W♥M

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

Microsoft® Surface Pro 7 Microsoft Surface Pro 7 - 12.3" Touch-Screen Release Date: October 2, 2019 Windows 10 Pro Laptop Mode / Studio Mode / Tablet Mode Instant On Dual far-field Studio Mics Front-facing 5.0 megapixel camera USB-C™ and USB-A ports Built-in Kickstand 10.5 hours Battery 10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor 12.3” PixelSense™ Display 1.7 lb Ultra-light and Thin Read More Black Friday It's that time of the year again, Black Friday. Like last year, it's more like Black Thursday, as Kmart, Walmart and are opening their doors at 12am, 6pm, and 8pm, respectively. … …

With Black Friday looming over America, some stores, such as Best Buy, are already doing “Black Friday Prices Now” (since November 1st). This is a great promotional thing for these stores, as consumers (such as myself), are already spending their money at their stores, rather than waiting to spend it elsewhere. I think it’s smart, especially against online retailers like Amazon, who traditionally might have similar prices when Black Friday comes around.

For those outside of America, Black Friday is the name of the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the last Thursday of November, and for most Americans, they have Thursday and Friday off from work. That Friday, historically, most Americans would go shopping.

Of course, there’s always Cyber Monday (the Monday after Black Friday), and the recent Singles Day (November 11 - which is mainly a Chinese celebration) …

Anyway, when I saw that the new MicroSoft’s Surface Pro 7 (with keyboard cover) on sale for $600, I couldn’t pass it up. Currently their price is $700, but MicroSoft’s website is still showing $600.

Sure, it’s the entry model version, i3 with 8GB ram, but I can’t really complain because of the price. I would’ve liked to pay a little more to upgrade the chip, but those i5 models weren’t on sale.

I already have an iPad Pro 12.9, but despite buying a Logitech keyboard, it is definitely not a computer replacement. There are some things that the iPad does really well, which is reading and watching movies, but if you want to do video editing or PhotoShop editing… it’s severely limited.

The major thing that sets the The Surface Pro apart from Chromebooks or iPads, is that the Surface runs the full Windows 10 operating system. All the Windows software you own and use will run on this laptop/tablet! Of course, that doesn’t mean that some software, like the latest games, will run very well on the Surface Pro…. But it will run.

It’s so good to finally able to run Steam or GOG on the new Surface Pro without any issues. The only downside is that software made especially for iOS and Android won’t exactly work on Windows (that is the fault of the developer).

For example, popular comic book reading application ComiXology (an Amazon company), refuses to develop for the Windows’ platform. You can view your comics on their website, but it doesn’t offer offline viewing.

There is a workaround for this, software such as BlueStack is an Android emulator and you can run Android apps on Windows. Unfortunately, it’s not a great solution, and it’s a little slower (with lower resolution) on my Surface Pro than I would like.

If you have a Surface Pro 6, don’t bother to upgrade to the 7, as the only changes are the 10th generation Intel chip and new USB-C connection. Not a major upgrade, but the USB-C is pretty nice, as it will also charge your Surface if you don’t want to use the magnet Surface charger.

There are cheaper Windows alternative out in the world, but if you’re looking for the nice form factor of a tablet / laptop, and if you can afford it, the Surface Pro 7 is the latest and best of its class.

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Amazon Music News: Metric and Big Data's "Risk" (Amazon Original Remix)

Metric - “Risk (Big Data Remix)” Read More Amazon Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal … Google With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music … Metric I've seen Metric twice (four times if you count Emily Haines solo or Broken Social Scene), so you know I love this little Canadian band. Their Rock the Garden's set was very similar to their … Big Data New York's Big Data was up next. The band was previously in town at the Fine Line Music Café earlier in March 2015. This music project is lead by Alan Wilkis, who teamed up with a variety of artists for their 2.0 album …

There are some big news coming from major online retailer giant Amazon.

The first is that Google and Amazon have made up and play nice… so YouTube will once again be available on Amazon’s devices, such as The Echo and Fire Stick.

