Your eyes and your brain can play tricks on you. The mind's eye can be easily tricked into imagining lines or images where they don't really exist. Hence, we have optical illusions (also known as visual illusions) that are characterized by visually perceived images that are deceptive or misleading like the one on the left, which can be either two faces or a candle holder depending on how you choose to visualize it.
This Amoeblog includes various optical illusions for you to take a look at. You can observe the altered images as the information is gathered by your eye and processed by your brain to give you a perception that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. You follow?
Anyways -- according to the experts in these matters, there are basically two main types of illusions. There are the physiological illusions that are the effects on the eyes and brain of excessive stimulation of a specific type -- brightness, tilt, color, or movement. And then there are cognitive illusions, where the eye and brain make unconscious inferences. That is why you may see something in an image that the person standing right next to you doesn't comprehend equally.
The optical illusion immediately above, which is one of the most commonly known, is a same color illusion in which Square A is exactly the same shade of grey as square B. The image shows what appears to be a black and white checker-board with a green cylinder resting on it that casts a shadow diagonally across the middle of the board. The black and white squares are actually different shades of gray. The image has been constructed so that "white" squares in the shadow, one of which is labeled "B," are actually the exact same gray value as "black" squares outside the shadow, one of which is labeled "A." The two squares A and B appear very different as a result of the illusion.
couldn't get it out of my head ... like, for years. Seriously, waking in the night with just this one little moment of "From a Silver Phial" tinkering through my mind.
uction freaks me out. No Other was released in 1974, when it was all production -city all the time, unless you were Carly Simon or something, but let's not go there. The production work on this album is so layered, dense and, actually, perfect. There's wah wah guitar, backup singers, crazy piano licks. The best of L.A.'s session musicians were hired to play at the recording and they play the hell out of these songs, adding gravity to what was already great. The other thing that makes this album killer is that there is a theme and a thread that works its way through each of the songs and connects them, so as you listen closely to the album over and over again, it all becomes more and more clear and transporting.
artistic triumph over nature – to find San Francisco’s sleek and urban Space Gallery packed that night with art connoisseurs, Amoeba employees, and friends for the Amoeba Music's Second Annual Art Show’s reception.
that make it impossible to travel across town - much less across the bay. I mean, damn, maybe if we had something more like the Paris Metro instead of the wallet-breaking Bart (see 
then meant pure magic like Gladys Knight & The Pips. But it was my brothers' voluminous collection of vinyl records that brought me above what was easily found on the radios. Lest I forget, I am eternally grateful to my beautiful sister Jill who introduced me to the B-52's when I was 11, and my brother Scott who brou
Thanks to reading the resourceful 
There was one song I wanted to like. It was Thomas Dolby’s She Blinded Me With Science. The video was so goofy I was embarrassed to like it, even though it was funky. A few days later I went to the park and all the breakers were pop locking it to it. I figured if they liked it, it wasn’t so bad. My sister had the first Thomas Dolby record and I started to listen to it more than her. Outside of the annoying song, Europa, I liked it. Still, I kept in the closet about my love for the TB, except for a few friends.
When the second Thomas Dolby album, The Flat Earth came out, I bought it right away. I didn’t like the single, Hyperactive. It sounded like a weak attempt at The Talking Heads. The rest of the album was surprisingly chill and somewhat acoustic. It took me a bit off time to like this album, but at the end, I did. The song that hit me was Dolby’s cover of Dan Hick And His Hot Licks’ I Scare Myself. It was haunting with a slight Jazzy Brazilian feel to it. I soon went on the hunt to find the original version. When I found it I noticed that it was very different. Dolby’s version was haunting, yet calm and melodic. Dan Hicks original version sounded frantic and straight up paranoid, thus validating the title. It was a little too much for me to take at the time. Still, there was something about it that I liked. 
While Latin music artists based in metropolitan cities such as Miami, Buenos Aires, and Mexico D.F. get all the press, it is the Regional Mexican groups are the ones that actually sell records. Case in point, Ramon Ayala. For over 40 years, Ramon Ayala as known as “El Rey Del Acordeon” (The King Of The Accordion), has been selling out arenas in both Mexico and in the United States. He has over 105 releases, most of which sell in the 250,000 to 750,000 units. He’s been in thirteen movies and is a multiple Grammy winner. During his sold out show at The Gibson Theatre on Saturday, Ramon packed his two-hour set with hit after hit and had the crowd singing along to every song. Ramon played a few Los Relampagos Del Norte songs, a group he had in sixties with the late great Bajo Sexto guitarist & vocalist, Cornelio Reyna, before forming Ramon Ayala y Sus Bravos Del Norte in 1971.
weapon of Amber Webber and her super powerful voice. The sheer confidence of her vocals remind me of none other than Grace Slick at times. This gal won't b
ack down and she knows how to wail! (Yeah, I just quoted Wayne's World, so sue me.) I love how they trade off vocals during the songs. It just adds to the overall intensity of the sound. And it's intense, people, really.
as those who are trying to keep it alive. I think this new record cements that for me.
