Merry Christmas

youtu.be/iBJdRsA-J…

Dying Girl, Laney Brown, Serenaded By 10,000 Christmas Carollers And Speaks To Taylor Swift (VIDEO).

What, and he didn’t even notice?!

I saw this on the latest update to Play Music the other day. Must say, I'm enjoying it.

Every station on the London Underground in a “kind of” song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPyg2pK11M

Jay Foreman - Every Tube Station Song - YouTube.

Lyrics:

Hornchurch Ickenham Hainault Cockfosters Ravenscourt Park Bromley-by-Bow Morden, Monument, Mornington Cresent Paddington, Plaistow, Pim-li-co Dagenham Heathway, Elephant & Castle Richmond, Sloane Square, Becontree Brixton, Barbican, Chorleywood, Amersham Eastcote, Alperton, East Finchley Kenton, Kennington, Fairlop, Farringdon, Mile End, Baron’s Court, Maida Vale Barking, Barkingside, Debden, Hammersmith Vauxhall, Wembley Park, Tottenham Hale Northwood, Oakwood, Wood Green, Woodford, Collier’s Wood and then Croxley Charing Cross, King’s Cross St. Pancras, Brent Cross, Hatton Cross, Osterley. Balamb, Borough, Chesham, Hampstead, Loughton, Leyton, Leytonstone. Stanmore, Snaresbrook, Greenford, Northolt, Northfields, Southfields, Marylebone. Kingsbury, Queenbury, Queensway, Queens Park Park Royal, Royal Oak, Burnt Oak, then Algate, Southgate, Highgate, Moorgate, Notting Hill Gate, St. Paul’s, Neasden. Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Lambeth North, and Northwick Park. Upton Park and Westbourne Park, and Wimbledon Park and Stonebridge Park. Warwick Avenue, Waterloo, Watford, Walthamstow Central, with Wanstead. Hounslow West, and Hounslow East, and East Ham, West Ham, West Hampstead. Putney Bridge, Knightsbridge, Redbridge, London Bridge. Uxbridge, Perivale, Leicester Square. Goodge Street, Baker Street, Bond Street, Warren Street, Old Street, Liverpool Street, Edgware….. West Acton, West Harrow, West Finchley, Kew Gardens, and Lancaster Gate, and Gunnersbury Westminster, Upminster, Russell Square, Euston Square, Totteridge & Whetstone, East Putney… Ealing Broadway, Fulham Broadway, Tooting Broadway, Arsenal. Stockwell, Chigwell, Seven Sisters, Blackhorse Road, Blackfriars, Temple. East Acton, Oval, Bow Road, Colindale, Archway, Angel, Upminster Bridge. Clapham Common, Clapham North, and Clapham South, and Swiss Cottage. Acton Town, and Camden Town, and Chalk Farm, and West Kensington. Canning Town, and Kentish Town, and Sudbury Town, and West Brompton. Theydon Bois, and Tooting Bec, and Stamford Brook, South Kensington. Rickmansworth and Mansion House, and Marble Arch, South Wimbledon. Dollis Hill, Gantts Hill, Grange Hill, Sudbury Hill, Tower Hill, Hillingdon, Aldgate East. Southwark, High Barnet, Earl’s Court, Bayswater, Pinner, Victoria, Mill Hill East. High Street Kensington, Kensington (Olympia), Ealing Common, Bermonsey Heathrow Terminals 4 and 5, and Heathrow Terminals 1-2-3. Epping, Euston, Kilburn, Kilburn Park, Chalfont & Latimer, Cannon Street, and Canon’s Park, Embankment, Canada Water… South Ealing, South Harrow, South Kenton, South Woodford, Canary Wharf, Harrow & Wealdstone. North Acton, North Ealing, North Greenwich, North Harrow, North Wembley, and Highbury & Islington…. Caledonian Road, and Edgware Road, and Finchley Road, and Gloucester Road, and Goldhawk Road, and Holloway Road, and Latimer Road, and Preston Road. Elm Park, Regent’s Park, Green Park, Holland Park, Hyde Park Corner, and Upney. Moor Park, Tufnell Park, Chiswick Park, Newbury Park, Finchley Park, Roding Valley. Hendon Central, Hounslow Central, Wembley Central, Belsize Park. Finchley Central, Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road, Woodside Park. Wood Lane, Hanger Lane, Chancery Lane, Rayners Lane, Turnpike Lane, Turnham Green, Buckhurst Hill. Golders Green, Kensal Green, Parsons Green, Stepney Green, Willesden Green, Bethnal Green, Harrow-on-the-Hill. Arnos Grove, Ladbroke Grove, Boston Manor, Manor House, St. Jame’s Park, and St. John’s Wood. Shepherd’s Bush Market, Shepherd’s Bush, Harlesden, Holborn, Northwood Hills, Stratford. White City, Whitechapel, Willesden Junction, Wimbledon, Ruislip, Ruislip Gardens, South Ruislip, West Ruislip, Ruislip Manor, Great Portland Street, Dagenham East, Bounds Green, BANK

I’m not a huge fan of Katy Perry, but this is a clever way of using a mobile messenger. ^_^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9SeJIgWRPk

Katy Perry - Roar (Lyric Video) - YouTube.