Second is that Amazon will start making their Amazon Music streaming service available to non-Prime users, but with advertisements, according to Engadget. This would make sense, considering that you can already stream Spotify (with ads) on Amazon’s speakers.

Of course, the free service will be limited, as Amazon still wants you to pay for their full Music service, with access to more than 50 million songs.

Also, speaking of Amazon Music, it was announced yesterday that Metric and Big Data (artist/producer Alan Wilkis) have teamed up to release an Amazon Original Remix of “Risk.” You can only listen (or purchase) only on Amazon Music.

You can catch Metric on their upcoming April/May Canadian tour:

April 17 - Victoria, BC - Save on Foods Memorial
April 18 - Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
April 20 - Calgary, AB - Stampede Corral
April 21 - Edmonton, AB - Shaw Conference Centre
April 22 - Saskatoon, SK - SaskTel Centre
April 23 - Winnipeg, MB - Bell MTS Place
April 26 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
April 27 - Ottawa, ON - TD Place Arena
April 28 - London, ON - Budweiser Gardens
May 2 - Halifax, NS - Halifax Scotiabank Centre
May 3 - Moncton, NB - Avenir Centre
May 5 - Montreal, QC - Mtelus

Personally speaking, the free Amazon Music is a little too late, as I’ve actually gone all-in with Google’s devices (such as the Lenovo’s Smart Display) as they offer the ability to upload music you own via Google Play. What is better about this, is that you may own a lot of music that is simply not available on any streaming platform - such as live recordings or bootlegs or obscure singles and B-Sides.

UPDATE: Not to be outdone by Amazon, Google also allowed a free version of their YouTube Music service available on their speakers and Smart Display. Go here for the instructions to turn on the feature.

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iBuyPower Fallout Gaming PC

iBUYPOWER Fallout Basic PC Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 6-Core 2.8 GHz (4.0 GHz Turbo) RAM: 8GB-2666mhz RAM DDR4 Hard Drive: 240GB SSD Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 2GB (VR Ready | Display Connectors: HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI) Software: Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit Connection: 802.11AC Wi-Fi, RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 Connectivity: 4 x USB 3.0 | 2 x USB 2.0 | Audio: 7.1 Channel Special Add-Ons: limited edition Fallout case | Liquid Cooled | 16 Color RGB Lighting Remote Controlled Case | Free iBUYPOWER Gaming Keyboard & RGB Gaming Mouse | No bloatware Enough space for more Fallout Bobble-heads! Read More Site Update I have been meaning to upgrade the graphics card in my computer for a long time now. The integrated Intel video card, for the most part, worked fine, but it won't exactly run graphically intensive games (shooters, big diablo-style …

Before I bought this iBuyPower Fallout PC, I had two “gaming” computers: one running an Nvidia 750Ti that I bought for $400 (plus $150 video card) in Dec 2013, and an AMD Radeon R9-based computer that I bought in Jun 2017 for $500. As you can tell, I’m a cheapskate gamer, and I’m not running the latest and greatest, but it works for me. In fact, both computers were running just fine and dandy and I really, really didn’t have the need to spend more money on yet another gaming computer.... but... this Fallout Computer just looks so cool!

I knew I wanted it, but I didn’t want to pay full retail price. Recently, they had a sale, and on the cheapest model, the “Basic”, had an $80 off discount. I also had a couple of $5 coupons off from Best Buy, so I decided to pull the trigger. Honestly, on reflection, I should have just bought it from Amazon has they would’ve shipped it to me in two days. With Best Buy, they had to build-to-order (which took a week) and then they shipped it (which took another week). Waiting two weeks for this computer just felt too long, but it’s not unheard of, since I bought an Alienware computer that took nearly a month to ship to me (I’ll never do that again).

Now that I have the computer as my daily driver, I had to retire the 2013 Nvidia Computer. Switching over to the new computer was a little harder to do than I thought, as I had to research all the bookmarks and re-enter in all my passwords and re-authorized everything on the new device. Plus, all the softwares that I need, I had to re-hunt them down and re-install. Trust me, it was a pain in the butt to get everything back and running to the way I had it originally set up.

