Meant to post this all on Friday as well, but my crazy weekend took over instead.

Some freaking awesome pics of the Large Hadron Collider c/o The Boston Globe. (I know that a bunch of people have already posted this by now, but they really are pretty)

This beautiful painted essay on love by Marian Bantjes is amazing.

The Phoenix is running a site with the top bands, solo artists and current acts from each of the 50 U.S. States.

If you have any interest in The Walkmen’s newest album, pick it up online for $5, and let your purchase benefit the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and a little girl, Luca Vasallo, an 8-month-old who’s struggling with leukemia. Good music + good cause = great buy.

Also, as I was recovering on Sunday, I decided to read Daisy Kutter, a comic by Kazu Kibuishi the writer of Copper (which is one of my favorite web comics and I wish he would update it because it’s beautiful and sweet and kinda along the lines of Craig Thompson, in the way it makes me feel, except more ornate and packaged into smaller, more distilled doses). But this is about Daisy Kutter, which was fun and great in its own right. Set in a wild west where robots walk the streets next to people, this quirky tale follows Daisy, a retired heist master, on her last train job. It’s highly entertaining, kinda sweet, and incredibly well drawn. Definitely worth picking up.

Summers seem to be a hard time for me to keep on top of things. I haven’t updated the blog, or really done much on ThisNext either. I’ve even fallen behind Flickr-ing. I started this post on Friday, and promptly forgot about it for the rest of the weekend as well. But better late than never. The up-side is that I have been having lots of fun out in that place we call the “real world”, so I can’t complain overly much.

Florida was fun, and everything you might think Disney in the middle of July would be: sweaty, hot, long lines and a few rainstorms to dampen your parade. But it was also a lot of fun. I hadn’t been down there in so long, so I got to do some things I never did when I was young, and got to compare things to my memory. The Haunted Mansion wasn’t quite as bad as memory served, I survived Thunder Mountain, and I will never do Splash Mountain again in a million years.

Since getting back, I had a shoot eat up my Weds, took an ex-co-worker out for farewell drinks that night, and saw The Police and Elvis Costello Thurs night. Elvis Costello was as great as he always is. I was kicking myself though, because as we walked into the venue at 7:25 for a 7:30 show, and he was already playing! Damn me and my not getting out of work on time! And the Police were pretty awesome too. They played the hits, and most of my personal favorites. (concert review) I do want to know whose (grand)kid was on stage for the second encore though. Kinda odd, and the kid looked a bit scared. And Sting really needs to cut that beard off. Unless he has joined the hallowed order of the hobos, and is eschewing the tour bus to ride the rails in between shows. In that case, it’s totally fine. Was going for the triple play by seeing The Dark Knight on Friday, but that got moved to Sunday due to a scheduling conflict. Which ended up probably being better (even though I still did not end up seeing it) because Sat was one helluva day.

It started out by me heading to my mom’s, and then we took off for Brookline to get snorkel gear at East Coast Divers. It’s a trek, but they’re really well respected and know their stuff. We got fitted for goggles, grabbed some snorkels, and I’ll grab the fins either today or tomorrow. So we’ll be all set for our trip to the Turks and Caicos over Labor Day. Then we booked it up to Danvers, to a BBQ in honor of her B-Day with people from her work. That was nice, and I got to see a bunch of people who I don’t normally, so that was terrific. Then I rushed down to Woburn to meet the friend who was going to the Springsteen concert with me that night at Gillette Stadium.

