10:48 AM

. Beach Fossils "Daydream" from Beach Fossils (2010) – click for info. Beach Fossils plays the Capitol Hill Block Party today at 3pm.

[ photo: Ballard Locks, Seattle, July 2010 ]

One Place, One Time

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Trailer for Downtown Calling, a documentary on New York City between the years of 1977 and 1985 by Shan Nicholson, co-produced by Debbie Harry and Michael Holman, among others. More info here.

[via the Juggernaut of cultural knowledge that is DJ Suspence]

Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

Able to leap... oh nevermind

Best Foot Forward

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It's never too early to be thinking about Fall.

Charlotte Olympia Dolly canvas pumps, $715, net-a-porter.

Oh Yes They Did

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Continuing with our tour of strange and delicious items you can find in your local bodega: chocolate-covered corn nuts.


Made in Reno, NV. Purchased at the gas station / convenience store / teriyaki stand in Pacific Beach, WA over Independence Day weekend. You probably won't believe me until you've tried them, but they're weirdly good.

Image of the Day

I know this kid is a little shit and probably a pain to be around, and if it was my boat or plane or organic vegan blueberry pie that he stole, I would want him locked up. I get that they have to make an example of him or a million idiots will set down their joysticks and try to steal one-a them planes. But c'mon, it's not like he smoked crack and stole our jeep – he's not a degenerate. He clearly enjoys the San Juan Islands. I like the kid and I'm glad he's from Washington state. Free Colton.

Anyway this morning he made the front page of the New York Times – article and slideshow here.

(Image via the Colton Harris-Moore fan club)

9:09 AM

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The National "Bloodbuzz Ohio" from High Violet (2010, 4AD).

I was never an enthusiastic fan of The National but the new album... well... I wouldn't describe the mood it evokes as "enthusiasm" but it somehow feels personally relevant to me right now. I'm not saying that's necessarily a good or healthy thing but all times need their soundtrack.

See also: americanmary.com (The National's website). Video directed by Hope Hall, Andreas Burgess & Carin Besser. Bartender: D.A. Pennebaker.

Moment to Moment

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Awhile back, Emily and I watched Variety, a 1983 film directed by Bette Gordon and starring Sandy McLeod as Christine, "a normal girl" who takes a job as a ticket taker at a porn theater in Times Square.

Nan Goldin Variety Booth, New York City, 1983

Nan Goldin co-stars as Nan (the movie seems to have been inspired by her work and definitely feels like The Ballad of Sexual Dependency in motion). Cookie Mueller makes a few appearances and Spalding Gray is audible as an obscene phone caller. Will Patton plays Christine's sort-of boyfriend; Luiz Guzman plays José, the manager of the theater; John Lurie did the score. It's a quintessential, exciting/foreboding document of early '80s New York and worth owning if you're into that kind of thing. Here's the trailer:

Image of the Day

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Jean-Michel Basquiat in a still from Tamra Davis's new film Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. Read a great interview with Davis (who is among many other things married to Mike D of the Beastie Boys) at The Moment.

Hue, Value, Chroma

Color Theory was one of my favorite classes in design school. It was also probably the most difficult class I've ever taken (well... most difficult class that I cared about).

Ultimately I think color comes down to an instinct, you either have good ideas about it or you don't, though maybe the most important thing is willingness to try. A lot of good ideas come out of just trying things and making a decision. Still, there are a lot of theories behind color that are useful to know as a designer, if only to be able to clearly explain what you want.

This actually has very little to do with all of that, but it's a fun game if you have five minutes to spare: test your color IQ.

Image of the Day

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Stacy Rozich The Struggle, 2010 (Watercolor/gouache on paper). Paintings and large scale cut-outs by Rozich are on view through August 18 in a show called Patterns of Renewal at Pun(c)tuation Gallery in Seattle (Pike Street just East of Boylston). More info at thepunctuatedlife.com and at Stacey Rozich's blog.

Raising the Bar

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From a slideshow of historic Seattle bars at the Seattle P-I:

The Rainbow Tavern, 1980

Bartender Arlene Smith at the 5 Point, 1980

Inside the DJ booth at Shelly's Leg, a gay bar under the Alaskan Way viaduct, 1976.

Visit seattlepi.com for many more.