Features
Keeping Up (Vol. 15)
by Darren Paltrowitz
Here are another 5 quick picks for you, the loyal reader:
ALBUM: Mandy Moore / Amanda Leigh – One of the albums most likely to turn heads in 2009 is Amanda Leigh. Produced and co-written with Mike Viola with additional contributions from Inara George, Lori McKenna and Tracy Bonham, the songs are introspective and organic while melodic and catchy. Expect to see Mandy on talk show circuit with clavinet-driven first single “I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week” serving as a good first taste. (mandymoore.com)
BOOK: Peter Ellenby / Every Day Is Saturday – Years ago Peter Ellenby accidentally became the house photographer of San Francisco venue Bottom Of The Hill. In turn, he was onto a whole lot of recording artists before they struck gold. “Every Day Is Saturday” is a coffee table book collection of Ellenby’s shots from gigs and photo shoots. It is accompanied by a 21-track CD – including songs by Death Cab For Cutie, Rogue Wave and Beulah – and a foreword from X frontman John Doe. Excellent photography, to say the least. (ellenby.com/everydayissaturday.htm)
SHOW: Anytime With Bob Kushell – Best known as a TV writer and producer with The Simpsons, Bob Kushell’s show refers to itself as “a five-minute talk-fest.” Dressing his garage up as a talk-show set, Kushell’s program is partly a satire with its (piped-in) crammed-in-the-garage-corner house band and inserted laugh tracks, yet entirely a funny web series. The first episode features Jon Cryer while following ones include Jim Gaffigan, Alex Trebek and Jenna Elfman as sit-down guests. For those keeping score, a new edition goes up every Tuesday. (crackle.com/c/Anything_with_Bob_Kushell)
TOOL: HitTracker – This column generally neglects sports fans, but HitTracker ought to appeal to baseball die-hards and statisticians only. This site tracks Major League Baseball home-runs, providing video footage of said home-runs, their distances and the surrounding weather conditions at time of hit. That’s all. Now imagine if that mind power were applied to fixing this country’s problems. (hittrackeronline.com)
ARTICLE: Jonathan Mead “Seven Productivity Tips For People That Hate GTD” – What is “GTD,” you ask? It is an abbreviation for “getting things done.” Jonathan Mead tones up the sarcasm to enforce some points about productivity. And as usual with a Zen Habits post, readers can and do post relevant feedback that proves worth reading. (zenhabits.net/2009/04/seven-productivity-tips-for-people-that-hate-gtd)
As always, if I’m missing something that’s worthwhile and deserving of column space, please reach out with an e-mail: darren.paltrowitz@gmail.com.
In the meantime, stay tuned for another 5 picks...