dashing.com

Full Preview of "Roadsinger", new Yusuf album.

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:12:53 GMT

I was fortunate enough to receive an early copy of Yusuf's new album "Roadsinger" and have been working on a review. However that review might not be as relevant now because they've just released a full preview of the album online!

Have a listen and let me know what you think. In my opinion the record takes a few listens to sink in, but I've found that I've enjoyed it more and more each time. It's his best work since the mid 1970's and I'm sure you're all going to love it!

Roadsinger Preview.

Update: Looks to have been taken down.

Update 2: Back again.

Press Release for New Yusuf (Cat Stevens) Album.

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:18:31 GMT

NEW ALBUM “ROADSINGER” FROM YUSUF
(THE ARTIST KNOWN AS CAT STEVENS) READY FOR RELEASE MAY 5

SANTA MONICA, CA -- March 5, 2009 -- With his reintroduction to the pop world behind him, renowned singer-songwriter Yusuf (the artist known as Cat Stevens) is ready to once again strike up an intimate relationship with his audience. After retreating from the pop stage following classic ‘70s multi-platinum albums such as Tea For The Tillerman and Teaser And The Firecat and acclaimed hits such as “Wild World,” “Peace Train,” “Moonshadow,” “Morning Has Broken” and “Father And Son,” Yusuf returned in late 2006 with his first pop album in 28 years. Now a second album, Roadsinger (To Warm You Through The Night), is set to be released May 5, 2009 (UMe).

“I was absent from my audience for so long,” Yusuf says, “people thought another album would never come. The 2006 album, An Other Cup, was a surprise. With this new album, the distance is much less. I’m back to doing what I do best — painting pictures with music and storytelling on a very human, personal, intuitive level through lyrics and song, so I can help people feel good again. I guess in some ways the new album picks up where the Cat Stevens the public knows left off.”

The album, Roadsinger, was produced by the now singularly named Yusuf with help from Martin Terefe (James Morrison, Jason Mraz, Martha Wainwright), and recorded around the world. Guests include Morrison, Michelle Branch, and Holly Williams (granddaughter of Hank Williams, Sr.).

“The new album is a response to the way An Other Cup was received,” Yusuf explains. “Fans said they wanted to hear more of me with a guitar. So, this album is much more folk-tale oriented. Also, apart from one track, all of it was recorded live. I listened to a lot of’ ’70s L.A. music, such as Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King, and it inspired me to go back into that intimate style of recording. The songs are somewhat autobiographical but abstract enough so everyone can relate to them and connect them to their own lives.”

The title track, “Roadsinger,” unfolds the tale of an outcast who revisits his old hometown; along the empty street a child peeks from behind a store window and gives an innocent smile out of the shadows of prejudice. “The theme of a journey has always been big with me,” says Yusuf. A journey that was unexpectedly cut short in 2004 was when Yusuf was flying from his London home to Washington, D.C., en route to a meeting with Dolly Parton, who had recorded “Peace Train” several years earlier and wanted Yusuf to play guitar on her cover of his “Where Do the Children Play.” The incident that made headlines was resolved in 2006 and Yusuf’s new song “Boots and Sand” resulted.

“There are plenty people who sing, but not enough who have walked far from their block,” he says. I embraced an unexpected spiritual path that was confusing for many (converting to Islam in 1977). “Sadly, I’m still often misunderstood. Some people want to put me into their own one-sided view, but I don’t fit those limitations. My world is still borderless and wide. The removal of conflict and establishment of peace has always been my global objective. It’s a shame that lot of people, including some Muslims, overlook the name Islam, which actually comes from the word ‘Peace’ in Arabic.”

The forthcoming album also showcases some songs from his upcoming musical “Moonshadow.” The story takes place on a planet of perpetual night where only the moon’s shine lights the darkness; it is about a boy’s meeting with his Moonshadow and the adventures they share in search for the a world of the sunlight and happiness. As well as having many new songs, the surrealistic musical, “Moonshadow” also weaves classic songs from his past, including ‘Morning Has Broken’, ‘Wild World’ and The First Cut Is The Deepest.” The show debuts in the UK in July.

Yusuf’s return to his guitar came about when his teenage artist-musician son, Muhammad (aka Yoriyos), brought one home again. One morning, Yusuf was alone in the lounge when he looked over and felt a draw of curiosity overtake him. He slowly picked it up. “I put my fingers on the fretboard to make a ‘C’ chord,” he remembers, “and surprised myself, ‘It’s still there!’ It felt right. So I started playing again.” On the forthcoming album, Yusuf even plays electric guitar on a couple of tracks, along with keyboards.

