Boycott Israel

If you feel strongly about the Palestinian cause you may find this and this interesting.

It should be remembered that the suffering in Gaza continues despite a ceasefire as disease spreads in the midst of crippled infrastructure and the Palestinian people mourn the losses of more than 1300 people who have been killed by the IDF.

The Obama Way

Bad news. Due to an unfortunate scheduling clash, Daedelus is no longer playing Laneway. With no annoucement to be found on the website, it's not surprising that most of us failed to notice his absence in the timetable. Thanks for letting us know, guys!

It's hardly a substitute but check out this video in which Daedelus features. You can see why Obama got the youth vote. As of tomorrow, yay for President Obama!

Lotus Flies High

Warning. If you attend a Flying Lotus gig you may experience the following:

- Time travel
- Space flight
- Distortion of the world as you know it

And that's before the synthetics kick in. Flying Lotus immediately made up for an absence of originals from his latest album on Friday night with his ability to create a monstrosity of atmosphere and sound. As is evident from photos, FlyLo had half of the Moon Bar in awe and the other half jerking, gyrating and dub-stepping to everything between grimey mancunian drum & bass and parisian-chic Mr Oizo remixes and the soundtrack to an intergalactic war between the future indian empire and some aliens from Jupiter. Those who missed out definately missed out - you've probably never heard anything like it.

China girl woes

I was probably the only person I know to be upset by the news that Waterford Wedgwood are in danger of going bust. And in order to bolster themselves against a threatening debt of several million euros, the centuries-old English china producer is moving its production to Asia. This shift means not only that thousands of English and Irish workers will lose their jobs but opens up the possibility of the company using and abusing cheap labour in Indonesia and China. It at least means a significant drop in sales as collectors are likely to turn their noses up at the “Made in China” sticker on the bottom of the plate. I for one am relieved that the company isn’t erupting into flames just yet. If we lost Wedgwood we would loose such and beautifully crafted pieces as the famous "Willow" pattern below (a personal favourite of mine) and all the history that goes with them.