happykatie :: katie rocks out the interwebs

Beck, stickers, quasi hiphop and 10 whole years??

Besides the whole Scientology thing, Beck remains one of the coolest guys ever.  Period.

There's an interesting interview with him at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival where he blabs about his upcoming album, O'Delay double disk 10-year anniversary album (holy Moses -- I cannot believe it's been out for an entire decade...) and remixes.

Of the new album, slated for a Fall release (yay!):

"Before we started, Nigel said he wanted to do a hip-hop record. And in a way it is, and in a way it isn't. It has hip-hop songs, and my previous work with him was Mutations and Seachange, these sort of introspective records, and so this new one is sort of bringing those two worlds together."

Supposedly the album cover will be a sort of DIY deal -- packed with stickers and a blank album cover canvas for listeners to get funky on their own.  AWESOME.

Check out this video of Beck's version of Creep, as he rocks out Radiohead style.  Gotta' love it.

Real world meets virtual for nonprofit groups

The Real Life Video Window, originally uploaded by cambodia4kidsorg.

I've never played around on Second Life before, but am completely tempted to start this week after hearing about a couple of cool events:

1. The San Francisco NetSquared group held a simultaneous virtual and live meeting on Second Life to discuss the benefits of virtual reality tools (like Second Life, obviously) in the nonprofit sector.   
    
2. The American Cancer Society is joining in on the fun and holding a virtual fundraising relay event with 'virtual pledge cards, sponsorships, teams and other features'.    This is super cool because not only does it raise real world dollars, but it also allows physically challenged racers to fully participate as well.  Donations can be made online at their Web site or on virtual ATMs in Second Life.

Beth has some good resources on diving into Second Life for any fellow newbies.  Very interesting - especially coming from a former Sims obsessed background (I used to design houses for hours... this is far more productive and worthwhile).

Whole Foods iPod tours

I so love seeing companies use new technologies to connect with their consumers.  The beautiful 80,000 sq-foot flagship Whole Foods in Austin is now offering loaner iPods for visitors/shoppers to take an audio tour of the store.

Not only can you learn about the workings of one of the coolest places to spend your paycheck ever, but the iPods also come pre-loaded with music from Waterloo Records (all of which are from cool Texan bands, like the Shins) for you to rock out to while finishing your veggie perusals / cheese selections.

Glenda gives the podcasts a good review and I for one can't wait until they get them here in Houston.

Actually, if I wasn't so round and achy we would probably hop in the Volvo for a weekend trip to Austin just for that and to get my haircut at Bird's Barbershop (free mohawks -- what!?).  Obviously, we never need that big of an excuse to go to Austin....

Technorati tags:  Whole Foods | Whole Foods podcast

Ecko speaks out against anti-graffiti laws

Marc Ecko has been firing away at Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new law changing the legal age from purchasing and carrying spray paint and broad tipped markers from 21 to 18.

A group of art students and design professionals sued NYC saying that the law was making it difficult for them to do their school and artwork.

The final decision was favorable to graff-heads in the Big Apple.  District Judge George Daniels said:

"It is unreasonable to tell young artists that they have the right to express themselves," but then place "unreasonable restrictions with regards to their ability to obtain tools to communicate their art," the judge said.

Good to remember that these kids didn't have it nearly as hard as their Chicago spraypaint head brethern.  No one can purchase spraypaint and fat markers at all - regardless of age.  Craziness!

I'm all with Marc in saying we should be spending our graffiti clean-up dollars on after school programs or in special art groups like Philly's Mural Arts program.  Our city needs some major beautifying and it would be amazing to see that legitimately happen with the help of our talented graff artists.

Dalek Supersampler Space Monkey Happy Pink

Super fast post, but super cool news - there is now a Lomo Dalek edition Supersampler package for sale.  Love the happy pinkness, space monkey graphics and cool Urbanize book included.  Very hip.  Very space monkey.

So maybe there really are unicorns??

Adam is currently reading Troll: A Love Story (we're all about the love stories this weekend apparently, as I am just about to begin The Green Lantern: A Romance of Stalinist Russia) and we did a little Google search on a couple of creatures that were previously thought to be only mythological mentioned in the book (like some of these).

Yes, we really are that nerdy.  It is Saturday night and we are Googling mythological creatures.  But I digress...

What interests me the most is the fact that:

an estimated 14 million subspecies of animals live on the planet, of which only about 1.7 million are recognised and classified, or less than 15%. (see here)

Considering that we only first saw a giant squid alive for the first time in 2005 and didn't even have scientific proof of giant pandas until 1937 -- what other fantastical creatures are we missing out on?  Rainbow glitter ponies?  Alascattalos?  Marzipan parrots?  The possibilities are endless...

The Mercy of Thin Air - a haunted love story

Besides long days and glaring sunshine, the summertime always brings with it an intense desire to languish about and read through stacks and stacks of books.  An expensive hobby when you devour a few books a week, so I've finally gotten in gear and ordered my first round of books from the library (which is just so awesome.... and free!).

This morning I completed The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue.  It was slow-paced, beautiful and sad - much as I think of the city it primarily takes place in (Naew Orleans).  The main character is a spunky liberal young woman (Raziela) in the 1920's who dies in her lover's swimming pool and find herself caught 'in between', that is between life and whatever comes after that.

This 'in between' place is fascinating to me, just as the entire unfolding of Razi's life, love, regret and ambitions is - even when re-told 70 years after her death.  The plot twists were good, but it was the intelligent and whole-hearted intensity of the love story that caught my breath.  It is good to have a love's neck to kiss and hand to trace.

Heh heh... and Razi even has a MySpace profile.  Whaddya' know...