Tate Gallery by Tube

February 5, 2010


Tate Gallery by Tube

It seems as if once very six months I find myself longing for this print, wondering why I haven’t just bucked up and bought it, and it seems also, once every six months, I fight back the urge with the simple realization that, in fact, even if I were to buy it, I have nowhere to put it.

That being said, nothing warms my cockles more than London Underground poster art.

Tags: Travel |

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Two quick interviews for people not going to SXSW

February 3, 2010


I’m not going to SXSW.

To remedy that, I’m living vicariously through pre-SXSW launch by boning up on the panels and interviews supporting it. Like a new series of short interviews with scheduled SXSW speakers at Scatter/Gather.

Not quite the same thing, but it’s making me feel not so bad. For now.

So far, they’ve posted interviews with Rich Ziade on article mills…

“I love the Web and I love how dramatically it’s lowered the barrier to publish (even the word ‘publish’ feels outdated). Everybody can talk into the channel today. It’s an awesome democratizer. At the same time, it’s getting increasingly difficult to really find things that I value.

…

I need to be able to lean on people I trust and respect to better present information for me. I don’t want a ’stream’ or a ‘river’ of anything. I want to stop drowning and I want quality to win over quantity.”

…and Margot Bloomstein on content strategy (answering the question, “What’s the difference between content strategy and copywriting?”).

What’s the difference between a nutritious dietary plan and a bunch of carrots? Carrots are great–but they may not even be part of the bigger picture if, say, your family doesn’t like them or you need to figure out how to get more protein into your diet. Content strategy and copywriting face a similar sort of carrot confusion. Content strategy addresses the what, why, by whom, at what frequency, how–all issues that may affect copywriting, but aren’t synonymous with it. Copywriting is just one aspect of the tactical execution of a content strategy. And for most of us, carrots are just one small part of a healthy diet, into which we also bring recipes, other ingredients, and preferences.

Okay. That’s all. Sorry about the marketing/Web industry-tinged blather. Go back to listening to music from my last post, if you’d like.

Tags: Content Strategy, Technology, Writing |

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BMOWP’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2K

February 2, 2010


I’ve listened to music for a long time.

We all have.

In the long time I’ve been listening to music, one thing has stayed constant: my favorite songs sound different from your favorite songs. The notes land in our ears with different expectations. Tastes differ. Qualities change. And, much like we never know exactly how color looks in the eyes of another, music isn’t analogous between listeners.

Still, we insist on ranking them. The top this. The best that. The essential whatever.

Which is why I wanted to look at things differently. These aren’t the top 100 songs of the 2000s (a decade that ended a month ago, granted). But they are my favorite 100 songs of the 2000s. They display my taste, showing how those notes landed on MY ears and what my expectations were.

With that disclaimer, a few more ground rules. I did not allow for more than three songs per artist, hopefully saving you from 50+ Modest Mouse and Cursive songs. I did not allow covers to be counted, knocking Jose Gonzalez’s “Heartbeats” and Ben Folds’ “Bitches Ain’t Shit” off the list. And I present the list in three parts for brevity’s sake: 100-51 are simply listed; 50-21 come with a brief statement; 20-1 arrive with full reasoning and the track itself.

To hear all of the 100 songs (minus five that weren’t supported), check out the Black Marks on Wood Pulp 100 Favorite Songs of 2K playlist at Lala.com.

This is how I saw the decade in music. Enjoy.

