April 6, 2018
“You like long things, don’t you, Chi-Chan?”
I'm counting all the possibilities
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts... is not the subject of this post. That was the first Eno/Byrne-Byrne/Eno collaboration, way back in 1981. David Byrne and Brian Eno collaborated a second time [YT album, ~48m], in 2008, with the MEA [Most Excellent Album] Everything That Happens Will Happen Today [shockingly extensive Wikipedia link]: Side A: Home, My Big Nurse, I Feel My Stuff, Everything That Happens, Life Is Long, The River [more inside]
Calling All Mountain Goats Fans
For the past few months, the podcast I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats has provided a fascinating glimpse into the mind of John Darnielle, who is both one of our greatest songwriters and, [some] would argue, one of our greatest writers. Every week on the podcast, Darnielle has been sitting down with Night Vale host and Mountain Goats superfan Joseph Fink. The podcast’s first season has centered on the classic 2002 album All Hail West Texas, the last and greatest document of Darnielle’s acoustic-guitar-and-boom-box lo-fi period. And now we get a tribute album out of it. (Link to free album stream.)
Ain't that cute?
To wash the taste of an egregious week from your brain's tongue, head on over to Awwpics.org. Highlights include "Hog Lobster", "Baby crow knows nothing", "Handful of Fluff", "Baby rabbit", "Proud Mom Presents Her Baby :)", "Handful", "Cat holder", "This purple octopus is adorable!", “Who’s a good boye?", "Little bat cuddling with a stuffed pink bear" and "This, I have no words, I have no words".
Puffin sunglasses
Twitter Finds A New Way To Piss Off Users
Developers of four Twitter clients are protesting upcoming changes to Twitter's API that could destroy third-party clients. These apps include Talon and Tweetings for Android, and Tweetbot and Twitteriffic for iOS and Mac, but it will affect anything that uses Twitter's Streaming API. [more inside]
“...it may find a purpose eventually.”
Japanese Exoskeleton Suit Goes On Sale For Only $93,000. [Kotaku] “The suits are nine-feet tall and weigh 88 pounds. The highly expressively exoskeleton is completely analog and won’t make the wearer faster or stronger. Then what exactly does the suit do? Well, you can get it in, walk around, control its arms and move the fingers.” [Interview with makers Reyes Tatsuru Shiroku and Tomohiro Aka] [YouTube][Promotional Video]
Give 'till it hurts
In February, Nick Griffiths suffered severe frostbite while competing in the Yukon Arctic Ultra race (temperatures dropped as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius during the race, forcing many competitors to stop). On Wednesday of this week, he had to have his toes amputated. In order to secure backup toes, Dawson City's Downtown Hotel has offered to take delivery of the detached digits for use in its notorious sourtoe cocktail (previously, previously, and previously).
Revisiting The Breakfast Club
Molly Ringwald looks back at the John Hughes Films she was a part of (Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles) and considers how they hold up in 2018.
The Rise of White Gangs
Starman Saw Too Much
NOAA Explains the Restriction on SpaceX launch webcast: During the March 30 launch of 10 Iridium Next satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9, SpaceX cut off the live video from the rocket’s second stage nine minutes after liftoff. The company cited “restrictions” imposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for terminating the live feed. [more inside]
“Debt is the lifeblood of private equity...”
“If you have seen the movie Goodfellas, you may recall the scene where the mob takes over a bar: they run up bills on the company’s credit, rob the place blind, and then, when they’ve gotten as much as they can, burn the place down and walk away. That is only a very slight exaggeration of the real business model of private equity. “ The Working Person’s Guide To The Industry That Might Kill Your Company. (Splinter) “Private equity is remaking the retail environment, causing even successful companies like Toys ‘R’ Us to go out of business. And they’re fundamentally remaking American commerce in the process, with Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Dollar General set to benefit. Meanwhile, private equity is more or less getting off scot-free.” The Real Retail Killer. (New Republic)
"I avoid the trap of easy definition." Cecil Percival Taylor (1929–2018)
free jazz originated with the performances of Cecil Taylor at the Five Spot Cafe in 1957 and Ornette Coleman in 1959 and while it didn't end yesterday, it took a deep breath and sighed and hung its head in sorrow. A magnificent ten-minute taste of what is lost.
Forging The Chain
How Fleetwood Mac Wrote "The Chain". By YouTube channel Polyphonic (previously on the blue). [more inside]
We were queer, here.
Queer moments and lives are marked across the globe, like so many Kilroys, at Queering the Map. [more inside]
Whisked Away
How many pints of lager did William and Kate’s wedding cost?
Have some questions about the upcoming royal wedding? The NYT Style section has you more than covered. The Royal Wedding: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers to Everything You Ever Wanted to Know — and Some Things You Didn’t
Street 'Lava
Streets, Sweets and Syria meet in the story of an elusive Vancouver vendor. The Mystery of the Baklava Man. [more inside]
The last Blockbuster in the lower 48
About three hours southeast of Portland, I found a piece of American history in this Central Oregon ski-and-beer town of around 90,000 people. [more inside]
The Crafty Cockney Checks Out
RIP Eric Bristow five times world darts champion. Always supremely confident/arrogant and controversial, he dominated the sport in the 80s (including being one of the leading players involved in the darts split) until 'dartitis' laid him low and he was overtaken by his mentee Phil 'The Power' Taylor. Bristow died from heart attack whilst working hospitality at a darts championship. [more inside]
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