Author Michael Pollan says: The tulip, by gratifying our desire for a certain kind of beauty, has gotten us to take it from its origins in Central Asia and disperse it around the world. Marijuana, by gratifying our desire to change consciousness, has gotten people to risk their lives, their freedom, in order to grow…
Category: recommendation
The Pines : Tremolo
The Pines‘ latest album, Tremolo, has earned some great reviews fresh out of the chute, including Penguin Eggs, which reviewed it in this month’s issue: Potent, poignant, minimalist country from Iowans David Huckfelt and Benson Ramsey (son of Greg Brown sideman Bo, who produced this record). The duo spin spare, haunting melodies and imagistic words…
Xuggler
If you’ve ever fumbled around with ffmpeg and other tools, there is a superior alternative I was turned onto today by Paul Gregoire via his blog: Xuggler! The Media Tools are particularly of use to folks like me – how suhweeet is this?
MOBY in MPLS
Moby was in town @ The Current this past week and, in addition to hosting Theft of the Dial, left us with some great live recordings, including this moving Gospel rendition:
Skoal Kodiak
The sounds these guys make are made to be experienced live and man, look out because the grooves powered by Brady’s bass and Freddy’s drums carry the audience off to dance land. The clip below does their thing little justice but after their set @ the 501 Club last night, I had to mention them…
Joie de vivre
I read this today in the Business Insider: A new survey from UBS has shown that the French continue to work the least amount of hours per year in the world. Once again, the French have blown away the competition. People work an average of 1,902 hours per year in the surveyed cities but they…
Flow = Attention deconcentration?
It comes up around nearly every turn. It’s one of the wobbles of life that leads us into such ideas repeatedly: Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process…
Linux on your celli? Yes plz
Nokia decided to put aside its favorite S60 platform and switch to Maemo, which is all another way of saying that they ditched S60 for Linux. We like that and so should you. For one, the browser is pretty stable, and it supports flash, video and applets. No more harrumphing when the iPhone loads a…
Everyone Forever Now
Everyone Forever Now – “Stoop Sitting” from Daniel Mercadante on Vimeo. Watch more = c
Above and Beyond Alaska hosts Andy Summers
Our pals, Sean and Becky Janes, gave Andy Summers and his son the tour of Southeast recently via their outfit Above and Beyond Alaska. That’s Sean on the right in the picture below. Highly recommended if you’re thinking about making it out to the Last Frontier – but of course, we’re biased: = c
The blues of Bloody Ol’ Mule
Haven’t heard of him yet but we have a feeling you will soon – listen to more here: = c
Ordinary Affects
Ordinary Affects is an exercise, not a fact. I like this very much. Ordinary Affects is a singular argument for attention to the affective dimensions of everyday life and the potential that animates the ordinary. Known for her focus on the poetics and politics of language and landscape, the anthropologist Kathleen Stewart ponders how ordinary…
Harvey Milk : Human Rights Champion
From Wikipedia: Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not Milk’s early interests; he did not feel the need…
Walks the walk: Jim Rossignol
Jim Rossignol is an interesting fellow, particularly in the context that he writes in a unique way about gaming and its influence on culture. Not to mention, the trajectory and contrast of his own story against what he writes makes him an authentic source IMO. I am anticipating the arrival of his book, This Gaming…
Fleet Foxes : Live
Can’t get enough of these fellas lately: From Wikipedia: Robin Pecknold and Skye Skjelset both attended Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, a suburb of Seattle, and soon became close friends. Pecknold and Skjelset bonded over a mutual appreciation of Bob Dylan and Neil Young and began making music together. Their parents influenced their musical…
The Conversation
I had a brief chat *conversation* with a pal this morning about The Conversation: colin 10:39 i never realized hackman could do THAT c 10:39 his best film – period he was great as lex luthor, too, tho ; ) colin 10:39 the final shot of him in the room all alone c 10:39 seriously…
Pay them and they will come
For just a moment there, I thought I’d misread the thing. The article stated something about teachers making $125,000 a year and I had to stop what I was doing because some pals and I have agreed with this approach for years. Same as in most any other field, it’s often the pay scale that…
Sorry I’m Late
Stop-motion never gets boring, especially since people keep finding new ways to make it even more compelling. Take, for example, a short I found today on Laughing Squid made by Tomas Mankovsky that was shot from above using a still camera on the ceiling: click here to see how it was made. = c
Hero : James Burke
James Burke has the storytelling powers of the immortal. Here we can listen and see him discuss the thinking behind his work. Groovy, indeed. = c
Danny Wilcox Frazier
I give thanks to the gods for Danny Wilcox Frazier. Responsible for chronicling the Midwestern way of life in multiple mediums, he is true to the cause of his homeland and to the powers that live here, unknown to those on the coasts who dare not venture out of their safely *cool* havens for parts…
Garage Sale Jukebox
Here we see a picture of David Browne posing for his pseudo-wedding portrait [long story] back in 2006. He and his bride, Sarah Lukacs, are old pals of ours from our days living in Seattle, where these two still live and are always up to one scheme or another. His latest is Garage Sale Jukebox….
Driftless: Stories from Iowa
Received this from MediaStorm today: We are excited to announce a special premiere of our soon-to-be released documentary Driftless: Stories from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier on Monday, May 18, at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO, Brooklyn. The screening of the film will be followed by a Q&A with Danny and the team from MediaStorm….