First, the Really Good Songs
#100-51

100. “Who Could Win A Rabbit” - Animal Collective, Sung Tongs (2004)
99. “Oceanbound” - 764-HERO, Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere (2002)
98. “Until 6pm” - Office, Q & A (2005)
97. “It Was There That I Saw You” - …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead, Source Tags & Codes (2002)
96. “The Crystal Lake” - Grandaddy, The Sophtware Slump (2000)
95. “Don’t Panic” - Coldplay, Parachutes (2000)
94. “Skinny Love” - Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
93. “Heavy Metal Drummer” - Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
92. “Last Night” - The Strokes, Is This It? (2000)
91. “Quality Control” - Jurassic 5, Quality Control (2000)
90. “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” - LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem (2005)
89. “California” - Phantom Planet, The Guest (2002)
88. “Album Of The Year” - The Good Life, Album Of The Year (2004)
87. “When The Sun Goes Down” - Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)
86. “You Are A Runner And I Am My Father’s Son” - Wolf Parade, Apologies To The Queen Mary (2005)
85. “Choked And Separated” - Hot Water Music, A Flight And A Crash (2001)
84. “Mind The Gap” - The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Behind The Music (2001)
83. “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1″ - The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)
82. “What Else Would You Have Me Be” - Lucero, Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers (2006)
81. “Singer Songwriter” - Okkervil River, The Stand-Ins (2008)
80. “A Praise Chorus” - Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American (2001)
79. “(Drawing) Rings Around The World” - Super Furry Animals, Rings Around The World (2001)
78. “Dear God (sincerely M.O.F.)” - Monsters Of Folk, Monsters of Folk (2009)
77. “Take Your Mama” - Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters (2004)
76. “Black River Killer” - Blitzen Trapper, Furr (2008)
75. “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow” - The Soggy Bottom Boys, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2002)
74. “Oxford Comma” - Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (2008)
73. “When The Night Turns Cold” - Tobias Fröberg , Somewhere In The City (2006)
72. “Section 12 (Hold Me Now)” - The Polyphonic Spree, Together We’re Heavy (2004)
71. “Lukewarm” - New End Original, Thriller (2001)
70. “I Will Possess Your Heart” - Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (2008)
69. “Even If You Don’t” - Ween, White Pepper (2000)
68. “Young Folks (w/ Victoria Bergsman)” - Peter, Bjorn and John, Writer’s Block (2006)
67. “Punkrocker (w/Iggy Pop)” - Teddybears, Soft Machine (2006)
66. “Avantcore” - Busdriver, Fear of a Black Tangent (2005)
65. “The D in Detroit” - The Anniversary, Designing a Nervous Breakdown (2000)
64. “Sixteen Military Wives” - The Decemberists, Picaresque (2005)
63. “Calm Americans” - Elliott, False Cathedrals (2000)
62. “Oxygen” - Willy Mason, Where The Humans Eat (2006)
61. “Black Swan” - Thom Yorke, The Eraser (2006)
60. “The Deeper In” - Drive-By Truckers, Decoration Day (2003)
59. “Mothership, Mothership, Do You Read Me?” - Cursive, Burst and Bloom [EP] (2002)
58. “Paper Planes” - M.I.A, Kala (2007)
57. “Two Weeks” - Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest (2009)
56. “The Way We Get By” - Spoon, Kill The Moonlight (2002)
55. “So Soon” - Seven Storey Mountain, Based On A True Story (2000)
54. “Oh, Angelina” - The Impossibles, Return (2000)
53. “Fidelity” - Regina Spektor, Begin To Hope (2006)
52. “Long Distance Call” - Phoenix, It’s Never Been Like That (2006)
51. “Hey Ya!” - Outkast, Speakerboxxx / The Love Below (2003)

And Now: The Better Songs
#50-21

50. “From A Balance Beam” - Bright Eyes, Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (2003)
My first Bright Eyes experience, in which I realized he wasn’t simply a Dashboard Confessional knockoff.

49. “Sea Legs” - The Shins, Wincing The Night Away (2007)
I didn’t care at all about The Shins until this song hit heavy rotation. Sorry, Garden State.

48. “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (Feat. Jay-Z)” - Kanye West, Late Registration (2005)
An extended version that adds one of my favorite Jay-Z performances.

47. “Garden Of Simple” - Ani DiFranco, Reveling: Reckoning (Disc 1) (2001)
Most of my favorite Ani stuff is from before 2000. Then again, “Garden of Simple” could easily have been on Little Plastic Castle.

46. “Kids” - MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (2008)
You know, there are four songs from this album that I love equally. This one represents the lot.

