The Mathematics of Justin Childress
Law Abiding Citizen starring Gerard Butler > veggie corndogs > YouTube videos of adorable kittens > Justin Childress > Sega Master System > current-era Rush albums > 1986 New York Mets > Flavor Blasted Goldfish crackers > your favorite pair of jeans > sunsets in California > the actual tears of a clown (but not "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles) > Shipwreck from G.I. Joe > sheet metal > cordless phones > scones > Tones on Tail > teachable moments > the phrase: "you do the math" > cherry flavor cough syrup > the 1991 Calvin Klein fall collection > Radiohead > greywater > abscesses of any kind > CiCi's Pizza dessert pizza > CiCi's Pizza pizza > hashtags*
Reading
Pattern Recognition
Pattern Recognition is William Gibson's most iconic followup to his Sprawl trilogy (in my opinion), with professional Cool Hunter Cayce Pollard taking the baton as Marly Krushkhova's natural successor. I'm not done with this book yet, but am enthralled with the concept of the mysterious Footage that takes the stage as a character all its own. Gibson's strength really is creating these stages where shadowy objects/constructs are personified to a post-human state, while at the same time remaining so intangible that you feel like you're in a futuristic Hitchcock film. Great stuff, making my daily train ride pass too quickly. Also, don't tell anyone, but I'm about to start making some videos and releasing them obscurely on the internet.
Recently Watched
The Vanishing of the Bees
This documentary looks into the great disappearance of the honeybees that is occurring worldwide. This phenomena is little-know at this point and has no obvious cause, as well as no accessible casualties. The bees simply disappear without a trace, leaving nothing to study or explain the disappearance. The film takes time to interview beekeepers and researchers who are intimately affected by these strange happenings. Through the course of The Vanishing the influence of the bees and pollination on our daily lives is also steadfastly reinforced, which really brings home the global weight of this mystery. Also, Brian McBride did a bunch of the soundtrack, which he released last year as The Effective Disconnect on Kranky. Both haunting and gorgeous, this album was my favorite from last year for sure.
Currently Listening
The Year Of Hibernation
This album has been a slow grower for me. At first put off by the shamelessly hipster band name (or, bedroom artist name, or whatever) and the main dude's terrible taste in hats (seriously, why are those caps with the leather strap and metal clasp appearing again? Those things are terrible), after a while I gave it a listen in the interest of exploration. That's why Rdio is so rad, right? At this point I'm totally sold. Very listenable, airy, just the right touch glassy pop and re-canned rainbow dreams as they might be if they were recorded in an underwater cave at the top of a mist-shrouded mountain. Or something. Anyway, pretty good. I kind of love it like I loved Radical Face's first record, which is perhaps my most listened to record of all time.
Recently Subscribed
OneFortyThree Dot Com
This guy makes me sick. Not only does it seem like he can literally construct anything he wants out of scrap wood and metal, but he also has great taste. Digging through this site makes me want to build a time machine, go back in time to 1995, and kick 11 year old Justin in the pants for sitting in his room playing Magic: The Gathering or whatever he was doing at the time instead of learning to use a miter saw and Metal Stick Bender. Technical term. This site is effectively making me depressed about my house, which I have lived in for over two years at this point, and as of yet have not found time to paint the trim something other than the heinous off-brown (that's right. Off-brown) color that the previous owner apparently loved. So, highly recommended, obviously.