It’s been 6 years since this track was put forth into the world, and I’ve been listening to it on and off for 5; it’s aged well, the energy of the vocals and instrumentals still ring true for me. “Serenade” from the Cast of Thousands debut album is even older and still just as fantastic as ever; I love how meta it is as a love song about singing a love song.
I love it when people help us see what good things could inhabit our world, our future.
Dang, if I could shop weekly at a Safeway like this 
getting my groceries would be just that much more therapeutic, among other things. In case you’re wondering, the interior of this Safeway in Canmore, Alberta is much like pretty much every other Safeway I’ve been in, including the only one I’ve visited that rivals this one in terms of scenic surroundings: the Banff Safeway.
The Safeway in Pollock Pines, California is also pretty great.
I found myself back at my laptop, Web surfing. It was all sinkingly familiar. I was suckling on the cyber teat in the face of gnashing anxiety. I realized (not for the first time) that thanks to new technology I’d harmed my capacity to press on through such anxiety. The same way computers had affected my handwriting. My muscles for sustaining focus had turned twitchy and flaccid.
This passage in Barry Yourgrau’s latest book Mess really caught my attention as it opens up a facet of his life with idiosyncratic authenticity. And that’s really the crux of this book; it opens up Barry Yourgrau’s physical and mental world for us in distinctive poetic prose that delightfully almost verges on melodramatic at times. It’s a travelogue taking us through his life by way of an itinerary of personal belongings, attempts to wrangle their overwhelming abundance and actual travels—the chronicles comprising the narrative all rendered in the writing style that made Mr. Yourgrau’s fantastical travelogue, The Haunted Traveler, a unique joy to read. Continue reading
This stunning book by Piers Bizony from Taschen goes well beyond the infinite wonders of the film.
The physical heft this interestingly oblong tome seems to promise that The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is the definitive text on the iconic film. Then, when you slide the book out of its sleeve and open it, this promise is upheld. And man, does this book deliver. Numerous full-color pages and foldout leaves dazzle and delight. The astounding trove of behind-the-scenes images and descriptive text brings my appreciation of the film to a whole new level. The extent to which it details the realization of the film is unbelievable and even overwhelming. Continue reading
This photo was only taken a few years ago, and everything here already looks (even more) ancient, except maybe the MacBook Air. Even so, they look incredibly even intimately familiar, in the way a CRAY-2 never would, immediately recognizable as portable, personal computing. It’s obvious yet still noteworthy that the laptop form factor is still largely the same as it was a couple decades ago, still a screen and keyboard+trackpad united by a hinge.
We can easily mentally update this image; we know what would sit on this desk to the right of the MacBook Air in this lineage of personal computing. We’ve got the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models and most recently the iPad Pro, and those still look much like these ancestors that came before them. Are future iterations of being productive with personal technology just going to be thinner, lighter, more powerful renditions of the laptop and tablet form factors?
I love these rhymes that promote bicycling etiquette and safety along the Minuteman Bikeway. They feel like they’re inspired by Dr. Suess, and provide a friendly reminder to be careful and courteous.
Kids like to bike; sometimes they stray; help them ride straight; so they’ll have a safe day
Here’s the environment $25 gets you for one day (also what $350 gets you for one month)…
High ceilings with some yarn balls and natural light. Continue reading
A Contemplative Compilation 