Lots going on right now at Pump Audio. This week we put our Soundtrack service online, which will launch officially in the next couple of weeks. It’s the first online search and license tool for Pump’s independent music catalog. Take a look.

Something amazing happened while Emma and I were in Australia: The Australians regained the Ashes, meaning they won the fierce, bi-annual cricket series between England and Australia that dates back to 1882. What’s more, the Aussies swept the series 5-0, which hasn’t happened in 86 years.

Thanks to my father-in-law, Malcolm, I was lucky enough to see two days of the Ashes series (one in Perth, one in Sydney). It was nothing short of riveting.

(more…)

Just for today, an interesting story about the Lincoln Memorial from Sarah Vowell’s excellent book Assassination Vacation:

[Lincoln Memorial sculptor David Chester] French obsessed for years about how to sculpt Lincoln’s peculiar face, fretting and reading and thinking, before commiting to the brooding, seated philosopher in the memorial. He received the commission in 1913, so by the time the memorial was finally dedicated—nine years later—the sculptor was a little pent up worrying how his work would come off. Hoping to celebrate, French looked upon the final installation with horror.
(more…)

Big Al Green posted a hilarious collection of Local TV Ads with the best/worst jingles ever. I particularly love the second one, with its one-syllable-per-beat, Grandmaster Flash style rap and the little step and slide dance he does. So good. I would totally go there if I needed a giant leather sectional.

This just in from Australia.

You’d like to think that dogs would have some sort of instinct telling them to avoid porcupines—or at least to stop attacking once they get half a snoutful of prickers. Clearly that’s not always the case. (Don’t worry: It’s a reasonably happy ending, all considered.)

[the owner's story, plus the most ridiculous photos ever after the jump]

(more…)

Here’s a great article from NY mag about the effects of praise on kids.

It reminds me of an article I read years ago on young, naturally-gifted major league pitchers. They were prone to career-ending pitching slumps because they couldn’t account for the provenance of their gifts. The guy who throws a thousand pitches a day through a tire in the backyard feels secure in whatever talents he has. The pitcher who believes he’s simply a “natural talent” is confounded by the occasional failure on the mound—occasionally to the point of no return.

We finally got the snow we’ve been waiting for: eight inches and counting. What was bare ground yesterday is now blanketed to mid-calf depths.

Baci was whinging and pawing at the shelf where we keep his tennis ball, so I put on my snow boots and and took him out to the fields. Of course he lost the ball after six or seven throws, but it was fantastic while it lasted.

This video and article about a skydiver who survived a parachute malfunction and subsequent 1-mile near-freefall is not to be missed.

The most stirring moment of the video is when the skydiver realizes that his reserve chute won’t open, and yells out, “Oh shit, I’m dead! Bye!”

Emma had never been to Australia before, and in my 10 or so trips over, I’d been just about everywhere but Perth. In fact, the vast majority of Aussies have never been to Perth. It’s essentially an outpost—albeit one of 1.3 million people, a clutch of skyscrapers, and some gorgeous stretches of coastline.
(more…)

Emma and I began our ridiculously long trip to Australia from Key West, Florida, where we’d attended a friend’s wedding. Our journey to Perth (which included stops in Atlanta, L.A. and a long layover in Auckland) took over 32 hours.

…Which might have been unbelievably crappy, were it not for my mom’s wedding present of Business Class tickets. We flew Air New Zealand, whose business class seems more like a VIP lounge in a space station than anything on a commercial airliner.
(more…)