So, as an avid fan of his books, I just finished Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman, the man’s recent essay collection.  The collection is very good, providing something a little more than previous works with essays that reflect on our need for recognition rather than just simply how our love lives are ruined by John Cusack.  Don’t take this the wrong way-I love the previous essays very much.  But the new seem to show a side of a perhaps seasoned author, develing into subjects such as the Unabomber and This American Life in a way that makes me think his books have grown just like I have reading them the last 4 or 5 years.

Granted, there is an entire essay, lengthy as it is, devoted to football.  Klosterman’s awareness of his fan base is included in this essay, which is both funny and thoughtful.  He discusses the rise and fall of Garth Brooks in a way that makes me almost cherish the times as a child when I was forced to listen to “Friends in Low Places.”   Simply by interviewing a master of interviews, Ira Glass, Klosterman makes me feel smarter and more intellectual, which I am reluctant to admit, and perhaps proves some of his points about culture discussed in the same essay.

Though it doesn’t really have the same humorous tone as Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Eating the Dinosaur reminded me a lot of Killing Yourself to Live.  It contained a certain vibe of self-discovery that usually only comes from the ability to be self-aware amongst this pop culture we feed upon.  When I read Sex, Drugs…, I laughed and related to the analysis of trival things that I loved.  In Killing Yourself…, I saw things about myself mirrored in his road trip, even if it was only 85% truth.  And about this book, I felt the same.

PS:  Here’s a really cool (but old) interview with Chuck Klosterman over at The Sound of Young America.  It also features an interview with Dave Foley, one of the original Kids in the Hall and one of my favorite actors, for reasons not quite understandable to even myself.  It’s great–give it a listen.

So, like most every other American, European, Canadian, or some one with access to a radio or another human being, I become a fan of the Beatles in middle school.  I was 12 and had just watched “A Hard Day’s Night” at my grandparents with an older cousin.  And at that point, I knew that for the next million and a half years, I had to become obessed with this band.

This is a line that not all people cross–most stay somewhere between “Yeah, they’re great” and “Yeah, I have almost every album and have seen one of their movies.”  This is a reasonable amount of love.

But I become crazied with everything that had to do with the Beatles.  I read every book that our library had (Including “The Beatles” by Hunter Davies, the first offical biography, started when they were still playing music), had 15 t-shirts, could rattle off facts better than my multiplication tables: It was insanity.

Yet, they also become something sacred.  I watched the Anthology when it aired on PBS for the first time and cried when it was over.  I would defend their honor, their music; tell people that they weren’t just being high all the time;  that Magical Mystery Tour held some kind of secret philosophy about life and love and that all the answers of the universe could be found in the grooves of Sgt Peppers on vinyl.

And then came Across the Universe.  I went to see it opening week, and after convincing myself that my soul wasn’t really crushed into nothing by the end, I realized that they had become so legendary in our culture that not many yielded to the artistic respect that they deserve.

BUT ANYWAYS, I said all that to say that they are coming out with a Rock Band comprised entirely of Beatles’ songs, and it LOOKS AWESOME! (You can also see this bigger/better over at the website.)

Double High Five to you, Rock Band! This looks awesome and I may think about getting an XBOX just so I can play this.

Cheers!

So things have been extra-super-to the Xtreme crazy recently at work and I’ve been dealing with some major fatigue-cold-can’t really-think-clearly sickness, thus the desert of non-posts that has become this blog. And for this, I apologize. But please, take this token of briefly funny mustache humor as a token of my gratitude of your readership.

It’s not that I haven’t wanted to blog, or even bookmarked things to intentionally blog about later, I’ve just been swamped. And last night, I was supposed to teach a workshop about web design, but some people in our tech support failed to do their jobs, so I couldn’t do mine and wasted a bunch of hours doing nothing. A+ in sucking it up, computer support! Way to not go!

But tomorrow is Friday and we can all be thankful for that. So let’s just start off on Monday afresh or anew or awhatever.

Cheers!

Warm, fun, and great illustration and animation work by Ward Jenkins out of Portland.  Ward has been doing animation and illustration for a long time, working in both Atlanta and Portland.

I just love his style.  It’s very mid-century style illustration but with a warmth and personality that I really dig.  Definitely check out the rest of his work, and check out his blog too.  It’s updated all the time and full of lots of good goodies.

He also has an Etsy shop and a great Flickr set of mid-century ephemera that is just great. Gees…this dude is busy with awesome work!

Cheers!

(found via grainedit…did I mention they have a great RSS feed?  I didn’t? well, they do..)

]]> http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/2009/04/01/illustration-ward-jenkins/feed 0 http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/2009/03/20/illustration-thursday-adrian-johnson http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/2009/03/20/illustration-thursday-adrian-johnson#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:49:42 +0000 Jessica http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/?p=744

Arian Johnson is a great designer/illustrator out of the UK, and is this week’s Illustrator.  With a refreshing and almost mid-century style.  I just love the humor and sweetness involved.  And so much texture! Props!

Here’s some more that I like:

Raise them on Robinsons Advert

Christmas

Comic Relief

Politeness Pays

]]> http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/2009/03/20/illustration-thursday-adrian-johnson/feed 0 http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/2009/03/17/movies-to-see-away-we-go http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/2009/03/17/movies-to-see-away-we-go#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:00:46 +0000 Jessica http://www.astridandinez.com/blog/?p=728 Today, I asked myself, “Why don’t you post more stuff about movies that are awesome?” And I had no reply. 

It is true-I freakin’ love movies, just like every other person on this planet that has ever experienced the joy of sitting in a dark theatre with strangers and eaten popcorn out of a tub*.

ANYWAYS, I think I’m going to start writing about movies here as well. 

So to start off, we have Away We Go, a new film that will be released in June starring (are you ready for this?): Maya Rudolph, Katherine O’Hara, and John Krasinki’s Beard (!).  Bringing together all things that make an “indie” movie–Road trips, crazy families, soundtrack that features Belle & Sebastien and Nick Drake.

Here’s the trailer:

I will see this movie.  I will probably buy this movie.  I am incredibly stoked.

*much like the White Castle ‘sack.’

Ben Gibbard * plaid shirt + John Krasinski / Celtics = best Last.fm photo ever.

You’re welcome.

Produced by La Blogotheque out of Paris, The Take-Away Shows are a series of super low-fi music videos filmed in some of the most awesomest places, featuring some of today’s best and brightest. The artist role includes people like The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, Beurit, Man Man, David Bazan, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and a ton more. Above is Andrew Bird, professional whistler & musician, walking the Parisian streets.

Fantastic!

In you are unaware, I have a collecting complusion, I think, and one of the collections I have emassed over the last few years, apart from other things, has been a mug collection.  This mug found over at Urban Outfitters may have to be made mine very soon.

Featuring a collection of the some of the world’s greatest moustaches (complete with key on the bottom), it’s sure to make the collector, coffee lover, or moustache appreciator alike very happy.  Cheers!  Yep, I think I may order it right now….

This made me laugh out loud:  Taking an 8ft plank of wood, affixing a moustache, and creating “hip & knee” joints, it has become one cool wooden friend.  Way to go, Mr. Zygote.

Found Via It’s Nice That.