putting the j in jjosh

(shoes painted directly onto feet, from the below ref’d NY Magazine walking article)

Last Summer when we moved to NYC I started running again. I wanted to do it right, so I went to a running specialty store to get the best shoes I could find. They had me run on a treadmill and videotaped it from 4 different angles, and then analyzed it on a computer — very hi-tech! It turned out that I was seriously "overpronating" (or something), which means that my ankle was hitting out over my foot…they recommended a shoe that was super-corrective for that. It was a big, clunky, heavy, running shoe called The Beast. The Beast!!! When I first ran wearing The Beast, it felt like lead weights, but I soon got used to it and figured that when I switched to lighter shoes later it would feel so freeing.

After a few months of running, I developed really painful shin splints. I did some online research and tried to do everything they suggested — various strengthening exercises, running on the softer ground instead of pavement, spending extra time warming up and cooling down — but nothing seemed to help. It completely shut down my running for the whole winter and into Spring. I would try to run every now and then but it would be too painful. Finally I went to my doctor and she suggested that maybe it was the shoes. The Beast?!?! Could it be?

Well, I just bought new, lighter, neutral, shoes and so far so good ( knock on wood). It seems so obvious in retrospect.

Then I just read this great article from NY Magazine on how shoes by their very nature are bad for us. I’m a believer! Sign me up for the barefoot world!

From the article:

"Epidemiologically speaking, it’s been estimated that, by age 40, about 80 percent of the population has some muscular-skeletal foot or ankle problem. By age 50 to 55, that number can go up to 90 or 95 percent.” Ninety-five percent of us will develop foot or ankle problems? Yeesh. Those are discouraging numbers—but wait. Are we talking about 95 percent of the world population, or of North America? “Those are American figures,” he says. Which makes me think, North Americans have the most advanced shoes in the world, yet 90 percent of us still develop problems? We’ve long assumed this means we need better shoes. Maybe it means we don’t need shoes at all.

Also…

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Done by Larry Cuba, the guy who made the graphics for the attack briefing scene in the original Star Wars, these graphics look so different from the cg of today. They have an organic quality, and are strangely beautiful.

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Maxine has improved my day immeasurably by sending me this.

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Sunday Maxine and I finally got around to checking out the Murikami exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, and lemme tell you, it was a mind-blower! If you are in the area (it’s on until July something) you gotta see this. It would probably make a great field trip too, ‘cuz it seems very kid-friendly (umm, except for the weird, blatantly sexual ones like Hiropan).

But most of the art is simply great — from canvases with layers of paint meticulously sanded down, to weird anime-style plastic figures, to installation-style rooms full of eye-popping imagery, the exhibit is stimulating on many levels. We didn’t get to see his short films in the little theater area because the line was too massive, but then in the elevator on the way out we heard a couple of guys talking about how the films really weren’t worth the line. Nice.

In among all his smiling flowers and cute characters, he also had a series of canvases that have things like death skulls with rings of flowers for eyes (above, titled "time bokun missing"; below, titled "time bokun black"), or psychedelic-style caricatures of famous buddhist monks. It’s the kind of art that really gets me going, and I was pretty excited that Maxine was into it as well.

There’s also a whole side to his art that has to do with blending art and commerce (the exhibit is really called ©Murakami). For example, Murakami was brought on by Marc Jacobs to do a specially designed Louis Vitton bag and design print that’s apparently been a huge sensation, so they had a Louis Vitton store as one of the art installations in the middle of the museum. Weird, mind-bendy, but somehow cool.

From digging around online I found this sort-of promotion animation he did a couple of years ago for his Louis Vitton design. It’s called "Superflat Monogram," the concept of Superflat being a central tenet of Murakami’s work. Some decry this little film as a 5 minute commercial for LV, but I think it’s kind of playful, lyrical and beautiful too. It’s on youtube, but I dug up a hi-rez version of it for you ‘cuz low-rez Murakami is weak!

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Is it Spring where you are?

Yesterday was just stunning here (until early evening) so I threw together a quick Spring mix to listen to as I walked around in the sunny sun sunshine. Then I figured I’d give it to you! Keep in mind, it’s pretty random. The criteria for songs was two:

1. it should remind me of Spring

or

2. it should be something I wanted to hear

(right-click to download, then unzip)

Sunny Sun Sunshine Spring Mix

Other than that I was just scrolling through my itunes, alphabetically by band, starting at Z. Some odd choices, but overall it was a great soundtrack for my day. Enjoy.

click here to find out more about the tracks on the mix!