So far, the Fallout Computer is pretty amazing. It’s whisper quiet, thanks to the liquid cooling and quiet RGB fans. The clear glass window lets you look at the internal and admire all the custom Fallout custom designs. The RBG lights were actually way cooler than I thought. I’ve never own a computer that had a lighting system, so I was pretty impressed with it. Despite what I might gripe about, I think $799 is a fair price for this computer: considering that you are getting an SSD Harddrive (these are expensive probably $200), the custom Fallout artwork case (probably worth $300), the Nvidia 1050 card (probably $240). Trust me, if you were to build from scratch, it’ll probably cost you about the same or more, but you don’t get the amazing Fallout design.

Now for some disappointment: no optical drive (CD/DVD/Bluray drive), no media card reader, poor design of the case blocks off thick HMDI cables, generic iBuyPower keyboard & mouse, bobblehead won’t fit on the mount, and oddly missing a screw (which points to poor quality inspection or lackthereof). They’re minor complaints, but I would’ve liked to have at least a card reader, since that is how I import photos and videos from my computer. Not a big deal, since I have several USB readers around the house. For the Bluray drive, I’ll just have to buy another one... it’s not a problem. The iBuyPower keyboard and mouse that comes with the computer is usable, but you should just provide your own mechanical keyboard or optical mouse.

I’ve also read that not all the motherboards are the same across the line. Mine is an ASRock B360M IB-R1, but someone else said the had an MSI Z370-A Pro (I’m assuming they get an upgrade if they pay more). With the bobblehead situation, it depends on the bobblehead’s base. Most of the recent bobbleheads, they have a bigger base, so it won’t fit correctly on the mount. You can just use tape or replace the bobbblehead with a smaller base one. Not everyone is going to have a spare bobblehead (like I do), so that’s going to be annoying to some fans. But again, you can just buy a different one or use tape.

Finally, it’s limited to 2,000. I think the 2k number applies to all the Fallout PC together, because unique number on my sticker does not say “Fallout Basic”. That’s my theory, I could be wrong. What that means is that once all 2,000 PCs are sold, iBuyPower (in association with Bethesda to market Fallout 76 online game) will not re-issue these beautiful computer case. So, if you’re a Fallout fan or just want a unique and cool computer, you should get it now that it’s currently on sale.

If you’re interested in purchasing one, please use our Amazon Affiliate link, no additional cost to you - but Amazon will give us a little money in return.

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Nvidia Shield

NVIDIA Shield 2017 Read More The Mi Box That left me with my only choice: The Mi Box. If you aren't familiar with the Mi Box, it's a $69 Android TV box sold by Chinese company Xiaomi. When you get the Mi Box ... Roku I recently purchased the third generation Roku 2 at the end of July. I've been keeping an eye on the Roku for a long time, but have finally decided to get one based on the fact that they now support DLNA. ... Apple TV Apple TV is the only one that supports iTunes purchased movies and "Air Play", but if you don't live in the Apple Universe, a workaround is with UltraViolet (via Flixster or Vudu). You can read more about UltraViolet here. ...

It’s been about three years since I purchased The Mi Box and it was just time I needed to upgrade the device.

I know the trend right now are Micro PCs, but I don’t think it’s an elegant solution, since Windows 10’s fonts are tiny, sitting 10 feet away - and not to mention that you still have to use a mouse and keyboard to navigate.

Android TV (which includes Amazon’s limited version called Fire TV), Roku, and Apple TV, are basically the main three competitors in this streaming box market. I have own all three types and I love and hate them all. Many of you already have one of these boxes, and they’re fine for most of you. I just find that Roku and Apple are very limited in what you can actually do with their boxes.

I wanted the best of the best Android TV, and eventually just bought the Nvidia Shield when they had a sale. I was holding out for a new model of this device (since the internal hardware had not been changed since its launch in 2015), but I eventually gave in.

