Steel is real.

(credit)

So I was walking back from my favourite cheap Japanese place on Little Lonsdale the other day, via Brother Baba Budan, and I couldn’t help but notice there were more vintage road bikes out front that chairs hanging from the ceiling. Didn’t happen to snap a shot, but it was quite an intimidating a mound of steel, rubber and mini-Kryptonites. Of course, there’s a point to this story. Steel isn’t just real, it’s cool.

But I won’t let the recent spike in the Columbus/Reynolds/Tange-dex hold me back, my dream is still to sport a full steel setup on St Kilda and Beach Rds daily. But I’m starting to think vintage will be out of my reach.

Pacer it is.

Mille // Sneaky Sound System.

It’s been long enough and I’ve got enough crap to post about so I thought it was time for a bit of an update.

First thing – Mille (myspace). Courtesy of the always reliable Discodust, the best thing about this track is how much it sounds like Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. Totally chanelling my younger days, I get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever I hear those chords, reminding me of happier days in our basement playing Sonic for hours. I’m pretty sure that’s not what they were going for with this one so I highly recommend you listen to it and make up your own mind.

Track: Mille – Crysteena (listen).

Second, Sneaky Sound System (official). Read a review about these guys in the paper the other day. Apparently they’ve scaled back their live show massively, to feature just cdjs and Connie, which isn’t exactly the stadium setup they were sporting 12 months ago. But it gets them cred.

This Thin White Duke remix also gets them cred. Maybe its just my taste degenerating in old age, but I really dig this poppy, clubby sound.

Track: Sneaky Sound System – It’s Not my Problem (Thin White Duke Remix) (listen).

Winter = Wool.

Check out these Merino wool hoodies from Outlier. I’m in the market for some warmer cycling stuff. Something that I can wear for more than two days in a row and won’t stink up with sweat. They also make some other cool stuff but I’m mainly interested in the hoodie.

Really missing riding while I lose this cold.

Revival.

As new offerings from Colnago and Cinelli demonstrate, steel is far from dead. And not just in that nostalgic polish-it-up and put it on the mantle sense — these frames are made to be built up with state of the art gear and ridden fast.

Both get my vote for looks and authenticity. There’s a built up Master-X at BSC QV, stunning piece of machine. But nothing beats a Llewellyn.

If you need more evidence that steel is real, you need only look at this long list of steel road bikes now on the market courtesy of Urban Velo.

Unexpected.

Didn’t see this one coming, but everyone’s favourite incurable cyst that is Dick Wolf’s lifetime achievement award, Law & Order, just keeps growing.

(This post features my terrible taste in TV.)

Law & Order: UK is, of course, set in London, and features the usual six part cast solving and prosecuting homicides in four part episodes. The first 13 episodes will feature adapted storylines from the original series (the best). We’ll see how that conversion works out.

I for one am curious at the prospect of a truly common law Law & Order, but just the mention of Detective Inspectors ‘on the beat’ is a little too The Bill-like for me to stomach. They’ll have to majorly rework my stereotypes of British police if I’m to enjoy the first half of every episode.

There’s talk of a Det Munch cameo. Could the dude be in any more shows?

When do you wanna stop working?

That’s a good question. But not one apt to be asked a mere month after I’ve started work. Needless to say, there’s been a lot of single tasking — though not by choice — and a bit of multitasking. For every bad day, there’s a good one.

But is this how I want to spend the rest of my life? I think I’ll give it a little more time. After five years of study, I’ve probably got some.

Track: Poney Poney – When Do You Wanna Stop Working (listen).

Courtesy of Electrorash.

PS. Everyone get their tickets to Luke’s Got Cancer (Melbourne International Comedy Festival, pretty much every night) — selling out fast.

Delphic.

Delphic (myspace) make brilliant shoegaze electro. Don’t really need to say more — except that this is the first stuff I’ve seen on a blog this year which had got me really excited.

Track: Delphic – Counterpoint (listen).

Track: Delphic – Doubt (listen).

Been out of the blogosphere for a while, which has left me feeling a little lost for words/out of what’s ‘cool’ right now. Perhaps this is a good thing. Sadly it’s not a temporary hiatus but a permanent move to full-time work. Really starting to see the appeal of freelance now — except for the ‘finding work’ side of things.

Or house-husbandry. This guy has made it work.

Robotxy.

Thought I should break up the rants and post something music related. I’m currently hearting on this mixtape from Robotxy (myspace), a dude who I don’t know much about. It starts off all funky and disco with a remix of ‘A Fifth of Beethoven’ which I haven’t heard before. Although, after those handclaps, you totally expect that SebanstiAn-style beat to drop in, and it’s epic. But then the mix gets all deep and mellow, finally finishing up where it started with a Michael Jackson edit.

Anyway, guy’s got a bunch of newer mixes on his myspace, but this one is where I’m at right now.

Track: Robotxy – December Mixtape (listen).

Compare the pair.

Did yall hear about the new Facebook again? I mean, I know Google’s great but even they’d have a hard time revising something this much.

Just kidding.

This post is really about how the new Facebook is a total rip off of a legitimate blogging service known as Tumblr.

Let’s compare the two:

1. They’ve already implemented the ‘like’ function, which is the same as hearting a post in Tumblr.
2. Now, they’ll add the ability to ’share’ someone else’s post, a la ‘reblog’ anyone?
3. The home page itself pretty much resembles the dashboard. Just need to add the ability to post quotes, chats and audio and you’re there. Well, you’re here.

But will anyone seriously use their Facebook like they would Tumblr? No. One is where you share bullshit stories about going out last night and working a long shift. The other is where you post meaningful rants to the public at large and reblog cool stuff from fffound. See what I’m getting at?

New Apple line: too expensive, too disappointing.

There’s plenty of reasons to be sad in today’s modern world. Please, Apple, don’t give us more. Here’s a few reasons why I’m not lauding Tuesday’s announcement of new iMacs and Mac Minis:

• Price. The base model iMac is now $400 more expensive, the Mac Mini $200. This says it all — whatever miniscule improvements in performance and looks these models might deliver, Apple has never before delivered such a monumental, across the board, price increase. Of course I realise this is because of the abysmal value of the Australian dollar. But most other manufacturers are doing something to mitigate increases. Not Apple it seems.
• DisplayPort is now standard. This annoying, Apple-only, restrictive port is now standard across the line. It’s $45 just to get an adapter to VGA. What’s more, some of your content from iTunes will be locked to approved screens only.
• Bundled keyboard. Apple have ditched the ‘long-form’ keyboard in favour of the ’short-form’ which omits the numerical keypad. These tiny keyboards are a joke and it will cost extra to buy a proper one.
• Mac Mini still not all it could be. No HDMI, hard drive too small, no Bluray. The Mac Mini is still not the hub of home entertainment many think it could and should be.

At least they all still have FireWire 800. And yes, graphics and memory improvements are nice.