John Beck

A few days ago Bat For Lashes posted a video of a new song from her upcoming album. I must have listened to the song a dozen or more times already. It’s a gorgeous song and the video is beautiful. I can hardly wait to hear what the full album will be like. Check it out:

The incredibly beautiful and continually interesting Diana updated me on a little side project she’s working on. Every day she posts a large number of haikus, some are funny, some are brilliant and they’re all pretty damn amazing. Here’s one of them:

Your sister is hot.
I mean… she looks just like you.
I’ll let myself out.

Visit Diana’s Tumblr page at http://morbidhaikus.tumblr.com/
If you don’t find her as funny and amazing as I do then, well, something is seriously wrong with you.

The St. Germain Cocktail. I discovered this drink a few weeks ago at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island. It was my first time having St. Germain and I instantly fell in love with it. The cocktail is crisp and refreshing and is a great drink to have during these hot summer days. I picked up a bottle of it, which is gorgeous in itself, and made some cocktails during Independence day. We went through the entire bottle of St. Germain and a bottle of sparkling wine. It is delicious!

It’s around the halfway point of 2012 and here’s my top 10 of my favorite albums so far. In a rough order from my most favorite.

1. Beach House – Bloom
2. Santigold – Master of My Make-Believe
3. Sleigh Bells – Reign of Terror
4. Lower Dens – Nootropics
5. Actress – R.I.P.
6. Nite Jewel – One Second of Love
7. Polica – Give You The Ghost
8. Grimes – Visions
9. Mi Ami – Decade
10. The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends

A few that other albums I also really like that may take a few more listens to be higher on the list but are definitely among my favorites are the new albums by Chromatics, Squarepusher, Niki & the Dove and Xiu Xiu. The new Rapoon and Windy & Carl albums are also very good. We’ll see if the top 10 changes when I do my end of the year round up.

Last week Trenton, NJ held it’s 6th annual Art All Night. A 24 hour arts festival. This year DeLorenzo’s hosted the smart phone scavenger hunt. I was the ‘host’ of the scavenger hunt so when visitors to the arts festival started the scavenger hunt they were presented with this video:

When they came to shoot me we had a packed restaurant and I was insanely busy. I’m amazed that they did this great of a job on the video considering that I was constantly distracted during the shooting. They’re truly talented to come up with this brilliance.

I haven’t been posting nearly as much as I should or even want to. Max passed away back in May and this is the first that I’ve written about him. I’ve known Max since he was just a puppy running around here chasing sticks in NJ. Last year we spent the night up in Syracuse, NY and he’s upgraded to chasing frisbees. Earlier this year we both were lulled to sleep by a boring first half during the Super Bowl. We share many more memories together and even though Maxxers is gone those memories will always be with me. Good bye Maxx!!!

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt