I was remiss in including the lovely and talented M.A. Turner in my PureVolume rundown. Dolphin of the Sky. Listen to it. Soak it in. Revel in its sheer beauty.

Sometimes, the fine art world just makes it too easy to poke fun at them. British sculpture artist David Hensel’s Laughing Head piece was rejected by the Royal Academy of Arts but the wooden support for the sculpture was accepted and will be displayed. “It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way that the artist might have intended.” Right. Sure.

Um… Japanese Doritos packaging? Nothing makes me want snack chips more than Buddy-Boy in tights giving someone a crotch kick. Again, someone please tell Japan to stop using up all the FREAKING AWESOME and leave some for the rest of us.

Happy back-from-the-holidays Monday, people of the internets. If you are in the need of new tunes, head over to PureVolume to snag the not-so-emo We Were Here First mix, featuring lots of folks like The Lonely Hearts.You might also enjoy the rock-out sounds of Jonezetta. Get Ready (Hot Machete) is the jam and they’re having a remix contest for the song at hotmachete.com that I will be entering. You should too. You might also enjoy Evaline. You might also enjoy Need to Breathe (SC shoutout!) You might also enjoy Manouk. You might also enjoy Jamie Randolph.While you’re PureVoluming it, you might (or might not) also enjoy Joshua Blankenship, who has two demos that were recorded with the fabulous Lee McDerment producing/recording/mixing just prior to giving thanks with family and friends. One more to come, once it’s all polished. They are certainly demos (with all manner of squeaks and missed notes and such) but I wanted to at least get something done, and so I’m quite pleased in that regard.I’ve abandoned vocal music for the time being. Rock.

The critic roams through culture, looking for prey.
Mason Cooley

Back in Dallas. Off to see Imogen Heap tonight. Her website resizes my browser, but I try not to hold the songbird personally responsible for such annoyances, especially in light of her wonderful music which will bring me great joy tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving, internet friends.

I’ve been rockin’ like Dokken in The SC since late Friday. Thus far, I have had the pleasure of great company, a wonderful wedding with and for friends, copious amounts of unhealthy food and beverage, a day of TV and movies and couch time, The Biltmore House, a resturant called Weet’s Good Eats (I kid you not), and far too much sleep.

Still to come: turkey, tryptophan-induced slumber, recording some music (yes, for freaking finally), thrift store shopping, family time, and a flight back to Dallas.

 I love the holidays.

Simple, brilliant, and completely fun all describe the Souvenirs Flickr photoset from photographer (and obvious world traveler) Michael Hughes. I hope he makes a book from these.

Scene: deftly text messaging while commuting this morning

Lee: “If you had a unicorn for a pet, what would its name be?”

“Chocolate Thunder.”

Eduardo Recife, who you might know from his illustrations and typefaces at Misprinted Type, has a new site to showcase his commercial work. I’ve always loved Eduardo’s style (think flea market meets pencil drawing meets gluebook meets collage.)

Jakob will donate $1000 to a legitimate effort to prosecute musician Citizen Cope, who has spraypainted his name on hundreds of sidewalks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Awesome.

Scene: Inadvertently going the wrong way in a shopping center parking lot roundabout

Derek: “One way? What the heck? THIS ISN’T FRANCE.”

Thriving Office provides instant credibility for your home business with the background noise of a busy (or very busy) office environment. “Some home businesses even play the CD when they’re off the phone, reporting that it increases their productivity.”

Apparently 80% of spam comes from the same 10 people. The same ten VERY RICH people… that I would like to punch in the face repeatedly. One punch for every spam email I’ve ever gotten. I should be done punching around the year 2175.

“It feels like a poisonous serpent plunged its rusty fangs into my uterus, got lockjaw, and then died.” Absolutely the best single sentence I’ve read online in weeks.

Sheesh.

Get a Mac ads from Japan. Such literal re-interpretations of the US versions. Apparently making fun of PCs is universal and crosses all geographic, political, and cultural lines. Our mutual hatred of Windows unites us as one.

Wicked – very; or occasionally cool. Used indiscriminately, can modify anything (e.g.: “Wicked good.” “Wicked bad.” “Wicked boring.”, etc.). Almost always used as an adverb, rather than an adjective; some Bostonians feel it is grammatically improper not to put an adjective or verb after “wicked”. Beantown-approved Boston Slang on Wikipedia. (A hoobanger is a large party.)

In case you hadn’t noticed, I browse the internet. A lot. And that means I use a web browser. A lot. And after three+ years of being a devoted Safari user, I have finally had enough.

Why, Safari? Why will Apple not put forth any effort to make you better? Why do you grind to a halt when I try to open multiple tabs at once? Why are you so slow? Why do I get the spinning beach ball of death every time I try to open a new tab behind the tab I’m viewing? Why are you forcing me to stop using you?

And with that rant, Firefox fanboys (and girls), if you please, contribute to my sanity by directing me to a Firefox skin that makes it look like Safari, then hit me up with all the add-ons and extensions that may (or may not) make my life on the web a better experience. The comment section is yours.

P.S. Firefox’s form fields and default web trinkets are ugly and it pains me to have to see them.

Most excellent bag-maker Timbuk2 has an Artist’s Canvas Messenger Bag with a center panel of 100% cotton, untreated canvas for customization. The Artist’s Gallery features some familiar names. This is my favorite.