Friday Roundup: b8ta, BMX, and Chorus Pedals

Photo courtesy of Instagram user @matthenryphoto

Dubious advice from a shiftless writer (courtesy of The Hooch):  "Revision doesn’t mean publication; it only means the cleanest, tightest, most readable version of a story that maybe no one will ever read. That might sound depressing but I like to think of it, instead, as a permission slip for being more audacious."

Random thoughts after watching Danny MacAskill's latest: 1) It may not be as visually stunning as "The Ridge," or feel as batshit joyous as his Legos-meets-Alice-in-Wonderland "Imaginate," but, sheesh, everything Danny does is worth watching. 2) Kinda feel guilty for digging that Dodos song so much, being as it feels borrowed from Beirut's set list. 3) Save for the final shot [and make sure you do watch it until the very end], the weakest cuts in this video are when it flips to the jerky, GoPro footage. 4) Any guesses as to what percentage of amateur GoPro footage is watched more than once? I'd bet a paycheck it's less than 3%. 5) Anytime I watch a video like this, I can't help but think of the late JP Auclair's monster "Street Segment" from All.I.Can (which is always worth watching a second, third, or fiftieth time). 

Behold: Two fresh photography series worth checking out: Mark Laita's "Created Equal" and Matt Henry's "Short Stories" (see photo above).

Online shopping in the mall: Tip of the hat to b8ta, a SaaS-driven brick-and-mortar experience in Palo Alto that aims to focus on education and tactile interaction with tech products, rather than sales. Started, in part, by an old friend and coworker of mine, b8ta is a brain trust of ex-Nest and Apple alums. "Disruption" is one of those over-seasoned phrases making a lot of articles and blogs posts inedible, so I'll just say: good luck to b8ta in their attempts to mix shit up. 

Still haven't found what I'm looking for: When I first heard "The Joshua Tree" in junior high, it felt like someone had created an album based upon a mood board I'd put together - big vocals, references to God, a lot of yearning, chorus pedals, etc. My take on U2 has tarnished a bit over the last half-dozen albums or so, but I did have that same junior high feeling when I recently stumbled onto DIIV. It's rad.

Highlights from the "Santa Brand Book":

• "The final two letters are the (abbreviated) thanks of the world's children."
• "We chose red because it connects to blood, which signifies family, and communism, which alludes to sharing."
• "The greatest assets of any brand are its brand assets. Our critical asset duopoly is Volume of Beard (beardiness) fused with Extent of Fat (fatiness)."