Get Unbunny's Black Strawberries Reprinted!

Ryan Catbird has been working hard to get people to pledge money to his project on Kickstarter, which involves getting the long out-of-print release Black Strawberries by indie stalwarts Unbunny reissued on 180-gram vinyl. Take a listen:

Unbunny - "In a Way" (MP3)

It's a wonderful example of fans directly financing the release of music. $5 or more gets you a high-quality download of the album, $20 or more gets you the LP, and $40 or more gets you the Deluxe Version LP, which promises to feature "special extras, additional artwork and/or customization, hand-numbered and signed by Jarid Del Deo [leader of Unbunny]."

He hasn't reached the $3,500 goal yet, and there's only 53 days left, so if you haven't chipped in, please consider it. Oh, and just so you know, all donors will have their name listed in the liner notes!

Countdown to Watchmen: The Keene Act and You

The Watchmen viral videos continue with this fake PSA on the Keene Act, which banned the act of costumed vigilantism in the United States:



Not as professional as the vintage 1970 newscast, but I love the step-by-step "How to Avoid Rorschach" at the end. For more awesomeness, check out the official website for The New Frontiersmen, as well as their Flickr page.

One Christmas Compilation Worthy of Your Cash

Last year, I neglected to mention that the excellent blog Hard to Find a Friend posted an indie Christmas compilation entitled Peace on Earth, featuring new music by Chris Walla, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and my good friend Perry Wright and his band, The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers. Well, I'm not making the same mistake this year, as they've debuted a second volume of Peace on Earth, with much of the same artists back with more holiday cheer, plus new recordings by American Analog Set, Oxford Collapse, Bodies of Water, and Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene. The whole thing costs less than a movie ticket, and 100% of the proceeds go to the Children of Uganda, so you get the double satisfaction of getting some kick-ass Christmas tunes and helping out a worthy cause. Volume One is still available, too, with all proceeds going to Toys for Tots. Seriously, guys; it's a win-win situation no matter which one you buy.

Criterion give away (some of) their movies (for a month)!

The supergeniuses over at The Criterion Collection (with a little help from film forum The Auteurs) recently gave their website a complete overhaul, and in addition to an offering users the opportunity to watch some of their films online for five bucks (which will go towards the cost of the DVD if you decide you want to own it), they've had IFC Films sponsor a monthly online film festival, in which six Criterion films are available to watch online for ZERO DOLLARS!

This month, they've selected one film from each of the first six Eclipse series box sets, including an early work by Ingmar Bergman, a documentary by Louis Malle, a color feature by Yasujiro Ozu, and classics by Raymond Bernard and Samuel Fuller. Witness the awesomeness.

Mirman on Palin

Eugene Mirman, the landlord from "Flight of the Conchords," wants to make sure all of America is informed about Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin before they vote this November. For example, did you know that Sarah Palin was raised by wolves (not same-sex wolves, of course) and that she bit a bear to death? Clearly, it must be true since it was reported in highly reputable online media!



More awesome stuff, including the animated "Get Your War On" series, can be found at 236 Video.

Garfield Minus Garfield

Who knew that if you removed Garfield from his comic strip, you'd end up with a series of disturbing, yet hilarious, looks at the schizophrenic behavior of one Jon Arbuckle?

More here.

"Thanks, Santa. Also, I talk now."

It just wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't point you guys in the direction of McSweeney's, where they've posted excerpts from Ben Joseph's script for Alien vs. Predator Save Christmas. Spread the yuletide cheer with some good 'ol fashioned alien blasting!

Tear it Down, One Pixel at a Time

50099I usually don't get political on this site, but I was very impressed by Amnesty International's new website asking people to pledge to help tear down Guantánamo Bay. Cruel, inhuman treatment of prisoners by Americans is something we can not and should not allow, and pledging your support is one way we can help end illegal torture. I also really like the design of the website, which removes a pixel from the image of Guantánamo detainees every time someone pledges their support.

Savage Chickens Get Animated

Doug Savage proves his worth in this stop-motion animated video featuring a song by Laura Veirs and everybody's favorite online post-it cartoon chickens!

