Kirsten Dunst - Turning Japanese from St1b1 on Vimeo.

American director McG and "superflat" Japanese artist Takashi Murakami collaborated with Kirsten Dunst to create a video piece for the Tate Modern's 2009 "Pop Life" exhibit. I'm a fan of Dunst, The Vapors, blue hair, thigh high stockings, short skirts, and the idea of the Akihabara market in Tokyo. It was hard to do anything but love this particular work. Someday, when my hair is completely white, I hope to acheive Kirsten's hair color in a semi-permanent fashion.

I don't set aside a great deal of time to watch television. "Castle" is the only show that Nat and I bother to catch on broadcast. We keep up with a few others as they hit DVD, typically either via the very generous Lacy Lending Library or the ubiquitous Netflix.

Netflix has been quite insistent that I'd like the short lived Brittish series "Keen Eddie" -- better than 4 of 5 stars. Netflix winds up being more often incorrect than correct in its estimations of what I'll like, and I was hesitant to give the series a viewing -- until I saw the pilot, that is. "Keen Eddie" is mostly a buddy cop, crime-of-the-week show combined with a moderate helping of cultural fish-out-of-water elements. Eddie is a New York detective who, with one thing and another, winds up working for Scotland Yard. The show only lasted 13 episodes, but I don't find a bad one in the group.

There are a huge number of things that work for me ranging from cleverly phrased dialogue to contravention of expectations (e.g., Eddie's upper-crust partner who poses as married so that he and his girlfriend can participate in the London swingers scene), to the sweetly awkward (albeit occasionally forced) chemistry between actors Mark Valley and Sienna Miller, to one of the best 'shipper episodes I've seen -- an episode that manages to eloquently demonstrate why it is most often best not to give an audience what it wants.

By far, my favorite scenes are Eddie's interactions with Rachel Buckley's Miss Moneypenny. The scenes deliver innuendo in a most excellent fashion and are produced in such a fashion as to keep Eddie and the viewer guessing whether or not Eddie is imagining the interchanges.

She rides from michele Lugaresi on Vimeo.

Michele Lugaresi utilized a tilt-shift effect to create a video that resonates with melancholy, longing, and a pleasantly odd phantom nostalgia. The video evokes a barrage of half-remembered, half-imagined ideas. It is a beautiful bit of work.

The video is based on an idea by Christina Onofri and is set to Peter Bjorn and John's song "Amsterdam."

I've been watching Michele's video for a couple of years now, and it continues to work for me on several levels.

Jane Austen's Fight Club from Keith Paugh on Vimeo.

I don't recall when or where I first stumbled across Emily Janice Card's "Jane Austen's Fight Club,", but I'm awfully glad I did. Anytime it surfaces on the active bits of my neural network, I'm guaranteed to have about three minutes of smile inducing euphoria. The mashup of these particular elements of cultural cloth is brilliant and the execution is spot on.

I haven't seen the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel, though I read and enjoyed the novel a few years back. Should "Jane Austen's Fight Club" ever make it to the silver screen, I'd be there opening night.

PROFESSIONal from VITA BREVIS FILMS on Vimeo.

One of the guys over at Velocipedesalon pointed me at this video, for which I'm grateful. Both the content and the qualia of the piece resonate with me, from repetition and principal's hand work to the quality of image and cut of the film.

New Romance - Miles Fisher from Miles Fisher on Vimeo.

I'm actually a bit old for "Saved by the Bell," but I vividly recall my younger siblings watching it to death--cannot get the images out of my head. Aside from not being its demographic, the saccharine nature of the show didn't work for me, even in that when that was.

Miles Fisher, however, deftly manages to turn the show's convention widdershins with great success. His send up includes treatment of one of SBTB's over the top, ham-handed "poignant" bits. It does no damage that the music works for me.

"Firefly" is one of the best television shows that I've ever had the pleasure to watch. It was short lived, but had the perfect amalgamation of cast, crew, and writers. I still get choked up when I think about "Out of Gas" and smile a bit manically when "Our Mrs. Reynolds" crosses my neural network.

"Castle" is another television show at the really, really, really good end of the boob-tube continuum. Nathan Fillion and the show's writers have made a point of playing to their audience. It appears as though the playfulness and self-referencing may be rubbing off in good ways.

