Groove (Ground Level)
* D-Funk – Young Boot (CDR)
* Debtonate – Party Packer (Funk Weapons)
* Myagi ft. The Root Sellers – How To Test – Nick Thayer Remix (Pop And Lock)
* A-Skillz & Krafty Kuts – Happiness (Finger Lickin’)

* Sidney Samson – Riverside – Peo de Pitte Re-Rub (Flat Out)
* Calabria – Hot Pink DeLorean – REL1 Re-Edit (CDR)
* Deekline – I Don’t Smoke – Deekline & Tim Healey Mix / Krafty Kuts Edit (Rat UK)
* Crackerz & Jam – This One (Upstart Music)
* Plump DJs – Be Good (CDR)
* The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die – Yuksek Remix (Take Me To The Hospital)
* Rico Tubbs – Lumberjack – The Bulgarian Wobblelectric Remix (A New Hope)
* Martelo ft. Herve – Wasted (Cheaper Thrills)
* Karoshi Bros – Love The World – Magik Johnson Mix (Woodville)
* Deadmau5 – Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff – Elite Force Re-fix (CDR)
* Zoot Woman – Grey Day – Paper Faces Mix (Wall Of Sound)
* A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray – Stanton Warriors Edit (CDR)
* Flat Pack – Sweet Child O’ Mine (Breastfed)

Thanks for downloading the show, we hope you enjoy it!

Make sure you also check out all the other excellent shows available to download from the archives at www.NSBRadio.co.uk

Hubie x

Ich bin nicht etwa krank oder ähnliches, nur weil ich um diese Uhrzeit einen Artikel verfasse. Die Erklärung ist gang einfach: ich habe Urlaub. 2, 5 Tage lang Urlaub! Das heißt: 2 Tage lang nicht morgens um fünf ausftehen. Und heute, ja da bin ich sogar im Hellen nach Hause gekommen. Okay, es war auch gerade mal 13.30h..aber trotzdem. Sonne ist schon wat feines.

So, zu meinen Aktivitäten der vergangenen Woche hätte ich so einiges schreiben können…hatte aber keine Lust… Ich schäme mich, zumindest ein bisschen. Und wenn es wem hilft, dann gehe ich auch für 5-Minuten in die Schäm-Ecke!

Vergangene Woche war meine Freundin S.A.L.ly auf Hochzeitsreise in Amsterdam. Ergo, bin ich nicht zum Sporteln gegangen..weil alleine doof! Lernen habe ich auf das geringste Maß reduziert. Was dazu führte, dass ich gerade mal MatO0 so gut wie fertig und die EA zu EleA5 zur Hälfte fertigbekommen habe. Zudem wiederhole ich gerade die grundständige Lateingrammatik. Im Großen und Ganzen doch gar nicht soo wenig, jedoch  habe ich schon seit 2 Wochen keine EA mehr abgeschickt. Böses Mädchen …aber das möchte ich ändern und darum 2,5 Tage Urlaub. Den Urlaub hätte ich am Montag bereits gut gebrauchen können, denn mein Wochenende war mal wieder mäßig überfrachtet mit allen möglichen, besonders nicht ABI-relevanten, Aktivitäten. So war ich am Freitag nach der Arbeit bei Mama und Papa. Diese Schweinchen sind gerade aus dem Urlaub zurückgekommen. Sie haben sich nämlich gemeinerweise eine Woche lang auf das sonnenbeschienene Malle abgesetzt. Und das, obwohl–oder eher weil– mein Vater die Woche davor Freitag Geburtstag hatte. Um das nachzufeiern, und eventuelle Mitbringsel abzustauben, also zu Muttern. Dort gab es zwar keine Mitbringsel, aber lecker Königsberger Klobse. *yam* Ich habe meinem Vater übrigens zwei Tage meiner raren Zeit zum Geburtstag geschenkt, welche ihm nun uneingeschränkt zur Verfügung steht. Sozusagen habe ich zwei Sklaventage verschenkt…was tut man nicht alles für das glückliche Vaterherz…Nach der ganzen Schlemmerei und Erzählerei und Bücheraustauscherei bin ich dann nun endlich nach Hause. Da war es auch schon wieder Abend! Und, weil ich ja eigentlich noch nicht so viel gelernt hatte, wollte ich einen Lernabend machen. Mein Liebster wollte aber mit seinen Freunden -UND mir- ein Bierchen trinken. Weil ich nett bin – zuu nett- bin ich mitgegangen. Mehrere Stunden und viele Bierchen später durfte ich dann endlich ins Traumland entschweben.

