Video: Doomtree’s “Bangarang”
I think I have a new video. Har Mar Superstar interprets Doomtree.
I think I have a new video. Har Mar Superstar interprets Doomtree.
If you’ve been wondering, this is where I get my coffee pretty much every weekday.
Running: I have begun running and I loathe myself for it. Utterly. (Close readers of the listenerd (ha) may recall having read a little something about this.) No one – and I mean NO ONE – captures the nouveau runner’s mix of addiction, wonder and self-hatred like Charlie Brooker. “I have been murdered and replaced with a suspicious facsimile. In running shoes.” Please read that. Furthermore, Charlie Brooker, much to his credit, is trying to plant the idea that the PACKAGE in this heart-rending John Lewis (a UK retail chain) advertisement contains a dog’s head. (It might.)
Showers: Rob Walker explores a thoroughly modern hotel signage phenomenon, one in which the hotel attempts to initiate a game of chicken with its guest to see who will eventually blink and ruin the entire planet by using/providing too many towels or using/offering incredible water pressure. Also, there is a HUGE dual shower head involved. HOWEVER, Mr. Walker does not answer the question of whether the dual-shower head thing was worth using.
Minneapolis: Minneapolis’ Craig Finn talks about the first time he heard Minneapolis’ The Replacements. All this story needs is Minneapolis’ Prince to make it complete and as obnoxious as is possible. And possibly a bike lane. (Maybe Prince is winter cyclo-commuting via it.)
Gimmicks: These musical business cards by Katharina Hölzl are incredibly cool. Watch the video or read more here.
Self-help: NPR helps you name your first novel. Mine was The Black Black Delphinium of Vatican City!
“News”: Google dropped a new music service today. I will play with it, though it is rare that I find people ready and willing to spend time and energy even entertaining the idea of sharing something with me via Google+.
Local: Normally, I’m not a fan of Bob Collins and NewsCut! (I listened to him on the radio once.) It’s entirely possible that he touches my shadow. HOWEVER, I enjoyed his Letter to the East Coast. “Where you come from, you don’t change as much as merely assimilate — you’ve been around for almost 400 years. Here, the culture is changing and watching it change is about the most exciting thing you can imagine.”
Graphics: Check out these classic albums, their covers reimagined. Whenever I reimagine my own cover, I am no longer bald. And am perhaps a bit thinner. And I have a more symmetrical face. Maybe less of a harsh jaw line. My bulbous forehead recedes. The pain in my right knee subsides. My posture improves significantly. My heart begins pumping more blood, through thick, wide veins, more quickly, delivering much-needed nutrients to all of my bodily tissues.
Among other things.
Today’s links: F. My queue overfloweth.
Skinny version. I have a post on a burgeoning “Slow Autotune” movement (Polica, Gayngs, Bon Iver) that I’m going to write tonight. Or tomorrow night. I don’t remember.
There’s an Ani DiFrancoesqueness happening here.
*Note: Please note that while these links and lines appear short, I believe they are as good as any ever here collected. (They’re just OK.)
*Images: This paper art from Nick Georgiou is gorgeous. [fubiz]
*Information: This site, Yo, is this racist?, is perhaps MORE USEFUL THAN GOOGLE?
*Blogs: Yelping with Cormac McCarthy. “We do not hear from the man who ate the taco until November of that year, when he returned to the town on the back of a mule.”
*Science: Who wants to read about 18th century breastfeeding? Hey now!
*Local: GWAR guitarist Cory Smoot was found dead today, after the band’s Minneapolis concert.
*Bands: The xx is now blogging.
*Recommended: The Walker’s Off Center blog is pretty good, too, really.
*Today’s links: F.
1) Never use a cedilla in your band name.
2) HOW do I get my hands on “Wandering Star”?
3) Here’s their website.
4) Am I back? I don’t know.
*Film: Johnny Depp is set to play Tonto? Shit just got real, Kimosabe.
*Religion: Here’s Tina Fey’s “A Mother’s Prayer for Its Child.”
