A smattering of nerd-related links to look at:

• IRK.com - a URL shortener that is aiming to raise some funds for charity once the site is out of beta. Aside from that being a great idea, it\'s also nice to have \"irk\" be the base of your shortened address.
• ColorBox for jQuery - another Lightbox-esque style plugin that has one of the most tasteful default looks I\'ve encountered in some time.. plus it has a load of options and hooks to make it your own. I\'ve been going with FancyBox lately but I may have to give this one a spin.
• jQuery Flickr Feed - super easy to implement Flickr gallery from a few lines of JS code. The whole JSON feed from Flickr is probably somewhat under-utilized but this is a great use of it.

Despite having zero need for additional pillows I have to admit that I\'m drawn to these Wool Log Pillows. Kitschy? Yes. Perfectly clever? You betcha.

There are lots of additional goods from Renegade Handmade worth looking into.. you just have to poke around the site a bit.

These hyper-realistic live paintings from Alexa Meade are pretty surreal. The photos from the subway are particularly great given the reactions from the people witnessing it. I\'d love to see some video of the models in action as I\'m having a hard time imagining just how it looks for the subjects to be moving around.

Recently Ryan Catbird sat down with Art:21 and had an interview regarding his mindset on the Catbird Records project. Aside from hearing insight into the actual production process of each of the releases it\'s always refreshing to hear Ryan\'s take on releasing records in general. His insight on why he took on the Unbunny vinyl project is dead on:

...when I really love an album (as I do Black Strawberries), I always want it on vinyl. We listen to a lot of records in my house, and certainly not for any sort of \"indie hipness\" reasons, and not necessarily for nostalgia’s sake, but because I really like to sit down and actively listen to albums—as opposed to them just being background noise while I do something else—and the LP format really lends itself to that.

There are more insights into Catbird Records in general - such as his shift from hand-screened sleeves to On Demand production and remembering that your time and labor are worth $0 when it\'s something you\'re passionate about.

Overall, a fine read. I can only hope that yk records establishes itself as worthwhile as Catbird Records some day..

The Tumblr Mosaic Viewer is a pretty great way to get an overview of what a particular site has to offer (or just a slew of random images) with such a simple concept; make a never-ending grid of images based off of what that user has posted. It reminds me of how Madrid has his blog setup but limited to photos only. Here are some fine examples:

yewknee · entrauge · kateoplis · Jeremy Okai · Pope St. Victor · Owl Foreigner

It actually seems like a good way to catch up with a site that you read regularly and may have missed a few things. Now to find a similar tool that works with any site...

Via Kate.

Big thanks to JAson for pointing me in the direction of Reeder - a Google Reader App that I\'ve found myself pretty impressed with. It\'s in the App Store for just a few dollars and seems to be doing a fantastic job of taking the onslaught of Google Reader info I have and presenting it in a manageable manner. It\'s clean, easy to use and has just enough extras without being overwhelming or cluttered. I also appreciate their use of status messages in the top bar of the app, nice use of space.

Anyway, long story short - check out Reeder, I think you\'ll like it.

Honor Student has released a new short to Funny or Die entitled Sense of Smell. The video features Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad) and is, essentially, one big fart joke. The number of terms they break out in reference to flatulence is pretty amazing but you\'ve got to go in with your 13-year-old mindset to truly appreciate it.

I think it\'s safe to say that I like Bryan Cranston in just about anything - even a four-minute dramatic fart joke.

Spend some time kicking off your week shirking work with Home Sheep Home - a fun flash game where you direct a ragtag team of sheep from Point A to Point B. I love the art direction of the whole thing and the playability is just challenging enough to keep you pushing forward.

Via Will.

You know the drill. Here\'s the playlist and the breakdown:

• Hutts and Recreation - I could do without the singing but the edit is spot on perfect with the opening of Parks and Recreation. It\'s dumb but it\'s an enjoyable dumb. Via Falfa.
• El fin del mundo - this is incredibly entertaining, hilarious and perfect in so many ways. However, it requires that you read along and pay attention - the humor is not served to you on a platter. Pay attention and you will be rewarded. Via WAXY.
• Cyriak - Cycles - it gets more and more insane as it goes so stick through the entirety. Amazing piece of work.
• Bill Murray NBA announcement - I\'m sure this is old but I have no idea what\'s going on and it\'s new to me. Bill Murray continues to dominate.
• Zoobooks! - I\'ve watched this at least 30 times this week.
• Sex Offender Shuffle - I\'m sure there are any number of parody\'s of the Chicago Bears shuffle video but this is pretty funny; especially as the introductions of each offender keep getting more and more absurd.
• Raquel Welch Space Dance - I don\'t want to question why this exists but... why does this exist? Is this a legit video for her version of California Dreamin? Is this a Youtube mashup of completely unrelated clips?

