Justin Ward (.org)

Earth From Above comes to NYC and gets a nice preview on The Big Picture, quite possibly the best photo news blog ever.

On last night’s Saturday Night Live, Andy Samberg was in a skit as Mark Wahlberg — “You guys know me. Let’s go talk to some animals…” — and he absolutely nails the impersonation. I’m not sure that he’s done a better comedic bit in the two minutes that it ran.

“Say hi to your mother for me, alright?”

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a concept i’ve been thinking a lot more about lately ever since I started finally accepting that I secretly loved Twitter, even though I have said mean things about it in the past. I really didn’t mean those mean things in hindsight, because it’s not like I was really mad at the company or mad at the downtime. I was more just mad at myself for being upset about it. At any rate, I’m here to say that Twitter and me are friends again. I’m back on the bandwagon and I’m pleased to see that Twitter seems to be really together now, too. Their downtime is not an issue anymore and the company is expanding and starting to do some cool things, especially with the 2008 Election approaching so rapidly.

Coming up on Tuesday, they’re going to be hosting a real-time Twitter crawl with Current TV by asking users to add #current on the end of their tweets. They’ll be monitoring the channel, I’m sure with a bit of a censored mind in order to keep such a passionate topic in safe territory when broadcasting on the air, and they’ll be displaying the updates from users on the Current live broadcast of the debate. This should be interesting and something I may try to get a sample of. This is the third one, so I guess the first two have already been done, too. Anyone think these are cool?

At any rate, I like the idea of using this for concerts and it’s something we may try to get together on the music blog soon. I’ll be looking to them for ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

I linked to this song a while back but it’s time I drop another link on the subject and hopefully I can finally move on.

I just discovered a pretty kickin’ remix of the funk-disco swing of “Electric Feel” by MGMT, a song that sounds straight out of the ’70’s but made popular by the hipsterism of the new electronic rockers. I got to see this band way back in February of this year but word on the street is that they’re skill as concert musicians has increased dramatically considering their busy year of touring. This remix is seriously funked up, too (thanks Justice!) and I really need to see these guys again to really appreciate it in the right way.

I went and saw Menomena a few weeks ago and I ended up taking a few good shots while I was there. Check out my set here.

I got word yesterday from more than one source that there would be news announced that would confirm the Phish reunion rumors that have been swirling around the internet for the past year or so. The band started to get the band back together or so it seemed at the time, so everyone’s ear has been a bit closer to the ground lately in waiting to hear officially from the band on whether or not this would be a true event or not. Would Phish really reunite? Everyone kinda knew they would, but no one really knew for sure until first thing this morning EST. The band’s website was updated to include a video showing an artist drawing an iconic image of the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, VA. Underneath, the artist finishes the drawing with one bold message:

Phish • Hampton
March 6•7•8 2009

I’m quite excited about the whole thing. The band did not really go out like they should have and I have no doubt that this will be a chance for them to regain a bit of that magic that they once had before their lifestyles got a bit out of control. I’ve got my true fan blinders on, also. Sure, they may suck when they return. But I could care less at this point. Screw being a critic. The band is going to bring a lot of joy and excitement back in a lot of music fans’ lives. That’s something to be thankful for.

Head over to Live Music Blog.com to follow our coverage. Here’s my post on the info straight from the band, and I hope to keep posting more on the whole thing throughout the week.

For those checking the site in a reader, I’ve put a few design enhancements on the template I’m using and I like the way the blog is looking. Good ‘ol Helvetica. Stop by and let me know what you think. Knowing the way I am, I’ll warn you that you can expect to see changes continuing from now on. I got a little too lazy in the maintenance of my web presence and it’s high time I got to caring about this stuff in action as much as I do in thought.

I also recently put a few changes together for Live Music Blog.com. The site was in desperate need of some infusion of logical organization and I figured out that it wouldn’t be too challenging to convert the site over to Wordpress and upgrade the template to something more customizable and manageable.

For those that are interested, I’m using the Journalist template as a base for this blog. For Live Music Blog.com, I’m using the fabulous template called The Morning After.

Saturday Night Live doesn’t always deliver on pop culture relevancy, or some times it’s just delayed a few years. Here’s one of my favorite guest hosts, Alec Baldwin, delivering something quite oddly relevant all of a sudden with news that the bailout still has not been approved.

It’s a great time to invest!

Good stuff. It’s a good thing I don’t really have any money tied up in the market, but I can see how this could get a lot worse in many ways before it gets better. Time to tighten the belt.

I took this photo on my iPhone while I was waiting for my buddy at AT&T Park at the Cubs game we went to earlier this season. It’s crazy to think that was three months ago already. I must be getting somewhat senile because everything seems crazy to me these days, too.

