Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - New York Times

In an article about making New Year's Resolutions...



Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - New York Times: "A study by University of California, Riverside, social psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues found that college students instructed to do a few acts of kindness one day a week ended up being happier than a control group of students who received no special instructions.
As the new year begins, then, reach out and help others. If that sounds suspiciously like an old Motown song or like simplistic advice from one of those do-gooder college professors, well, it is. But the fact is that being good to others will ultimately make us kinder, happier people - just so long as we don't think too much about it. "

Kodakgallery.com ?Browse Photos

This is a link to the full array of Santa Con pictures...

Kodakgallery.com ?Browse Photos

Compfused.com - Two Legged Dog

Either the coolest dog or coolest CGI ever.

Maybe both.l

Compfused.com - Two Legged Dog: "This is the coolest dog ever. I am totally going to cut my dog?s two front legs off so it will walk just like me"

Kodakgallery.com ?Browse Photos

I think this Kodakgallery.com link will get you to Santa Con photos from Santa Barbara.

Could be wrong.

again! again!

Merry christmas everyone.

Off to Orlando on the "Santa" red-eye.

Be wonderful,
me

Download a Great Xmas mix

Pimps of Gore: The Last Month of the Year posts a 24 track Christmas CD that you can download. I highly recommend the Corporal Blossom mix of White Christmas. It's a mash-up of all of your favorite (read: old) artists doing White Christmas. Nice.

Pimps of Gore: The Last Month of the Year: "December has been unusually busy, as you can see from how quiet it has been around the Pimps site this month. Between holiday shopping, travelling, drama at work, getting hired out to make mixes as presents for a friend of mine, DJing and all other sorts of distractions, I haven't had much time to check in here.

Because of this lack of attention, I'm going all out in this post with a big bandwidth buster. This will likely be my last post before the 1st of January, so enjoy it while it lasts. I have a bunch of new tracks I want to share but no time to write about them, so tonight I'm going to succumb to topicality: this post contains the Christmas mix I've assembled for friends and family this year.

I highly recommend putting these tracks on a CD in the order in which they're presented here. Then you can pretend I made you a CD, and you can start thinking about what gift you're going to get me. What's that? Nothing? That's okay, too.

Some of these tracks were culled from my favorite blogs, so I can't claim to be the one to have unearthed some of these gems. "

Happy Solstice, the shortest day of the year

according to weather.com, Seattle's sunrise was at 7:55am. Sunset, 4:20pm.

Venice: 6:55am and 4:49pm.

So, by moving, I gained an extra 89 minutes of sunshine today.

Yea, sun!

avian lovesickness

avian lovesickness
Originally uploaded by ideateller.

Ugh. Have some ravaging horrible cold for the second time in two weeks.



Was IMing with a friend today, and I mentioned how it might be from loving my Asian breeding hens a little too much, if you know what i mean...



She responded by asking if I had 'Avian lovesickness'.



I just might.

YouTube - SNL - The Chronic of Narnia Rap

It's the CHRONIC! (what!) -les of Narnia.

YouTube - SNL - The Chronic of Narnia Rap

Santa BarbaraCon

Santa BarbaraCon
Originally uploaded by ideateller.

Kudos to Ted for putting together Santa BarbaraCon.



A very good time was had by all.

photo retouching revealed.

Ack. Remind not to have a girl whose body image my industry can help ruin.

demo.fb.se: "Client: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
Title: Retouch

The media world is becoming increasingly fixated on appearances. And the number of tricks used to achieve the increasingly exaggerated ideals is growing. Many models have plastic surgery and even more are retouched so they appear to have bigger breasts, smaller stomachs or fuller lips.

We wanted to show how easy it is to change someone’s appearance in this campaign."

Alcoholics Anonymous cartoons

Alcoholics Anonymous cartoons
Originally uploaded by ideateller.

Can be found here.



Funny, if sobering, stuff.



I'm going to go drive to Santa Barbara and get drunk with a bunch of Santas

now.

1996 Portland Police Memo - SantaCon

Tonight is Santa BarbaraCon.

Here's a police memo from 10 years ago in Portland.

More info:

Each December for the last 12 years Cacophonous Santas have been taking to streets in cities around the world and generating a bit of naughty Noël mayhem as part of the annual Santacon events. It all started back in 1994 when several dozen Cheap Suit Santas paid a visit to downtown San Francisco for a night of Kringle Kaos. Things have now reached Critical Xmas and these infamous Santacons are now a global phenomenon.

