It’s been a long time since I made a mixtape. So here is a brand new one! Been working/playing with it for a few weeks. The result is a acid/break/crash mix of some freaky and pumping beats.

I’m using my Dropbox account for sharing the mixtapes, it seems the easiest way to do so. At least now I’m sure the files won’t get deleted after a month, as I’m using my Dropbox all the time anyway. (Stupid Rapidshare…)

Freak Like I Do (41m06s – 75,5MB – 256kbps MP3):

1. Tenacious D – Cock Pushups
2. Rick James vs Birdy Nam Nam – Super Freak Boulogne Express
3. Freaks – The Creeps
4. Martin Solveig vs Les Rythmes Digitales – About One 2.3 Four
5. Autokratz – Kick
6. Yeah Yeah Yeah – Heads Will Clap ‘n’ Roll
7. Wham! vs Rex The Dog – Young Gecko Guns
8. Les Rythmes Digitales vs Cassius – Feeling Disco
9. Beastie Boys vs Aphex Twin vs Spiller – Triple Groovy Windowlicker
10. The Ting Tings vs The Crystal Method – Shut up True Grit
11. The Crystal Method vs Random (vs Daft Punk) – Born Too Short
12. A-Trak – We Don’t Want No Goblins (Cut)
13. Kid Sister – Life On TV (Cut)
14. Rinôçérôse – Cubicle
15. Amanda Blank - Might Like You Better
16. Tenacious D – Hard Fucking

Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3049327/Mixtapes/FreakLikeIDo/FreakLikeIDo.mp3

Cover image taken from Tasastock.

Met de hemelvaart van de iPad, ook bekend als ‘The Jesus Tablet’, worden de Lateraanse neigingen van Apple nog barokker. De komst van het nieuwe toestel was gehuld in iets wat beter beschreven wordt als religieus mysticisme dan als bedrijfsgeheimhouding. De geestelijke leider, die onlangs uit de doden opstond, vierde de geboorte van zijn ‘magisch en revolutionair’ gadget met een ceremonie die deed denken aan een hoogmis, met boven zich een glimmend Apple-icoon dat dicht in de buurt van het kruis komt als universeel herkenbaar symbool.

If you speak Dutch, this is a great article about Apple and The Jesus Tablet: De hemelvaart van de iPad. Basically the author is saying that the iPad won’t save newspapers and magazines. One of the reasons is that you won’t need to buy an app when the iPad (or every other tablet for that matter) will give you a full browser experience. Apps are useful for smartphones, where you often can browse a light version of the website on small screen. I must also agree with the fact that these apps feel like the multimedia CD-ROM we know from the 90s. Isn’t that just going back in time? I believe in mobile versions of newspapers, magazines and books, but I don’t believe that these iPad apps are the solution.

You might have seen this already, it’s being posted all over the web. I think it’s pretty interesting. Not just because it’s fun to watch someone doodling, but because the message is very inspiring too.

You can watch the full presentation, it’s worth it. One of my favourite ideas mentioned is to share the energy on a worldwide intergrid, like we share information on the internet. I’m not completely sure it’s that easy, but the idea sounds pretty logical to me.

De kritiek op burgers die in juni niet gaan stemmen, valt terug te voeren tot angst voor het lawine-effect. En terecht. Waarom? Omdat het nu echt welletjes geweest is.

What?! I’m going political?! Don’t worry. I’m not. But we need to raise our voice. Our Belgian government needs to know. That’s what democracy is all about! We are fed up with it.

For my fellow Belgian readers. Interessante lectuur:

• Oproep tot burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid klinkt luid.
  http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=212PM78V
• Wat denken die daar eigenlijk wel?
  http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=6R2PIAH9

I usually try to stay out of these discussions. But looking at what’s happening in Apple’s War On Flash, I think it’s important to give Adobe some support.

3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

Apple is trying to create a closed system for their iPhone/iPad/… devices by restricting and controlling developers too much. I do believe this is very unhealthy for the industry. A few interesting reads:

• http://www.mikechambers.com/…/on-adobe-flash-cs5-and-iphone-applications/
• http://blogs.adobe.com/…/adobe_air_on_the_android_platf.html
• http://gamehaxe.com/2010/04/10/bravo-apple/
• http://twitter.com/joa/status/11845234511
• …

Thank god I bought an Android phone.

Edit: Or install Android on your iPhone, maybe this will get you Flash on it. :)

Today some new names were revealed for my favourite festival, Pukkelpop. It’s only getting better, because The xx is coming! They were already lined up for another big festival here in Belgium, Rock Werchter. But lets face it. Rock Werchter is for pussies. Pukkelpop is what it’s all about. Anyway, so I was saying, the line-up for Pukkelpop is pretty good with names as The xx, Eels, Pendulum, Groove Armada (if they stay away for their latest album), Mumford & Sons, The National, Hot Chip, Beach House, … Do I really need to go on?