45. “Since I Left You” - The Avalanches, Since I Left You (2000)
Not one to rock the “electronic” movement, I always loved The Avalanches as solid background music.

44. “Non Photo-Blue” - Pinback, Summer In Abaddon (2004)
“Hey, this sounds like a raw version of Modest Mouse,” I thought at the time. I was wrong, but the song stuck with me.

43. “Hotel Yorba” - The White Stripes, White Blood Cells (2001)
The whole album, really. For as much as I like them, The White Stripes are an album-based band to me, and therefore didn’t make much of a showing here.

42. “Oh My God” - Kaiser Chiefs, Employment (2005)
Lily Allen’s cover is also really good. But remember? No covers, dude.

41. “Come on! Feel the Illinoise!” - Sufjan Stevens, Illinois (2005)
For some, it’s “Casimir Pulaski Day,” while others choose “Chicago.” I always liked this song.

40. “Wake Up” - The Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)
I grew to love this song not so much for the album version, but for this fantastic live “Neon Bible/Wake Up” video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-5XK-2Ufd4

39. “Idioteque” - Radiohead, Kid A (2000)
The best song off of Radiohead’s third-best album, but since it was the best album they released in the 2000s it automatically made everyone’s #1 spot.

38. “This Year” - The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree (2005)
Childhood angst, booze, video games, learning to drive, and the world vs. John Darnielle.

37. “Rough Gem” - Islands, Return to the Sea (2006)
A constant Left of Center standard, “Rough Gem” was infectious enough to make it onto several “Springtime Mix” CDs.

36. “The Trench” - Chuck Ragan, Gold Country (2009)
Formerly of Hot Water Music, Chuck takes the energy of the punk arena and funnels it into his acoustic guitar.

35. “If You Could Save Yourself (You’d Save Us All)” - Ween, Quebec (2003)
Ween’s been down more than it’s been up since the turn of last decade, but sometimes they’d cook up brilliance.

34. “If The Brakeman Turns My Way” - Bright Eyes, Cassadaga (2007)
To those who would rather listen to “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning,” I have to respectfully disagree. That album doesn’t have this song.

33. “Fred Jones, Part 2″ - Ben Folds, Rockin’ The Suburbs (2001)
About Schmidt has nothing on Ben Folds’ tale of an old man whose industry has passed him by.

32. “The Funeral” - Band of Horses, Everything All The Time (2006)
Haunting? Yes. Awesome? You bet.

31. “Vaka” - Sigur Rós, ( ) (2002)
I still remember hearing this for the first time in the radio booth at KCFS, my mouth agape.

30. “Guns and Cigarettes” - Atmosphere, Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP’s (2000)
My official introduction to the idea of indie hip-hop. That he hails from Minneapolis was an added benefit.

29. “All Nightmare Long” - Metallica, Death Magnetic (2008)
Corey at 15 years old approves of the inclusion of this song on the list. And, oh man, it’s fun on Guitar Hero.

28. “There Goes The Fear” - Doves, The Last Broadcast (2002)
Brit pop, except without all of that stupid Oasis/Blur cheekiness. So, I guess, not Brit pop at all.

27. “10001110101″ - Clutch, Robot Hive: Exodus (2005)
I saw Clutch once at The Pomp Room in Sioux Falls. They opened for Marilyn Manson. I don’t know which is weirder – that Clutch opened for MM or that MM played at a dive bar.

26. “Girl” - Beck, Guero (2005)
Still stands as my favorite cell phone ring for Kerrie.

25. “Delicate” - Damien Rice, O (2003)
Great chorus, though it hasn’t aged well. It was in the top 20 of my favorite songs of all time just a few years ago.

24. “A Fond Farwell” - Elliott Smith, From A Basement On The Hill (2004)
A post-death release that hauntingly predicted his own suicide. Also: beautiful.

23. “Artificial Light” - Rainer Maria, A Better Version of Me (2000)
The jangly open. The fantastic opening beat. The iconic emo-when-emo-still-ruled voice of Caithlin De Marrais. I keep thinking I should have bumped this song higher.

