Way back in 1972 when David Bowie developed the character of Ziggy Stardust and his band the Spiders From Mars, never in his most coked-out dreams did he think he would ever have an actual arachnid named after that endeavor.  German scientist and spider expert Peter Jäger discovered the spider Heteropoda davidbowie on Mars in Malaysia earlier this year.  Jäger has said in interviews since the discovery that he finds that naming spiders after celebrities brings more attention to the endangered status of these insects as their habitats are destroyed.   With this publicity stunt, the Heteropoda davidbowie joins Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi in the ranks of spiders named after musicians.

Okay, get this.  Nick Troop, the Principal Lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, wrote what he considers to be the ideal David Bowie song.  He used an program called Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to analyze the words and emotional processes in the lyrics of the songs on Bowie’s most commercially successful albums.  Then, he fed them through a randomizer program, a thing that Bowie has done himself many times throughout his career, and developed the ‘ideal’ Bowie song.  Interesting, no?  Okay, maybe not to some but I am fascinated.  My background is in psychology and this is the type of stuff that I spend many hours pondering, except I don’t get paid for doing so like like Dr. Troop does.  His findings were….interesting.  And totally not what I expected.  He says, “I found that the songs with positive emotion and social processes were more successful than the songs that talked about mortality.”  Given that the character of Ziggy Stardust was obsessed with his own mortality and dramatic demise, I didn’t expect for Dr. Troop to find that positivity is the emotion that makes David Bowie albums sell like there is no tomorrow.

The title of Dr. Troop’s ‘ideal’ Bowie song is “Team, Meet Girls; Girls, Meet Team.”  It rolls off the tongue like “Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola” does but that is where the similarities end, given the subject matter.

Is it good?  Hm, I don’t know if that is the point of the song.  But it is intriguing.  And, you can’t deny the fact that Dr. Troop knows his Bowie.  Respect.

As is the case with David Bowie’s back catalog up to this point, Station to Station will get the make-over treatment sometime early in 2010.  Completists like us will own the following set: Disc 1 – original album, Disc 2 – 5.1 surround sound and original stereo DVD of original album, Discs 3 and 4 – Uniondale, Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum March 23rd, 1976 official bootleg.   As much as I bitch about all the re-releases and compilations it will be nice to have a good-quality recording of that Nassau Coliseum show.  In fact, that’s a pretty good thing to include in an album…..other than 15 new songs, that is.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews or Bandslam floating around on the intertubes.  Usually, I read anything that has David Bowie’s name in it, just to see what it is about.  With this, however, I held out.  I didn’t want to read anything until my favorite movie review site had spoken.  Without further ado, the Pajiba review of Bandslam.  Given the fact that the tagline for the site is “Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People” and the fact that this movie is aimed squarely at the tween and teen audience, you can imagine how the review reads.  But, it is a hell of an entertaining review.  Check it out!

For those of you who are going to be in London on August 28, you might want to hop on the tube and attend a fun David Bowie themed party.  The press release follows!

Kill your Idols presents…

A Night with the Thin White Duke: DAVID BOWIE

DATE: 28th August 2009
ADDRESS: Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, Bedford Way, London, WC1H 9EU
NEAREST TUBE: Russell Square 9PM to 3AM / £3

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of David Bowie’s Space Oddity Bloomsbury Bowling is proud to present a night of Bowiecentric fun with Live performances by The Thin White Dukes, cinema screenings of Bowie’s best films thought the night and much much more. The usual Bloomsbury favourites of dancing, drinking an bowling will be enhanced with a ‘strictly glam’ dress code and music policy. Prizes for the best lookalike.

I wish I lived near a big city that did this sort of stuff!  Or at least happened to be in one on vacation at the right time…

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving home from work, NPR merged two of my scientific loves – Science Friday (an old love) and Moon (a new love).  I’ve been avoiding most of the interviews with Duncan so I don’t read the spoilers, but I couldn’t resist this one.  It is available to listen to or download online at the Science Friday website.  Definitely give it a listen.  Duncan and the fill-in host Paul Raeburn discuss not just the movie, but a possible realistic future of space travel.

I know, I know, again with the covers. But I’m a sucker for the charity covers. The Helensburgh Heroes of Helensburgh, Scotland have recorded a Live Aid-style cover of “Heroes” to raise awareness of the importance of the arts in their community and raise money for a local arts center. The recording features a chorus of 70 fingers aged seventy to eighty years old and 12 lead vocalists, all of whom have volunteered their time for their worthy cause. Supporters, fans, and the generally curious that are unable to attend the live event can download a copy online starting August 1. Of course, we’ll feature a link for easy shopping.  The video is below:

For all of the David Bowie fans that can’t leave the house without carrying around pictures of their musical hero (that would be me, I made my own Bowie wallpapers for my iPhone), there is now a Ziggy Stardust application for download on iTunes. The application features high-quality versions of Mick Rock’s famous pictures of Bowie in all his Ziggy Stardust glory. So, for just a few bucks you can whip out your iPhone and look at picture of Ziggy anytime you get the urge. I’ve got the application of page 2 of my iPhone. Oh yeeaaahhh.

On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped through the door of his tin can and set foot on the moon. BBC coverage of the lunar landing was backed by a song called Space Oddity by an upcoming artist, David Bowie. Inspired partially by the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the song helped launch Bowie’s career and later won an Ivor Novello award.

Now, 40 years later, David Bowie will be re-releasing a special version of the Space Oddity EP to commemorate the event. The EP will include four version of the song, along with eight stems or multi-tracks which will allow creative fans to remix the tune on their computer or with the iPhone application, iKlax.

No word yet if the remix opportunity will be rolled into a contest, but it’s a safe assumption. Back in July of 2004, fans were invited to create their own mashup of a Reality track and a Bowie hit as a part of Audi’s Never Follow ad campaign. The grand prize winner received a 2004 Audi TT Coupe.

The tracklist for the Space Oddity 40th Anniversary Digital EP follows.

Space Oddity (original UK mono single edit)
Space Oddity (US mono single edit)
Space Oddity (US stereo single edit)
Space Oddity (1979 re-record)

Space Oddity (Bass and Drums)
Space Oddity (Strings)
Space Oddity (Acoustic Guitar)
Space Oddity (Mellotron)
Space Oddity (Backing Vocal, Flute and Cellos)
Space Oddity (Stylohone and Guitar)
Space Oddity (Lead Vocal)
Space Oddity (Main Backing Vocal Including Countdown)

Moon, the first film by David Bowie’s son Duncan Jones, won the top award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.  The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film is the highest award a film can garner from the jury at the EIFF.  In the citation on the awards the Jury states, “We award Moon for its singular vision and remarkably assured direction as well as for the inspired manner in which it transcends genre. The central performance by Sam Rockwell embodies the film’s emotional complexity and compelling philosophical perspective.”

We here at CrackedActor are very happy for Duncan Jones.  This award, as well as the immense amount of critical praise, is a remarkable accomplishment for a first-time director.  I hope this latest award increases the chance that Sony will allow a nation-wide release of Moon.