Minneapolis Michael

"Speaking of which The American provides some gratuitous nudity that I would call wonderful,..."

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:19:18 -0500

“Speaking of which The American provides some gratuitous nudity that I would call wonderful, excellent, and good for the soul. I am calling it that, in fact. And it has a very nice red-lighted sex scene. Good for George and Anton during filming, and good for guys everywhere.”

- WELLS!

"What concerned us most about The Newspaper was its lack of Wi-Fi. Information on the system was..."

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:47:05 -0500

“What concerned us most about The Newspaper was its lack of Wi-Fi. Information on the system was locked, while on other e-readers it was open, ubiquitous and current. Eventually, however, we found this advantage to be overstated, even misleading. Engineers using The Newspaper typically did so 30 to 60 minutes a day. Afterward, they went outside, formed relationships, and took in what life had to offer. Those using Wi-Fi-enabled e-readers tended to stay on the couch, scanning video sites for cats; eventually, downloading recipes for artichoke cheese dip they’ll never use.”

- McSweeney’s, some say better at being the Onion than the Onion.

goldenfiddle: Phish.com: Trey’s new guitar, completed in July,...

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:32:10 -0500

goldenfiddle:

Phish.com: Trey’s new guitar, completed in July, was made from a single piece of Koa that Paul had been saving for some time. It’s the first guitar where he used wood binding (contrasted with the white edging from guitars) and the first time color inlays were used.

Can’t wait to see Trey attack this beast at Alpine this weekend.

"I don’t like guys who fall into their movie theatre seats like children…An elegant man..."

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:53:50 -0500

“I don’t like guys who fall into their movie theatre seats like children…An elegant man always eases himself down onto the seat and gently leans back on his seat.”

- WELLS!

whatevs: Not sure if I’m allowed to say this yet or not, but...

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:11:15 -0500

whatevs:

Not sure if I’m allowed to say this yet or not, but thanks to my main man (and longtime F.O.W) R. Mills, I’ve been listening to the new Guster record, Easy Wonderful, for the last few weeks. I’ll save my thoughts on the album as a whole until the time is right, but it’s worth noting that the album’s first single, “Do You Love Me,” is gonna knock both your literal and proverbial socks off. It’s already starting to blow up at radio and, methinks, has the chance to end up as an even bigger hit than “Satellite” (which KILLED on radio back in the fall/winter of Oh-Six).

In addition to having a gorgeous and instantly hummable pop melody, the lyrics do an incredibly amazing job of getting to the heart of the question that’s at the crux of just about every romantic relationship, be they short- or long-term: Do you love me? It’s rare for a band that’s been together for a lifetime now — they started off way back in 1991! — to still be getting better, but after spending the last month with this record, I can say with a large degree of confidence that this is the best song in the band’s illustrious catalog. It drops on iTunes tomorrow, be sure to pick it up!

Grambo on Guster!

The Hottest Women Of Indie-Rock: Pics, Videos, Links,...

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:38:27 -0500

The Hottest Women Of Indie-Rock: Pics, Videos, Links, News

Natasha Khan.

"The fun of Twitter and, I suspect, its draw for millions of people, is its infinite potential for..."

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:55:11 -0500

“The fun of Twitter and, I suspect, its draw for millions of people, is its infinite potential for connection, as well as its opportunity for self-expression. I enjoy those things myself. But when every thought is externalized, what becomes of insight? When we reflexively post each feeling, what becomes of reflection? When friends become fans, what happens to intimacy?”

- Peggy Orenstein

goldenfiddle: 944: Olivia Munn um.

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:13:52 -0500

goldenfiddle:

944: Olivia Munn

um.

I’m going to see the most buzz/blog worthy band of 2010 tomorrow night in The Main Room: Built...

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:10:00 -0500

I’m going to see the most buzz/blog worthy band of 2010 tomorrow night in The Main Room: Built To Spill.

