Having recently watched 24 Hour Party People, the history of the Manchester to Madchester music scene transformation from 1976 to 1992 - including Joy Division, New Order, The Buzzcocks, The Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and of cours, Tony Wilson, aka Anthony H. Wilson - the visionary boss of Factory Records and FAC51 - the Hacienda.

Did I mention it’s also one of the greatest music movies of all time? Anyway, ignore all that, I did a run through of cool Madchester tunes on YouTube and was pretty impressed with the range of videos available - everything from Tony Wilson interviewing The Smiths to rare live footage of Joy Division, Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses

The Smiths and Tony Wilson in Chorlton-Cum-Hardy

New Order’s 1990 hit World in Motion has been named the best English World Cup song by football fans. World in Motion, which was in the charts as England reached the semi-finals at Italia ‘90, came top of a Littlewoods Pools poll of 1,500 fans. The BBC’s theme tune, Nessun Dorma, for the 1990 finals, came second. Another classic, Three Lions ‘98 by The Lightning Seeds featuring David Baddiel and Frank Skinner was third, with another 1998 song, Vindaloo by Fat Les, the writer of World in Motion, in fourth.

In addition, the great song, This Time (We’ll Get It Right) by the 1982 England World Cup Squad as the worst World Cup anthem, which, in my opionion is a shame, but then again Kevin Keegan, Trevor Brooking and Ray Wilkins on vocals doesn’t sound like a chart-topper to me.

It was followed closely by the Spice Girls’ 1998 effort (How Does It Feel To Be) On Top Of The World. Spice Girls… Says it all really.

After the huge commerical success of License to Ill, the Beastie Boys followed up with Pauls Boutique an incredible album mixed by the Dust Brothers. Unfortunately for many BBoys fans, Pauls Boutique was “way the hell out there” when it came to the songs, the lyrics and the samples… A perfect example would be 5-Piece Chicken Dinner, a track which is about as hardcore as er, some weird bluegrass/country n western crap… For all the people out there that do own Pauls Boutique, check this site: Pauls Samples containing just about everything you’ll ever need to know about the album, lyrics, sample list and much, much more.

Here’s an example:

Sounds of Science Track Samples:

Pretty comprehensive eh? And you thought they were just rhyming and stealing….

I was having a discussion with a fellow emedia dude about Dolby Digital in the home, and the advantages of Dolby 6.1 over 5.1. We ended up discussing 7.1, DTS and all the other formats and it occured to me that I wasn’t fully upto speed with what the additional speaker in the 7.1 setup actually did - was it the front, was it the rear? A quick Google lookup gave me exactly what I needed, except it was in Russian. One quick translation later (thanks to Babelfish) and bob’s your uncle. Check inside to see the 5.1 - 7.1 setups and how they are used to ensure you get the best possible audio out of your system.

Btw, here’s my list of great movies with awesome Dolby Sound:
1. Blackhawk Down
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Master and Commander
4. The Matrix (any)
5. Lord of the Rings (any)
6. Finding Nemo
7. Gladiator
8. The Longest Yard (Suprising, I know)
9. Crimson Tide
10. Starwars (any)

The Dolby Digital Family of Surround Systems - here’s a graphical view of the standard setup. Remember, the more speakers, the better… Unless you buy a crappy manufacturer… Then you’re hosed regardless. Harmon Kardon for me.

Dolby Pro Logic: Front Left, Center, Front Right - Single Rear Channel

Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound: Front Left, Center, Front Right - Rear Left, Rear Right, Sub Woofer

Dolby 6.1 Surround Sound: Front Left, Center, Front Right - Rear Left, Rear Center Rear Right, Sub Woofer

Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound: Front Left, Center, Front Right - Rear Left, Rear Center Left, Rear Center Right, Rear Right, Sub Woofer

Lets wait and see what 8.1 brings to the table.

DTS is a competitor of Dolby Digital. It also offers a five channel plus low frequency effect channel, but it is not compatible with the Dolby Digital soundtrack. DTS says that it uses a lower form of compression which gives you a better overall sound for your movies. Dolby Digital or DTS can both sound excellent or crappy depending on the quality of the soundtrack and your speaker position. One interesting side note, Dolby Digital includes a signal compression feature for late night viewing that DTS does not. This allows you to hear dialog and quiet scenes at their normal volume while louder scenes are suppressed.

Napster, the cool, then uncool and now cool again music service is pushing the boundaries of advertising with the new napstergirl campaign. I, for one will be voting for NapsterGirl if she ever takes a run at the whitehouse. I think the public needs to see more of her and her assets, er, policies. Take a moment to check out what she has to say. On a related subject note, I’m starting to think that Napster is a pretty damn good idea - a bit like leasing a car. For a (relatively speaking) fee, I can get access to a ton of music on my home PC, my audio device and play it in the car, without the worry of heavy footsteps on my door (hello RIAA) and with the knowledge that as new music is released, I’ll be able to grab it… Not a bad idea…

NapsterGirl

For Your Viewing Pleasure, Check Out the Napster Girl Wallpapers
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