Since my very first encounter with Bandcamp I was smitten. They provide an extremely effective way for artists to digitally distribute their goods to the masses without taking a percentage cut themselves. Their mentality has been to put the music first and then figure out how to monetize it for themselves later. I wasn't sure there was a way for me to love them anymore than I already.. until yesterday when they announced BC Wax; their foray into releasing physical products into the world in high quality packaging. This encapsulates everything I feel about about my own label project in such a perfectly succinct way:

Too many bands nowadays seem to go about the production of their merch with the sole objective of fulfilling fans’ perceived format preferences, and end up with lackluster products that offer no advantages over a download. It’s an unfortunate mindset (fueled by the rise in print-on-demand services) which in our opinion entirely misses the point. Yes, the world still contains a few people who want their music on CD or vinyl simply because it’s CD or vinyl. However, we’re fast approaching the point at which the convenience of digital files is preferred by everyone, and in order to sell, the physical version must offer something the digital does not. It must somehow be made into an object that every one of your fans has to own, has to hold while they listen to your music, and has to show to all of their friends. It must be transformed from a disposable good into something your fans will fetishize.

You can read much more about the endeavor here, visit the "unlabels" site here and listen to their first release here. I am personally not enamored with their music of the first release (it's well done, just not up my alley) but the packaging is beautiful and I'm beyond intrigued to see what these guys have up their sleeve next.

This interview with book designer David Pearson is not only compelling for the works it showcases but for the insight it provides into why such care is put into the designs. It's beyond monetary - as showcased by quotes like this:

Due to the arrival of eBooks, many prophesied the death of the printed word, but we see it as an opportunity to turn the spotlight back on the traditional methods of book production and to luxuriate in the craft and tactility of the physical book and the printed page. It’s lovely to be designing with longevity in mind as we aim to create objects that will be retained and cherished by their readers.

Creating cherished physical goods seems like a tradition that should never die.

Via MajMan.

I love a well done, clean, single serving blog. 300&65 Ampersands is a daily entry featuring a different ampersand - that's it. If you like Daily Drop Cap then there's no reason you won't love this!

With the State of the Union right around the corner tonight I found this article, The Rise of Republican Nihilism, to be quite fascinating. It's a bit lengthy so don't dive into it unless you've got a few minutes but it is an extremely worthwhile read. As usual, I typically hate posting political articles here on the site because people believe what they believe and will rarely sway to another way of thinking and will vehemently defend their mindset if that's what it takes (especially if it's through blog comments). However, this article doesn't paint Republicans as overtly evil. Nor does it paint Democrats / Liberals as overly In The Right - it just uses legit examples of how Conservatives aren't really pitching for anything; they're just against what's not originating from their party.

If you don't have time for the full article, at least partake in this particularly nice wrap up:

In the right-wing mind, the world we live in at any given moment can be described as the free market, the American way of life, perhaps not a perfect world but a cherished and fundamentally free one. The next advance of liberalism will always bring socialism, tyranny, a crushing burden on industry, and other horrors. The previous liberal advances that they or their predecessors greeted with such hysteria are eventually incorporated into the landscape of the free American way of life.

And to drive it on home:

The tone of apocalyptic hysteria at the prospect of reform remains constant. Tonight's State of the Union should be an interesting one - not so much for what Obama brings to the table (that won't so much be a surprise) but the reaction of the Right in terms of how evil, tyrannical and downright terrible his choices are will be most revealing.

Via Austin.

This collection of Book Jacket Bookmarks is among the most ingenious designs I've encountered in some time. The concept is brilliant - every book comes with a detachable bookmark inside the cover that, when used properly, interacts with the cover art of the book. It's the simple pleasures in life that make this so enjoyable. I think the covers for Moby Dick or The Road may be my favorite but I enjoy them all.

I'm all for futuristic travel techniques as much as the next guy but reading up on this NASA Puffin Project really raises an eyebrow of doubt. If it's meant for military means, it seems like a waste of R&D because we've already got unmanned drones that can surely do just as good of a job. If it's intended for personal use, it's a recipe for disaster because there's no way that people are going to be better at flying single-occupancy helicopter vehicles moreso than they are cars; and we have plenty of car wrecks as it is. I'm chalking it up to a dumb idea that will likely never get off the ground (pun intended).

On the bright side, at least we get this hilarious video demonstrating its potential.

My friend Kory organized this endeavor entitled Thread & Water that aims to raise funds for clean water in support of the Haiti Relief through the sale of t-shirts. It's a simple concept - you buy a t-shirt, 100% of the profits go to Haiti relief. So, go take a look and be aware of some familiar names (Danny Jones, Aaron Grauer, Joshua Blankenship, etc). The Hope/Haiti Circle and Strength Through Unity designs are pretty undeniable (in my personal opinion) and, obviously, well worth the dollars spent.

Please spread the word about Thread & Water - as there really can't be too many ways out there for people to help out in the Haiti relief.

Lots of my friends post mixes online but rarely do they all post them within just a few days of each other. Go download the following and enjoy some new musics into your world.

• What\'s Done is Done Mix - courtesy of Jeremy Okai Davis.
• She Was A Vision - courtesy of Paige \'Flux-Rad\' Maguire.
• Dosing Intensity - courtesy of Keith Grosbeck.

