Espero que despidan al 2006 como se merece, tirando la casa por la ventana y que para el que esta por comezar los encuentre llenos de Salud, Dinero y Amor!

Feliz Año Nuevo!

I hope you say goodbye to 2006 in the only way I know, with a super crazy animal party and also I wish you all Health, Money and Love (Lots)!

Happy New Year!

Air - One Hell of a Party

Air are set to release the follow-up to 2004’s Talkie Walkie on March 6 on Astralwerks. The record is titled Pocket Symphony, features artwork by contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan, and was recorded with Nigel Godrich over the last year and a half. Both Air members, Nicolas Godin and JB Dunckel (aka Darkel), sing on the album, and Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon contribute vocals as well.

Pocket Symphony also incorporates some of the Japanese instruments Godin recently learned to play from an Okinawa master musician: the koto (also referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the three-string, banjo-like shamisen. However, a press release claims that “conventional instruments continue to play a great role” in the duo’s music.

Related Posts :: http://www.gastonl.com/?p=870

Otro disco que saldra en un par de meses y que alguien robo del estudio… una verdadera pena, pero yo como fanatico de air, no podia quedarme con las ganas, asi que me baje el ultimo cd de Air llamado Pocket Symphony de aca

Another album to be released in april of 2007 and somehow was leaked from the studio, shame on the thief, but as Air fan, I could not wait for so long, so I got the next album Pocket Symphony from here

Web :: http://www.intairnet.org/intro.html
Wikipedia :: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_(band)
MySpace :: http://www.myspace.com/intairnet

Yeah! Air’s new album is going to be released on March 5th, 2007

POCKET SYMPHONY

Following their 800,000 selling third album, “Talkie Walkie” (2004), Air are set to return with their new album “Pocket Symphony” to be released on 5th March 2007.

The album, made up of 12 songs that were recorded over the last 18 months and produced by long time partner Nigel Godrich, features vocals by Dunckel and Godin themselves but also from Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy).

Air once again achieve that rare supernova of artistic vision that dares to reconcile palpable, unapologetic ambience with unpretentious soulful simplicity. They create the alternate now, an environment that begs escapism without denying humanity.

While conventional instruments continue to play a great role, Air have fashioned several tracks from the new album with the addition of Far East classical instruments which Godin learnt to play from an Okinawa master - namely the Koto (usually referred to as a Japanese floor harp) and the Shamisen, a 3-stringed instrument which is one of Japan’s most popular classical instruments & resembles the banjo. Working their way throughout the album as musical ricochets, these unearthly sounds of an alien nature add another motif to Air’s sonic architecture.

Brought by the band into the visual creative process of the album artwork is contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan. Veilhan who, like Air, is both fascinated by the possibilities afforded by modern technology, and inspired by the conventional forms of ‘classical’ art, revisits and ‘models’ reality using modern media (photography, 3D scanning, digital imagery).

Air will embark on a European tour from Mid March, which will be followed by shows in the US from Mid April to Mid May. They will play at major festivals both in Europe and Japan during the summer and then continue touring for the rest of 2007.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Space maker
2. Once upon a time
3. One Hell of a party
4. Napalm love
5. Mayfair song
6. Left bank
7. Photograph
8. Mer du Japon
9. Lost message
10. Somewhere between waking and sleeping
11. Redhead girl
12. Night sight

++ Ver mas fotos :: Check more pictures ++

El sabado por la mañana partimos para Montreal, considerando que los pasajes en tren estaban agotados y los de micro y avion estaban a unos precios poco amistosos, decidimos utilizar Express Ride Online una suerte de auto-emprendimiento de un tal Bobby el cual hace viajes de Montreal a Toronto y de Toronto a Montreal diariamente por $40 CND. o sea que un round trip te sale $80 CND taxes incluidos. Bobby tiene unas cuantas Vans y minivans, la gente que viaje es copada, mayoritariamente gente joven , en 5.5 horas estabamos en Montreal en la estacion de Metro Namur y a los 10 minutos ya estabamos en la estacion de Metro Lucien-L’Allier que queda a 1 cuadra de nuestro hotel.
Otra vez con el hotel fuimos afortunados, despues de 5 minutos de busqueda encontramos el hotel Novotel Montreal Centre, un hotel 4 estrellas en el medio de downtown (Rue de la Montagne & Sainte Catherine) y a un precio increible, $99 Cnd la noche.
Nos manejamos al 100% caminando o en metro.
Cafe, Panini, Carne Ahumada tipica de montreal, desayunos para salir rodando fueron nuestros menues favoritos.
La noche buena decidimos pasarla en honor a mis antepasados en el restaurante Español Casa Galicia hubicado en el Quartier Latin de Montreal.
Arrancamos con una tapas, luego una Paella de mariscos increible y todo mientras haciamos bajar las jarras de sangria.
Montreal es una ciudad de la puta madre, la gente es magnifica, la comida y la atencion es superior.
Ahora con los tips que les pase, para viajar barato y con hotel 4 estrellas por menos de $100 cnd. no hay excusa para no ir.