This is something that I’ve been thinking about and following passively for a while, but it’s no secret that there’s going to be a lot of money in the “green” energy industry in the next couple years, with demand sure to be increasing steadily in every facet of the energy economy. It’s exciting, but it can be disheartening to see how slow the industry is slow to pick up adoption and interest from our government. And this is really the key to turning our economy around. Thomas Friedman writes about this stuff all the time and wrote a post on this in particular topic just the other day:

Indeed, when this bailout is over, we need the next president — this one is wasted — to launch an E.T., energy technology, revolution with the same urgency as this bailout. Otherwise, all we will have done is bought ourselves a respite, but not a future. The exciting thing about the energy technology revolution is that it spans the whole economy — from green-collar construction jobs to high-tech solar panel designing jobs. It could lift so many boats.

I see this as a new sort of industrial revolution coming but only if we focus on harnessing the energy of hard-working Americans, people that care and want to keep their communities alive. This is going to have to work with the Walmarts and McDonalds of the world to get their practices a bit more under control and sustainable, but that takes serious government intervention. Remember, that was originally how corporations were created and chartered back in the early days. The government controlled everything. And while we’ve had decades upon decades upon decades of economic growth and massive growths in terms of power, I worry that sometimes we may let it get a little too far out of control. Maybe that makes me a liberal, but sometimes I even feel socialist in that view. Like I believe the government should kind of take care of everybody and everybody should get a fair shake at earning what they deserve, but in some ways we would create a more fair system. A more fair tax system, etc. It’s hard work to see how complex our systems are already; how do you break these down from their current massive form to something more manageable?

Green the Bailout [NY Times]

Sadly I don’t pay attention to enough politics to understand the key sides to every issue, but one issue I know I need to be paying more attention to is our failing economy. The discussion of this bailout of the financial system by the United States government is one thing, the political pandering of both sides is another, but this is seriously going to affect how I approach the near future financially. Plain and simple. I got a bit lazy over the past couple years and chalked it up to just being young and having fun, but the way it’s going now I have to be careful to make sure I have a backup plan in case the economy continues to go sour as it has lately.

I consider myself fortunate that I have such a great job, and so far I’ve had very little problem in the economy’s past ups and downs. I guess I just hope to keep it that way. And the thought that our government is stepping in to bail out our own financial institutions is just way too scary to even think about, especially considering what our government doesn’t seem to be too capable of. We’re spending so many resources over in Iraq and not here right where we need it the most and the fastest. I want to learn how I can help to change that because something is not right here at home. I can’t wait to see how this election shapes up. I’m ready for it all to be over so that we can all go back to our normal lives ignoring politics. After watching only about half of the debate, my head already hurt from all the double speak.

I mean, this whole process just still feels like too much of a mess to me and I think for young people in general. There’s something failed about that debate, even though it can be praised that it was as close to an actual debate than were present in years past. That is probably the subject of another post, though.

In terms of the bailout, I hate the idea that our government has to intervene with the private markets here and it scares me if this is something that we are allowed to let go on within our free market. In some ways I wish the market would just let itself adjust and each industry would adjust to the market conditions, and yet this is exactly what our bailout plan is being created to control confidently without letting the market inflict too much harm on any of the stakeholders involved. But for some reason I don’t have faith in it, because I think the market will still adjust or is already adjusting now. The effect is nill, and comes off feeling a lot more political than anything else. It’s scary times if this is what our government is spending time doing. It’s reactive thinking and it going to get us into more trouble than we’re already in.

I decided recently that it was time I moved into my own place out here in San Francisco. It’s time for me to start establishing myself out here a little bit better, especially considering I know I want to live out here for a long period of time. By here, I mean California and the West Coast in general. I still want to stay somewhat mobile and I may have found a perfect place in the Mission to get myself to a more stable and centered place. Plus the neighborhood can be a bit rough at times and it’d be good to toughen me up a bit.

I went crazy on Craigslist for most of yesterday and ended up seeing three places on relatively short notice. The first was a very large studio, slightly more than I wanted to pay, but it was perfectly located right by a shuttle stop for work as well as my favorite venue, The Independent. That was tough to decide to pass on, but then again there will be another chance to rent in that building in the next month so I’ll take my chances there. The next two places were with the help of a CitiApartments dude that helped me look at two different places that might fit a description of what I’d be interested in. I’m going to look at two places today and then I think I just need to make a decision once and for all. Based on what I’ve seen and heard about renting in SF, it’s imperitive that you make a quick decision when you find an apartment that may suit your needs. The place in the Mission would fit my needs and then some so I think I may need to just jump on it. Which means I’ll be moving in like two weeks. Awesome.

