noodlepie

As big as sheep

After bemoaning the difficulty of finding decent podcasts I stumble into one. Hedgerow forager, philosopher, tobacco slave and fugitive from the British Midlands, Will Carruthers, in a 30 minute interview at Documentally.

Will - if you're tuning in - you're perfectly right, given certain conditions giant puffballs are as big as sheep. I hope to be in Rugby first week in May if you make a fresh batch of hedgerow jam I'll pop around for tea, scones and white spirit.

For bemused regular and irregular readers, Will provided vibrations, choral chants and pan bashing on two MP3s of mine first published at noodlepie. Surfin' saves soul and Hit the East.

Technorati Tags: podcast, Spacemen 3, mad, big sheep, MP3

Saigon sounds

Nothing like a good ol' Vietnamese marching band in the morning here in Saigon. Thinking back to my own school days I think I was well short changed. A tatty hymn book followed by the Lord's Prayer was all we got every morning. No marching bands. Maybe once a year we had a blast through the national anthem. Various ancient seasonal hits made an appearance at Harvest time, Christmas and wotnot. Here in Vietnam, lest you forget, you've got a selection of cool Vietnamese kid surfpop garage rock, the Vietnam national anthem without fail every Monday morning and every single other morning - for the last 6 months or so at the very least - we get to shape up and dance with the faceless Saigon marching band. Just what you need at 7am in the morning every single morning. Marvellous. Have a listen. Repeat it six times at 7am every day for a few months and see if you don't start mumbling to yourself in corners, chewing cardboard and headbutting walls. I've seen it happen. Be careful.

How to roll a spring roll and more

I was having lunch at the scoffmungussly good banh xeo lean to on Dinh Cong Trang street the other day. I noticed a group of women at the back of the alleyway preparing cha gio (spring rolls) and chao tom (sugarcane wrapped in shrimp paste). This table is also used to prep the herbs, lettuce and mustard leaves that always accompany banh xeo. Click the pics to watch some lo-fi cameraphone filming of how to make cha gio and chao tom. You'll need Quicktime to view.

Vietnam goes pop

I've whinged about Vietnamese pop music before. Been driven to the edge by the psychotic repetition of one particular song by Abba throughout the streets of Saigon. However, over the last two days a new ditty has hit the streetspeakers across from Fortress Pie. Maybe I've gone native, but I'm digging this new song. Imagine a kiddies choir weaned on those superb 60's Girls in the Garage compilation LPs given the sheet music to Roll with it by Oasis and asked to sing it in a combination of Vietnamese and cat sounds. Yup, really. What? You can't? I recorded the song from the front door this morning at 7am Download the MP3. See what I mean, no?

Naughty noodles

Anybody seen any good pie videos?

Noodlepresents

Saigon Santa has a jolly big sack this year. In addition to hip flicks, today you can grab mobilephone wallpaper, or blogpaper.

If you can get images from computer to phone (bluetooth, USB cable, thought transferrence etc.) you too can have a noodlephone, like the K750i pictured above.

• Download pie wallpaper
• Dowload bike wallpaper

Wait. There's more. In addition to the wildly popular MP3 freebie phone ringtones of yore. Today sees the release of a new ringtone. It's currently my avant garde alert of choice

Technorati Tags: free stuff, K750i, mobilephone, wallpaper

Neon nite film

Can you have too much of a good thing? Hmmm?? I think you can and, as the season dictates, I'm stuffing you. I plan to funnel more in this series of budget-Bladerunnerscape, lo-fi, Saigon streetfilms onto this blog. Not just streets neither. Had an enjoyable lunch with fellow Saigon blogger NoStar Where the other day and we plan to do the night fish market in the first week in January. I'll cameraphone film that. In the meantime, today's sub-4 minutes of moving neon comes with a dessert spoonful of DMT from the hypergifted Sonic Boom and his gorgeous rendition of True love will find you in the end (words by Daniel Johnston). Originally a single in 1992, the track also appears on the What came before after compilation. "Pieman, where's the bleedin' streetfood?" Mucho apologeticos, I'm distracted by other things presently. Eye on a new stall. New dish. Full skinny tomorrow (literally...). Download now. More films here.

Technorati Tags: film, K750i, Saigon, video, videocast, Vietnam

Streetcast videocast by night

After filming the Saigon streetcast videocast, I have been doing some more cameraphone filming. This time of night traffic. I was out scoring a bag of Chim cut chien last night. It was 7:30pm and I had to hit two streetstalls on two different streets to purchase the requisite four quails. I've now tried three different street quails. This joint on Cach Mang Thang Tham street is ace, but no sate sauce. This stall (also brilliant) on To Hien Thanh street has sauce and a slightly more lacquer flavoured bird. This pretender, also on Cach Mang Thang Tham street, was disappointing.

As I was in the vicinity, I asked the driver to go the same route I previously filmed and I errr... filmed it again. So, click the pic to see . Excitement, innovation, imagination... It never stops at noodlepie. Music by Magnetophone (again). Filmed on a K750i. Sodomised in iMovie. And if deep fried laquered quails get you off, chill to the slideshow.

Technorati Tags: videocast, Saigon, Vietnam

Saigon streetcast videocast

Christmas comes early at this blog. Been dicking around with some film taken from the back of a xe om. The results are quite fun or at least I think they are :) It's 10.6MB so it's a wee bit hefty, but nothing a decent DSL connection can't handle.

3 mins 55" long. Filmed on a lo-fi K750i. Music by Magnetophone. Buggered about with in iMovie. Taken on To Hien Thanh Street, Saigon and various random alleyways running off it. Click the B&W image and wait to grab the film. You'll need Quicktime. Bon weekend.

Technorati Tags: motorbike, Saigon, video, videocast, Vietnam

Bad morning Vietnam

It's 8:46am Since 5:45am I have been listening to a selection of recorded and live ditties sung by children. Thoughtfully the unseen DJ has chosen to play this aural abomination at eardrum exploding volume. So, if like me, you take your hearing aid out along with your falsies at cocoa time, you still don't miss a beat. Most streets in Saigon are lined with a system of tannoys used to relay news of impending power cuts, rice yield, or transmit live performances by the amazing, local, and much misunderstood, all male drunken karaoke choir. Today it's 'music' assaulting all within blast radius. The closest tannoy to my gaff is approximately 80 feet away from the front door and 30 feet away from the two man high barbed wire and steel gate that defends Fortress Pie. At 6:07am I had the bright idea of recording a small segment from the front door for your listening pleasure. Download the mp3 . Headphones on, crank it up and rock out. Recorded using Audio Recorder. It's now 9am and the beat goes on.