Outlet Wall

It's quite likely not really feasible, but I absolutely love this idea - an entire wall of electrical outlets. I'd much rather see this than the mess of wires hanging off and under my desk.

Amen, Brother

This small excerpt form Pitchfork's interview with Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste really struck a chord with me.

Pitchfork: It's definitely not the way I listened to music when I was a teenager-- I memorized every album I bought, whether I liked it or not.

ED: Remember that feeling of buying an album? And you didn't have a lot of money so you bought one album and you had that album for like, two months or something until you bought another album? This really cool thing that would happen where you would be forced to only have that album because you couldn't just download a million more, and you may not have liked every song on it, but then as you started listening to it more and more you'd be like, "Oh wait, I do like track nine." You lived with an album, and that doesn't happen as much anymore. I'm sure some people do have that experience still, but it's a little bit harder to get to that place because you can easily just switch gears and go off to something else if it's not tickling your fancy at that moment.

I haven't had that kind of experience with an album for awhile, either. And I sort of miss it-- that feeling of not necessarily settling for an album but just of having an album and having your initial favorites, then listening to it and listening to it and discovering new things and being like, "Whoa, I really like this part now." Just the feeling of "This is what I have for the next six weeks or so until I can buy another album."

Rush

Whether you're a fan or not, this hour long Jian Ghomeshi interview with Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee is well worth watching. A thoughtful, honest and interesting conversation that thankfully doesn't collapse into rock and roll cliches. I really enjoyed this.

Dave Bush Dancing

Dave Bush is apparently the "Godfather of Line Dancing" (not the country/western type). Behold the smooth footed Dave Bush.

Kuroshio Sea

Stunning HD video shot at Kuroshio Sea, the world's 2nd largest aquarium tank, located at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan.

It's a beautiful thing to watch, but I can't deny I'm disturbed by animal captivity of any kind.

Summer Music

Certain albums in my collection have become strongly linked in my mind to specific seasons and I usually reserve them for play during those times of year. Here's a short list of my summer discs:

Marshall Crenshaw: Field Day
This might be my quintessential summer album. The sunny reverbed tone of Crenshaw's voice, the ringing guitar, the melodies - perfect.

Michael Rother: Katzenmusik
A great set of languid guitar-based instrumentals. Hazy, sunny and warm.

REM: Reveal
They actually designed this to capture the feel of summer. It worked.

Bruce Springsteen: Darkness on the Edge of Town
Summer of 1978 - I went to Crystal Beach amusement park and heard "Badlands" blasting from the Octopus ride as I entered the front gates. I'll never forget the way the music, smells and heat all merged for a few incredible seconds. Also - "Racing in the Street" is an absolutely perfect song for summer nights.

XTC: Skylarking
This one's obvious.

Bob Marley: Exodus
Reggae's a natural genre for summer and this is my favorite Marley album. I remember often falling asleep to this during warm, quiet mornings after long, dreary midnight shifts at the paper mill.

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion
It's new to the list, but already feels like a classic.

Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom
I spent the summer of 1982 pretty much doing nothing but drinking beer and listening to this record.

Lynch

David Lynch popped into my mind during morning coffee today. I then wondered if he's still providing the daily LA weather report from his bunker/office. He is.

I wish he'd stop smoking - don't want him to die young.

Say It

Here's some simple, but valuable advice for anyone who's struggling to convey an idea through writing - essentially, say it out loud, then write.

I'm reminded of a couple video clips I've seen of David Lynch writing a screenplay, in which he's simply thinking out loud while an assistant does the typing. My first instinct was "hey that's cheating", but who can deny the value of eliminating the physical aspect of writing, especially for artistic projects.

Michael Jackson

Even though he won't be performing, Michael Jackson's London tour merch is still being sold. Of course.

Cheap Trick

It's nothing more than a stunt, but I still think it's kinda cool that Cheap Trick are releasing their new record on 8-track.

Survivor

Next time you see some diva celeb referred to as a "survivor" because she lost some weight and revived an acting career, read this absolutely incredible story for some perspective. It's astonishing.

Crazy Cool Origami

Right here.