Oh yeah, I remember nights like this

Stay tuned for a post about this badass artist

The past 18 months have absolutely flown by. I moved to Denver (with my girlfriend!), jumped into a startup business in Colorado's most ridiculous industry, turned the bottom line from red to black, finished my MBA, and adopted an insane dog. Amanda finished law school and then took and passed the heinous bar exam. Since then we've crammed as much fun into the summer and fall as possible. It's been fun but recently I've been feeling worn out.

For the past two nights, Amanda's been gone and I've taken the opportunity to be lazy. Tonight I put game 7 of the World Series on, listened to new music, and trolled the interwebs, just as I used to do before grad school. God it feels good to do nothing sometimes.

Tonight I discovered the song 1 by Joy Zipper while listening to some commercial. Honestly it makes a better ad ditty than a stand alone song but right now it's serving as the perfect soundtrack to a nice laid back  evening with Lance Berkman and the puppies.

Zhong Biao

Copied from Luxury City

During the last (and free) day at the Denver Art Museum's Embrace! exhibition, Amanda and I stumbled upon a piece by Zhong Biao. As an informative pdf from the exhibit states, "Zhong Biao has captured the pulse of China's social reform through visual symbols familiar in contemporary Chinese culture." I don't know anything about that but what I do know is that this piece was incredible. Using sharply colored images overlaid atop grayscale-like drawings, Biao made me feel excited, angry, and that something was not quite right--and I was glad to have it pointed out. Biao is who I'd commission if I wanted a Chinese version of Dick and Jane at the Power Plant.

Other pieces that I'm afraid to post for fear of getting into copyright trouble:
1
2
3

Really amazing stuff.

SYTYCD Music

I came late to the So You Think You Can Dance party but now that I'm here, I have no plans to leave. This show is flawed but amazing. The incredibly obnoxious female judge needs to be replaced and they could cut down on the amount of fluff time. There's also some racist undertones (hip hop artists in caveman outfits? The latin girl getting "on the tamale train?")

Now for the good parts. This show delivers ridiculously good dancing to authentic music. What I mean by that is: unlike Dancing With the Stars which is too cheap to pay the music rights for original songs and "features" D-rate celebrities butchering cookie cutter forms of dance, SYTYCD features incredible dancers performing custom routines to a diverse collection of great music.

Here are a few of my favorite songs from the most recent season. Unfortunately fox has tried to remove all video clips of SYTYCD. They're out there though. Happy hunting. :)

Madcon - Beggin' - SYTYCD routine here (2:20 on the video)

Immediately reminiscent of "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge, Beggin' is a song to rock out to, clean house to, just generally get down to. The Franki Valli version is good too, but I like this one a little better. Oh and Gnarls Barkely called. They want their sound back.

George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag

Made famous by the opening scene in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, "Little Green Bag" is a bad m________n song.

Imogen Heap - Aha!

Like a demented Christmas Carol, Aha! is weird weird weird. Imogen Heap sounds like no one else. This song works as the soundtrack to a wide array of imagined acts. I could see a dark love scene, a midnight jewel caper at high speed, a chase down alleys through Chinatown, really anything. The more I listen to this song, the more I love it.

My favorite piece is actually the last song/routine of the season but this blog doesn't support artists who think it's cool to beat women.

Walk It Out

This is one of my all-time favorite YouTubes. Pretty impressive.

Kind of a gold mine for solo jazz. Anyone wanting to learn boogie forwards need look no further than 0:19.

Plant43

I finished my Finance midterm and spent the rest of the evening in repose.

Step 1: Laphroaig with GNightMoon

Step 2: Discovering new music (more soon) and new art:

I've stumbled upon Emile Facey, aka Plant43. A freelance graphic designer, Plant43 designs book and cd covers. Scars and sepia: the dark arts. I call the top piece Lightning Beard with Pot Leaves and Cello Parts. The lower one: Orbital Fissures.

Shawndell Oliver

Welcome to the latest artist featured on Art That Doesn't Suck.

I love Denver. Here you find an artist as fascinated with the old west as she is with the far east.

This image doesn't do the painting justice but you'll have to take my word for it, these Western paintings are some of the most colorful ones I've seen. There is another image not listed on her website of two bulls staring the viewer down. It's quite powerful. If bulls and Buddha are your thing, Shawndell Oliver is your girl.

Oak Town Controversial

If I had a lot of money, I would buy cool clothing. Cars are fun and eating out is nice, but I love wearable graphic art.

Welcome to Fiftyseven-thirtythree, a liberal clothing label featuring images of S.E. Asia, chimps in riot gear, peaceful schoolgirls, and boys kissing boys.

I don't know if this label is socialist, communist, angry, or something else. I don't love all of their work of course, but some of these shirts are sweet. It probably doesn't hurt that their models are gorgeous.