all the stories are true

and they're all about you.

The gallery is in full effect and getting updated every week.
Seriously though, you're probably in here somewhere. No matter who you are.

True Stories, Twin Cities: Winter 2009

spooky world view

School children wear masks of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as they take out a procession to mark his inauguration in Lucknow, India, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.


Thanks, Tine, for the photo.

oh my.

I had a lot of fun making these Pac Man cookies for my valentine.




I loved playing with all the fun colors of icing. It felt like a Hook-esque imaginary food fight with Robin Williams was about to break out at any moment.

I stumbled upon the recipe here not long ago, but she had handy dandy cookie cutters to make the shapes, whereas my handcut goblins turned out adorably demented looking.

N.A.S.A.

N.A.S.A., "Gifted," featuring Kanye West, Santogold, and Lykke Li.




And here's N.A.S.A.'s new joint with Kool Keith and Tom Waits, "Spacious Thoughts":




So who is N.A.S.A., anyway?

I don't really know, but I already love them for bringing these very special people together in a room and making the final result available to my ears.

N.A.S.A. is a collaborative project which stands for North America/South America. Their debut release, "In The Spirit of Apollo" features some absolutely recauculous groupings of some of the sickest artists alive.

"Unexpected collaborations abound on the seventeen track release. Tom Waits growls over Kool Keith, Karen O taunts while Ol' Dirty Bastard gives shoutouts to Wu Tang and N.A.S.A from the grave, and David Byrne, Chuck D and Seu Jorge expound on the evils of "Money." In spite of the range of performers, the pairings seem organic, inspired and make perfect sense on the first listen, never coming off as ironic or impulsive. Spiegel explains that the tracks themselves dictated who would be approached to lend a voice, revealing the larger vision behind the project: "we never said, ‘let's make a track for this person.' We'd usually make something we liked, and then as we were starting to write the song, it would tend to go in a direction that we'd be like, ‘this sounds like George Clinton,' or ‘this sounds like Method Man.' We would start to feel the song out, and feel the artist through the song as we did it. Basically, we'd sit around as we were making these tracks and say the nuttiest combination of names, like our dream of who we could get on the song. It's crazy, a lot of times they actually happened.

"That passion and appreciation for music is the driving force behind The Spirit of Apollo, which drops on February 17th. Conceived in a crowded party in Sao Paulo and nurtured by a shared love of vintage Brazilian soul and funk records, N.A.S.A. was born when Spiegel and Gonzales got together in a studio and hit "record." "WE met at DVNO's studio party," Spiegel reminisces. "The next day we were flipping a Toni Tornado sample at my studio which later became the song ‘Hip Hop' with Fatlip, KRS One, and Slim Kid Tre." Five years later, after thousands of miles traveled, many favors called in, countless hours spent in recording studios, bartered, traded and out of pocket, N.A.S.A. landed at Anti Records, a label that is home to other likeminded visionaries such as Zack de la Rocha, Nick Cave and N.A.S.A.-guest vocalist Tom Waits.

The N.A.S.A. project is permeated by Brazilian funk, which provides the roots of the songs and binds them together into a cohesive whole, but from there, the imagination behind The Spirit of Apollo ranges far and wide. "Whachadoin?" featuring M.I.A, Santogold, the electro-rap ingenuity of Spank Rock and Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is spontaneous and playful, and is perhaps the first song to get funky with a dial tone. "The Mayor," featuring Ghostface Killah, Scarface, indie-darlings the Cool Kids and Hollywood scene-maker DJ AM has a laidback Superfly vibe, while "Electric Flowers," with Cardigans singer Nina Persson and Wu Tang Clan's RZA, has a downbeat chilled-out feel. "Strange Enough" pairs Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Fatlip and Ol' Dirty Bastard, on the last song ODB recorded before his untimely death in 2004. On "N.A.S.A. Music" Method Man gives a shout out to Spiegel's recording studio, Crack Alley, while E40 chews on his vowels and together, the two wrap up The Spirit of Apollo into a single chorus: "from New York to the Bay yo / Sao Paulo to LA yo / nobody move until we say so / they wanna know who got that N.A.S.A. music."

For more info you can check N.A.S.A.'s blog - Squeak E Clean

OR peep the N.A.S.A. Media Player by turning off your popup blocker and clicking here.



Aaand, special for you, here is a trailor for an upcoming documentary on the making of the album:




I'm hella psyched to see what comes out of this project. I still don't know how these dudes accomplished bringing all of these amazing people together.


This isht kinda reminds me of, like, "We Are The World," 2009. But an overly hip version. Where was Michael?




I need to know.

so I did my homework

And found out that no, it definitely wasn't Robyn in that Lykke Li video, however she is still very much alive and kicking.

And... rapping?!

Who knew? Did you?

Top 10 Sites for Do It Yourself Projects

Go here to read Spog Blog's commendable list of ten.

You can learn how to do things like build a hidden door bookshelf, how to turn an NES controller into an iPod remote, make an iPod video projector, how to make your own legit hoverboard, or how to make Hillary Clinton's face with balloon art. Sweet.

Hey Sweden

You're alright.




Lykke Li will be at the Varsity on Monday night along with "Wildbirds & peacedrums" and I'm not gonna pretend like I know who they are but I'm down to go find out. Yes.


Sidenote: I'm pretty sure that the short lady who pops out during the chorus is Robyn. You know, "Show Me Love", from Sweden, all extra 1998 style Robyn. Possible?

your eyes aren't lying

I have finally finished uploading my entire batch of photos from Kenya and Uganda. After scrupulously weeding out and deleting every single picture that I felt was even just so-so, I am left with an album of 400 incredible, unbelievable pictures.

click to view

items of note

1. Mansinthe, The Official Marilyn Manson Absinthe

Coming soon to Minnesota






2. Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust The Windows Out Your Car" Remix

Jazmine Sullivan - Bust Your Windows (Remix) (Ft. The Dream)





3. Cheap airfare from Student Universe Travel

Even if you're not a real student, there are ways to pretend you are by dodging ID checkpoints via online check-in and therefore benefiting from really cheap plane tickets. Go on somewhere!






4. Scenic Cafe on Lake Superior's North Shore



This is where I had the best meal of my entire life - the Croque Provencal. Ahem. THE BEST MEAL OF MY ENTIRE LIFE.

It was well worth embarrassing myself by trying to pronounce it. It was even worth the pretentious atmosphere, bad art, and silly prices.

Shit, it would even be worth the 2 1/2 hour drive just for another taste. Who's down?





yum





5. African Gray Parrots. That's all I gotta say.




6. The Freedom of Information Act, passed by Prez Obama on his second day in office.

Well. I just happen to love transparency of government. How did he know?

duluth, minnesota

"REGISTER NOW FOR SURVIVAL LOTTERY"

"For three decades the Institute for Human Continuity has brought together the world's foremost scientists, politicians, and business leaders to ensure the survival of humankind beyond 2012."

Almost 4 million people have already entered this organization's survival lottery.

From the website:

"Nobody knows precisely what the world will look like on December 12th, 2012. We do know, with near complete certainty, that a series of catastrophes will decimate much of the planet. The IHC will not save everyone. It will, however, give everyone an equal chance at survival."

Their site comes fully equipped with astronomical disaster simulations and everything. This is disturbing.

I have not, and will not, be registering for a lottery number...


CAUSE I COULD NEVER GO ON WITHOUT YOU!