Adam Tolman | adamtolman.com

The Story of Stuff

AT — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:37:34 +0000

A couple months ago I was able to catch the short video hosted by Annie Leonard called The Story of Stuff. I was recently reminded of it, and I thought it was something I should share with everyone. The video goes through the life cycle of “stuff” (i.e. commercial products) that the world produces, and how it is a grossly unsustainable system. The video is very objective, and brings everyone back to basics… it’s hard to ignore and dispute the facts she presents. From using far too many natural resources, all the way through to the enormous amounts of waste we produce, this is something I believe everyone should see, and everyone should think about.

Wipeout = Hilarious

AT — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:00:46 +0000

As I was a huge fan of MXC, last night I made sure to watch Wipeout, a new show on ABC, where contestants go through various obstacle courses competing against each other for money. Although you may find yourself pulling for one person to win the contest, the main reason to watch this show is solely for the physical humor of these people bouncing, falling, dropping, and sliding all over the place. I laughed until it hurt, and then laughed some more. I’m generally not one to advocate many television shows, but this was completely and totally worth it. Watch this promo, and if you do not laugh, you’ve got other serious problems to worry about.

Bill O’Reilly is a Tool

AT — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:13:01 +0000

Since this is now considered old news in Internet Land, I’m sure most people have seen the video of Bill O’Reilly freaking out (NSFW - language) on his production crew on Inside Edition back in the day. I’ve always had a strong distaste for this guy, so I got a good laugh at his expense. I thought I enjoyed this vid to it’s fullest last week, until the guys at Barely Political released the Bill O’Reilly’s Producer sketch where you see what went down behind the camera. It’s hilarious.

Fun Interweb Linkage

AT — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:34:27 +0000

All Streets by Ben Fry – Cool street map of the U.S. I can’t imagine how long this took to put together.
Cities at Night – Aerial view of various cities aglow at night. I love the blue glow of Japan.
The Billy Letters – Totally fascinating project by Radar where a man poses as a 10-year old kid and writes letters to politicians and serial killers alike and gets interesting responses.
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider – A real life time machine. Well, kinda. Technically it’s a particle accelerator. It’s planned to start operating this summer, and no one really knows what’s going to happen. Really interesting stuff. More info here and here.
That’s what she said – I love Michael Scott.

Utah Jazz!

AT — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:18:19 +0000

I was fortunate enough last week to make it out to both games 3 and 4 of the current playoff series versus the Houston Rockets. I’ve was a huge Jazz fan back in 90’s while Stockton and Malone were tearing it up, and within the last 2 years have had a resurgence of fandom due to Deron Williams leading Utah their recent success. We’re inches away from beating Houston, and on to face the Lakers (!), so it is just going to get better. This young group has a load of talent and many years of success ahead of them. Go Jazz!

Cha Cha: Ask Away

AT — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:29:17 +0000

So I recently discovered ChaCha, a question and answer service for mobile phone users… so, for everyone basically. Not only is the service accurate, but it is fun to use and remarkably friendly as the answers are delivered in “conversational english”, which essentially means an actual person is answering your question. Just last night I got answers to my questions about NBA trades, Taco Bell commercials, and LOST characters. You have to use it to really understand how great it is. Next time you have a question and you’re not near a computer with internet access, text it to ChaCha (242242), and bask in the brilliance of technology.

Link Round-Up

AT — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:15:52 +0000

Here are some time killers for you all out there. Fun stuff I came across recently.

The Nietzsche Family Circus – Genius.
Tooth Tattoos – Yes… tooth tattoos.
Stuff White People Like – It’s funny because it’s true.
Awareness Test – Hilarious.
Drive Around a Google Map – See how far you can go.
If Celebs Moved to Oklahoma – Entertaining Photoshop work.
BigDog Robot – This creeps me out.

Mix: Electronapopification

AT — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:22:45 +0000

So this is probably more of an experiment than anything else, but I recently put a mix (multi-artist compilation) together and wanted to share it. I’m not sure if the small amount of people coming here will be in to it, but hey, like I said, it’s an experiment. This mix pulls together mostly electronic artists with pop sensibilities (note: that may not be completely true of Aphex Twin, M83, or 65daysofstatic). I included some older stuff as well as some new unreleased jams to round it out. If this proves to be somewhat successful I’ll post a new mix every month or so. Also, ignore the very superfluous title, just having some fun. Download it and let me know what you think!

Update: I realized after posting this that it would be helpful to post the tracklist. Here it be:

Röyksopp - What Else Is There
Digitalism - Pogo
The Chemical Brothers (ft. Midlake) - The Pills Won’t Help You Know
MGMT - Kids
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
Daft Punk - Face to Face
Ulrich Schnauss - Blumenthal
M83 - Couleurs
Blue States - Allies
Styrofoam (ft. Bent Van Looy & Miki) - Anything
Hot Chip - Boys From School
The Knife - Heartbeats
The Notwist - Good Lies
Lali Puna - Micronomic
65daysofstatic -Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here

→ Download Electronapopification Mix (.zip - 112MB)

Euro Trip: Pictures Posted

AT — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:56:47 +0000

So after transferring, sorting, adjusting, naming, and saving all my photos from Europe, I’ve now uploaded a small but delicious helping of picture goodness to Flickr. I couldn’t upload all of them (8GB!), but the ones that are there are the better ones, showing a majority of the places we visited. Go take a peak and post a comment, or – go back to what you were doing.

Euro Trip: Home Again, Home Again

AT — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:50:22 +0000

So we made it back home safe and sound with a head full of memories, cameras full of pictures, and backpacks full of dirty clothes, and various souvenirs from Europe – including some bootlegged wine that I’m particularly stoked about.

I wasn’t able to blog nearly as much as I originally intended (due to finding computers with internet), but the rest of the trip was great, and right on par with the beginnings. This was the most exciting but exhaustive trip I’ve ever taken. The last 2 weeks feel more like 2 months.

Rome was brilliant; the ancient Roman remains were incredible, the Vatican was super interesting, with loads of great art and architecture, and the Italian people were very warm and sincere.

With everything all said and done, I am very glad we went, and am very glad we’re home. Part of me is still living somewhere between here and Europe as I haven’t been fully acclimated due to changes in time, weather, and whacky sleeping patterns – jet lag is something else. I am however grateful to be back and can’t wait to upload all my pictures and videos, and share stories with everyone. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll hopefully see you all soon!