eMusic

You know ... a little new music in your life goes a really long way. And it's never been easier to connect with incredible shit, never been easier to make it or get it.

I'm a big fan of eMusic. They're pretty much the #2 online retailer at this point ... and they have DRM-free stuff of solid quality (bitrate-wise) for pretty damn cheap. They do a monthly subscription system where you get so many tracks per month and it works out really well. They mostly do indie labels and artists (whereas iTunes and Amazon carry major labels) and they have some incredible stuff.

I'm also a big fan of buying music vs. downloading it for free. Its never been easier to pay for music and know that it goes mostly to the artists not the middlemen. And digital music is cheaper w/o the CD. And you know ... when you pay for something you kind of enjoy it more. Or you have the proper respect for it and that feels good. And it also keeps you from just downloading gobs of stuff that you don't ... have any connection with or time for. That cheapens it.

That being said, I'm going to give a few copies away of this or that ... and I might just grab something here or there that's on a blog (and is free as such) or on a friend's computer but I do want to spend some money on music. Honestly there isn't a lot that makes more sense to spend money on. Music is art and you should surround yourself with art and pay the proper respect to the artists.

And as I was saying to my man Dan tonight ... the great thing about music ... is that no matter how into it you are there's always going to be 1000 things you've never heard of and hell, genres you didn't even know existed, even. And you know, some of that shit is going to be incredible. Even if you were just picking at random (which you don't have to).

My entire life has been a progression through so many artists and kinds of music ... there have always been new things I've discovered and never knew about that are amazing.

It's like ... there's gold fucking nuggets just waiting for you in the field ... you just have to look a little.

You know ... those albums that are just classic ... that almost define an era for you ... like the Beastie Boys' Check Your Head or Nine Inch Nails' Downward Spiral or Pearl Jam's Ten ... ? Or whatever they might be for you? Those experiences with music are still happening with new stuff all the time if you make the time to connect with it.

Anyway ... eMusic is nice cuz you just get three or two or four albums a month and you can really enjoy them and keep 'em coming easily. Direct debit from your account like $15/month or something. Easy. Certainly there's a lot of other quality distribution methods including the humble CD store ... but yeah. Do it! Nothing like some great new music.

Phoenix in March

Mesa/Gateway airport is melllllooooo.

Cardinal Dome

Peoria Sports Complex (spring training baseball)

Padres lost to the A's very badly

Dorks

More dorks

Green grass, 75 degrees, Mike's Hard Lemonade, flip flops .. in MARCH!

Phoenix is chock full of beige brand new corporate strip malls for miles and miles. Where they get all the water to support a giant sprawling city in the middle of the freaking desert (and I mean desert) is ... both both a scary and amazing thought.

More of same.

Downtown

PLUM Cocktails & Merrymaking

This is a blurry photo of Erica & Corey's PLUM cocktial catering booth at the recent wedding tradeshow. They're looking to do a very cool presentation and super interesting drinks for events. Kind of like a little mini mobile Grove ... as I'm doing with the food booth. [Get in touch if anyone needs a bar or catering.]

Foto del Dia

Ocho

Saying goodbye to a good friend. He was much loved.

Watchmen

Got a chance to see Watchmen last night ... and DAMN if I didn't really love it. I mean, it's definitely not for everyone (which would explain a lot of the criticism of it) but I thought it was a pretty great film. Definitely dark, and subversive ... but really sharp and intelligent and a very nice homage to the source material, one of the most loved graphic novels of all time. As far as superhero/comic book movies, this one is head and shoulders above the rest. Great characters, interesting themes, awesome music, great settings and costumes ... really interesting integration with actual history and just a totally immersive overall feel. Damn damn DAMN good movie. And well worth seeing on the big screen. I'll probably see it twice in the theatre. Good shit. Killing it at the box office. 55 million this week ...

Official trailer HERE

Website (well worth checking out)

Animal Care and Cruelty

Been reading a lot lately.

Here's a good article by David Foster Wallace (author of "Infinite Jest") on eating lobster.

Here's one from Gourmet about advances (and resistance) in chicken care/slaughter.

If you're going to eat meat, you should really be as informed as possible.

We're getting some chickens in about a month (hens ... egg layers ... ) here at the house so we can have organic nonrefrigerated eggs (chickens turn compost into eggs!) from humanely raised birds. They taste a hell of a lot better, are way cheaper than buying storebought organic ... and the birds get to live in a way that they're meant for ... not stuck in an awful industrial system.

BTW, we do have a semi-humane mass producer of broiler chickens here in the Northwest ... namely Draper Valley ... marketed locally I believe under the Ranger label. Not perfect in their approach by any means but better (and more local) than Foster Farms.

