jcksn

• What does your garbage can of failed motivations look like?
• I hope Ze Frank writes a book some day.
• John Dyer growing every type of beard.

• [via Secret Experiment]

• 
• Design Is In The Details

• 
  Advanced Beauty from mate on Vimeo.

  I found this somewhere and can not remember where. I’m sorry.

• Timoni is a super talented designer. Watch out.
• I can not wait till Spore comes out, until then, checkout the Creature Creator!
• The Ampersand Masters Thesis
• The live Firefox 3 download counter.

Amazing video and song sampled entirely from Disney sounds.

[via Luke]

Sleevage is my favorite new (to me anyways) site - ridiculously detailed observation and slick choice of album art.

However, one of my favorite album covers is not featured there. M83 (long time fan here) released Saturdays = Youth, which is one of their more mainstream accessible albums, not too long ago. And despite being an amazing album, sonically, the album cover just screams 80’s love.

I’m going to try and post more album covers - the inspiration I get from music, and the art that accompanies it, is immense.

Trent Reznor/NIN does not give up.

They just released another free album, entitled “The Slip.”

You can download it over here: http://theslip.nin.com/, for free.

One of the most interesting things, is the mainstream use of BitTorrent as a distribution method (for all but the MP3 version). We really are entering into uncharted waters, both with distribution and revenue models. Despite other artists doing similar things, we’re seeing lots of permutations on the “free music” model lately.

Why all this legitimate free music all of a sudden, though? Do the concerts really make the artists that much money? Or, is it all just a fad (like Radiohead reported earlier this month? I really hope not. The retail store is on its way out of the music selling business - unless we start seeing digital kiosks real soon.

I hope that artists learn to make this digital world work for them, by charging for high quality versions and letting the fans decide what it’s worth. NIN isn’t accepting any money for “The Slip.” If I wanted to give them money, I couldn’t. That’s unfortunate.

I’m counting on mankind and music lovers around the world to be honest with themselves and the artists they like to hear. Call me an optimist. So, instead of buying another beer next weekend, and murdering your liver, go download GHOSTS I-IV, and pay for it, it’s worth it. Even if it is a wild foray into a very unique genre.

Update: I really am enjoying this album, almost as much as the previous instrumental album, GHOSTS I-IV.

• Sakura, is what the Japanese call cherry blossom trees. Jeff has a gallery of his adventures during Sakura season over on his blog.
• Matt alerted me that the myth about the slow-boild frog, is false.
• 

  Zombie Strippers! [trailer] An advertisement on the back of the actually pretty good comic book release, Jenna Jameson’s Shadow Hunter (seriously, it’s not bad, maybe even good), advertised a non porn film, starring Jenna Jameson, titled Zombie Strippers!

• You can now find all of Daft Punk’s live sets all in one place.
• You Work For Them, the people who brought you “Black Sabbath”, have a really nice blog.
• Apple FINALLY updated the Airport Express to be 802.11n! No more dropped tunes!
• Some insane RC helicopter action:
  

Portishead merges video and sound so separately but synergistically, in this cool studio performance.

[via Dean, who ought to blog]

Some cool things are happening out there.

User shoxrocks on Last.fm (the coolest social music web app, iLike doesn’t even compete IMHO) wrote some “tools” for use with the Last.fm API.

The API produces among other things, charts showing your connectionson last.fm

[via visual complexity]

She’s on “the Facebook” now.

She’s also got this ridiculous video for Wanderlust.

Her graphic designer is a king at modern typography, hence his domain name: http://www.moderntypography.com/

What does Björk not do to the nines?

The first of many? I’ve got so many links I want to post. and because like bananas, links go better as a bunch, here they are.

• What happens when snoop dog gets together with an eonomist? Rap Graphs - via ze frank (RAPup, get it?)
• Jeremy is getting into trouble with electronics too! The arduino is such a cool gadget. Make sure to check out the “Brain Machine”.
• Apple defines Motherf*ck*r
• (oldy, but goody) Don’t ever think for a second Eric Meyer isn’t the most badass dude ever…
• Calvin Harris has got one killer electro dance album out.

• Celemony Direct Note Access:

  Direct Note Access is a technology that makes the impossible possible: for the first time in audio recording history you can identify and edit individual notes within polyphonic audio material.

• A car painted entirely with a Sharpie. [via dfckr]

• Dropclock is a really cool screensaver, of Helvetica numers dropping into an invisible pool of water.

Trent Reznor’s newest minimalist instrumental album is an amazing feat. The music is beyond the grasp of most of the public. Yet, Reznor, with his early rock-death-metal-electronica releases in his career, made himself so well known and thus made it possible for him to release such an abstract instrumental album. This is one of the most substantial minimalist electronic albums - maybe, of all time.

But, the coolest thing about the album, is the artwork. Aside from the tons of extras you get by just paying $5 for the CD, each song has it’s own high-res image to go along with the song. The artwork is really spectacular. Definitely pick this album up, even if it’s just for the cool wallpapers.