Chalk shadow outlines from NYT

Chalk shadow outlines from NYT
Originally uploaded by ideateller.

It began this spring without explanation: fire hydrants, street signs and bicycles all over Park Slope and Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn were suddenly standing watch over their own distorted chalk outlines, as if anticipating some violent demise. Whoever did this left no clue other than an ambiguous signature: "© Ellis G. 2007," scrawled next to the chalk etchings.



Skip to next paragraph

Enlarge This Image



Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Ellis Gallagher traces the shadow of a bicycle.



Enlarge This Image



Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Ellis Gallagher tracing shadows of objects on sidewalks in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, including a trash basket.



Enlarge This Image



Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Ellis Gallagher drawing the shadow of a stop sign and explaining what he is doing to a young admirer.



Enlarge This Image



Chang W. Lee /The New York Times

Ellis Gallagher traces an outline of light shining through a window.



During daylight, the outlines did not make much sense. Shopkeepers and bar owners had little information. Deliverymen muttered to themselves as they moved their outlined bicycles indoors. Parents were just as confused as their young children.



But under the orange glow of the streetlights, the intent became clear: the outlines are shadows, burned into the sidewalk.

FW: Some nice press for a great spot

FW: Some nice press for a great spot
Originally uploaded by ideateller.

big brothers big sisters angel commercial

Adcritic didn't seem to want to put up our BigBrothers Big Sisters commercial, so it's available for viewing as a quicktime movie, here.

View the 60 second version here.

A lot sweeter than we had intended originally. But I like it.

more tiny mix tapes

songs for people who push people away but then realize they're lonely.

Requested by: SS
Compiled by: little cola wong

01. Blondie - "Just Go Away" (Parallel Lines)
02. Pilate - "Into Your Hideout" (Caught By the Window)
03. The Verve - "On Your Own" (A Northern Soul)
04. Kate & Anna McGarrigle - "I Eat Dinner" (Heartbeats Accelerating)
05. Rufus Wainright - "I Eat Dinner" (The Edge of Reason OST)
06. Kathleen Edwards - "Away" (Back to Me)
07. Ben Harper - "Another Lonely Day" (Figth For Your Mind)
08. Sam Roberts - "Where Have All The Good People Gone" (The Inhuman Condition)
09. Chantal Kreviazuk - "Hands" (Under These Rocks and Stones)
09. Danko Jones - "I Want You" (We Sweat Blood)
10. The Violent Femmes - "Please Do Not Go" (Violent Femmes)

Compiled by: Alara

01. Simon & Garfunkel - "I Am A Rock" (Sounds Of Silence)
02. The Smiths - "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (Louder Than Bombs)
03. Future Bible Heroes - "Lonely Days" (Memories Of Love)
04. Phoenix -"If I Ever Feel Better" (United)
05. Pulp - "Disco 2000" (Different Class)
06. Wilco - "How To Fight Loneliness" (Summerteeth)
07. Al Green - "Tired Of Being Alone" (Gets Next To You)
08. The Walkmen - "Wake Up" (Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone)
09. The Magnetic Fields - "I Think I Need A New Heart" (69 Love Songs, Pt.1)
10. Chad & Jeremy - "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" (Distant Shores)
11. The Beach Boys - "In My Room" (Surfer Girl/Shut Down Vol.2)
12. Blur - "End Of A Century" (Parklife)
13. Built To Spill - "Sick & Wrong" (The Normal Years)
14. The Beatles -"Help"

compiled by: pizza time

side A - for realizing your lonely
01. Beck - "Lonesome Tears" (Sea Change)
02. Cars - "drive" (Complete Greatest Hits)
03. Charlie Parker - "If I should lose you" (Charlie Parker Plays the Standards)
04. Cocorosie - "Not For Sale" (La Maison de Mon Reve)
05. Foreigner - "I Want to Know What Love Is" (Complete Greatest Hits)
06. British Sea Power - "Lonely " (The Decline of British Sea Power)
07. Broken Social Scene - "Lover's spit" (You Forgot It In People)
08. Do Make Say Think - "Soul and Onward" (& Yet & Yet)
09. Notwist - "Solitaire" (Neon Golden)
10. Pixies - "Cactus" (Surfer Rosa)

