freeman transport [bikes]

freeman transport exists based on that old adage about doing something yourself because you want it done right. nathaniel freeman, an artist, and benjamin ferencz, a designer, don't like to leave home without their bikes, which is why their custom track frames are built to travel. each bike comes with an airport-friendly 26" x 26" custom waxed-leather travel bag made by billykirk, and can be fully assembled and disassembled using only one tool. if you can't splurge for the whip, they also sell t-shirts and wallets.

retroreflective bright bike [bikes]

from gizmodo:

michael mandiberg turned his ride into the bright bike by layering it with adhesive scotchlite 680, for a dark-as-the-batmobile look by day, and a safe reflective glow by night.

thanks, eric. ride safe dudes.

LINK: buy scotchlite 680 here

pilobolus [friends]

m. i think i see you...

merry christmas [video]

athens riots [photography]

riots rage on in athens following the fatal december 6 shooting of 15-year-old alexandros grigoropoulos by a police officer. click the photos to chase links. some are the same, roll over to sift.

LINK: a warning?
LINK: this and this (via btbn)

mug shots of the year [photography(?)]

words would only muck this up further.

silver jews on the future

yankees sign iraqi hurler

In their latest bid to beef up their pitching rotation for the 2009 season, the New York Yankees today signed Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi to a three-year deal worth $32 million.

The right-handed al-Zeidi, 28, impressed the Yankee scouts with his performance in Baghdad yesterday when he threw both of his shoes at President George W. Bush.

While neither of the shoes hit their target, both throws "had great velocity and good movement," said Yankee owner Hank Steinbrenner.

"The first shoe was high and outside but the second one was right down the middle," Mr. Steinbrenner said.

The Yankee boss said that he was also impressed with Mr. al-Zeidi's fighting spirit when Secret Service agents tackled him.

"That could come in handy when we have a series with Boston," he said.

(via huffpo)

taipei thundercat race II [photography // bikes]

mine aren't up yet, but click the photo for some good ones.

metal heart [video]

by kieth loutit.

r.i.p. bettie page

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snowflakes (don't call it a winter playlist)

i miss looking out the window and seeing snow; there's something to be said for the metaphysics of scarves, hot chocolate, frosty windows, rosy cheeks, and the like. here's a different take on the snowflake...

DL: julie doiron - snowfalls in november
DL: mountain goats - snow song
DL: bob dylan - winterlude
DL: fleet foxes - white winter hymnal
DL: damien jurado - ghost in the snow
DL: arcarde fire - cold wind
DL: ra ra riot - winter '05
DL: au revoir simone - fallen snow
DL: animal collective - winters love

taipei thundercat race [bikes]

happy!

mercedes helnwein [art]

when i bring the pulp novel out of obscurity, i'm going to get mercedes helnwein to do my cover art.

adolf wolfli [books // art // insanity]

charles bukowski said, "john fante was my god." had he been lucid enough or worldly enough, in spite of his own fervent piety, henry darger might have paid similar homage to adolf wolfli. numerous parallels exist between the two debatable savants: as a patient at waldau, a swiss mental asylum, wolfli created a 25,000-page illustrated narrative that stretches from the fantasy of his afflicted past far into the future; darger, an extremely staunch recluse, generated more than 30,000 pages of autobiography and technicolor fiction accompanied by hundreds of illustrations and collage. click an image or the link above and expect to lose track of time.

LINK: not entirely unrelated
(via int)

the quiet bandits [hijinks]

99 problems but a stitch ain't one.

wrapped up in books

i've been wading through book news and noise all morning. here's some:

l. gordon crovitz ponders the fate of great books in his wall street journal op-ed...

those who wonder about digital media shortening our attention spans usually fret about businesspeople glued to blackberrys or students multitasking through homework. for another measure of how our society has changed, consider this new-product launch from april 15, 1952:

the scene is glitzier than steve jobs releasing the latest iproduct: a black-tie gala in the jade room of new york's waldorf-astoria hotel, attended by rockefellers, vanderbilts and a representative of the queen of england. what's being launched? a 54-volume set of books, with 443 works by 74 authors totaling 32,000 pages of small type... [continue]

from 'fought over any good books lately?' (new york times)...

