February 28, 2005

Oscar for the score. . .

. . .goes to Jan Kaczmarek for scoring Finding Neverland, while "Al Otro Lado Del Río" by Jorge Drexler wins the one for the song in The Motorcycle Diaries.

Posted by brane at 09:40 AM | Comments (1)

February 27, 2005

The man who loved Macintosh apples dies

The man who originated and named Macintosh after his favorite fruit has passed away at the age of 61. Jef Raskin became employee number 31 at Apple Computer in early 1978.

Posted by brane at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2005

Fespaco 2005 starts today

The 19th Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou opens today.

Posted by brane at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2005

1992: First photo appears in Tim's browser

Speaking of 1992, here is a shot of "the CERN girls" as they smile away on the first photo ever published on the Web.

Posted by brane at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2005

Tiger, H.264, MPEG, future. . .

Some people see all the right things going in this direction. At this year's NAB, "The Video Ecosystem" session will address the main aspects of this whole idea. . .

Posted by brane at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2005

Ennio: More than just film scores

Not having enough of Ennio Morricone's film music? Check The Ennio Morricone Experience and what/how they do it. . .

Posted by brane at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2005

Jarrett returns jazz to New York

Keith returns to the city in June with Gary and Jack - they play Carnegie - a must go event!

Posted by brane at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2005

Podcast: You are in control

Reach out to the crowd of iPod users (and others) by podcasting things you care about (while fully in control).

Posted by brane at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2005

Berlinale 2005 is over

Now we know who are the recipients of the Bears and other prizes & honors.

Posted by brane at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2005

Gmail: One step forward

Expect more than 2,000 email users to sign up for Gmail, which translates to 1GB of free storage. Store some of your QT movies, aacPlus and MP3 files, and more. . . without paying for it. . .

Note to my Spring students: check your email for simple instructions on how to get your own Gmail account.

Posted by brane at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

New iMovie HD. . .

. . .is out - have your scripts ready for some great looking pictures (and keep your eyes on music and sound).

Make a note: improvements come with (still) very low price.

Posted by brane at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2005

Episode III opens Cannes

Going to south of France this May? See the final chapter of the Star Wars on the opening day of the 58th Cannes Film Festival.

Posted by brane at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2005

Tiger beat

Ready for another beast from Cupertino? Music and audio pros can count on these 10.4 features in their future productions.

Posted by brane at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2005

Micro-soft or micro-hard?

MSM posted this commentary few days ago. I wonder what people may think - too soft or too hard to break?

Posted by brane at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2005

Sony bites Apple, or the other way around. . . or something else?

That sounds like a thought. . .

Posted by brane at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2005

Tony's Lifetime: Time for life

Tony Williams was only 17 years old when he joined Miles Davis in 1963. Yes, as a result, "Miles Smiles" is one great jazz album. But, with no time to waste, Tony had to go somewhere else with John, Larry, and few months later, Jack - Lifetime's Emergency! comes to life and changes my perspective on music. . . for ever. . .

I had to a chance to put it on again today. . . twice. . . loud. . .

Posted by brane at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2005

Connection between the subatomic world and the cosmos

Latest measurements will help to re-evaluate the element of life.

Posted by brane at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2005

Quzzle - simple and hardest (at the same time)

Try what inventor claims to be “the world's hardest simple sliding-block puzzle”. Here “simple” means that quzzle consists of three sorts of tiles—two one-by-one units, six one-by-two units, and one two-by-two unit. "Hardest" means to move the largest tile from one corner to another in minimal number of steps (which means 84).

I had fun today solving Jim Lewis' quzzle with minimum moves. It was hard. . .

Try it - when you finish, you will see this. Good luck!

Posted by brane at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2005

Cell - the superchip

Earlier this week, details were unveiled about Cell, a massive-power microprocessor. Cell is comprised of several cores (a core based on IBM's Power architecture controls eight "synergistic" processing centers). This superchip can simultaneously carry out 10 instruction sequences, compared with two for today's Intel chips. Gamers (and others), watch out for some new high-level experience!

Posted by brane at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2005

Jimmy Smith dies

Great Jimmy Smith, the Hammond B3 king and one true jazz giant, passed away yesterday.

Posted by brane at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2005

Mac mini rocks big time

Always wanted to know how to build a low-cost home recording studio? Comes Mac mini - here is one scenario how to do it.

Posted by brane at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

February 06, 2005

Name/term game: "What is. . . a Brane?"

Gregory Moore, Professor of Physics at Rutgers, has an article in the February issue (in "Communications" section) of the Notices of the AMS, where he writes the following in the opening: "The term 'brane' has come to mean many things to many people." Writing about this article, Peter Woit, Professor of Mathematics at Columbia, says in his blog ". . .and one of the difficulties of the subject is that one has to figure out from context what sort of brane someone is talking about."

I have to learn more about what these gentlemen are talking about. . .

Posted by brane at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2005

Corigliano's Circus Maximus comes to New York

John Corigliano's new wind symphony Circus Maximus will receive its New York premiere this month at the Carnegie Hall.

Posted by brane at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2005

Cream again

I saw them in Royal Albert Hall in 1968 playing the farewell concert, with two (at that time) unknown opening acts - Taste and Yes. Eric, Jack, and Ginger are back at the Albert in May. Tickets went on sale few days ago - should I go?

Posted by brane at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2005

Music2Titan: The score

How many words (and numbers) one needs to put all dots together: Huygens. . . soundtrack. . . space. . . Jagger. . . Titan. . . 2. . . music. .. out of this world. . .

Posted by brane at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)

End in sight

NYU's President and Provost wrote today:
". . .we are beginning to implement three of the four proposed action plans as written: those regarding the visual arts; culture and communications, journalism, and media studies; and music."

Final report and recommendations are posted on the Office of the Provost site. Long saga seems to be coming to an end. . .

Posted by brane at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2005

Building the iPod cult(ure)

Watch your steps (they may say in the State of Washington) - here is today's article entitled "Hide Your IPod, Here Comes Bill". Funny? Maybe...

Posted by brane at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2005

Macs perform the Sun dance?

Sure - they do...

Posted by brane at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)

Thanks Jodi!

Loud shoutouts with thanks to my dear friend Jodi from ITS - she made this happening!

Posted by brane at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)