Best of Times

Crowd in Titusville, Florida, watching Apollo 11 take its crew to the moon, July 1969
(David Burnett/Contact Press Images)









Jenny Sanford, First Lady of South Carolina, June 2009 (AP photo)








Both images from the New York Times.
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What's App-ening: Where To Find The Good iPhone Apps

Here's a brief list of sites that (in my opinion, yours probably sucks) do a good job of reviewing, previewing, pimping, or otherwise noting good and/or decent iPhone applications, commonly known as "apps" or "ptarmigans."

AppCraver
A solid place to start, lots of coverage of lots of apps from games to bidness stuff. Check out their Editor's Picks for a good starter pack.




Gizmodo's The Week in iPhone Apps
Four apps a week, a proper mix of fun, productivity, things that make fart or gun noises, and creative tools.




iLounge
If you (like me) were a stereo dork at a younger age and read Stereophile magazine, you'll recognize iLounge's style. But that's good, because there's some serious thought and criticism here, particularly handy when it comes to looking for an external battery pack to let you use your 3GS for more than five hours at a time.




Pocket Gamer.co.uk
Games! Game news! Game reviews (good ones!) Tips on what's cheap/free this week! You must get Peggle!




What They Play: John's Giant List of iPhone Games
This title ain't lyin': It's a big-ass list of iPhone games by 1UP's John Davidson. Check out the last review (for Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyvale, a game I would have totally ignored, but did not thanks to John) and you'll see John's brilliante Olde Worlde wisdom.
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Moon Baltimore: THE INFAMOUS "THE SIGNAL" INTERVIEW

Back by popular demand! Sort of.

Click player below (UPDATED: Now with 100% more working . . . in Firefox and Chrome. IE seems to be some sort of bigot.) to play the MP3 of Moon Baltimore's spot on WYPR 88.1 FM's The Signal from June 12, 2009. Remember where you were the first time you heard it? Me neither!

Woman putting on her lipstick in a park with Union Station behind her, Washington, D.C.

From the Library of Congress Flickr site (really!):

Woman putting on her lipstick in a park with Union Station behind her, Washington, D.C.

[ca. 1943]

1 transparency : color.

Moon Baltimore UNLEASHED IN THE MULTIMEDIAS

Moon Baltimore is ON THE STREETS and already people are talking about it (in my mind).

The initial promotional onslaught is detailed below:

WYPR 88.1 FM's The Signal's Lisa Morgan's interview with me about writing the book! (NOTE: Might Be Afflicted and Unworking for a little while)

Photos from the book premiere event at Atomic Books!

Get a copy yourself, either through an awesome Baltimore retailer or through Amazon!

Tortillaz In The Mist

"Touch the Zesty Guacamole flavor to your tongue and you'll taste what Quaker Tortillaz are all about."

The kindly pacifist Quaker icon dude must be thrilled. "You can never be too thin – or too crunchy" reads the marketing copy. That's not very Quaker, is it?

How about:
"You can never be too thin or too crunchy -- or too pacifist!"

The Diver, or Scaphandrier

"Nantes, the home town of Jules Verne, is situated in western France. Here, near the river Loire a giant deep-sea diver sleeps gently, waiting for his task to begin."

Softball Reporter

Literally:

Roll Call seeks an energetic reporter/blogger for a three-month, part-time (10 hours/week) position covering Capitol Hill’s summer softball season for RollCall.com’s new softball Web site. The successful candidate will have: experience in and around the Congressional, House and/or Senate softball leagues; news reporting experience, preferably sports-related; an engaging writing style; and the flexibility to work evening hours. Send or fax resume with cover letter, and writing samples to: Roll Call Inc., Attn: HR Dept., 50 F Street, NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20001 or fax: 202/824-0475 or e-mail hr@rollcall.com. No phone calls please. EOE.

Lights On: Dark Night Of The Soul

So . . . a little late here, but Dark Night Of The Soul is this new project from DJ Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous. And David Lynch hopped aboard and added some photos. It was going to be a Big Thing. But then EMI and the lads had some sorta snit fest and now it'll never really come out as a record proper; they'll sell you the Lynch photo book and a blank CD-R, and you've got to complete the mission by, you know, putting it on there.

Anyway, NPR actually has the whole thing available to listen to (but not download yet). After a semi-listen, I'd say it's got some pretty good things going on. It's definitely got a Crazy Supper Club Lineup, says NPR:

In addition to Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, other artists appearing on Dark Night of the Soul include James Mercer of The Shins, The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, David Lynch, and Scott Spillane of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Gerbils.

So, hit it.