BTW, about lobster ... if you're going to eat them ... ice water first (or the freezer). Some people talk about a knife to the forehead but there's no real reason to believe that works because of the diffuse nature of the nervous system. Some people also say that warm water for 5 minutes knocks them out. Just don't boil them alive ... that's fucked up.

Pirates!

I'm kinda fascinated by the whole modern piracy thing in general ... but this article is just really nicely written. Go Vanity Fair!

Vietnam Then and Now

I've been wanting to spend some time in Vietnam ... and Asia in general. Interesting piece HERE on the Vietnam of today (on one of my favorite blogs) and what it might say about our intervention then and today in Iraq.

Some of you may know our friends Amy and Brandon ... who are currently on a grand trek through SE Asia. Check their FLikr photos HERE and read about their adventures HERE.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of travel. Eric Ozrelic is on his way to Machu Pichu at the moment ... follow along HERE.

Netbooks

So ... there's kind of a cool product hitting the shelves these days in the computer department ... they're called "netbooks" ... and they're basically mini-laptops without optical drives that are purposefully meant for people on the go and on a budget and who don't really do anything on the computer but surf the web. They're big in Asia and Europe and getting more common in emerging places like Brazil and Russia ... just starting to hit the shores here in the US.

They don't have DVD or CD drives and run WindowsXP or Linux ... they often don't even have hard drives but some do and they're basically designed to run everything on the web (or in the "cloud"). If all you really do on a computer is use email and a couple of small applications and mostly everything you do is on the web, these babies can be had for like $300-400 new. They have 8" or 10" screens and are basically kinda disposable. Perfect for travelling. You host all your content on the Web (photos, music, etc.).

There's nothing that runs Mac OSX right now (yet) so ... I'm not personally interested in anything that runs Windows ... but pretty cool none the less. There's versions in Asia that are super cheap and energy efficient that just have flash memory and run on the super efficient Intel Atom chip. Look for battery life to go through the roof and cost to plummet .. making computers available to tons of people worldwide that never had them before. Good or bad, it's happening.

Fashion Sighting

We stopped into the Lloyd Center mall the other day just to peruse around a bit and when we were in Macy's we saw a group of African American dudes just going nuts in the Polo section. Three of the four of them were already wearing bright colored Polo or iZod shirts ... and they were going through the selection like kids in a candy store.

Really? When did urban black guys go preppie? I felt like I was in some alternative universe. Why modern black dudes would be so stoked for crusty white guy golf wear ... is ... just beyond me. I wore that stuff when I was a 16 year old young Republican in the 80s ...

Wierd. It's like ... fashion just has these distinct cells that you can just buy into ... and suddenly you're wearing all this 80s shit ... or all this iZod/khaki shit ... I wonder if there'll ever be an original concept to happen or if we're just going to be endlessly recycling these stupid ironly-laden fashion trends.

And the ethnic thing is just kinda wierd. This is clothing created by people who don't let black people into their country clubs. And that's what you wanna rep? I don't get it.

PING PDX

Got a chance to check out Andy Ricker's new place in Chinatown (in Portland) this past weekend. As you may know ... Ricker is the guy behind Pok Pok ... the place on Division that went from Asian street food shack to Restaurant of the Year with its obsession for the details of great Asian food.

This time Ricker teams up with a couple of Wyden & Kennedy design gurus to revitalize a space in the old Hung Far Low building on 4th and Couch ... part of the ongoing revitalization (gentrification?) of Chinatown ... now that the Pearl is built out and full of new glory.

OregonLive story HERE. Apparently the idea behind Ping is part Japanese drinking pub and part SE Asian coffeehouse-cafe. Ricker does the food, W&K nails the design elements.

I would say that Pok Pok is easily the best Asian restaurant in the city ... so we were stoked to try the new spot. Ricker really gets the details right.

Loved the room (high design meets sustainable building and recycled everything). Food was great and fairly interesting and unusual. Prices were high, but not impossible. Staff was friendly and cool. Small plate focus. Lots of cool cocktails and N/A options. Overall a really nice job. Totally dug it.

Erica's a big fan of their drinking vinegars. Seltzer water and flavored slightly sweet vinegars. Spozed to be good for you. Delicious for sure.

Cool design featuring reclaimed wood from the basement of this 1917 building.

Pork skewers in the Thai style

Grilled fish balls ... ubiquitous in Thailand ... very mild & delicious

Counter seating beneath a commissioned light sculpture ... the entire bar evokes blue collar Japan perfectly and plays against the hip design elements elsewhere.

Hum bao steamed pork bun didn't disappoint.

Interesting collection of old radios reclaimed from an abandoned Chinatown repair shop.

4th and NW Couch, Chinatown PDX