M83 Midnight City Remixes EP Out now and ready for you to download. Featuring an impressive set of remixes by Trentemoller, Big Black Delta, Man Without Country and Team Ghost. Listen to a few here and my favorite down below by Trentemoller.
The past few days were full of epic failure, including losing my phone at the worst possible time: during the weekend when finding public transit directions with Google Maps in the blink of an eye is a method of survival. However, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade, Continue reading “A Few Of My Favorite Things #7”→
People have been going apeshit this week about Arcade Fire’s newest video for “The Wilderness Downtown” – a beautiful marriage of HTML5, Google Street, View, interactivity, and a band that unfortunately everyone knows about now. If you haven’t tried it yet, you are asked to enter the address of the home where you grew up and what follows afterward is a beautiful montage of previously filmed videos with new windows opening showing satellite views of your house, and birds. Each window that magically appears with the timing of the song makes your brain explode a little bit more. My favorite part was when you are asked to “draw or write” a note to your younger self, and then birds fly in and land on the letters. Chrome Experiments breaks it down more technically than I can.
Artwalk
I discovered Artwalk.TV when I was looking through TechiesGiveBack’s Twitter Stream. Evidently once a month, using the hashtag #artwalk, people come together and have a Twitter Chat about art uploaded to Artwalk.TV, a community site where you uploaded your artwork, create a profile, and reach out to other artists. Patrons can make a donation in order to ensure that Artwalk.TV can “expand the human creative awareness of what art is and can be.” The next chat is on September 28th and I wholeheartedly intend to join in. Follow them on twitter @artwalktv
This is exactly why I like Hype Machine – discovering new bands. Hands and Knees reminds me of my friends’ bands in high school who played shows in their parents’ houses and everyone dances in the kitchen. They kinda remind me of Voxtrot (???) with their Bostonian self-proclaimed “unfussiness”. It is the kind of music you imagine dancing to very wholesomely with your boyfriend during a friend’s party. Two of my favorites are “Dancing On Your Tears” and “The Moonlight is Wicked”. Check out the rest of their albums and “keep whistling like a foolish old man.”
BTW – Dear members of Hand and Knees – it’s very awkward to Google your name to find images of your band and you end up with porn – and you are sitting next to a stranger on the Bolt Bus.
Bolt Bus
How come no one ever told me how AWESOME Bolt Bus is? I bought tickets to visit my sister Deborah in Baltimore for Labor Day weekend and the WiFi along is AMAZING!!! Bolt Bus is perfect to take when you are leaving somewhere for the weekend: you have the ride to answer emails and such so you can actually enjoy your weekend.
Post-apocalyptic novel about a world where bees are extinct and somehow five people get stung at the same time. Theme is about the fate of the humanity in a manufactured world where fruit is grown synthetically and people elect to take drugs in order to forget their own morality.
SoulPancake – Rainn Wilson’s community site that allows you to ask and answer (chew on) life’s biggest questions.
How to free yourself from anxiety, fear, mortgages, money, guilt, debt, government, boredom, supermarkets, bills, melancholy, pain, depression, work, and waste.
In the name of anarchy and apathy, live without fear, forget your debt, do your own dishes, and cease the never-ending pursuit for a career. Hodgkinson tells you how by providing examples from the ideals of Medeviel life and early Catholicism. In a nutshell, it’s no wonder people are more anxious than ever before – but it’s about putting life into perspective and thinking about what you can control and disregarding the rest. And having more fun drinking with your friends in pubs.
The Black Keys “Tighten Up” Video
I already posted this on my Tumblr “Scrapbook”, it’s old news in the blogosphere, but I know this: I love The Black Keys, their new album doesn’t disappoint, and this video is hilarious/adorable. I purchased tickets for myself and the beau (the infamous Boy Milk) for Terminal 5 this Wednesday after Central Park Summerstage sold out in June. Anyone else going?
Blue Condominiums on 105 Norfolk Street
Designed by innovative architect Bernard Tschumi, this blue-glassed gem is a welcome site in the Lower East Side. Seen from a mile away, it serves as a beacon for style and design that stands out among its dilapidated neighbors. Even their website is inspiring.
Nurse Bettie
Nurse Bettie (also on Norfolk) in the Lower East Side deserves a shout out. I went here with my friend Steph (of Big Brown Bag) for our duo birthday party this past spring. We went back again a few weeks ago and after a somewhat awkward encounter with some one who celebrated that day’s FIFA game a little too much, the bartender was more than cordial and gave us a free drink – we didn’t need to use the daily Twitter password. Decor is delightful, drinks are delicious, definitely worth the detour.
Brown Rice
Thank you, Brown Basmati Rice from Trader Joe’s, you have kept my belly fully these past few weeks. Thank you for being so affordable, easy to cook, and healthy to boot. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to afford to eat on a regular basis, and gosh, you just go well with everything. There is a reason why you come first during my go-to meal “rice and beans”.
Bear Hands at Mercury Lounge during CMJ Music Marathon 2009
I started listening to Bear Hands in anticipation of last fall’s CMJ Music Marathon. “Golden” and “What a Drag” are my favorites. Bear Hands is definitely an example where the lyrics matter more than over-complicated musical stylings. I can’t go further into explaining why I like them, I just do. That’s the way music is. It’s something you just “like”, without having to write a long analytical essay defending its merits. I am also a big fan of how one can download Bear Hands tracks *FOR FREE* by going on BearHandsBand and sharing your email. You then receive a message with a free download link and info about news and their upcoming shows. Bear Hands also has available through their site a white 7″ vinyl for purchase, because we all know that vinyl is making a comeback.