Bonus
→ Star Wars Uncut - Scene 378 - I\'ve no idea how this fits into the overall scope of the Star Wars Uncut project (aren\'t you supposed to re-shoot scenes, not recut existing footage?) but it is so great that it must be visually consumed right away.

Have a great weekend.

Email marketing firm Emma has teamed up with Feeding America to donate 1,000 backpacks to hungry kids / families - all you have to do is help them gather up 1,000 clicks on their promo page. It\'s actually a pretty slick page - very well designed and fun - and provides a link to their newly renovated site; yet to be fully unveiled to the public. Do the right thing - go click and donate.

The work of Kumi Yamashita reminded me of the trash silhouettes from Tim Noble and Sue Webster but his her work is done with a much more subtle touch. Browsing through her selected work you see a lot of pieces that are a single slat of wood that, when properly lit, will cast the full intended silhouette. I\'ve been through a good chunk of his work so far and there\'s not been one era without a significant dose of great stuff.

Pinhole camera photography always has an appeal to it due to the built-in ethereal quality of the images it produces but I gotta give it to Thomas Hudson Reeve for seemingly taking it to another level - creating the entire camera out of light sensitive photo paper and exposing the entire interior creates a bizarre canvas shape that you\'ve got to sort of piece together. The set showcasing them has some unfortunately small images but Google Images provides some bigger views - such as this blog post.

Via Drew.

Heads up - the goodness of the Dusdin Condren photostream that was found here is now located here. Update those bookmarks and contacts; as he has never failed to deliver consistent visual goodness as long as I\'ve been following along.. you don\'t want to miss out.

He\'s also got a tumblog that I just came across that should, more than likely, be in your worldview as well.

Spend some time with the photostream from Viola Cangi - a predominantly quiet bit of photography with some great diptych\'s, some cinematic moments and a healthy dose of artsy.

Via Pope Saint Victor.

I\'m absolutely loving the portfolio site of Denmark based agency Appear. The click through might take you a moment to get used to what with the dragging and scrolling but it\'s incredibly well done and it\'s not Flash. There are some great sites out there really pushing the boundaries of what can be done with javascript vs what you\'d expect with Flash and I think this one ranks way up there.

Via Will.

I guess when you\'re prohibited from having a TV show and Twitter starts to get boring you launch a nationwide comedy tour. It seems to be the next logical step when prohibited from doing the thing that you know best. I\'ve no idea how a live Conan tour would translate from the TV show but I would bet good money that some of his more absurd characters will be showing up - like this guy or this guy. Not that I\'ll be attending said show (the closest he is coming to me is Bonnaroo, and I\'m not attending that) but I really hope there\'s some way for him to recreate this.

Local 8-bit electro artist Makeup and Vanity Set has launched his latest, self-titled, album and I\'m recommending you go listen to the record and take a moment to partake in the cover art; courtesy of Version Industries. It\'s rare that I see cover art for an artist making the kind of music that MAVS is making that actually feels right on the money. It\'s gritty, it\'s dancey, it\'s rooted in 8-bit and it\'s got a dark undercurrent to the whole thing - a description that could apply to either the music or the cover art; hence my feeling of ultimate appropriateness for it.

→ Get the album
→ View the Cover Art

Spring is around the corner.. summer just right beyond that. I am very ready for this winter to be over and return to a refreshed state of mind. I put together a mix of various songs that have been grabbing my attention lately and it just so turns out that a large majority of them seem to evoke this mindset of a brighter, upbeat, renewed state of things.

Please partake in my latest mix offering - Summon Solstice - and lets get this whole Spring Season cranked into high gear.

[ Download Summon Solstice ]

1. Sparklehorse - Happy Man (EV11 Mix)
2. The Goldroom - Strangling Gloves
3. Junk Culture - Carmel Valley Girls
4. Phantogram - Make A Fist
5. Jack Penate - So Near (Penguin Prison Remix ft. Travis Allen Archer)
6. Pantha du Prince - Bohemian Forest
7. Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit
8. Yppah - Son Saves The Rest
9. Secret Machines - Terrible Light
10. Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines
11. Field Music - Let\'s Write A Book
12. Kid Static - I Been Good
13. Zeus - Kindergarten
14. Caribou - Odessa
15. Port O\'Brien - Tree Bones
16. Sparklehorse - Piano Fire
17. Jason Lytle - Wonder Why in LA
18. Keegan DeWitt - End Credits

I\'m loving these works from Italian designer / artist Alberto Seveso. The rest of the works in his portfolio are quite a bit different but intriguing in their own way as well. There is just something about ink and water photography that grabs me every time.

Heads up via Kitsune Noir.