No Need for a Jacket

An odd nine second video clip. Watch it 5 or 6 times and experience something magical.

Just a hunch, but Arthur might be FUI. Pretty much everywhere, it's gonna be hot.

Paint

Washington DC area artist David Scheirer does some very nice, understated watercolour work.

Led Zep Kids

The naked children crawling over an apocalyptic landscape on Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" album cover are brother and sister - and they're all grown up now. Amazingly, one of them admits to never listening to the album.

Bus 142

Photo set of "Bus 142" in the Alaskan wilderness - the last home for a restless, inspiring soul. RIP, Alex.

Related: a recent article on Jan Burres, who briefly, but poignantly connected with Chris McCandless 18 years ago.

Accelerating

This new REM record is gonna turn heads. It's brief (11 songs in 34 minutes), urgent, guitar heavy and unlike anything they've released since "Monster". I didn't mind the turn they took when Bill Berry left - "Up" and "Reveal" were both underrated in my book, but "Accelerate" is a nice 180. I honestly didn't think I'd ever hear them sound like this again, but here it is, an aggressive, melodic, in your face REM. Secret weapon: some awesome backing vocals from Mike Mills.

I can't stop listening to this thing. 8.5/10

No Country for Old Men

A few comments on "No Country for Old Men" - the best film I've seen in quite a while:

I loved that the story didn't funnel towards a final battle-of-wits showdown, which so many movies routinely incorporate. The absence of this cliche was incredibly refreshing and quite apt.

The sound design was brilliant (the Coen's really understand audio).

The visual juxtapositions (particularly involving the desert scenes) thrilled me.

Anton's relentless focus was nothing short of admirable, despite the whole evil thing.

I've watched it twice and each night had a dream about being stalked.

You want to see great acting? Watch Woody Harrelson in his final scene. The way he conveys panic, resignation, disgust and wonder is worthy of study.

Ghosts Film Festival

Nine Inch Nails are inviting anyone to submit visuals for tracks from "Ghosts I-IV" via YouTube. The results should be interesting. I'm contemplating participation.

Ghosts

I have nothing but positive feelings about the new Nine Inch Nails project, Ghosts I-IV. If you don't know, old Trent's offering up a double-disc set of instrumental tracks in various formats, ranging from a wonderfully reasonable $5.00 download to an extravagant $300.00 package.

All by himself. No major label and no copy protection. Nicely done.

Dubai

The architecture of present and future Dubai is hard to believe. It's certainly interesting, but I can't help but think it's also conjuring up bad karma for all humanity. This kind of excess can't be good for anyone.

Albini Talks

Interesting video of Steve Albini lecturing Middle Tennessee State University audio class. Dude's earned the right to pontificate, IMHO.

Henry Farber's Dream

The fictional "dream recording" technology featured in the Wim Wenders' film "Until the End of the World" may actually become real. Here's the story.

I'm a big fan of this movie. Waiting patiently for the DVD release...

Warming

The science community is far from unanimous when it comes to determining the cause of our planet's recent warming trend. The folks who created the awesome Arts and Letters Daily, have launched Climate Debate Daily - a comprehensive collection of articles and essays on both sides (man made warming or not?) of the argument. I'm officially on the fence, but I will say this site certainly trumps a PowerPoint presentation.