Clarence Clemons | January 11, 1942 - June 18, 2011
Such sad news. The legendary sax player in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band has passed away today from complications to a stroke he suffered last Sunday.
I’ve been to many concerts over the years and few ever reached the level of energy and pure joy the Springsteen, Clemons and Company achieved. A big man and a great loss.
Traveling with the iPhone | Songkick
There was a time when I was totally on top of the live music scene. I knew when my favorite bands were coming to town, where they were playing, and when tickets went on sale. Somewhere along the way, I fell out of the loop. I just don’t have the time to keep on top of that stuff. And more often than not, I don’t find out about shows until it’s too late.
Well, the new Songkick app has brought me back in. It’s a dead simple way to keep abreast of concerts you might be interested in. Just download the app and it scans the music library on your phone and alerts you to any concerts those artists are putting on in your area. Anytime a new show from your list of “favorite artists” is announced, Songkick pushes a notification.
It’s not just great for local concerts. You can also add other locations, so if you know you’re going to be in Austin for a few days in August, you can queue up a comprehensive list of concerts happening there during the span. No more scouring websites. And more importantly, no more missing out on a chance to catch a cool act on the road.
Download the Songkick app from iTunes (Free)
For more apps in my Traveling with the iPhone series, click here.
Super 8 | Directed by J.J. Abrams
J.J. Abrams new film Super 8 is a throwback to the blockbuster summer fare Steven Spielberg used to make, and it’s not just because the movie is set in the late Seventies, features a bunch of kids, and Spielberg serves as producer. No, it evokes favorable Spielberg comparisons because it tells a compelling story with a generous mix of humor, thrills and heart. There are plenty of special effects, but, like Spielberg’s best work, they’re not the centerpiece but contextual and employed to amp up the action and deliver a few moments of awe. At it’s core, Super 8 is exciting family entertainment.
Much of Spielberg’s work is alluded to here, most obviously E.T. and Close Encounters. But it also recalls the small town paranoia of Jaws, elicits a few Poltergeist-like scares, and features the kind of dysfunctional family dynamics present in all of Spielberg’s early films. Oh, and there’s more than a little Goonies in the core group of children who lead the action (all of whom deliver solid performances, free of precociousness or pretension).
Abrams’ movie is not the equal of E.T., Jaws or Close Encounters; few films are. But it’s a fun and welcome diversion in this age of the prepackaged blockbuster. It has many flaws (it kind of falls apart at the end), but they’re ultimately forgivable because it takes you on a heartfelt, suspense-filled ride.
All right. Enough of that. I’ve got the urge to spin some ELO. I think I’ll start with Fire on High.
Update: A quick look at Rotten Tomatoes reveals Super 8 has received mostly positive reviews. The few detractors all seem to share a common theme: that Abrams’ film is less an homage to Spielberg and more a poor facsimile with little originality of its own. This is true to a degree but greatly misses the point. The audience for this film did not grow up with Spielberg’s films. It’s a new generation, one whose experience with the summer blockbuster has consisted almost entirely of kinetic comic book adaptations, disaster porn, and movies based on toys and rides. That Super 8 is derivative is immaterial. What’s important is that it introduces a new audience to a different kind of blockbuster, the sort that inspired the concept of the summer movie in the first place and had not yet been spoiled by the idea that these sorts of movies need be pre-sold and based on existing material with built-in fan bases.
The 25 Best Places to Photograph on Planet Earth | PopPhoto
Looking for inspiration for your next adventure? PopPhoto has compiled a list of its favorite places to take photographs. It’s broken down into categories (which aren’t, strictly speaking “places”) including Ancient Worlds, Exotic Animals, Far Flung Destinations, Festivals and Natural Phenomena. It’s worth checking out, if only for the photographs themselves.
Photo: Highland Sing-Sing Festival | Papua New Guinea | by Chris McClennan
Games described as forgotten typically earn that classification because they deserve to disappear; traditionally, it’s a modifier historians use to marginalize or dismiss a given event. But this game is “forgotten” in an actual sense: There’s almost no record of its existence. Fewer than 500 people watched it happen. It was not televised and there’s no videotape. It wasn’t broadcast on the radio. Only a couple of small-circulation newspapers made mention of what transpired, and — because it happened before the Internet — Googling the contest’s details is like searching for a glossy photograph of Genghis Khan. The game has disappeared from the world’s consciousness, buried by time and devoid of nostalgia. And this, of course, is not abnormal. Junior college basketball games from 1988 are not historic landmarks. We are conditioned to forget who won (or lost) the opening round of the North Dakota state juco tournament because those are moments society does not need to remember. They don’t even qualify as trivia.
But something crazy happened in this particular game.
Chuck Klosterman | Three-Man Weave
The Bill Simmons grantland.com project launched today, and Chuck Klosterman proved with his first column he’s the (not-so) secret weapon.
Source: steinbergsports
Best of BTS | Angus R. Shamal Blog
A selection of some of the most awesome Behind-the-scenes shots I’ve seen from some famous movies found at aintitcool.com. Back when set designs were huge and hand made, when special effects where mechanic and photographic and film stars were risking their lives on the set.
via Daring Fireball
Manhattan in Motion | Mindrelic
It’s hard not to miss this place.
Summer Reading: Travel Books | The New York Times
Failed relationships, broken marriages and dead-end careers are among the catalysts that lead this season’s travel writers to hit the road. The escapees range from a middle-aged journalist seeking high-altitude transcendence in the Himalayas to a frustrated poetry scholar in search of beauty among the holy spots of Iran. And then there’s the global nomad torn between a longing for domestic tranquility and a masochistic impulse to throw himself into the world’s “messy heart.” This summer’s selection also includes authors driven by simple journalistic curiosity and academic inquiry, but it’s the more tortured souls whose journeys resonate the most.
—Joshua Hammer | The New York Times
Nearly half of all adults younger than 40 have at least one tattoo.
Quick survey of staff here: no one appears to have a tattoo. Do you?
I’ve never gotten a tattoo. It’s not because I have anything against them; I think the artistry of them can be quite something. It’s just that I’ve never felt the urge to communicate something so strongly that I would have it imprinted on my body.
The idea of just randomly picking a design out of a book, that I’ve never understood. If the purpose of a tattoo is to express something unique about yourself, then just flipping through pages of someone else’s illustrations seems antithetical to the whole endeavor. I would think it necessary at the very least to create the idea yourself. And I’ve just never come up with such a compelling idea, something so foundational to who I am, as to walk into a parlor and have them paint it on me.
And where? My arm? My ass? The whole of my back?
Source: nprfunfacts
I believe in and advocate monogamy. Adultery is hitting below the belt. If I ever married the very fact that the woman was my wife would be sufficient to convince me that she was superior to all other women. My vanity is excessive. Wherever I sit is the head of the table. This fact makes me careless of ordinary politeness. I don’t like to be made much of. Such things please only persons who are doubtful about their position. I was sure of mine, such as it is, at the age of 12.
