Brandon's Blog

Red Hot Album & Children's Book

On the heels of my extended concert review yesterday, here are some tracks from a charity album entitled "Dark Was the Night" that I discovered today and have been listening to while I get some work done.  So far, I'm really impressed.  It was put together by The Red Hot charity organization.  (Trust me, click the link, don't Google "Red Hot.")  Contributing artists include some of my absolute favs, including a duet with Feist and Ben Gibbard, The National (Aaron and Bryce were the producers), Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Spoon, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens and more. 

A Work in Progress

I must admit, I've enjoyed starting off 2009 without any pressure to blog.  Not that I only blog in response to pressure that I put on myself, but it certainly is a factor that I think a lot of folks who blog can relate with. 

A while back, I came across this "slow blog manifesto" which I really resonated with and (I think) has really adjusted the course of my blogging.  It may just turn out to be one of my goals for the year. 

Paste Magazine have put together a cool little website that allows you to take your own mugshot and turn it into one of those iconic Obama campaign posters.  Whether or not you're even a fan of America's new president elect (and I know that a few hard core conservative friends of mine are not so much - so goes polarized American politics), you have to appreciate the powerful piece of artwork by Shepard Fairey. 

While Kristy and I were away on a retreat together last week, we had a few significant spiritual and marital "breakthroughs."  It was a refreshing time of personal assessment, renewal, and soul searching.  One afternoon someone who essentially served as a spiritual guide to us challenged us to spend some time in solitude and reflection.  During that time, I began writing down some of the things that were echoing in my heart and that I believe God was whispering into my soul.  It came out like this:

Welcome, 2009

Another great desktop wallpaper design with a thoughtful quote, featured on Smashing Magazine.  (Designed by Joshua Friend.)  Happy New Year!

Cancelled Flights & A Brilliant Photo Book for Your Coffee Table

After checking Southwest Airlines website for our flight status (it said "30 minutes delayed"), we set off in the snow and ice down the 5 in my parents' SUV, all chained up.  When we arrived at PDX, I ran in to check the departure screen and was shocked to see "CANCELED" flashing all over.  I guess I shouldn't really have been all that surprised, but we were pretty confident that we'd be spending Christmas in Colorado after the website told us that the flight would just be delayed a bit.  After waiting in the queue for an hour-and-a-half or so, we re-booked the flight for Sunday evening and the guy behind the counter tried to convince us that he was saving us $160 by waving all of the re-booking fees and I rolled my eyes and thought, "Bull crap.  You haven't done us any favours.  If you didn't wave those fees, you'd have a whole airport full of VERY angry customers."   (Many of whom had already spent two nights sleeping on the floor.) 

So Christmas with Kristy's family in Colorado is a bit delayed this year, which is a bit of a disappointment, but it's out of our control.  We'll still get to see them.  It'll be kinda strange spending Christmas here at my parents' place, since we already celebrated as a family this last weekend.  Kristy and mom want to re-wrap all the presents and do it again.  We'll see . . . .

When you get a chance, be sure to CLICK HERE and check out a new photo book that my friend Dave just published through Blurb.  In fact, why don't you purchase one as a last-minute Christmas gift for that photography buff in your family?  They'll love Dave's knack for a good capture and they'll be supporting an independent artist with a big heart for serving the people of Cologne, Germany.  (And BTW, the photo of the plane above is NOT one of Dave's, lest there be any confusion.  His stuff is much better.)

=)

American Economics, Gig Posters, & Apparel

A few days back, I was delighted to learn that American Apparel are opening a retail shop here in Dublin on Grafton Street, just around the corner from the front entrance to Trinity College.  American Apparel seem set on proving that you can build a multi-national retail company without exploiting the poor in developing countries.  (So why don't they outsource some of their garment manufacturing to the developing world AND pay a living wage to their workers?)

CLICK HERE for 50 of the coolest gig posters. I think my favourite posters are the ones for The Shins, Cat Power, and Arcade Fire.  Also below is a gig poster for The National that my friend Matt found during one of his trips to the U.S. 

Also, have a look at some of Bob Carlton's thoughts on the recent economic troubles in the West.  His sentiments really resonate with things that I've been wrestling with these days.  (Only, he articulates it much better and with more creativity.)  The whole post is really good, but here's a quote that I found particularly insightful: "A generation brought up to believe that affluence represents some existential truth about our lives will, inevitably, be disoriented and angry." 

UPDATE:

As you might see from the comments on this post, the last gig poster on the "50 coolest gig posters" was designed by an old friend of mine.  You can see other posters that Tyler has designed HERE.  Also be sure to check out his website HERE.  I can't believe he designs posters for New Zealand's 4th most popular folk-parody band! =)

Chocolate (Temple) Bar & Urban Kings

Today, I took the fam into Dublin city centre, primarily to sit back and watch my wife soak up Dublin's first Temple Bar Chocolate Festival. I'm not sure what we were expecting (life-size chocolate Molly Malone statues and chocolate fountains on every corner maybe?), but we were a bit disappointed by the lack of chocolateness around us as we wandered through Temple Bar. Turns out, the big chocolate "exhibition" isn't on until tomorrow in Meeting House Square. However, Kristy did manage to get into a lecture in the Film Base on the health benefits of chocolate. Did you know that raw cacoa beans are chalk full of anti-oxidants, neurotransmitters (sounds like Star Trek) and other things that are healthy for the brain? Unfortunately, with all of the processing and other ingredients that get thrown in to make chocolate, the health benefits are largely lost.

Neon Interactive Bible

The future of online music video?  Oh, I hope so.  Maybe even just the beginning of what's possible with creative, online interaction with music.  Arcade Fire do it again.

Online Creativity Overfloweth

I haven't done a lot of websurfing in the last few weeks, but what little I have done has had me stumbling across loads of creative and inspiring content online.  I'm not very "artistic," but sometimes it feels like God gave me an insatiable appetite for creativity.  (Maybe that's why I'm so bored with "Top 40" radio and modern church music??) 

Here are some things that I've discovered.  (You can see my entire collection of bookmarks with a "creativity" tag HERE.)

Compassion, Justice, and FairTrade Fortnight (oh, and People Tree)

Recently I came across this winsome and engaging article that discusses the difference between compassion and justice.  In fact, I think I'm going to make the Burnside Writers Collective a regular visit.  Based in Portland, OR (a region of the world particularly close to my heart), the online magazine is run, in part, by Donald Miller as "an alternative to franchise faith."  Has a great ring to it doesn't it?

Into Their Own

Recently, I've been blessed by the creative talents of a few friends whom I don't get to see much of anymore due to simple geography.  However, in spite of the distance, I'm a big fan of both of these individuals and the creativity that comes out of them so inspiringly.