I don't like waffle fries enough to not care about homophobia

And neither does Mayor Menino. Which rocks.

I love love,

av

A Plus1Press Publication

Emile's Adventure

In 1993 Emile Lemay was driving in the desert around Tan-Tan Morocco. Morocco is the country on the other side, the African one, of the Straight of Gibraltar at the bottom of Spain. Emile is driving between Tan-Tan and Tilemsem, Tilemsem does not show up on Google Earth, so safe to say Emile is in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere c/o Africa. Emile is no fool he had packed food and water knowing that any trip into Bumfuck, Nowhere c/o Africa can be dangerous. 

When Emile's Car broke down down he was more than 15 Miles from Tilemsem. Emile could have walked out, he had the supplies. Instead EMILE DECIDED TO BUILD A MOTORCYCLE OUT OF HIS BROKE DOWN CAR AND RIDE THAT BITCH OUT OF BUMFUCK, NOWHERE c/o AFRICA LIKE A BOSS.

Emile while having the supplies to walk out of the desert had left his welding torch and drill at home. He also had forgotten sleeves so Emile had to tear holes in his socks and slide those on his arms to keep the Scorching Desert Sun from poisoning him. Emile estimated that building his Motorcycle would take him 3 days. Emile, having had left his welding torch at home, had to hold his Motorcycle together with screws in holes that were already there. Emile set to work using the existing holes and and screws to piece together what was quickly becoming his only chance at getting out of Bumfuck, Nowhere c/o Africa. 

The days ticked off past Emile's initial estimate of 3 days. Emile realized that the existing holes were not going to be enough. No drill meant that Emile had to make new holes by bending the metal as best he could then getting at it with a hack saw he had, Emile is no fool, then rebending the metal flat again. 

12 Days later Emile had finished. EMILE BUILT A MOTORCYCLE OUT OF A CAR IN THE DESERT THAT HE RODE OUT OF THE DESERT. 

Anythings Possible. 

I LOVE THE LICENSE PLATE

-jv
fan
A Plus1Press Publication

Cutie-pa-tooties

 I'm a big fan of unique photography and adorable children. So stumbling upon work by photographer Jason Lee was a pretty awesome find today. Check this out to read a little interview with the dude and see some of the best pics of his cutie daughters, or hit that link in the previous sentence for his flickr. Dude's a fantastic wedding photog by day.

This post is in honor of my big sister's birthday, just yesterday. :D

-lab
little sister extraordinaire
A Plus1Press Publication

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Same Love

Macklemore dropped this song today as a sampling of his new album, "Heist", which will be released on October 9th. He's also coming to Boston on November 15th, which I am 100% going to.

Same Love.

I can't get over Mary Lambert in it, she kills it. She keeps me warm.

peace
jb

Frank Ocean: Channel Orange

Frank Ocean is one of the first major hip hop artists to announce having a same-sex relationship.
He is a member of OFWGKTA.

He released his new album, 'channel ORANGE', on iTunes a few days ago and you can stream the whole thing off his Tumblr here.

I could jam to this for a long time.


jb

B.o.B. Both Of Us feat. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is the voice of her generation and they are lucky to have her. I hope she stays around singing her lovely voice out forever and starts spending some more time over in hip hop feat. land because she slays on this track. B.O.B. does well sharing a song with a lady, always has. He also can lay out lines that leave you dumbfounded theyr so fucking awesome "do it one time for the underdogs, sincerely yours, one of y'all" is the best line of the song and his accent makes it rhyme. I love the look of this video, Memphis Trash through an instagram filter on a sunny day. Hope you like the song too. 



-jv
A Plus1Press Publication

Robert de La Rochefoucauld

Robert de La Rochefoucauld was a member of the French Resistance during World War II. As part of The Resistance Robert de La Rochefoucauld escaped from behind enemy lines twice, once making his escape in a nun's habit the other time by stealing a Nazi limousine. He also smuggled bombs in hollowed out loaves of bread and was once quoted as having said "I felt drunk with Freedom" one of the best lines ever. Robert de La Rochefoucauld was a clandestine hero. His obituary in today's Boston Globe is fantastic. 

-jv
Fan
A Plus1Press Publication

Minimalist Disney Posters

Shout Out to Fisti, Pinterest, Izzy, Alice, Jill, Lucy, Disney, J.M., The Grimm Bros., Ariel, Peter, The Crocidile, Snow White, Apples, Rowansm and Love.

