things to click on (part 2) Movie Edition

I’m in a movie mood and I’m super stoked about this stuff coming out…I think you will be too!

• Transformers 2 – woah…I can hardly contain myself. I got to see this trailer on the big screen last night and it is AMAZING! If you haven’t seen the first movie drop what you are doing right now and watch it! Below is a sweet screen shot from the trailer.
  watch the trailer – visit the website

  

• 500 Days of Summer – “This is not a love story. This is a story about love.” The trailer looks awesome, a perfect indie romantic comedy! Also check out the movie poster…it is so beautifully designed…the collage and hand-drawn technique is done so well. Special thanks to my very talented friend Chaz for telling me about this!
  watch the trailer – visit the site

  

• Inglorious Basterds – Quintin Tarantino’s new WWII film with an epic cast…Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, BJ Novak, Mike Myers (do I even need to go on?) They just releasing these promo posters and the design is phenomenal…check out Brad Pitt’s below and click here for Eli Roth’s.
  watch the trailer – visit the site

  

• Away We Go – This is a comedy from the Director of “American Beauty” with an incredible cast including John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Allison Janney. I randomly stumbled across this trailer on Apple’s website and I’m honestly surprised I haven’t heard more about this film. The trailer is hilarious and smart. Also check out the movie poster, another example of beautiful hand-drawn design!
  watch the trailer – visit the site

  

quote of the week

After posting something silly about Janet Napolitano on his facebook, my friend Caleb received a rather lengthy (and semi-incoherent) response from someone about how God had her in that position for a reason. In turn, this is what Caleb said:

I couldn’t agree with you more. God uses dummies all the time!

This is just one of the many reasons why I love him!

Follow Caleb on twitter or visit his facebook!

**Disclaimer – I actually like Janet…I just thought Caleb’s response was hilarious.

things to click on (part 1)

so i decided to start a new feature! (hmm…i’m not sure if my blog is cool enough to have features, but we’ll see how this goes) i thought it would be cool to post links to photos, music, people, sites, or whatever that I’ve been digging on lately. so without further ado, here is…

Things To Click On (Part 1)

SCANWICHES – hi-quality scans of sandwiches for delight and education! this is hilarious and actually really cool looking…i check this at least once a day…i might have to start a “scanwich of the week” feature!

New Harry Potter trailer – this trailer really shows the darker side of the movie…can’t wait for this to come out!

Mark Hoppus on Twitter – he’s hilarious and also talks a lot about music and the recording process

Free download of “One of My Kind” – documentary about Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – great film with great music, plus it’s free!

New freebie textures from fudgegraphics – these are really unusual and would look great on photos or in web design!

New photos from Chris Ward – Chris put up some really great new stuff this week…the sunset ones are particularly wonderful and his lovely model Joey adds quite a bit of class to the photos!

That’s all I have folks! Hope you enjoy the links!

the open door, the mystic valley band, and ladyluck

Some music updates…

Death Cab’s new EP, The Open Door, is set to drop on March 31 (hasn’t leaked anywhere yet though…). Stereogum has been streaming a track every day this week…the best so far is a song called “My Mirror Speaks”. It is really good. And when I say really good, I mean REALLY good.

In other news (I felt kinda cool saying that…) Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band have announced that they are releasing a full-length in May called Outer South. I’m pretty stoked about this. They are streaming a track from it called “Slowly” on their website right now.

Lastly, do yourself a favor and go to Maria Taylor’s myspace RIGHT NOW and listen to “Time Lapse Lifeline” from her upcoming record Ladyluck.The album is being released on the 31st, but it leaked a few weeks ago. If you can’t get the leak, you can get three singles from it on iTunes or Amazon now. This album is truly amazing. She has always been one of my faves, but this record marks a shift from talented singer/songwriter to phenomenal solo artist. I know I’ll be blogging more about this album…

don’t trust the genius

I have a love-hate relationship with iTunes new Genius feature.

At first I was threatened by it. Several people told me that it was going to replace me as the ultimate playlist-maker. Naturally I laughed this off in public, but secretly I was terrified. After doing extensive research and testing, I reached the conclusion that no machine could ever replace the art of a personal mix-tape. (If you don’t believe me watch the movie High Fidelity and then you will be convinced) After coming to the realization that I need not be threatened by The Genius, I began enjoying it. I would make quick playlists when I was working, or driving and it was convenient. It really was amazing how it pair bands and songs together that were similar. For example, I tell it to create a playlist based on the Weezer song “No One Else”. It would include bands like Ozma and The Anniversary which was great. Occasionally Blink-182 would sneak in there, which I could live with, but for the most part it was pretty accurate.

BUT, in the last few weeks I’ve realized that all my genius playlists are consisting of the same artists…it’s absolutely bizarre, it’s like The Genius has gotten lazy, or maybe The Genius is trying to tell me something. It keeps giving me the same songs by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, Dashboard Confessional, The New Pornographers, and Broken Social Scene. IT’S FREAKING ME OUT. To be honest, I think it has it’s own agenda. Maybe…MAYBE the record companies are paying The Genius to tell us what to listen to…IT’S BRAINWASHING US! Don’t you see! We’re playing into it’s hands (does it have hands?) I’m so freaked out right now…

ten best albums of 2008

drum roll please….here is my list of the ten best albums of 2008…

Kate Farrar’s Ten Best Albums of 2008 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

She & Him, Volume I

Kings of Leon, Only By The Night

Copeland, You Are My Sunshine

Sigur Ros, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

Conor Oberst, Self-titled

Cold War Kids, Loyalty to Loyalty

Coldplay, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

Fall Out Boy, Folie à Deux

Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs

Jack’s Mannequin, The Glass Passenger

 

Honorable mention goes to:

MGMT, Oracular Spectacular

Girl Talk, Feed the Animals

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Cardinology

pretending.

is reality just something we create for ourselves? if i pretend that everything is fine will it be? if i pretend like nothing has changed has it? 

i’m tired of pretending.

different.

I wanted to see something that’s different, 
something you said would change in me.
Wanted to be anything different, 
everything you would change in me.

from ‘different’ by acceptance

beer bottle slide

hmm…i’m not sure it gets any more bad ass than this. someday…someday.

 

photo credit: tim snell

music lately…

A couple weeks ago I was talking with some great friends of mine and one of them, Matt Gibson (who is a fantastic musician/producer – check out his stuff), remarked that a lot of great records have come out recently. He was totally right. It has been an awesome couple of months…here is what I’ve been listening to non-stop:

The Glass Passenger by Jack’s Mannequin – this is just a solid record all the way through…musically and lyrically it is cool to see how much Andrew McMahon has grown. He has definitely moved on from his ‘Punk Rock Princess/Something Corporate’ days.

Loyalty to Loyalty by The Cold War Kids – another great record by these guys. I think I even like it better than the first one.

A Hundred Million Suns by Snow Patrol – I’ve never been a huge fan of these guys…I always enjoyed their radio singles, but beyond that not much else. This album is a huge improvement from their other stuff…you can listen to it all the way through without skipping a song.

Conor Oberst (Self-Titled) – I’m convinced that Conor Oberst is incapable of writing a bad song…he just gets better and better. This albums sound is very folk/alt country like Cassadaga, but definitely stands on its own two feet.

Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friend by Coldplay – I was skeptical at first, but I think they got their game back…in the words of Ben Hainline, “I forgive them for X&Y because the new album is so good”.

Happy listening!