Be On The Watch (Go Forth)

Although short and subtle, this video has clearly made its impact. Using the profound words of the poem The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski, the Levi's (Go Forth) campaign advert speaks to youth with mature words that portray the concepts of freedom and positivity.

Having been banned in the UK for its controversial content - which can be seen as a call to revolution, by the wrong people - it has become quite the hot topic. Personally I love the concept, I find it refreshing for a fashion advert and find it strikingly pertinent to our generation who should learn to cherish and strive for freedom rather than take it for granted. "Your life is your life, know it while you have it"

The Laughing Heart

Your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

-- by Charles Bukowski

"Welcome to St. Tropez"

“Palm trees, ocean breeze, salty air, sun kissed hair. That endless summer, take me there.”

Farewell winter; hellooo Spring!

Sunday afternoon at Blouberg... pure bliss

Tunes for the week

Tunes to get through the week...

Who Run This Motha?

Has to be one of the best performances I have ever seen!

Tech: Grooveshark Changing MP3 Streaming

If like me, you need to preview a song in its entirety before committing to downloading it... I am very anal about what I keep in my iTunes :) Then Grooveshark will somewhat change your music sampling experience.

Although I remain loyal to LastFM with its nifty recommendations that have assisted me in discovering new artists such as VV Brown and Simon Curtis. Actually streaming the material is where the gap came in and was tre annoying....

This is where Grooveshark excels. Think online music library, similar to iTunes with the ability to stream top quality MP3's and add songs to individual playlists or just to your general music folder. Oh, and don't worry about it getting messy... items added to your general music folder are filtered by artist and album. OCD sigh of relief *phew*. Not only is it a brilliant way to sample and store full length songs in perfect quality,  the accessibility is fantastic - as long as you have access to the internet and some decent headphones you're sorted!

As far as online streaming goes, Grooveshark will not leave you hanging long with irritating buffering (ah, yes iTunes... get your act together). Just pause the song for a minute before you play and boom. Not sure what you want to listen to or searching for inspiration? Just click to the 'Popular' tab and you will be able to listen to what's hot.

Once you have found that hot new track, what's next? Oh yeah... brag to all your friends :) You can share songs to both Facebook and Twitter. For those of you who have a blog, the widget is just amazing with the option to post an individual songs, playlists or entire albums in custom palettes.

Although it is available for mobile devices such as Blackberry and iPhone at a small monthly fee, the service is not available to those in South Africa. No surprise there.

Grooveshark has been slated by some recording labels and artists for loss in revenues. Personally I think there is massive potential to use such a product to the benefit of labels and more importantly the artists. The industry is changing... keep up people.

Last Friday Night (TGIF) Remix - Tis' Gonna Inevitably Flop

Yes, Katy wants to break records on the charts and yes Missy wants to rekindle her fame... unfortunately I doubt either goal will be achieved with this uninspired remix of the original smasher "Last Friday Night (TGIF)".

The reflection of a good remix is that it must flow and strike when its not too late... major doozie in this case. It is great to hear Missy Elliot again but the two verses, slapped in at random intervals, oozing with auto tune and lack originality are lame. When you keep waiting for it to improve, you know its hopeless. Towards the end, and I cringe to admit this, but I am kind of bummed that she 86'd Kenny G's moment, yes it was cheesy but it grew on me.

How it could it have been better:

- Faster tempo
- Nicki Minaj
- Bring back Kenny G *cringe*

Is David Guetta Bullet Proof?

Repeat, repeat, repeat! David Guetta's "Titanium" (Ft Sia) was originally recorded with Mary J Blidge. Having heard the original version, Sia - who I also love - adds a level of maturity to the mixed tempo dance track. Clearly the super power producer is looking to make a bold statement or two with his upcoming album Nothing But The Beat due to be released on 26 August 2011.