side b - for pushing people away
01. Dr. Dre "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang"
02. Bright Eyes - "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" (Digital Ash in a Digital Urn)
03. Nickel Creek - "Helena" (Why Should the Fire Die?)
04. Medeski Martin and Wood - "I Wanna Ride You" (Uninvisible)
05. The Strokes - "You Talk Way Too Much" (Room On Fire)
06. The Go! Team - "Ladyflash" (Thunder Lightning Strike)
07. The Murder City Devils - "I Want A Lot Now (So Come On)" (Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts)
08. McLusky - "To Hell With Good Intentions" (McLusky Do Dallas)
09. Clor - "Making You All Mine" (Clor)
10. The Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Breaking the Girl" (Blood Sugar Sex Magik)
11. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - "You Look Great When I'm Fucked Up" (And This Is Our Music)

Compiled by: djramey

01. Bright Eyes - "Lover I Don't Have to Be" (Lifted or the Story is in the Dirt, Keep Your Ear to the Ground)
02. Citizen Cope - "Salvation" (Citizen Cope)
03. Kings of Convenience - "Homesick" (Riot on an Empty Street)
04. Ryan Adams - "Sylvia Plath" (Gold)
05. Amos Lee - "Arms of a Woman" (Amos Lee)
06. Elliott Smith - "Alameda" (Either/Or)
07. Beck - "Guess I'm Doing Fine" (Sea Change)
08. Ida - "Late Blues" (Heart Like a River)
09. Iron & Wine - "Each Coming Night" (Our Endless Numbered Days)
10. James Blunt - "Goodbye My Lover" (Back to Bedlam)
11. Josh Ritter - "Rainslicker" (Hello Starling)
12. Rufus Wainwright - "Pretty Things" (Want One)
13. Sufjan Stevens - "To Be Alone with You" (Seven Swans)
14. Antony and the Johnsons - "Hope There's Someone" (I Am a Bird Now)
15. Ray LaMontaigne - "Trouble" (Trouble)

link

PostSecrets

I've probably posted this myself, but forgot about it, like how I forgot that my ex-roommate Aaron did mail me a check and I angrily emailed him.

PostSecret: "The PostSecret Book is now available at Borders and your favorite independent bookstore. Please consider buying a book or two as holiday gifts.

A hardcover with 288 pages, the PostSecret book is published by Regan Books. Inside are the most requested secrets from the website and many postcards that have never been seen before.
Order Today."

Tiny Mix Tapes, pt. II

Ok, this is genuinely unfortunate and sad.

Tiny Mix Tapes: "I need a mixtape to help me not feel sad this friday. I had a miscarriage, and Friday I would have been a mother. Only I'm not. So I need a happy tape.

requested by: leighHYPHENanne
compiled by: Jess

note from Jess: My child would have probably been born in June. Here are some songs that are happy, but melancholically so (as to not be abrasive). If this mixtape were a person, I would want it to hold your hand and kiss you sweetly on the forehead. Smile. She's playing a ukulele.

01. Andrew Bird - 'First Song' (Weather Systems)
02. The Decemberists - 'Oceanside' (Five Songs EP)
03. The Beatles - 'Here Comes The Sun' (Abbey Road)
04. The Aislers Set - 'Last Match' (The Last Match)
05. Blur - 'Coffee & TV' (13)
06. Iron & Wine - 'Bird Stealing Bread' (The Creek Drank The Cradle)
07. Big Star - 'Thirteen' (Big Star Story)
08. Sufjan Stevens - 'The Dress Looks Nice On You' (Seven Swans)
09. The Softies - 'The Best Days' (Winter Pageant)
10. Beulah - 'Burned By The Sun' (The Coast Is Never Clear)
11. Mirah - 'Million Miles' (You Think It's Like This)
12. Devendra Banhart - 'The Body Breaks' (Rejoicing In The Hands)
14. Belle & Sebastain - 'Ease Your Feet In The Sea' (The Boy With The Arab Strap)
15. The Boy Least Likely To - 'God Takes Care Of The Little Things' (Best Party Ever)

compiled by: TheVariable

note from TheVariable: I'm hoping this is some stuff that will make you smile and cry all at the same time.