Past Saturday morning, we left to Montreal, we wanted to go by train but all the tickets were sold out, and the prices for bus or airplane were not friendly at all, so we decided to try out Express Ride Online, a vans and minivans transport company owned by the self-entrepreneur Bobby, paying only $40 Cnd. each way (taxes included) you can go from Toronto to Montreal and from Montreal to Toronto for cheap, the people in the same van usually is very friendly young people. After 5.5 hours we arrived the Namur metro station and after 10 minutes of endless stairs and subway trip we arrived to the metro station near our hotel Lucien-L’Allier .
With the hotel we were lucky as well, we booked online 2 nights in the Novotel Montreal Centre, we got a great rate, only $ 99 Cnd. for a 4 stars hotel located in the middle of downtown (Rue de la Montagne & Sainte Catherine)
We walked and used the Metro the whole time
French Coffee, Paninis, Smoked Meat and oversized breakfasts were our favorite meals, for Xmas eve, I decided to honor my ancestors so we went to the Spanish restaurant Casa Galicia located at the Quartier Latin of Montreal, we had tapas, an excellent sea food paella and a couple of pitchers of sangria and I was able to order everything Spanish!
Montreal is my favorite city in Canada for rush getaways, you can find everything you need and want there, people is great, food is awesome, service is “magnifique”
Now with the trips I gave you about cheap transportation and cheap but fancy accommodations you must think in Montreal for your next getaway or vacations.

Gente, me fui a Montreal, llevo laptop asi que espero poder postear algo antes de Navidad.
Si no puedo hacerlo les deseo una Feliz Navidad para todos.

People, I left to Montreal, I am bringing my laptop with me so I hope I can post something before Xmas.
If I cannot do it, I wish you all a merry Xmas.

Link :: http://www.ouaasa.com/music/borat/

I just found this, I don’t know for how long time it will be up, so hurry up.

Recommendations: Track 3 and Track 7

Past Friday I went to see the 2006 London Internations Advertising Awards at the Bloor Cinema, commercials are a lot like great film. They combine beautiful cinematography, good storylines, humour, heart-wrenching moments – all wrapped in a neat 30 seconds.
If you have the change to go, I am sure you will enjoy the commercials as much as I did
The video included in this post was one of my favorites

Check the Bloor Cinema Schedule here

Children See, Children Do…

If you love to read useless information about yourself, this website will put a smile on you face!

This is my result :

29 November 1973
Your date of conception was on or about 8 March 1973 which was a Thursday.

You were born on a Thursday
under the astrological sign Sagittarius.
Your Life path number is 6.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2442015.5.
The golden number for 1973 is 17.
The epact number for 1973 is 25.
The year 1973 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/3/1973 and ending 1/22/1974.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Ox.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Owl; your plant is Mistletoe.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Menchir, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 4 Kislev 5734.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 5 Kislev 5734.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.18.0.6.11 which is
12 baktun 18 katun 0 tun 6 uinal 11 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Thursday, 4 Dhi’l-Qa’dih 1393 (1393-11-4).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 22 April 1973.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 29 April 1973.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 7 March 1973.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 10 June 1973.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 17 June 1973.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 27 September 1973.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 17 April 1973.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 6 March 1973.

As of 12/17/2006 10:28:56 PM EST
You are 33 years old.
You are 397 months old.
You are 1,725 weeks old.
You are 12,071 days old.
You are 289,726 hours old.
You are 17,383,588 minutes old.
You are 1,043,015,336 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Jon Knight (1968) Kim Delaney (1961) Cathy Moriarty (1960)
Jeff Fahey (1956) Howie Mandel (1955) Garry Shandling (1949)
Chuck Mangione (1940) Peter Bergman (1939) John Mayall (1933)
Diane Ladd (1932) Vin Scully (1927) Madeline L’Engle (1918)
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (1908) C.S. Lewis (1898) Busby Berkeley (1895)
Louisa May Alcott (1832)

Top songs of 1973
Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree by Dawn
My Love by Paul McCartney & Wings You’re So Vain by Carly Simon
Crocodile Rock by Elton John Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye
Keep On Truckin’ by Eddie Kendricks Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce
Top of the World by Carpenters Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & the Pips

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.72446183953033 years old. (You’re still chasing cats!)

