If you haven’t seen Beasts of the Southern Wild, yet, stop reading this and go NOW!!!!!!!
So many amazing things coming out of nola…
music stuff :: King Louie’s Missing Monuments
King Louie’s Missing Monuments might be the greatest band name ever + this is a great end of summer tune.
Another Girl = dudes covered in blood and more split screen action than the Dallas opening credits, Happy Monday!
Production and Post by Flatland
Directed by Ariana Eve
via invadenola
tech stuff :: geolocation + data + awesomeness
I have been defending my use of Foursquare for years, at this point.
People are constantly still asking me why I use the service, followed by questions or comments like, Why do you want people to know where you are? or Who care about becoming the mayor? It’s so arrogant. blah blah blah.
Neither of these things really matter to me and I generally give some kind of answer about data. I have been a journaler for most of my life – whether is was a diary, live journal, to-do lists, Moleskins, twitter, etc. and the thing that most intrigues me about platforms that can collect behavior is obviously, the historical data. New music platforms have come and gone over the years, but I refuse to switch from Last.fm, despite the company’s total lack of innovation, post-CBS purchase, because I have years of historical data invested into that platform, which has an open API.
The main reason (there are others) that I use Foursquare is to have the historical check-in data, which is something that I find far more interesting than becoming the mayor of the Brooklyn Bridge (although, that would rule). When people engage me in this debate, I usually tell them that open source culture allows amazing new platforms to be built upon the work of others every day, and that I know SOME DAY there will be other platforms that use the Foursquare API (for something awesome) and I will be glad to have the backlog of data.
Well, my friends, that day has arrived, and I know that this is only the first of many that I will truly love.
Meet Meshu:
Meshu is the brainchild of data visualization extraordinaire’s Sha Hwang and Rachel Binx. The concept is simple and genius, combining several things that I love: digital fabrication, maps, data and well designed, beautiful jewelry!
Your data + a 3D printer + a laser cutter = an original piece of jewelry ^-^
There are three ways to create on meshu: search for places, point to them on a map OR use foursquare connect to pull in all of your data.
Obviously, I had to see what would happen if I used I used Foursquare Connect. Look at all of the crazy combos!
I can easily see how my Friday night is going to be spent :)
Oh, and if you need more reasons to try and understand why people use Foursquare or other geolocation based services, read Marshall Kirkpatrick’s article of Why We Check-In (I clear fall under the “As a Personal History” Bucket) on ReadWriteWeb.
THANKS TO JOJO FOR SENDING ME MESHU!!! <3 <3 ^-^ <3 <3
film stuff :: days of gray
I am SO AMPED that Days of Gray met their kickstarter goal!
An Icelandic-French-American collaboration, a modern silent film (dark and enchanted) about a little boy, a little girl, a wall strange animal mutation and scored by Hjaltalín. SWOON! Inspired by the likes of Pan’s Labyrinth, Let the Right One In, and The Fall.
“Days of Gray is a timeless tale set to an original score by Icelandic band Hjaltalín. This feature length film tells the journey of a boy as he makes his way from his family’s strange yet tradition-bound home to the far side of a forbidden boundary. There, a girl leads him through an even stranger place of distortions and mutations. Together they discover a world that is theirs and, in the process, who they might be. Void of most dialogue, the guiding narrative is one of epic intimacy. The smallness of our boy and the vastness of his world is equally provoked through Hjaltalín’s music and lyrics. It is a world naturalistic yet awry, inviting yet fearsome, epic in darkness and in hope.”
Watch their kickstarter video for more details and follow their journey on Twitter.
music stuff :: telegraph canyon
This album has been sitting in the dark ether of my computer since Telegraph Canyon played Fobourg Fest.
Luckily for me, I feel asleep with my iTunes running and woke up to it, confused and like “who is this?!” I have been obsessed with their record, The Tide and the Current, all weekend.
Shake Your Fist
Safe on the Outside
music stuff :: Poliça
I’ve been listening to Poliça nonstop for the last couple of weeks thanks to my friend Sky.
They are playing at Airwaves this year, hmmmmm……
Happy Monday!
life stuff :: going brand side in B-R-O-OK-LYN
As many people are starting to realize, I have been back in NYC for 6 straight days ^-^
And many (super observant) friends noticed, thanks to foursquare, that I have been spending a lot of time at 3RDWARD. The reason is only partly because I think the place is awesome. Starting this week, I have become their Marketing Director ^-^
If you know me even a little bit, then you know how AMPED I am about this! Not only do I love the space, the brand, the mission and the products, but I am super excited to work with so many inspiring people.
So, I am back and ready to bask in the glory of NYC springtime, reconnect with people and do new awesome things.
