I saw this on my way to grab lunch the other day. I love old pickup trucks. This one was in great shape but it wasn’t all “restored”-looking. The wood planks in the bed were roughed up like it was still in steady use but the whole thing was clean, like the guy who owns it knows what he has and he keeps it up.

Even if I can’t get my hands on one of the posters, a couple of these will make awesome iPhone wallpapers.

via TrueHoop

Incredibly, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show was held in Richmond Virginia this year. I say “incredibly” because this is a high-profile event in the cycling world and RVA isn’t necessarily known for getting this kind of thing. Kudos to whoever pulled this off.

Frame makers came from all over the world to display their work and to line up new customers. The level of detail and care that go into these frames is amazing. I went on Saturday and was blown away by the offerings. I didn’t take many photos, but the worthwhile ones I got can be found here. The bike-mad corner of the internet is going to be buried under photos of this thing later this week but you can go here to whet your whistle.

I’m probably 3-4 years away from making any kind of move for a custom, hand-built frame but the offerings on display this weekend were all the encouragement I need to go the bespoke route when that time comes.

My listening has been all over the place lately and it’s been a little while since I posted a full-on mix. I hope you give all of this a shot as these guys have gotten me through the winter. This should get me all caught up for a new Nice 6 next month. I have a couple of themes in mind that I’m stoked on.

click here to download au courant 2/2010

1) Funky Skunk (edit) – DJ Shadow
2) Rome – Yeasayer
3) Who Makes Your Money – Spoon
4) The Modern Leper – Frightened Rabbit
5) IRM – Charlotte Gainsbourg
6) Crystalised – Xx
7) Mirrors Dam – Funk
8) Running From The Cops – Phantogram
9) Foolish – Superchunk
10) U Got The Look – Jeff The Brotherhood
11) Lust For Life – Girls
12) Disturbance At The Heron House (live) – R.E.M.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Thanks for making my morning, Mike. That was a nice surprise.

Saints Superbowl Victory Celebration from Cottage Films on Vimeo.

This damn snow has turned me into quite the homemaker. I made a yellow cake and frosting from scratch. The hardest part, by far, was creaming the butter and sugar. The cake came out pretty well. It’s not crazy dry or anything but it isn’t very sweet. The frosting, which is just butter and sugar and vanilla, is sweet. I’d call it a success. The fruit filling in there is strawberry preserves from Faith Farms we got at the farmer’s market.

This all ties into something I heard Michael Pollan say when asked if he ever ate “junk food”. The gist of his answer was, “sure, but I make all of my junk food. It takes a good amount of work to make a cake from scratch or to make fresh french fries so I always feel like I earned it. And because I don’t always have the time to do that work I don’t have that stuff very often.” I really like that idea.