01. Of Montreal - 'Disconnect The Dots' (Satanic Panic in the Attic)
02. Stars - 'Soft Revolution' (Set Yourself On Fire)
03. The Postal Service - 'We Will Become Silhouettes' (Give Up)
04. The New Pornographers - 'The Laws Have Changed' (Electric Version)
05. The Go! Team - 'Huddle Formation' (Thunder, Lightning, Strike)
06. The Arcade Fire - 'No Cars Go' (The Arcade Fire)
07. Broken Social Scene - 'Stars and Sons' (You Forgot It In People)
08. Death Cab For Cutie - 'Expo '86' (Transatlanticism)
09. Belle & Sebastian - 'Sleep The Clock Around' (The Boy With The Arab Strap)
10. Kings of Leon - 'The Bucket' (Aha Shake Heartbreak)
11. The Unicorns - 'I Was Born (A Unicorn)' (Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone)
12. McLusky - 'She Will Only Bring You Happiness' (The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire)
13. Modest Mouse - '3rd Planet' (The Moon & Antarctica)"

Tiny Mix Tapes

Changing blog subtitle temporarily.

These songs could help.

Tiny Mix Tapes: "Songs with far more valuable information than school could provide

Requested by: Joe
Compiled by: Beano

Side A: Tried and True
01. Paul Simon - '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover' (Negotiations and Love Songs)
02. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 'My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)' (Rust Never Sleeps)
03. David Bowie - 'Oh! You Pretty Things' (Best of Bowie)
04. The Rolling Stones - 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' (40 Hot Licks)
05. Tom Waits - 'Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis' (Used Songs 1973-1980)
06. The Kinks - 'Shangri-La' (The Ultimate Collection)
07. The Faces - 'Oh La La' (Good Boys When They're Asleep)
08. Jimmy Buffett - 'A Pirate Looks at Forty' (Songs You Know By Heart)
09. Willie Nelson - 'Sad Songs and Waltzes' (Shotgun Willie)
10. Bob Dylan - 'One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)' (Blonde on Blonde)
11. Jimmy Cliff - 'You Can Get it if You Really Want' (Ultimate Collection)
12. Billie Holiday - 'Getting Some Fun Out of Life' (Ken Burns Jazz)

Side B: Recent Developments
01. Handsome Boy Modeling School - 'If It Wasn't For You' (White People)
02. Tracy Bonham - 'Mother Mother' (The Burdens of Being Upright)
03. Alanis Morissette - '21 Thing I Want in a Lover' (Under Rug Swept)
04. Modest Mouse - 'Float On' (Good News For People Who Like Bad News)
05. Nikka Costa - 'Everybody Got Their Something' (Everybody Got Their Something)
06. Ben Folds Five - 'Philosophy' (Ben Folds Five)
07. Britt Daniel - 'Let the Distance Keep Us Together' (Home Vol. IV)
08. Eels - 'Mr. E's Beautiful Blues (Untitled)' (Daisies of the Galaxy)
09. Seth Swirsky - 'Instant Pleasure' (Instant Pleasure)
10. Blind Melon - 'Change' (Blind Melon)
11. Mike Doughty - 'Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well' (Haughty Melodic)
12. The Notwist - 'One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand' (Neon Golde"

Mark Osborne's "MORE" - The Story

My co-worker Seana passed this along. It could be the Dayquil, but I thought it was just ok.

Mark Osborne's "MORE" - The Story: "The Academy-Award? nominated animated short-film tells the story of a lonely inventor, whose colorless existence is brightened only by dreams of the carefree bliss of his youth.

By day, he is trapped in a dehumanizing job in a joyless world. But by night, he tinkers away on a visionary invention, desperate to translate his inspiration into something meaningful.

When his invention is complete, it will change the way people see the world. But he will find that success comes at a high price, as it changes himself, as well."

Said the Gramophone: 2005's Best Music

Mp3 blog, 'Said the Gramophone' has posted their top 22 songs of the year, all apparently downloadable.

Said the Gramophone: 2005's Best Music: "2005's Best Music

What follows is some of my favourite music in 2005 - oh, and a contest! It is long but I only do this once a year.

My 22 Favourite Songs of 2005

Twenty-two is an arbitrary number, but a good one. Hopefully you will know most of these but if you do not, each of the twenty-two songs is available for you to download. I hope you like them."