-jv
A Plus1Press Publication

Dinosaurs Had Feathers

A Dinosaur was archaeologist'd in Bavaria recently and it turned the Dinosaur World on its no more looking like giant lizards heads because this Dinosaur "proved" that Dinosaurs Had Feathers. The Dinosaur dinosaur'd 150 million years ago which is much earlier than archaeologists had every believed feathered dinosaurs had existed. Sam Neill has known that dinosaurs had feathers since 2001. Because The Dinosaur was around much earlier than any other known Feathered Dinosaur the Archaeologists concluded that all dinosaurs had feathers. The Dinosaur they found looked really stereotypical  it walked on two legs and had a tail and a standard dinosaur face and was covered in feathers. The Archaeologists found skin and feathers preserved along with the full skeleton. Dinosaurs Had Feathers.

Also, This Guy Looks Like Clint Eastwood, Right?

-jv
A Plus1Press Publication

#SummerJams

California knows how to party.

There's a ton of great music coming out of LA right now.  Too much for one post.  But here's a few great summer tracks from some bands that I've seen around recently:



I know Seth's been listening to Electric Guest, so I figured I'd throw their single up here. They're produced by Danger Mouse and recently released a full length album.  Ryan, Jill, Alex, & Spencer have all been with me to The Echo, one of my favorite LA rock clubs, where I saw them in February.

Another band I saw in February, playing a surprise show with Cold War Kids, is the folky, harmonizing Milo Greene:




They first broke onto the scene while opening on tour for one of Alice's favs, the Civil Wars. They have an LP due out in July, and I hope the album art is as cool as their EP!


Another group that's been opening for bigger acts is possibly the hottest up & coming band in LA right now, Superhumanoids:



I've seen them all over town, and their electro-pop sound is very trendy. Unsurprisingly, I've started hearing them on the radio recently.

Enjoy this trio of LA #SummerJams, because I've definitely got more coming!

-DMc, West Coast Correspondent

Color Test!

 Let's see who I choose to take with me to pick paint for my kitchen cabinets in a few weeks. If you'll all be so kind as to take this nifty color test, we can see who is awesome at colors. (JV, pulling for you on this one!)

It's been blowing up at work all day, with scores from 0 (which is a perfect score) to about 1000 (which seems impossible to get unless if you are legitimately color blind). I got a lovely score of 4, along with my cubicle mate Eddie, so we're feeling pretty good about ourselves and our matching abilities. It's one of the funnest color tests I've ever done because if you stare at it for too long your eyes start getting all watery and things start to all look the same.

WELLESLEY UPDATE: We now own a tiny baby scorpion that traveled all the way from Italy in a poor rich old lady's suitcase, which promptly fled the suitcase upon arrival home in the town of Wellesley, bit the lady, and then was caught by firefighters. It's safely home in some test area for the biology students and has been affectionately named "Piccolo". I say, GROSS. They have a huge picture of it on the Wellesley website, which has disturbed me every time I've gone there today (which has been about 75 times at least).

-L.A.B
your neighborhood color ninja
A Plus1Press Publication

Starry Night in Dominoes

This actually made me gasp when it all falls in.



You might want to listen to this song after. I did.

-av

A Plus1Press Publication

#SummerJams

Brooklyn Edition.

It's officially summer! You're gonna need some sweet summer tunes to create your soundtrack for beach days & barbecues, and I've got a couple more recommendations that I think you'll enjoy. These two both come from the hotbed that is the Brooklyn indie scene.



Ghost Beach is electro-pop at its finest. The dancey synth parts are right in the wheelhouse of Holy Ghost and Penguin Prison, similar acts from the same Brooklyn scene whose albums were some of my favorites last year.

They've got an EP out, and supposedly an LP this fall. All of their music (including Miracle) is available for free download on their website:  http://www.ghostbeachmusic.com/.  I love when bands do that.



Tanlines has been around for a couple years, opening for acts like Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, & The xx, and touring with Julian Casablancas (of The Strokes).  They released their first full-length album, Mixed Emotions, this spring.

They have a laid back electronic sound that's fun in the summer. You can download the All of Me single for free from StereoGum.  They also did a very odd music video, featuring dancing old people, with [adult swim].

Enjoy these Brooklyn #SummerJams, I'll hit you with some LA bands next week!

-DMc, West Coast Correspondent

John Mayer's Big Hat

I love John Mayer's Big Hat. The breadth of it, the tassle, the color, the tilt, the whole ness of it. I like his song "Shadow Days" too.