There are 347 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 34 candles.

Those 34 candles produce 34 BTUs,
or 8,568 calories of heat (that’s only 8.5680 food Calories!) .
You can boil 3.89 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1973 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1973 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1973 in the US there were approximately 2,158,802 marriages (10.6%) and 708,000 divorces (3.5%)
In 1973 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1973 the population of Australia was approximately 13,614,344.
In 1973 there were approximately 247,670 births in Australia.
In 1973 in Australia there were approximately 112,700 marriages and 16,195 divorces.
In 1973 in Australia there were approximately 110,822 deaths.

Your birthstone is Citrine

The Mystical properties of Citrine

Citrine is said to help one connect with Spirit.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Yellow Topaz, Pearl, Diamond

Your birth tree is

Ash Tree, the Ambition
Uncommonly attractive, vivacious, impulsive, demanding, does not care for criticism, ambitious, intelligent, talented, likes to play with its fate, can be egoistic, very reliable and trustworthy, faithful and prudent lover, sometimes brains rule over heart, but takes partnership very serious.

There are 8 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 21 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon’s phase on the day you were
born was waxing crescent.

Game Web :: http://www.deathjr.com
PSP Web :: http://www.us.playstation.com

Si les gustan los juegos de plataformas, donde ademas tenes que matar monstruos y zombis y por supuesto al final de cada nivel tenes que acabar con un “jefe”, Death Jr. te va a encantar, este juego es lo suficientemente facil y entretenido como para jugar en el subte !

If you like platform games were you have to kill monsters / zombies and as expected you have to finish with a “boss” in the end of each level, Death Jr. is for you, also it is easy and entertainment enough to play on the TTC!

ImDB :: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115033
Rotten Tomatoes :: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/young_poisoners_handbook

Last night I was sitting on my sofa at home, just listening music at night and suddenly I started to think about a movie I saw back in the 90’s in Argentina, I remember I was watching HBO Ole on a Sunday after midnight and I was trapped by this dark English movie based in a real life case, about a 14 years old kid who poisoned his family with Thallium and was obsessed with Nazi paraphernalia.

The Young Poisoner’s Handbook (1995) is a British-German-French-produced black comedy film based on the life of Graham Frederick Young, more commonly known as the “teacup murderer”. It was directed by Benjamin Ross, and written by the aforesaid director and Jeff Rawle. The film stars Hugh O’Conor in the lead role.

The film is also known as Das Handbuch des jungen Giftmischers in German.

The film’s portrayal of Graham Young is not wholly true to life, and thus, the film is not truly biographical. Nonetheless, the main truths about him are conveyed. He was a poisoner, a murderer, a genius and a thoroughly amoral man.

The early parts of the film show the viewer that Young is a child with preoccupied with the macabre. In his teen years, he actually poisons a schoolmate — sickening him rather than killing him — in order to date a girl his schoolmate was seeing. His conversation with his date involved vivid, graphic descriptions of deadly car accidents.

He also reads a comic book account of an event in which the Dutch Resistance killed a whole German army camp in the occupied Netherlands during the Second World War by poisoning their water supply with thallium.

Graham Young is arrested at the age of 14 outside his home in Neasden after having killed his stepmother and having tried to do the same to his father by lacing their food or medicine with thallium. During the struggle with police Young abuses the policemen because he drops his “Exit Dose” of thallium which he intended to use to commit suicide should he be caught. He is imprisoned for nine years in an institution for the criminally insane, during which time a psychiatrist works with him in the hopes of rehabilitating him.

Graham’s dishonesty becomes evident to the doctor, who can see that Graham is trying to deceive him. Graham apparently has no dreams to share with the psychiatrist so he “borrows” a fellow prisoner’s dreams. This source is shut off to him, however, once the fellow prisoner commits suicide. Despite the initial evidence of deceptiveness on Graham’s part, the doctor eventually gets him released.

