And the Lord God Planted a Garden Eastward...

A Grimp getting closer to a Spectra.

I have never believed in miracles. As a child with a skeptical mind, I questioned the validity of stories filled with the workings of "once in a lifetime" saviors and their journeys. I grew up mocking and ridiculing the people who believed in such fairy tales, dismissing their ignorance and painting a red 'X' on any opinion tied to their brainwaves. That was me before witnessing a miracle firsthand. That was me before PixelJunk Eden.

A Random Thought

Most days I find myself lost in reflection as I subconsciously gaze over the sea of faces we encounter in everyday life. Lost in puzzling questions such as “What truly goes on behind the mask we wear in public?” Do we all debate over present day dilemma that could hinder our future or do we find ourselves stuck in the trench of everyday toils and the stress which accompanies it? I always catch myself wondering how a certain person arrived at the present state they are in and how does their view of the world differ from mine. With the idea of solipsism I can only truly understand myself and apply my views and experiences to understand the minds of others, which always leaves me with a sense of isolation in a social world. This isolation has seemed to manifest itself with technology as we walk blind and deaf through our surroundings as the hum of music usually fills our ears and our eyes are fixated on a little screen connected to our digital self by means of text messages and social media updates. These distractions cause the people surrounding us to be nothing more then leaves tumbling in the wind as we walk like ghost invisible to others behind our technological shields. So my random question for the day is “ Why concern yourself with how others perceive you when most people are to busy analyzing themselves to differentiate you from the tumbling leaf in the wind?”   

Just something I was thinking about while walking on campus and listening to some post rock. So while you yourself dwell deeper on the topic at hand push play on the link below to listen to one of my favorite post rock songs at the moment: Fragile by God Is an Astronaut. It will get your creative juices flowing. 

#Highfashion

~Chris

The Progressively Interactive Videos of Arcade Fire.

At first the internet and music videos have had a tenuous relationship with one another. The ability to watch anything whenever you want made TV channels like MTV and VH1, where viewers were given music videos on the provider's schedule, irrelevant. In response music videos began popping up around the internet, but even though the medium changed the videos did not. Just recently bands like Arcade Fire began incorporating technology available in computers and used it to create videos that can only be experienced on the internet. 

 

Every video Arcade Fire creates pushes the idea of how people view music videos on the internet further than anyone else. Arcade Fire videos meld simple interactive elements from video games with aesthetics of music videos into experiences that are neither video-game-music-videos, or music-video-video-games. The latest audio visual experiences from the band arguably fall into the nebulous “internet art” category.

More on specific videos after the jump. Speakers/Headphones, and HTML 5/Flash compatibility required. 

The Silver Lining of Mainstream

Episode 34: The Silver Lining Of Mainstream is available here and on iTunes.  In this episode we make like Nostradamus and predict future festival lineups and the next generation of video game consoles and we proudly earn our explicit tag. 

What the Fuck is a Roguelike?

When I began vetting games to write about for the Indie Grind column I found myself constantly referencing roguelikes like Angband and NetHack. As I wrote about major games in an obscure genre one question kept popping up.

“What the fuck is a roguelike?”

Want to play Rogue?  You better get used to ASCII graphics

Bonnaroo Playlist

The Bonnaroo lineup was announced today and signed the fate of me and my fellow dashfilers. With Radiohead being one of the headliners it looks like me, Terry, and Edward will be taking a trip to Manchester, Tn. This will be my first Bonnaroo and my first time seeing Radiohead so it is safe to say that  I will be counting down the days until June 7th. However this news does come as bitter sweet because now I must begin to train myself physically and mentally for the trials I will face in the four day span of Bonnaroo, but before I ramble on to long I want give a little background on Bonnaroo. Also I have put together another playlist of artist we would love to see at Bonnaroo this year at the end of this article. 

Gabriel Belmont: A True Martyr

If you have listened to any of our podcast then it will come as no surprise that the members of Dashfiles are no strangers to video games. Cutting my teeth at a young age with Final fantasy 4 and Zelda: A Link to the Past I have been gamer since the young age of four. I was never really picky in the games I would play at first but since then I have grown older and videogames have become a more prevalent form of media, one must be careful in which games they dedicates their time. I have played my share of bad games but it only took one truly horrible game from a developer who promised almost everything he never put in his game for me to be careful of what I play.  With the sea of games out there now it might be hard to sort through the rubble and find the gems but I have decide to lend a hand to those seeking advice. I will be writing up recommendations (not reviews) of games I have found very enjoyable and mention the things that caught my eye. The first game I will be recommending is Castlevania: Lords of Shadows for Xbox 360.