By now the internet is full of — and links have been forwarded and re-forwarded of — the classic way to make the Garfield comic strip funny: remove Garfield’s speech or thought balloons. It also seems to make it more the way cats really behave…

But, thanks to Malcolm M I have now discovered that there’s a way to take Garfield into the stratosphere of funny: live action. This guy’s site has a ton of these…each one dramatizes a 3 panel strip and then does a weird sort of remix with a music track. Very weird, and I love it.

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ps this is a gar, so a field of those would be pretty weird too

I remember watching Ali G for the first time on a tape that Roscoe got while we were both working at BBC America (were they thinking of licensing it?), and we laughed until it hurt. This is a great interview with Beckham and Posh Spice from the UK’s Comic Relief…British cultural references abound, but even if you’re not getting them, it’s still pretty funny…

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Even though his schtick is a little played out, I still find Ali G really funny, much funnier than Borat for some reason. Borat’s humor seems to come from exploiting cultural foibles, which can be funny, but relies on us being able to point our finger and mock whichever regular person he’s interacting with. Ali G on the other hand takes apart so-called experts in some field (is being famous a "field"?)…I think he has to be quicker, smarter, sharper. The character of Borat bases his misunderstandings on cultural mismatches, where Ali G’s are based on clever use of slang, and youth culture stereotypes. Or something like that.

More analysis is called for, but I don’t have the time or inclination. Plus, with humor it really just boils down to what you think is funny.

UPDATE – I should point out that this vid is old, as Maxine somehow knew it was old and Roscoe’s link to an old Vanity Fair article mentions it…still funny tho…

The internet loves it when someone spends an inordinate amount of time doing something with no real purpose other than to entertain.

Especially when it involves home-made=y stuff.

More especially when it’s Asian.

And even more especially when it involves the Super Mario theme song.

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Amazing work, nerds.

In the jjosh effort to keep you up to date on all potential black hole occurences, it should be noted that John Wheeler, the scientist who coined the term "black hole", has just died, at the age of 96. New York Times obit here. Here is a great quote from him:

The black hole “teaches us that space can be crumpled like a piece of paper into an infinitesimal dot, that time can be extinguished like a blown-out flame, and that the laws of physics that we regard as ‘sacred,’ as immutable, are anything but."

Too bad he died before we potentially create a "black hole" in "Sweden."

…via a survey on Waxy of supercut montages, here is a collection of all the questions asked during one two-hour episode of Lovelines, separated out by host and then put in alphabetical order. There’s something great about this. Plus it reminds me of working at BBC America, cutting the swearing out of British shows for American broadcast, and making a montage of all the swear words. So much fun.

What’s interesting is that while there are tons of mashups using Beatles vocals, and tons using Doors vocals, there don’t seem to be that many using Rolling Stones vocals. I think this might be because the Doors and Beatles ones come from re-mastering into 5.1 sound that isolates the vocals, and then savvy remixers can grab the vocal track. Maybe the Rolling Stones haven’t been re-mastered into 5.1?

Anyway, since it happens very rarely, it’s always fun to come across one. I’m guessing that this Soulwax remix of You Can’t Always Get What You Want is officially sanctioned and timed to market the Scorsese Stones film (why Marty, why???). Soulwax make great remixes, and while it’s not quite as transforming as I’d like, it’s still pretty great.

Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Soulwax remix)

Banzai Republic vs. Beatles – Blackbird (remix)

Go Home Productions – Rapture Riders (Blondie vs. Doors)

While working I came across this fantastic clip from Sneakers, the 1992 team-caper film with the dream cast of Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Dan Ackroyd, that guy who was the main bad guy in The Bourne Identity, and Mary McDonnell as the love interest — amazing to contrast her there (young, 80’s sexy, flirty) with her character now on Battlestar Galactica (older, wiser, still flirty).

Also, they’ve got Ben Kingsley(!) as the bad guy, who’s also some kind of computer genius with a weird accent that I think is supposed to be Brooklyn. In this amazing clip, he reveals to Redford how he started his life of crime in prison. Kingsley is pouring on as much menace as he can, and then it gets to the hi-tech bit where he sort of demos how he did what he did. Using the terrible! power! of! spreadsheets!!!

(I especially love the sound of the keyboard when he hits the keys…clak!)

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Walking back from yoga today, Maxine and I stumbled into a new sort of graphic arts store on 3rd st, right in the middle of Gowanus. Called Picturebox, it looks like it’s in the middle of nowhere, but there were a couple of people in there when we were there, and from talking to the guy who was working there we learned that it’s been a small art and comics publisher there for a year and a half. The art was very cool, graphic, psychedelic — just my style.