I said as much on The Twitter tonight, but I really don’t know what would’ve happened had I been exposed to Built To Spill in 1994 or 1997 or 1999. Instead of honing my ear on a great/shitty pop hook thanks to the bullshit KKCK was playing from 1994-1999, I could’ve honed my ear on totally badass guitar-crunching indie rock.

This is something I actually spend a lot of time thinking about: what is life like in Rural America in 2010, thanks to the Internet? And what would life have been like in Rural America when I was growing up, from 1990-2000, if I had access to the Internet of 2010?

Life.

A Chris Jones Piece

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:35:00 -0500

I’ve been seeing a lot of praise and a lot of you-gotta-read-this’ about Chris Jones’ piece in the August issue of Esquire, “TV’s Crowning Moment of Awesome.” So, naturally, before I sat down to read it today, I was expecting a Chris Jones Piece. Instead of a Chris Jones Piece, I merely got something that was a fine read. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool little story, but I felt like 1-2k words were cut in the editing process, and that leaves the narrative a bit disjointed.

What, exactly, is a Chris Jones Piece? What does it look like when Chris Jones has as many words as he wants to tell a story? First, let it be known that I hold Jones in high esteem; I think he’s one of the best long-form journalists in the country. I’ve been reading him for as long as he’s been writing for Esquire, and man has he been writing for Esquire.

If you want to take some time to find out what a Chris Jones Piece reads like, here are a few to get you started:

“The Things That Carried Him” - Jones tells the story of the journey Joe Montgomery’s body took from Iraq, where he was killed in battle, to its final resting place in Indiana, where he was born. A 2009 National Magazine Award winner for Feature Writing — this is a Chris Jones Piece.

“Roger Ebert: The Essential Man” - Jones tells the story of…ah fuck it, you know who Roger Ebert is, right? A beautiful portrait of a beautiful man. A Chris Jones Piece

“The Runaway” - Jones tells the story of Ricky Williams, one of college football’s best players ever, and one of the NFL’s most enigmatic. Jones was the first journalist to track Ricky down and get the story after Ricky’s abrupt retirement in 2004. A Chris Jones Piece.

These are the three pieces that spring to mind. I’ll give it a bit more thought, and if any more of his work presents itself in my brain, I’ll add them here.

fatshawnkemp: J.R. East Bay Funk Dunk. Damn, I had high hopes...

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:10:31 -0500

fatshawnkemp:

J.R.

East Bay Funk Dunk. Damn, I had high hopes for this dude.

whatevs: I don’t agree with my peers that Rex Sorgatz’s profile...

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:49:36 -0500

whatevs:

I don’t agree with my peers that Rex Sorgatz’s profile in the New York Times — in the STYLES section — is akin to the death of Journalism. That said, I do have to call bullshit on something that was written in this article. Specifically, this:

IT was a rainy Tuesday night and Rex Sorgatz, a rail-thin man with spiky red hair and Sol Moscot glasses, walked into a birthday party held at Tom & Jerry’s, a bar in NoHo that has become a go-to place for New York’s Twitter class. A circle of friends who occupy the digital elite closed in, all shouting “Rex!”

I have been to many, many social functions where Rex Sorgatz was also an attendee. I have ALSO been to Tom & Jerry’s on a number of occasions where Rex was also there. However, in neither of those situations have I ever once HEARD OR SEEN a group of “digital elites” descend on Rex, en masse, shouting “Rex!”

What can we draw from this? Either:

1) It never happened

OR

2) Rex set it up in advance

Does anyone know the real deal? No offense, Rexy, just doing some homework!

Do work, son!

I saw this live and, though it may be hard to believe, it was...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:12:00 -0500

I saw this live and, though it may be hard to believe, it was better than this video. That makes this video only a little less awesome.

