Mark’s blog

Here is a "remix" of the video from my last post ...

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:53:50 -0600

Vote for M.I.A. at Fuse.tv!

You can still vote here ... http://www.fuse.tv/music/best-of-2008

Also, here is a video by Radicarl, a German DJ who does a lot of cool music and remixes. This is his remix of Paper Planes ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HeUBzmDxWo (the video cannot be embedded for some reason)

Here is his Bucky Done Gun remix ...

M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun (Radicarl Remix)

http://www.myspace.com/radicarl
http://tunabomber.blogspot.com

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Video to encourage people to vote for M.I.A. on Fuse.tv

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:18:31 -0600

I wanted to encourage people to vote for M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" video on the Fuse.tv contest so I made this video ...

Vote for M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" video at Fuse.tv!

Here is the link to vote ... http://www.fuse.tv/music/best-of-2008

The song playing is the DFA remix of "Paper Planes".

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Vote for M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" video at Fuse.tv

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:33:40 -0600

Vote for M.I.A.'s video, "Paper Planes", here ...

http://www.fuse.tv/music/best-of-2008

You have to scroll down a little to see the image of her ...

Vote for M.I.A. today on Fuse.tv!

Click on here name on the image above, and then you have to click again to vote on the video that pops up ...

Click on "VOTE" by M.I.A.'s name to vote for the video, "Paper Planes"!

This will be good exposure for M.I.A. so people will buy Kala and get to hear all of the other cool songs on the album (especially 20$).

Vote today!

http://www.fuse.tv/music/best-of-2008

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Barack Obama, M.I.A., Diplo, Santogold, and Esau Mwamwaya

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:18:22 -0600

A friend of mine and I went out last night for dinner for my birthday and for election night. We were excited that Barack Obama would actually win the presidency. I was still very cautious. I am glad he won. I am glad the Democrats have the majority in the House and Senate. However, they may not get their 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, but they still did well. I am glad a lot of red states went to Obama.

Austin, TX and Travis County always go to Democrats, and it definitely went easily to Obama this time around. However, it kills me that Texas, as a state, has to be so backwards and go for McCain. If you look at an electoral map, you will see that the large urban areas (where most of the people live) all went to Obama.

Results of 2008 presidential election in Texas (from CNN)

Prop 8, which bans homosexual marriages, will probably get passed in California if the current results are correct. That is disappointing, but I guess that will just take time for people to get over their hangups about same-sex couples. I still believe that time heals all wounds, but that's not true if you run out of time.

The positive perspectives from around the world about Obama as the new president are very nice. I like the idea that the rest of the world may like America again. I always think globally. If I had enough money, I would live in a different country every month.

In other news, there is a lot of good music out there right now. Here is a mixtape that became available on the M.I.A. Fans message board today (http://miafans.co.uk) ...

http://fairtilizer.com/radioclit/the_very_best.zip

The music definitely has a "world music" sound to it. Esau Mwamwaya is featured heavily on the mixtape. He has done his own versions of "Paper Planes" and "Get It Up". I have posted his songs on here before. M.I.A. also put some vocals on a demo of his song, "Rain Dance". I think I have all of that right. The mixtape is also available on MySpace here ...

http://www.myspace.com/theverybestmyspace

I think Radioclit is the main force behind the mixtape.

M.I.A. has a new song (download it) and video with Blaqstarr that is very good. It is called S.U.S. (Way Down The Hole) ...

M.I.A. and Blaqstarr - S.U.S./Way Down in the Hole/Save Your Soul/Save Ur Soul

As you can see the song has appeared under many different names. "Save Ur Soul" is probably the correct name.

One of the clubs/bars my friend and I went to last night was RAIN on 4th, and I was very happy that they played the song and video of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes". Everyone seemed to really like the song, and they all seemed to know the lyrics to it already, which they should since it has been out forever now. I just wish they would play songs like "Bamboo Banga". That would be more fun for a club.

The restaurant we went to was a great Italian restaurant called Primizie Osteria. It is located on East 11th St. in Austin, and it is probably one of those restaurants that is not getting as much business as it should because people do not know about it. I am probably going to do a Yelp review for it, but it already has a ton of positive Yelp reviews. Here is the website for it ...

http://www.primizieaustin.com

I got this Rigatoni with Italian Sausage dish that was really good, but I think the best part of the meal was the torta di limon dessert ...

Torta di limon

I think that is the correct picture. The shiny structure sticking out of the dessert is sugar that you can eat.

My favorite mixtape to listen to right now is "Top Ranking" from Diplo and Santogold. I have posted some of the songs from the mixtape here already. You can download the entire mixtape by doing a Google search for it. Here are two of my favorite songs from the mixtape ...

04 -I'm a Lady (Diplo Mix ft Amanda Blank)

Diplo/Santogold

02- Late Night (Unstoppable Mix)

Diplo/Santogold

For some reason, my iTunes calls this mixtape "Top Rated". Weird!

