This isn’t really in any order, except almost reverse alphabetical. Samples of most of these bands can be found at either Amazon or Allmusic.com. For extra snobby reviews, please see Pitchfork.
Tender Forever - The Soft and The Hardcore (K) For fans of: Mirah, Stereo Total, The Blow
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods (Sub Pop) Album […]

In all the holiday chaos the dog somehow managed to scarf down a hershey’s kiss. I know this because I had to cut a large blob of poop out of her butt fur; attached was a small flag which read “Almonds.”
I will be glad when everything is back to normal, and I […]

I have bird flu. I am going to die a horrible, painful, excruciating death unless merciful Nyquil knocks me out first. Perhaps bird flu is a stretch, and by horrible, painful, excruciating death, I may mean watching Law & Order reruns from my couch all day. Either way, I will not be […]

Real Christmas trees drip sap. To my dog, Rowan, I’m sorry I told everyone you peed on the tree. You have to admit, you’ve got a poor track record.
You cannot open a beer bottle with your filing cabinet, no matter how hard you try.
Working with an office full of people who […]

With 11 days until Christmas, I have bought exactly zero presents. I’m not a bad person, I just don’t like hurling myself into the hordes of mall santas, double-wide strollers, and Sbarro devouring teenagers. Before my illustrious career as web design rockstar (edit: corporate drone) I lived in the dark-ages: I worked retail […]

2002 found Sleater-Kinney in a difficult position. Would they be able to live up to the hype of being Rolling Stone’s “Most Important Band in Rock and Roll”, and more importantly, after scads of arena shows, would they stay true to their roots in doing so? Pearl Jam tours are a long […]

Even Captain Obvious, the mouth breathing, popcorn chomping 11 year old seated beside me couldn’t ruin Narnia, exclaiming such jems as “They’re young again!” and “She’s really bad!” I wasn’t expecting much, so I was pleasantly surprised by believable computer generated characters, no Jar Jars here. I was also pleased by the casting […]

Great, another thing for them to muck up.

Happy Chrismashanukwanzakah? That’s Virgin Mobile’s new holiday campaign. Ehh, catchy. If you call 1-888-ELF-POOP you can choose the appropriate (or inappropriate) holiday mascot to help you pick out a phone. I wonder which phone Hindu Santa would choose for me?

I’m seeing an increasing number of blogs out there that focus on “design,” when what they really mean is industrial design, or in most cases knick knack design. Just because something received consideration from a designer, or appears slightly modern/retro/shabby chic doesn’t mean it’s been done well.
Take for example the following images […]

With Adobe dumping the Macromedia brand altogether soon, I’m left wondering the future of two of my favorite Macromedia products; Fireworks, and Dreamweaver. Adobe’s already explained they have immediate plans to merge the Flash Player and Adobe Reader (see Designorati for my more complete article about the acquisition) but haven’t formally announced plans to […]

There’s not a whole lot I can say about this site that isn’t obvious. They’ve got one of the best favicons I’ve seen, great use of white space, contact information prominently displayed, and everything you need readily accessible above the fold. The color is handled carefully, as are the subtle reflective effects that on […]

A Target commercial, of all things, compelled me to revisit this album more than a year after its debut as the first proper Concretes LP. Slow down the beats in the catchy commercial and you have the first track of the album. Yeah you know the song, “Say Something New”, it’s supposed […]