zen-y

Jul 28

“Selecting a font is like getting dressed, Ms Strawson says. Just as one chooses an outfit according to the occasion, one decides on a font according to the kind of message you are seeking to convey.” BBC News - Do typefaces really matter?

Jul 27

“Roger Waters and David Gilmour perform charity show together last night.”

Wow. Just. Wow.

And Gilmour’s going to show up at one of Waters’ “The Wall” tour dates. Amazing. It’s like Coke and Pepsi holding hands and making out on the ferris wheel.

Miller High Life Overhaul - Brand New

Love it, even if I don’t love the beer. But I do know a pair a fellas (Don, Cowboy) who do, even if one has already given a thumbs down.

via PostSecret.

Jul 23

fyeahstarwars:

thedailywhat:

Clever Counterprotest of the Day: San Diego Comic-Con patrons take on the hateful Westboro Baptist Church, who are in town to harangue attendees for false idol worship (seriously).

God bless geeks.

(More photos here and here.)

[comicsalliance.]

“What do we want?”

“Gay sex!”

“When do we want it?”

“Now!”

Man, and the church’s signs aren’t nearly as fun.

Jul 22

“Because, in addition to being a dick, I’m also the Mayor of Remember Someday You’re Going to Die Alone With Poop in Your Pants and Your Relatives Will Drop All Your Shit off at the Goodwill and Sell Your Car and Barely-Used Guitar and They’ll Give Your Cat to a Stranger and Everyone Will Probably Mostly Remember How You Spent All That Time Dicking Around and Acting Like Anyone Could Conceivably Be Friends With a Rails Application So Holy Daddy Jesus and the Spook Please Try to Do Something Useful With Yourself While You Have the Goddamned Chance.” Merlin Mann | kung fu grippe

Oil spill in Dalian, China - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Makes me want to be an oilman.

Jul 21

“For a few hours, a thousand or so people were best friends in the world and it was the most beautiful place you could have ever wanted to be.” Mr. Chris Driver over at Your Morning Rock, on the Gaslight Anthem/Hold Steady show last Thursday. He got it right.

Jul 20

I’d give anything to play the first Street Fighter.

I feel like I’m breaking the law.

Jul 14

madmenfootnotes:

Christina made this poster and she also made equally minimal and sophisticated illustrations for the book.

Gorgeous. Can’t wait for the new season.

Jul 13

Found this at work. At least my co-workers are reading.

“I don’t think we capture the right moments. The camera flashes and we pose. We pose. We create moments as artificial as the memory we want of them. We stare into lenses and lie, if only a little, so that the record shows we were there, enjoying or not enjoying ourselves, in precisely the way we’d prefer it.
But the perfect moments always allude us.” Big Contrarian → Pictures. And I’d agree, which is why I try to take the un-posed shots as often as possible, because those are the fun ones.

Jul 12

Faith No More - Evidence

Mike’s right up there with Chris Cornell as one of my favorite rock voices. Ever.

Here’s the evidence.

Jul 9

The weight of stars

There are three albums I would call favorites - a kind of musical trinity that includes Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream,” KMFDM’s “Nihil,” and Type O Negative’s “October Rust.”

All three classics. All three born in the mid ’90s. And I can never determine which one is my absolute, king-hell, ranking favorite.

But what if I added the relative star weights of their iTunes ranking? Add up all the stars I’ve assigned to the album tracks, and see what comes out on top.

Here’s how it went:

Smashing Pumpkins, “Siamese Dream” - 35 stars
Type O Negative, “October Rust” - 33 stars
KMFDM “Nihil” - 26 stars

Not nearly as close as I thought. In terms of song quality, the Pumpkins and Type O rank pretty highly - while KMFDM sits at least seven stars below second place.

Now what about actual play counts? How many times, combined, have I played each albums songs? Pretty stunning: “October Rust” ranks first with 70 total song plays, “Nihil” in second with 43, and Pumpkins take the rear with 38 total song plays. This is not a clear indication of favoritism, however, since I’m much more prone to take the actual CD and play it as opposed to grabbing it on my iPod or through iTunes (and I’m not sure that iPod plays get counted in iTunes play counts - it doesn’t seem like it).

If I were to add up the song stars and the play count, for some jumbo super score, Type O wins by a big margin. “October Rust” is on near-constant rotation, especially in the morning when I wake up for work. “Love You to Death” alone has 13 plays listed.

The other thing is, my star rankings change from time to time. A song will come on and I’ll think, “Golly, did I rate that high enough?” The above examples are just snapshots in time.

Historically, I would say “Siamese Dream” was a high school favorite, definitely. As I was graduating, “October Rust” took its place well into college, while “Nihil” has been consistently played through and through. It’s also a favorite of mine when I’m driving, especially on long trips.

But when I think about it, I still can’t place one above the other two. They’re a set. They go together. They get played depending on my mood, or whatever band’s catalog I’ve been cycling through (I go in phases where I want to hear a certain band, and I’ll play all their albums in random succession).

So the album trinity remains.

zen-y

Weblog of Dave Lawrence. twitter | flickr | Newton Poetry | Wiipocalypse

The weight of stars

Weblog of Dave Lawrence.
twitter | flickr | Newton Poetry | Wiipocalypse