Samstag morgen, ausschlafen….nix da. Habe einer Freundin versprochen mit ihr nach Willich zu einem Trödelmarkt zu fahren, um Küchenschränke zu kaufen. ( Erwähnte ich schon, dass NEIN-sagen nicht meine Stärke ist?). Dummerweise war sie um 9h morgens wirklich pünklich..und das geschieht sonst nie ( gemeiner Plan um mich zu quälen!!). Weil Ms. CQ bereits 36h wach war und möglicherweise sogar noch betrunken, bin ich gefahren. Ohne Frühstück..und nur 3 Tassen Kaffee..

Schlussendlich dort angekommen war die Trödelhalle geschlossen, wegen mangelnder Brandschutzmaßnahmen…super…haben dann aber trotzdem einen Händler aufgetan, der ihr einen,- ich finde ihn hässlich-sie findet ihn wunderbar-, antiken Küchenschrank verkauft hat. Als sie mit dem Schank auf einem Rolldings ankam, wollte ich am liebsten in meine mobile Tischkante beißen: riesiges Ding! Erwähnte ich schon, dass das Auto ein Golf ist? Uns er nicht ausgeräumt war, sondern voll mit -allem möglichen, und damit meine ich allem möglichen- Krempel voll war? Nein?? Dann jetzt!

Mit meinen antrainierten Autopackfähigkeiten alla Tetris ( ja, auch MA-Reeanactment hat seine Vorteile), haben wir dann das Schrankmonster ins Auto gepackt und mit dem im Auto befindlichen Müll so fixiert, dass nix verrutschen kann. Mit sehen war nicht viel, aber wir haben es nach Hause geschafft. Wie sie das Ding aus dem Auto rausbekommen hat, weiß ich allerdings nicht, ich bin nur bis zum Stall gefahren.

Dann habe ich mein Pony bespaßt und dann bin ich hungrig ( mittlerweile schon 14 h und noch nix gegessen) nach HAuse getigert.

Eigentlich wollte ich danach zu Hause bleiben und lernen. Jedoch habe ich mir vorgenommen mehr soziales Verhalten an den Tag zu legen und mehr an Gruppenaktivitäten teilzunehmen. –> das habe ich auch getan: aber Weihnachtsmärkte , im November- bei fast 18°C und einer blöden – und damit meine ich toastbrotmäßigdummen- Freundin eines Freundes und einer egomanischen – und ich habe selten so eine ausgeprägt egoistisch-bauernschlaue-nörgelnde-nervende  Tussi erlebt- Freundin eines anderen Freundes…–> klarer Fall von: dafür habe ich kein Verständnis!!! Und das war das letzte mal, dass ich meinem Freund so einen Gefallen getan habe….grrr..das regt mich jetzt noch auf!

Sonntag wurde es aber besser…vieeeeel besser. Da waren wir nämlich abends auf dem Prodigy- Konzert in Düsseldorf. Krasse Stimmung, geile Party! 90 Minuten nur Spaß!! Dazu gibt es nicht mehr zu sagen. Die 44  € haben sich gelohnt und jedesmal wieder!!

Leide waren wir auch erst um halb eins wieder zuhause. Und um 5h wieder aufstehen…das war so gemein. Aber die  super Stimmung vom Vorabend hat mich durch den Tag gerettet. Habe immer noch Muskelkater vom vielen Hüpfen!

Leider hatten wir unsere Kamera vergessen aber hier mal ein Video, nur um mal die Stimmung zu vermitteln:

I’ve always loved this advert. I think the Visuals are amazing, the song is great (Under My Wheel’s by The Prodigy). Truly inspirational, the Kaleidoscope look works, and I think display of colour contrasts to the next. This is a good example of the Drum & Bass genre in advertising, or being used to with heavy visuals, its has an animated aesthetic to it, as well. I feel I can learn from the spontaneity of the chosen subject, but also the pace of the advert and the use of fast paced music.

We should make music videos about scenes and themes in the TWILIGHT books using songs from the recent electronic group, The Prodigy’s album, INVADERS MUST DIE. Main scenes will be from the last book, BREAKING DAWN.

Tonight in Vilamoura, Portugal, a guy was 3rd in a European Poker Tour (EPT) tournament winning  € 156,170. He didn’t win, yet in the poker world this result will be noted. In his previous EPT tournament he was 10th for €30,705. He’s reached 4 final tables this year, he is  a very good player. 

Yet I find myself willing Jeff Sarwer to fail.

Jeff was a child chess prodigy with an amazing talent and easy-to-like personality,  a media star at the age of seven. When he was eight a chess grand master played him and told him he could be the greatest chess player of all time. He excelled particularly at speed chess and simultaneous chess, in a televised games the ten year old Sarwer took on forty adults with a smile on his face, and no hesitation as he picked out the moves to beat them.

