Okkervil River's "Golden Opportunities Mixtape"

This morning, I discovered (via You Ain't No Picasso) that one of my favorite bands, Okkervil River, has released a new EP that is available in full to download from their website,completely free. The EP is a collection of covers (plus one Okkervil River original) that were recorded live during their current tour (for their new album, "Stage Names." The tracklisting is as follows:

1. April Anne (John Phillips)
2. Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear (Randy Newman)
3. I Want To Know (Charles F. Olson/Ed Sanders)
4. Do What You Gotta Do (Jimmy Webb)
5. I Came Here To Say I'm Going Away (Serge Gainsbourg/Trans. by Will Sheff)
6. The Blonde In The Bleachers (Joni Mitchell)
7. Antarctica Starts Here (John Cale)
8. Listening To Otis Redding At Home During Christmas (Will Sheff)
9. Solo (Sandy Denny)

The download comes complete with printable artwork and liner notes (you can pick between a Christmas design, a Hanukkah design, and standard black and white).

Go HERE to download. Enjoy.

Katy Beaton's Sylvanus G. Morley Comic

One of my favorite people making comics on the internet right now is Katy Beaton. She draws awesome autobio comics (and I am not easy to please when it comes to autobio), and hilarious historical funnies. As a christmas present to her readers, she asked them to send in thier favorite historical figures and she is drawing comics about the first 20 she recieved. I requested a Sylvanus Griswold Morley comic (previously blogged about here) and was lucky enough to be one of the first 20!

Check out Katy's website or livejournal to read the rest as she posts them. She's already done Tesla as well.

Pizza Without An Oven

I have not tried this yet, but I sure want to.

From The New York Times:

Not long ago, toppings for pizza were becoming unbearably fancy — hoisin-slathered duck, or fontina and truffles — or just ridiculous (you’ve seen the ones with pasta?). Pizza threatened to become something other than pizza. Fortunately, that trend has reversed.

Nevertheless, it is still fun to innovate, or to adopt a pizza tradition you were not familiar with. My friend Ed Schneider, a sometime food writer and brilliant home cook, called me recently with a suggestion that sounded so good I tried it immediately: pan-fried pizza.

Read the full article here!

I hate to keep shoving adorable and weird asian... media... down your throat, but this is an OLD favorite of mine that i think everyone needs to see.

The joys of poop set to super sweet music.

Yup... yup.

Sony Bravia: Bunnies!

Italian Pizza Acrobats

Found at the PIZZA HALL OF FAME! Be sure to check out the ...um ...totally awesome music ...on the World Pizza Champions main page.

Dinosaur Found With Skin Mostly Intact

From TimesOnline:

The biological secrets of the dinosaurs could soon be glimpsed after the apparent recovery of organic material from a “mummy” unearthed in the United States.

The remarkable example of a duckbilled dinosaur is in such good condition, with its skin almost entirely intact, that it has already challenged standard theories about the creatures’ shape, size and movement.

It could yet, however, offer still greater insight into the evolution and biology of the dinosaurs, if hints that organic matter has been preserved are confirmed. Such samples could allow scientists to study dinosaur proteins and even DNA, providing unprecedented clues to their life cycle and development.

Read the whole article here.

"those city bottoms were bitter"