There won’t be an iPhone 4 recall, there won’t be a...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:40:19 -0500

There won’t be an iPhone 4 recall, there won’t be a (significant) decline in demand for iPhone 4, and there won’t be a legit Android competitor any time soon. There will be sadness, however.

whatevs: Dude, Angry Birds. Either the best or worst $0.99...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:41:56 -0500

whatevs:

Dude, Angry Birds. Either the best or worst $0.99 you’ll ever spend, depending on whether or not you have an addictive personality. Makes Flight Control seem about as fun as your iPhone’s calculator function. 5318008!

Grambo: always true. I can’t get past the level at :37, and it’s pissing me off.

"Phish couldn’t have opened their summer tour with four more encouraging shows. While displaying..."

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:24:08 -0500

“Phish couldn’t have opened their summer tour with four more encouraging shows. While displaying precise chops and improvisational acumen, the clearest difference between this summer and last year is the confidence, intensity, and urgency behind their playing.”

- Mr. Miner See you one week from last night, in Philly.

sashafrerejones: I had to go to a thing and on the way, the...

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:51:47 -0500

sashafrerejones:

I had to go to a thing and on the way, the town car I was in got hit by a truck. The collision happened on my side, and the huge divot was in the door I was leaning against.

I was looking away and didn’t know what had happened. My first thought was that we had hit someone. The driver stopped in the intersection to look at the damage. A cop told him to pull over, so he did, right above Canal Street.

He said I should take another cab as he would be busy for a while. I gave him too much money for the half-ride and walked up to Houston. Neither of us were very upset.

Be safe, sfj.

OK. We're Getting a Bicycle

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:53:33 -0500

newsweek:

Begley, on BP boycotting:

Go ahead, boycott BP. Not only do you get to send a message to the company that has proved incapable of stopping the undersea gusher unleashed on April 20, but (unless you live in a one-gas-station town) you can do it without much pain to yourself.

Drive right on by the BP station and pull up to the pumps from Exxon, the company responsible for the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 and, more recently, one of the biggest corporate funders of the movement to tar the science of climate change. Exxon also managed to reduce the $5 billion in punitive damages awarded by an Anchorage jury for the Valdez disaster to $507.5 million; the Valdez fishermen and other victims have still not been made whole. (Fun fact: to protect itself in case the original judgment was affirmed, Exxon got a line of credit from JP Morgan, which the bank then parlayed into the first credit default swap, as recounted in the 2009 book Fool’s Gold by Gillian Tett. These are the exotic financial instruments that helped trigger the Great Recession of 2008–09.)

Or roll into the Texaco or Chevron station (Chevron bought Texaco in 2001). Texaco is being sued by people in Ecuador for contaminating their groundwater, causing hundreds of residents to develop fatal cancers and causing other environmental damage near the Lago Agrio oilfield, where Texaco dumped oil-production waste (18.5 billion gallons into open, unlined pits) for almost 20 years.

Reading the Sunday Times So You Don't Have To (Even Though You Should): 6.5.10

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:08:00 -0500

(A little quick hit this morning. Have a fun Sunday!)

FRONT PAGE

At Issue in Gulf: Who Was in Charge? - What. A. Clusterfuck.

The Minerals Management Service, which regulates offshore drilling, went along with these requests partly because the agency has for years had a dual role of both fostering and policing the industry — collecting royalty payments from the drilling companies while also levying fines on them for violations of law.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Obama and the Chaos Perception - Matt Bai knocks it out of the park. It’s really hard for me to admit this, let alone type it, but the “What if Hilary were in charge?” thought is continually finding its way into my brain.

Letters to the Public Editor: What Exactly Is a Blog? - Oh god, this is really the only thing you have to read today. Someone get Grandpa away from the typewriter.

BOOK REVIEW

Our Cluttered Minds - Jonah Lehrer is smarter than you. Here he proves it.

minusmanhattan: It’s always nice to receive these in the...

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:26:19 -0500

minusmanhattan:

It’s always nice to receive these in the mail.

A thing of beauty.