It was a hard decision to make regarding getting my own place. I’ve somewhat enjoyed having a roommate over the past couple months, and I say that knowing that I’m just a crabapple and that I haven’t been in the greatest state of mind lately. I’m sure that I wasn’t ever truly easy to live with, and I think I’ve always been the guy that needs home to my quiet place. My solace place. I’ve been that way ever since I first got out of the house and after my first semester of college. I guess I should accept this about myself so I fully recognize that having a roommate has been a tough challenge for me lately. A good challenge and one I can learn from, sure, but right now it’s time for me to get settled to be on my own for a bit. This week was a rough one for me in a few ways and I think this process of finding my own place will be good for me in more ways than one, so it’s all about balancing that correctly. That’s the goal at least.

Sad news. Paul Newman died yesterday of complications due to cancer. He was 83. I always loved him as an actor and I especially loved his role in The Hudsucker Proxy as Sidney J. Mussburger.

Photo © imdb.com

I know this is slightly old news by now but I found this clip to be quite interesting. The clip below is exactly what the title of the post implies and Dave sets it up best himself as he always does. Give yourself a few minutes and watch the video below; it really seems like Dave was generally upset by the fact that he was bumped.

David Letterman Reacts to John McCain Suspending Campaign [YouTube]

I was trying to convince my friend to move back to California a few weeks ago, and the only real argument I could come up with was this video.

LL COOL J - GOING BACK TO CALI [YouTube]

Shockingly, he didn’t seem convinced. As if!

Last night I watched Shaun of the Dead, a movie that I’ve had in possession from Netflix for the last couple months. A few weeks ago I got myself a Mac Mini and finally ripped the movie down so that I can watch it using Front Row, and I finally finished it last night. The following scene blew my mind:

Shaun of the Dead - Yeah Boy! [YouTube]

See, I’ve been saying “Yeah boyee!” to my friends for the past couple months. I’ve been typing it in chat mostly, as a pure proclaimation of all things awesome. And sure enough, I’ve been holding onto this movie for months. I’ve been completely uninterested in watching movies and giving them any attention when I’ve had so many other things to worry about. It was damn hard to know that I was just spending money on this Netflix membership that I was hardly using, so I kept convincing myself that I would watch this movie sooner rather than later. And I just kept pushing it out. I seriously believe that the use of that “yeah boyee!” in the movie was something cosmic between me and universe. That’s right. I believe that, even though it would retarded if I said that outloud to someone.

“What’s your story, kid?”

“Well see, I’ve been feeling down. And I had this movie from Netflix that I wasn’t watching, and I felt guilty about just being uninterested in watching this movie. So then I stared feeling better, so I started typing ‘YEAH BOYEE’ a lot in chat and it was pretty awesome. Then I watched this movie Shaun of the Dead and one of the main characters said ‘yeah boyee’ and it was awesome. So I believe in the good of the world again.”

“Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.”

I saw an absolutely fantastic Fleet Foxes show last night here in the city. This band has been on constant rotation for a while and it was incredible to finally get a chance to see them live. Check out my review and full set of photos here.

I put up a post recently on LMB about how I’ve been feeling a bit burnt out on the whole concert scene lately. And it appears that I already lost interest on keeping this blog going every day, which was something I set out to do earlier this week. And now it’s early afternoon on a Sunday and I’m working on an entirely different project, so at least I’m getting some stuff done. I never give myself enough credit. Hence the title of the post.

At any rate, I’ve been keeping busy and I’ve got a couple cool things happening which I hope to get done over the weekend that could have a cool effect on the blog(s) going forward. Hope everyone’s having a good weekend

Up until the past year or so, I had been off a skateboard for about seven years after skating for most of my adolescence. I dropped it when I went to college. Now that I’m back with it again, I realize that I’m a lot more scared on a skateboard than I remember. Everything is just a little bit harder because I clearly don’t have the same balance control on a board than I once did. That’s perfectly understandable and it’s going to take a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things there. And I guess I’m going to have to accept that I always a bit slower on a skateboard in the first place. I didn’t ever really go big or do crazy insane things on my board, but I generally liked doing flip tricks and skating some ramps that would allow for said flip tricks.

Never once was I interested in speed skating, say for instance, down a huge hill on Claremont Avenue in Berkeley, California.

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

These guys are on skateboards, but when I watch the clip I feel like I’m watching a skydiving video or something. It’s really insane. Seriously. Take 10 minutes out of your day today and give this a look.

[this is sippey.typepad.com]

This post marks a fine achievement, one that I’m hugely proud of. I finally have an excuse to post something mildly NSFW, something that I paid witness to and got to produce myself through iPhone cameratography. Plus I just invented that word, so that’s awesome, too.

When I went to Lebowski Fest on Friday night, I really didn’t know what to expect except a couple of bands and a movie screening. Instead, we were treated to quite a show before the show. Read the rest of this entry »