holy crap that cover art! THAT COVER ART!

The New York Times Bits blog has a great article up on the growth of game soundtracks - particularly in the mobile world - and how they've become a draw in and of themselves. I'm kind of blown away to see Upright T-Rex mentioned in the piece for their musical work on Two Dots. I'm biased so I think the praise is entirely deserved but it's still a great feeling to see your friends receive credit for the fine work they are doing.

Been listening to this Brian Reitzell stream on repeat since I stumbled across it. Reitzell is known for his work in Red Kross but, moreso, his music supervisor work with all of Sofia Coppola's films and his work with AIR. This article has a good bit of his history and the exclusive stream of his forthcoming solo album, Auto Music. I can't recommend it enough.

Loving this BounceJS site - a CSS3 animation generator. We have come a long way in a short time when it comes to fluid movement via native markup and I'm loving it. The "Jelly" style alone is enough to make a nerd swoon but there's so much more than that being offered. Feels good.

this is better than I could have hoped

Seems like ole Bill Watterson, creator of the beloved Calvin & Hobbes, has been popping up a lot lately. There's a documentary about him, there's another documentary featuring his work and an interview and, now, he's contributed some panels to Stephan Pastis' strip Pearls Before Swine. The story is pretty remarkable - Pastis reaches out to Watterson blindly and they end up collaborating on a few strips.

I recommend reading the entire story before diving into the actual comic strips. It's great to see Watterson's work in any context and it certainly works incredibly well here.

HT Mr. Box.

Ran across the works of The American Design Club this weekend at a flea market and enjoyed everything they were offering. The various objects are finely crafted and they have an oddly compelling selection of Cornhole Boards. The prices are way out of my feasible range but maybe I could pony up for a new welcome mat.

I have a simple question - why isn't the Internet all abuzz about FX's Fargo? Surely it was met with great skepticism when it was announced - a TV show based on a critically lauded movie seems like an outlandish idea - but the results have been absolutely phenomenal. Seriously, this show is great! Has TV reached the goodness saturation point already where shows like this are so good that they're ignored for their goodness? Has the bar been raised that high?

I'll go ahead and start the trend. FX's Fargo is top notch. The storyline is bonkers, the acting is oddly believable (Martin Freeman nails that Minnesota accent) and the cinematography is surprisingly on point for a TV show. Love it. Highly recommend.

Thanks to the Amazon Prime procurement of HBO content, I've been catching up on some series that I previously missed. The past week was spent binge watching Enlightened - the Laura Dern and Mike White helmed drama. It is, to say the least, pretty intense. I'm only through the first season but it's really a testament to self-absorption and how enlightenment tends to waver into the realm of Total BS.

Despite it being somewhat of a bummer, it's incredibly well written, acted and fully realized. It's unfortunate that it was cancelled but that doesn't make it any less of a worthwhile watch.

full-length album available. always liked these guys.

before Disasterpiece was totally chiptune. interesting compilation of songs!

Another week, another playlist! Let's see what kind of distraction and humor I can drum up for you.

• Greatest Home Run Call - is this real? Maybe not. Do I choose to believe? You better believe it.
• Eff Ate - a fun little Zuckerberg edit from psql. I'm not as bitter about Facebook as many others seem to be but it's still funny.
• Butter Ya'Self - if you told me that you had a gangsta rap video featuring a banana and a hot dog, I'd be intrigued but skeptical. Fortunately, it pays off.
• Halt and Catch Fire Main Titles - haven't seen the show yet but, holy moly, these titles are rad!
• Heavy Metal Video Game Tribute - at 17 minutes, this is a serious endurance challenge but I proudly (or sadly) proclaim that I made it through.
• John Oliver vs Net Neutrality - another lengthy video but another proper pay off, particularly the plead to the Trolls. And it seems to have worked as well, as the FCC's site was broken for a few days.
• Kitten Jam - Turn Down For What - think of a cat video and boil it down to its simplest elements. This is that form but still maintaining its entertainability.
• Luigi Ridin' Dirty - Mario Kart 8 Death Stare from Luigi really took off this week and I'm enjoying it. See lots more.

Are there more awesome videos that you really must see? Yes. But I can only cover so much ground.

I am loving the game offerings over at Shimage.net. From One Tap Quest to Homuran to Moonyoke - I've yet to be underwhelmed by my time spent. Simple enough for kids, engaging enough for adults - the sacred combination of gaming!

Seriously, your day is spent if you choose it to be so.

Keeping track of what a team of folk are toiling away on - especially right now - is not always an easy task. Developers might have Git Commit messages but aside from that, it's difficult to know what Designers, Biz Dev or anyone else is up to. There are a number of tools to help solve this but I've really been enjoying Working On - an ultra simplistic approach to announcing what you're doing. They send out a daily summary email to your whole team at the end of every day and they have hooks so you can pull status updates into whatever chat program you use. But, mostly, I just love the bare bones UI/UX - it's as streamlined as it can get. Worth having a peek even if you're not planning on using it.

this will, undoubtedly, hit heavy rotation immediately

As always, the works of Frank Chimero are simple and engaging. His latest, a personal rebrand from working under his own name to operating as a studio titled Another, is a fine example of this. The work is compelling, the site is clean but I find it more interesting that he's found a way to collaborate and grow with folks while maintaining the Chimero "brand" but keeping everything under one roof. Well played.

Any day of the week will be immensely improved by a new Schwartzblog mix. Such is the case with Outlaws, a 42-minute compilation of rough and ragged country tunes from the likes of Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins their ilk. Listen to it here.. follow along for new goodness here.

This gallery of rainy night time images, Reflexions Faites, from Romain Trystram has a dreamy mysterious feel to it. I particularly like the beginning of the set with only the tiniest presence of humanity trudging through the landscapes.

Shooter Jennings covers Moroder? So crazy it works.