dVider blog | the vinyl word

When did the world become so small?

The other day I was talking with someone in the dVider studio and they noticed our world map. He questioned if all of the pins were places we had sold. "Indeed," I replied. We have sold stickers and room dividers around the world . . . cue Daft Punk.

Around the world, around the world.

(photo of Daft Punk's 'Around the World' video)

Word of dVider has traveled quickly over the last few years from New York to LA to Japan to South Africa to Finland. Just today we received an inquiry from Norway!

In a world with transcontinental text messaging, e-mail, skype, and Gmail chat people that live across an ocean suddenly don't seem so far.

So why was it so difficult for me to go to the grocery store 2 blocks away?

Posted by kerry at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For reasons you may not understand . . .

I totally love this internet meme.

That's all I have to say today.

Posted by kerry at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A screenplay.

This is my very, very, very short screenplay about me, Kris and two iPods. And the Vinyl word became less and less about stickers . . .

Chracters:

Kris - Ohio native now living in Queens. Makes $$$ at dVider and a small school in Chinatown. Thrifty, but not cheap. Wears glasses and blue pants. Yes, the same pants. Every day.

Kerry - from upstate New York, now living in Brooklyn. Makes $$$ at dVider. Thrifty, but sometimes extravagant without reason. Buys vintage nightgowns in Amsterdam and tells everyone in New York that they're dresses.

(Scene opens in the dVider studio. Kerry is traveling to a faraway land in the coming days. The journey will be long and difficult. She will hope for the kindness of strangers to get her by. She receives a package from the UPS man. Inside is the refurbished iPod touch she ordered. Kris is curious. He's never seen such a thing.)

Kris: It's fancy, man. How much was your iPod, like a million bucks?

Kerry: I think it came to around $200 which isn't too bad. I don't know how I'd make it through a flight over an hour without it.

Kris: But how much music can it hold? Like 5 songs?

Kerry: My old, old, old and quite sad iPod had 4GB, and I just filled it. This one is 16GB, has WiFi, crazy applications, and a bunch of other stuff I really don't need, but might be fun to have.

Kris: ****. I think I'm gonna get one.

Months pass.

Halloween.

Thanksgiving.

Christmas.

Days grow long and dark.

Kerry: So how is this iPod action working out for you Kris?

Kris: Oh, man. It's so much easier to carry this than my old walkman and all those tapes. Even if I became entirely bored of a tape, I'd still listen to it because maybe it's the only tape I grabbed and put in my bag that day. It's a whole new world.

Kerry: Oh, I'm so pleased to hear. Have you found any cool podcasts?

Kris: What the **** is a podcast? I don't get it.

Kerry: Oh man, Kris. It's like a radio show to go. You can scan through tons of radio shows, concerts, new reports, and more and play them right away or download them to your iPod and save 'em for your next subway ride. You can even subscribe to 'em so that everytime you plug your iPod into your computer the newest podcasts will be downloaded to you iPod.

Kris falls even more madly in love with his iPod. He listens to internationally reknowned professors, the world news, historical speeches, and, once in awhile, a concert. His iPod and him live happily ever after in his basement apartment. Kerry bought her around the world ticket and fled New York never to be seen from again.

Posted by kerry at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Norway, the land of our ancenstors.

I know very little about Norway, but the few things I know, I like.

So, what do I know? Two things.

1. Our current guest artist, Alexander Dawson has some serious Norwegian heritage.

2. A great movie came from there called 'Reprise'.

The movie did two great things. 1. It made me laugh and cry. (I'm counting both expressions of emotion as one thing) 2. It reminded me of a great dance like it's 1999 sort of song by LeTigre called 'Deceptacon'.

The laughing and the crying happened for two reasons. 1. Sometimes, I felt happy. For example, well, I can't tell an example because it will spoil the movie for you. 2. Sometimes, I felt sad. Again, don't want to spoil it for you.

Directed by a young guy named, Joachim Trier, it's been called the 'best Norwegian Film in years. . .' I suppose that means people agree with me. See it. Appreciate the party scene (images below). Appreciate this group of young guys. Then listen to Le Tigre.

Posted by kerry at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Best Gift Ever - (besides a 'sticker by dVider', of course!)

The best gift ever is officially the mix tape. There's no beating around the bush. It's just the truth. At least for me. Perhaps I should clarify for whom a mix tape is the best gift ever.

Example A. She's fifteen and overloaded with hormones. You're a sixteen year old boy hoping to kiss her at midnight, you don't want to relive that lonely moment from last New Year's Eve. But how? A mixtape. If she's anything like I was at that age, go with Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares 2 U', Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together', and Peter Frampton's 'Baby I Love Your Ways'. She'll be yours before midnight and probably before she finishes the tape. Just make sure her Mom doesn't see you kissing her or you'll never be allowed back in the 5 bedroom raised ranch.

Example B. He (could be a she, we'll just use he for now), so as I was saying, He's in his thirties and has recently lost his coolness. He has relationship challenged cat, hockey equipment in the backseat of his car, utilizes facebook just to prove to his two older brothers that he is somehow cooler than them, and magically scored a beautiful wife whom fortunately has an uber cool sister that keeps him up date on new music. He still loves music. He has 5 iPods, all different models. All 5 are full. He has one pair of serious headphones that cost his parents a small fortune in 1996. He is my brother-in-law. And, as mentioned, he's lucky to have me. Without me, he'd never know about Justice remixes, bands named after countries, ie. Beirut and Iran, or performers with cute acronyms such as MIA or CSS. Unfortunately for him, I've been holding out on divulging such information to him as I'm mastering his Christmas gift. Fortunately for him, he only has about one more week of waiting. One more week til' he can again be super cool, if only for a week. Then, more new music will come out and I will share one or two songs with him on a monthly basis. He will become old, but not bald. He seems to be holding on to his hair. The question is if this mixtape will inspire him to discover more cool action on his own, or if he will simply revert to his ways of moe.

To brother-in-laws!

Posted by kerry at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sometimes life is really hard.

Man, writing today's entry has been a struggle for me, so I am opting for something like a news brief. I've got a lot to say, but understand that when checking our blog, you probably aren't seeking to read the first chapter of my new book, though that may be coming in the near future. Anyways, expect a lot of links.

Good evening. I'm Kerry Nolastname and this is the Vinyl word.

Over the weekend Swedes around the world celebrated St. Lucia, or as I like to call her, the patron saint of magical saffron buns.

I started reading 'The Places in Between' by Rory Stewart. Rory walked across Afghanistan. I can't put it down. No, really. It's glued to my hand. Just kidding, it's that good.

Full frontal - of Max's apartment on design*sponge today. See the action here.

An Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at President Bush. This is no joke. Read here. See the video here. It's worth noting that the video is the most 'digg'ed, er, dug(?) thing in the last 24 hours.