Austin Kleon recommends

a very special Nashville group giving a very cool performance

The kind folks at Record Crates United premiered a new video for Jack Silverman today and his track "Searchlight." Taken from his EP, Now What, the song feels ripped from the screen of classic film noir... so it's fitting that the video is ripped from the screen of classic film noir.

Watch it, enjoy it, get snag the EP.

Today, Vimeo spun off from its parent company IAC and went full on public. If you're the kind of person that buys stock, get yourself some VMEO and see what happens.

When I started at VHX some nine years ago, I had zero inclination that we'd be acquired by Vimeo and end up here. It's quite surreal but I feel honestly proud of where we've ended up and excited to see where it goes.

I'm sure one day I'll have more nuanced thoughts about the entire endeavor but, for today, I'm just stoked about it.

Premiered this new video for "Beats Me" by the band Full Mood and I am reposting it here because, frankly, it's a damn fine ode to Twin Peaks and David Lynch. It's a slow burner but well worth the reveal. Give it.. 3 minutes. I know that's infinity in Internet Time but the reveal is satisfying.

Over the weekend I saw a friend tweet a random hash in order to "secure his Arweave" account. Intrigued, I poked around the official ARWeave site and learned that it's a technology that "enables you to store documents and applications forever" thanks to a "collectively owned hard drive that never forgets."

If that smells suspiciously of blockchain, you're not wrong. ARWeave is built on top of a Blockweave is an alternate version of the traditional blockchain that is "a set of blocks that contain data, linking to multiple previous blocks from the network."

From a high level, it's not very illuminating. The sites rundown on its own technology is interesting - basically saying that the blockweave rewards you for duplicating historical data (unlike the blockchain) and eventually results in a "permaweb" of data.

I can't say that I fully understand at all but I remain intrigued. Maybe you will be as well.

As we, hopefully, careen towards embracing more renewable energy sources at a larger scale, I find myself going down various YouTube holes learning about some options. This Undecided with Matt Ferrell episode on The Future of Solid State Wind Energy is a pleasantly educational look at some near term and long term alternatives for harvesting wind power. It's also just 12 minutes, so it's just the right length too. Do give it a watch.

another new Berry record?? Intrigued!

trailer was posted in 2018 but the doc is out now in 2021. Curious to watch.

Paradise Arcade is a podcast in which the hosts talk to electronic musicians about their creations. While that may not sound especially novel, they do a track-by-track breakdown of significant albums with insights directly from the artists. This episode of 88:88 by Makeup and Vanity Set is quite interesting! MAVS, aka Matthew Pusti, talks through the origin of the record, the individual track creation, the artwork and all points in between. Definitely worth a listen. Pusti is always so forthcoming about his process and inspirations, it's refreshing to say the least.

Additionally, I don't think I've seen a podcast formatted in this way, broken up into individual tracks. It's even setup that way over on Spotify. Pretty clever, honestly.

this is equal parts depressing and hysterical

Free download of 2015 show with two different sets; one with the two Johns and a reel-to-reel and one with the John Henry band. Yes.

very smart idea and super useful for labels. Wish it *looked* better but thats neither here nor there.

Today, yk Records announced the debut single from Cody Uhler off his forthcoming album Darbo's Island. I suggest you listen to while you read:

New video for Tower Defense went out today for "Under the Sea." I released their record In the City on my lil label and the band has been consistently putting out new videos to promote it. They are a relatively unknown band and it's tough work! I applaud them for it and I hope you take the time to dive into the album... especially if you're the type that enjoys a bit of post-punk mixed with harmonies.

There's a photo making the rounds recently in which Joe and Jill Biden are posed with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. It's innocent enough at first glance but if you look at it for more than 1 second, the Biden's look absolutely enormous. It's bizarre and hysterical. If you want to understand why this photo - which is not Photoshopped - looks this way; turn your attention to this great distortion explainer that runs through the differences between optical and perspective distortion. It's a very nerdy bit of photography insight but an interesting read.

If we're being honest, I just wanted to save that image to my site so I can revisit the weirdness whenever I want.

Because I've been watching a lot Taskmaster lately, I'm also being exposed to other British shows featuring the same comedians (which I appreciate). I recently came across Romesh: Talking to Comedians in which Romesh Ranganathan sits down in a cafe and has a chat with a random comedian. It's like Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee but without the vintage cars and a lot more accents. The clips on YouTube are short (it's unclear if there are longer episodes elsewhere) so it's low commitment.

Sharon Horgan, Sara Pascoe, Katherine Ryan and James Acaster are a good place to start.

Thanks to YouTube recommendations, I've found myself being immersed in clips (and full episodes) of the British gameshow Taskmaster. It's a fairly simple concept, every season five different comedians are given random and absurd tasks to accomplish, ostensibly in competition with one another. The solutions to the given problems are often absurd, occasionally brilliant and usually quite funny.

Camouflage Yourself is where it all started for me but from there it's a deep dive into Paint a Picture Without Touching the Rug, Make the Biggest Mess and Completely Clear It Up or Make a Mask That Tastes Delicious and Looks Great. If these sound insane, I hope that's the allure.

It's been running for 10 seasons now, so there's plenty to keep one entertained. Thanks, YouTube.

I must admit, I had not heard the name John Swartzwelder before seeing several friends tweet about him and this New Yorker interview. Maybe you hadn't either? He's considered one of the "most revered" writers of early episodes of The Simpsons and holds the record for most episodes written (fifty-nine). He is elusive and does not tend to give interviews. He is also, unsurprisingly, very funny.

Even with zero context about Swartzwelder, it's a great read. There are lots of funny little quips throughout but I rather enjoyed this description of how he writes:

How much time and attention did you spend on these scripts? Another “Simpsons” writer once compared your scripts to finely tuned machines—if the wrong person mucked with them, the whole thing could blow up.

All of my time and all of my attention. It’s the only way I know how to write, darn it. But I do have a trick that makes things easier for me. Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible, putting in crap jokes and pattern dialogue—“Homer, I don’t want you to do that.” “Then I won’t do it.” Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. It’s lousy, but it’s a script. The hard part is done. It’s like a crappy little elf has snuck into my office and badly done all my work for me, and then left with a tip of his crappy hat. All I have to do from that point on is fix it. So I’ve taken a very hard job, writing, and turned it into an easy one, rewriting, overnight. I advise all writers to do their scripts and other writing this way. And be sure to send me a small royalty every time you do it.

Carve out some time for the full read, it's worthwhile. I'll be diving into one of his self-published books next.

I don't consider myself a hardcore Rick & Morty fan. I enjoy it but I'm not lining up to get any Szechuan Sauce if you know what I mean. However, I am a huge Paul Robertson fan. I believe I saw Kings of Power 4 Billion % back in 2008 and have done my best to stay clued in for the last thirteen years.

Robertson has done a lot of promos for Adult Swim over the last few years and quite a bit of promo for Rick & Morty specifically. Stylistically, they are not the same but the insanity, mania and attention to detail that Robertson brings is, clearly, a good fit.

The Eternal Nightmare Machine is ostensibly a commercial for Rick & Morty Season 5 but it's a 17-minute short film that is quintessential Robertson. Required viewing.