jocelyn bowie was thrilled by the invitation to join a book group. she had just returned to her hometown, bloomington, ind., to take an administration job at indiana university, and thought she had won a ticket to a top echelon. “i was hoping to network with all these women in upper-level jobs at i.u., then i found they were in the book group,” she said. “i thought, ‘great! they’ll see how wonderful i am, and we’ll have these great conversations about books.’ ”

ms. bowie cannot pinpoint the precise moment when disillusion replaced delight. maybe it was the evening she tried to persuade everyone to look beyond oprah winfrey’s picks, “and they all said ‘what’s wrong with oprah?’”[continue]

'best of' lists: new york times' top ten // washington post // the guardian // salon

DOWNLOAD: belle & sebastian - wrapped up in books [mp3]

jim denevan [art]

A // B

the avett brothers [music]

the avett brothers aren't afraid to keep it simple. as a result, they make good, honest, slow music. these are songs full of pleas, harmonizing, dumb luck, old girlfriends, subtle twang, flat tires, plunking, camp fires, sitting in cars in parking lots, smiling while singing, summer dresses. there's also a banjo; call that the kicker.

LINK: their space
DOWNLOAD: avett brothers - swept away [mp3]
DOWNLOAD: avett brothers - kind of in love [mp3]

today, mostly

free music! [music]

from matador.com:

our spring intended play label download sampler was a huge hit, so we’re doing it again. just like before, you get a track from one of each of our current and upcoming releases...get a zipped file of all 13 tracks plus front and back artwork, and burn it yourself (or just listen to it digitally).

track listing:

1. A.C. Newman - There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve
2. Belle and Sebastian - The State I Am In (BBC Version)
3. Jennifer O’Connor - Here With Me
4. Shearwater - The Snow Leopard (Remastered)
5. Lou Reed - Caroline Says, Pt. II (Live)
6. Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud
7. Fucked Up - No Epiphany
8. Jay Reatard - An Ugly Death
9. Jaguar Love - Humans Evolve Into Skyscrapers
10. Pavement - Cataracts
11. Brightblack Morning Light - Oppressions Each
12. Times New Viking - Call & Respond
13. Condo Fucks - What’cha Gonna Do About It?

while i'm at it...

DOWNLOAD: andrew bird - the water jet cilice [mp3]
DOWNLOAD: cat power - dark end of the street (aretha franklin cover) [mp3]

x rays

LINK: ouch.

greg miller [photography]

miller on miller:

I use a wooden K.B. Canham 8x10 Camera. Besides the obvious technical benefits, such as sharpness, I use the large camera for two reasons: it forces me to interact with my subject and it disarms the dynamic of going up to strangers. It does the latter by being obvious. It is the opposite of hiding from people. They often see me before I see them which accelerates their trusting me.

family ties [hijinks]

i don't know what 'home for the holidays' means where you come from, but in the snowy hamlet of dodgeville, wisconsin, all the young folk get together at corner taps on the wednesday before thanksgiving to swill milwaukee-made ales and swap stories about bar fights. then a few of them try to pick up where they left off with now-married old flames and end up doing some bar fighting for old times' sake. well, this year my youngest brother jeremy (at right, with other brother, eric) went out and did quite a lot of the first bit, as i understand it, and in the wee hours following stumbled home to mom and pop murn's abode. as a result, i got the following email from my dad. enjoy.

rule violation

in the early hours of this morning (around 4 am, november 29) jer broke the no sleeping with the parents rule (after coming home from a night out). i was asleep next to your mother and i felt a butt pushing to get in my side of the bed. i wondered who it could be but kindly moved over to let it in, moving mom as well, expecting a practical joker. he quietly went to sleep next to me. when the alarm went off at 5 (i had to work at lands end at 6), i lifted the covers off he and i, climbed out, covered him back up and never heard a sound out of anyone.
dad