I have a bootleg (at least I think it is a bootleg) of a Simon and Garfunkel concert from New York in 1966. The sound quality isn’t that great and you can get a much better recording of the same songs at practically the same time period commercially. The problem with the commercial release, although it is superb, is that it edits out some of Paul and Art’s dialogue between songs. Most notably is the intro to Sparrow. On the commercial release the songs starts with Paul saying “relative to nothing, this song is called Sparrow.” It kind of makes sense I guess, but it makes more sense when you realize what was edited out. Paul tells a story about how he was “digging” his reflection in a window only to have his daydream rudely interrupted by a bird. Well, he tells it better than I can, so for your enjoyment I have ripped the full intro so you can hear it for yourself. Paul Simon’s accent cracks me up, too.

There Goes A Happy Bird, by Paul Simon (2.7mb MP3)

I am already dreading a summer without the hit show on NBC, Heroes. For the past couple weeks I have found myself listening to my iPod and thinking, “Man, that would be a great song for Heroes.” There probably isn’t an official Heroes soundtrack, so I decided to make a mixtape of “heroish” songs. These are actually all really great songs, so don’t feel like you need to watch Heroes’ to appreciate them. Here’s the playlist and the lyrics that seemed appropriate. Hopefully it will help get you through to next season…

1. Now. Now., by St. Vincent
“I’m not your mother’s favorite dog. I’m not the carpet you walk on. I’m not one small atomic bomb. I’m not anything at all.” (With lyrics like that, it makes me wonder if St. Vincent was watching Heroes when she penned this great song.)

2. Eyes, by Rogue Wave
This is the only song on my list that was actually used on the show. A great song by one of my favorite bands.

3. Start A War, by The National
“Walk away now, and you’re gonna start a war.”

4. To the Sky, by Maps
“These things I know… They get into your mind. I guess you know the signs. Can only feel this way when silence comes.”

5. Last Stop: This Town, by the Eels
“Why don’t we take a ride way up high through the neighborhood, up over the billboards and the factories and smoke. I’m gonna fly on down for the last stop to this town.”

6. Strange Powers, by The Magnetic Fields
“In Las Vegas where the electric bills are staggering, the decor hog wild and the entertainment sachrin. What a golden age. What a time or right and reason… cause you got strange powers.”

7. Phenomena, by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
“Something like a phenomena.”

8. I Believe, by Simian Mobile Disco
“I believe you can be what I need to believe.”

9. When it Flows, by Great Lake Swimmers
“When it flows from the fingers and turns to stone it shatters with the touch… Looked into your eyes and into your mind. You were laughing like a statue called to life.

10. Waitin’ For Superman, by The Flaming Lips
“Tell everybody waiting for Superman that they should try do hold on the best they can.”

11. The Greatest, by Cat Power
“Once I wanted to be the greatest.”

12. Nothing At All, by The Shins
“You gotta know what you want to be, but there’s no number to call… You cut your eyes so you can finally see, but there’s nothing at all. There must be a flaw in this fatal eye.”

13. Race For the Prize, by The Flaming Lips
“Two scientists were racing for the good of all mankind… They’re just humans with wives and children.”

14. The Sun is Burning, by Simon & Garfunkel
“Now the sun has come to dissappeared. All is darkness anger pain and fear. Twisted, sightless wrecks of men go groping on their knees and cry in pain.”

15. We Will Become Silhouettes, by The Postal Service
“And that’s when we’ll explode and it won’t be a pretty sight. And we’ll become silhouettes when our bodies finally go.”

For your convenience I bundled the entire playlist into a .zip file that you can download here. I hope you like it!

Is it any wonder that Christians struggle to be taken seriously? For good and bad Jesus Christ is a pop icon in today’s society. Add the following to the “bad” category. The site is called The Brick Testament and it is essentially the New Testament of the Bible illustrated in Lego’s. Now you know that I love Lego’s and I love experimenting with how Jesus is represented in modern times. I am not easily offended - and I have offended plenty of people with my Jesus rug. So why is seeing Jesus getting crucified by Lego people so appalling to me? I will let you judge for yourself, but this is the kind of Christian tripe that makes me embarassed to call myself a Christian. This is worse than the misunderstood Piss Christ in my opinion. Here are a couple lowlights: The first is the virgin Mary and the second is a dead Jesus getting taken off the cross. Yikes.

My graphic design portfolio used to be powered by Flash. It was pretty slick looking but it was a pain to update and it didn’t provide much information about the work I was showing. Eventually I transitioned to a portfolio powered by the blogging software, Movable Type. It was perfect for managing my work. I simply made a new entry for each piece I wanted to show. I could categorize the entry so that my portfolio could be divided by print, web, logos, photography or whatever I wanted. I could edit, remove and organize my work quickly and easily. The only problem was that although it was extremely functional it didn’t have that impressive glossy feeling that you want a demonstration of your best work to have. In an attempt to compensate for the vanilla flavor of the site I worked on a new homepage this weekend. Now I have a Flash based front page while the guts are still powered by Movable Type. As always it is a work in progress, but it is working and you are free to check it out.

I had a friend in college that had an interesting daily routine. She would say “highs and lows” and you would have to name the best and worst things about your day. It was kind of theraputic and I am thinking about using it as a way to get a quick post up when I don’t have time for a full entry. So for today…

Low
Being insulted by a client who I built a website for. Unbelievably rude. I don’t remember ever being as mad at work as I was this morning. For people who know me, I almost never lose my cool, so for me to slam the phone down on someone you know I am upset. He apologized later, but you can’t repair something like that. Pretty much ruined my day. Until…

High
I got home with some beer that I never tried before. It is called Levity and it is made by Odell’s, who make my old favorite beer, Easy Street. Taste’s a bit like Fat Tire but with a bit more flavor. Wow, what a great beer. I am finishing my second one as we speak and listening to Miles Davis. The perfect ending to an otherwise terrible day.