22. “Always Coming Back Home To You” - Atmosphere, Seven’s Travels (2003)
He talks about MPLS as home, but the second “hidden” song mentions my life’s two home bases: Sioux Falls and St. Cloud.

21. “Barnacles” - Ugly Casanova, Sharpen Your Teeth (2002)
I feel fortunate that I can add this song. It’s like I got to cheat and add an extra Modest Mouse song.

Finally, the Absolute Best Songs, Hands Down
#20-1

20. “Stronger” - Kanye West, Graduation (2007)
I didn’t know shit about Daft Punk – still don’t, to tell you the truth – but I do know they make for a hell of a backing track for The Artist Now Reviled as Kanye West. That Kanye West landed two songs in this list isn’t a testament to his talent as much as his ability to adapt to different genres. He sounds bored, and the idea that anyone can be bored while rapping is so foreign to me that it’s endearing. I know. Weird, huh?

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19. “Spitting Venom” - Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (2007)
Modest Mouse had two “Best Albums Ever” in a row: The Lonesome Crowded West and my personal favorite The Moon and Antarctica. Then, they embraced popular radio and wrote good albums that disappointed only because two “Best Albums Ever” preceded them. Oh, but wait. Here’s something awesome: “Spitting Venom,” a callback to the long, rambling, stonerific Modest Mouse epics of old. And suddenly, just like that, I had something that reminded me of those “Best Albums Ever.”

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18. “Trouble” - Ray LaMontagne, Trouble (2003)
If only because of a sultry voice and a look that betrayed his Bonnaroo sensibilities, I spent a good few months wondering just how much more awesome a person’s image could get. Here’s Ray LaMontagne (a name I still can’t help but pronounce incorrectly), mountain man ruggedness mixed with a soulful sound you’d expect from the gravel washed backwoods of Tennessee, and he’s got this song about heartbreak and hard times and all of that. And even though I sometimes hear about it and think of that commercial with the dog who wants to hide his bone where no one can find it, it’s still a great song.

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17. “Two” - The Antlers, Hospice (2009)
I started compiling this list in November, which is to say I had narrowed the songs down to about 300 and had begun the process of sniping them off, one by one. Then I found Hospice, causing me to wonder aloud if it’s okay to catapult an album to greatness after only a month of listening. In this case, yes – The Antlers provide the soundtrack to an agonizing death that is both beautiful and introspective, and this song serves as a sing-along, head-nod, brilliantly worded highpoint. The most difficult part was ranking it, and I surprised even myself by landing it this high.

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16. “Rebellion (Lies)” - The Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)
So, you remember back in 2004, when The Arcade Fire suddenly blew up all over the indie rock landscape and they were hailed as the greatest band ever and a lot of “Best Albums Of All Time Ever” lists had them a lot higher than they should have been (because, let’s be honest, Funeral is a fantastic album but it has a long way to go to beat out even The Beatles’ worst albums) and then you kinda got burned out on them – not because they were mainstream but because they had absolutely saturated the scene? That was me, too. Except, after a year or two of ignoring them, I listened to some of their songs in preparation for this list. And they’re good. REAL GOOD.

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15. “Crazy” - Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (2006)
Dude, that guy was in the Goodie Mob? And the other guy did the Grey Album? So, let me get this straight – two underground-as-underground-gets guys get together and record the first song to ever hit #1 on the charts via mp3 download? Let’s say another thing about how unlikely – and awesome – it was that “Crazy” became as big as it did: my boss used to whistle it as he was getting ready for meetings. Fifty years old. Whistling Gnarls Barkley. Because not only was it accessible, it was catchy as all hell and doubly as inspired.

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14. “Trusty Chords” - Hot Water Music, Caution (2002)
Hot Water Music loves its music and its whiskey, and that love combines on this song: hangovers, hating where you are and a few great guitar chords. As a play-pretend Jameson fan (because, let’s be honest, I can’t drink whiskey without cringing and, really, that doesn’t seem like a productive way to enjoy alcohol) I love the constant references.