I picked up a Dr. Strange treasury from 1975 that looks absolutely amazing, and reminisced with the guy working there about how cool it was that Dr. Strange lived in Manhattan on Bleeker Street! I love it.

From looking at the art, by comics legend Steve Ditko, it got me thinking of this great doc that I read about a while ago and tracked down (with quite a bit of effort). It’s by Jonathan Ross, who is a sort of British late-night talk guy, but gets a bit more respect than our Leno/Letterman dichotomy.

Called "in Search of Steve Ditko", it’s about Ross’s fascination with Ditko, and his attempts to track down the camera-shy artist. It’s really fun and tough to find, so I’m putting it here for you to download and enjoy. It’s about 600MB, and I’ve no clue what speed my server will go to, so maybe set it going overnight or something. If it’s not working, let me know in the comments and I’ll work out some other way to host it…

I originally read about it on Neil Gaiman’s blog, because he shows up at the end to help Jonathan Ross out, so if you’re a Gaiman fan, it’s got that too. And Alan Moore, in all his crazy beard, crazy rings glory.

Jonathan Ross’s "in Search Of Steve Ditko"

(right-click to download; left click to open as QT)

Panda Bear of Animal Collective released a solo album last year that hit the top ten in many many critics’ best of 2007 lists. And the album is kind of great…all Beach Boys gone psychedelic freak-out but still sunshine-y. I especially love the first track, Comfy In Nautica…it’s like a weird gentle industrial-style rhythm with a Brian Wilson sunshine vocal, I love it…

Panda Bear – Comfy In Nautica

I saw Animal Collective in a tiny DC venue, The Warehouse Next Door…I only went to the show because an old high school friend of mine was in the opening band, Antelope (they’re on Dischord, neat-o). Antelope and Animal Collective — nice, right? Anyway, Antelope were pretty good, but Animal Collective blew the lid off, all yelping and mask-wearing. In the middle of their set my high school pal leans over and says "Pretty fresh, huh?" and it had been ages since I’d heard "fresh" used. Since then I’ve been using it liberally.

Fresh is a great word for this remix of Comfy In Nautica that I came across over at the fantastic blog Analog Giant. The Giant posts liberally, and even the tracks I’m not that into are still interesting. This remix is done by XXXchange of Spank Rock. I’m sure he pronounces his name "triple x change," but I like to imagine him pronouncing it "ex ex ex change." I don’t know much about Spank Rock, except for the Baltimore guys make good! angle. I’ve hung out with some people who went to school with the MC, Naeem, and say that he used to be this total geek, and how amazing it is that now he’s this feted MC.

Anyway, XXXchange’s remix shoots an already great song into the stratosphere…I’m listening to it on repeat!

Panda Bear – Comfy In Nautica (xxxchange remix)

(If you care, you can stream an Antelope track at Dischord’s download page here.)

Welllll well well.

Last night Chris B and I went to Terminal 5 to see Boredoms (apparently not "the Boredoms", just "Boredoms").

You may not know Boredoms, but perhaps you know that one of their dummers, Yoshimi, is the Yoshimi from the Flaming Lips record "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots."

I tried to see them last July when they did their storied 77 drummers playing for 77 minutes on 7/7/07 at Brooklyn Bridge park (link to youtube clip), but the line was absolutely insane, literally the biggest line I’ve ever been in for anything in my life. If we’re ever walking around in Dumbo I’ll show you, it was crazy, it stretched literally for blocks!!…

So when I saw that they were going to be playing in NYC I snapped up a ticket. It was advertised that they’d be playing "in the round" and that sounded kind of great too. Chris got a ticket as well and we headed out last Sunday night.

It was one of the most amazing concert experiences I have ever had.

Top 5 easily.

Before we go any further, let’s get a sense of what exactly Boredoms sound like. Because saying "japanese noise band" doesn’t really do them justice. Here is a track off their masterpiece Vision Creation Newsun…the tracks on that album don’t have any names, just symbols, so this track’s name is actually a little heart symbol…try to make it at least 11 seconds in so you can get a sense of the drums kicking in…

Boredoms – (heart)

I know, I know, not music I would necessarily recommend to everyone. But last night it was mindblowing.

A little more context first, let’s have a look at my other top 5 mindbuggling concert moments: 

Other events in my top 5:

yes! tell me more!