Morning Music Notes – Don’t Read This Blog for 40 Straight Hours (Actually, Please Do)
Video Games and Music: Listen to Some of Trent Reznor’s Score, While Beck Announces 3 Songs for Playstation 3 Game
Video games are often seen as nerdy, but given their global dominance and reach, you’re not cool if you don’t play (which seems paradoxical). Soundtracks to video games have gotten increasingly better over time, with music from bands being licensed all the time for video games (especially sports games). Trent Reznor has dipped into the video game soundtrack world before, and is doing it again with the new Call of Duty game, Black Ops II. Below is a featurette about the game, in which you can hear some of the sounds that Trent Reznor has made for the game (via Pitchfork). Not a proper preview, but fans will take any snippets they can get. Bonus: David S Goyer (writer of the Dark Knight) helped with the video game script. Awesome.
Take a Break, Son: 18 Year Old Died From Playing Diablo III
Just make sure you don’t play the game TOO long, as one poor Diablo III fan did. For some insane reason, he played for 40 straight fuckin’ hours, without eating or drinking, and DIED (via Slash Gear). An 18-year old man in Taiwan booked out a room in an internet cafe on Friday the 13th (it IS cursed!) and played straight through until Sunday. He was discovered slumped over in his chair by a cafe worker. The man, Chuang, appeared okay at first, but then collapsed, and died at the hospital later. Wow.
Beck to Write 3 New Songs for Playstation 3 Game
The new video game, Sound Shapes, will feature some, um, sound shapes from Beck, as he will contribute 3 tunes to the Playstation 3 game (via NME). Also contributing are Deadmau5 and Jim Guthrie. Beck’s songs are called Cities, Touch the People, and Spiral Staircase. Beck – release a proper album. No more one off singles and video game tracks – Pete misses you!
Do You Stalk Your Ex on Facebook? You’re Not Alone
A study at Western University has discovered that an estimated 88 percent of people see what their exs are up to on Facebook (via Crave). This is 12 percent lower than I would’ve guessed. Master’s candidate Veronika Lukacs surveyed people aged 18-35 and interviewed people aged 21-39 to draw her conclusions, based on people who have had break ups within the past 12 months. I don’t think the number will drop too much if you ask about exs from the past 12 years, amiright?
Not only did 88 percent “stalk” thier exs, but 70 percent said they used a mutual friend’s profile or logging in as their mutual friend (um, protect that password!) to doing their stalking. Psycho! A whopping 74% went further and checked out the profile of the new person they are dating. Yup, perfect healthy.
Hilariously, 31% posted pictures to try and make their exs jealous (sorry, your ex doesn’t stalk you – it’s a one way system). A third of people also posted a status update about a song lyric or quote about their ex. On a related note, my status updates are strictly beer or rash-related. My rash won’t go away. And yes, I’m ending this article with that sentence.
Matt and Kim Present Lightning
Poor choice of words – it sounds like Matt and Kim have magical powers and are giving us lightning. Well, maybe they are, too. But what the indie band are doing is giving us an album called Lightning, out on October 2 (via Consequence of Sound). Check out their first single, Let’s Go, if you haven’t already. The album will have 10 tracks, and a tour will follow (that’s where the real money is, kiddies).
The Dark Knight Rises Critic Receives Death Threats
If you don’t like my blog, chances are you aren’t reading this sentence. If you hate it AND are reading it, you’re just a glutton for punishment, aren’t ya? The Dark Knight Rises comes out tomorrow (or tonight at midnight if you’re hardcore) and critics have been loving it like I love gummi bear candies (hint: a lot). One poor critic, Marshall Fine, called it “lumpish and tedious” and subsequently has received death threatens on movie aggregation site, Rotten Tomatoes (via NME).
Commenters have said things about Fine such as “die in a fire”, he should be beaten “with a thick rubber hose into a coma” and “RIP Marshall Fine.” Comments got so outrageous (really? on the Internet, with an anonymous based comment system?!) that Rotten Tomatoes closed comments for the first time in their 13 year history. The lesson: don’t hate on Batman! And perhaps don’t make death threats on the Internet.
Watch! The Vaccines – Teenage Icon
The Vaccines are about to release The Vaccines Come of Age. Their first song, No Hope, wasn’t overly “Vaccine-y”. Our second dabble into their new stuff sounds a little better and more upbeat. Check out the video for Teenage Icon and watch the band play in a lift (that’s elevator to you).
The Vaccines – Teenage Icon
