Welcome to this week’s edition of our Quality Linkage column. Please enjoy this week’s collection of interesting and entertaining links. Brew a fresh cup of coffee, find a comfortable place, and relax.
🥁🤯: Oh, you think you’re a good musician? You might not feel so strongly about that once you watch drummer Larnell Lewis (of jazz fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy) listen to a song for the first time and come up with this flawless performance:
This guy’s on another level. If any drummers reading this feel like burning their kit to the ground in shame after watching him play, I wouldn’t blame them.
+ This same YouTube channel also recently brought in Gil Sharone — who I mostly know from the Dillinger Escape Plan’s 2007 album Ire Works — to do a similar sort of thing, but for a reggae song.
🧱🎼: Speaking of musical talent, Dan Mace covering a song using instruments made of bricks just to spite a hater in the comments is the kind of energy I love to see:
Mildly NSFW for language.
🎨😄: This hilarious 11-year-old kid taking Mashable’s “Bob Ross Challenge” is guaranteed to brighten your day:
He should have his own channel, honestly. Way more entertaining than most of the big “personalities” on YouTube.
🌃🚀: Instagam has been surfacing a lot of extremely cool sci-fi concept art to me lately. Take the @inwardsound account, for example — this 3D artist from Italy creates all these very intriguing worlds full of cities coexisting with nature, surrealist landscapes, some combination of the two, and even urbanscapes modeled after mushroom clouds.
You can also find the artist’s work on ArtStation.
🗾: I’ve had many interests re: Japan over the years, but one thing I had no idea about was the fact that their buildings used to have so many rounded-corner windows, some of which are still around today. After being introduced to this architectural style, I find myself wishing it would make a comeback. #squarewindowsareboring
📺🖊📰: Most people think of Adam Ragusea as a “foodtuber,” and that’s not exactly wrong, but he would be the first to tell you that he thinks of himself more as a journalist than a cook.
This video he put out in May is a testament to that fact, acting as a sort of mini-seminar on developing a clear, punchy writing style that pulls viewers along rather than putting them off:
⚓️📖🗣: If you like the idea behind the cast of Harry Potter reading the series aloud but would prefer to hear a different tale, you’re in luck, because the University of Plymouth gathered a whole bunch of talented actors, artists, performers, poets, and writers to do an immersive “Big Read” of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s late-18th-century epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
(You know the famous quote, “Water, water, everywhere / Nor any drop to drink”? Now you know where it came from.)
The narrator list alone includes the likes of:
- Jeremy Irons
- Tilda Swinton
- Willem Dafoe
- Iggy Pop
- Jodie Whittaker
- …and many more
You can begin the journey here and enjoy the production bit by bit, or watch the 41-minute experience in its entirety here.
For more information on the project, read this piece by Philip Hoare for the Guardian.
Double trouble: To close out this week’s list, I’ve got two fresh links from our sister sites to share with you:
The first one is Isaac Smith’s “Everyday Gear for Living a Focused Life” article for the Focus Course blog, which is very much in line with the spirit of what goes on here at T&T.
The second link is Marius Masalar’s huge new guide for The Sweet Setup on using the Ulysses app + Git/WorkingCopy for collaborative writing. The mere fact that he can make something as arcane as Git feel so accessible is worth the read alone.
Neat Stuff We’ve Published Recently
- Belkin’s 3-in-1 wireless charging station conveniently and simultaneously charges your everyday Apple devices.
- Designed to gently exfoliate, deep-cleanse pores, and reduce excess oils, these biodegradable bamboo charcoal sponges will give your skin that glowy boost it deserves.
- My favorite United Pixelworkers t-shirt is back!
- WaterField Designs’ “Outback Duo” laptop brief offers the slimmest, lightest, compact everyday carry for two devices (i.e. two laptops, two iPads, one of each, etc).
- The woodworking-friendly INCRA Tools Bend Rule is precisely what you need for marking measurements around the corners of work pieces.
- Compatible with most phones and the Nintendo Switch, Lamicall’s multipurpose LS05 Gooseneck Phone Stand strikes the right balance between flexible and sturdy.
Got any suggestions for articles, videos, stories, photographs, and any other links you think we should be posting in our weekly Quality Linkage? Please do let us know on Twitter.