The new smaller 2017 version (with new redesigned controller) is the model I bought, and to be perfectly honest, it’s still a very good streaming box, thanks to the Tegra X1 chip (with 3GB of RAM). It’s fast enough to run any Android software and seems to handle 4k content better than most TV devices of its kind.

Overall, I’m still very happy with the Nvidia Shield and it’s the only device that I use regularly on my TV.

Pros:

The best, fastest, most updated Android TV on the market

4k/HDR/Dolby Atmos 7.1 support

Voice Control and Google Assistant

NVIDIA GeForce Now (currently FREE)

The only Android TV device that can officially run Amazon Prime Videos (Amazon and Google

Game controller is the best I’ve used on any streaming box

Ability to control Shield with Google Home Hub

Can run Dolphin Emulator (other devices on the market are not fast enough to run this software)

Official Google Play store apps, like Kodi, MAME4droid, Snes9x EX+

Supports Google Music and Amazon Music!

Ability to sideload any APK applications, such as Morpheus TV, StopAds, Adblocker

Shield exclusive games, like Doom 3, Tomb Raider, Half-Life 2

Cons:

The most expensive Android TV on the market

No Micro SD reader (found in the original 2015 model, but not in the latest model)

Small storage (only 16GB)

Short battery life on the game controller

Remote controller does not have volume control

Remote controller is flimsy

Remote controller’s batteries are not rechargeable

Needs a special base to stand the Shield upright

The Shield will unwantedly turn on (or off) the TV

I actually hated the remote controller that came with the Shield … so I’m using the game controller for everything and may be the reason why I’m complaining about the controller’s battery life. I find myself recharging it every other day, and it’s a little annoying.

The small storage and lack of SD card reader isn’t really a deal breaker, because you can address this with a rather large USB stick or USB Harddrive. For most people looking to just stream their content, 16GB will be fine for them.

As for the Shield turning on and off the TV, you can disable this “feature” under CEC power management, so it’s not a big deal.

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Lenovo Smart Display

Lenovo Smart Display Read More Amazon Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal …

After living with the Amazon’s Echo Show for seven months, and realizing its limitation (the fact that Amazon wants to sell you every service that should be free - like displaying your photos or playing your music), it was time I moved away from Alexa and to Google Assistant via Lenovo Smart Display (10” version).

So, why would you buy one over the other? Despite being much cheaper to buy, you end up paying more if you decide to go the Amazon route. If you own an Echo Show, you might end up buying a subscription to Amazon Music ($8 a month), a subscription to Amazon Drive (for your photos at $11.99 a year), a subscription to Amazon Prime (for watching some videos at $99 or more a year). As you can see, it can add up.

With Lenovo Smart Display, it’s pretty much free. If you want music, you can upload all your MP3s to Google Music and access them via the Smart Display. Of course, if you prefer, you can subscribe to Google Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, Deezer, or Spotify. You can access your movies via YouTube (which is not available on Amazon). You can access all your photos via the free Google Photos service.

To me, it’s really hard to argue free over paying for subscriptions, however, I can understand why some users won’t mind paying for ease of use.

Setting up the Smart Display was really hard. You have to download Google Home and sign in using a Google account. If you have a custom G-Suite Account, it won’t work unless you tweak the privacy settings (they should all work except for Google Calendar). If you sign in using different Google accounts on Google Home, it won’t work.

To get Google’s Duo to work, you must associate the app with your phone number and sign in using the same account that you use for Google Home (again, multiple accounts may cause problems).

If you have problems, you can’t simply delete and re-add in the software - you basically have to factory reset and start over from the beginning. Don’t feel bad, but I had to factory reset the display three or four times, to get everything to work. It definitely didn’t feel like the product was ready for primetime. It’s understandable, as the Smart Display is the very first of its kind.

Once you get it up and running, it’s very similar to the Echo Show. Everything the Echo can do, the Smart Display can do a little better.

With a bigger, beautiful HD screen, a beautiful bamboo-back design, and audio, it blows away the Echo Show. Fear not, Amazon will be coming back with a second generation Echo Show that promises to better compete with the Smart Display.