Graham then goes to work in a camera factory, and is shown the secret ingredient used in the company’s shutter system — thallium. It is not long before Graham has reverted to his old behaviour and is poisoning people. He kills two of his workmates by poisoning their tea with thallium stolen from the laboratory, and sickens many others. For months, the source of the “bug” afflicting the workers at the factory remains a mystery until one unforeseen event leads to Graham’s being found out. As a hygiene measure, all the personalized teacups are replaced with uniform ones, leaving Graham unable to poison people selectively. His efforts to memorize which cup is going to which person give him away, and his workmates finally realize what is going on.

Graham is arrested soon afterwards, and he is later sentenced to a lengthy prison term, this time in an ordinary prison. He commits suicide by poisoning there, unlike the real Graham Young, who died of a heart attack. The film insinuates that Graham’s ambition in life was to create a diamond using his poisons and chemistry knowledge, in reality his ambition was to become an infamous poisoner which he achieved.

Graham Frederick Young (September 7, 1947 – August 1, 1990) was a British murderer who poisoned a total of three people to death (his stepmother, and then years later two work colleagues, Bob Egle and Fred Biggs) as well as administering smaller doses to scores of others.

Born in Neasden, he was fascinated with poisons and their effects on the human body from a young age. In 1961 (at the age of 14) he started to test poisons out on his family in doses strong enough to make them violently ill. He bought a large quantity of poison by frequently buying small amounts of antimony and digitalis, lying about his age and claiming that they were for science experiments at school.

Graham Frederick Young. When the press asked for a photo, he insisted they use this photobooth shot in which he looked ‘particularly cold-eyed and sinister.’In 1962 Young’s stepmother Molly died from poison. He also had been systematically poisoning his father, sister, and a school friend. Young’s aunt Winnie, who knew of his fascination with chemistry and poisons, had become suspicious. He might have escaped suspicion if no one had known of his interests because he regularly suffered the same nausea and sicknesses as the rest of his family, often because he forgot which foods he had laced. He was sent to see a psychiatrist, who was concerned enough to recommend contacting the police. Young was arrested on 23 May 1962. He confessed to the attempted murders of his father, sister, and friend. The remains of his stepmother could not be analysed, because she had been cremated.

Young was sentenced to 15 years in Broadmoor Hospital, an institution for mentally unstable criminals. He was released after nine years, when he was deemed “fully recovered”. During his years in the hospital, however, Young had studied medical texts, improving his knowledge of the effects of poisons on the human body, and had continued his experiments, using fellow inmates and hospital staff as guinea pigs

After his release from hospital in 1971, he worked at a photographic supply store not far from his sister’s home in Hemel Hempstead in nearby Bovingdon, Hertfordshire. His new employers received references from Broadmoor, but were inexplicably not informed of his past as a convicted poisoner. Soon after he began work, his foreman, Bob Egle, grew violently ill and died. Young had been making tea laced with poisons such as antimony and thallium for his colleagues. A sickness had swept through his workplace and, mistaken for a strange virus, was nicknamed the “Bovingdon Bug”. All these cases of nausea and illness, sometimes severe enough to require hospitalisation, were later attributed to Young and his tea.

Young poisoned about 70 people during the next few months, none fatally. Egle’s successor sickened soon after starting work there, but decided to quit. That decision probably saved his life. A few months after Egle’s death, another of Young’s workmates, Fred Biggs, grew ill and was admitted to the London National Hospital for Nervous Diseases. It was too late to save him, however, and after suffering in agony for several weeks, he became Young’s third and final victim.

At this point, it was evident that a proper investigation into the sicknesses and deaths was necessary. Young asked the company doctor if the investigators had not considered thallium poisoning as a cause of the symptoms. He had also told one of his colleagues that his hobby was the study of toxic chemicals. Young’s colleague went to the police, who immediately checked Young’s background and uncovered his criminal record.

Young was arrested in Sheerness, Kent, on November 21, 1971. Police found thallium in his pocket and antimony, thallium and aconitine in his flat. They also discovered a meticulously detailed diary that Young had kept, noting all the doses of poisons he had administered, their effects, and whether he was going to allow each person to live or die.

At his trial at St Albans Crown Court, which started 19 June 1972, and lasted for 10 days, Young pleaded not guilty, and explained the diary away as a mere fantasy he was planning to base a novel on in the future. In light of the evidence, however, Young was found guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. He was dubbed The Teacup Poisoner, although he apparently wanted to be remembered as the World’s poisoner.

While in prison, he befriended fellow serial killer Ian Brady, whom he bonded with over their shared fascination with Nazi Germany. In his 2001 book, The Gates of Janus, Brady would write that “it was hard not to have empathy for Graham Young”.

