The opener for Monday night’s very good Peter Bjorn & John concert at Club Soda nearly stole the show, in my opinion. The band was Montreal’s Young Galaxy, a six-person group fronted by Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless, and their music is an airy yet brooding atmospheric pop blend. Really good tunes (especially my current favourite, Wailing Wall, from their 2007 self-titled album).

(Thanks Lisa!)… more

Coudal combines book titles and band names with amusing results: Booking Bands.

(Thanks Justin)… more

I read this this morning in a MocoNews story about the National Basketball Association partnering with Turner Broadcasting System to jointly manage the NBA’s domestic digital businesses:

Asked why go in this direction when the NFL, most recently, and MLBAM went in house, NBA Commissioner David Stern said it reflects the way the NBA is doing business today: “We have extraordinary opportunities on a global scale. … We think we are in an ‘era of partnership’ … having your own expertise in every aspect of a business is ultimately going to turn out to be too expensive for us and, ultimately not the best opportunity for growth.”

To partner and outsource or to diversify inhouse capabilities – that’s one of the big strategic questions companies need to answer in order to cover off their wide range of activities.… more

From Eden and the island of Lost to the United Pumpkins of America and the “percentage of light hair in Europe”, any number of strange maps found here.

(Thanks Michiel)… more

How’s this for a remarkable story about both accidental innovation and unexpected recycling…

Everything that goes into Frank Pringle’s recycling machine—a piece of tire, a rock, a plastic cup—turns to oil and natural gas seconds later. “I’ve been told the oil companies might try to assassinate me,” Pringle says without sarcasm.

(via Tastes Like Paste)… more

HOW recently published a feature article, Rewarding Creatives, which looked at the various methods employed by owners of creative firms to motivate their staffs. It was interesting to see in its selection of examples just how many of the rewards not only did not have anything to do with money or object gifts but that actually had very little to do with the job at all. In fact, the rewards cited tended to be time off to rest, play, read, visit inspiring places like museums, or put some thought to that screenplay in the desk drawer or the painting in the back studio.… more

Google’s got a very creative generalist type position open in Mountain View: Director of Other.

At Google, in order to grow through innovation, we spend 70 percent of our time on the core business, 20 percent on related projects, and 10 percent on new and unrelated businesses which we call “Other”. As our core business continues to enjoy phenomenal success, our tangential efforts must equally evolve to capitalize on opportunities before us. Under the “Other” umbrella, Google aims to identify and pursue opportunities where technology can revolutionize traditional and more mature industries.

(Thanks SA)… more

Both admiring the power law curve (more commonly known now as “the long tail”) and railing against “the tyranny” of it, an unnamed writer at The Econophysics Blog makes the case for becoming eclectic. Supporting a platonic ideal, she/he argues:

For instance, we can achieve a fairer and more meritocratic society by opening up legitimate opportunities for socio-economic advancement all along the long tail. Rather than “only 10 percent” of the students at so-called ‘elite’ universities coming “from the bottom half of the income scale” (i.e., where only 10% of the student body at prestigious universities reflect the working class and the poor in America), a larger proportion of the places at these schools should be opened to the talented but disadvantaged.… more

It’s a movie trailer for Jumper which bounces into at least a few ads. Kinda clever, kinda trippy, kinda annoying. But definitely taking cross-promo to another level.… more

According to a couple ex record label friends of mine, whose opinions on new music are always astute, the song “Atlas” by New York band Battles was 2007’s track of the year. Never heard of ’em? (I hadn’t.) Here you go: it comes with a crazy cool video.

… more