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Of course for Christmas I received the new 
live CD, but also interviews with Elliott's friends. His old friends. The ones who truly knew him and cared for him. Toward the end of his life, many of these friends either were left behind or had falling outs with Elliott. As a fan, when I heard about this at the time I was wondering what the heck was going on, thinking things must have gotten really bad. This book answers many questions. It's not exploitative though, it's merely friends talking about a complicated person they love, in good times and in bad.
ers nightly.)
It was 1982. I was on a school bus with my classmates, coming back from a field trip. We went to one of those historical Spanish ranches that were built when California was still Mexico (or Aztlán, if you swing that way). I was in a haze, staring out the window when my classmate, Krystal, yells out to me, “Hey, have you heard the new Prince yet?” She threw me her cassette Walkman and I pressed play. 
A few weeks later, my cousin Diana had a party in Buena Park. She had a pretty big record collection. I managed to ignore all the other records and went straight to 1999. As soon as the needle hit the wax, Diana’s boyfriend, Larry, was like, “Aw hell no, Prince again?’ At that moment I remember hating Larry. Like most kids I held every discovery sacred and I thought I knew more than everyone. Larry looked at me like he knew what I was thinking. “You want to hear where Prince got all that from?’ He went to the record collection and pulled out Funkadelic’s One Nation Under A Groove and Uncle Jam Wants You. He played each album consecutively, side a, side b, side a, side b. All those songs, Who Says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!, Cholly (Funk Gettin' Ready To Roll), One Nation Under A Groove, (Not Just) Knee Deep Pt.1, Freak Of The Week. I stood staring at the speakers, digesting every song, every note, every deep bass note, every keyboard bend, every guitar solo and vocal harmony. It was as I was trippin', way before I knew how that felt. 
Since I just wrote about Live, I was inspired c
heck out another video from around the same time period I also remember loving: Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye."
Basically, when I think back, my enjoyment of Live taught me about musical obsession, about the intricacies and excitement that come along with absorbing one's self in a particular band. They weren't the first band I was acutely taken by, but they did hit me hard at the time, I have to say. I knew and analyzed every track on that album. I was intrigued by the energy and earnestness of the band. I learned about the transcendent quality of music, sitting in my bedroom with the sound pumping. At the time I thought Live were trying to uphold the values I held dear: connection, truth, and all that kind of thing. (Soooooo high school! And sooooooo serious!) I read every article I could find about them and sought out information about the authors and ideas they wrote about in their songs. Everything they did seemed so fraught with meaning.
Day's Night and married him a few years later. She lived the high life, literally, during the entire height of Beatlemania and beyond. She and George discovered India and meditation together. Years after all that, Eric Clapton came a-calling, wrote "Layla" for her and soon she was Mrs. Clapton...until all that ended unhappily in divorce as well.
Pattie Boyd grew up in Africa, and moved back to England when she was about 10 or so. She ended up a model, working with Twiggy and for Vogue, among many other publications. When she met George, she was swept away by his charm and fame. (Who wouldn't have been?) In the book she recounts their many years together with affection, but also notes that eventually a pattern emerged: for a few months George would become so absorbed in his meditation and Eastern Thought that he would neglect everything around him, and then he would go completely the other direction and party so hard she lost respect for him. Then he'd turn back to transcendental meditation again for a while, and so on. During one of his party phases, he declared his love for Maureen Starkey, Ringo's wife, and Pattie had had quite enough. (Ringo was not pleased either.)
ask a few questions, I had to ask-- what is another movie that he likes a lot? His reply? Something that would no doubt please Amoeblog's Phil Blankenship and other fans of horror and gore -- sprinkled with some humor. He named the 1987 New Zealand b-horror movie classic Bad Taste directed by (and also acting in the film in the role of Derek) 
Back when I was living in Detroit, I had a philosopher friend who was as smart as they come, but as bugfuck crazy a right-winger as they come (well, the right-wing can get pretty goddamn insane, so maybe I exaggerate a bit for rhetorical effect, but he was a good deal nutty, regardless). He was an atheist with a militant libertarian streak whose silver tongue could convince you of the rational basis for just about any right-wing position if you didn't have every 't' crossed and 'i' dotted in your own arguments. Over drinks, we'd see who could one-up each other in our beliefs of how many freedoms a person should be permited. I'll save our conclusions for the faint/pc of heart, but suffice it to say that his ideas for what should be socially permissible (at least, by law) might make the most ardent ACLU attorney blush. On social issues, having his view in ascendancy in the political world would only make for what I would consider a much better society. But, then again, he'd also proclaim his admiration for dipshits like Jesse Helms. 
undoubtedly go up. And regarding the gender breakdown of this teen online activity, the Pew Project has determined that teenage girls are much more likely than boys to create blogs, post items online, or to have joined a social networking group like 
those who google themselves have only checked their search results once or twice.