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13. “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” - The Postal Service, Give Up (2002) The bleeps and bloops of technology enveloping the scaled back tone of early Death Cab for Cutie. Well, naturally, I suppose – this IS the voice of Death Cab. And though other parts of this album were co-opted by long-haired hippies in UPS commercials, the album (quickly becoming dated, but in a good way) still has one of the best opening songs on record. At the time, it seemed so foreign. Now, it just seems awesome.

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12. “The Mountain” - Mason Jennings, Birds Flying Away (2000)
The scene: First Avenue in Minneapolis. The show: Modest Mouse, shortly after “Float On” became a major hit and the kids from Kidz Bop sang it and it ended up in a Ford commercial. The opening act: Mason Jennings, Minneapolis legend and acoustic triviality to a room filled with anxious Modest Mouse fans. The song: His first of the night, a seemingly mellow number with a groove that erupted into a frenzy by the end. “The Mountain.” I’ve been a fan ever since.

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11. “Late” - Ben Folds, Songs For Silverman (2005)
“This song is for a friend of mine, Elliot Smith.” It was an Augustana College-sponsored Ben Folds concert at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, and it was one of the most tender moments I’ve seen at a live show. Still, today, the song – and, naturally, Ben Folds’ treacly piano lines – make for a powerful and memorable song about a friend. A friend who just so happened to specialize in soul-bearing songs himself.

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10. “Sierra” - Cursive, The Ugly Organ (2003)
I learned of the name “Sierra” from this song. But, no, my daughter’s not named after the song. After all, the song – about Tim Kasher’s fictitious yet probably very auto-biographical protagonist’s realization that he’s ready to settle down if only his significant other hadn’t already gotten married and had a child with someone else – is a little dark for little Sierra’s disposition. That being said, it’s a song steeped in the Cursive brand of pain: anger, realization, and too-late repentance.

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9. “Daylight” - Aesop Rock, Labor Days (2001)
The top rated hip-hop track on this list isn’t so much a song as it’s a chronicle of amazing rhymes and fast-paced chaos. Case in point: even with the words in front of me, I quickly abandoned the idea of performing this song at Hip-Hop Karaoke. Not with those turns of phrase, the words fitting together perfectly but still so angled they cause instant confusion. An amazing track, and even more great when coupled with its bizarro version, “Night Light.”

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8. “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” - Against Me!, The Acoustic EP (2001)
An acoustic version of one of Against Me!’s most anthemic songs, “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” combines sing-along lyrics with an unrelenting acoustic lick. Pints of Guinness? Makes sense: there are few songs that make me want to head to the nearest pub, and this is one of them. One part sad story, one part drinking anthem, one part awesome, uncategorizable punk-hybrid, it’s proof that acoustic songs most likely outperform their electric counterparts.

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7. “Life Like Weeds” - Modest Mouse, The Moon And Antarctica (2000)
For a while, this was the #1 song on my list. It’s the most epic song from my favorite all time album, and it best sums up the album’s apparent theme: “The Meaning of Life According to Modest Mouse.” And then I played my list to Kerrie. And about halfway through the song, she looked at me and said, “Really? This is number one?” Despite my own doubts leading up to the song, I thought I had made the right choice. It took another voice to prove that, while it may be one of the better Modest Mouse songs, it’s not even the most defining song on the album, let along the entire decade. So it fell six spots. Rick Dees would be proud.

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6. “Crawl” - Alkaline Trio, From Here To Infirmary (2001)
They can’t write an album anymore that sounds anything like this. Alkaline Trio, that is – former emo-punk pioneers and drinking champions, currently slumming the big time with forgettable pop punk. “Crawl” is from the end of the “Alkaline Trio has an edge” era, before they slicked up the sound, started wearing suits and generally forgot the music that made them who they are. Regardless of what they are now, “Crawl” is a masterpiece in punk.

