Happy holidays!

I finally finished my exams, which means the holiday season is kicking in! Obviously that calls for a a christmas theme!

Now to get some of that sleep I've been lacking for a couple of weeks.

Wu-Tang Clan - The Heart Gently Weeps

Quite the opposite of the Burial album, the new Wu-Tang album lacks consistency. Unfortunately. But, that was pretty much anticipated, given all the brawl that's taken place within the Wu camp considering the beats and whatever... Nevertheless, that doesn't stand in the way of the fact that this song turned out amazing. The ingredients include a Beatles sample, Red-Hot-Chili-Pepper-Guitar-God John Frusciante, the smoky voiced, yellow-toothed, fake-afro-wearing Erykah Badu, George Harrison's son Dhani, and of course the Clan.

That bitch is craaaaazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...

Burial - Untrue

How long has it been since you heard an album from start to finish and were amazed by all the tracks? This is one of those rare pieces of gold. From the moment i pressed play I got the feeling that this was something truly special.
Oh, and somebody give this guy a video...

Buy/download at amazon.com

Hot Chip - Boy From School

Awesome live version...

Alicia Keys - Where Do We Go From Here

We're at the crossroads, my dear
Where do we go from here?
Maybe you won't go, maybe you'll stay
Oh I know I'm gonna miss you either way
It's such a lonely road

Where do we go from here?
All I can do is - follow the tracks of my tears
Oh

When I cry your name
Am I calling in vain?
Ooh, am I waiting only to drown in pain
Oh
Don't you do it
No, said don't you leave me this way
I don't know
If I can lift my head and face another day
Ooh, it's such a lonely road

Where do we go from here?
All I can do is - follow the tracks of my tears

You seem now the kind of girl who's lost and looking for direction
Who could this be? Staring at me?
When I'm looking in the mirror trying to find a resolution
Way too far gone, to find my way home

Where do we go from here?
All I can do is - follow the tracks of my tears

You know who you are...

MobileScrobbler - Last.fm on the iPhone

I'm not getting much sleep these days due to various issues, and when I can't sleep I roll around in bed fondling my iPhone, which was the case tonight. I was playing with my MobileScrobbler.app and I thought to myself how awesome it would be if it actually had more of the features from the actual Last.fm client, like the loved button and artist info. And I kid you not (true friggin story!!), like some universal synchronisity, not more than 5 minutes later, the update for MobileScrobbler v1.1.0 appeared in my Installer.app which enabled all of these functions. Dumbstrucked, I got up to my computer to write about this, not knowing what the most awesome part was; the fact that my wish was instantly/magically granted, or the new functions. Look at the pictures and decide for yourself...







And yes, that last image is not photoshopped, that is in fact an actual working Last.fm radio client! What this means - if your not catching the monumental happening going on here - is that the ingenious radio from Last.fm is available on your iPhone, making this possibly the sweetest app available out there! Screw netradios, just type in an artist you like, and it will play something similar for you. I strongly believe some donations are in order!

I wonder if my other wishes come true as well..?

iPhone: Remote controls

Yes, the iPhone is my new favorite toy, but that doesn't mean it can't be useful. The device has a huge potential working as a remote control (touchscreen remember?) and developers are taking heed. Here are the three remotes I use on a daily basis. The remotes all use your Safari browser (which means no iPhone hacking needed) and requires that all the devices you intend to use it with, are on the same WLAN as your iPhone.

1. uTorrent
uTorrent has a webremote built in, but it's advanced features do not work with Safari. So it was with great pleasure I discovered this mobile interface designed to work specifically with the iPhone. Both uTorrent and this "addon" are completely free.



2. iTunes
Signal is Alloysoft's remote for iTunes. Installs as a little app in your systray and shares your entire iTunes library. It does a great job at it as well, mimicking the native iPod application on your phone, and displays albumart! Signal will set you back $25



3. Xbox Media Center
XBMC is what makes that dusty old Xbox of yours still worth something. It has a built in webremote that allows you to control alot of functions from a browser. Due to design issues this isn't very practical on the iPhone, so Tom Robinson created a feature-packed remote that enables you to maneuver your Xbox completely from the iPhone. The best part: it's free!

Mos Definitely in need of material

Mos Def has been a longtime favorite of mine in the hiphop world. Together with Talib Kweli he made pure magic on the BlackStar album, and met expectations with his solo debut. Ever since though, it's gone completely downhill (at least beatswize imho) and last nights show at Rockefeller was a testament to that.

Mos did a few tracks from the upcoming album which sounded alright, a few classics - most noteworthy Ms Fat Booty (which was the only time the place was rocking), and a lot of stuff he shouldn't even have brought.

But the reason I'm so disappointed in this concert, was the fact that the man just seemed downright lazy. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I estimate that 40-50% of the show consisted of his DJs playing either old soul records or other peoples records, which would have been cool to a certain extent, but this was overdone completely. I didn't pay 350,- NOK to listen to Mos Def doing live-backup on Kanye West cd's. I mean come on, that's just retarded, especially considering that at one point he did 5 in a row!? It's the only time I've actually booed at a concert.

iCandy

The other day I was getting kinda tired of my current iPhone theme and I decided to create a new one. On that note I thought I'd share some of the stuff I've found that's not available through the "ordinary" channels.

The iPhone's GUI is very customizable. SummerBoard and Customize are very good tools for this (available via Installer.app), but as you've may have noticed, alot of the stuff floating around isn't comparable to the iPhone's native sexiness. Here's a couple of things I've found that look great and lives up to Apple's GUI standard.

1. Batterymod
What: Slick graphics, and increased detail on batterystatus. Good looking and useful!
How: Add homepage.mac.com/reinholdpenner/111.xml as a source in Installer.app and install Aqwoah Battery




2. Keypad mod by Jonas Rask
What: A slightly toned down keypad with more elegant aesthetics than the original one. Available in multiple colours.
How: Download from Macthemes.net and follow the instructions included in the zip file.




3. Calculator mod by Jonas Rask
What: A calculator replacement that makes you realize that the original one from Apple is kinda ugly.
How: Download from Macthemes.net and follow the instructions included in the zip file.

Ninja parade slips through town unnoticed

Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again