Roman Edirisinghe

Due to a delayed flight, day one of my trip found me stranded at the Newark airport, with no alternative but to find a hotel.

Ahh, sleep is priceless after days of erratic rest.

This morning, I woke to the deep bass of a giant heartbeat. I thought I was in a giant womb. The heartbeats gradually morphed into a beat, and then I heard an announcer say “How are we doing tonight? Are we going to have a party?!” Mind you, this was morning, not night, or so I thought. I rushed to the window and saw an Indian wedding party taking place in the cold parking lot.  Enjoy the videos of this surreal spectacle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmPKn6wNUp8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oatPUI-BPBA

Down in the dumps? Here’s something cheerful: the Smoking Gun is sporting an 18 page copy of Iggy Pop’s concert rider, which explains “Iggy’s requirements in terms of amplifiers, security, lighting, stage set up, and dressing rooms.” Rife with profanity, misspelled words, and outrageously witty remarks, the document, written “on a computer” by roadie Jos Grain, is a testament to true punk.

I suggest you read the whole thing.

Via Boing Boing

I was not impressed with The Lost City, Andy Garcia’s movie about Cuba. My biggest problem is the fact that it was done in English, and the occasional Spanish words, including Havana, were grossly mispronounced. A movie set in Cuba should be spoken en Español.

For some reason, the English was tough to understand. The fake accents were somehow unable to reach my brain. What I did digest, however, is the following bit of ancient wisdom:

The bird is in the beak
Edith is weak

The house in which Captain Beefheart held his poverty-stricken Magic Band virtually hostage for 8 months of Trout Mask Replica rehearsals is for sale. Priced at ~$850K, it is well beyond my price range. Bummer. I think it would be cool, magical place to live.

via BoingBoing | Positive Ape Index | Up Sifter

My friend John sent me an incredible link:

A video of an extremely talented person beatboxing while playing the harmonica.

I’m thoroughly impressed, and want to jam with dude.

Via DevilDucky

Those who have watched the cult film, The Princess Bride, may remember the following quote:

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father: prepare to die.

Is is odd that it came to mind as I was reading a BBC article on a Somali execution?

This is an Exquisite Corpse, a collaborative work from 2002 or 2003. Each line represents a new author.

Benny sat down on the park bench, observing the pigeons taking shits in front of him.
And then he died.
He came back alive!
He ran around the room screaming, “Yipee!”
And tripped over the footstool and broke his leg.
Since the break was a compund fracture, the man made a makeshift splint out of popsicle sticks and dust bunnies.
With the splint in place, he made his way through the forest, and drove 23 miles to the aid station.
The drill sergeant asked, “What happened?”

I beheld a strange sight today. Squirrels usually pick the most random locations along a road to cross, and often with dire consequences. I’ve witnessed many a squirrel meeting the wheels of a passing Cadillac with a crunch.

Not today, however. With my own eyes I beheld a squirrel using the crosswalk. I was approaching a stop sign, and a squirrel walked onto the road as I drove up. He was watching me carefully, and tenaciously made his way across the road. When he got to the other side, he looked at me as if to say, “Didn’t I do a great job?”

I said, “Good job,” and drove home, thinking how great it would be if all squirrels could cross like that. It totally breaks my heart to see animals run over.

Ryan forwarded me a cool link to an article about a self-tuning guitar. I took one look at the demo video (which featured Graham Nash popping wood) and I popped some serious wood. For a meager $3,000, one can get the Transperformance system installed in your guitar. Tuning takes place within one second – you can actually hear the guitar strings changing tension. True, it’s a bit hi-tech, but for the musician who needs 15 guitars backstage to accomodate different tunings, this would come in quite handy. How could you go wrong with something endorsed by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame?

via Engadget
via gizmag

Progressive rock fans rejoice! Rick Wakeman’s Yamaha Grand Piano is up for sale on eBay. This is allegedly the instrument that he used on the 70’s tours. Comes with a custom built flight case. At $19,500, how could you pass this up?

via eBay