It has been said many times that the simplest execution is often the best.. such is the case with this photo / audio excursion An Android's Memories. There's an mp3 embedded at the top that you play and then just scroll down through the photo series at your own pace. There's no forced slideshow or crazy transitions between images; just image and sound at your leisure. And it works, quite well. The two are matched about as perfectly as you could hope.

Via Chad.

If you aren't reading the Boxee Blog you may have missed this little bit of news about the Boxee Bookmarklet - a little snippet of Javascript you can add to your bookmarks that will enable you to add most videos you encounter on the Internets to your Boxee Queue. Pretty standard stuff but you can read more about it here. I do believe that using this liberally will entice you (And myself) to use the Boxee software even more.. as it will provide content that you know you want to watch but on your time table.

According to this, it got so cold in Colorado that a coyote was frozen, instantly, dead in its tracks. Do I honestly believe this for one second? No. Do I choose to embrace some willful ignorance in order to enjoy the idea of such a thing happening? Absolutely.

It's a fake but it's an entertaining one: Coyote Found Frozen Dead In His Tracks, Literally.

Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday.. my fever and overall health woes prevented me from really diving into the ole blog. I'll make it up to you today.. I hope.

This weeks videos are less insane / obscure and more just enjoyable in their own right. Hope that's alright. Watch them here or in the embed above.

• We Got that B-Roll! - this is probably old to most people but it's new to me. Hilarious.
• Exit Through The Gift Shop: A Banksy Film - there's a lot of Shepard Fairey in the trailer but I suppose when no one knows what you look like, you have to feature other people rather than yourself. It's a great trailer and I can't express how much I want to see this.
• I'm Here - theatrical trailer for a new Spike Jonze short film. It's oddly sponsored by Absolut Vodka but they seem to have a track record with sponsoring weird things so it's not that big of a deal. Looking forward to this finding its way to the Internet in its entirety as well.
• Adult Swim Offer to Conan O'Brien - today's the last day of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.. Adult Swim offers him a home with them. Ridiculous.
• LOST: Flight 815 in Real Time - no spoilers here.. just a fan made film compiling all the footage from the various seasons to show what was going down with Oceanic Flight 815 before, during and after it crashed.. in sequential order. Not so much funny as it is a treasure for LOST fans. Via Jeremy.
• The 100 Cheesiest Movie Quotes of All Time - it's ten minutes long but there are some real doozies in there.

Bonus - watch this.. silly but an entertaining rollercoaster of emotion.

Have a great weekend.

Robo.to is an avatar service that takes a quick 4-second video from your webcam and converts it into an animated gif avatar. It is surprisingly well done, easy to use and, assuming you had enough friends to follow, fun to keep up with others. I've posted a few of my own but I'd love it if everyone signed up, befriended each other and we give this thing a real whirl.

Heads up via Casey.

Madrid sent me a link to this article about a new startup called Blippy - a site that looks and behaves remarkably like Twitter. The difference? Your account is tied to a credit card of your choice and when you make purchases, it broadcasts that information to your account. I suggest you read the interview with founder Philip Kaplan before judging the service too harshly. It's an experiment and it might be a failed one.

The whole thing seems like a trap - waiting for a friend to purchase something embarrassing so you can call them on it. Sadly, I fear the whole of the Internet may be moving in this "full broadcast" direction - where our personal lives are just streams of data with no regard for privacy. Secrets are out, Blippy is in?

Dave Paulson sent me a heads up to check out VVVVVV - a seemingly simple game that will, undoubtedly, devour a good portion of any free time you believe you have in you for the day.

Aside from the fun gameplay it also happens to have one of the best domain names I've encountered in awhile.

I recently started following the photographic postings of Liz Devine and suggest you do the same. She's got a wide range of subject matter and they're all interesting. She's also on Flickr if that's more your preferred spot to keep up with folks.

Daniel pointed out that the George Harrison site that we did is no longer live on the web but that they've relaunched a whole new design that is quite nice! The AJAX-y navigation seems a bit much at first but once you dive into the robust music player hanging out there at the bottom of the page you'll understand why the developers wanted to keep things seamless throughout the visitors duration. The site is very clean, easy on the eyes and a respectful nod to the legacy of Mr. Harrison. My only complaint is that I wish the player had full length songs - not samples - because I'd just leave it running all day.

The Sixty One is a music exploration site that, apparently, recently relaunched with a totally overhauled and somewhat experimental interface. It's a pretty ballsy move to have your site work in this fashion - all overlays, no clear navigation, no pages containing insight as to what it is you should be doing, etc. But it kind of works. If you just let the music play and explore to find things you like, you'll certainly encounter some songs that are worth your time. I found myself somewhat frustrated with informational panels opening that I could never close.. so it's certainly not perfect.. but the giant images and immersive experience is one to take note of.

Heads up via yvynyl.

Oh, and if anyone can find a spot where you can, supposedly, upload music.. I'd love to know about it.

ASCIImeo is a conversion engine that takes any Vimeo video and converts it to an ASCII rendered version. Capturing such an effect with a still image doesn't do it any justice - so you're just going to have to try it out. I would suggest watching the Vimeo version and then comparing it side by side with the ASCIImeo version - for proper comparison.

You can read about the idea and implementation behind Peter Nitsch's project here. His description of "It's simple and generally useless, but a ton of fun to explore" is right on the money.