If you don't get the humor of the photo, I can direct you here for a wee bit of context.

In the event that the above photo goes the way of degraded bits, I've cribbed a copy.]]> http://nomuse.com/memory/2011/08/alexis.html http://nomuse.com/memory/2011/08/alexis.html Stuff I Like Television captain mal firefly Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:39:01 -0700

Donuts + Highway Patrol = Win!

Tour of Utah - Queen Stage - Wacky Food Hand Ups from Roots Culture Connect on Vimeo.

Hat tip to Blair Murdock for the link dink.

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Earlier this year, Justin asked whether I'd be interested in popping over to Denver to ride wingman on his first century. I was giddy to take my recently assembled travel bike on a trip and agreed. This particular ride has an excess of riders and plenty of climbing from the start — and interesting combination for the first twenty or so miles. The descents struck me as piddly until late in the ride when we hit a long, fast section of road headed back towards Castle Rock. It was a sufficiently fun ride that I imagine that we'll do it again next year.

One thing that struck me odd was the copyright details for purchased photos. I'm prone to buying digital copies of photos that don't emphasize my mid-life paunch for use in my digital scrapbook here and over at flickr. Given the default copyright, should I purchase a digital copy from the professional photographer's e-commerce site, I wasn't allowed to use it for much of anything — certainly not here. After a couple rounds of emails, I got in touch with Hunter Mooneyham and explained my intended uses. He willingly extended my rights to the digital photo, which was trés cool from my perspective.

Much cooler would have been an e-commerce/copyright infrastructure that acknowledges the twenty-first century, blogs, photo sharing, social media, jet cars, etc. I doubt that any of this is Mr. Mooneyham's fault — he was very accommodating via email. It was, however, an email conversation that wouldn't have been necessary if the folks writing the small print spent any time considering how their customers would likely use a digital image, here, in the future, where we live now, rather than, y'know, copying and pasting Olan Mills circa 1932 boilerplate into their web forms.

My buddy, Erik, asked for a list of the first fifteen albums of which I could think in fifteen minutes, give or take. I hit twenty-six albums before I reigned myself in. Most of the albums hold some autobiographical importance.

When I pare my CD collection, these will definitely be among the keepers:

1. Lloyd Cole, "The Negatives"
2. The Psychedelic Furs, "Midnight to Midnight"
3. Fountains of Wayne, "Welcome Interstate Buisness Managers"
4. The Killers, "Hot Fuss"
5. Huey Lewis and the News, "Picture This"
6. Pink Floyd, "Momentary Lapse of Reason"
7. Beulah, "The Coast Is Never Clear"
8. Taylor Swift, "Fearless"
9. Leona Naess, "I Tried To Rock You But You Only Roll"
10. Dido, "No Angel"
11. Deana Carter, "I'm Just A Girl"
12. KT Tunstall, "Eye To Telescope"
13. Liz Phair, "Liz Phair"
14. The La's, "The La's"
15. Rick Springfield, "Working Class Dog"

And the extras (most are keepers as well, a couple are too new to know):

• Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, "1984-1989"
• Crystal Method, "Vegas"
• Moby, "Play"
• Fountains of Wayne, "Traffic and Weather"
• The Killers, "Sam's Town"
• The National, "High Violet"
• Bon Jovi, "Slippery When Wet"
• Kylie Minogue, "Fever"
• Orianthi, "Believe (II)"
• Neon Trees, "Habits"
• Lloyd Cole, "Broken Record"

Six or seven years ago, I purchased a set of Etymotic E4R headphones for use with a series of amplifiers that I was building at the time. I sampled them during a Headroom road show that passed through Salt Lake City and I fell in love with the audio that they produced. I've used them constantly since their initial purchase and have taken good care of them.

Last month, one of the stems that extends from the driver enclosure and supports the foam or silicone ear fittings broke off. I contacted Etymotic, arranged an RMA, and shipped my E4Rs off for repair. A week later, my headphones were returned with new drivers. Etymotic neither charged me for the repair nor asked for proof-of-purchase. My E4Rs were an expensive purchase that I've enjoyed using. I love this kind of long-term customer service.

