Punk rock bands I want to be in until my fingers bleed: IDLES
How I cook: slowly, loudly, full of flavor
When bad words are limiting
Personal Velocity
Branding Shit (on the Trump brand, AKA polishing a turd)
Thinking about death on the daily
The Internet could never be bad, right?
Chasing the long-form
Being better at headlines than the full story
Must love tacos
Where/when design ends
1979
The magical quality of trees
The Curmudgeon
Leisure Man
Time Travel
That one time
I want to talk about my bias
America Today
When you think about America today, what is a belief that you have to defend?
That it’s liberty and justice, FOR ALL. America doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t mean that. If we’re not going to stand up for that, than we need to unchisel it from all our monuments and erase it from the pages of all our books. It’s so baseline. And yet in today’s America that needs to be defended like never before. Black, brown, immigrants, kids, people with pre-existing conditions, disabled folks, poor people, homeless people, the unemployed, the uneducated, the forgotten, and on and on and on. If we can’t stand behind liberty and justice for all than nothing else matters.
You get a billboard, what would it say?
Here’s mine:
Coffee Black, Beer Hoppy, Music Loud
– or –
Health Care for All, Fuck Off GOP
American Idiot™
The epic tug of war between the forces of progression or regression will always be with us. Before the kook was given the keys to the kingdom, it seemed as if progress was winning out. But instead, the forces of regression combined with a general sense of apathy to make the jerk backward as jarring as possible.
Culture Break: 07/18
The third installment in an ongoing monthly series on the cultural things that break through the noise and touch the soul.
APESHIT
VIDEO — The Carters are in the Louvre! The latest from Beyoncé and Jay-Z drops it like its hot. Huge stadiums with adoring fans? Yeah, they got ’em. All those skin tones, stylin.’
Sudan Archives, Sink
EP — From a 24-year-old violinist, these six songs are full of beats that skip alongside captivating vocals, intertwining emotions and grooves. Sink lower and get overcome by the journey into a meandering sound, chopping to and fro, looking for the feeling.
Jorja Smith, Lost & Found
ALBUM — From a 21-year-old English singer, this album is hauntingly beautiful, wandering and honest. An urgent cry out into a troubled world where we’re all looking for what we’ve lost.
A Cultural Vacuum
OPINION — What happens to a life without music, film, art, literature, performance, experimentation? If it doesn’t die, it’s certainly diminished. As Dave Eggers puts in the New York Times; it’s myopic, unlearned, cruel.
What A Day
NEWSLETTER — It’s politics, but hey, what isn’t these days. The delivery and the tone hit just right in our current political moment with humor, grace, wit, and snark. When your government is run by truly awful people, one way to cope is to just laugh at all the absurdity. And then call/write/organize/march/vote!
IDLES, Danny Nedelko
VIDEO — This hit me up side the head in the best way possible. I thought at first this could be punk rock from the 90s. Nah, 2018. It’s so fucking great I love it. Bring on Joy as an Act of Resistance and let’s dance our fucking asses off.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
DOCUMENTARY — The answer to the fast-paced, over-stimulated, too-much-to-handle programming for children at the advent of television? Why a turtle, of course! This film about Mr. Rogers was so good, so uplifting, so heartbreaking. See it in the theater and try not to cry, I dare you. At a moment when there is so much anger and resentment, this is an antidote.
We the People
ART — Now on display at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, We the People by Nari War is made of shoelaces. It shows that our democracy is composed of many small parts: its citizens.
Hannah Gadsby, Nanette
COMEDY — This stand-up show starts out like something I was expecting and then changes into something very different. It’s so powerful and moving. A comedy about the limits of comedy, the limits of humanity, and the need for complete stories. Beautifully, heartbreakingly real.
Advice to (design) students
Asked what my advice would be to design students today, or any student for that matter, the following two points are my reply:
- Find a career
- Disregard specific advice
A job is a job. Work is work. But a career is something that can allow you to truly leave your stamp on this world.
I’ve never been big on peddling specific advice like “just start freelancing now,” “move to New York City,” or “learn to code ASAP.” Specific advice is, for lack of a better word, too specific.
Everyone is different. Everyone comes from some place. Specific advice leaves out the person. If someone is giving you specific advice, please, disregard.
To the youth out there today trying to make it happen, these two points are what I say to you. Now get after it.
On Age
Daily reminder: You made it to this day. Be grateful. Then get focused, work hard, enjoy your time, and be sure to show the love. No telling what’s gonna happen tomorrow. Cheers!
