Just Tuesday, I received a brief email from the Sigur-Ros.co.uk website with a simple block of text, indicating the website, www.jonsi.com.

Over the last couple of days, and for the next two presumably, each letter in Jón þor (Jónsi) Birgisson’s name has come alive. Simply clicking on a character produces some delicately drawn earthly designs that link thematically to a snippet of music.

The J becomes entangled in leafy vines, O fits inside a contorted tree branch with an raven fluttering in at the end, and N has growing stalks which lead into a final burst of small colored leaves.

I dont wan’t to spoil the surprise of hearing the music, so you should see the animations and judge yourself. So from here, go forth and listen and bookmark it for the next two letters. 

Otherwise [spoiler alert], I must say N is a surprisingly wonderful celebration that I am eagerly waiting to hear the entirety of.

—Sachyn Mital

I was doing an image search for the concept of ‘caring for a sick friend’ (for a feature on caregivers), and this ‘Hillbillery’ image from Classical Values.com popped up on Google images. “End the Culture War by Restoring Classical Values” is the tagline of this site.  Scroll down and you’ll see an image of Hillary Clinton as button-busting SS officer. I’m amused, but thoroughly confused by the intent of this little site.

Dare you Google image search the concept of ‘hand in hand’ (you know, a sweet, sentimental gesture), after combing through pages of silhouette images of hetero couples on beaches at sunset, and babies hands in grown-ups hands, and old peoples’ hands holding hands with old people’s hands—you’ll soon encounter this nifty bit of photoshop work: ““Hand” by pavementfreud. The hand that bites the hand that feeds it? Hey buddy, can you give me a hand? Quit screwing around and hand over that work, already—we’re up against the deadline…

—Karen Zarker

UK soul songstress Joss Stone has a new video making the rounds that’s got “viral” written all over it. The rumor is that her brother directed the clip, and her record company, EMI, refused to release it because it is so excruciatingly bad.
Come on, Joss. This has to be a piss-take. Either way, it’s hilarious.

—Jennifer Cooke

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are one of those bands that continues to release greatness with age. Their latest issuance: an anthology of live performances spanning the last 30 years. This collection is by no means a greatest hits. Naturally, classics such as “American Girl”, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”, and “Free Fallin’” make appearances, in addition to deeper cuts like “Breakdown”, “Wildflowers”, and “It’s Good to be King.” Several covers also appear on the set, including “Green Onions” by Booker T. and the MGs and “Friend of the Devil” by the Grateful Dead.

—Allison Taich

Matthew Friedberger does a great Dennis Hopper in this video for the Fiery Furnaces’ “Even in the Rain”, which is basically an annotated video version of the making of Easy Rider. The benign track comes from I’m Going Away, and check after the jump to see some dates for their intercontinental tour.

—Tyler Gould

—Chris Conaton