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5. “The Radiator Hums” - Cursive, Domestica (2000)
I honestly didn’t even realize this album was released in 2000. Like The Moon and Antarctica, Domestica rocked at the beginning of the century and has continued to shine. If I’d have ranked all of my favorite albums and not just ONE of them, it would have been #2. I think. That being said, “The Radiator Hums” is a bright spot on an otherwise dark album, though the lyrics continue the same brutalness that comes from Tim Kasher’s typical “marital strife” prose.

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4. “The Underdog” - Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)
It begins with a flurry of acoustic guitar and continues on as my favorite song of the second half of this decade – really, my favorite song of the Vilhauers’ Sirius Satellite Radio era. While Spoon always stood off to the side as a respected but not fully embraced band – I loved a lot of their stuff, but never chose to listen to them, if you know what I mean – “The Underdog” pushed them into “trusted to always be good” category.

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3. “The Frequency” - Jets To Brazil, Perfecting Loneliness (2002)
Oh, man. I don’t even know how to explain this song. It’s epic, it’s filled with fantastic lyrics, it’s Jets To Brazil’s greatest creation, and it’s generally unknown. Which is disappointing. Because it’s simply wonderful.

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2. “3rd Planet” - Modest Mouse, The Moon And Antarctica (2000)
We all have that one album that, even though we don’t listen to it every day, instantly brings back a flood of memories, the first notes rushing into our brains with nostalgia and wonderment and an appreciation for great music. And from the first notes of 3rd Planet, the first song on my favorite album of all time forever and ever amen, those memories flood in. So, yeah, it’s only #2 because it has the audacity of being released at the same time as #1. Too bad, Modest Mouse. You lose.

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1. “Cursing Concrete” - Rumbleseat, …Is Dead (2005)
Simple, raw and powerful. It’s the type of song that makes me want to learn guitar. To be in a band so I can cover it. It’s the song I want played at my funeral. Really. And that’s about as much of a recommendation as I can muster.

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Tags: Concerts, Music, The Top..., Vilhauer |

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I know what you did last summer (because you told me your location at all times on Twitter)

February 1, 2010


I was in both St. Cloud and Minneapolis this weekend. Most of you didn’t know that. On purpose. Because I don’t tweet my location. On purpose. But man, it can be hard to hold it back.

See, I know everyone’s jumping on the FourSquare bandwagon, just like everyone jumped on the BrightKite bandwagon, just like everyone will jump on the LocalJump or Designatr or MyPlacez bandwagon when those unfortunately named start-ups finally start up. I get it. People can connect. “Oh, you’re there? Well, I’m here. Let’s hang, dawg.”

And, I’ll admit. While I haven’t decided that location-based social networking is valuable or necessary or wise for myself, I have signed up for both FourSquare and BrightKite. (I had to. There’s a username involved, and I wanted to collect mine.)

That being said, I won’t use them. It’s already enough that I constantly give out my thoughts and my motivations and my activities; I simply don’t feel right doing all of this and tagging it with my EXACT LOCATION AT THIS EXACT MOMENT.

There was a point in which my own safety and the safety of my family (who may or may not be with me when my location is given off) outweighed my need to relay yet another part of my life. It can get hard - after all, two years of constant lifestreaming can develop a habit, leaving me mindlessly exclaiming, “OH MAN I’M IN ST. CLOUD AND DIVISION STREET STILL SUCKS!”

When, in fact, what I’m saying in that case is, “OH MAN I’M IN ST. CLOUD AND MY FAMILY IS HOME ALONE SO NOW YOU KNOW!”

And that’s why I don’t BrightKite or FourSquare or WhateverWhatever. Because, as Aaron said a few years back, “I think we got caught up in the excitement of lifestreaming and forgot to really think about who might be following those streams. Maybe some of those people are crazies.”

