Z Side Wins Again

Forefinger With Sunset Upon Manhattan Skyline In...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:03:20 -0500

Forefinger With Sunset Upon Manhattan Skyline In Background

…though properly, I think I’m focused on a fencepost — the Financial District Skyline isn’t quite free of fuzzy either.

Why bother posting a picture of Manhattan that’s probably been taken over a literal billion times? Taken with a cameraphone, what’s more?

Simply: the view from the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights is maybe my favorite in all 5 boroughs. I’ve lived here for almost 2 years, and damned if this stupid city full of jerks doesn’t still thrum with an ever-present grandeur. I don’t think I’m being simple: this City represents the closest most of us will come to unknowable possibility — I never stop feeling like damn near anything could be happening, somewhere terrifically close-by.

Awe: it’s not just for tourists.™

This is my Birdhouse (with sad evidence of present dry spell)....

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:40:32 -0500

This is my Birdhouse (with sad evidence of present dry spell). The left side doubles as a sort of Remember The Milk app. Stickies support is in Beta.

To reiterate: HELL YEAH I got a mo’fuckin’ whiteboard in my DAMN HELL ASS SHOWER

(Rachel put it there because she is pure coalesced light.)

…and while they’ve inspired countless women to just...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:35:00 -0500

…and while they’ve inspired countless women to just fucking rock, you do Sleater-Kinney an injustice by calling them a chick-band, or pigeonholing them as “Riot Grrl” and walking away. Judge them by the same standard you judge any band. Don’t take the 3-point line in a few feet; they’ll shoot just fine from there.

I mean, yeah, of course the band’s ethos draws from femininity, but miles ahead of the band members’ gender, they just fucking rock.

(Sorry, the video’s not For Real — it’s just a still shot of the band that you can look at and smile about while getting hit with like 4 hooks, any one of which would have made the song.)

So, here’s last night’s costume, slightly less...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:01:00 -0500

So, here’s last night’s costume, slightly less crappy. The bodega was closed by the time I finally got out of the apartment, so no bag of Wonder Bread.

Yeah, one person got it. I hugged her so huge.

Seriously though, watch this show.

Sorry the picture’s so crappy but it’s like 11:30...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:35:15 -0400

Sorry the picture’s so crappy but it’s like 11:30 and if I don’t leave NOW I never will.

XO,

-TW-

For me, seeing a band play live has this investigative edge to...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:52:29 -0400

For me, seeing a band play live has this investigative edge to it: figuring out how, exactly, a band makes their particular aggregate noise is its own sort of joy beyond simply enjoying music as a presented whole.

Along those lines, more often than not, the Talking Heads escape easy dissection. Trying to pin down some musical element as a traditional guitar/bass/drum, some kind of keyboard, a nutty, left-field world-beat instrument, or simple studio magic is tough.

But that’s mostly boring precursor for this live video of them performing “Born Under Punches” in Rome. The song features, at various points: 3 different guitars (one of whom is Adrian Belew, who went on to front King Crimson), 2 different basses (who does that?!), 2 drummers, and that one spooky-looking lady who plays the shaker and sings backup harmony.

So, uh, yeah. Wasn’t gonna guess that without looking in the back of the book.

…yeah, another post about trivial improvements to my...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:02:38 -0400

Rad-Ass Stripe; Normal Light

Low-Light: No Problem.

Flashcatcher!

…yeah, another post about trivial improvements to my messenger bag, but this one’s in the service of celebrating my good fortune at being Rachel’s boy :)

The Plan: In addition to at LEAST 3 blinky-ass LEDs, a dayglo helmet, and the patience to refrain from biking into traffic at a red light, I wanted to reflective-tape my bike and bag to increase nighttime unmissability.

The Problem: As anyone who’s gotten a package from me knows, I deploy adhesives like I’m Afflicted.

The Result: Rachel’s tape-job is solid enough that, by all accounts, it looks like Chrome shipped the fucker to me like that.

Washed Out - Feel It All Around …it may well be that this...

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:35:00 -0400

Washed Out - Feel It All Around

…it may well be that this song is just a heavily filtered retread of the Cocteau Twins’ “Sugar Hiccup” (which I adore), and that my brain just doesn’t care: if blissed out, gauzy, shoegaze-informed pop is on the rise, I’ll worry about originality later.

