Really enjoying the works of Evie Cahir. The color palettes and textures are worthy of note but I particularly appreciate the stream of conciousness illustration style - are these things related? Are they just well composed doodles? - and reductive approach - showing less is more.

Very much enjoyed. via Jeremy.

Just a word of notice: if you haven't kicked your own butt into gear to finish a mix for the Summer Mix Series, this is your four day final warning. Submissions will close on Monday.

And on that note, if you have submitted and don't see your mix listed - please contact me and let me know. It may have slipped through the cracks like this wonderful mix from Lance.

bronchoband

The Kickstarter campaign for Kung Fury featured one of the most absurd trailers I've seen in a long time. It manages to find that perfect balance of kitschy, hilarious, absurd and still approaches itself as a big action movie. They're leveraging the VHX system to post Production Updates as they work on the movie (and to distribute it when it's finished). You can support them to get the updates if you're curious.

I'm happy to have them on the system but I'm even happier to know they're making this crazy thing.

I don't know quite when it happened but awhile back I started following Mailchimp Art Director David Sizemore. His posts are compelling from a number of angles - music, tech, various thought pieces, etc and I've always loved the visual aspect of Mailchimp's design and identity.

He recently re-launched his portfolio and the work is great. Lots of illustration, type, collages, icons and some adorable Freddie iterations. Very inspiring all around.

Over the weekend I read through this Clay Shirky article Why I Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away and can't stop thinking about it. As a teacher of "theory and practice of social media" at NYU it seems pretty sensible that Shirky would allow his students to have their laptops open while they learn about the Internet. The article could easily have turned into a professor complaining about those damn kids and their computer machines but he takes a very rational approach to the problem, even tossing in just the right amount of legitimate science:

People often start multi-tasking because they believe it will help them get more done. Those gains never materialize; instead, efficiency is degraded. However, it provides emotional gratification as a side-effect. (Multi-tasking moves the pleasure of procrastination inside the period of work.) This side-effect is enough to keep people committed to multi-tasking despite worsening the very thing they set out to improve.

That pull quote alone keeps swimming in my head as it seems to be easily abstractable to larger issues we all experience. Multi-tasking isn't the right solution to the problem but it's the one with emotional gratification, so we go that route.

Do I think the general public will stop tackling multiple tasks at once in an effort to do one task with more efficiency? Probably not. However, I think it's worth taking note of in your every day efforts.

I totally did this for the VHX plugin and it looks rad

I'm a bit skeptical of anything with Improvisational Jazz attached to it but I am intrigued by twins making surf rock

it's happening

As the Summer Mix Series draws to a close it hit me that a mix of ending songs would be an apt compilation for my own submission. I limited myself to choosing closers from full-length albums only and did my best to find a balance of curveballs (Human Milk) and classics (Built to Spill). I think it turned out well. There are some tracks on there that I've certainly included on other mixes but a solid closer is a solid closer, even if you've heard it before.

So, with no further ado, go check out FIN, a compilation of closers. I think it turned out quite well. [ Download MP3 | Download M4A | Download ZIP | Stream It ]

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Take a moment to watch this SONOIO video for "Thanks for Calling" directed by Matt Sundin and Caspar Newbolt, the later of (version) industries. It's a beautiful piece of work and goes to some entertainingly dark places while still keeping hold of a bit of humor. Way into it.

I am sure I will talk regularly about this as more develops but I'm happy to see that the Harmontown movie is starting to gain some steam. They've got a new official poster and a bunch of live tour dates are making their way out into the world (movie screenings + podcast).

If you haven't seen the trailer yet, do yourself a favor now.

Loving the branding and works of Sequitur Cinema - a commercial and film house out of Nashville. They have a documentary called "Mom Jovi" on the decks? Yes please! The Tennessee Tourism spot is beautiful work as well. Very much looking forward to more work from these guys.

great writeup on multi-tasking and why it doesn't work so well.

Over the weekend I encountered a huge bit of advertising for these new particularly weird commercial that continues to lend itself to my enjoyment of the product - without ever having used them. It's great to see 3D tech actually being applied in a real world scenario instead of just theoretically.

Theoretically, these are awesome. The pricetag is a bit steep for my blood but they are truly one of a kind.*

* unless you have an identical sibling with the exact same ear. then it's just a smart investment.

I had planned on seeing it in the theatre but once I realized that it was available on Amazon, I dove right in to a viewing of Lenny Abrahamson's Frank. At the outset, I was expecting a somewhat dark comedy about a band trying to find their way. While it certainly delivers on that front it also happens to go, surprisingly, deeper and investigates a bit of the world of the world of exploitation towards the mentally unstable. Think Wesley Willis as a good example. Is he being exploited? Is he enjoying it without really realizing what's happening? Are others manipulating him for their own gain? Maybe it's Yes to all of that.

All and all, I enjoyed and recommend. The head is silly but it makes a lot more sense once you have the context. You won't be able to hear this song without feeling a little tear jerked.

Excellent top response

Have you seen the redesigned Devour? Or the redesigned Wimp? Both serve as consistent sources for Friday Videos so if you're ever feeling like the playlist is a bit on the weak side, hit them up for further distraction entertainment. That being said, enjoy!

• Bill Murray in "Fun & Games" - who doesn't love to see Bill Murray doing some Tongue Twisters? The man is always a treat.
• Apple Campus 2 construction video - with all the hubbub over the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch you may have forgotten that Apple is building an enormous space ship over in Cupertino. Check out this progress.
• Ten Walls - Walking with Elephants - I'm not overly compelled by the song but the video is the perfect balance of arty, absurd and entertaining. Finally, humans can be dolphins.
• Longest 'usable' golf club - did you know the Guiness Book of World Records still exists? Did you know it takes on meaningful accomplishments like this?
• "Neverland" by The dB's - Fascinating story behind this video. It was shot back in 1982 and sat dormant until 2008 when it was finally edited and released through a series of happy circumstances. The video may not be breaking any barriers but it's a damn fine song and a band worth investigating.
• BOTHER // LES SINS - I'm calling this my new Theme Song.
• Hair Style for Safety WWII - I love old propaganda videos and this one uses the term "witchlock" in reference to hair. Into it.
• Mr. Go 3D Official Trailer - this is a Korean movie starring a believable 3D gorilla as a humans companion that is coerced into playing major league baseball. That's what I can glean from the trailer. Whatever it is, we don't have anything like it.

Still need more? Watch this or this - additional solid entertainment.

Have a great weekend!

I've been anxiously awaiting the release of Steelism's full-length 615 to Fame for a little bit and now, thanks to NPR, I can give it a full listen early. It is exactly the kind of instrumental goodness I had hoped for and solidifies the decision to nab the LP. Done and done.

a worthwhile Kickstarter project if there ever was one