In the film of his early life he seems to have it all. He’s a chess genius, he’s confident and happy, his Wikipedia entry uses the word ‘charismatic’ in the first line.  But this media attention turned sour,  Vanity Fair published an article* suggesting Jeff and his sister Julia were abused physically and psychologically by their eccentric father. They were made wards of court and taken away from their father, but they ran away and joined him, to live in hiding in Europe using false names. Jeff could no longer pursue his ambition to play competetive chess.

This was the last the world heard of Jeff Sarwer until he appeared at a poker tournament in Poland and did rather well. His first poker cash was a minor place for €7,000 but in his next few tournaments he was talked about as chip leader in the early stages, and then built on that success to achieve  final table finishes – if not that elusive win.

It’s hard not to compare this remarkable poker prowess to the scenes of his freakish prowess as an eight year old playing speed chess against all-takers in Washington Square Park. You can watch a video of his early years as a chess star on his website. There’s something not quite human about someone so young who can make decisions that good, that fast, and that right. You have to admire it as an amazing example of mental ability – the word genius is the only word to do that justice.

And I don’t want that genius in my poker world. That kind of mental athleticism can’t succeed at poker, can it?

Can Jeff Sarwer really beat every poker player in town, with his super human mind, just as he beat all who played him at chess as a whizz-kid genius?

Maybe he can…

But I don’t want him to.

Chess is a game of logic, of perfect decisions, but to me poker is an art.

We have enough  maths genius players with their law degrees, or black belts in very clever studies (I’m not bright enough to understand their education) and of course they do well at the game, they make the right decisions regularly. Well hey, they studied game theory.

I want to believe tournament poker is more than just maths, I want my perfect poker hero to be the full deal. I want the maths, I want the people skills too. So where’s the reads in chess?

When I heard Jeff Sarwer had made the EPT Vilamoura final table I was sure that he’d crash and burn. I could see that he had a talent for getting a big chip stack early in a tournament, but that to me is poker maths. You get chips, you run over the little guy. I’m bad at the stats side of things, but even I know you play percentages with frequent canny re-raises when you have chips to stay in the game if they call. When I hear about players who get a big stack early in a tournament I blame the weakness of the opposition rather than crediting the chip leader’s skills. All-in ‘ya wimps! (Qualifiers…)

So, yeah, I had this vision of some guy with some off the scale IQ playing good maths poker to reach his  final tables. I hoped that when he got there he’d be found out against the cream of the crop  players - the kind who knew good poker was more than calculated agression with a stack powerful enough to take a knock.

I thought all this, I hoped all this. I decided you couldn’t be a poker genius like you could be a chess prodigy, with a rating figure in black and white that would tell you whether you’d win or lose. If you were a chess grand master you’d be guaranteed  to beat weaker opponents, but you  couldn’t be some kind of poker grand master and automatically make two final tables in a month**.

Could you?

So then I started thinking. I started thinking about Jeff Sarwer’s unusual personal life and how that might have effected his personality, I started thinking about his smile and his wit as he charmed all around him, I started thinking of his unconventional background and his father who didn’t believe there needed to be any rules, I started thinking of the comment he made as as an eight year old as he played a grand master, “”I should never have tried E4 on you, you’re a tactical player.”

Is that a read?

Before I looked Jeff Sarwer up I had this idea of a near-autistic chess genius, someone  all brain and no soul. 

Now I wonder if he has the mind and understands the art too. I wonder if he might be the greatest poker player of all time.

I hear he might go back to chess to try for that grand master ambition finally. And now I want him to stay in my sport. Poker must be the tougher game, but he’s overcome so much, surely he can handle this harder challenge? 

I started out thinking I’d write  about my expectations for a poker hero and how this guy fell short, I finished up wondering if I might have found a new hero.

Next game’s in a week.

* Jeff and his sister Julia are reported to have sued Vanity Fair for libel.

**Jeff Sarwer was 3rd at EPT Vilamoura, 10th at EPT Warsaw so strictly speaking it’s not 2 final tables – but pretty darn close.

Prodigy lança livro documentando sua mais recente turnê

Volume de Invaders Must Die reúne cerca de 500 imagens em 350 páginas

O Prodigy lança no dia 4 de janeiro de 2010 um livro documentando a turnê de divulgação do último álbum dos britânicos, Invaders Must Die.

Com mais de 350 páginas e cerca de 500 imagens, o livro tem edição limitada de 999 unidades e custa 99 libras, algo em torno de 300 reais.