This image of Noisette alone along with a recommendation to examine the “wall paper” on the third floor makes me desperately want to see this Urs Fischer exhibit at the New Museum on 235 Bowery, New York, NY. “Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty” is Fischer’s first solo show and is the culmination of four years work. The wall paper “turns the Museum’s architecture into an image of itself—a site-specific trompe l’oeil environment. Each square inch of the Museum architecture has been photographed and reprinted as a wallpaper that covers the very same walls and ceiling, in a maddening exercise in simulation.” (New Museum) The exhibit is finished on February 7th so I need someone to commit to seeing it with me NOW! The New Museum knows you are a broke college student, that’s why we will pay $8.
The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe
Author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe writes glimpses into lesser known American lives. The first chapter, “Las Vegas (What?) Las Vegas (Can’t Hear You! Too Noisy)” makes one think of the infamous Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.My favorite are the chapters about life in New York along with sketches of New Yorkers in the chapter titled “A Metropolitan Sketchbook”. If you find yourself rolling your eyes at the élite high society of New York, or you simply are not one of the natives and enjoy being cynical, this book is for you. I’ve becoming a fan of anthologies that you can pick up every once in a while for a second read and not feel guilty about reading some stories more than others. And just because it’s a recession is no excuse to stop reading. Be good to the Earth and buy a used copy.
Kurt Vonnegut was a fan, saying it was an “excellent book by a genius who will do anything to get attention.”
IFC’s Web Series Getting Away With Murder
Gilbert John, the actor playing the main character Seth Silver in Getting Away With Murder, is cute and delightfully awkward as he works as a cold-blooded hitman but still lives with his mom. The series itself is a hilarious take on the blood and gore plots that are gaining popularity (Dexter, Law & Order, CSI). Getting Away With Murder also has the well-known theme of one of life’s ever eternal conflicts: keeping your personal life and your career separate. Besides that, the characters are outrageous and the dialogue smirk-worthy. It reminds me of the independent films (cough student films cough) that my friends and I have been involved with the past few years at Hofstra. I may be biased (I’m a public relations intern for IFC), but all the IFC Web Series are gems. I spent an entire night during Christmas vacation watching the entire series and sincerely feel I am a better person for it.
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There you go. You now have a new band (Bear Hands) to talk about with the cute whatever at the bar this weekend, where you will also talk about the new book you are reading (The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe), take said cute whatever to that cool new art exhibit (Urs Fischer at New Museum), and then snuggle up on the couch with the cute whatever watching the awkwardly cute Gilbert John (Getting Away with Murder). Ta da!
Now turning off Belle & Sebastian and going to Paddy’s Power Pub in Merrick to watch co-workers sing karaoke. Have fun this weekend and I promise to have more entries soon.
Brouwerij Lane in Greenpoint – drank Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen with my friend Brianne one rainy Saturday afternoon and sat for two hours talking = probably one of the best afternoons I’ve had all fall. Embarassingly enough we just called it “B-lane” for the longest time because of our intimidation about German pronunications.
My apparent love for all things El Dia de los Muertos. The tote bag is from the apparently defunct Fuego, and the skeleton hanging and skull ring were both gifts from my friend Stacey. The ring alone amused me for an entire day – it lights up and is made of a consistency that makes it easy to pretend the skull is headbanging.
It’s a Monday night and I’m already flustered from this week.
In times of crisis I make a list of my favorite things. I’m also breaking one of my personal rules about not blogging about things that are not current.
Forgive me?
Last week my friend Sara Knee , an Airwave DJ and digital media extraordinaire, live Twittered while doing her slot for Airwave. It was a success, getting transcontinental requests, more followers for herself, and gaining more listeners for WRHU.org. I wonder if this is the possible answer of how to get people to start listening to Airwave again; bringing the concept of the college radio station together with today’s obsession with social media and all things internet.
BTW – my slot for Airwave is tomorrow night. Be sure to listen from 9-11 PM Eastern Time at WRHU.org. Let’s do an experiment: feel free to Tweet me with requests. Remember my_name_is_reb
I’ve come full circle where clothing I bought two years ago belong in the trash. I’ve come full circle – I am an adult (sort of) and cannot wear Target clothing forever. I have been searching for some new and interesting finds and here it is: Modcloth. They boast to carry “indie” and “vintage” clothing but at prices I could agree with.
Some Favorites:
Who knows who Poster Boy really is. The link is an interview with
Henry Matyjewicz, the man who was arrested for being Poster Boy. He claims he is one man in an movement…but who really knows the truth? Or wants to know? Isn’t mystery half the fun?
All I know is that I go for the artistic type and rebels without causes. I haven’t seen an actually peice of work in subways but I have seen where he has taken out parts of ads.
And finally, discoverd by myself on thesixtyone, Lady Danville, a Los Angeles based band that is absolutely precious with Michael, a 9th grade math teacher, Dan, a financial analyst and graduate student, and Matt, an actor. The song, Sophie Roux, I fell in love with at first listen.
My Name Is Reb 