Young died in his cell at Parkhurst prison at the age of 42 in 1990. The official cause of death was listed as a myocardial infarction, but there is some conjecture that fellow prisoners were the culprits.

Graham Frederick Young. When the press asked for a photo, he insisted they use this photobooth shot in which he looked ‘particularly cold-eyed and sinister.

All pictures taken with Olympus DSLR Evolt E-300

In Korean cuisine meats are cooked at the center of the table over a charcoal grill, surrounded by various banchan and individual rice bowls. The cooked meat is then cut into small pieces and wrapped with fresh lettuce leaves, with rice, thin slice of garlic, ssamjang (mixture of gochujang and dwenjang), and other seasoning.

Bulgogi (불고기): thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar, green onions and black pepper, cooked on a grill at the table. Bulgogi literally means “fire meat”. Variations include pork (Dweji bulgogi), chicken (Dak bulgogi), or squid (Ojingeo bulgogi).
Kalbi (갈비): pork or beef ribs, cooked on a metal plate over charcoal in the centre of the table. The meat is sliced thicker than bulgogi. It is often called “Korean BBQ”, and can be seasoned or unseasoned. A variation using seasoned chicken is called (Dakkalbi).
SamgyeopsalSamgyeopsal (삼겹살): Unseasoned pork bacon cut from the belly, served in the same fashion as kalbi. Sometimes cooked on a grill with kimchee troughs at either side. Commonly grilled with garlic and onions, dipped in ssamjjang and wrapped in lettuce leaves.
Hoe \hö\ (회): raw seafood dish dipped in gochujang or soy sauce with wasabi, served with lettuce or sesame leaves.
Makchang (막창): Grilled pork large intestines prepared like samgyeopsal and Kalbi. Often served with a light doenjang sauce and chopped green onions. Very popular in Daegu and the surrounding Gyeongsang region.
Gobchang (곱창): Similar to makchang except prepared from the small intestines of pork (or ox).

On Saturday night we went with CH to Korean Grill House to have some “Korean BBQ”, we used to go at least 1 time a week, but we haven’t been there for at least 6 months
The place looks nice, you cook your own food, it is all you can eat and the food is dirt cheap, I remember I left the place rolling

Propaganda - Your Wildlife

Hold me kiss me miss me
Miss me on a rainy day
Though I may be far away
Hold me kiss me miss me
I want you to be

Be there be there
Your wildlife beats deep inside
Be there be there
Your wildlife beats deep inside

So what kind of girl do you take me for
Did I say I want you baby
Did I say I want you baby
One day some day
Even if it doesn’t mean
Even if it doesn’t show I know
Permanently you’ll be thinking ’bout me baby

Be there be there
Your wildlife beats deep inside
Be there be there
Your wildlife beats deep inside

First time I saw you
International wildlife
First time I saw you
In-formation
First time I saw you
In-formation
I’ll give you everything everything
Locked up with me I want you to be

Be there be there
Your wildlife beats deep inside
Be there be there
Your wildlife beats deep inside

International wildlife information

Propaganda was a synthpop musical group formed in Germany in the early 1980s by Ralf Dörper (a member of the German industrial band Die Krupps), Andreas Thein and Susanne Freytag. The trio recorded some demos for future release. With the inclusion of classicaly trained musician and composer Michael Mertens and 19 year old vocalist Claudia Brücken, now a five-member band, journalist Paul Morley signed the band to Trevor Horn’s ZTT Records label.

The group relocated to the United Kingdom and released the single “Dr. Mabuse”, which, with help from David Sylvian, reached the UK Top 30.

Thein left the band before it began recording its debut album A Secret Wish. ZTT’s plan to have Trevor Horn produce Propaganda’s debut had to be abandoned because of the huge success Horn was having with Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Stephen Lipson (Horn’s engineer) took his place. The release of the album was preceded by the release of the single “Duel” which became a hit. The album received considerable critical acclaim and commercial success, but the group members had lost faith in ZTT. A remix album, Wishful Thinking was compiled by producers Stephen Lipson and Bob Kraushaar and released in 1986 without consulting the group.

