Sunday, October 30, 2011

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Sunday, October 23, 2011

I may not be able to make it to New York City to join the Occupy protests, but at least I can monitor from afar. Someone's doing a good job keeping the Occupy website up to date with some good reporting. I wonder if the writer is former NPR staffer Lisa Simeone ... (hmmmm)

Power to people!

"The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%."

Friday, October 21, 2011

PJ20 on PBS



Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam documentary, "PJ20", makes its television premier tonight on PBS at 9 p.m. ET as part of the American Masters series. Check your local listings to make sure you're not getting fucked over.


Thursday, October 20, 2011

Randon't

Skiing to me is getting towed up the community hill where my dad taught me how to ski and nearly killing myself run after run, then warming up with some free hot cocoa while I dried off by the wood stove in the one-room cabin at the bottom. Skiing, at its very simplest, is a feeling. I could care less how I look or how many runs I get in - it's just about making some turns.

How it is that I got more days in skiing 10 years ago, with no job, than I do today is beyond me. Lift ticket prices are out-of-control and it's hard to justify buying a $1,000+ season's pass when you have bills to pay. So I had the idea of buying a randonee setup to take advantage of the Adirondack slides and avoid pricey lift tickets at resorts. Well, that isn't quite panning out either. After doing some research, I've found the cost of randonee gear -- freeride skis, lightweight boots, touring bindings and skins (which alone are $175) -- is just as pricey, if not pricier, than traditional alpine gear - as this article in Outside details. I guess I'll have to suck up the price of tickets, get at the back of the lift line and settle for another stellar five-day season.

I'll still manage to get psyched up to ski though. This video helps!


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Want 'Em

Add the V-Moda Crossfade headphones to my Christmas list, please! They should come with a disclaimer: "Excessive headbanging can cause neck soreness."

Decemberists-This Is Why We Fight




Here's a good tune off the Decemberists' newest album, The King is Dead. The album showcases the band's versatility and ranges from indie-rock to folk, to country (some nice lap steel work). I hear a lot of R.E.M. in their music. It seems like I always get into them this time of year. Something about their music fits well with the changing of the season, when the hills set ablaze with color and then decay into the earthy browns and grey's of November. Refreshing stuff ...


Monday, October 17, 2011

Yeah, that's the stuff ...

Courtsey of Wilco/Autumn de Wilde

Wilco played an NPR Tiny Desk Concert recently and "nailed" acoustic versions of new tunes "Dawned on Me", "Whole Love"(starting to grow on me), and "Born Alone", throwing "War on War" for good measure, make of it what you may. It's a really tight performance from the most professional musicians out there, and there's a light-hearted energy between Jeff Tweedy and a room full of like-minded liberals.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Under Cover


Fruit Bats cover "The Other Woman" by Loretta Lynn

Love the Fruit Bats, and the AV Club's viral music series, "Undercover" -- where popular artists cover a list of classic tunes chosen by AV Club staff (I guess). Here, the Fruit Bats cover Loretta Lynn.

Happy Monday ...

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Who dat font?

This logo seen in the new Captain Morgan TV ads is a great example typographic design. I liked it enough to seek out the fonts used. So, I went to MyFonts.com and submitted an image, never thinking it would be able to identify the fonts because they're intertwined so tightly; but, MyFonts amazed once again, with some exceptions.

Life: Bodoni STD-Poster Italic
Love: Could be a combination of a script font, like Acroterion, and Bell MT Italic.
Loot: Tart Heavy (or close)

The bad news: The fonts aren't cheap; so I had to settle cheap knock-offs. Still, MyFonts is an amazing resource for anyone serious about typography and fun for people like me.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Jon Contino

I really want this print by illustrator Jon Contino. I've stumbled across Contino's work numerous times in my inter web musings, and am always left inspired to pick up a pen and create something. He plays around with typography and hand lettering, combining them with other design elements in super clever ways. And he's a New York native! (Go Yanks!)

Check out more of his work here.

- J

Monday, October 3, 2011

Pink Floyd on Late Night

Pearl Jam and MGMT contributed to Jimmy Falon's Pink Floyd Week with a couple standout performances.