Blip.047: In No Particular Order

Just a few things that caught my eye.

I love Brutalist architecture and design and obviously the algorithm knows it. On the back of researching last week’s Blip, a bunch of related posts are popping up in my feeds, including a terrific short film promoting a book called Soviet Modernism. Brutalism. Post-modernism. Buildings and Projects in Ukraine 1960–1990. Unfortunately, the book is out of print, but if you like the Brutalist style, you may want to check out The Brutalists: Brutalism's Best Architects. You can read a great preview/review on design\milk.

The first time I ever saw Social Distortion live was when they played an on-campus set while I was in school at Cal State Long Beach. While that footage is likely lost to time, here’s a clip from around the same time at a local club called Bogart’s. I’ve been a fan of “Social D” ever since, and recently a deep-dive interview with Mike Ness crossed my path, which I really enjoyed. It’s called The Pursuit of Tone and in it Mike talks about some of his influences, his approach to song writing, and his ongoing love of the art and culture that still inspires his life and music. Mike is the real deal and 45 years later is still making the music he wants to hear. Respect.

As much as I have come to love the functionality of my Apple Watch, I was skeptical of the whole “close your rings” gamification of movement at the beginning. More than 3 years in, I really do believe that the daily goals and subtle reminders have kept me healthier (especially during lockdown) than I would be without it. That said, I still love a solid analog timepiece. I also love aviation. A company called AVI-8 (get it?) combines both to create a series of gorgeous aviation-inspired watches. My personal favorite is the Hawker Hunter, which is just the right amount of chunky industrial design while still being reminiscent of a vintage altimeter. The “Hitchcock Automatic” variant of the P-51 Mustang is nice too, though it’s sold out at the moment. I’m sure whichever one you choose will look great, especially if you’re also wearing a vintage MA-1 nylon flight jacket.

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