aidan galea

Finnish Week

As of Thursday the 2nd, it has been Finnish Week. Why Finnish Week? Well, after being constantly taunted by my forever expanding to-do list, I thought that dedicating a week to complete some creative works would be a good idea. I hope by the end of the week that I haven’t died from exhaustion, and that it was, in fact, a good idea. Why Finland? I just wanted to give the week of creativity a name, and Finland just spontaneously popped into my head. It wasn’t until my girlfriend mistook it to mean “A WEEK WHERE YOU FINISH SHIT?” that I realised that it now had two meanings.

Anywho, you can follow our works over at our other tumblr.

Blink-182 - Neighborhoods

How did I forget to put up my review of Blink-182’s long awaited come back album? Easy, I just forgot.

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Discussions: the Beatles

Here’s a recent discussion piece with Henry Hauser on the greatest band of all time: the Beatles.

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Alex Turner - Submarine OST

It’s impossible to not love the transparency of Alex Turner. When Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not exploded into the world, a large amount of focus was on Turner. For once, it was possible to listen to contemporary rock music, and not have to interpret every lyric for what it might have meant. Turner was blatant, almost playing the role of an observational Jerry Seinfeld of Sheffield. By being crass enough to admit that there was “only music so that there’s new ringtones,” amongst a plethora of other brilliant lines, Arctic Monkeys were easy to consume, and because of Turner, they were also insightful.

As we’ve seen Arctic Monkeys grow, the transparency may have explicitly have deteriorated in some people’s minds, with Turner abandoning his great sense of youthful insight for something more mystic and personal. Where it was once easy to think it was possible to identify Turner through his lyrics, the focus has been centralised to his song writing ability. A simply thoughtful lyric can captivate the mind, but it seems as though the shift is now coming through emotion evoking music.

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OneThirtyBpm

I’m not usually accustomed to blatant advertising, but I thought I’d take a moment to mention a website I’ve been involved with since 2008. Wikipedia can summate the sites purpose better than I can, so I’ll hand it over to Wiki:

One Thirty BPM is a New York-based online publication providing reviews, news, media, interviews, features, and more from both the independent and mainstream spheres of the music world. One Thirty BPM covers a wide variety of genres but specializes in rock, hip hop, and electronic music.

Essentially, I’m merely a contributor, occasionally handing in some reviews and writing up some news (rhyming fun). It’s a great initiative, as the site was founded by a man younger than myself, Evan Kaloudis, building it from the ground up, to garner a reputable status, including its role as a featured Metacritic approved site. 

Feel free to check it out.

Google Yourself For A Motivation Boost

It’s that sad moment that we’ve all stumbled upon in our lives. That dark narcissistic moment where your own vanity and ego consume you like Tobey Maguire in Spiderman 3; you Google yourself. The other night I found myself staring down that very path. It was sad, but Googling my own name shine some light upon old achievements, and ones I wasn’t aware even existed.

I don’t recall running a marathon in Sydney

After ploughing through 14 pages of sites bearing my name, it was hard not to sit back and reflect on my achievements. Well, at least ones that the internet considers worthy. What bothered me was that - as egocentric as it may be - I wasn’t seeing enough of my name. That’s enough motivation for me to write, aside from the pure passion. That’s right. Passion. 

So if you ever find yourself in a motivational slump, take a few moments to remember who you really are…by Googling yourself.

Featured on LifeHacker

A Social Foxtel

It’s simply given knowledge by now that a significant percentage of every piece of technology you use is linked via some form of social means. Whether it be an Xbox 360, using Live as a social medium to talk and play with friends, or Twitter as a pure means of social media, by 2011, it’s now getting hard to deny the presence of the social.

Cable television has always proven to be a staple in most households, with Foxtel possessing a monopoly on Australian paid television. While the large array of programming and a notably reduced amount of advertisements, it’s easy to see the reasons for paying for Foxtels services. 

Forgive me for wanting more, but despite the cable providers recent foray into HD (and more recently 3D), I can’t help but feel that Foxtel is somewhat behind in the realm of social interaction. What I am proposing is a new level of social integration through Foxtel that would allow interaction between households.

What does this mean?

Remember that conversation you were having with a friend last week in which you were failing to explain an episode of Louis Theroux, where you wishing that the recipient of your convoluted synopsis simply had seen the episode? With a level of social interaction integrated into the Foxtel system, you would simply be able to select that very episode of Louis Theroux (or another in the series), and through a single button press, recommend it to another individuals Foxtel box. 

If you are browsing content through your on-screen Foxtel program guide, and you see an upcoming live performance on Music Max, [V] or MTV which would fit to a friends elite music criteria, you could set a reminder, not only for yourself, but for your friends Foxtel box, reminding them to watch.

Is that all?

Recommendations would only be a primary feature of a new level of Foxtel interactions, but not it’s only limitation. Current websites such as last.fm, examine your listening trends, and then recommends similar music based on what you’re currently listening to. While the broad array of programming is indeed impressive, it’s difficult at times to not be overwhelmed by choice. With an in-built recommendation system, your Foxtel box would take note of your viewing trends, and suggest shows that you may also like in a similar vein.

Foxtel has impressed me since the very first day it was installed in my living room, but as the world of technology rapidly evolves every day, it seems that Foxtel’s momentum is slowing down. Although this isn’t a problem for some, alternatives to Foxtel are appearing, and without an impressive array of features, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify paying the monthly fee.

QuickPick: LaunchPad for the rest of us

For some of us, waiting for Apple’s newest iteration in their computing line, Lion, is simply too difficult of a task. It’s nice then that certain developers such as Araelium have taken it upon themselves to release apps that bring us a little bit closer to some of the features that Lion promises.

QuickPick does precisely that, by taking the concept of LaunchPad and putting it into context within Snow Leopard. As elegant as one could hope from Apple, QuickPick works flawlessly to give you instant access to your apps in only a way that your iOS device currently can. QuickPick can be activated by either a simple keyboard command or a click of the dock icon (in the same vein as Lion promises), and acts as a springboard for your apps. One advantage of QuickPick over LaunchPad thus far, is that you can not only place applications on the board, but also documents and standard folders.

If patience isn’t quite your thing, feel free to try the beta of QuickPick now, available on Araelium’s site, or head to the App Store for a full purchase at a steep $9.99.