Since I'm out in California having a bit of a mini-vacation, the playlist will be a bit short this go around. Quality over quantity, right? Lets hope so:
Memory Bank - this is, apparently, almost two years old but entirely new to me. Some sort of bumper for an MTV program I've never heard of. Frankly, I just love the look of it and could watch a good 10 more hours in this style.
Life Advice from Twitter - I missed the boat the first time around when Ze Frank made his mark on the Interwebs but I'm really enjoying following along properly this time.
Nick Waterhouse - "Some Place" - I've seen the vinyl and the live versions of this track but it's nice to see the legit official video. Looking forward to that album big time.
Cyriak - Because - it's always good to watch a Cyriak video just to remind yourself that your nightmares could be way worse.
Cat Puke Compilation - against my better judgment I share with you this fine compilation of cats puking up hairballs set to Deadmau5. There's actually very little vomitting on screen but the anticipation is totally killer.
Have a great weekend. Don't forget to call your Mom and remind her you love her.
Tumblr recently launched Storyboard, a collection of features & stories meant to highlight different creative types from across the community at large. They've got a great feature on Michael Stipe and his blog, Peter Vidani and the thinking behind the Tumblr Dashboard and even a piece on Maddie the Dog - you know the one. Basically, it not only gives some quality content to read but it also shows how the Tumblr platform can be used to create more longform content than what you'd expect. It's a win all around.. go follow it and read all the existing articles.
I'm loving the photographic offerings of WB Sloan - a decidedly New York stream of imagery. I'm not even sure how one goes about capturing some ofthese things but I'm glad it's being done. There's also a Blog Version if you'd like to follow along there.
I'm not even going to begin to act like I know a damn thing about ladies fashion but I do know that the offerings at Plume and Ledger involved a great deal of work from my friend Patricia and the results are well worth a peek. Give it a browse, check the blog and keep an eye out for new stuff for the forthcoming seasonal lines.
While I don't have anything specific to use jQuery Knobs with at the moment I can definitely see it being an extremely handy tool to have laying around. I mean, I can't even imagine the headache involved with wanting to code such interaction from scratch. The web really does seem provide in all kinds of abundance these days.
I tend to work from one or two locations only but I know several people that setup shop wherever they see fit. In such cases I'd have to say that Sidekick looks like an essential kind of app to have installed as it changes your work environment settings based on geolocation. Working at the office? Settings check. Working from your favorite coffee shop? Alternate settings in place! And even if you don't work from multiple locations, the site is very kind on the eyes and fun to scroll through.
I'm off to San Francisco today so not much going on in terms of having time to blog. I'll also be hitting up Los Angeles and San Diego over the next few days so, if you're in the area and want to meet up, drop me a line and we'll see about hanging out. It should be a good time.
To tide you over in my absence please enjoy:
Super Mario Summary - classic SMB play contained to one-screen puzzler setups. Ridiculously fun. via WAXY.
The Features - Still Lost - a b-sides and rarities type compilation from one of Nashville's finest. If you know anything about the band, this sort of thing is well beyond due.
If you're unfamiliar with Reddit's AMA series (Ask Me Anything), you're missing out on a rather great chunk of Internet content. Basically, people of interest are asked questions for a number of hours and they respond directly. Some are better than others but in the case of this AMA from Steve Albini there are some particularly great quotes. For instance (emphasis mine):
raffaellog:What is your opinion about music Piracy? Does it hurt you economically? Thanks for your music!
steve_albini: I reject the term "piracy." It's people listening to music and sharing it with other people, and it's good for musicians because it widens the audience for music. The record industry doesn't like trading music because they see it as lost sales, but that's nonsense. Sales have declined because physical discs are no longer the distribution medium for mass-appeal pop music, and expecting people to treat files as physical objects to be inventoried and bought individually is absurd.
The downtrend in sales has hurt the recording business, obviously, but not us specifically because we never relied on the mainstream record industry for our clientele. Bands are always going to want to record themselves, and there will always be a market among serious music fans for well-made record albums. I'll point to the success of the Chicago label Numero Group as an example.
There won't ever be a mass-market record industry again, and that's fine with me because that industry didn't operate for the benefit of the musicians or the audience, the only classes of people I care about.
Free distribution of music has created a huge growth in the audience for live music performance, where most bands spend most of their time and energy anyway.
Ticket prices have risen to the point that even club-level touring bands can earn a middle-class income if they keep their shit together, and every band now has access to a world-wide audience at no cost of acquisition. That's fantastic.
Additionally, places poorly-served by the old-school record business (small or isolate towns, third-world and non-english-speaking countries) now have access to everything instead of a small sampling of music controlled by a hidebound local industry. When my band toured Eastern Europe a couple of years ago we had full houses despite having sold literally no records in most of those countries. Thank you internets.