Tags: Technology, Travel |

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What I’ve Been Reading: The San Francisco Panorama (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Issue 33)

January 29, 2010


What I’ve Read:
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Issue #33 (The San Francisco Panorama) – Dave Eggers (editor)

The San Francisco PanoramaYou know, sometimes McSweeney’s can get a little too cute. Ask the poor souls who subscribed to McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and ended up with the “Pretending It’s a Pile of Mail” issue. Or the “Three Books in One Connected by Magnets” issue. Or the “Who We Should Invade Next Parody” issue. And while I love the Quarterly Concern and would defend it to death, you’d be right if you assumed McSweeney’s focused on the package more than the writing.

Sometimes. You’d be right sometimes.

So, yeah. Of course McSweeney’s would be presenting Issue 33 as a newspaper. A real newspaper, on newsprint, with journalists and newsy things. Of course they would. That’s what they do. See the above paragraph. The one that talks about being too cute.

To say I was a little skeptical, despite McSweeney’s consistent track record of great writing, is an understatement. This could have failed miserably. This could have been a waste of a Quarterly Concern.

Oops.

Turns out this idea was absolutely fantastic. I stand corrected.

Printed on oversized, thick newsprint, the Panorama is a beautifully designed “new-newspaper” prototype, filled with in-depth reporting and high-dollar contributors. Originally designed to show what newspapers could be, the viability of a 120-page newspaper (not including a 96-page Panorama Book Review and 112-page Panorama Magazine) with 218 contributors seems rather low. The ten-section/two-magazine publication cost $80,000 in editorial costs, with a unit cost of $7.98.

It sells for $16. One issue. $16. A bargain compared to the typical Quarterly Concern hardcover price, but still – seemingly expensive for a newspaper. Even as a weekly publication, its life would be cut short by penny-pinching subscribers and lack of mainstream coverage.

But let’s be honest. This isn’t just a newspaper. Dave Eggers, editor and McSweeney’s chief, understands this. He understands that this is a special edition, that this test is more than just a prototype, but also a tribute to the craft of newspapering.

And it’s beautiful. It’s easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever read. I can’t recommend it enough – especially for those who have grown tired of their local paper (those not lucky enough to get a real one like the New York Times or Washington Post or even Minneapolis Star Tribune) but still miss the feel of those oversized pages, those hyper-timely articles, those “can’t miss” moments and random-yet-brilliant Style pages.

So all I can say is this: get this, if you have a chance. It’s pretty great.

- - -

And now, A list of the best things in the San Francisco Panorama (not including the Panorama Magazine or the entire Panorama Book Review, both of which I haven’t even finished reading.)

• “The Tragedy of Mendocino” by Jesse Nathan, about California’s Emerald Triangle and its hidden and environmentally dangerous marijuana trade.

• “Golden State: Transition Basketball” by Free Darko

• “On the World Series” by Stephen King (including a fantastic retro Converse ad on the back page)

• “Living With a Yellow Dwarf” monster two-page infographic on the unusually quiet solar cycle

• The Death Cab for Cutie infographic

• Let’s face it: EVERY infographic

• “Can a Paper Mill Save a Forest?” by Nicholson Baker, about the possibility that digital information may be harder on the environment than paper

• “KPOO,” by Chinaka Hodge, on San Francisco’s long running independent radio station, KPOO

• The Comics (which, on their own, retail for $10) including Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman and Erik Larsen

• “The End, The End, The End, Etcetera,” by China Mieville, about the overabundance of movies about the apocalypse

• “The Desperate Art of DVD Covers,” by Moze Halperin, on the difference between marketing and art as it relates to film posters and their respective DVD covers

• “I Participate in TV Studio Audiences,” by Kevin Collier, a mini-memoir about jumping from studio audience to studio audience, from Maury to Paula Deen.

• The Food Section, which includes stories like “Water: A Road Trip” by Lisa M. Hamilton, about once-fertile California farmland now rendered useless thanks to a drougt-imposed restriction on aquaduct water; “Lambchetta in 58 Steps” by Ryan Farr, on knowing, slaughtering and cooking a lamb from beginning to end; and “Roadkill Stew” by L. E. Leone, on hitting a deer – and then cooking it.

