i just wanna mcfly

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Wed Dec 2

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

You’re a Grand Old Rag- George M. Cohan

Original version of the song recorded to an Edison cylinder, before he changed ‘rag’ to ‘flag’.

“In 1905, the toast of Broadway was grand marshal of a parade for Civil War veterans. Riding next to a graybeard who cradled a battle-torn flag in his lap, Cohan asked about it. After a few words about Gettysburg, the old soldier looked down and said, “She’s a grand old rag.” With ragtime all the rage, a song called “You’re a Grand Old Rag” seemed just the thing for Cohan’s next musical. Songsheets and Edison cylinder recordings were already on sale when the show (audaciously entitled “George Washington, Jr.”) opened to scandal. The Daughters of the American Revolution (knee-jerk, even then), and blowhards like President Teddy Roosevelt, accused the star of desecration. In a rare retreat for the headstrong showman, Cohan recalled the sheets and cylinders (missing a few that collectors prize today) and rewrote the song into the piece of cheese most of us learned too well. The 1905 incident proved a rule that George M. coined: there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

from a 2002 issue of Cabinet, which I just found used at mercer books.

full article here

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flavors.me beta launch

It’s up and running!

http://flavors.me/krisnolte

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persimmon! the fruit of fruits. 2 for $1 on the street.

a little background- persimmons

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World's first micro-piano?

“Geoff Smith believes he has come up with the first multicultural acoustic piano – what he has trademarked as a fluid piano – which allows players to alter the tuning of notes either before or during a performance. Instead of a pianist having a fixed sound, 88 notes from 88 keys, Smith’s piano has sliders allowing them access to the different scales that you get in, for example, Indian and Iranian music. For good measure, Smith has included a horizontal harp.”

-Mark Brown

[via The Guardian]

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Tue Dec 1

perhaps the most humble and inspiring award show moment to memory. it’s refreshing to hear such a deliberate, unhurried acceptance speech. simply beautiful.

soupsoup:

mejoe:

“Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award — and there, in front of all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, “All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence.”

And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his watch, and said, ‘I’ll watch the time.” There was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn’t kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, seven seconds — and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier. And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said softly “May God be with you,” to all his vanquished children.”

Do this every single day of your lives, and I promise you will never ever be unhappy.

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Mon Nov 30

aaaaaamen!

jamesdevito:

everyone needs to watch this RIGHT NOW.

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Sat Nov 28

in a world…

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Thu Nov 26

“ We can be grateful that selfish purpose of personal gain, at our neighbor’s loss, less strongly asserts itself.

-FDR in 1935

via “Obama’s Thankless Thanksgiving”- The New Republic

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bikerfish:

robotindisguise:

By Happy Accident, Chemists Produce a New Blue

In the intense heat, almost 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the ingredients formed a crystal structure in which the manganese ions absorbed red and green wavelengths of light and reflected only blue.

Fuckin’ awesome! Bluuuuuuuuuuue!

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Wed Nov 25

jamesdevito:

thewarmingsun:

(via ieatcatlitter)

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Tue Nov 24

this makes me want a pet elephant.

(via Big Picture)

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jamesdevito:

peterberkman:

Shaqbook Pro