I'm reading today about how the District Attorney of Albany, N.Y., David Soares, is investigating allegations that 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige and "others" have been using steroids. (Thank you 
....and they have skipped over every violent offender on their docket to go after soul singers? Rap dudes? Seriously?! Come in, american justice upholders! Come in! Are you there? Have you been abducted by Aliens? Should I expect Donald Sutherland to walk up and point at me now and make that horrible screaming noise?
n blame him? Check out the video footage (scroll down below) of when the two went to a Rite Aid and the mob-like paparazzi descended upon them. It would be enough to drive anyone to some to some form of retaliation. 
Every once in while you realize certain names are always appearing in the credits of old albums, and it’s a constant surprise. I was always astounded by how often I’d find Mort Garson's name, and on some of the most unlikely records. From Doris Day to Mel Torme to Glen Campbell, and all those albums of nice soft-pop vocals from the likes of The Letterman or the Sandpipers or the Glenn Yarborough record of Rod McKuen covers. And you would usually find Mort Garson conducting or arranging those safe but somewhat innocuous collections of ‘pop hits of the day’ by the Hollyridge Strings or the Sunset Strings. And if you’re lucky enough to find it, you’d see Mort Garson provided background music to Laurence Harvey reading poetry on Atlantic. And why do I think it’s so odd? Because whenever I think of Mort Garson I think of the legendary pioneer in electronic music, and not the 
multi-faceted, in demand arranger and conductor.
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cohesively promote anarchism as a political ideology. While other punks might have been singing about "AN-AR-CHY" for shock and fashion, anarchism was a way of life for Crass. 
They formed a rock and roll resistance movement against the excesses of culture, using an aggressive sound and image to gain creditability for a pacifistic ideology. Complex, man.
the reaction of another customer saying almost the same thing. But his “what the hell is this?” was followed by something like “do you have to play this crap now!” 
ed the world over by drummers and fans of drumming for his swift skills. In fact, back in his day he was commonly billed as "the world's greatest drummer." He is also one of the fastest, most skilled drummers of all time and got honored by Drum magazine for the "fastest drum solo ever" specifically for the song 
and as such he was an extremely successful young artist. In fact by the time he reached the ripe old age of 11 he was already a band leader. Unlike a lot of child stars Rich didn't quit or burn out but rather continued playing throughout his teens, consistently honing his style and getting better and better at his art. It has been written that Rich is one of the few drummers to ever master the so-called "one-handed roll" on both hands.
Amoeba Music & Phil Blankenship proudly present the 80s Italian Horror Classic:
but sometimes it doesn’t matter, I watch Mickey Rourke and I think to myself; “what the hell?’. (Actually way back in the day, before Amoeba-time itself, I used to work for the law firm of Parkinson, Wolf, Lazar and Leo in Century City. One day one of the attorneys walked up to me and said “Hey Whitmore, I just saw a movie starring Mickey Rourke and I thought the character he played reminded me of you. Have you seen the movie Barfly yet?” What can you do? I lied and said no, then quietly walked away.) Anyway, I haven’t seen much of Mickey Rourke since his last mugshot … by the way; this arrest in November was for drunk driving on a Vespa scooter. 
actually reading all the liner notes and buying all the magazines with him in it. It was fantastic as a young kid to listen to music and lyrics that you could completely relate to even though they were coming out of a man from a totally different world and reality.
A film that does approach what I was talking about from a truer perspective than Donnersmarck's is Kubrick's CLOCKWORK ORANGE. The film was based on Burgess's novel, which was a rejection of the panglossian futurism of B. F. Skinner's behaviorism, most notably his sci-fi novel, WALDEN TWO, where the happiness of individuals is derived from the outside-in, every aspect of culture being a stimulus which, if functioning properly, keeps the whole community flowing along in prosperity, promoting the desired actions/"responses" -- the providence of which is defined by the organizers. Things like art have value insofar as they help shape the "proper" behavior, value being defined top-down. If that strikes you as totalitarian, that's because it is. And Kubrick's film is an all-out satirical attack against the reifying tendency of the bureaucratically minded whereby value obtains as a place within the system, never for the thing itself.
k" drum solo off the 1969 album Led Zeppelin II is considered by many to be the best rock drum solo of all time The track is featured both above and below in two very different versions. 
e more fitting and profound, not to mention sad. One can't help but wonder what if John Bonham hadn't died so young in life? What if he were alive and able to join Robert Plant and the newly re-banded Led Zeppelin?
