New Ming & Ping Album Now Online for Pre-Sale

Ming & Ping "The Light of Day / The Darkness of Night" Pre-sale banner

Very excited to announce the release of Ming & Ping‘s new record “The Light of Day / The Darkness of Night.” After a very long break, we’re finally putting this out on vinyl and digital formats and the pre-sale link is here: mingping.com/thelight.

This is probably their best work to date and my best production work for sure. We’re also trying to raise funds to recover the costs of producing and manufacturing all this stuff, so please help out be contributing dollars or just sharing with your friends. We tried to keep costs down by doing a lot in-house but there are outside costs that you just can’t avoid. Thanks for supporting.

Yummy Photos of Taffy’s Pizza

Photos of Taffy's Pizza for taffyspizza.com

I helped my genius friend Danielle photograph some of the awesome food and beautiful space at Taffy’s Pizza in Santa Barbara, CA a few weeks ago. Check out TaffysPizza.com to see the yummy photos and if you’re in SB, drop by for some great food and to see what the friendly new owners Casey and Shaina Groves have done to make Taffy’s a really nice place for a meal or a party.

Jetsetting: Cambodia

Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia

These beautiful ruins at the Angkor Wat complex are a striking reminder of great empires that can collapse at any minute. If you don’t know about Cambodia’s history, it’s worth a read – it’s not so long ago that they killed off their educated class in favor of a more “controllable” peasant population. Crazy, man.

Jetsetting: Chicago Has Seasons

Chicago in November vs. Chicago in December

Just returned from another grueling, but productive trip to the Chicago area to speak at Baxter about mobile technologies with Hoverstate and Klick Health. In just a couple of weeks since the last visit, all the vibrant leaves had fallen. Haha, I almost forgot about the seasons, living in LA. Here are some panoramic photos of Chicago in November vs. Chicago in December. It was actually my hotel in Deerfield, if you wanna be a nerd about it.

Jetsetting: On the Way to Seattle

On the way to Seattle

Classy aerial photo taken on the way to Seattle of an unknown mountain, possibly located in Oregon. Traveled with Hoverstate to catch up with a client in the fantasy trading card games industry. It’s been a while since I was here. Also, I didn’t know Seattle was spelled with two T’s. Dumbth.

Win a prize if you can tell me the mountain. Extra prize if you tell me the mountain and the client.

Jetsetting: Chicago

chicago-from-southwest

Returning from a trip with Hoverstate out to Chicago/Deerfield for one of our large pharmaceutical clients. The colors of the leaves were insane and beautiful in November. It’s too bad we didn’t have time to do much extra-curricular stuff.

Free Download: Musical Instrument Frequency Chart for Music Producers and Engineers

musical instrument frequency chart

musical instrument frequency chart

 

Did you know a bass guitar can make lower sound frequencies than the average kick drum? Here’s a free PDF to show you the sound frequency of various instruments for aspiring music producers, engineers, and anyone else interested in sound.

A few years ago, I found a PDF online with all the frequency ranges for certain musical instruments, including male and female voices. The diagram was called “The Frequency Spectrum, Instrument Ranges, & EQ Tips” and it  was Continue reading “Free Download: Musical Instrument Frequency Chart for Music Producers and Engineers”

Levy Tran Needs to Apologize to Nobody

Levy Tran Asian Girlz
@MissLevy Twitter Profile Image
@MissLevy Twitter Profile Image

I usually don’t like to publicly weigh in on internet drama and politics, but today I will for three reasons. First, I consider myself a moderately successful, educated part of the Vietnamese American subculture who has the potential to affect it and define it in the future. Second, I don’t want to live in an environment where we can’t make jokes about ourselves­ – even if bad ones – and openly mock the stereotypes that define us for a lot of people. And third, I think model, actress, and fellow Viet-American Levy Tran doesn’t owe anybody an apology for her part in a recent music video called “Asian Girlz.”

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, keep reading.

