Latest Entries
Seven Years as a Freelance Writer, or, How To Make Vitamin Soup
But the editor will never choose you over the publication to which they are married. It will not even be a fleeting thought in the editor’s mind. The freelancer can have a lot of fun, but is ultimately the editor’s plaything. And any one freelancer is, above all things, unnecessary and replaceable. I always felt like the most fumbling juggling act in the industry.
Teen Bedrooms
Style Rookie has a collection of famous teen bedrooms from tv and film. I know there are more that we should be seeing there – what’s missing?
Antoine Dodson Ringtones: Thumbs Up for Justice
By now you all know Antoine Dodson, and hopefully you’ve seen the auto-tuned song version of his now legendary appearance on the Huntsville news.
Some friends and I were hoping that Always Be Phoning would do some ringtones for us, but before he had a chance, the wonderful Michael Bartnett took care of it for us. So download, enjoy. These are m4rs for your iPhones.
Serious is Serious
Incidentals & Accidentals is discussing the seriousness of Arcade Fire’s new album and yes, their seriousness in general. Overall, it seems like Arcade Fire has been lauded for their perspective on the world, sprawl, identity and government. Serious isn’t for everyone, though, and lots of bands that are pretty serious (Shearwater comes to mind, forgive the intimacy there) seem to get shuffled off precisely because they are serious. There’s a lot of discussion about how time and place factors in to how an album’s message and themes can be digested by a listener (see PGWP’s link above for the full Tumblr thread and his comments), but I’m so fascinated by this idea that the seriousness of a band can impact whether or not someone really wants to listen or just pass on by. Not just the lyrics, either – Blue Lines Revisited comments on Streets of Philadelphia vocals and the seriousness of the sound being sort of a turn-off. This is surprising (and refreshing) to me because I typically feel like when a band like Arcade Fire releases a record those are exactly the types of things everyone waits for — what will be the big bombastic “Power Out” moment for me here? What song on this record will be used in every movie trailer for the next year? And it seems so totally arbitrary – there are plenty of great bands making serious songs about serious shit and no one really talks about them — I assumed because in this day and age it’s too difficult to ask average listeners to become so invested in something like a record. It’s songs, it’s sunny hazey lifestyle music that doesn’t ever say anything, or really sound like anything. That’s what people love. So I guess Arcade Fire being rock’n'roll serious and people still walking around saying “This is a brilliant rock’n'roll record” (SIXTEEN SONGS) is a good thing, because it means some folks will turn off the beach jamz about nothing for a little while.
Singularity Summit
The Singularity Summit is happening this month in San Fransisco, featuring speakers like Dr. Gregory Stock, Ray Kurzwell and James Randi. The summit focuses on the rise of technology, and how it is working with science to impact our society. There will no doubt be some very interesting discussions going on there, and I hope to see some video after the fact (a la TED) to catch up on what I’ve missed. If you’re in the area, register here.
How Vinyl Records Are Made–And How to Pirate A Vinyl Record
Now, if you haven’t seen the exact process in how records are created, you might be surprised at how much manual cooperation is involved. From inspecting the metal pressing discs and the lacquered masters, to centering the disc for hole punching, you’ve got sweet old ladies who are meticulously making sure your music will sound great.Life and How to Live It
“Athens, GA (Clarke County) Copyright 2008 D. Nelson
This house on Meigs Street once belonged to Brev Mekis, a schizophrenic. He had divided the house into two totally different apartments, each one featuring different style furniture, different clothes, books, and pets (per Michael Stipe, a cat on one side and a gerbil on the other), to suit his personalities. He would live for a while on one side until his other personality took over, and would then take off his clothes and move to the other side. After he died they discovered a closet filled floor to ceiling with copies of a book he had written called “Life And How To Live It” – since he had kept all the copies locked up nobody ever knew he had written anything. The R.E.M. song with the same title is based on this true story.
I once flipped through one of the copies, and remember it as faschist and biased, to say the least. Vic Chesnutt lived here about the time I moved to Athens, and we watched many a Wim Wenders movie here.”
Afterzine
My friend Hamish Roberton is a Renaissance man. He works at Vanity Fair, keeps up an insightful Twitter account, consults in NYC and is an all-around wonderful guy and talented purveyor of the arts. When someone like Hamish asks you if you want to work on something with him, you say yes.
I said yes to Hamish a while back when he told me about a zine he was working on, Afterzine. Well, issue one is in pre-order right now, and as you can see, it’s absolutely gorgeous. The theme for this first issue is negative space, and I contribute a mixtape for it, to be listened to while reading and absorbing the rest of the contents. I’m beyond flattered, and completely thrilled to know something I worked on will be side-by-side with work by people like Peter Saville, Thurston Moore, Evan Scott, Andi Teran and many more.
Please go take a look at Afterzine and order your copy today. At $10, it’s a steal. Besides, you’ll have a little bit of Flux-Rad, too.
Interns. What Do They Want?
I’ve had a lot of interns over the years. Some have come out of nowhere and had almost no experience but proven themselves to be incredible, others have come highly recommended and been total disappointments. Through all of it, I’ve always spent my time thinking about what I want from them, and not so much about what they need. It’s totally wrong, because I’ve been an intern too, and I remember sitting in an office waiting for someone to tell me what they needed me for, and how I could be useful.
To help us all out with this issue (though primarily from a design standpoint), Mind the Gap put together a 10 point list of things interns want. It’s really interesting reading. Read them all here.
