Peter's Reviews

Badi Assad is a well-known Brazilian guitarist and singer and this is just a great demonstration of how to use guitar harmonics.

Every week for the past 6 years or so, I've put up a list of the guests featured on the late night talk shows to help night-owls and insomniacs plan their week. You can check out the main page for my Late Night TV shows by clicking the link at the top of the page or click here. If there's a guest you liked that's been on a show that but you don't remember their name, go to my Late Night Talk Show Archive.

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

Monday, May 12: Actor Jack Black; musician Clay Aiken
Tuesday, May 13: Actress Evangeline Lilly; actor Ben Barnes; Switchfoot performs
Wednesday, May 14: Actor Rainn Wilson; Chairman Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee
Thursday, May 15: Actress Dana Delany; TV show host Hulk Hogan; Dwight Yoakam performs
Friday, May 16: Actor Matthew Fox

The Late Show With David Letterman

Monday, May 12: Stupid Pet Tricks, Shia LaBeouf (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), N.E.R.D. (CD, "Seeing Sounds")
Tuesday, May 13: Regis Philbin (Million Dollar Password), Laura Dern (Recount), Death Cab for Cutie (CD, "Narrow Stairs")
Wednesday, May 14: "Jungle" Jack Hanna, Kid Rock (CD, "Rock 'n Roll Jesus")
Thursday, May 15: America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Russell Brand, Ventriloquist Terry Fator
Friday, May 16: Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

Monday, May 12: John Stamos (ER), Author Judith Smith-Levin, Jaymay (CD, "Autumn Fallin")
Tuesday, May 13: John Cusack (War, Inc.), Parminder Nagra (ER)
Wednesday, May 14: Tony Danza (Book, "Don't Fill Up On The Antipasto"), Maura Tierney (ER)
Thursday, May 15: David Boreanaz (Bones), Comedian Carrot Top
Friday, May 16: Country Artist Reba McEntire, Vinnie Jones (The Midnight Meat Train)

Late Night With Conan O'Brien

Monday, May 12: Actor William Shatner; wine connoisseur Gary Vaynerchuk
Tuesday, May 13: Actor Steve Carell; actress Alyson Hannigan; Duffy performs
Wednesday, May 14: The Black Keys perform
Thursday, May 15: Comic Carlos Mencia; MGMT performs
Friday, May 16: Wrestler John Cena; Everest performs

Last Call with Carson Daly

Monday, May 12: Actor Rob Corddry; authors Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran
Tuesday, May 13: Actress Kaley Cuoco; Gavin Degraw performs
Wednesday, May 14: TBA
Thursday, May 15: Actress Christina Ricci; comic Steve Byrne; Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin performs
Friday, May 16: Actress Daryl Hannah; Josh Kelley performs

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Monday, May 12: Actor Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), eighth eliminated celebrity from Dancing with the Stars, musical guest Lyfe Jennings
Tuesday, May 13: Actor David Spade, actress Jean Smart (Samantha Who?), musical guest Ashlee Simpson
Wednesday, May 14: Actress Evangeline Lilly (LOST), actor Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), musical guest Joe Jackson
Thursday, May 15: Actor Josh Holloway (LOST), Brad Williams, musical guest Dierks Bentley
Friday, May 16: TV/radio host Ryan Seacrest, musician Clay Aiken, musical guest Kate Nash

Saturday Night Live

Saturday, May 17: Steve Carell & Usher

Probably inspired by Radiohead, Trent Reznor decided to make the new NIN CD available for a free download but you can still buy the CD in a few months.

Click here to legally download your free copy of the new NIN CD

Music technology has come a long way since the old days of guitar pitch shifting. My old Boss SE50 used to do a grainy sounding single shift but now even my Korg Pandora PX4D does a passable diatonic pitch shift. That's all well and good but for those of us who want better pitch shifting and intelligent key changes, Digitech has raised the bar with their new Harmonyman Intelligent Pitch Shifter. Based on their musIQ technology, the Harmonyman can automatically detect not only the key but the chord progression in order to get you the appropriate harmonies for you to solo with. This will definitely be a must-have, not only for the shredders but also the jazz players who know how to use more than one scale per song.

Features:

• Intelligent Pitch Shifting, based on a groundbreaking new signal processing technology, giving players ultra clean, low-latency harmonies based on one of four user-friendly shifting modes.
• Unique Key Display, showing the key that the HarmonyMan is currently using for harmonization. When musIQ is enabled, the display will update dynamically in response to the playing. A musically intelligent “Circle of Fifths” layout puts musically related keys (sharing the most notes) beside each other.
• Independently Selectable Voicings for each harmony, with a wide variety of options, including two intelligent shifting modes, unison/detune, octave up/down, straight chromatic shifts from -12 to +12 semitones, as well as 2 octaves down.
• Strum Key, allowing players to easily set the key of a song by simply strumming chords (perfect for songs that start with a solo).
• musIQ Sidechain Input/Thru, which lets a second guitar be the chord recognition source while the Clean Input Guitar signal is shifted to produce harmonies – perfect for bands with both a lead and rhythm guitar player.
• Voice Memory, allowing players to pre-configure and store up to four different harmony voicings and step through them with the memory advance footswitch.
• Pre-Harmony Distortion Loop, which lets players place a distortion stompbox before the harmony effect without affecting chord recognition of the Clean Input signal.
• Built-in Guitar Tuner
• Mix Control, programmable control of the mix between the lead and harmony signals.
• 1/4” guitar input with distortion send and return, 1/4” guitar optional Sidechain input and pass-through and guitar ground lift
• Balanced Stereo 1/4” outputs
• Rugged roadworthy all-metal chassis
• Power supply included

I knew I'd seen David Cook's hair before... (source - TMZ)

Here's a gift for all the new parents you know. (source - OhGizmo)

When I saw the description of this video, I thought it would be some cheap mechanical trick but instead, it's an interesting example of a scientific principle.

From YouTube: Some explanation by 'shoonya' which I think is pretty good:
here you go: metronomes (or "pendula") when on table, oscillate with random phases, since that is how they started and they are "uncoupled" (no energy/information flows from one to other so they do not "know" each other.) When they are all together on the cans, notice that the cans themselves oscillate little, providing coupling/information crossover. which forces "synchronization" in periodic systems (discovered by Huygens in 17th century).
a useful book: "Synchronization: A Universal Concept in Nonlinear Sciences " by Arkady Pikovsky, Michael Rosenblum and Jurgen Kurths.

Every week for the past 6 years or so, I've put up a list of the guests featured on the late night talk shows to help night-owls and insomniacs plan their week. You can check out the main page for my Late Night TV shows by clicking the link at the top of the page or click here. If there's a guest you liked that's been on a show that but you don't remember their name, go to my Late Night Talk Show Archive.

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno

Monday, May 05: Robert Downey Jr. "Iron Man" - Comedian Carlos Mencia, Rascal Flatts
Tuesday, May 06: Julie Scardina & Sea World Animals - Christina Ricci "Speed Racer", KT Tunstall
Wednesday, May 07: Jimmy Carter - Jon Favreau "Iron Man", P.O.D.
Thursday, May 08: Jenna Fischer "The Office" - Comedian Robert Schimmel, Trace Adkins
Friday, May 09: Harrison Ford "Indiana Jones" - William Moseley "The Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian", Carly Simon

The Late Show With David Letterman

Monday, May 05: Hillary Clinton Top Ten, Jimmy Kimmel, Magician Lance Burton (Jimmy Kimmel Live!), Jimmy Eat World (CD, "Chase This Light")
Tuesday, May 06: Ashton Kutcher (What Happens In Vegas), Magician Mac King, Steve Winwood (CD, "Nine Lives")
Wednesday, May 07: Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer), Comedian Tom Dreesen, Magician Dirk Arthur
Thursday, May 08: Paris Hilton, Magician Steve Wyrick, Panic at the Disco (CD, "Pretty")
Friday, May 09: Barbara Walters (Memoir, "Audition"), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Magicians Penn & Teller

The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

Monday, May 05: Hugh Laurie (House), Michael Starr (Book, "Hiding In Plain Site: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr")
Tuesday, May 06: John Goodman (Speed Racer), Jason Aldean (CD, "Relentless")
Wednesday, May 07: Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Mike Doughty (CD, "Golden Delicious")
Thursday, May 08: Emily Deschanel (Bones), Melvin Lardy (Ax-Men)
Friday, May 09: Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters), Christopher Gorham (Ugly Betty)

Late Night With Conan O'Brien

Monday, May 05: Patricia Heaton, Katt Williams, Thrice
Tuesday, May 06: Jason Lee, Galactic
Wednesday, May 07: Liam Neeson, B.J. Novak, The Duke Spirit
Thursday, May 08: Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer)
Friday, May 09: Seth Meyers, Sophia Bush, Tokio Hotel

Last Call with Carson Daly

Monday, May 05: Bear Grylls
Tuesday, May 06: John Cho, Dean Edwards, Your Vegas
Wednesday, May 07: Miranda Kerr, Rahael Harris, Seether
Thursday, May 08: James Denton, The Heavy
Friday, May 09: Leelee Sobieski, Ben Harper

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Monday May 05: Actress America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Priscilla Presley (Dancing with the Stars), musical guests Mötley Crüe
Tuesday May 06: Actor Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), eighth eliminated celebrity from Dancing with the Stars, musical guest Lyfe Jennings
Wednesday May 07: Actress Christina Ricci (Speed Racer), Chef Mario Batali (Mario Batali - Italian Grill), musical guest Lil Mama
Thursday May 08: Actor Ashton Kutcher (What Happens in Vegas...), actress Isabella Rossellini (Green Porno), musical guest Gavin Degraw
Friday May 09: TV host Alex Trebek, musical guest Ludo

Saturday Night Live

Saturday, May 10: The Best of Molly Shannon

We all know that elephants are intelligent, social and sensitive but there's a new theory that says that they communicate with their feet, sensing vibrations in the ground.

Sometimes the most simple idea is the best.  (source - Gizmodo)