Watch It: Take Shelter

Life is weird. You're young and hopeful with plenty of dreams. You get married and have a child. Your child is deaf. Your mother is diagnosed with a mental illness. You work a mind-numbing job. You are barely making ends meet during a terrible economic crisis. Then you have a vision...make that several horrific visions. You should take shelter.

Episode 33: Black Mamba

Check out episode 33: Black Mamba 
Listen on iTunes or on Dashfilesmedia

Buried Underground: DOOM part II

Now that you know a little bit about DOOM from part I, let me explain why this man is so dope. No matter what his hip-hop moniker may be at any given moment, (MF DOOM, DOOM, King Geedorah, Viktor Vaughn, Zev Love X) he completely devours any competition. He is never afraid to switch up his jump shot and pour drain-o on his haters. Here are some examples...

Coachella Playlist

I have recently discovered my newest addiction in the music world, “Wristbands weekend.” A handful of days packed with an assemblage of bands that will have the most devote music fan in a tug-of-war of which show to watch. These festivals have hours upon hours of live music paired with remarkable light show that overloads any observers’ visual perception. These music festivals always take place in beautiful locations varying from the mountains of Asheville, to the beaches of the Gulf Shores, and even the hot hot sun baked fields of Bonaroo. However, the thing I found myself most captivated by is the environment that these festivals emit of a large gathering of people with the only intent of having a good time. Wristbands weekend is always a great feast of awesome music that has me always coming back the next year for another barrage of musically enriched good times.

IG:Desktop Dungeons

Indie Grind:
Today I'm rolling out The Indie Grind, a column focused on bringing attention to interesting indie games floating around the internet. This week: Desktop Dungeons.

It may not look like it, but this guy is in deep trouble.

Admit it, you've stood in the freezer aisle of the grocery store looking down a line of microwaveable dinners in search of a quick, easy meal with low expectations for substance and even lower expectations for taste. At home, you pull a warm, flimsy plastic bowl out of the microwave and tell your brain to shut down as many taste buds as it can. You take a bite, and believe it or not, you like it, no, love it, so much so it becomes a staple of your diet. That is essentially the experience I've had with Desktop Dungeons, a puzzle/RPG for the PC. Desktop Dungeons condenses the experience of a multi-hour dungeon crawl into a 5-15 minute session. What makes Desktop Dungeons interesting is how the game blends the quick pick-and-play experience of a puzzle game with the all the level grinding and resource management you associate with RPGs.

Buried Underground: DOOM part I

BURIED UNDERGROUND

Beneath the false florescent glow of the demanding, egotistical "superstars" of the musical entertainment hierarchy lies a beast that is as hot as the Earth's core. Avoided by the press and those seeking to pay anyone willing to get tattoos and plastic surgery, the beast gets hungrier and more creative. It begins to bend the rules and challenge the ideals of what truly is the pinnacle of musical performance and experience.

As an enthusiast of the arts, I am compelled to introduce an underground beast. This beast goes by many names and has the ability to capture both the wisdom of hip-hop and the imagination of everything else. Like Einstein jumping out of a comic strip, I give you the villain, MF DOOM...

The Banner: January 2012

At long last, the blog is live. As I write this the members of Dash Files Media toil on content for the blog, which I imagine you'll see in the coming weeks.  For my first venture on the site I've decided to roll out my first in what will (hopefully) be a monthly series of drawings for the blog's banner, simply called The Banner.  

The Banner One thing I've never understood about some designers is how worked up they get over fonts. Most designers balk at even mention of the word "font" and will quickly correct you with "typeface".  In some design circles, talking trash about helvetica will get you thrown into a torture chamber straight out of Saw XI. 

The only experience I have with fon, er.., typeface, was for trying to differentiate the hundreds of CDs I've burned by coming up with new fonts for each one. It's been a while since my rabid CD burning days, so in an effort to reach outside my comfort zone I aim to create a new banner for our site every month. 


In site related news, I plan on rolling out my other column in a couple of day so keep your eyes peeled.  

-Edward.