Albini has always been a rather honest individual and he really seems to be in his element in this scenario. Read them all.
Do I have any background information on this wonderful video, Strange Geometry at the Edge of the World? No. Do I know much about the creator Ivan Safrin? Not nearly enough. Do I enjoy the seizure inducing animation followed by a trippy float through space? Yes, yes I do.
Jamie recently introduced me to the musical offerings of The Bombay Royale, describing them as `The Budos Band meets Bollywood.` If that sounds like a terrible mix, think again - just check out this video from You Me Bullets Love and I think all doubts will be washed away.
This Uniqlo Alarm Clock app / screensaver grabs my attention for one reason - the sounds are dynamically created based on the current weather conditions and arrangements by Cornelius; a name I don't hear near often enough these days. The download is free so, at the very least, it's worth playing around with just to give it a try. The global map tour within the app is pretty sweet.
Daniel never ceases to amaze me with his curation of the Smallest Art Gallery. The latest installment is Summer Book Club from Chattanooga artist Hollie Chastain. Her series of mixed media pieces done on old books is the perfect appeal of ambiguous illustration and naturally appealing weathered surfaces. I'm definitely a fan.
I haven't even watched it in it's entirety yet but I'm going to go ahead and vouch for the high amusement factor of the half-hour special Between Two Ferns: A Fairytale of New York with Zach Galifianakis. Tina Fey, Jon Stewart and Sir Richard Branson are among the guests - what further convincing do you need to watch?
A documentary about five comedians who are challenged to each write 15 minutes of a movie, after having read only the previous five pages of the script.
You get a good glimpse at the weirdness of the actual movie and the frustration of the writers when watching the trailer. I can only imagine that the film that was created in the undertaking is very bizarre but having it all wrapped in the story of the creation of the actual piece is kind of brilliant. Definitely one to keep an eye out for - watch this spot or this page for proper updates.
I won't claim to know exactly what I'd use Sortbox for but I like the idea of a bit of automation to syncing certain types of files with Dropbox. I often want to place certain content in a particular deeply nested folder and it certainly would be handy to have a tool to get them to their destination without much hassle.
Maybe it's the snazzy music, maybe it's my own personal frustration with the topic in question but this Text Selection Prototype for iOS seems incredibly clever and appropriate for the device. Taking advantage of more gestures to get the results you want can incur a learning curve that can have negative effects but I think this looks sensible. Read more on it here or, if your phone is jailbroken, try a similar version.
Take a few minutes to watch this Peter Saville interview on his thoughts on the intersection of design and commercialism. It's a curious thing to hear the thoughts of the overlap between the two from a man who's best known for his directly commercialized work with Factory Records. He was not compromised in his vision and was actually able to connect with an audience. Disregard the weird atmospheric shots plugged in throughout the talk, just glue your ears to his words.
Brooke Weston manages to fuse together two of my favorite things into one new creation - well done taxidermy and miniature worlds. Her official site doesn't give much insight into how the pieces look overall but you can cruise around severalblogs to see more.
This morning when I woke up it felt like Saturday. Hopefully this means good things for when Saturday actually arrives. It does not, however, bode well for my being at all productive today. Here's your playlist and the breakdown below!
Window Surprise - the surprise itself is absolutely ridiculous but the narration puts it in the realm of perfection.
Manly Eyedrops - these eyedrops are menthol. Why does this exist?!!?
Kracie - Happy Kitchen - would you like to spend 40 minutes crafting a miniature meal that probably tastes like pla-doh? Here's the walkthrough. It's long but it's fascinating.
Where Things Come From - a 1:30 ad for a fictional TV program. The motion graphics / animation are super awesome.
Speakeasy with Paul F Thompkins - new original content series from Made Man featuring Paul F Thompkins drinking with his funny friends. How this ended up on some bizarro Maxim-esque site I will never know but I'll still happily watch the episodes.
Iron Man Cosplay - let your inner nerd fill with awe watching this kids ridiculously articulated Iron Man outfit. Viral video for The Avengers or legit super fan?
Chicken Beatboxing - you assume this will end in abject failure but it's actually a glowing success.
Tonight will be the official release celebration of All Too Human, the new album from Uncle Skeleton. The record may be created almost entirely by Ross Wariner himself (it was) but the live show is a 14-person extravaganza. If you're anywhere close to the Nashville area, please come down to the Mercy Lounge and have a great time with us. If you're not, go have a listen to the record. I am fully convinced that there is something for everyone somewhere on the album, just give it a good listen through.