Both of us were running late for a variety of reasons, and were really hoping that the show would not start at the given 7:30 showtime. We figured we’d have until 8, based on prior experiences, but as traffic came to a screeching halt we could only hope that the lightening we were seeing in the distance meant that the show was delayed. When the skies opened up and a monsoon seemed like it was descending on us, our spirits picked up. We pulled into the nearest lot about 8:30, and walked as fast as our feet would carry us into the stadium. We were just fine, as the concert started at almost 9:30. We were still disappointed that we would get a shorter show because of the noise curfew at 11…except…we weren’t! He played until about 12:15!! They came out of the gate swinging, and the energy never really dipped. He was incredibly interactive with the fans down front, and even took posters from people and played a bunch of requests. At one point, at the beginning of the encore, the stadium staff turned all the lights on, as a hint I guess, but he just kept playing, not even stopping between songs. Finally, the lights went down for the last song, American Land, but even then, they were cajoled into playing Rosalita, one last song to cap the night. It was an absolutely amazing night. Then we wandered back to the car, getting there about 12:50, and didn’t manage to make it out of the parking lot until about 2:10. Collapsed into bed around 3am, and slept really well… (concert review)

And after last week’s incredibly productive posting, I got roped into two shoot this week, and am about to go off to Disney for the first time in 10-15 years. Should be interesting. See you guys in about a week. Hopefully with bunnies!

1) My mother is getting baby bunnies! I am very excited about this, as we haven’t had rabbits in years, and I always loved them. To make them infinitely cuter, if that’s possible, they are baby angora, lop, dwarf bunnies. Small+furry+floppy ears=mega-cute. We can’t pick them up for another couple of weeks, but expect lots of fluffy pics in a flurry when we do.

2) I ordered Peking raviolis from the new Chinese food place near the office. I got them steamed. They called back to double check because “they don’t taste that good.” Who does that?! The verdict: they don’t suck. Obviously the people there are part of the conspiracy to keep me from being even moderately healthy.

3) Why is Apple taunting me? The new iPhone 2.0 upgrade is available for the iPod touch for $9.95. This allows you to purchase things from the app store, among other things. I’ve already downloaded about 5 apps, but every time I try to buy the upgrade, it tells me the store isn’t working. Why must they taunt me so?! All I want to do is give them my money. Don’t they like my money? I am aware that this makes me an official techno-junkie, but this is *killing* me. At one point it even told me that new software was available for my iPod and would I like to download it. I clicked upgrade…and nothing.

So there have been some artists and photographers that I’ve been drooling over lately, so I thought I’d put together a post with them.

1) Robin Schwartz is a photographer with a unique and magical view of world. She has many different projects she has been working on over the years, but the three I found most compelling were her dog portraits, Dogs: Pets and Strays, and the two projects that involved photographing her daughter: Amelia’s World: Animal Affinity and Amelia’s World: Imaginary Tales. Below are some samples of her amazing photographs, but check out her site for lots more.

from Dogs: Pets and Strays by Robin Schwartz	from Amelia’s World: Imaginary Tales

all images from Amelia’s World: Animal Affinity by Robin Schwartz

2) An illustrator who I’ve been really keen on, Meg Hunt, just updated her website. It’s all spiffy and pretty, and if you like the background, she has it available on Flickr! Her work’s very playful and a lot of it has a child-like glee to it. Her Flickr stream is always a source of joy and inspiration.

Illustrations by Meg Hunt

3) Swinging back to photographers, Pat Graham is a great photographer of bands, live music, and culture. A bit of realism to balance out the fantasy. I first came upon him when Modest Mouse started its photoblog, and he was the main photographer who went on tour with them. He’s got a great eye, and captures some nice moments throughout their tour. He’s one of those people whose work you’ve seen countless times, but you never knew it was him. He currently has a book out, so if you want to catch up on all he’s been up to over the years, it’s a good buy.

Fugazi by Pat Graham	Johnny Marr by Pat Graham

Shepard Fairy by Pat Graham	Ted Leo by Pat Graham

I have a few more painters to post, but this is long enough, so I’ll save that for a bit later.