Besides 3RDWARD I am working on/interested in working on more projects related to:
- innovative education experiences
- disrupting the publishing industry
- the burgeoning fashion design scene in New Orleans
among others…get in touch!
xo
music stuff :: Esmerine
I saw Esmerine for the first time last year at Airwaves and was instantly mesmerized (it was the perfect end to Glacier visiting day). They are an experimental instrumental group started in 2003 by Bruce Cawdron and Beckie Foon, who have contributed to many other amazing Montreal-based bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Set Fire to Flames, and A Silver Mt. Zion.
I was pursuing their website and found a cover of my favorite Arvo Pärt, ”Spiegel im Spiegel”
And some of their own stuff…
Happy Monday, from Kansas City!
travel stuff :: sicily, part I
Sicily was far more amazing then I could have ever imagined. From meeting family members for the first time to getting lost in mountains (thank God for Google Maps) it was a non-stop adventure. I must have listened to this Youth Group song 500 times, which immediately takes me back to 2006.
Babe, let’s move to Sicily
Just you and me
and the mediterranean sea.
I work on a scallop boat
that would keep us afloat
the sun would burn my throat.
You lie beneath the shade
writing songs all day
into the summer haze,
and in the evening
we go stealing
out beneath different stars.
Night would hold us
and gently fold us
we’d lose our minds
in tiny bars.
We never argue
’cause with just us two
there’d be no point to.
They need a surgeon
’cause in this version
we become one person.
And in the evening
we go stealing
out beneath different stars.
The night would hold us,
and gently fold us,
we’d lose our minds
in tiny bars
Good Morning Parlermo…
Next stop, Santa Cristina Gela
Lago di Piana degli Albanesi or liqeni i Horës së Arbëreshëvet
Piana Degli Albanese – the largest Arbëreshë community in Sicily.
<3 miei cugini Giovanni e Giuseppina
We arrived just in time for San Giuseppe Day, just like in New Orleans, there was a parade but they couldn’t have been more different…
This cannoli was as big as my hand. swoon!
Getting ready for the benediction.
And we’re walking…with no idea why. For some reasons the kids all had plastic bags, like Halloween.
The priest goes from house to house blessing the altars. The whole commune smells like fresh bread, rosemary and citrus fruit. 
The loot! The kids divi up the sweet bread. 
I feel like I am in a movie :) That is Gaspare’s hand on the right and my cousin Katarina on the left! 
Immediately behind Hotel Belvedere. 
cimitero di Santa Cristina Gela
Piazza Mariano Polizzi
Waiting for the Procession to begin.
And here comes the statue…
And the procession through the cobblestone streets begins.
This altar was nearly the length of the Piazza…
On the other side of the Piazza
Back on the road! Villafranca Sicula -> Agrigento
Mediterranean Sea
Scala dei Turchi
Off-season
Sigh…
Agrigento – produce cart
Agrigento – Valle dei Templi
Tempio della Concordia - 5th Century BC
Temple of Juno Lacinia
Ikaro crashed, bronze sculpture, Igor Mitoraj
I really wish that I could have seen the rest of the installation from 2011.
I am annoyed with myself for not capturing the names of these two contemporary sculptors…
I’ll figure it out on day…
LOVED both of them.
I have been at the Magaggiari long enough for special pastas ^-^
<3
<3
<3
<3
music stuff :: of monsters and men
Of Monsters and Men has finally released a music video!
and it’s AMAZING – Little Talks.
and with Papa New Guinean inspired makeup!
Directed by Weweremonkeys
You can listen to their NPR session here.
or pre-order album on iTunes (release 3 Apr)
music stuff :: Frankie Rose and The Outs
Soooooo Brooklyn. Soooooo good.
Gospel/Grace from Frankie Rose’s new album, Interstellar
<3 <3
“So, out with the reverb of the Frankie Rose and the Outs, and in with something altogether more glam, glittering, shivering. On “Interstellar” Frankie takes the lessons learned with her debut album – like reverb as the holy route to pop-grandeur, scaling a wall of teenage tears – fully digests, and transfers those skills into the brave new world mapped out by ten new songs. In its place is the confident swagger of a singer and auteur fully aware of how to build the simplest of pop moves into aching, full-blown melodramas, how to grab hold of an emotion and ride its darker waves. “I always have a big picture in mind,” Frankie reflects. “I knew I wanted a HUGE sounding record. Big highs, big lows, and clean. There is no fuzz on this record. I knew I wanted to make a streamlined, spacious record with big choruses that sometimes referenced 80s pop.” But that referencing never swamps the melodies: this record isn’t a retro trip. If anything, it liberates sounds familiar from that decade and gives them new context, breathes life into clay golems of sound that too often become basic, pre-set triggers.”
More Here:
http://soundcloud.com/slumberland-records/frankie-rose-interstellar