Lately I’ve been trying out some new bands. So let me give you a quick overview of what I’m listening to these last weeks. First of all (it’s playing in the background as I type), we have De Novo Dahl. To be honest, I have no idea how I stumbled on their Bandcamp. Oh wait, I do remember. I found a link on The Heavy Edition. The album cover looked pretty nice, so I clicked it. (And it said “Free Album”.) :) So head over to their Bandcamp page. At the moment you can download a lot of albums and EP’s for free, so hurry up, I don’t know how long that’s going to be.

I don’t really know much about the band, but I especially fell in love with the Bobby Thompson Reels, Vol. 1. So just take a listen to it, and decide for yourself.

Another great website I discovered not so long ago is We Are Hunted. They claim to have a list of the 99 most emerging songs in the world. It’s a rather bold statement, but I’m going to believe them for now. The website works pretty well, but it can use some more work (because in Google Chrome it still has some hick ups from time to time). What you can do is listen to the list of songs, or filter them out by genre or reference. You can also create your own chart. But I’m still working on mine.

Listening to these emerging songs, I discovered a band called Delorean. Okay, yes that name reminded me of an awesome film, but that’s not the reason why I like them. I hope I have this right, but they are supposed to be a band from Spain, playing melancholic pop music.

Take a listen to their album Subiza. The first song Stay Close is fantastic.

There is some more music I like to talk about, but it’s getting late. So that’s for another time.

I just got back from 2 holidays. Yeah, that’s right. Two! So, I’m pretty tired now, and I need a rest. :P

Two weeks ago I visited my AFS brother in Costa Rica. I’ve been there 7 (or 8) years ago, so we didn’t do too much of the tourist stuff. Hanging out with my brother, his family and friends was super great, so I had a great time. It’s a beautiful (green) country, with lots of sun, beautiful beaches and very nice people. I drank some whiskey, learned a bad word in Spanish, and that’s about it what I’m going to share with you (besides from this picture). :P

This last week I went to Berlin, with Daan and Debora, the folks from Alley. We visited Pictoplasma. You may know it from the books, but it’s also a fantastic festival on character design. It’s 2 days of lectures, screenings and a lot of inspiration. I already chose some of my favourites for this week’s web issue on GizMag.eu. I will post more later, you might also find some links on my Twitter and Tumblr. Berlin is a very cool city by the way, definitely worth a visit, I want to go back already…

Check out Le Macaron! It’s the fresh, new blog of Marie Walgraeve, aka Marmushka. She did an interview in the latest PDF issue of GizMag. And now she interviewed me! On here blog she will talk about what inspires her, and she will post interviews from time to time with other artists. I’m very honoured to be a part of it. So thank you Marie!

Check it out: The (sometimes) bearded man begin the Gizmag – interview with Geert Bollen

When I first heard about Tim Burton directing a new Alice In Wonderland film, I couldn’t wait to see it. So the day finally came, and I was ready to be amazed! I’m happy to let you know that Tim Burton still knows how to create a wonderful world with freaky and funny characters. I watched the film in 3D, but wasn’t really convinced that this was necessary. Yes it’s fun to have characters flying around in the foreground, but it was more distracting me from the story, than it was adding something to it.

It’s the first time I’ve seen Mia Wasikowska playing (as for most people probably), but she’s an excellent Alice! The movie has a brilliant cast. The costumes, special effects and the music, it is all very remarkable. Through the whole movie, I felt a big smile on my face, which didn’t want to go away. :)

The story is based upon the books of Lewis Caroll, but it is not a direct translation to the screen, nor it is a sequel or a remake. It starts of with Alice going back to Underland, where she has been 13 years ago. And she has, well, similar adventures as before. I think it’s a wise decision of Tim Burton not trying to adapt the book to the screen. Characters and scenes are taken from both books, so it gives a new spin to the story and shines a new light on the original. I purchased the books a while ago on eBay, and now I’m even more anxious to start reading them.

Not everyone will be as enthusiastic about this film as me, as I can tell from the user rating on IMDB, but hey, not everyone falls in love with the same girl, Alice, right?

If you are on the Belgian mobile carrier Proximus, and you have HTC Magic, you might want to check out the free application Hello Proximus. I just discovered it on the Proximus website. I’m not sure if it will work on other Android/HTC phones, but it’s a must have. You can monitor your data usage, and you can switch off all your data connections. Which is interesting as I’m going abroad in a few weeks, and I will be able to disable all data connections from all applications.

I also have 3G Watchdog installed on my HTC Magic, which monitors my mobile internet bandwidth usage. It’s weird that both application are giving me different results at the moment. Hello Proximus says I used 58% of my monthly bundle, 3G Watchdog says 65%. I’m not sure which one I should trust, but I’m guessing Hello Proximus is getting it’s info from my data account, so hopefully it is more accurate.