Monday, 3 August 2009
“Of the Month” August ’09
Link of the Month:
Ponoko
A terrific service: upload your vector-line files to this website and they’ll laser-cut your designs out for you and ship them to you—or your customers! There are a variety of materials (with a variety of thicknesses) to choose from, including multiple colors of acrylic, bamboo, and felt, and most of them can also be engraved as well as cut out. A brilliant way to mass-produce your ideas.
Album of the Month:
Order of the Crimson Wizard: Secrets From the Far and Distant Hills
These guys are a hoot. A local Bellingham band, the Order of the Crimson Wizard were described to me as “Castlevania Rock.” That’s not a terrible description; OCW infuse their high-energy rock with large doses of classical motifs and gothic lyrics, but they’re not in any way a whiny emo band. These guys rock. This is their debut EP of seven fun, fast, dramatic, kick-ass songs. If you have a chance to see them live, I also highly recommend doing so. More OCW at their MySpace page.
Book of the Month:
Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
A simple, beautifully-drawn, nearly wordless graphic novel about a lonely dog who builds himself a robot friend. A very intelligent musing on the fragility of friendship and the nature of loyalty, guilt, loss, and redemption. Shockingly moving and at times very funny, this wonderful story will stick with you for a long, long time. More Sara Varon at her website.
Categories: Books, Links, Music, Of the Month.