Google are now offering All Access to users in the UK. I had a go at their trial. And I wasn’t impressed. The things it offers like Radio and recommendations you can already get for free in other providers (Last.fm, Spotify, Grooveshark). Recommendations you already get from the main Play Music app. Suffice to say, my trial didn’t last very long before I cancelled it…

Take a look at some of the related articles and make your own decision.

Related articles

• Google Play Music All Access spreads internationally amid Verizon bundle rumors (slashgear.com)
• Google launches its Music All Access streaming service in the UK (theguardian.com)
• [Update: It's Live] Google Play Music All Access Comes To Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, And The UK (androidpolice.com)
• Google Play Music All Access hits some European territories with special launch price of £7.99/€7.99 (digixav.com)
• Google Play Music All Access now available in Europe (centraltechstop.wordpress.com)
• Google rolls out All Access music subscription service in UK (wired.co.uk)
• Google Play Music All Access Goes Live In 9 European Countries (thenextweb.com)
• Google Play Music All Access vs. Spotify (reviews.cnet.com)
• Google's All Access music streamer hits Google Play in the UK today (alternativenewsalert.com)

www.youtube.com/watch

Cookie Monster Puts Sweet Spin on Icona Pop’s ‘I Love It’ [VIDEO].

Isn’t this a bit of a risqué album cover? (WARNING: Link contains nudity)

Georges Bizet: Carmen - Music on Google Play.

I watched Quartet last night over Google Movies and was moderately pleased with it. It’s not often you get a classical music-themed movie with lots of professional singers and players.

The movie felt a little jumpy and slightly disjointed for my liking. To be fair all the actors and actresses seemed to be enjoying themselves and there were plenty of funny moments. The whole movie centered on the “Quartet” who previously performed Rigoletto together and have been reunited in time for a Charity Gala to save their retirement home from closing.

However, (spoilers hidden)

They don’t actually perform, so for the whole movie, they’re talking about performing together, listening to their previous performances together, but they don’t actually get round to doing the performance. The film ends with them on the stage, about to start. Have to say, I was pretty disappointed – I would have liked to have seen how well (or badly) Billy Connolly sang opera :P

Link to the Google Movies: http://goo.gl/TSydy

The power of Vocaloid…

youtu.be/ZSIV5r1oy…

youtu.be/R4shMkF0y…

youtu.be/s0Oxp1hTy…

[ted id=1740]

John Legend: “True Colors” | Video on TED.com.

No, it’s not a typo, I’ve picked up a scanlated manga I stopped reading many months ago. AKB49 is about a boy who tries to help his best friend get into AKB but does so undercover as a girl. He succeeds in getting her in as a kenkyuusei (understudy) - but also ends up getting accepted as a kenkyuusei herself. Err. himself.

All manner of high jinks occur throughout the manga included his/her popularity increasing because of his honesty and straightforwardness.

I’ve now read up to the latest scanlated chapter (#123) and there are similar aspects to AKB0048 – the tough learning, unsupportive parents, lessons day-in, day-out, looking up to your seniors, waiting for your moment.

One thing that really struck me is the similarity between episode 26 of the AKB0048 anime (Next Stage Ep # 13) and the Gekokujyou Vs &Jewel duel. In the anime, the kenkyuusei had to overcome the hatred of their audience after their apparent desertion of the planet Akibastar (play on the word “Akihabara"). In the manga, the Gekokujyou (the subunit of the AKB kenkyuusei consisting of the three main protagonist characters) agreed to a musical duel against &Jewel on their (&Jewel’s) home theatre, leading to a hugely hostile audience. Both teams had 3 songs, plus a possible encore within which to win over their audience. Within one song, GJ dented &Jewel’s effect, the second got them mostly on their side, the third, they let rip and the &Jewel were forced to admit total defeat. After that, the main protagonist - Minoru (f: Minori) collapsed from over-exhaustion, his secret almost revealed. He was saved by the legendary Maeda Atsuko who would keep his secret. Since GJ only had three songs released at this time, they had no encore song, so they sang &Jewel’s song, and did it perfectly. Even the hardened &Jewel fan couldn’t fault them.

Three songs, one encore, total domination.

#1 Draw their attention

#2 Capture their hearts

#3 120%, show everything you have.

Another Square Enix game. This time a rhythm-based game. Pretty interesting looking, but pricey….

www.youtube.com/watch

www.youtube.com/watch

Saddened to hear the news that LSO Condutor Sir Colin Davis has died

Sky News Original Article

I was a bit surprised when I went into my Google Music library and found I had over 19 days of music purchased. I hadn’t uploaded anything :P

www.youtube.com/watch

For those of you who like Chinese Martial Arts films.

youtu.be/2by2y3gkj…

via George Lam: Wong Fei Hung with pinyin/translation - YouTube.