Tag: Nintendo

I’m Gonna Be Rockin The Commute

I’ve always wanted to be a guitar hero, but couldn’t face the callouses. Now I can create earnest rock music on the train…

Jam Sessions on the Nintendo DS. I’ve pre-ordered and am waiting…

Toshio Iwai’s Tenori-On From Yamaha

Toshio Iwai has made a load of cool audio widgety things. The thing I know best is Electroplankton on the Nintendo DS. But he’s done lots of other stuff too. I’ve just come across his latest device to hit the streets, Tenori-On, it’s a bit like this:

As a piece of design I really like it, especially when you see it’s double sided!!!

There’s a UK launch party for the thing in a couple of weeks with performances and DJs and stuff. It’s at Phonica in London (and I think there’s one in Manchester too, but I can’t find the details). More info on their last.fm page: http://www.last.fm/group/TENORI-ON

I could get quite needy for a thing like this. But it looks like it going to be about $1000 which is a lot for a plinky plonky toy…

UPDATE: Full UK site is here: http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/ (it’s empty at the moment), a better global site is here http://www.global.yamaha.com/tenori-on/ and the Manchester night is at Mint Lounge.

The Electro Plankton Quartet

The Electro Plankton Quartet

As part of Russell’s Interesting 2007, I got to play as part of ‘The Electroplankton Quartet’. Although we’re likely to get very big and very famous, I thought it was worth setting up a MySpace page just to prove that we existed (just in case we vanish without trace).

www.myspace.com/theelctroplanktonquartet

Then I noticed I’d made a typo and the URL is now missing an extra ‘e’, oh well at least Nintendo might not be able to sue us now…

Thanks to Curtis for the photo.

DJ Wiij

One of the best URLs I’ve seen in a while DJwiij.com (that’s pronounced deejay weejay). Basically it’s a site dedicated to using the Nintendo Wii’s remote controls as DJ interface tools. Not sure how practical it is, or whether it’s just a bit of fun. But this site’s got all the details.

Thanks to Dom and his lovely new Tak site for the details.

My Top Stuff of 2006

I’ve been thinking about doing a post on stuff I’ve liked in 2006, if you’ve got a blog it seems like you have to. But I didn’t know what to put in it or how to organise it. But I got re-inspired by The Design Conspiracy annual (a thing of much loveliness which you can download here). I liked their top 10s so I decided to use their format as a kind of template, but I’ve altered it a wee bit…

  1. Favourite Top 10 list of 2006 – The ones in The Design Conspiracy Annual – as you might guess I feel a little guilty in taking my inspiration from their hard work so I’m making sure I give them healthy credit ;-)
  2. Music: So This is Goodbye – Junior Boys. Emotional electronic music of the highest quality.
  3. Music Video: Gnarls Barkley – Crazy. It might actually be that it’s the song that makes it. But I reckon that the song and the vid just work really well together. Subtle and simple, I like.
  4. TV ad: Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Or maybe it’s just that my head is a bit fuzzy today. But I really struggled to remember an ad that I really loved in 2006. I’m really struggling. Hmmmm… I like the 3 ad for free messenger I don’t think that the insight is particularly amazing or anything. I just really like it as a little film (and I think it does a nice job of making something intangible feel tangible.
  5. Film: Little Miss Sunshine. If you haven’t seen it. See it. By the end I couldn’t work out if I was crying with laughter, or just crying and laughing at the same time. The whole cinema was properly laughing out loud. Genuinely funny and moving. Manages to navigate between sentimental and mental really well.
  6. Website: YouTube. Perhaps an ‘obvious’ choice. But think back to an time ‘BYT’. Can you remember it? It’s tough. How many links have you been sent to things on YouTube this year? I’d wager that it’s likely to be a similar number to the total number of links you’ve been sent to all other sites combined. Of course it’s not YouTube’s content. But without a doubt YouTube has changed the shape of the web immeasurably.
  7. Design Thing: Nintendo Wii. I got mine last week. My body hurts from playing it too hard. It’s a magical thing. It’s completely redefined the gaming agenda. Fuck polygon counts and blu-ray. Wii is all about fun. And it’s got shedloads of it.
  8. Person: Sophie.
  9. Item of clothing: Nike Air Force One Nordic Edition they look a bit nasty in these photos, but they’re lovely and comfy and warm, and they don’t look too shabby either. IMHO.
  10. Place: Brighton ;-)

I might also do a list of the blogs I’ve enjoyed over 2006. But it’ll take me a long time to pull it together. Perhaps until 2008…