 A publicação vem autografada pelos três integrantes do Prodigy, Liam Howlett, Keith Flint e Maxim Reality, e já está em pré-venda no site do trio. Fonte: Omelete.

as a baby my mother read to me the story of a heroic dog named Buck.
as a chylde i grew up reading tales of fantastic knights battling hideous monsters.
as a younge man the army taught me to fight to kill other younge men while doing my best to embody sterotypical warriors of the ancient past.
as an employee @netcom.ca i was introduced to men and women battling online for gold, xp and rep.

and today after attending a release party for karmic ubuntu i believe my warriors are to be found LIVING planet-changing possibilities.

my warriors are living within an island society under the thumb of advertisingbehemoth7, still excited when talking to another being who shares their gratitude for software that is “free as in Freedom, free as in beer“.

my warriors are passing out dvds of Zeitgeist Addendum outside theatres showing Capitalism: A Love Story because they BELIEVE human beings still have a choice to make on the side of life and death, resources-based or monetary-based.

my warriors are mothers carrying chyldes and mothers doing their best to win the war for the health of their families under the guns of pollution, de-natured food, slavery and false education.

my warriors are fathers taught to believe they must walk, drive, ride, cycle or fly away from the wyfe and chyldes they love for TOO many hours of each remaining day, because they believe it is the only way their family will survive.

my warriors are men and women going to work with equal partners that smile nervously when they speak the word “boss”, because they see no need to entitle one.

my warriors are the tiny few at my university actually doing their best to keep their myndes and ears open in order to gain practical skills for a planet in transition where humans focus on efficient use of ALL available resources.

my warriors are the friends that discuss fascinating ideas, misguided horrible nasty historical current decisions so EVIL they almost defy comprehension, with an open heart that can feel compassion for all of us suffering the effects.

my warriors are every being HOLDING ON until they can get a breath of fresh air, a drink of clean water, a bite of healthy food, a position of dignified work and a moment’s peace..

Am Samstag bei Prodigy in Karlsruhe. Es war verdammt laut. Die Vorband (Enter Shikari) war nix. Prodigy warn gut.

…are these five albums:

1) Disc Two Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ “White Lunar”

2) DJ Shadow’s “The Outsider″

3) Nirvana’s “Sliver: The Best of the Box”

4) Prodigy’s “The Fat of the Land”

5) The White Stripes’ “De Stijl”

And you?

Rocking it,

-Shady

Percy Chapman aka Trag is a true master.
You can check his credentials in this documentary about…

“Queensbridge: the world’€™s largest housing project, with the richest legacy in hip-hop: from The Juice Crew, to Nas, Mobb Deep and the realest of them all: Tragedy. While still in his mother’s womb, Tragedy’s dad is shot dead. Thirteen years later, with his mom hooked on smack, Trag has to hustle to survive, but the kid’s a rap genius and is signed to the world famous Juice Crew ’til he’s busted and sent to Riker’s at 16. Trag emerges political, releasing his Intelligent Hoodlum album. ‘Nuff respect, but he’s eclipsed by young rapper Nas. Trag falls prey to the streets where he discovers teen rappers Capone-N-Noreaga. After dissing Snoop Dogg, they get a record deal. Trag is hailed as a genius for masterminding their geo-political War Report album.
Capone is busted and Noreaga finds stardom, leaving Trag to starve. Then Trag’s mom ODs. At first Trag turns to crime, then finds inspiration, turning pain to beauty with underground albums Against All Odds and Still Reporting. Trag meets Nore to talk about making music together again, but cops pull up on ‘em, throwing Trag in jail. Out on bail, Trag is still reporting from the hood, keeping it real in Queensbridge.“

Prison sentence: On December 27, 2007, Tragedy was convicted of selling narcotics and sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison.
He is scheduled to be released on January 21, 2011

Ok ich will nicht jammern denn man wusste es eigentlich. Wenn man zu PRODIGY in der 2-15 Reihe (je nachdem wo du wieder ausgespuckt wirst) abfeiert und auch vor den berüchtigten Todeskreisen keinen Halt macht, kann es nicht ganz ohne Blessuren gehen. Als ich aber nach dem Konzert meine Chucks ausziehe und die blutigen ehemals weißen Tennissocken sehe bereue ich es doch ein wenig.

Die Vorband ENTER SHIKARI heizte dem Publikum der zu dem Zeitpunkt zu 3/4 gefüllten Sporthalle zwar auch schon ein, aber es war nichts im Gegensatz zu dem was noch kommen sollte. Nachdem die Opener sich verzogen hatten, wurde die Bühne um das dreifache vergrößert aber ein vorhang verhinderte vorerst noch die eigentliche Sicht. Als dieser schließlich fiel und Flint und Palmer leibhaftig im blendenen Scheinwerferlicht auf der Bühne standen war kein halten mehr. Egal ob Titel wie “Omen” und “Invaders must die” vom aktuellen oder die Klassiker “Breathe” und “Smack my bitch up” vom älteren Album “The Fat of the Land” – alles war dabei. Aller spätestens als der Dauerbrenner “Firestarter” gespielt wurde hatte man die eigenen Leuten zwischen all den klitschnassen und halbnackten Körpern komplett aus den Augen verloren und ließ sich einfach von der Masse treiben und gegebenfalls wieder aufrichten.

