The Filtered Excellence: January 10, 2013

Published by The Editor at January 10, 2013

Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Here are this weeks picks of what to WATCH, what to DO what to TRY what to READ what to LISTEN TO and more:

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WATCH THIS:

John Dies at the End. Phantasm director Don Coscarelli brings writer David Wong’s demented horror parody to life with a variety of CG, practical effects, animation and skilled camera work. Despite being called unfilmable, the genre mashes up horror, stoner, sci-fi, fantasy, and even revenge thrillers without being too reverential or self aware. Starring mostly charismatic but unknown young actors, the supporting roles are fleshed out with appearances by character actors best known for their work in genre films including Clancy Brown, Angus Scrimm, Daniel Roebuck, Doug Jones, and Glynn Turman, along with Paul Giamatti. Laugh out loud funny most of the time, graphic, and genuinely scary, this is in the tradition of the films of Evil Dead, Roger Corman, and American International.

Get more info and watch the trailer at johndies.com.

Shameless. It’s the return of the Gallaghers, finally. One of the best shows on television today, if you aren’t already watching, hurry up and catch up so you don’t miss out. Season premier kicks off this Sunday at 9pm on Showtime.

Get up to speed at Showtime.com.

Californication. If you haven’t seen it yet, you have a lot of catching up to do. Five seasons worth in fact. If you’re all caught up, don’t miss the Season Six premier this Sunday night at 10:30pm on Showtime.

Get all the info at Showtime.com.

NFL Divisional Playoffs. Four great games this weekend. On Saturday, watch the Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos on CBS at 4:30pm Eastern. Then Saturday night watch the Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers on FOX at 8pm Eastern. On Sunday the Seattle Seahawks take on the Atlanta Falcons -on FOX at 1pm Eastern, and then finally on Sunday afternoon, watch the Houston Texans at New England Patriots on CBS at 4:30pm Eastern.

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BROWSE THIS:

The Infinite Jukebox. Got a favorite song you just hate to hear end? Now you can listen to your favorite song in perpetuity. This site takes your tune, and calculates the right parts of the song to loop and repeat so that it never has to end. Basically, the site breaks the song into beats, and plays the song beat by beat, but at every beat there’s a chance that it will jump to a different part of song that happens to sound very similar to the current beat. For beat similarity we look at pitch, timbre, loudness, duration and the position of the beat within a bar. There’s a great visualization that shows all the possible transitions that can occur at any beat, and where the program is actually going next.

Try it out with your favorite song at http://labs.echonest.com/Uploader/index.html

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DO THIS:

New York City: Light Of Day Concert at The Hard Rock Cafe Times Square on January 16, 2013. Gary ‘U.S.’ Bonds will headline Light Of Day Foundation’s benefit concert at The Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. Willie Nile, The Liza Colby Sound, and Joe D’Urso & Stone Caravan will also slated to perform and Vincent Pastore – ‘Big Pussy’ from The Sopranos – will host. All proceeds from the concert will benefit The Light Of Day Foundations, which funds research into possible cures, improved treatments and support for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Proceeds will also go to Team Fox, which is the grassroots community fundraising program at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Tickets can be purchased at ticketweb.com. You can also go to www.lightofday.org for more information.

New York City: John Cale at Brooklyn Academy Of Music , January 16th – 19th. Former Velvet Underground member John Cale will be curating and performing a series of shows at BAM that will revisit some of his most beloved works. On January 16th, Cale will present ‘Life Along The Borderline’ a tribute to his former VU bandmate Nico and featuring guest appearances by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, Meshell Ndegeocello, Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs, Peaches, The Magnetic Fields and many others. January 18th and 19th, Cale will joined by the Wordless Music Orchestra to perform his classic 1973 album Paris 1919, as well as material from his long and acclaimed career.

Go to www.bam.org for tickets and more information.

New York City: The David Murray Big Band featuring Macy Gray at Iridium January 11 – 13, 2013. Jazz great David Murray has long been a fan of Macy Gray and for this 3 night stand, Gray will join him for a night of her hits (re-worked for a big band) along with new material that he wrote with Ishmael Reed with Gray in mind. With a rocking big band and Gray’s voice in a small, intimate setting, it has all the makings of something really special. Tickets are going fast, so get on it.

Go to www.theiridium.com for tickets and more info.

Austin, Texas: Austin Free Week continues which means cheap beer and loud music. Check out free shows all weekend long at some of the city’s best stages.