some quality vintage offerings for the ladies

I've been a fan of Monkey Ink Design for some time now but they've really stepped up their game this year. Check out their shop for some serious evidence of this. This poster set and these state flower poster series really all the evidence you need of said greatness but I implore you to dig deeper and unearth all the goods. There's plenty of them. Christmas ideas abound in there if you need it.

Gavin Rothery played a huge hand in the development and execution of the Visual Effects soon in Duncan Jones Moon. He also documented a large portion of the work. His VFX log for the movie - They Never Went To the Moon - has been around for a few years but every article within (And there are a lot of articles) is fascinating. Wanna know how Sam Rockwell wrestles Sam Rockwell? Here you go. Want to see hilarious rough CG versions of some shots? You got it. An early trailer used for fundraising? Okay.

All and all, Rothery is hugely entertaining and informative throughout. As a Moon fan, I'm disappointed I didn't know about this sooner but equally to be able to nerd out on so many of the little details.

Wolf Choir Home Video has officially released Video Hawaiian Pizza, an hour long video featuring a hawaiian pizza rotating in space. An hour.

There are two versions - the soothing Waves edition or the ambient Music Edition. There's even an earlier edition and a combo pack over on their website - VideoPizza.Biz.

I think this surpasses any need for explanation. It's just simply money-well-spent.

Jingle Bell Rocks is a new documentary about crate diggers and music fanatics that toil year round looking for random 45's and various vinyl containing lost and rare Christmas music. The trailer is pretty great and I'm excited to dig in to see the full thing. Weirdos being open about their obsessions has to be compelling, right?

In promotion for the film, Oscilloscope Labs and Christmas Music fanatic John Soss have released a rather great mix of exactly the kind of sought after songs discussed in the movie - left-of-center Christmas goodies. Listen to Snow Job while you can.. who knows when the copyright holders will come out of the woodwork claiming it be taken down!

budgets are "tiny" (2 million) but I bet VICE can take that a long way

clever bit of exclusive content from Rdio but I've no idea on any of the songs

You can't win the game, it exists only to destroy your mind

would live

Last night I took in a viewing of Laura Poitras latest documentary, CitizenFour. The film chronicles the lead up, release and after math of Edward Snowden's whistleblower leaks regarding the NSA and the major privacy violations they incurred not only on US Citizens but on anyone, anywhere.

The film itself does a great job of telling the story - maintaining the feeling of intense secrecy and tension of the actions involved. Just watch the trailer and you get a feel for the mood of the movie.

But the truly scary part is the information that Snowden unveiled. Maybe it doesn't pack as much of a punch anymore because it's been out and about for so long but it is unreal to think of the systems that exist that are capable of fully monitoring 1.2 million Americans - and that's just US Citizens. The lack of regard for due process, judicial permission or even probable cause is shocking enough but it's even harder to comprehend the sheer amount of information being saved.

As a citizen of the planet, you should see this movie. What the NSA is doing is wrong, no doubt. What can be done to turn off the machines? The answer is beyond me. I hope that whistleblowers like Snowden and changes in private company functionality (i.e. iCloud's asymmetric cryptography scheme) can help make the slightest dent but I'd love to know things people can do to help make it impossible to track at this level.

When it's Christmas time there is only one source of music that I require - the David Argyle Thacker classic, The Mouth Trumpet Christmas Album. I have posted about it before and you better damn well believe I will post about it again.

Typeset in the Future is the epitome of goodness on the Internet. It's a site dedicated to exhaustive exploration on a niche topic - typography in sci-fi films. The latest posting, an exploration of Alien, covers a lot of ground. Debating whether or not Helvetica or Futura was used is mostly uninteresting (to me) but the insights about the Purge screen overlaps with Blade Runner or the control panel buttons featuring Sanskrit iconography is wildly engaging.

I'm looking forward to digging into the Moon, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Eurostile spottings posts next.

great duo of songs.. why is the digital version so insanely expensive? Bummer.

this swedish goat made of straw has had some pretty remarkable deaths

Gentrification is Threatening Nashville's Soul. Great article from Steve Haruch.

Despite it being four years old, I really enjoy these words from Yancey Strickler (Kickstarter) on Year End Lists. Basically, he calls bullshit on the whole ordeal and even goes as far as to dissect the mentality behind the slot selections (i.e. Always avoid number four.). It's a worthy read but I particularly enjoy this little positive spin:

At some point over the next week I’ll probably break down and post some records that I like. But I won’t expect you to like them. My taste is mine and your taste is yours. I claim no agency over what moves you - it assumes a dynamic that doesn’t actually exist.

I will likely do the same. Revisit some releases that did something for me and maybe you'll like them but I, by no means, look to rank anything as The Best.

These Student Doodles from 800 Years Ago just help prove the notion that if you're bored, you're going to sketch around in the margins of whitespace available to you. I love that the styles actually reflect the time period. 13th Century boredom is not so different than 21st Century boredom.

Really loving this collection of Hollywood Stars in Vivid Kodachrome from David Wills. It's absurd but when you think about the 1930's and 40's it's easy to slip into a headspace that things weren't as bright and colorful as they are now. Maybe that's just a trick I play on myself but seeing these photos is a nice kick in the pants to remember the world has always been fully saturated.

some very thoughtful and insightful bits.

this is the joyous kind of Internet Crazy that I enjoy most