Review: Into It. Over It. – Standards

Into It Over It - Standards
Drew Beringer

I know that the “six degrees of separation” is commonly linked to actor Kevin Bacon, but I think it’s time we made an exception to the theory and include Evan Weiss. Whether it’s through the seemingly hundreds of side projects he’s a part of (most recently Pet Symmetry and Their/They’re/There) or the handful of records he’s produced (ranging from bands like You Blew It! to Xerxes), it’s no wonder someone who’s definitely not me nicknamed the Into It. Over It. mastermind “the emo mayor” (consider this review my official apology for that, Evan). But a funny thing happened during the writing and recording sessions for his third album – turns out Standards isn’t an emo record after all.

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Interview: Jason Isbell

Jason Isbell
Craig Manning

I had a chance to chat on the phone with Americana star, Jason Isbell, about his album release, Something More Than Free. We talked about his philosophy on songwriting, the challenge of following up his magnum opus (2013’s Southeastern), the prospect of him becoming a father, his opinion on why women make better artists than men, the role producer Dave Cobb plays in creating his records, and the idea of blending fiction and non-fiction for songs that always strike a chord.

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Reddit’s Warrant Canary Just Died

Reddit
Jason Tate

Cory Doctorow, writing at BoingBoing, talks about how Reddit’s “warrant canary” just died.

In early 2015, Reddit published a transparency report that contained heading for National Security Requests, noting, “As of January 29, 2015, reddit has never received a National Security Letter, an order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or any other classified request for user information.”

Five hours ago, Reddit published its 2015 edition, which contains no mention of classified requests for user information.

“Warrant canaries” are a response to the practice by governments of serving warrants on service providers that include gag orders forbidding the service from disclosing the warrant’s existence.

Ben Affleck Has Written Script for Batman Film

Jason Tate

Graeme McMillan, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, has revealed that Ben Affleck has written a script for a standalone Batman film, but that he is currently only contracted for the next two Justice League movies.

“He’s contracted to do at least Justice League One and Two, so at least three times wearing the cape,” he says, adding, “There’s a script that he’s written that is a really cool [Batman] idea, so that’s out there as an option.”

As we’ve been talking about in the movie thread, I think Affleck was the best part of this ok, but very flawed movie. I am more interested in an Affleck written and directed Batman movie than I am anything Zack Snyder does going forward.

Interview: Matt Nathanson

Matt Nathanson
Craig Manning

I got to speak on the phone with the ever-amusing and ultra-talented Matt Nathanson. In our interview, Nathanson described the disjointed but ultimately satisfying nature of his brand new album, Show Me Your Fangs. We also discussed the unpredictable audience-request format of Nathanson’s current tour, how some of the best records have “great topography” instead of being thematically or musically cohesive, and how elements of hip-hop and R&B have slowly crept into Nathanson’s singer/songwriter-oriented music.

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John Gruber on the iPhone SE

Daring Fireball
Jason Tate

John Gruber, writing for Daring Fireball, reviews Appleʼs upcoming 4-inch iPhone SE.

For anyone with an iPhone 5S (or older) who has been holding out on an upgrade in the hopes of a new top-tier “small” iPhone, the iPhone SE is cause for celebration. If you are such a person, run, don’t walk, to buy one. You will be delighted.

If you’ve already upgraded to an iPhone 6 or 6S and have made peace with the trade-offs of a larger, heavier, less-grippy-because-of-the-round-edges form factor, the appeal is less clear. Me, I talk the talk about preferring the smaller form factor, but ultimately I’m a sucker for top-of-the-line CPU/GPU performance and camera quality.

If I knew that there would be top of the line updates to this sized phone each year, I think I’d go back to the smaller size, but without knowing for sure, it’s too hard to make that call.

Tom DeLonge Interviewed at GQ

Tom DeLonge
Jason Tate

Tom DeLonge of Angels and Airwaves was recently interviewed over at GQ about his upcoming book, Sekret Machines:

Oh my god, yeah. Oh my god. Oh yeah. There are a handful of moments when I remember pulling my truck over to the side of a very busy road when my phone pinged because I knew what was coming. As I was reading it, my hand would be shaking and my heart would be beating like a just ran a mile. Then I’d race over to somebody else’s house and bang on their door at 10 at night and say “You’ve got to come out here. I can’t tell you this over the phone.” It’s just incredible, incredible material. I’ve always been interested in this subject, but once people know that the UFO phenomenon is real and what it’s actually doing and what we’re doing, I think people are going to become as obsessed over it as I’ve been.