Excuse me sir I ‘m lost I ‘m looking for a place where I can get lost
Here is something that popped into my head while reading “The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail” by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. At first I thought I would extend the letter “I” into a cross (something like that), but that would miss the purpose of religion, I guess. Not to mention the fact that my name would probaby vanish from my grandmothers will.
Durrr is – according to urban dictionary – “the sound a mentally challenged person (retard) makes”. It is also a club night that takes place every monday at The End club. Durrr is the follower of Trash, a club night ran by Erol Alkan from 1997 to 2007. The notorious club night, which was perversely scheduled on mondays, was the host to variety of DJs as well as plenty of unannounced “non-electronic” musicians – ranging from Bloc Party to Scissor Sisters and Arctic Monkeys.
Erol has been one of my favourite DJs for a while now and yesterday I finally got to hear him. I must say that the tall guy with geeky looking glasses really blew me away. Despite the fact that I spent enormous amounts of time searching through the web as well as record shops, I wasn’t able to recognize a single tune he played (with the exception of The Pixies – Where is my mind – yes, he played the original). Crazy!
Apart from the his musical selection, which varies from forgotten indie tunes to noizy electro tracks, I must say that he is also very unpredictable with his mixing. The guy, whose monikers include Kurtis Rush (the real name of Take That’s Gary Barlow), doesn’t mind mixing up a proper 4/4 club track with a quirky 70ies tune. And it works! Way to go, Erole! DURRRRRR!
OK. The exams are over. Still, due to the rain (and rather surprising lack of will) I haven’t really celebrate it yet… there is still time to do that. Anyways, today I bring you 20 most played tunes that were keeping me (in)sane during the exam period.
Here we go:
1.) Arcade Fire – Intervention
2.) Jamie T – Back in the game
3.) Hot Chip – Look after me
4.) Hot Chip – The warning
5.) Kavinsky – Testarossa Autodrive (SebastiAn remix)
6.) The Sounds – Tony the beat
7.) Hot Chip – Boy from school (acoustic)
8.) Wolfmother – Colossal
9.) LCD Soundsystem – North American scum
10.) Justin Timberlake – My love (Diplo remix)
11.) Junior Boys – In the morning
12.) DJ Mehdi – Signatune (Thomas Bangalter remix)
13.) The Teenagers – Homecoming
14.) Antony and the Johnsons – Soft black stars (Current 93 cover)
15.) Morrissey – I just want to see the boy happy
16.) Fratellis – Henreitta
17.) Nelly Furtado – Maneater
18.) The Killers – Bones (Tiga remix)
19.) The Gossip – Listen up! (MSTRKRFT relick)
20.) The Libertines – Ha Ha Wall (Kissy Sell Out bootleg)
Here are also five most played DJ sets that found their way onto my iTunes:
1.) Erol Alkan @ And Did We Mention Our Disco?, 23.4.2004
2.) Riot in Belgium, Studio Mix 2007
3.) Boys Noize, In-the-mix (N-joy), 3-10-2006
4.) Headman @ And Did We Mention Our Disco?, 20.2.2006
5.) MSTRKRFT @ Pukkelpop 2006
I really wish I could be in Slovenia last weekend. Quite few things happened back home. Magdalena took place in Maribor (more about that follows), Springseven happened in Gradz (Austria), Križanke were for the very first time blown up by electronic music, but most importantly Puh’s brigde across Drava river in Ptuj got opened. This is the bridge that was responsible for quite few sleepless nights of my father, who designed and constructed it.
Despite the variety of bridges and viaducts inside and outside the country he did so far, I somehow felt that this one was really special to him. Since Ptuj, the oldest and one of most beautiful slovenian cities, is located only 20 minutes from my home town, he would drive there almost every day to check on it. He took precaution in every little detail (as he always does) and I am really sorry I couldn’t be there on Friday. Few other pictures of the extradosed bridge that was enthusiastically proclaimed as “the most beautiful bridge in Europe” by the media can be seen here, here and here. I have every right to be proud.
Another thing. Today the blog evaluation period ended. You don’t know what I am talking about? The reason for me to start writing this blog was the fact that writing a blog makes up for 30% of my grade for the module called Advertising and Sales Promotions and should tackle issues concerning – well – advertising and sales promotion. Still, as you can see I have not discussed sales promotion in a single post. This is not because I think they are irrelevant or useless. To be honest, I spent quite some time scanning shops and the web, but I just couldn’t find any that would be truly impressive or at least interesting and I didn’t want to discuss the matter just for the sake of discussing it.
So writing this blog is no longer obligatory… Alright! I can finally stop pretending that I am interested in advertising and start concentrating on things that truly matter.
Just kidding 
Still, I think that the focus of the blog will be slightly shifted…
Here are my stats so far:
Total Views: 1,122
Best Day Ever: 46
Posts: 26
Comments: 53
Tags: 7
As I saw the above video on YouTube about a week ago, it didn’t cross my mind that it could be a viral ad. However, browsing through ad:goodnes today, I came across a post claiming that the video is Ray Ban’s attempt to make the brand popular again. The video, which was so far seen 1.5 mio times and evoked numerous responses, uses the classic Ray Ban model in a rather smooth and subconscious way and if this truly is a viral ad made by Ray Ban, then I must say that I ‘m impressed. I mean, the production is a bit more advanced than the one of an average YouTube video, but still – if you are not into viral marketing, you won’t notice the difference.
The only thing that troubles me is the fact that the video appeared in the YouTube’s “recommended” section, which is said to be limited to only non-commercial videos (still, they never revealed how they pick the among them). And the possibility of picking the Ray Ban viral among countless new videos is mildly put, minor. Hm…
Here is the tune that I have listened to about 1000 times in the last month. No, I have not dramatically changed my music taste. I listen to it against my will. What happend, you ask?
No, I haven’t been kidnapped by a group of Hindu sound terrorists. Explanation is simple. Due to the rather thin walls, I am often exposed to music played by a student living in a next room, Mansoor. Mansoor – IT student from southern India – has developed a severe addiction to that song (which is actually Srilankan). Despite the lower volume pact which we stick to during the exam period, the above tune has been constantly invading my consciousness and has even become a soundtrack for my unconscious adventures.
I have been wondering if my musical selection influences him in the same way, but since my integrated laptop speakers are pretty futile in comparison to his inner-organs-shaking subwoofer, I seriously doubt this is the case. Still, it looks like the tables will turn as I am thinking of buying these babies. “All the band boys in your specs and sneakers, we got your back, now its time to blow the speaker!”
P.S.: Here you can see Mansoor coming from a job interview he had today – he was really pleased with that picture
Behavioural targeting, the practice of delivering ads to individuals based on their previous surfing behavior, is one of the most talked-about topics in on-line advertising and, according to Marketing Vox, Yahoo! is going to be the first major Internet services company to introduce it. Yahoo! is set to launch such approach, despite the “invading-the-privacy” controversy surrounding it (such concerns are, according to some, blown out of proportion) and is expecting a considerable rise in their revenue.
Privacy invading or not, behavioural targeting is without a doubt a powerfull tool and I am really interested how this turns out. It could be the next big thing in online advertising. Also, as the guy in the soc-mkt newsletter pointed out, It would be interesting to see its effects in the context of social marketing. I bet quite some companies wouldn’t be to keen on that (imagine booking an appoinment at a tanning shop followed by a skin cancer pervention ad poping up).
Mental note to myself: Stop using grandma’s computer for porn.
