April 2014

Web designers: what’s the latest and greatest resource on best practices in web form design? The landscape has shifted since @LukeW’s book.

If you ask me, they don’t qualify as “criminal” charges against banks when there’s no chance of anyone going to jail. nyti.ms/1o1BadI

“Bob’s Burgers is a deeply tolerant show. Everybody is weird… [villains are] usually made sympathetic by the end.” slate.com/blogs/browbeat…

Do people who live outside the city drink subourbon?

Someone make a news thing that aggregates gunman rampages and sorts cases by significance. It’s impossible to keep up with them all anymore.

The 2014 @usairguitar season begins MAY 1ST at @saintvitusbar with judges @stoya, @alexkoll, and Nigel Blackstorm! ticketfly.com/event/559779?u…

In this still from the unaired Breaking Bad pilot, we get a glimpse of Vince Gilligan’s original vision for the show.

Attention software branding/icon designers: there are colors other than blue that are available to you.

Comic strips were what made me want to be an artist. There’s no straight line to be drawn between them and my graphic design career, but few people have influenced me creatively as much as Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) and Gary Larson (The Far Side) did in my formative years. So I had hoped that Stripped, a documentary about comic strips and the people who make them, would give me a new angle from… See more →

My Top 3 #lastfm Artists: The Rolling Stones (21), Aerosmith (18) & Parliament (13) tweekly.fm/twitter/robweycher…

Didn’t feel like taking care of business today but then I remembered I could listen to P-Funk at the same time and I was like let’s do this.

As a fan of the sort of slapstick gore found in movies like Dead Alive and Re-Animator, I had long looked forward to seeing Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky. It delivers several gems of cartoon violence, and the over-the-top acting and inept dialogue are frequently funny, but the almost total lack of an actual story makes the scenes between the action too much of a slog.

Aawwwww shit!

The video of the 2003 Station night club fire (the Great White concert) is one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. youtu.be/xY59mR44TLs

“If we don’t start getting serious about this, as a public, we will lose the most important medium in human history.” theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Taking advantage of insomnia by catching up on Guitar Moves and lamenting my plateaued guitar skills. youtube.com/playlist?list=…

The Mexican drug war has claimed over 100,000 lives since 2006, and much of the violence has taken place in the city of Juarez, just across the US/Mexico border from El Paso, TX. Narco Cultura examines the conflict chiefly through two sets of eyes: those of Richi Soto, a crime scene investigator who works an endless procession of homicides in Juarez, and those of Edgar Quintero, a Mexican-American in LA who is making a burgeoning… See more →

Facebook:Twitter ≠ 1:1, but their stark disparity of engagement with my net neutrality tweet makes me wonder if non-techies don’t know/care.

Net neutrality is too important for any of us to stay on the sidelines. This is literally the least you can do. savetheinternet.com

Portishead’s Beth Gibbons sings Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath opener “Black Sabbath” atop Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath. youtu.be/n-mc7D6hs5U

Here are @jasonsantamaria and me in early 2006, as seen by the inimitable Jeff Bandelin.

“I have a custom ringtone for you now. Your calls are an angelic chorus of bells.”

“I have one for you, too. You’re… a duck.”

Magazine, Caretaker of Long-Dead Status Quo, Gives Lifetime Achievement Award to ⅕ of Band That Made One Great Album rollingstone.com/music/news/gun…

The classics never go out of style. twitter.com/robweychert/st… nyti.ms/1tEgg8x

“I always felt my own music should be available and affordable… I’ve almost never done limited edition anything.” fuse.tv/videos/2014/04…

A pretty fantastic collection of lurid VHS box art: vhscoverjunkie.tumblr.com /cc @iamrumz

Another grotesque chapter in fashion’s crimes against women: cosmetic foot surgery for fitting into designer shoes. nyti.ms/1lF8jKV

Further reading for @aworkinglibrary’s “Do what you love” skepticism (the-pastry-box-project.net/mandy-brown/20…) from @MiyaTokumitsu: slate.com/articles/techn…

My collected, tweet-length episode reviews from House of Cards, Season 2: storify.com/robweychert/ho…

House of Cards, Season 2: A smart ode to the long con, a functional indictment of a broken democracy, but still too lumpy as entertainment.

