flânerie

unreal! i was at a bar when this clip aired and there was a...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:17:35 -0600

unreal! i was at a bar when this clip aired and there was a collective “WHOA!” from all the patrons after the hair pulling bit.

god bless title ix.

tim also makes me laugh every time.

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:08:32 -0600

tim also makes me laugh every time.

Photo

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:04:14 -0600

“this is a hand drawn shirt I was commissioned to make for...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:00:43 -0600

“this is a hand drawn shirt I was commissioned to make for Keith G. its Juelz Santana of Dipset wearing a Dead Kennedys t shirt.”

seriously, get updates from will laren’s flickr account. makes me laugh every time.

Grizzly Bear - Ready, Able

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:19:47 -0600

Grizzly Bear - Ready, Able

family circuses

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:38:00 -0600

Tonight I went to see cartoonists Matt Groening and Lynda Barry talk about their friendship and work. I was initially drawn to the event by Groening, but Barry really stole the show. The most touching moment for me was when she explained why her all-time favorite cartoon is The Family Circus. There was a collective titter when she announced this— I mean, it’s the ultra vanilla Family Circus, and she’s supposed to be a big advocate for alternative comics, right?

To explain, she first talked about how she was always told that when you encounter a truly beautiful work of art, it would make you cry. She joked that she hoped she would burst into tears in front of a great work of art and a handsome man, “so he’d see how beautiful and sensitive I was and then we’d make out.” She tried to force this in front of a Botticellli in Italy, but she could only squeak out one tear on the wrong side of her face, and the guy on the other side of her “wasn’t even that cute.”

Recently she was at a comic convention, and she was introduced to Jeff Keane, who now draws The Family Circus in his late father’s stead. When she was in front of him, she burst into tears. She said she was just sobbing uncontrollably, to the point where it freaked Keane out. Barry tried to go away for a moment and compose herself, but when she met him again, the same thing happened.

“I wasn’t crying because I met the guy who draws The Family Circus,” she explained. “I was crying because I had completed the circle.” She talked about how she had a rough childhood, and how the house she lived in was always painfully crazy and hectic. For her, The Family Circus was a safe, calm place amidst chaos. “I cried because I had finally come into the circle, and it was all because I drew a picture. Drawing a picture got me to that place.”

Secretly, The Family Circus has always been one of my favorite cartoons, too. It also reminds me of being a kid, but for much happier reasons. It always makes me think of my grandma’s basement, where I’d sit on the cool floor for hours during visits in the summer. She must have had at least 5 or 6 book collections of the comic, and I would sit and read them while Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Mony Mony” played on the jukebox (or “Who Stole the Kishka?” after the summer that my sister unintentionally put a ton of polka records on the jukebox). I loved those trips to Michigan, and particularly, that one space, so much.

I’ve been thinking about my wonderful family a lot lately. As I’m writing this, I’m looking at my roommate’s special strawberry plate. Let me backtrack. I brought out some of my silverware the other day (yes, I am still unpacking), which includes a fork that has a big figure 8/infinity sign as its stem. John thought it was the coolest thing, and I was like “Oh, but that’s not even the Fork of Royalty!” So then I had to explain that the Fork of Royalty was a mismatched fork in our family’s silverware collection that has a crown engraved at the bottom of the stem. My siblings and I always really liked getting the Fork of Royalty at dinner; my father did not, as he is a bit anal retentive and likes having matching silverware. I thought that this would sound totally bizarre to John, but he knew exactly what I was talking about. “In our family it was the strawberry plate. We only had one, and we would always fight over it. Don’t tell my brother, but I actually have it here.” And sure enough, we have one plate in the apartment with faded strawberries bordering the rim of the plate.

It might seem silly to talk about a cartoon strip and a fork, but I always welcome these little, unexpected reminders of my circle, my circus.

DAMNIT, MY INSURANCE DOESN’T COVER JAZZ FESTIVALS. :(

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:04:43 -0600

DAMNIT, MY INSURANCE DOESN’T COVER JAZZ FESTIVALS. :(

must be guy fawkes day cuz my netflix queue is BLOWIN UP

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:31:59 -0600

must be guy fawkes day cuz my netflix queue is BLOWIN UP

gojaysgo: (via mightyflynn)

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:07:47 -0600

gojaysgo:

(via mightyflynn)

Photo

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:07:55 -0600

Photo

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:07:49 -0600

sometimes love is hiding in data entry

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:07:21 -0600

sometimes love is hiding in data entry

What the Grunge Scene Looked Like

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:24:47 -0600

What the Grunge Scene Looked Like:

really great photos.

(via lyndsaysgarden)

mix #2

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:30:10 -0600

A little more mellow, begins with some sweet old favorites and logically works toward Ghostface Killah. Duh. Mixologist over here. [download]

Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again
Neil Young - Harvest Moon
Carole King - It’s Too Late
Cat Power - Silver Stallion
Bill Callahan - Sycamore (this song is especially enjoyable when you do the accompanying dance that Rachel and I invented)
Paul Curreri - Spirit of the Staircase
A.A. Bondy - I Can See the Pines are Dancing
Beach House - Wedding Bell
Jordaan Mason and The Horse Museum - Avalanches
One Hundred Dollars - No Great Leap
Dirty Projectors - My Offwhite Flag
El Perro del Mar - Change of Heart
J Dilla - Time: The Donut of the Heart
Ghostface Killah - Stay
Glass Ghost - Like a Diamond
Mocky - Birds of a Feather (feat. GZA)
Amerie - 1 Thing (Siik remix)

from the dark past by rafeal rozendaal

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:14:47 -0600

from the dark past by rafeal rozendaal:

Photo

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:14:47 -0600

Illinois: Visualizing Music

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:14:51 -0600

Illinois: Visualizing Music:

Music is a powerful, emotional medium that is much more difficult to quantify than, say, financial data or earthquake patterns. This project is an experiment in taking an audio recording of music that is beautiful and personally meaningful to many listeners, deconstructing it from different vantage points, rearranging it, and building it up again into visual interpretations. This project visualizes lyrics, instrumentation, notes, patterns, and word usage. Hopefully these interpretations will provide another way of experiencing this album, although no amount of analysis can adequately represent the visceral response one gets when presented with a compelling piece of music.

oh man. i’m a sucker for infographics. i’m also admittedly still a sucker for sufjan stevens.

folsom prison blues. large.

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:14:46 -0600

folsom prison blues. large.

a meggahmix

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:14:55 -0600

I made this mix for Julie’s move from San Francisco to Virginia. It’s mostly uptempo vibes with a lot of Canadian tunes. Perhaps you’ll enjoy it, too— even if you’re not moving across the country.

It’s about an hour long, iTunes playlist XML file included in the zipped folder. [download]

Atlas Sound - Logos
New Order - Ceremony
Kevin Drew - Safety Bricks
Prince - I Wanna Be Your Lover (BEST EVER!!!!)
Islands - Rough Gem
Girls - Lust for Life
Okkervil River - Unless It’s Kicks
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don’t Haunt This Place
Passion Pit - Cuddle Fuddle
Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra - Kiss the Sky
Sunset Rubdown - You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
The Dodos - Red and Purple
Stricken City - Killing Time
The Walkmen - Postcards from Tiny Islands
Think About Life - Paul Cries (thanks, Tim!)
Handsome Furs - The Radio’s Hot Sun

i want to sit on the carpet, listen to mariah carey’s...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:15:00 -0600

i want to sit on the carpet, listen to mariah carey’s self-titled album, and play baseball video games with will smith. you know, 20 years ago.