Ready To Friday: Even Bigger Jaws Edition

Something something somebody's birthday. That covers all the important business, I'm dry.

The Edit

These here are the specific interests and perks of the weekly adventuring. Everything from tunes to articles or almost-lost files can be found below. Hopefully some of it will be recent, whereas some of it will be less so. But all of it I think is worth sharing with you; which is my gamble that you'll like it as much as I did.

• I bet you could have guessed that Saw VII was going to be in 3D, because everything else will be. But you probably haven't the foresight to know that the full title would be Saw VII 3D: The Traps Come Alive. Seriously.
• L.L.Bean has been one of my favorite chains when it comes to sharp, practical American made clothing. A few years ago, they lacked the modern edge to really stand out, and a lot of their designs started to all look the same, with inspired looking pieces being few and far between. With that in mind, when L.L.Bean started showing off their budding Signature line this year, I was very well impressed. What they're showing off for this Fall/Winter season seems to continue that trend, with lean (but not skinny), tough looking outfits. If some of you guys aren't into those skinny ties and tight jeans that are so trendy right now, consider this your superior alternative.
• I don't know what's wrong with me, friends. Every week, I can't prevent myself from reporting on Oprah, Twilight and a whole slew of other things I really have no interest in. I guess that means I should be noting how a surge of 4chan clicks has decided that Justin Bieber's next tour will be obligated to go to North Korea. This would be even more fantastic if Kim Jong Il will let him in, which he should. I mean, he's a musical genius or something, right?
• I can't say much about this video essay on the reappropriation of art and how it can be reinterpreted in its repeated forms and styles, other than you should probably sit through it. Even if you don't have a clue what the narrator is trying to explain to you, you might accidentally learn something anyway.
• It's all fun and games until somebody dies watching Twilight: Eclipse.
• We should have all anticipated this, but Glenn Beck is starting his own University called "Beck University." For "self-educated" people, like himself, the classes taught to students of Beck University will be on "Faith, Hope and Charity." In Beck's announcement, he talks at length about how college professors won't tell you about the things that are really important to understand the true American history. Honestly, I don't know which is worse sounding to me: that he believes his education standards are going to make people better informed (since he obviously isn't), or that he might be scamming his fans with this stunt.
• There's not much news coming out of the Gulf oil spill that can be considered "good". But as of recent, there will be even less news, period. Which, on its own, is already bad news. It seems that journalists are no longer going to be allowed into most parts of the site to report and take photos of the disaster. The story doesn't articulate any specific desire to curtail negative reports on the event, but it has awful implications that make me uncomfortable.
• Television Alert: you should be watching Louis, Louis C.K.'s new show on FX. Watch it.
• The story of life in a wonderfully made stop motion video, which stands out to me in particular because it presented a somewhat conventional message to me in a new, interesting way.

Hearing Things

For my own reasons, I've decided to process the music appreciation of my weekly culture bomb into its own section. Hopefully this means you won't miss out on whatever I feel like highlighting here. But it also means it will be much more obvious when I don't have any musical suggestions.

• Hey, check out that new album called "Brothers" by that artist The Black Keys, it's pretty hip. While you're doing that, listen to the song Next Girl and support dinosaur puppet performers.

Tumblr that Mattr

Assuming you scour the minimal blog oasis less than I do, here are my picks for the most bizarre, relevant and clever Tumblrs on the web. Satisfaction is not guaranteed.

• The staggering beauty of "What?" and "Huh?" that you normally get on FFFFFOUND, now with FFFFFUMBLR.
• And you're probably getting as sick of my recommendations for surreal artsy things as you did with all of those style blogs I had so many of a month ago. And to that, I say: I don't care, here's SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE.

English Language of the Week:

This segment is based around my personal love of the modern english language, where, each week, I'll nominate my favorite phrase, sentence or paragraph that I have personally heard spoken in that time.

God doesn't need what we need.

Persistent words.

On Your Way Out

Last year, when I went to the theater to see "Up In The Air" and I saw an advert for the National Guard. Now, this isn't meant as a slight against the National Guard, but I don't even know how to explain what I saw. It was the longest ad I'd ever seen at the movies, featuring a Carl Orff rip-off, and the most intense militaristic, heroic imagery, edited together by Michael Bay's biggest fan.

Until this week, I had not found this advert anywhere. Now it is the only thing I care about. Well, the only thing, other than, of course this.


Happy Birthday Anniversary.
Peeff.

-stg