Das die Band gute 80Minuten spielte und “nur” eine Zugabe gab wollen wir ihr jetzt nicht verübeln – viel länger wäre körperlich sowieso nicht drin gewesen.

Die Briten brachten die Halle zum kochen, die Bühnenshow war berauschend und der Sound donnerte ordentlich. Während ich diesen Eintrag schreibe dröhnt mir immernoch der Kopf, die Ohren fiepen und von den Füßen wollen wir gar nich reden – man kann also auf jeden Fall sagen, dass sich die 50€ Ticketpreis gelohnt haben. Einziges Manko waren Taschendiebe im ersten Drittel der Menge und die überteurten Shirtpreise von 25€. (mir)

P.S. Gruß vom Krawatteneisbär

A prodigy. He was born talented. This 13 year old Korean boy has fascinated the world with his slick guitar picking finger movements. His youtube videos are viewed more than 5,000,000 times and have an average rating of 5 stars (out of 5) and has over 140,000 subscribers.

It seems as if even before Sungha could properly think, since he was born, he was in love with music. He was influenced by his father, no musical star, but just an ordinary dad who plays guitar for fun. This is evident in Sungha’s playing technique, smooth, relaxed and slick, but focused. More surprisingly, Sungha has never taken any proper guitar lessons, but taught himself – just like many other famous renowned musical prodigies.

I first fell in love when Sungha came on television, called StarKing, a weekly network talent show. I fell in love even before he casually tuned his guitar. His mature manners, unlike any 12 year old boy of his age, grabbed my attention. Who is this young gentleman? Then, my jaw literally dropped as he closed his eyes and touched the strings so softly, yet making vigorous music.

His musical life has not been long, since he’s barely a teenager.  Throughout his life, he has had a total of 4 different guitars. When Sungha was only 9, he decided to spend his entire fortune, about $60 on his first toy guitar. Surprised by the talent of his son, his father buys him his second guitar, a parlor. Then without a cent, he earns his third custom made guitar, as a present by a Korean guitar manufacturer. Nowadays Sungha plays with his 4th guitar, sponsored by a reputable European guitar manufacturer, Lakewood – his official sponsor.

Sungha has become a world star, mesmerizing everywhere where there’s music. But Sungha sure does not act like one. Sungha Jung – the Korean August Rush continues with his busy school studies, spending time with his friends and keeping the gentle and calm smile on his face.

**Check out his youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/jwcfree

Work Cited

Info: http://www.sunghajung.com/xe/

Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV3cAQpGUKo

Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlNU4EPqF8s

Image: http://www.sunghajung.com/xe/gallery_ordinary/4716

In recent news, the country of Sweden crashed: Apparently it is possible to cause every single address in a domain to go down (in this case, .se), by making a simple script error during routine maintenance…whodathunk? I shudder to think what may happen when routine maintenance on the .com domain takes place…

In another bit of “wish I’d never done that” news, Tim Berners-Lee just admitted that the forward slashes in the Web’s URL design protocol were both unnecessary and – in his words – a mistake. With this in mind, I thought it might be fun to wander around the Web, and the Internet as a whole, just to see what we could find, by way of unfortunate stories we may have forgotten, or never even known about…things that “seemed like a good idea at the time”. We’re getting closer to the end of the year, when all those retrospectives come out, and I thought this would be as good a time as any to think back, only not just over the past year, but further. After all, it’s the history we forget that we so often tend to repeat…

Do you remember GeoCities? If you thought they died a long time ago, you might be surprised to hear that Yahoo, who acquired them back when people thought dot-coms would never bomb, recently (as in October 26th, 2009) announced GeoCities was closing its doors. Talk about limping along…

Then there are the ISPs. I was a Mindspringer for the longest time, one of the first evangelists for the brand (until Earthlink purchased them). Along with the likes of Prodigy (still shuffling along, believe it or not, as owner AT&T tries to find someone stupid enough to buy something worth nothing), AOL (reinventing itself every day, yet still deriving the largest measure of its revenue from good old (and I mean old!) dial-up subscriptions), and Netzero (reduced to net zero, as they try to find new ways to also rejigger the fact that they are still a dial-up ISP), Mindspring was a pioneer doomed to be eclipsed by telcos who learned from their mistakes.

When we think back to the search engines, the list is long: Webcrawler, AltaVista (technically still around), Lycos…heck, I’m just scraping the tip of the iceberg, and have already lost interest. Did you know that AltaVista had a chance to buy Google’s search technology way back when, and passed? Whoops. Google, contrary to its current well-deserved reputation, was not innovative at all when it first opened for business. It was efficient and analytical. Its algorithms reinvented web search, based on the ideas of its predecessors, good and bad alike. Some people call that reinventing the wheel, but they at least have not rested on their laurels.

