Photographer of the Day

© William Eggleston

William Eggleston, a native of Memphis, Tennessee. The cover of Spoon's forthcoming album, Transference (in stores January 19), features a photograph by Eggleston. See the cover art and listen to a track from the album below.

- Joel

Spoon - "Written in Reverse"

What's On My Christmas List...

The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy by Bill Simmons. Read an excerpt in which Simmons discusses his theory for why Patrick Ewing is the 39th greatest NBA player ever.

- Joel

It's Christmas Time...

It's Christmas time. Here for your listening/downloading pleasure are a few indie-types playing holiday songs both classic and original.

- Joel

Sufjan Stevens - "Sister Winter"

Feist - "Lo' How A Rose E're Blooming"

Jimmy Eat World - "Last Christmas"

Low - "Just Like Christmas"

My Morning Jacket - "O Holy Night"

No Vacancy

No Vacancy © Joel Thomason

Another great Thanksgiving is complete (though our family's celebration will continue through the weekend). We have grown considerably over the years. This year 34 people squeezed around 3 large tables to eat 2 turkeys (or was it 3?), 15 pounds of potatoes, and a cornucopia of other traditional favorites. As I write this, I am in the basement making myself comfortable on an air mattress while most of those 34 family members snuggle into various nooks and crannies around the house. There is literally no vacancy, hence the blog title and the excuse to post another photograph from my trip to the prairie.

- Joel

Tallgrass Prairie

Chamber of Commerce © Joel Thomason

It's early Thanksgiving morning. I'm having trouble falling asleep on the air mattress in my basement, so I thought I'd post a few recently developed photographs from my trip to the Kansas Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. See more at my Flickr page.

- Joel

School House © Joel Thomason

How David Beats Goliath

Tonight I found myself reading a piece by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker. The article, entitled "How David Beats Goliath: When Underdogs Break the Rules", examines the strategies, both successful and unsuccessful, employed by underdogs when facing heavy favorites. Like most of Gladwell's writing, the article is bent towards the cerebral, jumping from junior-high girls basketball to Lawrence of Arabia to the Traveller Trillion Credit Squadron tournament (a naval war game) and back. Still, I found the lessons for success to be intriguingly practical: effort trumps ability; play to your strengths and away from your weaknesses; don't be afraid to challenge conventional wisdom. You can read the article at the link below. Also, check out Gladwell's blog if you are interested.

- Joel

Malcolm Gladwell - "How David Beats Goliath"

Photographer of the Day

Panhandle II © Mark Feiden

Mark Feiden. I have noticed various photographs of the Kansas prairie hanging on the walls in the building where I work. This week I finally stopped to find out who shot all of the photos. It turns out it is Mark Feiden. I'm a sucker for photographs of the prairie. Technically, the photograph above was taken in the Texas panhandle, but it was the largest image I could find online.

- Joel

The Hoops Whisperer

While sitting in the doctor's office yesterday, I read an interesting article in Sports Illustrated entitled "The Hoops Whisperer", highlighting NBA trainer Idan Ravine. The article, which is actually an excerpt from Chris Ballard's book The Art of the Beautiful Game, explores Ravine's unorthodox training methods and the intimate attention he pays to his clients' psyche. The article reminded me of something you might find in a Malcolm Gladwell book. Though this article features NBA athletes, the principles of psychology Ravin uses to tailor his approach to each client are useful regardless of industry. The article, which you can access through the link below, is well worth the five minutes it takes to read.

- Joel

Chris Ballard - "The Hoops Whisperer"

Photographer of the Day

Route 9 W, New York, 1969 © Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander. AVS mentioned that his book New Mexico was one of her favorites, so I looked him up. He has some great stuff. If you look him, beware. He has a series of nude photographs he took that you'll probably want to avoid.

- Joel

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind EP

Animal Collective release a new EP today entitled Fall Be Kind. I just bought it on iTunes. I love love love the track "What Would I Want? Sky". Check it out below. In other news, I wish fall would be more kind to me.

- Joel

Animal Collective - "What Would I Want? Sky"

Words with Friends

My new favorite iPhone application is Words with Friends. Basically it's an asynchronous game of Scrabble. I can't get enough - especially with the epic battle currently underway with Ben Rector. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you need this app. Oh, and my user name is just my first and last name. Find me on there and we'll play!

- Joel

Laura Gibson

Over the weekend I made a trip to Oklahoma City to see some friends and was introduced to the music of Laura Gibson. I really enjoy her album Beasts of Seasons, which features little more than Gibson and her guitar. Download a track from the album below. I've also posted a concert she performed for NPR.

