The best Albums of 2012, 1 of 7:
"Visions" by Grimes. When I first heard about Grimes coming to The Bottletree in Birmingham, AL; I was unaware of how popular she was (she is actually
Canadian Claire Boucher) and that it would sell-out. I first heard about her "Visions" album about a year ago when I listened to her 'Vanessa' single released three months prior. Sadly the single was not on the "Visions" album but what I did hear was amazing. Melodic, layered vocals over textured synths and cold beats. Hearing her live in a sold-out setting was phenomenal. I actually got to meet her (sweetness!) But alas, the venue was near-dark, a no-flash cell camera, and four rows back helped me capture a very bad photo of her. The sounds were intense but her voice was not. Her lyrics are very cutting but her textured sounds were not. It was a great venue to see her live in. She has said in recent interviews that her next album will be more industrial and reggae with pop structures (is that possible?) With Grimes, anything is.
"Griming" it up.
The best Machine successes of 2012, 1 of 7: "Visions" by Grimes. When I first heard about Grimes coming to The Bottletree in Birmingham, AL; I was unaware of how popular she was (she is actually
Canadian Claire Boucher) and that it would sell-out. I first heard about her "Visions" album about a year ago when I listened to her 'Vanessa' single released three months prior. Sadly the single was not on the "Visions" album but what I did hear was amazing. Melodic, layered vocals over textured synths and cold beats. Hearing her live in a sold-out setting was phenomenal. I actually got to meet her (sweetness!) But alas, the venue was near-dark, a no-flash cell camera, and four rows back helped me capture a very bad photo of her. The sounds were intense but her voice was not. Her lyrics are very cutting but her textured sounds were not. It was a great venue to see her live in. She has said in recent interviews that her next album will be more industrial and reggae with pop structures (is that possible?) With Grimes, anything is.
"Griming" it up.
The landing of Curiosity on Mars. It was a semi-banner year for NASA before the Curiosity rover launched in November 2011. The Mars Science Laboratory was the carrier vehicle for the Curiosity rover, the most sophisticated rover ever built. Some reasons to even rove on mars on a long term basis (Opportunity, not withstanding) were searching for life-based molecules in the soil, possible frozen water, and why Mars underwent dramatic, climatic changes that it did. Weighing in at a similar weight of an SUV and over 10 feet in length, it had something that most people missed: A radiation-hardened computer board. Only 10 watts of power is required to power this motherboard and can withstand a temperature between -55 Celcius to 70 Celcius. The rover is also nuclear-powered as well. When watching it land on Mars (through observing Jet Propulsion Lab techs via Ustream), it was a spectacular event of engineering and the tenacity of what NASA can still do in these hard economic times.
Curiosity's Earth Home
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