Many websites that burned brightly for only a short while were decried as unsustainable business models (remember Pets.com, Webvan, eToys, Kibu, and Kozmo?), and yet their model has since been adapted and proven successful (Petedge, Upco, Fosters &Smith, Amazon, Barbie.com, Tesco, to name but a few comparable online ventures that seem to have “made it”). Timing is all, it would indeed seem, or at least kinda crucial.

For some, it was all about effective marketing and brand awareness…or the lack thereof: Akimbo.com failed because they could not manage to communicate their value proposition to their target market, among other “challenges”; Hulu succeeded (where Joost, Veoh, Vimeo, and others have not – to varying degrees) because they realized their brand strength was tied to the apron strings of their partners. OK, it certainly didn’t hurt that the networks who own the content it distributes also own Hulu!..

In other cases, interactive success came as a result of reinvention: the transition (or should I say ‘desertion”?) from Microsoft Live Search to today’s “Bing” *might* finally establish MSFT as a competitor to Google, in much the same way as Firefox is to the Redmond giant’s own browser…well, without the Open Source stuff!

Now,who uses RSS? I’m sure it some value, but not yet for me. I subscribe to several feeds, and all I do is trash the avalanche of junk in my inbox each morning. Until people learn to self police their content (be it RSS feeds, Tweets, or Facebook Mafia War activities), the internet is going to continue to burn through ideas like flames across the Verdugo mountains.  There is too much information online, and we want tools that will filter and control the flood of data, not simply fractionalize it. After all, half of infinity is still infinity.

Some companies have good ideas, easily replicable by larger or later-in-the-game interests. Kiko developed a web based calendar, which seems like a great idea, unless you factor that it was not sufficiently proprietary of a business model to prevent Google from developing its own Google Calendar app.; and  HotorNot.com and Friendster were arguably ripped off by what is known today as Facebook (originally Facemash). Several companies are in the process of trying to beat TVguide.com at its own game (something that seems – at first glance – to be a good idea, given that the TVGuide.com site is not so great). However, couchville.com was there first, and since departed. Branding is worth a lot these days, in a very cluttered marketplace and, unless you are a captive subscriber (using ATT/Yahoo TV portal, for instance), or an early adopter (of which there are far fewer than those of us on the East and West Coasts might believe).

Some ideas are not so much failures as temporary successes, taking advantage of loopholes in the law or in best practices. P2P is one prime example, with different offerings coming and going (or continuing to exist despite obviously supporting illegal practices), but there are others, such as Yak4ever, the site that allows you to make free international calls, albeit through a slightly cumbersome process. Google Voice is another offering that seems destined to either succumb to the counterattacks of the powerful telco lobbies, or force a reinvention of telco laws.

Where such ongoing “could go either way” projects as MySpace.com,  Friendster (it’s still trying to make a go of it, my friends, and doing quite well in the Asia Pacific regions!), Kiva (currently under attack by folks who’d like to see it go the way of govWorks.com. Did you read the recent NYT article?), Project Natal, and James Cameron’s “Avatar” (had to throw that one in there!) end up is anybody’s guess. That’s where you come in: What failures and unforeseen successes do you recall? What is coming down the pike that you feel may completely reinvent interactive content production, storage, distribution, and/or consumption? Are you working on something that will make the Internet an even more robust tool and platform for communications, community and content? What does the Internet mean to you, beyond the conventional Web and email? What internet ventures do you feel will still be with us by the end of 2010?

History shows that much of what we praise today will be gone tomorrow.

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Ozymandias, by Percy Shelley (1818)

we’ve been listening to soundhog for “actual” years now – we’ve faded in and out like a long (/short?) wave radio but always been there, waiting for the next thing.  it’s his attention to detail, the little things put in behind, the extra little break or cowbell, the fact its in tune,  the amount of times you go “fuck, he’s put that track in there” that do it here – there’s so much in each production that rewards repeated listening; the depth.  perhaps gone a little bit “cue the music” with mike mansfield but you get the drift…

unexpectedly stumbling across his recent remix of a current favourite was a delight; the phenomenal handclap band, 15-20 (soundhog’s extended remix).

so, with a blog (this one, yes) now in our batman utility belt we thought we’d be brave enough to drop him a line, see if he fancied a quick chat about, well, stuff.  and he’s done our mix of the year  - radio soundhog 7  - (link below)

oh yes, he did.  and we very much enjoyed what he had to say;  ladies and gentlemen, we give you – soundhog.  what a nice chap:

1) Soundhog’s been around for a good few years now, what have been the most important/useful tech developments to you since you started?

