Sarah from work said something like “I felt so dumb when I finally learned that a brass monkey is a 40oz.”. So naturally I ask, “a brass monkey is a 40oz.?”
Turns out it’s a 40oz. Which you drink and then fill with orange juice. Yum!
RIP MCA!
Want.
An amazing video to launch the “Dollar Shave Club” start up (a real company). Please, please watch. It will be the best 4 minutes of your day.
Looks like we’re still in the year of the badger.
(via The Badgermin)
M Ward SHREDDING out Duet for Guitars #3. I forgot about this video!
Edits is a quarterly series of narratives in film and photography from Ian Coyle. The scrolling is pretty awesome, and the whole thing plays out like a nice short photo heavy magazine or even simpler, a photo album, that you can experience in a browser with a finger flick or your directional keys.
The first issue is “Voyager” and Ian takes us to some of his memorable spots in the world, including the small PA town of Waynesboro close to where I went to college.
Ian quotes Ralph Emerson: “Do not follow where the path may ead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” It’s perfect, I’ve never seen this neck of the web. Go ahead! Check it out!
(via)
make break collect connect
Frank Chimero’s new site is fantastic. I don’t know how he does it. I probably did it an injustice by pulling a full page screenshot, so you really should go over and check it, and the rest of the site out.
Huge fan.
You can’t afford to be too precious about your work. Caring is important, but preciousness is the opposite of making stuff. There is no room on the internet for Special Snowflakes who want to procrastinate all day and then drink themselves to sleep and dream about their unwritten novel. To build an audience, you have to be consistently good and often surprising.
An anecdote: my friend Jonathan Coulton was in his mid-30s. He’d been working at a software company since he graduated from college (with a humanities degree), and he was in charge of a team of programmers. It was a great job, and his wife was pregnant with their first child.
That’s the place in your life where you usually put away your dreams, right? Because stability is more important than blah blah blah. But Jonathan did the opposite. He’s the most thoughtful, reasonable man in the world, but when he thought and reasoned, he decided that if he didn’t at least take a genuine swing at being an artist, he’d be a lousy role model to his daughter. So he quit.
He started a project called Thing A Week. He wrote and recorded a song every week for a year. It was brutally difficult for him. A few times, he recorded dumb covers out of desperation. Jonathan’s a talented guy, none of the songs stunk, but some were slighter than others (one called “Mr. Fancypants” being a prime example of this category). Some, like the beautiful ballad “You Ruined Everything,” about his daughter, are anything but slight.
In the process of putting out this work every week, in a remarkable new way, he found fans. Some of the songs went viral, with the help of fan-made videos. Today, Jonathan earns an income that far outstrips what he earned in his Good Real Job, and despite what some may suggest, it was a brilliant (and in many ways replicable) plan, not a fluke. Jonathan backed himself into a corner, and found that he became a success.
My thing of the day: Maddie On Things. Especially this shotgun shell mailbox.
Cedar River, MI
My new favorite song: The Fox by Niki and The Dove. Layered Swedish jams with a creepy music video to complement. Was so enthralled I bought tickets to see them at U Street Music Hall!
Straight from Laura Rotondo: This is not what our office is like when we’re left unsupervised.
I just want to know why it can’t be.
The Black Harbor posted these photos of some of the fine works of Portland-based group The Tarantulas and they’re gorgeous.
And then there’s my home-state representing as well, with Philly’s Hammarhead Industries crafting some beauts as well…
The Solo X
The Jack Pine
The gf has a car (that has a couple of wounds and is kind of falling a part) so why don’t I just treat myself to a bike so I can visit home whenever I want? Hmm
Uh I’m a smiling alligator.