“This part of my career feels similar in one sense to when I began,” Yusuf reflects.
“I had to get past the songs on Mona Bone Jakon before I could move on to
Tea For The Tillerman, etc. This time around it was the same story: I laid the
groundwork with my debut album, An Other Cup, which inspired a great new
collection of songs and scribblings. I had quite a few in my back pocket and again
it was my son who sparked the next step. He said, ‘Isn’t it time to start recording
a new album?’ And it was.”

For one of music’s most extraordinary artists, the journey continues.

Best. Song. Ever.

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:04:09 GMT

This was sent to me as a joke, and it is really funny, but Christ almighty this is the catchiest thing ever. Terrible, yes, but catchy. You've been warned.

So has anyone heard the new Yusuf single yet?

Update: You can get the full album here and there's an entire site dedicated to it.

Also, now that I've had more time to listen to the song, I still think it's the best song ever.

The Mac Turns 25 Today!

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:07:42 GMT

Happy birthday Macintosh! Twenty-five years ago today Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh to the world. What's so striking to me about the videos below is just how much is still the same. Not just on the Mac, but with all computers. While Apple didn't invent the graphical user interface, they did invent pull-down menus, cut & paste and countless other things we take for granted today.

It's been a long time, I know.

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:26:45 GMT

Ok, so it's been months and months since I've posted anything, and for that I'm sorry. But what I'm even more sorry about is the thing that compelled me to write today. It's the following video for Microsoft's "Songsmith." Will they ever learn?

Now, if that doesn't convince you, then this certainly will.

Finally the truth about Oprah and Stedman

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:21:59 GMT

I think I'm going to switch to Microsoft Windows Vista

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:07:32 GMT

As most of you know I've been a long time Macintosh user. I gave up using Microsoft products years ago, and have been much happier ever since. However this video from Microsoft on the new Windows Vista SP1 has me thinking. I mean, there's no way Apple could ever do something like this.

Pikachu-pan! -- whatever that means.

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:21:48 GMT

If you couldn't understand that, maybe this will help.

I Suck At Photoshop

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:15:21 GMT

The following video made me laugh out loud so I had to post it. There are four of these movies, all of them are hilarious, but this one is my favorite. I think the main reason for that is that the guy in the video and I both share a deep love for our wives cats.

If you liked that one, here are the other three:

Number 1
Number 3
Number 4

If you're ever in a car accident, Tom Cruise can help you.

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:55:35 GMT

I'm not sure how long this is going to be available, apparently the Church of Scientology is doing everything they can to get this video off of the Internet. So, while it lasts be sure to watch this indoctrination video staring everyone's favorite Scientologist, Tom Cruise. If this video stops working, there's always this.

Merry Christmas

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:29:40 GMT

Happy Holidays to all of you from John, Martha and Melody! Here's to a great 2008!

It's all 中越典子 all the time around here lately.

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:46:08 GMT

Ok, so a while back I told you all about a new movie starring the dashing.com girl, Noriko Nakagoshi called Apartment 1303. Well it's out now on DVD (in the USA, subtitled in English) and I had a chance to see it. It's very good and not at all like the typical Japanese horror films that I've come to hate (I'm talking about you Audition). Anyhow, Nori is excellent in it and you should check it out. Oh and speaking of Nori movies, there's another film she stars in called "Strawberry Shortcakes" which was a little less wonderful, and a little harder to come by, but it's worth a look too.

Anyhow, here's a subtitled trailer to refresh your memories.

And here's one for Strawberry Shortcakes.

With all of these movies coming out she's become quite a star in Japan. But that didn't stop her from doing the following commercial where she's turned into a piece of broccoli. Enjoy.

Apparently she's done a lot of commercials.

Noriko Nakagoshi has lovely skin

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:01:17 GMT

Incredible determination

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 23:43:06 GMT

Recently we bought Melody a nifty new toy called the Rainforest Jumperoo. It's one of those "jumpers" that you put the baby in and they can bounce up and down by pushing off the floor with their tip-toes. To say that she loves it would be an understatement. The following little video illustrates this better than I could ever describe. Let's just say that she's very determined to keep bouncing, no matter how tired she gets. :-)

The good, the bad and the baby

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:22:11 GMT

So the last few months have sure been something. Melody is doing great! She's laughing, smiling, rolling over and keeping us really busy! A lot of you have asked me to post more pictures, and I actually did a while back, in the gallery, but I don't think anyone noticed. If I'm wrong let me know and I'll post some new ones. We only have about 5 billion photos of her. She's the worlds most documented baby I think.