Breakdown below:

Product:	Echo Show	Echo Show (New)	Lenovo Smart Display
Price:	$149.99	$225.99	$249 (10”)
Release:	June 28, 2017	October 11, 2018	July 2018
Size/Resolution:	7”/1024 x 600	10”/1280 x 800	10”/1920 x 1200
Speakers:	Dual 2” stereo speakers.	2 x 10W and Dolby processing for room-filling sound	2" 10W Full Range Speaker, 2 x Passive Tweeters
Camera:	5MP	5MP	5 MP Wide Angle
Processor:	Intel SR2KT Atom x5-Z8350 Processor (2M Cache, up to 1.92 GHz)	Intel Atom x5-Z8350	Qualcomm® Home Hub Platform (Snapdragon™ 624, Octa-Core A53 1.8 GHz, 14 nm)
Software:	Amazon Products (Amazon Music, Videos, Photos) ($) Hulu CNN NBC Spotify Ring	Amazon Products (Amazon Music, Videos, Photos) ($) Hulu CNN NBC Spotify Ring	Google Products (Google Music, Videos, Photos) (free) Google Podcast Google Duo YouTube Chromecast HBO Now Spotify Pandora

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Echo Show

Read More Amazon Amazon semi-recently announced their new Christmas/holiday music collection called Indie for the Holidays, available for purchase and free streaming using their Prime Music …

Over the weekend, Amazon ran a promotional price drop for their Echo Show, selling for $149 instead of its normal retail price of $229, as part of the Super Bowl commercial. I thought it was such a good deal, that I ended up buying two (one for myself and one as a gift).

The main reason I needed two was to utilize its ability to video call each device (or if you trust the other person, you can enable “drop in”). I don’t really think it’s all that intrusive, especially if you have your device in a kitchen or public area. By default, the drop in feature is disabled.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what Echo Show was all about, but it took a while for me to really appreciate it. I’ve come to the conclusion that the Echo Show, at least in the way I’m using it, is more or less a clock with a digital picture frame and weather at a glance. Think of it as a really smart (and expensive) clock.

Here’s a daily scenario, in the morning, when you’re making coffee, you can ask Alexa to show your daily news flash. Depending on what “skills” or features you enable, it will show your daily commute (you must set up your work destination location), weather, and various recent news clippings.

Here’s another scenario, you can ask Alexa for a recipe… especially useful if you have it set up in the kitchen. If you have the Echo Show in the living, you can probably ask it for television listing. Or perhaps settle an argument by asking Alexa for the answer. If you’re bored, you can always ask it for a joke.

Like the other Amazon’s Echoes, the Echo Show it does have excellent speakers. At maximum, it’s loud, without sounding distorted, and has excellent bass. The microphones will pick up the “Alexa” wake word anywhere in the room, providing you say it loud enough and not mumble. I believe this was done by incorporating several microphones around the device, so that you can be in front or back and it will “hear” you.

Although I don’t have Alexa-enabled cameras or “smart lights”, I can easily see how the Echo Show can work with these devices. Amazon suggest you can use it as a baby monitoring viewer, or better yet, use it to see various smart security cameras. Very cool, if you think about it, it’s something I plan on looking into at a later time.

Now for some things I don’t like about the Echo Show. It’s ugly and it’s very heavy. I suppose that’s fine since you’re not going to be moving it around and you’re not look at its backside.

The 7-inch screen is too small to really enjoy watching a movie on it… unfortunately, there’s no output option to “cast” or HDMI-out to a larger screen. I would love the ability to hook up the Show to a bigger monitor.

The other thing is, to really unlock the Echo Show, you need the $100 annual Amazon Prime service. Prime will let you use their digital photos and gives you access to Prime Music and Television streaming. There is a workaround with the Prime Photos, you just need to get the Alexa on your phone and change the Echo Show’s background photos. Every time you change the photo, it will automatically add to your gallery.