*Minneapolis: Color Me Obsessed is a film about The Replacements. [mefi]
*Dinosaurs: My son has a dinosaur obsession. Someday, he will understand the awesomeness of these Cabazon dinosaurs of the 1960s. Incredible. Also, they remind me of Large Marge and the first time I ever shit my pants while watching a movie.
*H20: You had me at photographic essay of water towers, BLDGBLOG.
*Blog recommendation: The fine people over at Future of Listening have been KILLING IT lately. Humanely. But still. KILLING IT. (In a good way.)
*Shoes: This sneaker looks like a battleship. This heel looks like it’s made from measuring tape.
*Internet: If you’re interested in how the internet works, read SamHey’s “Public Displays of Affection.” It’s great! I’ve tried to write about similar topics a few times (a bunch are behind the work firewall), but never so well.
*Stalkers: Read “An Open Letter to My Neighbors.” One’s aggregations of hearts/stars/likes could be considered an implicit open letter to one’s internet neighbors? Not sure. (I know exactly what I mean.) [pocketmonsterd]
*Work: I spent last week in Miami at a work thing; Iconosphere 2011. Here’s an ad guy who wrote up a thing on it. One of the speakers for the client-only event was Steven Johnson, who talked about good ideas and where they come from. The other was Emily Pilloton of Project H Design. She gave an inspirational talk about how she’s moved to Bertie County, North Carolina to teach school and design. The county just got hit by a terrible tornado. Watch her TED video, then donate, if it moves you…
*Today’s links: F.
Those tasty guitar licks are from a No Bird Sing guy.
*Personal: My computer broke last week, my Blackberry died months ago and I’ve been stranded offline for the past four days. In that time I read three books and had two original thoughts. It was incredible. I’m thinking about becoming an expert on the Civil War or curing warts. MAYBE.
*Nature: The question weighing on so many people’s (and dolphins’) minds right now is:
Why is Bono allowed to write op-eds for the New York Times?
Also: Should dolphins be granted human status?
And, consequently: Who is the dolphin Bono?
Then: Should the dolphin Bono be allowed to write New York Times op-eds?
And finally: How do you cock-punch a dolphin? In the cock.
*Information: Read the Hype Machine’s 2009 Music Zeitgeist. There’s also a Zeitgeist radio show. Of sorts.
*Blogs: If you aren’t sick of blogs yet, Fimoculous has published his yearly list of blogs to watch. Personally, I hate blogs. But I heartily recommend Snarkmarket and Eat Me Daily. Another blog I recently found, and would recommend, is the tumblr of Pocketmonsterd.
*Tags: If you have time, read about how a physical folksonomy project nearly choked off a Dutch library. It’s better than reading a newspaper or just randomly clicking on some article recommended by someone else. Or a dumb fucking blog. [snarkmarket]
*Local: Minneapolis music blog Culture Bully has left the playground. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours. (I swear I will write the story and theory around that phrase this year. This will be it. This will be the year.)
*Art: Portraits made of crayons. Of people. I am awful with crayons, and my early artwork at school often indicated to teachers that I should be put among the “slow” students.
*Americans: “The archetypal American abroad is perceived as loud and crass even though actually existing American tourists are distinguished by the way they address bus drivers and bartenders as “sir” and are effusive in their thanks when any small service is rendered. We look on with some confusion at these encounters because, on the one hand, the Americans seem a bit country-bumpkinish, and, on the other, good manners are a form of sophistication.” I’m fascinated by sociology, and often wonder if I should get into some line of work that would help me engage that interest. (Read that whole article; it’s great.) [nostrich]
*Localish: Tad Friend writes about former University of Minnesota President Mark Yudof in the New Yorker. Yudof, whom my wife wrote various communications for while he was at the U of M, now works at the University of California, and is described as “the university’s unpopular president.” I had a late lunch at his house once. He was balder than me. Both at the time, and also, thankfully, balder even than I am RIGHT NOW. [braublog]
*Today’s links: The only part that was OK was the headline.