So did anyone else get an iPhone? Like a total dork I stood in line and everything. But man it's so much fun, I love it. Kirby has one too and we text each other like super nerds all day. The best part is that since the web browser on it is so good I can not update dashing.com no matter where I am. :-)

One problem though is the iPhone doesn't support Adobe Flash. That's not really a big deal except I can't visit my favorite website on it.

Update: Lots of new photos added.

There's bad, and then there's this.

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:01:51 GMT

What do you get when you mix email with a really bad version of Second Life and spam eating sharks? Why, 3D Mailbox of course.

From their website:

3D Mailbox delivers a fantastic, smarter e-mail experience. Immerse yourself in 3-D as you read and write your mail. Relax to the sounds of the ocean, seagulls, and cool tunes. Hang with your mail poolside, or feed your spam to the sharks! Deleting spam is so much fun, you may wish you had more!

Say Hello To Melody Rae, Again

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 08:06:55 GMT

I bought a better camera.

More like that one.

Don't Try This At Home

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 06:59:46 GMT

On the Mac there's a nifty little utility called Growl. It's a system-wide notification service that other applications use to display attractive popup status messages. There are all kinds of programs that utilize it, namely instant messaging apps and other small utilities. Sometimes they're really useful, other times they're fun and occasionally they're a little bit stupid.

I wrote a really stupid one. I mean a really, really stupid one. I added Growl notifications to dashing.com.

So now every time someone visits this site a little window pops up on my desktop announcing it. Is that the stupidest thing ever or what? :-)

Now I confess that it is kind of cool. But the idea of the website sending notifications to my desktop Mac whenever people visit is really a terrible idea. But it was such a neat little hack I had to do it. :-)

So for you Rails programmers who are bored, here's how I did it.

First download Growl and install it if you don't already have it.

Next you'll need Ruby Growl. You can install that via RubyGems.

sudo gem install ruby-growl

Once that's installed add an after_filter to the top of your application.rb controller file.

after_filter :growl

Then add the following code to the bottom of application.rb.

Note: I'm using the Acts As Authenticated style user model code and helpers, so you may need to change this for your app, or remove the username display entirely.

 1   private

 2   require 'ruby-growl'

 3   def growl

 4     if logged_in?

 5       user = current_user.login

 6     else

 7       user = request.env['REMOTE_ADDR']

 8     end

 9     g = Growl.new 'home.server.address', 'Website Visitors',['visit'], ['visit'], 'PASSWORD'

10     g.notify 'visit', 'yoursite.com',"#{user} visited #{request.env['REQUEST_URI']}", 0, false

11   rescue

12     # Something didn't work

13   end

You'll want to replace "home.server.address" with the IP address or hostname of your Mac. Replace "PASSWORD" with your Growl network password and "yoursite.com" with the name of your website.

You'll need to enable incoming connections in the Network section of the Growl control panel, and be sure to set a password. Also check the "Allow remote application registration" button, at least until you've received your first message. Finally, if you have a firewall you'll also need to allow port 9887 access to your Mac over UDP.

That's all there is to it. It's really pretty fun to see all of the popups...at first anyway. Though I can't imagine this would work well with even a moderately popular website. In fact even dashing.com is too busy for this and I'll likely turn it off shortly. But it was a fun hack just the same.

Maybe this will inspire someone to come up with a useful reason to incorporate Growl into a Rails app? If you do, be sure to let me know.

It would be funny if it wasn't true

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:47:04 GMT

This might be the most prescient article I've ever read. It was clearly meant as satire, coming from The Onion, a brilliant satirical website. But what's amazing is that this was written in January 2001 and has turned out to be eerily accurate. Here's an excerpt:

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"

It goes on, you really should read it. It would be really, really funny if it hadn't turned out to be true.

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

Say Hello To Melody Rae

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 09:12:33 GMT

Born 02/13/07

9 pounds, 3 ounces, 21 inches

Lots of personality. :-)

Update: A couple more photos have been posted.