John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Manhattan in Motion

A time-lapse video of New York, and I don't think it could be more wonderful. 

A spelling test

"Nothing you can't spell will ever work."
- Will Rogers

Tomorrow's Girls

From 1993 and his Kamakiriad solo album comes this Donald Fagen tune, which puts New Frontier-era sci-fi into a blender with gender roles, suburbia, cheesy monster thrillers and other things the Steely Dan mainstay grew up with. It's one of my favourite songs he's ever written; how can you not love lines like, "They're mixing with the population/ A virus wearing pumps and pearls" or 

Tenses

"I decided not to let my past rule my future so I decided to change my present in order to open up my future."
- Ana Margarita "Cha" Guzmán 

[The photograph of Guzmán, a Cuban-born American educator, appeared here.] 

 

Dude, put down your iPad ... it's just a concert

A few months ago, we got to see one of my favourite performers, David Byrne, live in concert, in Toronto. Just before he took the stage with his band (and co-headliner Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent), he spoke over the P.A. with some witty advice. Fans were welcome to take pictures and all that, he said, although he kindly reminded people to be civil and not keep a screen in someone else's face. 

He got a good laugh, and for good reason: there's been an annoying tendency of some fans to not just snap a pic, but to in effect make a movie, regardless of a) the quality of the product and b) what the production means to the folks in the surrounding seats. 

I spotted the above cartoon on Tumblr, via here. 

Hang Loose

The Alabama Shakes made my one of my favourite records last year. While I wait for the followup, it's always nice to check back again with their debut. 

 

Overcast

Ever had one of those days when you feel like you have your own personal raincloud? This short video, featuring some clever animation grafted to real life, ought to resonate. I spotted it on Vimeo's staff picks list. What makes it particularly impressive is that James Lancett and Sean Weston made it as a student requirement while enrolled at Kingston University in the U.K. 

Overcast from James Lancett on Vimeo.

Only in America

From a piece I've been reading as part of some research:

“In Seoul, when you move into an apartment, you have a choice of three or four providers selling you symmetric fiber access for $30 per month, and installation happens in one day,” Crawford told TIME in an interview Tuesday. “That’s unthinkable in the United States. And the idea that the country that invented the Internet can’t get online is beyond my imagination.”

Read more here on Time. 

Love and Affection

Joan Armatrading, at her very best ... which is saying something. 

Silver linings

"Rock won't eliminate your problems, but it will sort of let you dance all over them."
- Pete Townshend 

Hard Line

I was making some new playlists for puttering around the house, walking, and that kind of thing, and came across this chestnut from a few years back by Jill Barber, late of Halifax, now (I believe) out in B.C. 

Hard Line is today's song of the day on Dot Dot Dot. 

Ignored

"Glory is fleeting but obscurity is forever." 
- Napoleon Bonaparte  

Realistic plots

"If you write a story about a soldier going AWOL and kidnapping a pregnant woman and finally shooting her in the head, it’s called searingly realistic, even though it’s never happened in the history of mankind. Whereas if you write about two people falling in love, which happens about a million times a day all over the world, for some reason or another, you’re accused of writing something unrealistic and sentimental."
— Richard Curtis

[Richard Curtis has written and/or directed many things, from Blackadder and Mr. Bean through to romantic comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually. Hence the words above, given during a 2007 interview.]

Sunday Morning

I haven't played this k-os tune in quite a while ... and now seems appropriate. 

 

K-OS 'Sunday Morning' from Drew Lightfoot on Vimeo.

Drifting on a Reed

A little Charlie Parker is just what's needed. 

 

Reasons to Be Cheerful

Ian Dury and the Blockheads' song is a perennial pick-me-up, with its list of things Dury liked, from the naughty to the mundane (looking at you, porridge oats). It's today's song of the day. For past picks, click on the tag below. 

Too dark

"When the soul suffers too much, it develops a taste for misfortune."
- Albert Camus 

Yoda doesn't wait for the luggage carousel

For more chuckles, check out these other Star Wars-related ads. 

 

Samsung's ad about hockey is pretty toothless

A clever ad creative to sell the Samsung Galaxy, and produced in Toronto. (You thought San Jose?) Credits listed here. 

Martha My Dear

For obvious reasons, this has long been a much-liked song in our house ... even though the Martha that Paul McCartney was talking about was his sheepdog.

Nonetheless, I can sing it straight through, which I believe my Martha quite likes. 

Origami: wayyy harder than it looks

I admire people who can make little works of origami art, and not just because of their dexterity. Really, it's their patience. 

That's why when I see photos like the one on top, I'm pretty sure my own creation would very much look like the one on the bottom. 

I saw this image in a collection of "Pinstrosities," or Pinterest replications gone awry, that my wife sent me. A few of them truly made me laugh out loud. 

Writers' days

"Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters."
- Neil Gaiman 

The Quentin Tarantino death count

My teenage son and I watched Pulp Fiction last weekend (Martha, who is not that much of a fan, was at a social gathering). I hadn't seen the movie in years, and Nick had been wanting to see it, if only to place various parodies, including those on the Simpsons and Community, into context. There were definitely as many swear words as I remembered, but oddly not as much violence. The movie, I guess, had become more brutal in filtered recollection as the years went by. Still just as funny, though. 

Here's a chart from Laughing Squid, showing the evidently very careful research that someone did on the body count of one of the most violence-approving directors of them all. 

A touch of boldness

"Clothes and courage have much to do with each other." 
- Sara Jeanette Duncan

Red Heart

Some nice news for Hey Rosetta! earlier this month: Mumford & Sons has picked the St. John's band to help open for them at a festival in Ontario's Norfolk County in August. Should be quite the show. The song of the day is Red Heart, from a few years back.