Theremin-Playing Robots Cover Gnarls Barkley

And I thought having "Weird Al" parody your song was proof you'd made it to the big time. Link via MoonMilk.

200 "Bad" Comics

The guy over at Nedroid.com recently accepted the challenge of drawing 200 bad comics, and while I haven't made it through all 200, a lot of them are pretty darn funny.

Sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as usual, but there simply hasn't been much to report. Well, I'm off to buy the Zodiac DVD!

The Monsters are Back!

So nice to see Stefan Bucher is back at the helm with his Daily Monsters, now reborn as Weekly Monsters. All he asks for his hard work is that you post a story about the monsters he draws. I went ahead and added my two cents to his latest creation, and so should you. I never get tired of these cool drawings. Keep up the great work, Stefan!

NPR Rocks! Also, McSweeney's Guide to the Presidential Candidates

If you have not yet subscribed to NPR's All Songs Considered podcast, I advise you to do so right away. Not only can you listen to new music from the White Stripes, Feist, and others, but every other week, they have excellent-quality concerts by artists like Andrew Bird, Ben Gibbard, and Björk! We're talking the whole shebang, too. The Andrew Bird concert alone is an hour and 50 minutes long!

In other news, online literary website McSweeney's has, for your convenience, lists of The Pros and Cons of the Top 20 Democratic and Republican Candidates. Prime candidates from both lists include Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Jimmy Carter, Ira Glass, Zombie Ronald Regan, Bigfoot, Robotic Super Bees, Optimus Prime, and my personal favorite in the Democrat list, Dick Cheney in an Elaborate Latex Disguise That Takes Five Hours to Apply.

kiva.org: A worthy cause

So, even though my sidebar states that this is an ad-free blog, I feel it is important to plug this one service, namely Kiva.org. You see, my family and I loan money to over 10 different entreprenuers in many different parts of the globe. We do it through Kiva, which acts as a middleman, connecting residents of third-world companies trying to start up businesses with people willing to support a charitable cause. This is a great way to give to people who are really in need, but also a great way to see exactly where your money goes. For more information, check out this New York Times video all about Kiva and their services.

New Grizzly Bear Sessions at Daytrotter

Daytrotter continues their impressive series of in-studio sessions with a trio of revamped tunes by Hall of Awesome inductees Grizzly Bear. Among the offerings are a sparse, yet powerful, cover of the controversial Crystals tune "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Hit)," along with a drastically reworked version of Yellow House centerpiece "Little Brother." Get 'em while the gettin's good.

Need more sweet Daytrotter sessions? Try the archives where you'll find, among other things, sessions by Dr. Dog, My Brightest Diamond, The Elected, Mates of State, Of Montreal, Cold War Kids, Maritime, Sunset Rubdown, Harry and the Potters, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Something Happening in Haiti

This is the funniest video to come out of the newly-created Onion News Network so far:


Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti

Your Daily Monster

I wish I had found this website sooner. Yewknee pointed me in the direction of Daily Monster, a really cool site run by artist Stefan G. Bucher. The deal is he draws a different monster every day for 100 days, and asks readers to post a story about the monster. Most of the creatures exhibit similar features, but it is still fun to see him draw a new one each day. Unfortunately, I've got some catching up to do. He's already at Monster No. 94 (featured above).

Lots of Watts

There are some pretty sweet music videos out there right now. The Spinto Band's "Oh Mandy," TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me," as well as some past videos by Death Cab For Cutie and The Thrills. Little did I know that they were all directed by the same person!

Meet Jon Watts. The director of ten music videos and three television commercials, each piece he works on looks and feels so different from his past works that he almost takes the form of a creative chameleon. With a body of work as exceptional as this, Watts may be poised to become the next Michel Gondry. Take a look:

The Spinto Band - "Oh Mandy"


The Thrills - "The Irish Keep Gate-Crashing"


All of his videos can be viewed in QuickTime format at the link above. I also recommend Death Cab for Cutie's "Soul Meets Body" video as well as the Frosted Flakes and NY Times commercials, the latter of which uses one of my favorite songs, "Me and My Arrow" by Harry Nilsson.