The D.I.Y. Debate
Does D.I.Y. mean R.I.P. for graphic design? Lupton and Heller debate whether the democratization of design is beneficial or detrimental to the design agenda.

Time Inc. to Cut 100 More Jobs as It Focuses on Web Business
Goals included "freeing up more resources for the Web producers at Time.com."

PDP Planet
A resource for computer history.

Weebl and Bob – Pie
Pie pie pie pie!

Yeah Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams for being nominated for Oscars. However I am shocked Katie Holmes wasn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actress in The Tom Cruise Crazy Show.

Criminals Taking Tips From TV Crime Shows
Television crime dramas like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," which give criminals helpful tips on how to cover up evidence.

Plum TV
PLUM is a startup television network focused on local television in high-end resort markets.

HAMSTER DANCE VIDEO
Hamster dance…multicolour style.

Myth of Dioxins and Plastic Water Bottles
Set the record straight on dioxins in the food supply and the risks associated with drinking water from plastic bottles and cooking with plastics.

Al Gore wows ‘em at Sundance
The official Sundance Film Festival guide calls Al Gore’s documentary a ”gripping story” with ”a visually mesmerizing presentation” that is ”activist cinema at its very best.”

NYP@Work
Get professional advice, help, stories from the New York Post.

Idiotarod
The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. Our Idiotarod is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it’s people, instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it’s New York

Royal Magnet Design Co.
Design company that worked on WhiteStripes.com and TheRaconteurs.com

STEP Inside Design
Design from the inside out

OZ SPEAKS!
Blogging lures graphic designers out from behind the velvet curtain.

Global Warming Risks Severe
Over the next century, global warming is expected to raise ocean levels, intensify storms, spread disease to new areas and shift climate zones, possibly making farmlands drier and deserts wetter.

Dear people who probably bought up all the Raconteurs 7″ vinyls today, just wanted to give you the heads up on this awesome showcase of live bands (The Long Blondes are playing!) happening in London this week. The concert showcases take place in conjunction with rock photographer Dean Chalkley’s exhibition at the Spitz Gallery. He’s the man responsible for numerous great NME cover shots and photoshoots.

Speaking of great rock photos, Daniel Boud finally gave into to all my nagging and posted his photos of the White Stripes from Big Day Out.

Speaking of tinkering around with songs, here are two cool cover versions of White Stripes and Strokes songs. MP3s found on Kill Your Co-Workers:

DOWNLOAD: “Seven Nation Army” by Damien Rice and Vyvienne Long (White Stripes cover)

DOWNLOAD: “Last Night” by Detroit Cobras (The Strokes cover)

Get your first look and listen to the Raconteurs right now! Check out the new Apple II-meets-Atari-inspired official Web site. The news page announces the release of the 7″ in the UK starting today, with information that the same 7″ will be released in the US under V2 Records on March 7, 2006. The full length album entitled, Broken Boy Soldiers, will be released in May 2006. You can sign up for the official newsletter and most importantly listen to both “Steady As She Goes” and “Store Bought Bones” in the media section.

“Steady As She Goes” kinda sounds like a slow, groovy Greenhornes song, with a sort of classic soul/r&b backbone (Think “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”). I think “Store Bought Bones” sounds SO like something Beck would record–from the funky electro-beep-type guitar and bass lines and the drowny, monotone sound of Jack’s voice in the opening 20 seconds of the track and the bizzare lyrics. Further on it gets a bit more rock ‘n’ roll with some mean guitar solos, which sound more along the lines of a rock metal band like Metallica.

Two thumbs up?

Michel Gondry and Jim Jarmusch have teamed up to produce their own remixed versions of the White Stripes song, “Blue Orchid.” According to the Candy Cane Children forum, Gondry’s version sounds like “just a motor engine accelerating being put on the song,” but Jarmusch may have put in some extra work because according the the post, his has “these indian drums and indian noices and it makes the song sound really cool.”

See Michel’s side of the album and Jim’s side.

This homage to the White Stripes’s Get Behind Me Satan is the video director equivalent of a teenage boy making a video of his juggling act to “Seven Nation Army.” Scans from the Michel Gondry News Page.

I’m actually still a little fuzzy about the details of this single, since I can’t find any official record of it anywhere, so if you know more, please let me know.

Here’s another weird video of a bunch of footage of drugged out Italian kids set to “Blue Orchid.”

Ok, are you ready to see the best White Stripes remix ever? Check it out, a version of “My Doorbell” by the artist simply known as “Lil’ Jack” (click on image to view vid):

Last, but not least, here’s a cool addition to the WS official site: complete set lists from 1997 onwards. Dear lord, all I can imagine is Ben Blackwell being strapped to a chair and forced to catalog every single bootleg he has in order to compile this information.

Lindsay Lohan’s ‘Evil’ Photoshoot
La Lohan throws up some devil horns

Winona Ryder and Robert Trujillo
Wino with Metallica

James Lipton recites PopoZao on Conan O’Brien
Reciting the lyrics to Kevin Federline’s "PopoZao"

Designers Guild
Official site of British fabric, leather goods, linens company.

Tips for Women Traveling Solo
We came up with the following tips, some of which will be helpful to anyone away from home.

Fiona’s Second Bite
Here, the poster girl for troubled youth tells Craig McLean about her famous ex-boyfriends, being raped and why the only love in her life now is snails

The ‘White Limousine’ from Duncan Sheik
Among his most ambitious work to date, the album is innovative in both content and design.

Playboy Seeks Hottest Girls On Myspace.com
Playboy.com seeks the sexiest women of the MySpace community to pose for a nude Playboy pictorial. If you’re 18 or older and would like to appear in a professional Playboy photo shoot, send us your application.

Write On! Musings on Music Journalism
Music writing is rife with language that is as cringe-inducing as it is obtuse.

theraconteurs.com
future home of theraconteurs.com

So this Friday I got a chance to go to an event at one of the great cultural institutions in NYC, the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The event was Arrested Development + Urban Word Teen Poetry Slam Champions + M1 of dead prez.

The crowd was full of young kids, many of whom I suspected were friends of some of the Urban Word champions. There was a lot of clapping and cheering for those kids–and rightly so. Some of those youngsters were on it. The topics which they slammed about were kind of the typical ones you’d expect for slam poetry–racism, politics, sexism, violence–but it’s always really amazing to see young people passionately speaking out about issues that concern them.

When Arrested Development came on, there were no less than 8 people onstage at a time…but during one song, no one could help but fixate on 70-something Baba Oje, the “oldest man in hip-hop” according to the Guiness Book of World Records, and AD’s “Spiritual Advisor.” While Speech was singing his little heart out, Baba Oje was…well, you’ll see… after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Old People Are Awesome’ »

This just in, Surefire has just signed an indie deal to Lizard King Records! You may know Lizard King as the first people who signed this little band you might have heard of called…The Killers. Look out for a Surefire single to come out in the UK sometime this year.

Congrats kids!