Yes, it’s all changed a fair bit since I started doing what I do ’now’. I’ve used lots of things along the way, starting with a 4 track portastudio and Cool Edit V1, then early versions of Sonic Foundry’s Acid once I had a computer that was capable of running it.  Ableton Live kicked the door down for me. I do absolutely everything with it, whether chopping up other people’s stuff or making my own with VSTis and whatnot. I’m still using version 5, it does everything I need, combined with a £20 Hercules soundcard I bought in 1998.

Electronics were meant to have democratised music making in the early 1980s, but it’s only in the last 9 or 10 years, with the massive increase in the power of the home computer, that it’s truly happened… Of course, it’s turned out to be a very double edged sword, but that’s another matter for another time.

2) The new RsH7 is, frankly, astonishingly good. the production, tracks – sounds fantastic and it’s just become our favourite mix of the year. Who would you consider your peers? Who do you rate (and not rate, if you like)? Which mixes have appealed to you this year?

*blush* Thanks very much! Peers as far as long mixes go, you mean?  Liam Howlett’s Dirtchamber Sessions. That was the first thing I heard  that really had any sort of vision and scope, as well as being technically excellent. Obviously then you’ve got the Dewaele’s original Radio Soulwax sets for Studio Brussel, which were like bloody gold dust back around the start of the decade. They showed me that everything is fair game, as long as it’s damned good and done well…and yes, the RsH title is a ‘homage’ stroke ‘rip-off’, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I’d also have to mention Frenchbloke & Son’s  ”We Are Back” mix, a really good set which went over the heads of most of the novelty-obsessed bootleg fans in 2002ish, and probably the one which made me think “I could/should be doing this sort of thing”.  Worth tracking down, it should have got a lot more attention at the time. I’m not on commission, by the way.  To be honest (…why do people say that? Do we all go around naturally lying about everything? Ah, yes.) I’ve not heard a great deal this year mix wise. There seems to be some sort of competition to get the most number of songs into a given time, to obtain WORLD RECORD BEATING STATUS, and it almost always sounds a fucking mess. I know everyone’s supposed to be suffering from A.D.D. these days, but I personally like to hear more than 10 seconds of a song. If I’d have put RsH7 out this time last year (when it was finished, but not actually ‘finished’) and was typing this then, I could have chosen a couple of things. That Deutsche Musik mix that Riton did last year was good, and I still listen to it in the car, 14 months on.

3) We watch an awful lot of uktvfood here (and do actually cook), and we’re planning some food features soon. Any good restaurant recommendations locally or from your travels?

Erm, there’s not a lot ’round here that I could mention. Ruthin (for ’tis where I live, a small sized town in north Wales) is fairly average for eating out, and in most other respects too. There’s very little of anything here, unless you want to pay over the odds for a  fancy haircut. I’ve had some nice stuff in a place here called ‘The Picture House’, which opened fairly recently. It’s called that because the building it’s in used to be a cinema. Since they stopped showing films in the early 1970s, the place has been a dance workshop, a junk shop, and most notably a VG ’supermarket’ which I remember being incredibly grotty, and due to the sloping floor, if you dropped a tin of beans it’d be down the other end of the shop before you had a  chance to grab it.

If you want to do the normal tourist thing, there’s the Castle option.  I can’t vouch for it as I’ve not been there for years, but you could do worse. I wouldn’t bother with the ‘authentic’ medieval banquets they hold, unless you’ve got aspirations to appear in ‘panto’. TV’s  Russell Grant went to one of those, and I think he put some sort of astrological curse on the Meade. You’ll normally find me having chips and beans in a cafe on the industrial estate. I’m quite basic like that. I’ve heard good things about an Italian restaurant in Mold, which is nearby, but I can’t remember what it’s called.

Similarly, when I was doing the international superstar DJ thing for about… ooh, twenty minutes, I just used to go for the pizza option (being a veggie, I found it the best way of avoiding embarrassing surprises). Best pizza I had was in Zurich, I think, absolutely spot on. We were supposed to be going to a cheese fondue party but my hosts (hi, Reeto!) decided it was a bit warm for that sort of thing.

I felt slightly cheated, but life’s too short to dwell on such things,  I suppose. Bah.

4) Do you cook at all – what’s the Soundhog Signature Dish? What’s your Death Row, pre-needle meal (not that we’re suggesting you’ve done anything to deserve it)?

I’m a complete disaster in the kitchen. I’m so lazy that I even eat  ’Special K’ out of the packet by the handful, just can’t be bothered to open the fridge for milk most of the time. The freezer is my best  mate. I have been known to make a very ace cheese on toast though.  It must be something to do with being Welsh. It’s an area of my life that I intend to address in 2010, however. I know a couple of chef  types, so I’ll swap their knowledge of cookery, for my knowledge of…er, well I’ll think of something.

