This is a crazy story, from Sunday’s New York Times: There’s an odd phenomenon in the Philippines that involves murder, soon after someone in a karaoke bar sings the Frank Sinatra anthem “My Way.” Why? No one is entirely certain, but it’s created a wave of fear in the country’s very popular night spots. From the article in the Times:
The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country’s many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.
Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years alone, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Karaoke-related assaults have also occurred in the United States, including at a Seattle bar where a woman punched a man for singing Coldplay’s “Yellow” after criticizing his version.
Still, the odds of getting killed during karaoke may be higher in the Philippines, if only because of the ubiquity of the pastime. Social get-togethers invariably involve karaoke. Stand-alone karaoke machines can be found in the unlikeliest settings, including outdoors in rural areas where men can sometimes be seen singing early in the morning. And Filipinos, who pride themselves on their singing, may have a lower tolerance for bad singers.
So now, I’m thinking, “do I sing ‘My Way’ next time I’m doing karaoke?”
When the trailer for Noah Baumbach’s upcoming feature, Greenberg, teased that the film would feature new music by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, more than a few fans of the band hoped it meant a full-fledged album (the follow-up to 2007’s breakthrough Sound of Silver). It will be, and it won’t be. Murphy (the one-man show that is LCD Soundsystem) did compose the score, but he claims it “sounds nothing like LCD, really. It’s made to fit the movie, not be ‘my record’.” There will be one song on the soundtrack by LCD Soundsystem, but the rest of it will consist of Murphy solo compositions and a few pop tracks from folks like Galaxie 5000 and Duran Duran. The soundtrack does not seem to have a U.S. release date, which I’m sure will change, but it is scheduled to be released in the U.K. on March 22. That’s four days before Greenberg will find itself in theaters stateside. The next official LCD Soundsystem album is expected to see the light of day, by late Spring.
A recently released study illustrates that teenagers are not blogging like they used to, and the theory is that Facebook may have something to do with it.
“What we think is really going on here — why young people aren’t doing blogs anymore — is that there’s been a move from MySpace, which put blogging front and center, to Facebook, which doesn’t have that,” Pew Internet Project researcher Amanda Lenhart says.
At the same time, teens are still not embracing Twitter in the same ways their older counterparts have come to enjoy the micro-blogging service. With text-messaging already a major part of their lives, it’s very possible they just don’t see the point in Twitter. Meanwhile, from the same report:
The survey results also note that young adults ages 18 to 29 have embraced mobile gadgets and connectivity with 66 percent of them being laptop users. Some 81 percent of those 18 to 29 go online wirelessly compared to 63 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds, and 34 percent of those ages 50 and older. More than half of young adults have accessed the Internet wirelessly on a laptop (55 percent) or a cell phone (53 percent).
Good friend to Cinetic and CRM, Nicolas Chartier, has won his fair right to be included as one of the nominated producers for The Hurt Locker. Nicolas is primarily a sales agent, and The Hurt Locker is one of his only excursions into the world of producing. He bet the farm (literally) on the prospects of the film becoming a success, and he deserved the ability to be nominated for an Academy Award along with the three other producers. The issue at hand stems from the Academy’s recent guideline that stipulates only three people can be included in the Best Picture nomination. Nicolas would have likely been the odd man out, had the three-person rule stuck to The Hurt Locker.
Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein star in this funny little St. Vincent music video for her great song “Laughing With a Mouth of Blood.” In the clip, Annie Clark is faced with the most worthless in-store performance ever. The song (from the great album, Actor) kicks in at the 2:00 mark, after some reliable comedy moments:
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