Happy Holidays!
It's been a while and I'm still not certain when our robots will once again be dominating the packet stream. As minor consolation here's a treat for all our friends out there, a download of BitBoy 1.15 hilgihting favorites that have been in heavy rotation this year at iRobotnik HQ. Enjoy!

Tracklist:
Jackie Junior (Junior Boys Remix) - Sally Shapiro
Stuck on Repeat (Dub) - Little Boots
Sands of Time - Cut Copy
Most of All - Morgan Geist
Athene - Hercules and Love Affair
Down in L.A. - Munk
Shake Your Derriere - Sick
Wrap it Up - Whitey
Pretty Day - Marie Moor
Absolute Bodycontrol - D.A.F.
Seventeen - Casxio
The Other Side - Scissor Sisters

Kap10kurt Music Video

Directed by The Holograms, produced by Parisian motion graphics studio Mathematic

If you've been monitoring posting activity, you've undoubtedly noticed things have slowed to a crawl. I'm taking a little break while I orchestrate my move from LA to San Diego and focus on the new job. Back soon!

I just saw The Orphanage (El Orfanato) and all I can say is "Wow!". Presented by Guillermo Del Toro and Directed by Barcelona native J.A. Bayona, this psychological thriller is a superb modern ghost story full of twists and surprises and is intelligent from start to finish.

As one might expect from any film associated with Del Toro, the cinematography is astounding. The film is wonderful to look at and is a visual marvel of atmosphere and tension. Bayona was clearly inspired by Del Toro's earlier film about a haunted orphanage, "The Devil's Backbone" and directly references Stephen Spielberg's "Poltergeist" but brings enough originality and style to make The Orphanage feel like nothing I've seen before.

It's showing in limited release, so take time to see it if it's playing near you.

Google's 2007 Zeitgeist.

Doyle reminds us not to forget the utter awesomeness of Circlesquare's video for Fight Sounds Part 1 [directed by Bienvenido Cruz]. I posted about this some time ago, but couldn't agree more that it bears repeating.

Just a few more reasons why I love San Francisco:

...here in a place that seems to channel Vatican City, an actual sovereign city-state whose reach far belies its size:

In 2004, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition H, which demanded the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. The next year, voters said yes to Proposition I, which opposed military recruitment in public schools.

A year ago, they voted to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. As the San Francisco Chronicle noted in a recent editorial, "it's hardly worth getting outraged when San Francisco supervisors load the ballot with measures of more symbolism than substance. It's what they do."

From the LA Times article about San Francisco's new ID program, which would give undocumented immigrants and others who live on the edges of society a way to gain easier access to city and business services and prove residency.

Attentive readers may have noticed a dearth of postings of late, what with travel to Cuba and British Columbia under our belt, and Paris on the radar it’s been tough to find time to share. Don’t be dismayed though, we may be down but not out. Regular postings will resume shortly after the Thanksgiving break (have a happy one!).

Oh, and let me go on record that I think I might be head over heels in love with this:

Our boys from Justice also made a stop by the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show last night as they performed their hit D.A.N.C.E. in a rather unorthodox manner—proxied via Michael Jackson, Rick James, Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart impersonators. After seeing them perfom at the Henry Fonda, I can understand why they opted for this kind of schtick—taken out of context and divorced from their gesticulating, sweaty multitudes they simply aren't that interesting to watch. I still love their album, their videos and I get a little rush of adrenaline every time Phantom II builds to that slow crescendo, but I think like their countrymen, Daft Punk, their particular brand of beats are best enjoyed on the dancefloor or via cleverly directed music videos—not by way of late night talkshows.

Also, can we all agree GM should simply kill Saab, or sell them to someone who understands the brand? I can't bear to see my once beloved brand with the moniker “The Most Intelligent Cars Ever Built” suffer this way.

Justice and opening band Midnight Juggernauts (whose lead singer is a dead ringer for Bret from HBOs Flight of the Concordes) whipped last night's all-ages crowd into a sweaty, frothy, frenzy last night at Hollywood's Henry Fonda Theater. Despite not having much material (they only have one album) they rocked the crowd for over an hour by integrating much of their work as collaborators and remixers for artists like Simian Mobile Disco and Ed Banger labelmates Scenario Rock. All said, it was a fantastic show and it was great to let loose alongside LA's youth; if they come to your town, don't miss them. [Photo by Delgoff team Zissou]

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is Ridley Scott's definitive director’s cut and plays at the Landmark in Los Angeles this Friday.

Engadget visited the Robot Museum in Nagoya, Japan. From the pictures, it doesn't seem as interesting as one would hope but you can have a look for yourself.

Always having an incredible sense of style, it's no surprise that Duran Duran is promoting their new album on men.style.com. At 45 years, Nick Rhodes still looks awesome and remains my favorite member of the band. Some classic Duran is featured below, in their NSFW video, The Chauffer directed by Ian Emes. This moody black-and-white video is the only one from the album Rio in which the band do not appear at all, and is said to have been inspired in part by Charlotte Rampling's "Dance of the Seven Veils" in the film The Night Porter and the photography of Helmut Newton.