Final nosh-up? Again, I’d be ridiculously down to earth, and go for a properly big cauliflower cheese, using Collier’s Welsh cheddar (fuckin’ awesome stuff), an extra large layer of breadcrumb mix on the top and some Cauldron veggie sausages mixed in along the way. And some chips with mayonnaise on them, a habit I picked up in Belgium. Then a very large blackberry crumble with cream… and I think that’d be enough. No point in not being able to finish it all, even if it is going to end up down my shirt and in my undies as the drugs take effect. Plus I need room for at least two large mugs of tea. Co-Op fair trade Indian Prince leaf, metal pot, semi-skimmed goats milk, at approx. nuclear reactor core temperatures. I’m not known as ‘asbestosgob’ for nothing. I’d have to insist on making it myself, I’m very fussy about tea. Then, kettle of water in the executioner’s face, overpower the guards, daring escape, become an underground hero and seize control of the state through a combination of revolutionary politics and violence, soundtracked by the Stereolab back catalogue.

I’ve got it all planned.

5) Still djing a bit? Where’s the best place you’ve played?

I hardly ever take to the wheels of ABS plastic these days. It’s a long time since I had my name on a poster, but I did do a one-off inWarsaw earlier in 2009. That was almost like the good old days, and almost like starting from scratch, both at the same time. I think it went down quite well, and I was very pleased to be asked to do it.   Unfortunately I think that the little chink in the armour of the up-it’s-own-arse DJing world – which the early bastard pop movement, and thus people like myself, managed to exploit for a short while - seems to have been welded up. I’d be very surprised if I managed to find a way in again which didn’t involve whoring myself to fuck, and doing things I don’t want to do, y’know? But never say never, I suppose.  I always found that the smaller clubs made for the best experiences,  almost without exception, so going on that basis I’d have to say it was my first visit to Budapest (a place called ‘Trafó Bár Tango’, I think) which provided the most enjoyable DJing memories, everybody up for it even though they didn’t know what the hell they were hearing most of the time. And of course, the gone but never to be forgotten ’Asylum’ in London… maybe someday someone’ll write a book about that place. Nobody’ll believe it. Give me a small room full of enthusiastic people and a good PA, and I’m in my element.

6) We’re loving your Phenomenal Handclap remix – which artists have  grabbed you this year?

Thanks again! The original is one of my records of ‘09, although it’s probably not trendy to like it now, or trendy to not like it now.  I don’t care either way. What else? Erm… I’ve had a fairly un-music-y 2009, really, and have probably missed tons of good stuff.

C minus, must try harder. Den Haan, Get The Blessing, The Yellow Moon Band, Wolf People, Gallops. Also some new work from old hands, especially the last (and last..?) Super Furry Animals album, which is the best thing they’ve done since the Creation days, and Richard X’s reworking of St. Etienne’s Foxbase Alpha, which is just bloody perfect. Everything else I was going to mention turns out to have been from 2008. Or 2007. Years just seem to be dropping like ninepins.

7) Finally – the 5 most influential music “things” to have affected your sound over the years – albums, tracks, artists, events etc

1- Hearing the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s output on the TV throughout the late ’70s and early ’80s. Not seen as their ‘golden age’, and I much prefer the early stuff these days, but those sounds are stillimprinted on my eardrums.

2- The League Unlimited Orchestra – Love & Dancing. Revolutionary stuff. Still sounds fresh. I started making up my own edits of records using the pause button on my cassette recorder as soon as I realised what was going on here.

3- The 6581 SID chip in the Commodore 64. My first synthesizer. LDA#$0F. STA $D418. This was when I first started making my own (admittedly rubbish) music, and some lunatics even paid me the odd fifty quid to use it in a game, occasionally. Don’t go looking for it, please.

4- ‘Hardcore’ dance. 1990 to 1992, before it went all gabba and happy and shit. Discarded analogue synths and wholesale sample plundering without a care in the world. Urban Shakedown having a hit record, using nothing more than two CBM Amigas and some free tracker software, was quite an eye opener.

5- The two Girls On Top 7″s. Hearing them was one of those definite points where your life could go either of two ways. I’m still not sure if it was the right way, but I certainly wouldn’t be typing this out now if I’d never stumbled across ‘Being Scrubbed’.

so hurry up kids – he’s done a new (and final?) mix and it turns out it’s our absolute favourite of the year – radiosoundhog7. amazing.

(ps -and he did a superb funk mix, perfect for your upcoming house  joint – funk 625 mix.) there’s plenty more too – just go to the soundhog site and gorge.)

ben – thanks again man – above and beyond x

Props: Young!

Cormega feat. Prodigy & Styles P – Dirty Game (Remix) | Mediafire