Friction between Propaganda and ZTT had arisen when the band realized that their recording contract with ZTT would leave them without any remuneration for their work. A source close to the band confirmed that the group members received their first royalty payment for A Secret Wish from ZTT in 2000. The royalty payment amounted to £182 per band member. ZTT had recouped recording costs of more than £500,000 since 1985, which ZTT claimed they’d spent on Propaganda’s behalf in the Sinclair/Horn family owned “Sarm West Studios” on Basing street in London. A very unusual amount of money for a new group, but it was a simple setup between ZTT and Sarm Studios, both owned by Jill Sinclair and Trevor Horn. ZTT’s cost’s were Sarm Studios gain. Basically they were changing money from one pocket into another, then charged Propaganda for it. The receipts Propaganda later received for the use of some of Trevor Horn’s private equipment were so high, that some of those items rented could have been bought more than 3 times over, but that wasn’t in the interest of Sinclair/Horn. ZTT had absolutely no inclination to keep recording costs low. When, behind the group’s back, ZTT initiated the remixes for “Wishful Thinking” at Sarm West Studio, Propaganda was in Italy promoting their singles. After they realized what had happened on their behalf, it appeared to them, that Sarm Studios was in a bit of a draught and needed some bookings. For ZTT it was a win-win situation, the more money they spent in Sarm Studio, the later they had to pay any money out to the band. For the members of Propaganda, all the time they’d spent on writing, recording, traveling and promoting, everything was in vain. A groupmember later declared that the way he was treated by ZTT and Perfect Songs made him feel that the artists were looked at as a “necessary evil”.

Under Propaganda’s recording contract with ZTT, each of the four band members received a gross royalty of a mere 1.5% of UK sales, less for sales outside the UK, and even less for sales outside of Europe. This royalty was less than the average contract that would divide 10% between the band members (performance royalties) and another 10% between the songwriters (writers royalties). In determining the royalty payment, ZTT also subtracted a large “packaging deduction”, even though neither the vinyl LP nor the CD had expensive-to-produce packaging. A fee for the record producer was also deducted. Facing a disastrous loss of image and credibility when these contracts became subject to a court case between the bands (FGTH, Propaganda) and the label (ZTT lost both bands), ZTT Records claimed that these terms were not uncommon for a new group.

The publishing contract with Jill Sinclair’s “Perfect Songs Ltd.”, which all members of the group had to sign, was a “50/50 non-source publishing” deal. This deal enabled Perfect Songs to contract with multiple subpublishers in order to minimise the composers’ royalty to a fraction of what it would have otherwise been. The contract also denied the composer any sync-rights (the rights to earn royalties when a song is used in TV, movies or computer games).

Claudia Brücken left Propaganda to pursue a solo career. She stayed with ZTT, having married the label’s publicist Paul Morley. She joined Thomas Leer to form Act, who in 1988 released their only album Laughter, Tears and Rage. She later recorded a solo album for Island Records. Both records failed to meet expectations.

In 1990, Mertens returned with a new Propaganda line-up which included vocalist Betsi Miller, former Simple Minds rhythm section player Derek Forbes and Brian McGee. The result was a new LP 1234 produced by Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes (of Tears for Fears fame), on which Freytag and Dörper made guest appearances. Despite a radio-friendly first single “Heaven Give Me Words”, co-written by 1980s ’synthpop king’ Howard Jones, and a fine album of intelligent material, the new Propaganda were not a huge success. Perhaps in part due to MTV dropping the video for “Heaven Give Me Words” after only very few plays. Times were changing; melodic synth pop quickly became out of fashion as house was all the rage.

In 1998, Mertens, Brücken and Freytag reunited, signed an options deal with Eastwest Records, and began working on new Propaganda material. Several tracks were completed including one produced by Tim Simenon and featuring Martin Gore on guitar. A video for one song, “No Return”, was produced in Morocco and directed by “Keyser Soze” (likely a pseudonym) in December 1998. Two-minute clips of it, along with photos of the shoot, were released via the band’s official website in early 2000. However, no album materialized, and in January 2002, Brücken announced, “The reunion was worth a try, but did not work out.” Later that year, an untitled nine-track CD was leaked via file-sharing networks on the Internet. Track titles were “Cloud 9″, “Ignorance”, “Who’s The Fool”, “Beast Within”, “No Return”, “To The Future”, “Turn To The Sun”, “Dream Within A Dream”, and “Anonymous”.

In early 2005, Propaganda, now Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens, started to release new material on the German independent label Amontillado-Music.

In November 2005, the original Propaganda line-up with Ralf Dörper but sans Thein performed at the Wembley Arena showcase of Trevor Horn’s lifetime celebration. The band played Dr. Mabuse.