Ok, no, I don’t really want to nominate Wall•E for president, but I did think it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a really long time. It was also how I started my weekend, so double bonus points. Now, there was someone at work today who shouted hypocrite at me, given my love for Wall•E. You see, there was this movie, Les Triplettes de Belleville (aka The Triplets of Belleville) that had no dialogue in it, although the visuals were quite well done, that I railed against. And given that there’s a good half an hour in Wall•E with no dialogue whatsoever, and about half of the dialogue for the rest of it consists of “Wall•E”, “Eve” and “directive”, I can see why he thinks I’m being a bit two-faced. But in my defense, this movie is about *robots*, and that movie is about *people*! I found it to get a bit strained when not a single person in the 80 minute movie spoke. Ok, there was some singing, but that doesn’t count. For some reason I give robots a bit more of a pass on the non-verbal communication. And the people in Wall•E did, in fact, speak! Anyways, it was hilarious, touching, and a bit surprising in it’s overall tone against the over-consuming, always-connected 24-7 world we live in. Go Pixar! If you’re one of the few people who haven’t seen it, you should. Right now. My roommate who has never seen an animated film in the theaters even loved it.

I got home from that really late on Thurs, and then it was up around 5 to head down to the Cape to catch the ferry to Nantucket. My god was I knackered. I barely slept, since it was my first time staying on the new sleep sofa at my mom’s, and whenever one of the kitties jumped up, I would wake up. So there was a lot of coffee involved with getting me onto the boat. My mother and I always take the slow boat over, which takes 2 hours, as opposed to the catamarans that only take an hour. It’s nice just sitting outside on the ocean for a while. It also helps wake you up a bit! So I was doing better by the time we hit the island.

We went for lunch at our favorite place, the Brotherhood of Theives. We hadn’t been on the island in about two years, and sometime between visits they had expanded the restaurant. It was still cozy and had great atmosphere, but there was an extra section in the back, which was nice. I had a yummy crispy chicken ceaser wrap, which fortified me for shopping. We walked around town a bit. There must have been a dog parade on Main St, because everywhere we looked, there were pups with bandannas or fancy collars. I live vicariously through other people’s pets, so it was great. We had most of our luck on Centre St, especially in Trillium, where my mom got a beautiful ball covered in sea shells, and I got two lotus blossom votive holders that had some antiqued gold plating. We were going to stay until 5:30 or so, but I started getting worn down again, so we cut our losses and jumped on the 3:45 home. The timing worked perfectly, as far as traffic goes, and we were able to breeze home.

When I was leaving her house, we were just able to spy a few fireworks over the trees. I couldn’t see that well, so I headed out. I was almost home, when through the trees by the ball field near where I live, I was able the see the finale of some town’s fireworks. Luckily, no one was around for a few mn, so I was able to pull over and watch. Just as they were finishing up, a car pulled up behind me, and I moved on. I had big plans to go somewhere else exciting on Sat or Sun, but all I managed was to get some shopping done for my vacation in two weeks, and a bunch of chores. Still was a good weekend off all and all.

I know, I generally like to keep certain topics off the boards more often than not, but I just happened upon some really good things recently that I wanted to share. I promise not to put too much polemic into my posts, or to digress down the socio-political alley too often, but I thought these items deserved to be linked-up.

1) Architecture of Authority by Richard Ross

Photoshelter blogged about what photo books they were reading, and this one really struck me. It’s an architectural photography book that focuses on how authority is imposed by the space we’re in. The images are so stark, and yet there’s a strange quality of beauty in this designed order. The range of spaces photographed is also telling, from a Montessori, churches and mosques, where perhaps we first learn the subtleties of power, to courtrooms and the UN assembly hall. It looks like a very moving visual essay, and quite pertinent to the times we live in. (click the images to view larger)

2) CapitolWords.org

Today’s Very Short list was this fascinating website, CapitolWords.org. This website will analyze congressional records to see what the most used word of a given day is. From VSL:

Created by the Sunlight Foundation, Capitol Words demonstrates how oil, energy, health, and intelligence are perpetual hot-button issues — while some days are all about spam (presumably not the canned meat). Traveling back in time can be both a pleasure and a sobering slap in the face: The word from Monday, September 10, 2001, conjures a nation with arms wide open: available. By Friday it was war.