If you already buy music from Amazon via CDs or Vinyls with its “Autorip” feature, you can stream those songs on your Echo. Alternatively, you can play your music using your cellphone's Bluetooth connection.

The other workaround is that if you’re already subscribed to Spotify and other music services, Amazon will let you stream those songs.

The same with movies, if you have UltraViolet digital copies in your locker, you can access your films on the Echo Show.

I think right now, the Echo Show is too expensive. Normally at $229, I wouldn’t even consider it or even recommend it… because you can buy an Xbox One with that much money! At the moment, the Echo Show is on sale for $179, which I still think it’s expensive at that price. But if you see the price dropping to $150 or less, I think you should consider getting one.

P.S. At the time of this writing, there is a dispute with YouTube, so its service is not available on the Amazon Echo Show. As far as I know, Google will be developing a similar device, so if you’re willing to wait, I’m almost certain the Google product will be a better choice.

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Christmas 2015: A Very Indie Christmas

Like previous years, I will be compiling some 2015 Christmas songs and Xmas-related news for you to enjoy! Today's theme is "Indie".

Read more Christmas.

Fruit Bats If you are looking for a laid back collection of summer tracks then I suggest you look no further than The Ruminant Band by the Fruit Bats. … Lisa Loeb Yes, i called Lisa Loeb to sing on my version of the Damned tune because i wanted her to sing the word "NASTY", with which she's not often associated. … Reverend Horton Heat The so-called "godfather of modern rockabilly and psychobilly" Jim "Reverend Horton" Heath's latest album Rev (their 11th album!) came out last year on Victory Records. … Rogue Wave You know, I have often mistaken this California band for Minneapolis' own Rogue Valley. Rogue Wave is basically Zach Rogue (vocals, guitar) with Patrick Spurgeon (drummer) … Family of the Year The W♥M family like Family of the Year, having covered their appearance in New Orleans and in Minneapolis, where John noted that the band offers "feel good vibes and melodies". .…

AMAZON
amazon.com/indiefortheholidays

Amazon semi-recently announced their new Christmas/holiday music collection called Indie for the Holidays, available for purchase and free streaming using their Prime Music service. Prime is their 2-day shipping service, but with some streaming of some selective films, television and music.

Unlike previous compilations we've seen in the past, many of these songs are newly-written for this compilation... including some new holiday songs from YACHT, Rogue Wave, Lisa Loeb, Langhorne Slim, Tuxedo, Ivan & Alyosha, The LeeVees & Matisyahu, A Silent Film, Sondre Lerche & Jherek Bischoff and many more.

Steve Boom, VP of Digital Music for Amazon, had this to say, "We always want to deliver something special to our customers and Indie for the Holidays is the next great way we’re connecting customers with not only new, original holiday music but with amazing artists and bands that they may not have discovered yet. We’re excited to follow last year’s popular All Is Bright holiday collection with songs from some of today’s best indie artists for customers to enjoy throughout the season."

With 27 tracks, there's a lot of holiday cheers to go around... below is a listing of the newly-written songs:

A Silent Film—“Christmas at Our House”

ARCHIS—“Winter Time”

Bhi Bhiman—“Who’s Up There?”

Esmé Patterson—“If I”

Family of the Year—“NYE”

Fruit Bats—“Christmas with You”

Ivan & Alyosha—“Being Home For Christmas”

James Apollo—“Go Trim Another Tree”

Kill Hannah—“This Is Our December”

Lisa Loeb—“Champagne (I’m Ready)”

Moon Taxi—“It’s Only Christmas”

Oscar—“It’s Christmas Again”

Reverend Horton Heat—“Donuts in the Snow”

Robert Pollard (of Guided by Voices) —“What Begins on New Year’s Day”

Rogue Wave—“Christmastime”

Sondre Lerche & Jherek Bischoff—“Surviving Christmas”

The LeeVees & Matisyahu—“Outside of December”

Turin Brakes—“New Year’s Day”

Tuxedo—“Holiday Love”

YACHT—“Christmas Alone”

Read More Radiation City Radiation City is currently on tour in support of Animals In The Median, out now on Tender Loving Empire. The dreampop band stopped by the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis last night as part of their tour. …

DEEP SEA DIVER
thedeepseadiver.com

Seattle band Deep Sea Diver recently announced their brand new Holiday EP called It's Christmas Time... featuring featuring three traditional Christmas carols and one original song "It's Christmas Time (and I am still alive)".

