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Pop in 2008

2008 started with a glut of indie pop, for me: Magnetic Fields, Raveonettes, Nicole Atkins, Vampire Weekend. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But, well, it all started to feel like I was in a bit of a rut.

Which is why I'm so happy that the last month or so has brought some real honest-to-goodness pop and R&B: Duffy's "Mercy" and Estelle's "American Boy"; new Usher, new Erykah Badu, new Lil Wayne; a rediscovery of Girls Aloud's "Can't Speak French"; and perhaps most unexpected, an incredible track from Mariah Carey!

It's a good year.

Dignity, thy name is Rick Astley

I love Rick Astley even more after reading his thoughts on Rickrolling in this LA Times interview.

“Listen, I just think it’s bizarre and funny. My main consideration is that my daughter doesn’t get embarrassed about it.”

The thing is, I actually really enjoy "Never Gonna Give You Up", and honestly, I'd rather watch its video than most of the things people link to on the web. So there.

David Chang in the New Yorker

The profile of David Chang in the latest New Yorker (not online, sadly) is brilliant & scary all at once--I wonder if Chang is as manically miserable as the profile makes him out to be? He's certainly an incredible chef; our meal at Ssäm Bar last year was one of the more memorable eating experiences I've had.

The article's filled with great quotes, but here's one of my favorites:

"I'm so sick and tired of how awesome it is to work at Google or fucking Apple or one of those tech companies," he says. "Why can't it be awesome to work for a food company? Why can't we create an environment where people are trying to push each other to do great things, and we're not trying to steal from anybody, we're trying to be good to our farmers and run an honorable business, if there is such a thing anymore?"

Joel on standards

From Joel on Software: Martian Headsets:

If you’ve ever visited the ultra-orthodox Jewish communities of Jerusalem, all of whom agree in complete and utter adherence to every iota of Jewish law, you will discover that despite general agreement on what constitutes kosher food, that you will not find a rabbi from one ultra-orthodox community who is willing to eat at the home of a rabbi from a different ultra-orthodox community. And the web designers are discovering what the Jews of Mea Shearim have known for decades: just because you all agree to follow one book doesn’t ensure compatibility, because the laws are so complex and complicated and convoluted that it’s almost impossible to understand them all well enough to avoid traps and landmines, and you’re safer just asking for the fruit plate.

This made my morning, and it's only one of many fantastic quotes.

Fire Eagle and Movable Type

Having had a longstanding interest in geo-location--and, well, its intersections with blogging and online identity--I'm really excited about Yahoo!'s new Fire Eagle service.

I'm also really excited that we now have Fire Eagle for Movable Type plugin connecting an MT profile to a Fire Eagle account. This makes an MT profile location-aware and, just like Fire Eagle itself, opens the door to tons of other interesting features that the plugin provides: adding a map of your current location to your blog; tracking changes to your location in your Action Stream; &c.

I've written more about Fire Eagle for Movable Type on sixapart.com.