You can view today’s word, or see a month view. The monthly view reveals how heavy certain topics weigh on the minds of the public and lawmakers alike…

3) Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives, Edited by Peter Orner

I would need to be in an extraordinarily good mood to make my way through this book, but I think it’s important that it was written. It’s an oral history of undocumented workers in the US. Especially with the election coming up, immigration is a hot-button issue. What gets forgotten so many times is the human lives behind the numbers of those who have come over to this country to seek a new life. Often, they don’t exactly get what they bargain for, and too often, the conditions they find themselves in are no better than the ones they fled.

The publisher’s description:

They arrive from around the world for countless reasons. Many come simply to make a living. Others are fleeing persecution in their native countries. Millions of immigrants risk deportation and imprisonment by living in the U.S. without legal status. They are living underground, with little protection from exploitation at the hands of human smugglers, employers, or law enforcement. Underground America, the third book in the Voice of Witness series, presents the remarkable oral histories of men and women struggling to carve a life for themselves in the U.S. Among them are:

FARID, an Iranian-American business owner who employs a number of American citizens while he himself remains undocumented. A critic of the Iranian government, he fears for his safety if he is deported back to his native country.

DIANA, who, along with thousands of other Latino workers, helped rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. After completing her job, she and many others were detained and imprisoned for not having proper documentation.

LISO, a South African woman who was the victim of a bait-and-switch immigration scam. She was enticed to come to the U.S. as a religious missionary, but once here, her sponsors forced her into unpaid domestic labor.

Thanks for listening, and I hope you find something in there that sparks you as well. Now back to the art and fluff.

This year I am really enjoying summer. I am fully embracing the warmth and sun and ethos of relaxing. I may not get to re-live the great concert glut of 2006, or the amazing vacation vistas of… damn 2006 was a freaking good year, but I am determined to have fun an enjoy myself as much as possible this summer. I’ve never been a terrible fan of summers, seeing as I melt in any kind of humidity, and burn faster than I can get that spf 50 on my arms, but it was such a hard winter, I really have been enjoying spending time outside, and just kickin’ back.

So two weekends ago, I indulged myself in seeing Pearl Jam and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists twice. If you’ve never seen Pearl Jam live, and get the opportunity, you really should. Even if you’re not a huge fan, do it. I can’t say I’m a hardcore fan; there are plenty of songs they play that I’ve never even heard. But they are such an amazing band live, carrying all the energy and really charging up the audience. Each night is totally different too, which means that you never get bored. Yes, there are some songs that are always there (I’m talking about you Evenflow!), but otherwise it’s a smorgasbord. Here’s the track listings for the two nights I attended. They wanted to play past curfew (it was an outdoor venue) but apparently were told that they’d have a problem playing there again if they did. So they only went a few minutes over on the last night with an extended version of “Rockin’ in the Free World”, complete with Ted Leo and a few Pharmacists coming out as well. That was probably the best version I’ve ever heard them do of that song.

And then there was the TL & RX opening sets… I’ve always like Ted Leo’s music, but again, I’ve never been a hardcore fan. I had heard him via other people over the years, bought the last album and the iTunes essentials, but that was about it. I always felt it was really great summer music though. The music tends to be very popy, sometimes with a reggae backbone. It’s catchy, hooky and energetic. There tends to be a political bent behind a lot of it, but it’s never overwhelming the music, which is important. If you go to his store, there’s a few of the songs up online, if you want a little taste.