Have a great weekend, robots!

I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the Pacemaker portable DJ device from Tonium. I've been waiting for a device like this; with so many kids DJing in bedrooms all across the globe it's not hard to imagine that this or something like it will become the new iPod for the creative set. It's been getting great pre-release press which indicates it lives up to expectations. At over 500 euros, it won't be a toy for everyone, but if you look at some of the DJ endorsements in their video section, I bet you'll see one in use soon at a nightclub near you.

Check out this cool demo for the TENORI-ON musical interface. Reminds me a little of a low-res JazzMutant Lemur.

I know I'm a little late to the party with this post, but Volvo's recently announced ReCharge concept is a Hybrid that actually looks like a car I would love to drive (I once heard the Prius described as the orthopedic shoe of automotive design, a sentiment I agree with).

The all-wheel drive propulsion will be provided courtesy of wheel motors at all four corners with sufficient capacity for 62 miles of electric driving. Once the battery state of charge dips to thirty percent, a 1.6L four cylinder flex-fuel engine bolted to a generator starts up to re-charge the battery. The ReCharge can also be plugged in to replenish the battery energy.

More at AutoBlog Green.

My weekend in San Francisco was a blast. As evidenced by all the skinny ties and asymetrical haircuts at the Rickshaw Stop, my fellow robots are keeping the irobotnik spirit alive and well. Aside from the Il Flagranti show, and seeing good friends, one of the high points of my weekend was a visit to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to see the Dark Matters show, a group exhibition of hi-tech installations, photography, video and conceptual projects that uncover the unexpected, the invisible and the hidden.

Two works that I found especially memorable were the internet-eavesdropping installation Listening Post (videos) by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen and the beautiful collection of photographs in the Library of Dust exhibit by David Maisel.

In Library of Dust, each photograph shows a greatly eroded canister of cremated human remains found in the storage room of an old mental institution in Salem, Oregon.

If you're in SF, I highly recommend checking out the show which runs until 11/11/07.

TONIGHT, robiatches. The prodigal robot (that's me) returns to rock it in San Francisco. Be there.


Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell) $10

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Sony Rolly.

Summer's almost over—but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy summer's favorite sport: The Hipster Olympics!

[Via swissmiss]

Pitchfork has infiltrated the robot pyramid and bring us a view from inside the vessel Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo use to make tens of thousands of people all jump in unison and gyrate their hips in some grand, cosmic harmony.

Wonderfully bizzare, Japan's Gimmie Gimmie Octopus will leave you scratching your head. Yes, it was a real show, around the same time Sid and Marty Kroft were producing their own brand of American psychedelia.

According to an official report, the US has lost track of about 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces since the 2003 invasion, some of which will have ended up in the hands of insurgents. Among the missing items are:
- 110,000 AK-47s
- 80,000 pistols
- 135,000 bits of armor
Read the whole article here.

Jenny Holzer's twitters.

Daft Punk Alive Los Angeles
As I previously effused, last night’s Daft Punk concert was less of a show, and more of a religious experience. The robots came not to befriend, but to dominate, and humble Angelinos were all to eager to submit to their overwhelming force. Without a doubt, this was the most dazzling stadium spectacle I have ever witnessed (the robots played their sold-out show at the Los Angeles Sports arena with a 17,000 seat capacity. Considering the general admission floor was packed too, I’d estimate there were 25,000 in attendance). Energy radiated from the crowd–they were good and warmed up by two extended Kavinsky DJ sets, and a live performance by Ratatat that was fantastic.

Kavinsky

Ratatat

When the Robots finally emerged, the sultry crowd literally exploded with excitement. As Guy and Thomas emerged atop the LED flanked black pyramid (with the vocoded ROBOT-HUMAN-ROBOT-HUMAN playing) the cheers of the crowd were almost loud enough to drown out the Sports Arena’s state-of-the-art audio system.

The stage set was beautiful and awe inspiring, consisting the pyramid surrounded by what must have been millions of super bright LEDs, and a Buckminster Fulleresque light grid that displayed shifting colors and patterns that pulsated with the music.



After nearly two hours of continual rocking, and one encore set, I left sweaty, exhausted and a bigger Daft Punk fan than ever. Thanks for rocking Los Angeles guys! Le concert était très bon!

My God! That was an amazing concert!

Today's time waste: Victorian costume drama slapping.

Daft punk is playing in my town, but if you weren't lucky enough to score tickets to the robots' sold-out Los Angeles performance this Saturday night, I'd suggest taking advantage of the lovely summer weather and joining a few thousand Angelinos under the stars at the hollywood forever cemetery as Cinespia screens Dario Argento's Suspiria.
Suspiria is one of the most visually stunning horror movies ever made. Creepy, mind-bendingly beautiful cinematography and a fantastic ghoulish score by goblin add to this dream-like fantasy, underscored by genuine suspense. when a young dance student enrolls in a prestigious school in the black forest of Austria, she accidentally uncovers the mystery of the school's dark secret: an ancient coven of witches. Bring blankets, drinks and picnic dinner, DJ jun spins before and after the screening.