- Joel

Laura Gibson - "Sleeper"

Vampire Weekend - "Cousins"

I get spend the Thanksgiving holiday with all of my cousins packed into my house. In honor of my holiday plans, Vampire Weekend has released a new track entitled "Cousins". Watch the music video below. You can download "Cousins" on iTunes right now. The new VW album Contra drops January 12.

- Joel

Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy, author of the novel adapted into the Academy Award-winning film No Country For Old Men, uses his writing to explore concepts like love & loss, life & death, home, God, and fate. His are heavy books, full of violence, adventure, existential questions, and exquisite prose. I continue to find, in the midst of the struggle that life can be at times, that my appreciation for his writing evolves. Furthermore, McCarthy's ability to meticulously piece together vivid landscapes word by word reminds me that even the smallest details can be incredibly meaningful.

Check out the three novels All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing, or Cities of the Plain, known collectively as The Border Trilogy. For a quick read, try the Pulitzer Prize winning, apocalyptic novel The Road. An adaptation of the novel is released in theaters on November 25. Watch the trailer below.

- Joel

THE ROAD (2009) Official Trailer from THE ROAD on Vimeo.

Photographer of the Day

Nuns in St. Peter’s Square, Rome, Italy © Stanley Marcus

Stanley Marcus. One of my favorite Christmas presents last year was the book Reflection of a Man, compiled by a friend of mine a featuring Marcus' photography.

- Joel

Beach House - "Norway"

Beach House drops their new album Teen Dream (cover art above) on January 26. Listen to/download a new track "Norway" below.

- Joel

Beach House - "Norway"

Under the Covers

Some covers can be a bit self-indulgent, but Ellie Goulding's take on Bon Iver's "The Wolves (Act I & II) is a worthwhile rendition that pays homage to the original version in a stripped down sort of way. Also, check out jj covering lorentz & m. sakarias (whoever they are) below that. It's a cool track.

- Joel

Ellie Goulding - "The Wolves (Act I & II) (Bon Iver cover)"

Photographer of the Day

© Matthew Nager (Click on the photo to enlarge)

Matthew Nager. I've featured him on the blog a few times. I love this photo taken for a recent piece discussing an Episcopal Church in Hurst, Texas that ran in the Wall Street Journal.

- Joel

Expialidocious - Mary Poppins Mashup

I saw this for the first time this evening (thanks to Conner), a thoroughly enjoyable Mary Poppins mashup. Download the mp3 of the track below.

- Joel

Pogo - "Expialidocious"

Laura Veirs

I didn't pick up Laura Veirs most recent album, but I loved Year of Meteors when it dropped in 2005. Her upcoming album July Flame is released on January 12. Enjoy two tracks from the album below. She is very smooth.

- Joel

Laura Veirs - "July Flame" (link removed by request)
Laura Veirs - "I Can See Your Tracks" (link removed by request)

Hot Trax

A few fun new tracks to download for your listening pleasure.

- Joel

Future Islands - "Little Dreamer (Remix)" Featuring Victoria Legrand

Hot Chip - "Take It In" (New Hot Chip album drops February 9)

Warpaint - "Billie Holiday" (Great new band. Check them out.)

Photographer of the Day

the bathroom and hall closet doors © Kevin Miyazaki

Kevin Miyazaki. I've featured him on this blog a few times.

- Joel

Love This Photo

TeePee. Marfa, Texas. October 2009. © Allison V. Smith

As always, Allison Smith makes impressive photographs. The above photo was taken in Marfa, TX. Check out her blog or her website for her latest work.

- Joel

Spoon - "Mystery Zone"

A few posts ago I mentioned that Spoon is dropping a new album title Transference in January. Listen/download the track "Mystery Zone" from the aforementioned album below.

- Joel
Spoon - "Mystery Zone" (Update: Wow, who knew my blog garners any kind of attention. Merge Records emailed me and asked me to take the link down which I was happy to do.)

Photographer of the Day

Chicago Landscape #55 © Art Sinsabaugh

Art Sinsabaugh. An underappreciated photographer, Sinsabaugh gained notoriety for his "Midwest Landscapes" and "Chicago Landscapes" collections published in the 1960's. Many of Sinsabaugh's photographs are part of the Hallmark Photographic Collection which was donated to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

- Joel

Utah Landscape #8 © Art Sinsabaugh

Photographer of the Day

© Steve Casimiro

Steve Casimiro. A National Geographic photographer. Check out his blog.

- Joel

© Steve Casimiro

"Empire State of Mind" Music Video

I wasn't a big fan of The Blueprint 3. In my opinion, Jay-Z's quality work ended after The Black Album. Still, "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys is a banger. Enjoy the music video below.

- Joel