I’ve been buried under a lot of work lately. I don’t know what happened, but in the last 10 days or so I feel like I’m working three jobs. Paperwork, administration work, design work, vision work, writing work, misc. work.

My desk is a mess. My desktop is full of icons. My inbox is overflowing. I have a list of people to get in touch with. I have what feels like a hundred decisions to make.

I’m not complaining, I’m just observing. And the primary observation that comes out of all this is that multitasking is the fastest way to mediocrity. Things suck when you don’t give them your full attention.

I’m not thrilled with the work I’ve been doing lately.

This isn’t a breakthrough, it’s just a reminder. If you want to do great work, focus on one thing at a time. Finish it and move on to the next thing. It means some things aren’t going to get done as fast as some people may want. It means some people aren’t going to get your full attention for a while. But doing a bunch of crappy work, or making a bunch of poorly considered decisions just to get through the pile isn’t worth it.

Source: 37 Signals

Heavy Eyes

Eating 30-minute meals and watching New York Dolls, Ra Ra Riot and Ray’s husband’s band The Cringe sounds like a good time to me.

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I guess that’s one way to look at it

Really interesting article on how one “Idol” hopeful is leveraging the interweb to build his fanbase

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Both of our bands made it into SXSW this year!  Here is our schedule for now. Check back for updates and new set times.  

And the award for Favorite Oscar Moment goes to… Kunio Kato for ending his acceptance speech for Best Animated Short with “Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto!”

This week we’re being all corporate and showcasing at the NACA national convention.

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“I might not write a very good second album. The thing to do is not take yourself so seriously. The moment when you sort of start to believe all that stuff is when you get in trouble.” That’s Lily Allen talking to Pitchfork in November 2006. At that point, her MySpace clarion of a debut, Alright, Still, was four months into what would become a 17-month stint on the UK’s album chart. With her bluntly nonchalant, blog-like songwriting about dudes with small dicks, breezy beats worthy of a terrible Ska-lright, Still joke, and link-happy marketing campaign from the web up, Allen offered the music industry a way forward if not fiscally, at least artistically. She was the New Pop Star– slight voice, bawdy, prom dress ‘n’ trainers, self-sufficient. The Anti-Idol. “Refreshing” followed her; “candid” was her friend. And, more than anything, Lily Allen was funny, excelling in the droll British humor of someone who had sold drugs in Ibiza at age 15 and realized the absurdity of a 15-year-old selling drugs in Ibiza.

Read full review here