May 2008
31 posts
Revised Merit Badges →
Scout programs are intended to train you for life’s hard road. As a former scout myself—an Eagle scout, in fact, the kind who still marched in the Memorial Day Parade too long after he’d started shaving—I look back on those years of pyromania, bullying, and shopping from military hardware catalogues as a sturdy foundation for my current domestic life. I’m sad to hear your memories aren’t so...
A Thriller in 10 Chapters →
there will be general agreement that, in Britain, a decade of change starts with the election of New Labour in 1997. That was also the year Random House launched its website, John Updike published a short story online and Vintage started a series of reading guides to encourage new book clubs. As well as new readers, the millennium saw the emergence of a new literary generation, writers born in the...
New Sigur Ros Album →
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (“With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly”, apparently) will be released in June. There’s a track available for download on their website. Still a strange sound, but not quite as strange as previous songs. Site also has videos apparently containing adult content.
Analogy →
Analogy is a typographic clock which explores the numerical and spatial qualities of digital and analogue clocks. This piece considers the relationship between the two, fusing them together to create a new hybrid format. It gives an everyday object a twist to make it something that people will notice. This works quite nicely. (via)
The Switch Control →
Found an interesting post from losingcontext.com highlighting some examples of the iPhone-style ‘switch control’ in other contexts, some perhaps not entirely appropriate. Speaking of which, the navigation on the site is really annoying. (via)
Newspapers getting APIs →
As print circulation continues its slide at most newspapers, one of the United States’ most respected newspapers, the New York Times, is taking steps to boost online readership. The paper is already the third most cited web site on Techmeme, and the first on Memeorandum, proving that bloggers at least pay attention to its reporting. Now, the Grey Lady is working on an API that aims to make...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-5-25) →
Crystal Castles
M83
Los Campesinos!
Why?
Santogold
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr
A few too many
Of the miseries regularly inflicted on humankind, some are so minor and yet, while they last, so painful that one wonders how, after all this time, a remedy cannot have been found. If scientists do not have a cure for cancer, that makes sense. But the common cold, the menstrual cramp? The hangover is another condition of this kind. It is a preventable malady: don’t drink. Nevertheless, people...
DiS Interview Jason Pierce →
Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce interviewed by Drowned in Sound. Album out May 26th. It has awesome packaging.About the only tangible object Pierce displays any interest in throughout our brief encounter is a batch of promos of his new record, Songs In A & E, of which he’s clearly proud: “This is what it’s all about. People have asked me to do radio edits before, it doesn’t make any sense....
"I want to be you, Marlo!" →
The admiration shown towards Jamie Hector (the actor who plays Maro Stansfield in The Wire) is quite scary. He and Felicia “Snoop” Pearson are working with children in Baltimore, using their profile from the series to help “channel that enthusiasm into something more productive”. From an interview in the Guardian, on the crossover between real lives and the the world of...
Garry Kasparov Griefed by Flying Penis →
Ok.
“Two’s company,...”
– More: Children & Proverbs (via)
100 Essential Books for Men? →
I’ve read The Prince 1984 The Iliad (though not the Odyssey) The Hobbit Frankenstein Hamlet Robinson Crusoe Treasure Island To Kill a MockingbirdLots of high-school set-texts amongst the list.
Quack →
Things that look like ducks. Fairly self-explanatory.
WatchI want one. Or two, then they could be friends. (via)
Ghostly Swim →
Free download of some pretty funky electronic music from Ghostly Records teaming up with Adult Swim. They’re selling Nooka watches as well. I still have my eye on one of those…
Dollhouse →
Eliza Dushku plays a young woman named Echo, a member of a group of people known as “Actives” or “Dolls” who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They’re then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. In between tasks,...
Relief across the Nation →
The Queen has been pleased to re-appoint Mr Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre to the post of Official Verderer of the New Forest for a further term of three years. I’m glad the job is remaining in his more-than-capable hands, and I, for one, welcome our new Verdering Overlord. More on Verderers and their Verdering. (via)