It's so hard to choose the right color...

CJ writes, "Thought of something recently that I fondly remember from school 30 years ago: the Bic 4 color pen. Did you ever have one of these? I remembered these from when I was a kid; it was an awesome pen! I was surprised to find they still make them.

I found one an a local Office Depot and bought one for my daughter as well. I had one of these 30 years ago in school. They look and work exactly they same as they did back then. Amazon has them as well."

Weirdly, I picked up a box of a dozen Bic Crystal pens -- the ultra-cheap ones -- just before Christmas. I think my subconscious was mulling over the hand cramps I endured while writing college exams at the end of every semester. Either that, or my brain was rebelling against my iPad addiction.

It is really, really rare that I laugh till I get tears in the corners of my eyes, but these videos have done it.

I'm a longtime fan of the unrelenting gloominess and early synth work of Depeche Mode. In the 80s I'd never heard sounds and beats like that before, and it opened up a whole world of electronic music to me. The band did a lot to introduce and popularize entirely synthesized music (to more than just me, of course). Their radio and music video hit "Everything Counts" made a huge impact on ears that had never heard such an extraordinary collection of noises, which makes it even more hysterical when children do a pretty authentic cover of it with stuff from around the toy room.

Clearly this family knows how to make good use of Quality Time. My God, they even do "Strangelove"...

I know I'm courting controversy here, but I haven't been nearly as enthusiastic about DM since they moved away from their signature synth sound to a more rock band oriented thing in the 90s. I know plenty of people who (and I'll never understand this) got into the band precisely for that epic rock sound and not the crucial synth stuff that came before. I like to joke that DM has been around long enough to have fans of just their much crappier career phase.

I'm being dramatic, of course. There's plenty to like of their recent work (they have a recent live DVD that's pretty amazing), but those early unrelentingly electronic albums will always be very special in my heart. Those are very hardy songs that can even survive being covered by the mewling of adorable little moppets. Maybe we're down to projects like these to keep those early days of musical Depeche melancholia alive.

links:

One more DM cover from the Schrader family... this time it's "Shake The Disease"
The live Depeche Mode DVD I mentioned is on Amazon

I've joked many times that collecting records qualifies as a "lifestyle choice". Once you're bitten by the vinyl bug, you'll find yourself scouring the bins at collector shops, scanning the tables at flea markets, and sorting through boxes at the thrift to find your next treasure. It doesn't take long for the records to start stacking up and needing a home of their own. When LPs were more of a mainstay, there were plenty of storage choices out there, but these days its often specialized and very expensive.

That's what makes IKEA's Expedit shelving system a godsend for those of us who have too many records. The biggest one costs in the range of $200, and is perfect for holding thousands of records. Once I'd discovered this for myself, I started sharing the word and found that many of my other record collector friends found the same solution. I've had mine for close to ten years without a hint of sag (you can even see mine in the background of episodes of Retro Thing TV). So there is a whole network of DJs and vinyl fans who have made the trek to their local IKEA (or Amazon) to find a home for their LPs.

A clever Kickstarter project just secured the funding to create a set of front doors for the Expedit that would also display your favorite LP art. I'm totally on board as it's not only stylish, but it's easy to change the whole look of the unit with a whim. Though because it's a small run, it looks like it won't be able to match IKEAs usual economy for these sorts of things i.e. it's not going to be IKEA-level cheap. Looks like we're talking $35 per door.

Even more, I'd also really like IKEA to get on something like this custom DJ booth a friend turned me on to.

Let's make it happen, IKEA - I hereby dub this fantastic contrivance the Expedit 360!

links:

No Ikea nearby? Order your Expedit from Amazon.
Kickstarter project to create LP fronted doors