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part in here-- there's just so many of them. He was one of the first to arrange and manage European Jazz and Blues tours. He worked for Elektra and eventually formed his own production company called Witchseason. He booked an extremely successful club night in London in the 60s that hosted Pink Floyd and The Move, among many others. He went on to produce artists like Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention.
The Newport Folk Festival when he was a stage manager and Dylan went electric. Reading that portion of the book made my heart race! If for nothing else, it's worth buying White Bicycles just to read about this momentous occasion in rock history from a fresh viewpoint. Boyd was truly a part of that evening and remembers it all! He really must have kept a journal. It answers some questions about who exactly was in a physical fight that night, who started what and if Pete Seeger did indeed cut the electricity with an axe. There really was an axe there that night, and that's all I'm gonna say!
electrocumbia-chicano chill-salsa clandestina-
teen Beatles fans knew him in the ‘60s! Sir Paul had just released his latest album in the Spring, his best in years, entitled Memory Almost Full and he wanted to celebrate with secret shows in London, New York and Los Angeles.
above of percussionist prodigy Jacob Armen. Pretty damn impressive skills for such a young kid! However as you can witness for yourself if you go onto 
I would like to start off by welcoming everybody to 2008. Congratulations to all of us for making it through another year. 2007 was really a great year full of amazing new releases. We are just about through the really slow period at the end of the year and getting ready for some great new releases again. There were some great DVD's out at the end of last year. The Deluxe brief case version of Blade Runner sort of made up for the lack of any decent music new releases. I really can't stop looking at it. I have opened the brief case more times than necessary but I just can't get enough of it. It was my big Christmas present to myself and I really do
love it. The Final Cut version of the film looks fantastic. I have only watched the Final Cut version and about half of the main documentary so far. But what I have watched already of this documentary is really amazing. But I am sure that I will be talking all about my love of Blade Runner very soon.
prone to having unusual or esoteric records making their way onto and up the British pop charts. But that is not to say that surprise hits never occur here in the United States. They do, just not as often. But every once in a while a record that you just don't think of as a "pop" record somehow breaks through into the mainstream. A good example is the cool swinging, drum-based instrumental single "Topsy, Part 2" by jazz drummer Cozy Cole, which was a surprise cross-over hit exactly fifty years ago in 1958 for the talented percussionist when it went to the number one spot on the Billboard Top 100 Charts.
I asked a sale rep from Miami Records, the U.S. distributor of Discos Fuentes, why they don't release older Disco Fuentes titles with the original covers. She told me that their core market wants new music and doesn't care about the older titles anymore. I have to tell you, the biggest selling Discos Fuentes related title we had at Amoeba Hollywood last year was the Colombia! compilation, put together by the 
Caifanes- 
Manu Chao -
Titan-
"The Hole is about obsessive neighbors. It's weird and Taiwanese. 
"The Boatman's Call by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. This album was released during the winter. The first morning I listened to it, I woke up at 10am while my girlfriend was still asleep and put it on at a low volume. I opened the window and there was 2 feet of snow, so I crawled back into bed."
Europe, Motorhead, and Metallica, whose cover of Thin Lizzy's version of the old Irish traditional folk song "Whiskey In The Jar" is perhaps better known with American audiences than the Lizzy's 1972 recording -- their first hit single, which is below in video form (check out the opening which features the Celtic influenced art of modern Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick who did most of Lizzy's album covers).
I have a huge soft spot in my heart for some of the classic Disney movies. 101 Dalmatians was always one of my favorites. How cute is Roly asking for more food?
Heater - Samim
decades later, the protagonist of a penny dreadful called The People's Periodical which was published in 1846. The issue was titled The String of Pearls: A Romance written by Thomas Prest, a popular writer who also wrote Varney the Vampire which I've wanted to get a copy of ever since I was in third grade.
hang-ups about what species are good (chicken, cow, fish, lobster and pig) and what are bad (cat, dog, horse, cockroach or person). So picky!
Welcome to January 1st, 2008, otherwise known as Public Domain Day. Each New Year's Day thousands and thousands of new creative works pass from being copyrighted material into the public domain -- meaning movies or music, etc, become free to you or me or anyone who wants them.