Continue reading “Levy Tran Needs to Apologize to Nobody”

Jetsetting: Las Vegas

Las Vegas in June

Oh it’s just so glamorous! A couple of weeks ago I attended a conference in Las Vegas with the Hoverstate crew. We presented a roundtable discussion on using mobile apps to help people manage chronic diseases. Good, productive trip. Here’s a nice panoramic photo of a golf course in the desert… I mean a beautiful woman with a glass of wine…

Our Love Is Dead


Pet Shop Boys “Leaving”

 
Ugh I just love these lyrics so hard:

 

Our love is dead
But the dead are here to stay
They made us what we are
They’re with us every day
In darkest night
Their memory keeps us strong
And if our love is dead
It won’t be dead for long

I know when enough’s enough and you’re leaving
you’ve had a lot of time to decide on your freedom
but I can still find some hope to believe in
love

Pet Shop Boys, still dazzling after 30+ years. Can’t wait for the new record Electric next month! This and new Nine Inch Nails is gonna give me the shitty giggles!

New Ming & Ping Website at mingping.com

new-mingping.com-website

 

We’ve just quietly launched a new website for Ming & Ping at mingping.com and well be adding lots of interesting content each week. In fact, there is some cool stuff on there right now, including “Making Of” info about The Darkness of Night and a streaming music player for all of the twin’s albums. Add yourself to the Ming & Ping mailing list to get announcements on new content, free downloads, new music etc. Enjoy.

2012 in Photos / The Atlantic

The Atlantic has posted its roundup of the photos that defined world events in 2012 and they are incredibly powerful, and some really beautiful. These really make me respect the balance of art, skill and luck that journalistic photographers have to have. Here are the photos in three parts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

All The Critics Love You In New York

I was speaking with someone this weekend about the value of moderation: swinging too far in one direction almost guarantees an equally strong reaction toward the other direction. I believe that goes for anything from religion to substance use and even to generosity (but how can one be too generous???).

Anyway, I like and agree with this article in the New York Times‘ opinion section about the defensive use of irony that defines the hipster class – but I only like it because it was followed by a tempered response from a reader called Gemli from Boston, who tellingly identifies him/herself 30 years older than the author.

So I won’t quote the author – you can read that yourself – but I’ll quote the commenter since this is the internet. Read more below…
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Continue reading “All The Critics Love You In New York”

Scientific Illustration / Behold The Bonnacon

The bonnacon is a beast with a head like a bull, but with horns that curl in towards each other. Because these horns are useless for defense, the bonnacon has another weapon. When pursued, the beast expels its dung which travels a great distance (as much as two acres), and burns anything it touches.

 

This is according to this great tumblr I just found called Scientific Illustration – it has tons of great illustrations of animals, bones, and stuff for your enjoyment.

Cool NPR Infographic / A Campaign Map, Morphed By Money

Really clever infographic on NPR about various states if resized by their political campaign spending – and their importance in the presidential election. Not to undermine the value of your vote in a solid blue state like California or a red state like  Texas, but the focus of these campaigns is on battleground states like Ohio and Nevada where the vote could go either way and money matters.

So what’s my point? My point is that if modern, educated, sensible, globally-connected people don’t vote, it’s the old, tunnel-visioned people in the tiny towns of the midwest who will be deciding who your leaders are, and what laws you live under. I have nothing against the midwest – that was just a lazy generalization – but I do think that education and a broader world view help you make more well-rounded decisions.

It’s not just about one dude being president over another, it’s about local, state, national, global laws that affect your life every single day. It’s about freedom on the internet. It’s about acknowledging that manmade climate change is real and changing our habits to slow that down. It’s about not allowing corporations to legitimately rape you and your family. Young people, sign up to vote and get educated!

Most Interesting Hurricane Sandy Photo, Click to Embiggen


 
I know some people are going through some tough events right now, but just stepping back in a journalistic way – this has to be the most interesting photo from the Hurricane Sandy tragedy. A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ (Photo via Charles Sykes of AP). I took this from the Chicago Sun Times, which hilariously has the instruction “Click to embiggen” under the photo preview, as if it was written by Jebediah Springfield from the Simpsons.

The XX Homepage is Minimalist, But Curious

 

The homepage for the band The XX is super minimal, just like their music, but it has just one beautiful interactive element over the X logo. I didn’t notice it at first until the oily rainbow coloring shifted slightly while I was reading the navigation options. Then when I hovered my mouse cursor over the X, it looked like I was disturbing a puddle of oily water and seeing the rainbow colored light refractions change. Well done to the designers of thexx.info. The album’s not so bad either. ;)