Is it bedtime?

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-11-30)

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:20:56 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-11-30):

The Plan

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:03:00 +0000

Most of the customers in the bank must happen to be wearing Nixon masks, so when we come in wearing our Nixon masks it doesn’t alarm anyone.

The monkeys must grab the bags of money and not just shriek and go running all over the place, like they did in the practice run.

For The Plan to work, certain things must happen…

Broken Windows

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:28:16 +0000

Broken Windows:

Unchecked comment spam signals that the owner/moderator of the forum or blog isn’t paying attention, stimulating further improper conduct. Anonymity provides commenters with immunity from being associated with their speech and actions, making the whole situation worse…how does the community punish or police someone they don’t know? Very quickly, the situation is out of control and your message board is the online equivalent of South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s, inhabited by roving gangs armed with hate speech, fueled by the need for attention, making things difficult for those who wish to carry on useful conversations.

Jason Kottke exploring how the “broken windows theory” - where a building or area appearing to be already derelict or damaged will attract further vandalism - applies to the online world of comments and forums, with a link to the Atlantic article that raised the real-world topic in 1982 (yay for open archives).

Favourite Book Covers

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:32:43 +0000

Favourite Book Covers:

Book Design Review choose their 20 favourite book covers of 2008. Of those listed, I particularly like Us vs. Them and The Mayor’s Tongue.

(via)

The Pen is Mightier, funny little animation about a pencil who...

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:22:46 +0000

The Pen is Mightier, funny little animation about a pencil who can draw curved lines.

Made me smile.

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:20:04 +0000

Made me smile.

Give me something to read

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:59:00 +0000

Give me something to read: I’m a big fan of Instapaper and logging in just now noticed a link to this site which takes the articles most frequently ‘papered by people and offers them up as suggestions for everyone else.

Jeffrey Lewis singing the history of Rough Trade who are...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:28:24 +0000

Jeffrey Lewis singing the history of Rough Trade who are celebrating their 30th anniversary.

(via)

Hope is Important, dissected

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:12:14 +0000

Hope is Important, dissected:

Half of the songs were written throughout 1997 and around the same times as those that appear on Captain, the other half (including most of the singles) were written between tours in the first months of 1998, when we’d been branded as the ‘next big thing’ by much of the UK music press, and had given up university/employment to concentrate on touring etc. It was a time of adjustment to the (frankly gruelling) touring life around the toilet circuit in a van, and of meeting expectation from audiences at every venue. It’s an incomplete album as it’s the sound of a band split between their past and future and with barely any studio experience to document it properly. For that reason it did (and still does) exude a naïve rawness. It was recorded in batches, firstly in Chapel studios in rural Lincolnshire, and latterly in Pearse Street Studios in Dublin

Roddy Woomble on Idlewild’s Hope is Important album, introducing a song-by-song breakdown for DiS.

RIP Richey

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:05:05 +0000

RIP Richey:

The disappearance in 1995 of the Welsh rock musician Richey Edwards, then aged 27, became a major British media event and, in the years that followed, supposed sightings of (or messages from) Edwards, akin to those of Elvis Presley in the US, lent a bizarre aspect to his supposed death. Edwards, whose parents have been granted a court order declaring him to be presumed dead, was himself a student of rock music history and popular culture, and would surely have been amused to find himself the object of so much speculation and intrigue.

It’s apparent from a look at my Last.Fm profile that I’m a Manics fan and while I was a tiny bit too young to remember much from 95 (I was 10) it was just before I bought Everything Must Go (the 3rd album I bought, I think, behind a Lightning Seeds best-of and Nevermind) and the band played a pretty big part with my music-listening and tastes. I’m definitely intrigued, though I’m fully expecting to be disappointed, by the album rumoured for next year that’s expected to feature lyrics written by Richey before he disappeared.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-11-23)

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:06:24 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-11-23):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

From the same people (Behance) there’s also Industrial...

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:08:13 +0000

From the same people (Behance) there’s also Industrial Design Served as a place for people to showcase their ideas, lots of impressive concepts.

(this and previous, via)

I came across Typography Served earlier in the week and this was...

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:04:00 +0000

I came across Typography Served earlier in the week and this was one of the images there that really made an impression, I think it’s brilliant.

i wanted to design a more interesting front cover that could make a different type of front cover that could then be used as a poster. carved onto linoleum then printed in various colours. The print and lino carving are just a bit bigger then A0.

The gallery page has a couple more pictures that show some of the creation process, the wet ink looks lovely.

In a similar style, relating to newsprint, Good News? Bad News? grabbed my attention as well,

These books visually illustrate the common saying, “Do you want the good or bad news first?” Collected newspaper clippings were organized into two books, one containing the good news and the other containing the bad news. Experimental typography aided the visual representation of the news articles.

click through for the pictures.

It certainly wasn't like this when I made a porn movie

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:59:20 +0000

It certainly wasn't like this when I made a porn movie: Victoria Coren comparing her experiences of making a porn film to those of Zack and Miri in the film.

My youthful brush with Baader Meinhof

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:58:19 +0000

My youthful brush with Baader Meinhof: Observer columnist Henry Porter writing on a close encounter he had with possible Baader Meinhof associated when in Italy in the early 70s.

From a look at ‘maxing-out your triangle’ of wants -...

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:55:16 +0000

From a look at ‘maxing-out your triangle’ of wants - money, love and learning.

(via)

Wall-E Screenplay

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:43:21 +0000

Wall-E Screenplay: Mr. Kottke has a link to the entire Wall-E screenplay, which is pretty cool.

“Today I Will be Happier than a Bird with a French...

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:28:05 +0000

“Today I Will be Happier than a Bird with a French Fry”.

Love it.

(via)

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-11-16)

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:20:39 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-11-16):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

The Good Life of a New-Media Guru?

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:38:13 +0000

The Good Life of a New-Media Guru?:

Ron Rosenblaum for Slate with a hatchet-job on Jeff Jarvis. Jeff’s reply “There, there, Ron”:

Sadly, Rosenbaum doesn’t debate the idea and history and fate of journalism, which might be productive or at least provocative. Instead, like a pissy third grader, he attacks me. Because of my opinion, he says he doesn’t “like” me anymore. Take that, Jarvis! You can’t sit at my lunch table ever again! He reminds me of that same third grader who, when he doesn’t study for a test and sees the results of his inattention, whines, cries, and stomps his little feet, declaring, “It’s not fair.” No, kid, life ain’t.