Tags: Books, Journalism, Literature, What I've Been Reading |

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Three Lists about Traveling to St. Cloud, Minnesota

January 28, 2010


Things that fly by on a four-hour trip to St. Cloud, Minnesota.

• Snow-packed hills
• Local Hardee’s franchises
• Universities I’ve attended
• Available bladder room
• Cities named after legendary Native Americans
• Trucks that don’t look like they should be running at all, let alone on a highway going 55 miles per hour
• Cenex stations

Things that fly by on a four-minute drive down Division Street in St. Cloud, Minnesota

• Patience
• Your life, before your eyes
• Red Lobster

Things that DO NOT fly by on a four-hour trip to St. Cloud, Minnesota

• Time

Tags: On..., The Top..., Travel |

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RT @UserName Tweets are real content, you guys #srsly

January 26, 2010


The following post touches on three things: Twitter, overreaction and a tidy little moral.

On Twitter, and its Place as Serious Content

There are two schools of thought on the validity of Twitter’s content. One school sees Twitter comments as banal, throwaway lines, not worthy of archiving or protecting. They’re the bottom of the barrel, resting comfortably next to Facebook updates and MySpace pages.

The other understands that Twitter continues to serve as a micro-microblog. There may only be 140 characters, but that limit doesn’t downplay the merit of the thought. In other words: you say it in 140 characters or 140 paragraphs – there’s no difference in the hierarchy of importance.

Those that tweet about breakfast are in the first group. Those that spend time crafting brilliant non-sequiturs are in the second. Those that pooh-pooh Twitter as a waste of time are in the first. Those that see Twitter’s value as a depository for new information are in the second.

I’m in the second group.

Which is why I get so upset when a tweet is mishandled. My tweet. My words. My thoughts.

My Overreaction

See, it was cold outside. It was snowing. It was a blizzard; as in, the snow was blowing sideways. And I could have said this. I could have said, on Twitter, “THE SNOW IS BLOWING SIDEWAYS,” and gotten on with my life.

I didn’t. Because I’m in that second group of Twitter users. Instead, I wrote this.

Not high on the LULZ Meter, but still, better than just saying “THE SNOW IS BLOWING SIDEWAYS.”

I continued on with my day. And then, I was re-tweeted.

A subtle change – and a change made in good faith – but enough of a change to upset the timing, lose the sarcasm and render my former tweet spayed and neutered. Just like that, my mood went black. Tired of being nice, I respond with this passive aggressive gem.

I felt better. For a while.

And Here’s Why I’m a Cranky Twitter User

If I write a blog post and someone wants to link back to it, I expect to be quoted accurately. Not out of context. I expect that what I say will be represented just as well on someone else’s blog as it is on my own – in fact, maybe even more so, since my work is being passed along with additional helpful comments attached.

I expect this because it’s what should be done. It’s what you do in print. It’s what you do at newspapers and magazines. It’s what you do when you’re blogging. It’s good, clean attribution.

On Twitter, however, things are still rolling like the Wild West. Tweets are seen as a thought, not a carefully worded message. That I wrote my original in a certain tone, with specific punctuation, isn’t taken into consideration. After all – it’s just a tweet, and it’s free to be passed along, truncated to allow for a RT and a hashtag and attribution even though, if you think about it, the tweet no longer represents what I said in the first place.

It’s why I don’t care for re-tweeting “with comments,” and why I rarely do it.

I’ve since apologized for the passive aggressiveness. The person who RTed me didn’t mean harm. It’s just that the perception of Twitter as a playground for creative content is still in its infant stages. And, thanks to its ever-expanding use, it may never reach that point.

Which is too bad. One spin through the old Favrd (now Favstar, I guess) community is enough to see the promise that Twitter holds in the form of one-line, creatively penned tweets, as valuable as any long form blog post or magazine article, whether for information, humor or truth.

Until that day, I’ll be over here, fighting for Twitter standards and burning bridges I never knew existed.

Tags: Annoyances, Technology, Words, Writing |

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