Anyways, point being, I liked the stuff enough to watch him open for Pearl Jam, and I am so glad that I did. This is a group you have to see live to truly appreciate. I mean, the albums are good, but live they are totally off the hook. My concert companion had listened to the mix I (ok iTunes) made and was willing to go to the show, but after seeing them open, he was sold too. The energy, the emotion, the power, and that’s when they were playing to a quarter-filled house who were mostly milling about. Now I have to see them as headliners, because I can only imagine that they’re 110% better. We ended up missing half of their set on Sat because… we drove 50 of the 52 miles to the venue before realizing that our grill was sitting in the trunk of my friend’s car. Goddamnit! So I booked it back, grabbed the grill, and the propane, and sped in my little Prius all the way back. We cooked as fast as we could, but it wasn’t fast enough to make the whole set. But I got to hear Me & Mia as I was walking in, which made me interminably happy. On Monday we made sure that there would be no inadvertent forgetfulness and forwent the grill in favor of pizza. We saw the whole set, and aside from the fact I wish they could have kept playing, thought it was amazing as well. We all know I suck at remembering setlists, but I know that they played “Timorous Me”, “Angel’s Share”, “Stove By a Whale”, “Bomb, Repeat, Bomb”, “The Unwanted Things”, “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?”(play), “Counting Down the Hours”, and “Little Dawn” along with some new songs. Since the show, I picked up some merch from their store, and also blew most of the iTunes gift card I got on most of the rest of their catalog. There’s some really good stuff in there, and I really wish I had given them more attention earlier.

Hope everyone is enjoying a nice long weekend. I know I have been.

If you have been enjoying celebrating the American Independence, it should be noted that, when setting off fireworks, never trust a mannequin…

(I have no idea what the title means, just saying)

What, oh what, you may ask, has finally pulled me out of my post-writing stupor?! Several things, as you will learn, but firstly…

Psychotic baby bunnies!

Secondly, I am just pointing out that my Twittering is probably more reliable than my posting. It’s me in bite-sized bits. Well, when twitter (and the rest of the internet!) isn’t down.

So onto other things. I’ve seen a couple shows in the past couple of weeks. First, there was The National (most recent album), Modest Mouse (most recent album), and R.E.M. (most recent album). It was the first real concert of the summer, Raconteurs not withstanding as I went by myself. As previously mentioned, I got out of work at 3 for this. The concert was starting at 6:30, but it meant that each act got a decent amount of time on-stage. Unfortunately, everyone in the known world was on the road with us. It took me almost twice as long as normal to get to my apartment, and my friend took another half-an-hour after that. Once we were off, it wasn’t too bad getting down there, but we didn’t hit the lot until 6-something. Not a good prognosis! So I had to curb my plans to see The National’s whole set, because otherwise there were steak-tips that would have gone to waste!

We did make it in for the second half of their set though, and walked into the venue while they were playing “Mistaken For Strangers”. I wasn’t sure how much my companion was going to like them, but he totally enjoyed it too. Mostly songs from The Boxer, but a few others thrown in as well.

Next up was the Modest Mouse, who were very good and had energy to spare. I wish they could have played even longer, but was happy with what I got to hear. My concert buddy didn’t like them quite as much, which surprised me, as he tends to dig the aggressive thing, and they were being a bit that day. The screaming into the guitar and using it as a mic was interesting! I’m trying to remember what they played, but I know “Satin in a Coffin” made it (and I think was the first song), along with “Dashboard”, “Here it Comes”, “Paper Thin Walls”…and a bunch more I don’t remember! This is why I’m not a rock critic.

And finally, there was R.E.M.. I had heard from a number of people that they’re great live, and they really are. I don’t know a ton of their back catalogue, but they’re engaging enough that it really doesn’t matter. Michael Stipe is one funny individual. He’s up there bantering about something, loosing his train of thought, noting that the current tangent is not germane to the story, and then proceeding on with his tale. And his dancing! I did get to hear “Ignoreland”, which made me happy, and they played “Orange Crush”, my friend’s favorite, so everyone left feeling warm and fuzzy.

Then… I disappeared for two weeks. I mean, not literally. I know I did things, I just can’t think of what they were at the moment… I know there was a fair bit of book reading involved. Finished The Age of Conglomerates (which was decent), and also read, Goodbye, Chunky Rice (now an all-time fav), The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch, The Dangerous Alphabet, and The Labyrinth. All of which are reviewed over at LibraryThing.

I also got a brand new haircut and dye job. It’s much shorter now, but I likes it a lot. And I am going to save my thoughts on the two Pearl Jam and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists show for the next post, as this has gone on long enough!