It's been a pleasure to watch Bradley Spitzer continuously put out ever evolving work. His latest site relaunch is a great testament to that notion. He's putting out great work that feels like a healthy mix of editorial, fashion focused and intimate portrait. Oh, and these Kurt Wagner pics cracked me up.

It's been quite awhile since I've looked at Michael Wolf's photo series Architecture of Density but even now, eight years later, it's no less impressive and intense than it was the first time I encountered it. If you don't know it, take a moment to invest in the density and, if you do know it, give yourself a moment to resoak it up. It's hard to believe it's not a very well done Photoshop job.

Ah, another week! Another compilation of distraction. You know how it goes:

• Horse Nibbles Cameraman's Ear - this probably wouldn't be that funny if it wasn't edited as well as it is. When you're done, go revisit this greatness.
• Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXIV Intro - maybe this is jumping the Halloween gun but it's an entertaining 3 minutes. Oh, and Guillermo del Toro directed the couch gag.
• Washington State Popcorn Guy - basically my new hero.
• Back to the Future / Knight Rider Mashup - I actually saw this last week but that theme song is mesmerizing. Can't stop listening.
• Principal's Office - truTV - yes, these kinds of shows are typically terrible but, occasionally, you get some performances that you simply can't deny the amusement. I wanted to hate it but I couldn't do it.
• Fingertips - I never thought this song could have a proper video that did it justice. This one does. Thanks Paul.
• Johnny T's NYC Tourist Tips - kind of thought this was going to be unbearable but, turns out, it was full of some proper chuckles.

Still in need of entertainment? Feeling unsatisfied? Sometimes I just youtube Crazy Russian and call it a day.

Oh, one last thing, if you haven't already. Go listen to this preview set with new goods from Uncle Skeleton, Codaphonic and Jasmin Kaset.

charliethetran

I joined Austin Kleon's mailing list earlier this week thinking that I would get a notification about his next book when that was available but, much to my delight, I received an email this morning full of links to a load of great reads. Look at it! It's great. Go subscribe.

Throw these in your Pocket or your Instapaper or your whatever you like to use to reference longer form reads but, please, take some time over the next 72 hours to fully immerse:

• The Inferno of Independence - a great piece from Frank Chimero about being a creative, the loneliness of independence, the strength of community and a lot more. It's so full of worthwhile nuggets that it's hard to pick even just a handful to take with you.
• Maciej Cegtowski XOXO Talk - it's mentioned in the above Chimero piece but here's the full transcript of Pinboard's founder speaking on Thoreau. Go for the Thoreau 2.0 image, stay for the rallying cry for more community and less solitude.
• Ending the Anti-Hero Genre by Introducing Good and Evil - a bit of waxing on the finale of Breaking Bad and the series on the whole. I think the show wrapped itself up well but there's still plenty of room for further consideration of the characters involved - particularly Mr. Walter White.

I'm overjoyed to officially announce that yk records will be releasing the next album from Jasmin Kaset. I have listened to her first album, Hell and Half of Jordan, countless times and I can't say enough great things about the forthcoming record. The first preview track, "The Salesman", may sound familiar as it was featured in this promo video for Sideshow Sign Co but I still play it with the utmost regularity.

Lots more to come regarding this record - particularly the album art and more but I'll get to all that in due time. For now, enjoy the song.

Take some time to watch this excellent video profiling photographer Stephen Shore. He's had a compelling career but it's mostly just insightful to hear him wax eloquently about his experiences with other creative types and what drives him to create - namely the desire to answer questions.

via Kate.

Banksy is putting on another art show in New York this month. That, in and of itself, is not really newsworthy. However, he's doing it a little differently - the entire show is outside. In other words, he's going to tag a bunch of places around the Lower East Side and send people scrambling to find them before they are vandalized. He's got an Instagram account going to document the pieces before such a thing happens.

All and all, it's pretty silly and probably intended as a bit of a kick in the teeth to the art world.

by Sheila Burgel for Dust & Grooves

More news in the releases front. Yesterday, Uncle Skeleton preview, today Codaphonic. The forthcoming fall release is a double EP - split between Oh Radio! and Mindwrecker. Each side has a different producer, a different artist behind the artwork and a slightly different sound. I think it's a brilliantly novel approach and it holds up very well. The first two preview tracks are One More Thing and Mindwrecker - and they are but mere tastes of the goods within! I'm actually incredibly excited to see the artwork from Elizabeth Williams and Rachel Briggs in print. Really looking forward to this one.

Apparently, every quarter Twisted Sifter compiles 25 of the best photos for that period and at the end of every year has a solid Top 100 to check out. As the third quarter of 2013 comes to a close, the latest 25 photos are unveiled and they are definitely some doozies! There's a lot to love - be sure not to miss the Baby Musk Ox and Seattle fog image.

The first meetup is already sold out but I'm curious to see more come out of Draft and Draw. It's a craft night brought to you by Chris Rushing and Shane Zucker with more of an emphasis on designers, illustrators and sketchbooks. Going to keep an eye on that #DraftandDrawNYC instagram tag to see the antics.

LP + Zine... ORDERED.

I mentioned it last week but there's a lot of awesome upcoming releases on yk records this fall. So, I'll likely be talking about all the details over the coming weeks and months. I might be totally jumping the gun here but I'm going to go ahead and share a track off the forthcoming Uncle Skeleton record - Too Young, Too Old. So, steer your browser over to listen to Dangerous Pets and enjoy the artwork preview, featuring such an incredibly lovely painting by Jason Severs.

The Creators Project

Scientific accuracy be damned, these Bones postcards from Jen Collins are great! I just wish there were more of them.

I, admittedly, don't do a ton with Heroku myself aside from the occasional database query but I'm loving this app - LovelyHeroku. Aside from the functionality its actually worth looking at just for the design. It's "flat" design but the clickable areas are clear, they haven't abandoned all button shapes (unlike certain other iOS's I know) and the icons are slick. I may get it just to tinker around and be inspired!

I'm actually surprised it took them this long but Google just launched their Google Web Designer - a direct competitor for the likes of Dreamweaver, Coda and a whole host of other WYSIWYG editors. Personally, I think the days are slowly slipping behind us where you would need a code like this - you either learn actual code or you go with templates that can be easily modified. Creating with these kinds of tools is always going to lead to some bloat, right? It may sound like naysaying but the tool actually looks quite nice and I love the accessibility aspect of it - design once, works on any device. I'll give it a spin just to see what it's all about.

Ja'mie: Private School Girl