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Another version of M.I.A.'s "Shells" ...

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:58:41 -0500

This version of "Shells" has M.I.A.'s vocals slowed down, but the beat is still fast.

Shells (slowed down vocals, fast beat)

M.I.A.

Here is a new song by Bjork called "Nattura". The video is a compilation of a lot of Bjork's videos, and I think it came out pretty cool ...

Bjork - Nattura

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"Take me away from all this death!"

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:20:53 -0500

It's not a very scary film (I always watch it as a love story), but here is my favorite scene from "Bram Stoker's Dracula" just in time for Halloween ...

Mina and Dracula hanging out

This movie is hated by many, but I love the romantic side to the story, and the score is great. I own the soundtrack, and I think it stands on its own. The line, "Take me away from all this death!", is one I sometimes think of when there are too many things going on around me, and I just want everything to stop.

In other news, a person from this blog slowed down M.I.A.'s song "Shells" (which you can download from iTunes now) so that is doesn't sound so "Alvin and the Chipmunks" anymore. Here is the slowed down version, which I kind of like ...

M.I.A. - Shells (slowed down version)

Shells (Slow)

M.I.A.

Download

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M.I.A. - Shells (updated version)

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:05:43 -0500

edHere is a short clip of an updated version of the song "Shells" by M.I.A. The speed has been adjust on this version so M.I.A.'s voice sounds normal. Her voice sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks in the version of the song in my previous post.

This version still doesn't sound 100% perfect, but it's better. I can't wait to hear a high quality version of this song in its entirety.

Shells

M.I.A.

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Jay-Z's remix of M.I.A.'s "Boyz"

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:25:39 -0500

Two new remixes of M.I.A.'s song, "Boyz" from Kala have come out recently. Both of the remixes just add vocals to the song, and they both mention Barack Obama.

Jay-Z's remix seems very anti-war, which is fine with me. M.I.A. also has some additional vocals on this version of "Boyz" ...

Boyz (Jay-Z remix)

M.I.A

Wale added some vocals to "Boyz", too. Here is his version ...

Boyz (Wale remix)

M.I.A.

Here is another version of the song, "Get It Up" by Radioclit, featuring M.I.A. and Santogold. This version has vocals by Esau Mwamwaya instead of a rap by Gorilla Zoe (which is on the other version, here).

Get It Up (with vocals by Esua Mwamwaya)

Radioclit featuring M.I.A. and Santogold

Here is a clip of the song, "Shells", which M.I.A.'s fans have been waiting on for a long time. The song was supposedly done by M.I.A. and Diplo (I think), and it sounds like a lot of fun.

http://84.45.101.210/mp3/XLCD281X-N.mp3 - you have to download it because it is a stream of music, not an actual mp3.

The problem I have with this clip is how sped up the vocals are. I hope that is a mistake because I don't like sped up vocals like that. However, the song is fun to listen to. "Shells" will finally be released on the re-released version of Kala, which is already available on some sites, I think.

In other news, Britney Spears has a new expensive video for her song, "Womanizer". The video looks very slick so that's good for her. The song is catchy enough. I am amazed at how many remixes of Womanizer are already floating around the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-23EToh43M

I am sure there will be a higher quality version of the video above soon, but that's all I could find for right now.

For all the latest M.I.A. news, go to the M.I.A. Fans message board at http://miafans.co.uk.

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M.I.A. moves up some more ...

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:48:58 -0500

M.I.A.'s Kala at 37 on Billboard's Top 200 chart for 8-28-2008.

M.I.A.'s album, Kala, moved up 11 places to # 37 this week. That is pretty awesome! I hope she keeps on moving up towards the #1 spot. I have to mention again that this album has been out over a year. Most albums disappear after a year, but M.I.A. is coming back with "power power" (or "powah powah" ... listen to "Bamboo Banga" to get that joke).

Here are some of M.I.A.'s live performances from NPR of songs from Kala ...

Bamboo Banga (live)

Bamboo Banga (live on NPR)

M.I.A.

Bird Flu (live)

Bird Flu (live on NPR)

M.I.A.

Hussel (live)

Hussel (live on NPR)

M.I.A.

Paper Planes (live)

Paper Planes (live On NPR)

M.I.A.

I got these live songs from the M.I.A. Fans message board. The images are from M.I.A.'s 2002 artbook, which is also called "M.I.A.".

Buy Kala today!

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M.I.A. must be doing well because now she is being spoofed ...

nobody@vox.com(Mark) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:07:23 -0500

This video is not that funny, but it's interesting that this guy wanted to spend so much time doing a spoof of her "Paper Planes" video ...

Spoof of M.I.A.'s video, "Paper Planes"

Also, I am making a YouTube playlist for Piracy Funds Terrorism, vol. 1. I have only have 6 of the 21 songs on it right now, but I will keep adding to it.

M.I.A. and Diplo - Piracy Funds Terrorism, vol. 1 YouTube playlist

edit ... now I have 16 of the 21 songs on the playlist.

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