The band also recently announced its new album, Secrets, available in February 2016, along with a full US tour with Radiation City.

Tour dates:

12/08 Seattle, WA @ Deck The Hall Ball - Key Arena #
02/16 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop *
02/17 LA, CA @ Echo *
02/19 San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
02/21 El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow *
02/23 San Antonio, TX @ Limelight *
02/24 Dallas, TX @ Three Links *
02/25 Austin, TX @ Sidewinder *
02/27 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl *
02/29 Washington, DC @ DC9 *
03/01 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle *
03/03 Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade *
03/04 Boston, MA @ Great Scott *
03/05 Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo *
03/06 Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel *
03/08 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland *
03/09 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean *
03/11 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry *
03/12 Fargo, ND @ Aquarium *
03/14 Missoula, MT @ Stage 112 *
03/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
03/17 Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore *

# = w/ Death Cab For Cutie, Alabama Shakes
* = w/ Radiation City

Read More Kidding Around I know, I thought they broke up (they did in 2005!), but the kids are back. I guess you can't keep them down. The Get Up Kids' new album is called There Are Rules and they have recently toured with …

KIDS
thebandkids.com

Fort Lauderdale's Kids (not to be confused with Belgium's The Kids or Japan's The Kiddie or that mid-90s film Kids) is an eclectic folk-influenced indie-rock band. The band is pleased to announced that they've teamed up with Relevant Magazine for a Christmas Compilation album titled A Very RELEVANT Christmas. Part One is available now for streaming on relevantmagazine.com.

Regarding their song, "In The Bleak Midwinter," Kids singer Joshua Diaz noted that he wanted to bring the feeling of old Claymation films (Rudolf, and Davey and Goliath) in his song.

A Very RELEVANT Christmas (Volume 5) track listing:

1. Sugar and the Hi-Lows, "Jingle Bells" (3:44)
2. Ellie Holcomb, "Christmas For You And Me" (3:4)
3. Citizen Shade, "Go Tell It On The Mountain" (3:12)
4. Evan Wickham, "End Of Exile" (3:7)
5. Hoyle, "Long Winters" (4:3)
6. Ben & Nolle, "Angels We Have Heard On High" (2:29)
7. Citizens & Saints, "Come And Stand Amazed" (3:7)
8. Kings Kaleidoscope, "O Come All Ye Faithful" (3:4)
9. Fleurie, "Wake Up (O Night Divine)" (3:42)
10. Kids, "The Bleak Midwinter" (3:19)
11. The Modern Post, "What Child Is This (feat. Dustin Kensrue)" (3:19)
12. The Brilliance, "Christ The Lord Is Born" (3:7)

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Bosch vs Bosch

Read More Bosch The pilot does an incredible job of setting the tone and style of the show. This was a police procedural crime drama with two parallel storylines: Detective Bosch on trial for the murder of an alleged serial killer ....

There are a couple of things worth noting if you're a television junkie. First of all Walking Dead (not to be confused with Z Nation) is returning Sunday, February 8th, from its winter break. I'm not a fan of the winter break, as it feels like we wait so long for the season to conclude. I've lost interest in shows like American Horror Story, as they took such a long break, I'd forgotten about what happened earlier... And just a reminder, the last time Walking Dead aired, it was in late November 2014, and someone from the core group died. I'm looking forward to seeing how the group continues, as I think they gained a new addition to the team, the kid from "The Hospital".

