Link Burp for 02.16.11

It's high time I started a feature on the blog that is simply a bunch of stuff and bits that I found interesting over the past few days/week, but about which I haven't had the time to write a proper post. Therefore: link burp.

On to some sentences and some links:

• The book is great, but why not listen to the actual recordings of The Hitchcock and Truffaut conversations?

• You've been saying there aren't enough 14-part Star Wars documentaries out there in the world. You can stop saying that quite so much.

• Exciting news for anyone who enjoys The Criterion Collection and the ease of use of Hulu: Criterion comes to Hulu plus.

• Radiohead is releasing their new album this Saturday. Exciting. That they're releasing a "newspaper album" as well? Very exciting. And head-scratch-inducing. What's a newspaper album?

• I enjoy Pantone's colors (I often drink from my favorite Pantone mug). I enjoy cookies. Finally someone made some Pantone Chip Cookies.

• Take a trip around the offices and workspace of Pixar and remind yourself that where you work should always have a secret room triggered by a Shakespeare bust.

RadioGramm

Awards shows in general are stiffly delivered scripts and rote performances masked in set design. But Radiohead's performance backed by the USC marching band almost makes me wish I'd watched the Grammys. Almost.

TalkingheadRadiohead

This went up while I was in Berlin and on a bit of hiatus from posting anything, but my applause goes out to whatever editor sat down two of my favorite musicians to talk: David Byrne and Thom Yorke. While the transcript is interesting on its own, give the mp3s to the side a listen, as they're far more revealing as to how these two work, consider, and react, from sentence to sentence and album to album.

While I'm Hugging the Union Jack

Speaking of Anglophile tendencies, here are two more agents exacerbating the condition:

Above, an installment of the ingenious Look Around You (thanks to Ann for alerting me to this). It's a different sort of moth to one you might enjoy in a sandwich (watch the Germs episode for that pearl).

And below, an almost hour-long video from Radiohead, featuring live performances of all the songs from their latest album "In Rainbows." (You can also download a handful of the songs' videos, along with a cover of Bjork's "Unravel" individually as free podcasts from iTunes.)



His Majesty's digital dominions, on which the sun never sets!

How I Lost Forty Pounds

Radiohead's done it again. Or anyway: they're going to. While I respect Radiohead's abilities as musicians and am constantly amazed at their ability to evolve and remain relevant, it's their insistence on ever greater autonomy and artistic freedom that has won me over more than any one song or album could. And since outlasting their contract with their major label, they've resisted any obvious paths and, thus far, are releasing their new album "In Rainbows" solely through their own web site. To do this with their ability to have any label of their choosing frothing at the mouth to put at their work, well, that's impressive (albeit arguably a bit insane and massive an undertaking... but if they can pull it off, well, there's a nicely sized fiscal finger flipped to the record industry). We'll see what happens October 10th.

The "discbox" (below) that they're advertising comes with a mountain of goods that I'm afraid I won't be able to resist. At forty British pounds, I'm sold. I salute their independence with a lighter pocketbook.