House of Cards, S02E13: Finale as microcosm of season: the pulp isn’t pulpy enough, and all else (even Frank’s biggest moment yet) is bland.

It’s not Easter until my likeness has been rendered in egg by @kevskinrug.

Ellis is a 14-year-old boy living on a river in rural Arkansas who desperately needs to believe love can succeed. The dissolution of his parents’ marriage and his floundering attempts at teen romance don’t give him much hope, but a chance encounter with a mysterious man who seems to be the very embodiment of “love conquers all” offers Ellis a glimmer of validation. Known only as Mud, the man also happens to be a fugitive,… See more →

My Top 3 #lastfm Artists: Les Paul & Mary Ford (30), Ween (16) & Cloud Nothings (16) tweekly.fm/twitter/robweycher…

Not sure how to avoid disappointing my cousin’s four-year-old, who thinks this will happen when I see her on Sunday. youtu.be/1wLeM6te__M

The first line of Ween’s “Bananas & Blow” has a certain self-contained narrative richness: “Sancho brought a message from the fat man…”

“Bundy’s 14 children and 52 grandchildren are all bunkered down at his house waiting for the BLM to arrive.” washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/…

House of Cards, S02E12: The season opener was farcical, but Frank’s endgame is looking pretty dry. Fingers crossed for a cartoon finale.

In case you haven’t heard the magnificent beast that is Trans Am’s “Television Eyes” lately (or ever): youtu.be/BoEV8G-yz1o

Tonight’s smart playlist formula: “90s Alternative.” Reaffirming the shuffle-friendly genius of @tmbg’s “Fingertips.”

If I ever become broadly influential, I hope I avoid having every stupid little thing I’ve ever created dragged into the light posthumously.

Really appreciate @hoyboy sharing his findings from Owner Camp. We should do something similar for freelancers. the-pastry-box-project.net/greg-hoy/2014-…

This Social Justice League comic by @Sailorswayze kinda nails it. medium.com/the-nib/2654d4…

In which @MerrittJMerritt gives me a reason to consider attending my high school reunion. flic.kr/p/nbEpEp

God’s Not Dead. Heaven Is For Real. Are Christian film titles required to look at home hand-painted on the side of a barn by the interstate?

In his review of Slint’s Spiderland box set, @stuberman does a great job of explaining what all the fuss is about. pitchfork.com/reviews/albums…

House of Cards, S02E11: Meechum’s… self-actualization is an anachronistic grab for water cooler talk in a post-broadcast-schedule world.

My Top 2 #lastfm Artists: Ghost (14) & Lamb (10) tweekly.fm/twitter/robweycher…

It is hard to get any post-vacation catch-up work done when they’re filming a car chase outside.

Stunned and saddened by the death of @samfelder. I always loved hanging out with him at SXSW. RIP and condolences to his wife and daughter.

This is what happens when you let your “fear of missing out” guard down for a few days. stereogum.com/1675244/watch-v…

Ah, the less common but equally potent cousin of the “unprepared for important event” dream, the “botched incredible opportunity” dream.

That’s more like it.

Walk into the waterfall.

Feeling terribly sad for some friends who have been plagued by unbelievably bad luck, but thankful for their uncommon strength of character.

House of Cards, S02E10: All the elements of the impending boiling point are pretty boring, so I predict a seriously wacko twist just ahead.

I’m no misogynist, but I’ve been responsible for some of the “thousand tiny paper cuts” of “Technology’s Man Problem” nytimes.com/2014/04/06/tec…

My Top 3 #lastfm Artists: Cloud Nothings (40), Rainbow (16) & Neko Case (14) tweekly.fm/twitter/robweycher…

“…there’s a decent chance that Silicon Valley and Brooklyn don’t need another you.” This has been on my mind too. the-pastry-box-project.net/ed-finkler/201…

Thrash metal: So many bands have nailed the sound, but so few have written memorable songs. Maybe that’s why the “big four” bands dominated?

“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!® Nobody move unless you want to!” newyorker.com/online/blogs/s…

House of Cards, S02E09: So they developed all these innocent characters just to be collateral damage in a presidential brove triangle?

Looking for a font that evokes sports, with several weights and widths for display and small amounts of text (à la Knockout). Suggestions?

People who litter really, really piss me off.