Wine, Design and Potty Time

The MFA Designer as Author program at SVA had their graduate thesis show last night at one of the West Side galleries. I invited Emily along for the free wine, sweeping views of Mid/Downtown and all the ephemera (business cards, condoms, posters, stickers, seeds) that each graduate was giving away as part of their final product.

It was really exciting to see how different personalities interpreted the program’s mission statement, which more or less asks you to develop a market-ready product that is at once personally expressive and socially responsible. Erotic Urban vinyl toys for girls and boys? Check. A tube you can crap in while camping? Check. Turkish typographic identity? Check. All that remains is for me to decide what it is I’m going to make and sell.

Afterward, Emily and I dined at Morimoto on spicy crab, ramen, steamed chicken, pork kakuni and a Sapporo. The food was amazing, but the technological toilet was a tour-de-force. I wiped because I have little faith in a robot toilet's ability to wash all of the shit off of my ass. Then I settled in for the D-Luxe Rear Wash Treatment: warmed seats, oscillating spray, varying intensity and direction, etc. The blow dry was largely ineffectual (keep in mind how long it takes to dry your hands on a standard, wall-mount hand dryer) and the air smelled like mildewed crotch. All in all, I'm pleased to announce that THE FUTURE IS HERE!

Listen: Podcast, no23

Back in action, spewing out the false promises. AND TUNES! So back off, Pops. Enjoy:

“Rapture” by Pedro the Lion
“Miss World” by Hole
“Hello from eau Claire” by Xiu Xiu
“Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John (video)
“Books From Boxes” by Maximo Park
“Pump Up the Volume” by Art Brut
“Black Magic” by Jarvis Cocker
“You! Me! Dancing!” by Los Campesinos
“Cuts Across the Land” by The Duke Spirit (video)
“The Quiz” by Hello Saferide (video)
“Alone/Alive” by Shapes and Sizes
”Our Haunt” by Palomar
“A Good Start” by Maria Taylor
“Reno Dakota” by The Magnetic Fields
“Chick Habit” by April March
“Drive” by el-p
“Comfy in Nautica” by Panda Bear

As usual, the podcast is available through RSS or iTunes. Here are the appropriate links:

* Subscribe to the enhanced podcast. (rss)
* Subscribe to the mp3 podcast. (rss)
* Click here to visit the "Pleasing To Your Ears" page in the iTunes Music Store, where you can pick and choose from available episodes.
* no23 :: Podcast! Music! Talking! (mp3)
* no23 :: Podcast! Music! Talking! (enhanced)

That's it for episode 23. Please tell your friends. Please tell me what you think. Please post a link on your blogs. Please use the hotline: (206) 202-3142. Please tune in for a new episode next weekend.