-jv
A Plus1Press Publication

A RCHP Retrospective/Love Letter

The first album I ever bought was Californication. I must have listened to it a thousand times. Its about an hour long 24 hours in a day four days is about a 100 hours 40 days? I have spent 40 days of my life listening to Californication. All Around The World, Scar Tissue, Otherside, Easily, Get On Top, Those Weird Songs in the back half about wolves and english girls. The music videos, the album cover was like the coolest thing I had ever seen. The Second Album I ever bought was Blood Sugar Sex Magik. I played Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 on mute with Blood Sugar Sex Magik on for all of 9th Grade. Under a Bridge (they just found the bridge), Sir Psycho Sexy, GIVE IT AWAY, If You Have To Ask, Suck My Kiss. FACT ALERT Blood Sugar Sex Magik came out the same day as Nirvana's Nevermind. In the CD case with the lyrics and stuff, there were pictures of the band's tattoos. I looked at them a million times. I love One Hot Minute, Pea is the best song, and unquestionably the worst vegetable, and the whole album is good and very short. And later Cabron, Snow, Dani California, Throw Away Your Television, A Minor Thing, Can't Stop, Slow Cheetah. And before Fight Like A Brave and their version of Higher Ground. I just saw this interview with Anthony Kiedis from the set of their Look Around video, Its adorable he is trying to gently GENTLY wrangle his son while talking with a reporter, and hes got a pompadour.



-jv
fan
A Plus1Press Publication

#SummerJams

Super Hipster Edition.

This one's for the ladies; one of my favorite new bands in LA is a trio of sisters called Haim.  They're the best chick-band I've heard in a long time.  Still unsigned, they just released their first music video this morning (audio much better than video):



I've seen them 4 times in LA and had the pleasure of working with them when they opened for Portugal the Man at one of venues that I'm occasionally employed by: super humble, funny girls with a good appreciation for the art they're making and the fans they're gathering.  When I saw them in March, they had their parents (both musicians) come onstage and play a cover. In April, Ryan Adams did a guest spot.

They haven't gotten much radio play in the US yet, but they're on the charts in the UK and were Band of the Week  a few months ago in Vogue.  They received critical acclaim after appearing at South by Southwest in March.

And their EP is available for Free Download.  That's fucking sweet.

I first heard about them because the lead singer dates guitar-virtuoso Blake Mills (formerly of Dawes) and did a duet with him for the "Chimes of Freedom" album (a compilation of Bob Dylan covers that raised money for Amnesty International):



So check them out now, get on the bandwagon while they're still relatively unknown, and then you can sound like a hipster when they get signed and start popping up on traditional media.  Download their free EP: I promise they'll be stuck in your head instantly and leave you wanting more.

-DMc, West Coast Correspondent

Django Unchained

First watch the preview then lets talk about some things in it that are exciting.



LEO IS BACK AND LOOKS LIKE HE IS HAVING A BALL

"The D is silent"

That quick scene where the cotton get sprayed with blood.

Guns on springs that flip up when you bring your hand forward. 

That blue velvet get up with the Austin Powers neckerchief.

"I like the way you die, boy."

Knowing what you will be doing on Christmas DOUBLE FEATURE DJANGO AND GATSBY LEO!!!!!!

-jv



A Plus1Press Publication

Channing Tatum Dirty Dancing

Shout Out to GQ. Today after I had finished ripping out all of the double sided ads in the latest issue of GQ I was reading about Channing Tatum and they mentioned a Dirty Dancing Short he was in and how it was hilarious. I immediately put down The Magazine and went to The Internet, their worst fear I think, and found out that YES in fact the Channing Tatum Dirty Dancing short is hilarious. Far warning, I love Dirty Dancing and have seen it a bunch and that is definitely a big part of why I think this is HILARIOUS. GQ!



-jv
RIP SWAYZE
A Plus1Press Publication

I Am Better Than Your Kids

As promised to JV/AV--

Here's one for the history books.
WARNING: CAN BE EXPLICIT BUT ALSO GUT-BURSTING-LY HILARIOUS.

Here are a few of my faves:

jb

Save the Sounds

Remember Tamagotchi? And how it RAILED little beeps of anger when you didn't feed/play/love it?

Remember VCRs? And the whir of a rewinding VHS tape?

The Museum of Endangered Sounds is a blog by Brandon Chilcutt who has collected the noises of his favorite old technologies. Its a walk down memory lane, a kitchy reminder of the 80s-90s, and the thing that cracks me up more than anything: noises.

 - fp
A Plus1Press Publication