As it is, this song’s rise to bloggish prominence coincided beautifully with summer’s final, hazy days, and the blessed arrival of Fall. Take it on a breezy stroll; thank me later.

…wait for it. You’ll see it. Okay, here’s the...

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:32:23 -0400

…wait for it. You’ll see it.

Okay, here’s the thing about me and spatial reasoning: it’s a pronounced deficiency of mine. Those puzzles where you have to untangle 2 twisted metal links? Not once ever, even after I watched some other kid do it. Those brainteasers where you have 6 connected squares, and are asked if they fold up to make a cube? Not a prayer.

So after 15 minutes in a Rite-Aid, when I stepped outside and finally teased out the relationship between bike, lock, and rack, I nearly fucking expired for mortification: I’d just bought the bike that goddamn afternoon.

In conclusion, I’d like to thank the city of Burlington, Vermont for not stealing my bike, and for not gathering by it to point and laugh when I came back to “unlock” it.

My “Project Runway” Tag Cloud: MESS hot tranny

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:50:00 -0400

My “Project Runway” Tag Cloud:

MESS hot tranny

…it’d be useful if I could stop mentally comparing...

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:05:29 -0400

…it’d be useful if I could stop mentally comparing this to some stupid Home Shopping Network blooper.

But here I am, linking to it.

jimray:

I, too, fear our coming oligarhy overlords.

Sadly, the mouthbreathers who lap this up are the same ones keeping their kids out of school today.

Photo

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:11:04 -0400

IF: you were this awesome, THIS is what you could be doing with...

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:05:40 -0400

IF: you were this awesome, THIS is what you could be doing with your spare time.

Let this be a clarion call to greater personal awesomeness accountability.

timoni:

via riotclitshave

Frida Hyvönen - Jesus Was A Cross Maker

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:14:58 -0400

Frida Hyvönen - Jesus Was A Cross Maker:

…sometimes, a piano and vocals are undeniably Correct, to the exclusion of any other arrangement.

Linked above is Pitchfork’s write-up, which contextualizes the song well. Stereogum’s interview with Frida Hyvönen about the song is earnest and insightful, and provides an RDA of Björkiness without that nickels-in-the-oven aftertaste.

But: if you’re really into mysterious MP3s cluttering your desktop, download here without reading a dang thing.

“Everybody else, just stop taking pictures —...

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:20:00 -0400

“Everybody else, just stop taking pictures — somebody already took the best one.”

- @effingboring

On the list of things I give an excessive shit about: messenger...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:53:00 -0400

Goof-Ass Strap Droop

Hella Robust Dangle Management!

Hair Tie Magic (Detail)

On the list of things I give an excessive shit about: messenger bags. Really, you too? Keep reading, friend!

Got a Chrome messenger bag, loved the weight distribution, but hated the loose strap dangling all over my business and fucking with my situation. So, in a rare moment of inspiration, I got the idea to use a hair tie as a belt loop writ large and hold it in place.

…yeah. So, uh, tell your friends.

O!, but what is the internet for, if not obsessive observations about niche products?

(Photographic Note: Picture 2 features what has come to be called my “Launchpad face”.)

Commemorating Minutia...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:11:44 -0400

Commemorating Minutia...:

…for someone who did more with minutia than previously thought possible (or at least useful).

Seriously, though: how didn’t I know about this?

Astronomy Picture Of The Day

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:28:00 -0400

Astronomy Picture Of The Day:

Honestly, this is mostly to spare everyone else from ME reposting this site every goddamn day. Astronomy is nothing if not awe-inspiring, and even if the science behind each picture is a shortcut to an involuntary afternoon nap, the pretty picture alone is worth a bookmark.

No, there’s no APoD Tumblog, or even a Twitter feed: these guys went up in 1995, three years before Memepool, even. Be grateful they have an RSS feed.

…I think we can safely trust the romanticization of our...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:34:58 -0400

…I think we can safely trust the romanticization of our pixelated, square-wavey childhoods to these guys.

jaypeecee:

Most amazing stop motion video I’ve ever seen. Jaw still on floor.

If you could properly call the above a “poem”,...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:35:25 -0400

If you could properly call the above a “poem”, it’s one of my favorites.

Typed on a gee-whiz honest-to-goodness fully manual typewriter, just like the kind Hemmingway would have gotten really pissed at.