Sections: Uncategorized Sep 30th, 2003 1 Comment 
Seriously though we can't possibly have two bad centuries in a row can we? When you think about how bad the Cubs have been over the past 90+ years all the while knowing that this may be one of the best teams they've ever had you can't help but get excited.
Lets go Cubbies!
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 24th, 2003 1 Comment 
Well my eyes did a double take and my jaw dropped as the first new BMW 5 series I had seen on the road drove by today.
I have to say that it looked absolutely stunning in person. The design in the flesh works rather well and the overall shape is very aggressive. The critisim of BMW recent design direction really boggles my mind. They are one of the few companies out there that are truly pushing the envelope and creating something new and different. If not now when? Without market leading companies like BMW pushing the collective envelope we could be in for more late 70's early 80's type of design stagnation. I really applaud them for their recent work and this new 5 series.
And if everything goes right I might be taking one out on a test drive by the end of the week (not that I'm really in the market for one mind you).
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 17th, 2003 3 Comments Mobitopia takes a looks at why Nokia seems so stale in the mobile phone world these days:
The part that make me wonder lately is if Nokia is losing some of that stuff that makes “Nokia” one of the top brands in the world. What I'm talking about is not their business sense or the technology, but the simple question of Design. Mobiles have become fashion accessories as much as they are utility items and I'm not sure if Nokia is keeping up with this trend. This may seem nuts days after the launch of the the 3200 which definitely gets high marks for innovation and got press *everywhere*. But seriously, it seems to me much of Nokia's new designs have been simply a combination of wacky keypad layouts and ever-so-slightly differently shaped bodies.
You can read the entire article here
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 12th, 2003 1 Comment Johnny Cash passed away this morning at age 71. I figured once June, his wife, passed away a couple months ago he wasn't long for this world but I guess it's still shocking news for someone who grew up listening to the Man in Black.
Lets hope that future generations don't get robbed of hearing his music.
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 11th, 2003 2 Comments These photos are from the days and weeks following the terroist attacks of September 11th 2001: industrial.mu/world. They're really pretty amazing considering the current world political climate
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 11th, 2003 No Comments Have you been confused when you start to talk about Wilco's lead singer Jeff Tweedy and your friend mentions that it's simply amazing he also has time to be Beck's guitar tech. Could it be that Jeff Tweedy is simply Batman or is there something else going on here? Well this little nugget of insight comes from Beck's road journal as posted on his site:
Today was auspicious in that it was the first time the two jeff tweedy's were brought together. jeff tweedy has been my guitar tech (which means he fixes our guitars and sets things up) for the last few years. he is a gentle quiet creature and a rarity among the rigorous world of road dogs. walking up to his work station one may find him doing trigonometry. ask him what he did over the weekend he'll tell you he got married. he's secretly fluent in japanese. he probably owns an island in the south pacific where he is building an interplanetary space probe. the other jeff tweedy is known widely as the front man for wilco . before we were going on he and his wife walked into our dressing to say hello. I asked him about jeff tweedy number two and he said he has gotten calls about guitar teching over the years due to confusion with the name. let it be known here and now that these two jeff tweedy's are distinct and separate persons, not one living a double life as a guitar tech pretending to be a rockstar or vice versa. we were never totally sure as we'd never seen them in the same room together, so questions remained, doubts lingered. but now that they've been seen together all is laid to rest and we can continue with our lives and with our minds at rest.
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 8th, 2003 No Comments 
This post at Marusin.com reminded of how much I love this song.
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 4th, 2003 1 Comment Is this too little too late? Here's an excerpt from a story at Pitchfork.com:
“Once upon a great while, the Pitchfork newswire gets a press release so completely over-the-top unbelievable, it simply has to be checked out. So you can imagine my Mr. Furley-esque double-take upon reading the headline “UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, World's Largest Music Company, DRAMATICALLY REDUCES CD PRICES.” That's right– one of the five major label groups announced a plan yesterday to lower the list price of most top-line CD's to a jaw-dropping $12.98, effective as early as October 1st. Wholesale prices will be decreased as much as 30 percent, effectively reducing the end price of many discs to between $10 and $12 at many retail outlets.”
You can read the entire story here.
Sections: Uncategorized Sep 2nd, 2003 2 Comments Great story in this month's Wired Magazine about how new technology is allowing for mass produced diamonds. The real kicker is that they are perfect in everyway and cost a fraction of what they would traditionally.
This is very rare stone,” he says, almost to himself, in thickly accented English. “Yellow diamonds of this color are very hard to find. It is probably worth 10, maybe 15 thousand dollars.”
“I have two more exactly like it in my pocket,” I tell him.
He puts the diamond down and looks at me seriously for the first time. I place the other two stones on the table. They are all the same color and size. To find three nearly identical yellow diamonds is like flipping a coin 10,000 times and never seeing tails.
“These are cubic zirconium?” Weingarten says without much hope.
“No, they're real,” I tell him. “But they were made by a machine in Florida for less than a hundred dollars.”
Weingarten shifts uncomfortably in his chair and stares at the glittering gems on his dining room table. “Unless they can be detected,” he says, “these stones will bankrupt the industry.”
You can read the entire article in this month's Wired Magazine.
Gabriel Bridger is a creative director, and part-time blogger living in Chicago. Bridger.us is a rambling collection of thoughts, comments, and various media in no particular order and, at times, of no particular merit.
