what is going on here? read more to find out

posted January 28, 2015 #

What you get what you cross an ? with ?? ? http://t.co/ennKjxK3tk ? The error pgs are ? too http://t.co/1hE6yREesc http://t.co/A1e3dmgYup

M. B A P

posted January 28, 2015 #

There is an incredible amount of wonderful low-light photography from Morgan Bap. There's a good amount of photography during other times of day but the night pieces are my absolute favorite. Follow along on Instagram or Tumblr (or both).

via Nevver.

Nuzzel

posted January 28, 2015 #

Their website isn't much to look at but, thus far, Nuzzel is doing a good job of what it promises - delivering news from social feeds that you may have missed. Basically, it scrapes your Twitter or Facebook and gathers up stories that occur multiple times and may be worth your time (there's likely some fancy algorithm at work I'm unaware of) and delivers them to you via the web and email. It's a simple concept but a convenient way to get a digest summary of your personal social feed.

via Kevin.

Captain Baby Videos

posted January 28, 2015 #

I've mentioned them before but it bears repeating that Captain Baby should be taken note of. Their album, Sugar Ox, is a great bit of frantic energy and they've been releasing a steady stream of videos as well. Check out Worshipping You or Row On - excellent bits of doing a lot with a few simple effects.

Pixelapse

posted January 28, 2015 #

Lately, we've been using Invision to share designs amongst the team, gather feedback and quickly prototype user flows. It's been working quite well.

That being said, we're also open to new tools - such as Pixelapse, a similar collaborative workspace that was recently acquired by Dropbox. I love the sync'ing of files, Git repository style version'ing and revisions and overall presentation. On the whole, I don't think it looks markedly better than InVision but it looks interesting enough to check out.

posted January 27, 2015 #

for all that bluster yesterday, it hasn?t even reached peak spaniel in boston http://t.co/tDJLBU1fI2 http://t.co/5FOcYlA5aR

posted January 27, 2015 #

Love this @EarthCam view from @StatueLibrtyNPS's torch! #blizzard2015 http://t.co/s7xPQccU4j

Dust & Grooves, Sheila B

posted January 27, 2015 #

Really enjoyed this Dust & Grooves interview with Sheila B - a Brooklyn vinyl collector who's spent a hefty chunk of time amassing 45's from 1960's girl group, French Ye-Ye singers and Japanese Pop gems.
Aside from being a collector and skilled DJ, as evidenced by this mix, she also runs an ongoing blog over at Cha-Cha-Charming that shares many of her findings. She may prefer vinyl as her format of choice but I love this quote on being a music collector:
The joy of listening far exceeds my need to have it on record. The song is the cake, the original vinyl record is the cherry on top.
Well said. Dive into that interview - even if just for the photos! Plenty of amazing record covers to enjoy.

Ryan Schude

posted January 27, 2015 #

Nice writeup from Vantage on the photography of Ryan Schude. Aside from having a load of great examples of his elaborate work there's some nice insight on how he goes about setting up these shots. The most impressive thing is that, while staged, they aren't heavily composed in Photoshop, this is actually captured in the moment.

There's a fun lightness to the work and often a bit of surreal lighting. Dive into Schude's Tumblr for some more traditional work and inspiration or hit up his official site to really immerse yourself in the Tableaux Vivants.

posted January 26, 2015 #

Re TV shows: endings are hard

posted January 26, 2015 #

ust thought of this and checked to see if it was still as funny as I remembered. Yep. http://t.co/aLT07eAxx7

posted January 26, 2015 #

Dave Eggers on selling out. From 2000. Classic must read. http://t.co/hfZkptk1KN

Making Mr. Man

posted January 26, 2015 #

After the release of Nahnee Bori's latest album, Mr Man, I was curious how composter and creator Cody Uhler managed to put the whole thing together. Where better to go than but the source for insight. He was kind enough to field some inquiries about making the album and provide some insight that gives me even further appreciation of the album.
Can you talk about the technical creation process with making this record? It has such a unique blend of instrumentation, I'm curious how you came to bring them together.
CU: I really wanted to exploit sub par virtual instruments and digital voices. One of my favorite instruments to use was an old garageband saxophone. I filtered a lot of the high end frequencies out to create a really ambiguous woodwind/brass instrument. I became really fond of the stiff, angular sound it presented. These kinds of sounds were perfect for layering and weaving a dense, kinetic auditory fabric. While the virtual instruments and voices laid the groundwork for the compositions, I could pepper in found and recorded samples, synthesizers, and real recorded instruments. I liked the obvious juxtaposition of organic content to artificial. It really brought out the stark, comical aspects of the fake instrumentation.

Can you discuss the more emotional process? Where was your head at in creating this?
CU: I was feeling very ponderous. I wanted to make music that sounded like 80's and 90's kid's show background music that gets completely out of context and control at times. I imagined that most of the music was played by a group of weak, little creatures or people. There's something really endearing and hopeful to me about that concept. The ambiguous tone of the assorted digital voices were perfect for creating a mood that seemed benign, yet magical at the same time.

You had a distinct vision for the cover art that Rachel Briggs was able to bring to light - do you feel there is a dichotomy between the sound of the record and the art or would a forest of animals make songs like this?
CU: The cover art is an incredible fit to me. The group effort of the birds surrounded by all of the ornamental details translates the music wonderfully. The detail that really ties it all together is the empty opening in front of the conductor. It's warm hue and emptiness nails the overall emotion of the album.

What's next for you? You seem to have blended Lotic Prattle and Place quite elegantly with this - what would the next Nahnee Bori record be like?
CU: I'll probably blend concepts and techniques of the past three. With each album you gain a new set of tools to use on your next idea. I've been wanting to synthesize old country music with electronic elements for a while now. I'm haunted by the idea of a lonely cowboy traversing the cosmos on horseback.

WhiteAlbum

posted January 26, 2015 #

Everything old is new again. Right? Such is the case with White Album - an app that takes up to 24 photos at a time and then mails you physical copies of said photos. No previews, no retouches, no filters.. just point, shoot and get some photos later.

I won't lie, I think it's an interesting idea. The transient nature of all the photos we take is actually a bit sad. Even your best selfie only exists for a few days, at best. Having a physical copy of something gives you a reason to revisit it later, even if it's just during the rare occasions that you look through a photo album. When's the last time you went deep diving into your digital photo archives (and, no, Timehop doesn't count).

Having a large party of people use this at a single event seems the most worthwhile reason to try it out but I don't see any harm in making an effort in photographing the people in your life and holding on to it, physically.

Project Blue Book Collection

posted January 26, 2015 #

Project Blue Book was the name that was given to the official investigation by the United States military to determine what the Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) phenomena was. It lasted from 1947 - 1969.
There are 129,491 pages from some 10,000 cases within the vaults of The Project Blue Book Collection pertaining to government led research regarding UFOs, all browsable with a few clicks. It is an unwieldy amount of information to consume and doesn't organize itself in a way that presents some grand conclusion of compiled data. It's just all the reports of strange sightings from three decades. That being said, it's still great to see all put into one spot.

Pick a decade and then find something nearby where you live. Here's one from 1950's in Brooklyn and one from Nashville - both perfectly enjoyable reports of strange activity.
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