Frank William Miller, Jr has long been an admired designer in my book. I just recently stumbled on his Threadless shop filled with well designed, politically charged, designs. It's hard not to love the Secretary of Alternative Facts or Merkel Tee. The To Be Black and Conscious in America design is top notch but, obviously, comes with a hard pill to swallow that our country has a long way to go.

I understand that topics of political nature can be polarizing (and maybe enraging depending on where you stand) but there's no apologizing for seeing backwards progress and FWMJ is using his best toolset (design) to help illuminate that movement.

And he didn't know health care was complicated, and he didn't know North Korea was complicated, and he didn't know.… https://t.co/GPqCd2YAZI

A booth painting at a Mexican restaurant I was at looked a lot like a beat-em-up. So I made it into one.Character w… https://t.co/5MsmRp4cdG

We out here y'all https://t.co/3tcDR1uzuj

LONDON: Breakfast Alone is now available at @RoughTrade so if you're attending their @RSDUK festivities, make sure… https://t.co/NQZMW8tZ6t

really really enjoying this

To keep things fair and balanced, here's an embarassing cat leap gif to go along with that silly pup. We're all silly animals.

Tomorrow is Record Store Day - please try to find some time to celebrate your local brick-and-mortar shop; they'll appreciate it. Granted, it'll probably be a madhouse there tomorrow but that's part of the fun. Oh, but just don't buy any Spaceman 3; they'd appreciate it.

• Hans Zimmer - Live at Coachella - it's a slow swell but this gets way more rockin than you'd expect from ole Hans. Love it.
• Naked Tickle Me Elmo - meant to share this last week but didn't have a good video version. The skinless Elmo is a real treat.
• Embarassed Bull Mastiff - Honestly, everyone involved here should be embarassed. Adorable.
• UFC Glitches - I have zero interest in UFC or UFC games but I do have interest in game glitches in which the characters look like a bunch of idiots. There's a ton of these on Youtube but most come with some unbearable commentary, this one is short, simple and speaks for itself. But, please, treat yourself to this one for real thrills.
• Communications-Based Train Control - not a silly or weird video, just an insightful one about how impressively old the NYC MTA is. Just give it a scrub to see how antiquated the equipment is.
• Subway Race - I think this is actually from 2012 but it's new to me. Dude runs from one subway stop to another.
• Queenstown Downhill Sled - if you make it to New Zealand, please partake in this bonkers downhill sled activity and report back exactly how terrified you were. Can't wait to hear about it.
• Seagull - sometimes you just need a simple moment with a seagull.

GGB-012 The EP "Stone Garden" will be released on Vinyl & Digital in April 21st 2017. Gatefold Vinyl/Digital: https://gurugurubrain.bandcamp.com/album/stone-garden Facebook: www.facebook.com/kikagakumoyo/ Website: kikagakumoyo.tumblr.com/ Twitter: twitter.com/kikagaku_moyo Kikagaku Moyo - "Stone Garden"

I've been following the creations of Hexeosis for some time now. He creates immersive psychedelic patterns that make for mesmerizing GIFs. Recently he's taken those skills and created a 37-minute video version entitled HX-01. There's a Blu-Ray version or a digital purchase - depending on which fits your style better. I suggest diving into the trailer to whet your appetite on the face full of visuals or just visiting his blog to get familiar with the kind of work he's known for.

Have you played around with the various Google AI Experiments? There's some surprisingly fun, seemingly silly, projects to tinker with. Here's a few I suggest:

• Autodraw - use the magic pen to draw a rough shape and, viola, a horse comes out! Okay, it's not always a horse but the system attempts to interpret what you're roughly sketching and give you a fully formed, tightly illustrated, version of it. I've seen two 45 degree angle lines turn into a Flamingo and a saxophone. Win win.
• Giorgio Cam - take a photo with your device and Giorgio Cam will turn it into a song; ala Moroder style. It's certainly silly but the intro video will give you a proper appreciation of it.

There are plenty more beyond that but the above is a fun place to start.

As you hopefully know, I run a second music site called We Own This Town that strives to highlight music from the Nashville area that exists outside the perceived stereotype of the city and, ideally, is flying under the radar for most folks.

One recent accidental discovery is the full-length debut from Woodsplitter, a mesmerizing blend of big metal riffs, alto sax solos and mellotron interludes. I don't know how he manages to make it work but it does. After a little more research, it turns out this is the brainchild of Ben McLeod (not that one), from the band All Them Witches - another Nashville band well worth your time.

On the whole, Woodsplitter is a bit of anomaly and, thus, the reason for sharing.

The photographic body of work from Joe H. Shipp spans 30 years between 1948 and 1978, capturing a great deal of rural life in Tennessee. His grandson, Joseph Shipp, discovered his archive of 16,000 images and has taken it upon himself to digitize, document and organize the findings into The Shipp Studio Archive. The end goal of the project will likely be in the form of a book or massive website or maybe both but, for now, it's an exploration of an artist working outside of a major city during a time when being an artist outside of a major city meant your work would never been seen by a larger audience.

The handful of images on the main site are impressive to say the least. On par with the likes of Dorthea Lange or other FSA photographers. There's a bunch more to see on the Shipp Studio Instagram. Hopefully the project continues to gain awareness and finds a proper way to showcase these beauties.

Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft chief executive, recently launched USAFacts.org. To understand exactly what it is, check this quote from the inspiration page defining its goals:

USAFacts was inspired by a conversation Steve Ballmer had with his wife. She wanted him to get more involved in philanthropic work. He thought it made sense to first find out what government does with the money it raises. Where does the money come from and where is it spent? Whom does it serve? And most importantly, what are the outcomes?

I haven't done a lot of digging into the inner pages yet but if you want a high level overview of where the money is going it does a decent job of breaking the spending down into distinct, easy to view, budget blocks. I could stand for there to be a bit more explanation along with each grouping but maybe they fear some bias slipping in and, instead, rely entirely on surfacing as much data as they can.

It's a first launch and I can only hope it will improve over time and serve as an easy reference point for everyone.

Rather enjoying a deep dive into the portfolio of UK illustrator and designer Ben McLeod. The majority of his work is heavily textured and feels like a handcrafted poster from another time. Even when he's covering subject matter that feels at odds with his style, it works. His Tarot Cards work is probably my favorite as it exemplifies his methods so perfectly.

Sometimes Breaking News comes at exactly the perfect moment: https://t.co/0SNczBHCzU

oh mygod https://t.co/XyOfkMtcHV

good read

For the past three years I've hit up the NYC Easter Parade, a quarter mile long gathering of creative folks celebrating Spring. It's a tradition that started in the 1870's where "high society types promenaded about" in their finest clothes but it's morphed into an all-day affair of creativity and general gawking. It's like if the Kentucky Derby intermingled with Drag Queens and weirdos. It really is a mixture of classy dress and freak flag waving fun.

Oddly, just about everyone I know in NYC has never heard of it and never attended; despite hundreds of people coming out every year to the event. So, if you're unfamiliar, take a deep dive into this gallery and peruse the geotag for the event. It's really something else.

if I was in the market for a truck, I'd hilariously consider this

I nabbed this from Waxy just the other day but it bears repeating - take some time to watch this Cal Henderson talk on Emoji for Fun and Profit from Webstock. I literally can not remember the last time I ran across a web talk that was 30 minutes long that I actually watched in its entirety. My attention span is terrible these days but I was glued to this from start to finish. It's an excellent history of the Emoji and a technical deep dive into the implementation of it across different platforms. That may not sound engaging but I promise it's thoroughly entertaining.