putting the j in jjosh

For some reason lately it’s been a tough commute to and from work. For a long time I was working on a mix, so every ride would be spent listening to that mix, noting level changes, or mashup revisions, but now that’s done. I’m downloading This American Life every week, so that takes care of one day’s subway ride. But I haven’t found any music that’s exciting me (Fleet Foxes not really doing it…maybe that new Flying Lotus?), and I’m tired of reading Entertainment Weekly to make the time go by.

So I joined audible.com to get a free download of an audio book (must remember to cancel! must not get caught up in monthly payments!)…but what book should I download? What genre? How to search? Bestsellers led me nowhere. Reading about Neal Stephenson in the latest Wired made me think maybe I should try out some sci-fi…and why not go with an acknowledged master…search Isaac Asimov. I read all the Foundation books years ago and loved them. Read a bunch of the Robots book and was into those too. The first book that came up in the search was Robots of Dawn, maybe the third book in his Robots series.

In high school I had to give a book report at one point as a speech in front of the class. As usual I had waited until the last minute and had not, in fact, read a book. I picked Robots of Dawn from my dad’s bookshelf and wrote up a completely fake book report based on the cover picture and the title. I don’t remember much about giving the report…I think I can remember my English teacher asking me questions about the book afterwards, and maybe I blew it while answering. Did she know? I feel like she did.

Anyway, I’ve downloaded it and am listening to it on the commute now. The cool thing about a book on tape is that you can be "reading" while doing the dishes or making dinner or having a bath without worrying about getting the book wet. The uncool thing is that if you fall asleep while "reading" it’s tough to get to back to your "page".

This month’s banner is partly thanks to Greenpeace, who have a bunch of these giant eyeball masks lying around their office. Ostensibly so they can follow politicians around at conferences and imply that they are being watched, I think it’s also because they are giant Residents fanboys.

The other part of the thanks must go to Joe Tyler, fearless camera-man and all-around great guy. While it was my idea to put on the eye and film it, it’s was Joe’s divine inspiration to set the scene in the bathroom. Genius. It was going to be the last shot of the day, and as the day wore on, and we got more and more tired from shooting, I started thinking to myself that I would just let the whole thing go…Joe was doing us a favor, shooting at reduced rate and all…so as we got the end, I said, "O.k., just a couple of b-roll shots and we’re done," to which Joe replied "And don’t forget about that whole eyeball thing in the bathroom!"

Whatta guy.

Sometimes you see something that gives you a new appreciation for the true definition of a word. Such is this film and the word "archivist". Perhaps also the phrase "vinyl junkie". Worth watching for the first :30 alone.

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

I love how nicely this is shot and put together. The world of HD and laptop digital editing is truly a sweet sweet world.

summer = officially over, unofficially still rocking

I Know Where The Summer Goes – Belle & Sebastian