I ride my bicycle a bit — this isn't news for anyone who knows me. I'm working to make it my primary means of transportation. When I bought my TCR a few years ago, I sampled a number of saddles looking for something that wouldn't aggravate or numb my primary bicycle interface. My search ended when a buddy recommended the Specialized Toupe. The Toupe addressed all of my comfort issues save one — longer rides and/or consecutive commute days yielded chafing on my left inner thigh and saddle sores. I addressed the irritation with Chamois Butt'r, cortisone shots, and gritted teeth.

A short while back, I stopped in at my shop and asked Brady whether a narrower version of the Toupe might correct my issue. Brady strongly recommended a technical fit rather than a saddle that would "cut me in half." The pricing for the fitting was on par with the price of a new saddle. After considering my options overnight, I made an appointment.

A technical fitting is an intensive, one-on-one process with Taylor that can run as long as three hours. The fitting covers a range of data points from riding position and style to body flexibility and irregularities (different leg lengths, for instance) to the particulars of pedal stroke, all of which play into the specifics of adjusting the bicycle for something very close to optimal rider fit and alignment.

After my first session with Taylor, I took the TCR out for a longer weekend ride. My hope was to correct the irritation at the primary interface. Forty miles later, the primary interface was ready for more. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that pedaling was different — easier, more efficient, more like I was skimming along water like Dash from "The Incredibles." And, my tendency to shrug my shoulders while riding, which led to cramping and discomfort even on shorter rides, all but disappeared. Specialized advertises that one will "Ride faster, longer, and in greater comfort." I agree. Completely.

Taylor sent me home with a copy of the measurements of various relationships on the TCR. That sheet allows me to adjust a bicycle's components in very close to where they need to be. Of course, frame geometry is a factor, but a visit to the shop for fine tuning becomes short work and much less expensive. After all, I'm paying for much less of Taylor's time. The heavy lifting of the initial fit is done. So far, I've been in to have my commuter and travel bikes adjusted. When I get the drops installed on my Xtracycle, I'll have that fitted as well.

If you cannot tell from this drivel, I am incredibly pleased with the results of my fittings. They have made a massive difference in my ride quality. My chafing, saddle sores, and shoulder shrugging are in my past. I liked riding before. These days, I love riding so much that I'd consider marrying it — if I were still in third grade and weren't already married.

If you're one of my three (ir)regular readers, or if you've stumbled onto this post via the magic of the intertubes and are interested in having Bountiful Bicycle fit your bicycle(s), mention that you read about my fitting on nomuse.com and they'll knock $50 off the price of the technical fitting. It really will be the best $150 you spend on your bicycle. If you go in for a fitting, be prepared for a fair amount of saddle time — cycling shoes and clothing are definitely needed. A significant portion of the fitting is spent pedaling on the trainer.

For what it's worth, in addition to Taylor being a great guy, he's completed both the BG F.I.T. and Masters BG F.I.T. courses at Specialized's training facility in Morgan Hill, California. You can reach Taylor for a fitting appointment at 801-295-6711. More information about the BG Fit program is available via Specialized's BG Fit segment of the intertubes.

The city of North Salt Lake recently ripped up a section of my daily commute route that was in dire need of repair. The road was closed for about six weeks during which time the macadam was stripped, the underlayment was reworked, and silky smooth asphalt right out of Disney's "Cars" was laid. The city finally finished striping the road and I was giddy to find a proper bike lane -- a lane that includes directional arrows for those salmon-like cyclists who can't seem to figure out on which side of the street they should ride. Good on ya, NSL!

Hobbes loves sleeping on his back. Hobbes does not love belly rubs, but who can resist rubbing his tummy? Not I.

The front door to our house has been a problem since we purchased the place. The original door was hung so badly that during the winter Nat and her Mom together struggled to get the door to close. With one thing and another, the original door was rehung slightly better than than when we bought the house. Then it was replaced with a fancy-pants door. However, neither hanging worked in an ideally functional sense. One of my early summer vacation projects was rehanging the front door with a new wall section between vertical structural posts. I believe the wall from the my first rehanging was slightly askew. Anyway, out came the door and the wall. In went the new wall and our fancy-pants door. After a few minor adjustments, it works mostly correctly, which will have to be good enough.