Bosch PS31-2A 12-Volt Max Lithium-Ion 3/8-Inch 2-Speed Drill/Driver Kit with 2 Batteries, Charger and Case

The other big news is that one of my favorite Amazon pilot last year was Bosch (not to be confused with the power equipment) will be airing exclusively on Amazon Prime next week, February 13th. Bosch was one of a few shows that got picked up for a full season (notably the X-Files' Chris Carter The After show was not picked up). I'm sure it is in Amazon's best interest to pick up Bosh, as it is based on the detective book series ... and probably a lot cheaper to producer than a special effects-heavy Sci-Fi show.

I don't have Amazon Prime, but I'll keep an eye on it, if they should make the series available on DVD/Bluray... and if the price is reasonable, I'll likely pick it up.

If the show is something you might be interested in, the pilot episode is actually free, go download it at Amazon. If you've read the book, the pilot is a combination of two books: Concrete Blonde and City of Bones.

Even if you've seen the pilot in February 2014, you might want to revisit it... as they've re-edited the pilot (as of January 14, 2015) to keep it in line with the rest of the upcoming series.

Hey, if the name Bosch confused you with the power tool, here are some more confusing names:

Amazon Originals: The After and Bosch

The After Amazon Read More The X-Files Talking to people, I get the impression that no one is really all that excited about the new X-Files movie that was just released on Friday. Admittedly, since I'm an old-school X-Philer …

If you live in the U.S., Amazon recently premiered a few shows for free on February 6, 2014. The shows are: The After, Bosch, The Rebels, Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle. They all look very promising, but since I have absolutely no interests in comedy, sports, or historical drama (even if it's semi-music-related), I only watched the sci-fi The After and the crime-drama Bosch.

THE AFTER
The new series is from Chris Carter, the creator of the X-Files (one of my all-time favorite television show, except for perhaps the later seasons when we lost Agent Mulder), so The After has some key things that what made the X-Files so great. That includes mystery of the unknown and science fiction/horror elements.

I don't know if The After will work as a full series, as it felt very narrow with eight strangers trapped in an underground parking. The strangers all have their unique character traits: a cop, a clown, a drunk, a millionaire, a French actress, a lawyer, a criminal, and a call girl. I only mention 'French' in the actress because her accent was evident that it was almost hard to watch and understand what she was saying. Which is a shame because the main story is focused around her.

Overall, I think this nearly hour-long show is terrific, but it does suffer from many of these apocalyptic large-cast shows (to name a few Terra Nova, Fast Forward, Falling Skies, Under the Dome, etc), is that there are just too much (and too many characters) going on to keep track of. Shows that handle large casts well is The Walking Dead, where only a few character stands out, or, in the case of Lost, may focus only on one character at a time.

Bosch Amazon

BOSCH
The pilot does an incredible job of setting the tone and style of the show. This was a police procedural crime drama with two parallel storylines: Detective Bosch on trial for the murder of an alleged serial killer and at the same time trying to solve the murder of a young boy. You know they are related, if only Bosch can prove it to save himself.

What I'm curious about is how they can take this series. I mean, how far can you take Bosch's story? It felt to me like the trial can be wrapped up in a few episodes ... and let's face it, court room dramas aren't my cup of tea. What I would love to see is Bosch just solving regular crime with his cop-turned-detective girl rookie - and I'm hoping that's where the series takes us.

I've been looking for a new crime drama, especially since Justify is closing down next year (and Killer Women and HBO's True Detective* aren't cutting it for me). Bosch may be fast on my favorite crime-drama list of shows for 2014.

If you're interested in checking out these brand new original shows, head over to AmazonOriginals.com and watch them for free.

* PS on another topic altogether, why are people raving about True Detective so much? I watched the pilot and absolutely nothing happened on the show. Seriously, it's boring and I really don't understand why people love this show.

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thedharmablues said...

If you're in the UK, you can watch via Lovefilm Instant: https://www.lovefilm.com/micro/amazon_originals

[Or if you want to pretend to be American/avoid the silverlight plugin, use a chrome extension like hola or media hint and watch the Amazon versions.]

Sunday, 09 February 2014 at 06:17 AM