If you encounter a commercial from the late 80's featuring a bunch of adults dressed as vegetables singing about how to stay healthy.. well, you save it and hope it inspires a niche Halloween costume for someone, somewhere, someday.

Gotta be honest, 2023 was weird. So much stuff happened that it doesn't even feel like a single year in the slightest.

In January, Vimeo laid off 11% of the workforce. My job was spared but many many people on my team were not. We were given a new boss and told "you're on your own" - meaning that Vimeo OTT (fka VHX) was not a priority and we should figure out how to be successful without interaction from the larger org. I am happy to say that the remaining team - including the new boss - were fantastic and absolutely crushed. Seriously inspiring to see such a small squad take on so much and actually make it work!

After 11 years of working on VHX / Vimeo OTT, I didn't have the gusto to continue. I departed and now work at Mosaic. My new role is focused on using generative AI to power apps and improve internal workflows. It's a breath of fresh air to say the least!

Due to the eight months of intensity of Vimeo, I ended up neglecting some of my side projects. We Own This Town hasn't published so little in years. My own podcast put out fifteen episodes this year. Last year I put out 52. It's not a great feeling but it also provided me with an opportunity to actually think about what I'm doing any regroup a bit.

On the positive side, yk Records released twelve treats this year and I'm extremely happy with all of them. I'm planning on writing up a more in-depth bit about the label but we'll see if that actually happens. I often feel weird posting these long personal updates but, hey, it is a blog after all. Where else should I put this information?!

I'll close out with some lists of enjoyables from the past year that have found their way into my regular routine. Maybe they'll find their way into yours as well.

• Ben's Bites - daily email of AI news and projects to take note of. Someone recently commented to me about AI, "There's no going back." I think this is true, so you might as well be brushed up on what's happening.
• Today in Tabs - I've mentioned this before but it's a great grab bag of Internet absurdity. Sometimes the writing is so dense that it's incomprehensible but you'll adjust. If you're into Internet Culture, this is a good way to stay abreast of it all.
• Garbage Day - this pairs well with Today in Tabs but tends to be more long form reflective than a barrage of links. I've really enjoyed many of the insights here.
• Stretchery - new to me but I'm sure old hat to many. Lots of tech industry reflections, insights and pulling together strings over time. Thoughtful. A great one to spend real time with.
• What the F**k Just Happened Today? - a daily newsletter summarizing the top headlines. You can have your NYT newsletter, WTFJHT breaks it down quite nicely for me.

In terms of other goodies for the year, I keep on ongoing playlist of songs that I enjoyed throughout the year. I don't know that I'd call this a "Best Of" list but if a song strikes me, I toss it in there.

Next year, I hope to launch a few new projects and clean up some technical debt here at ole yewknee dot com. I'm 100% confident the commenting system doesn't work anymore and that makes me think it's time for another simplified redesign. We shall see.

If you made it here, thanks for continuing to read. I've had this site for 22 years and hope to have it for many more! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

I know the answer to my question is "ego" but why would he do this show? I understand Ziwe is not considered a journalist but she is considered no bullshit! Santos is all bullshit!

Anyway, Must See TV is back.

TIL about the existence of OK Soda, a Coca-Cola failure from the early 90's that embraced nihilism and negative publicity in an attempt to reach a Gen X demographic. If that weren't weird enough, the can designs were done by Daniel Clowes (of Ghost World), Charles Burns (of The Believe) and Calef Brown. The soda even had a manifesto that consisted of eye-rolling catchphrases like "What's the point of OK? Well, what's the point of anything?" Brilliant.

Unsurprisingly, it flopped but it seems this "Coca-Cola Company" is doing alright despite that.

Of course, nothing is niche anymore so there's 20-minute deep dives on YouTube, exhaustive histories and plenty of think pieces - should you care to dive deeper. It's worth it to see the can art which, frankly, was legitmately great all around.

The title is really all you need. Enjoy these Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops in Konagai, Japan. You can also look them up on Google Maps and see them with slightly more context.

I've watched a great deal of Taskmaster, the British competition / comedy show hosted by Greg Davies and Alex Horne. And by "great deal" I mean I've seen every episode and enjoyed each of them. Even the weird Christmas one-off specials.

YouTube knows this and has now started urging me to watch Taskmaster New Zealand, the same show with different hosts and different comedians. I am not particularly sold on it yet but all that is just context to why I'm sharing this Paul Williams video.

Williams is the co-host of the New Zealand version of Taskmaster and his stinted personality on the show is certainly not that of a pop star singing falsetto and hitting some undeniably impressive choreography. Worth noting, some of those dance moves are shared with Rose Matafeo and Brynley Stent - both New Zealand comedians who have also appeared on Taskmaster.

No dots to connect here beyond that; just found it enjoyably interesting.

David Cross has a new podcast called Senses Working Overtime (inspired by the XTC Classic) in which he interviews guests at length about anything and everything. There's a conceit that he's going to interview these guests about their actual senses - i.e. "What's the loudest sound you've ever heard?" - but based on the two episodes I've listened to, that's nothing more than a safety net.

Anyway, David Cross interviewing Bob Odenkirk - that's really all you need to know. It's goofy. It's great. It's something you want to listen to.

The rest of the show, thus far, is also enjoyable. Put it in your podcast app.

The folks at Runway are pitching a new idea called General World Models which essentially boils down to training an AI on text, video, audio and other multimodal inputs. Pretty sure this was already happening anyway with GPT4 and others but they have packaged it up rather nicely. The video is really well made and makes a great case for them. Worth a watch to say the least.

Back in June, Tower Defense released their single for "Running Out" (backed by a killer B-52s cover). They even shot a video around the same time! Well, the wait is finally over and I gotta tell ya, the wait was worth it!

Everyone in the band sings but it's rare that Jereme (drummer) sings lead. So, the band really pulled out all the stops for this one in celebration. The production is homegrown but entertaining as hell. It's clear the band is having a great time and I love to see it.

The video really kicks up around 45s and gets nuts at 90s. Treat yourself with this little gem. The single is available on Bandcamp and streaming everywhere, too.

YouTube has started recommending that I watch guitar pedal reviews. I don't know how to play guitar or even own a guitar but I can't disagree with the recommendation. Recently it steered me to this pair of reviews for the Generation Loss and Lossy pedals; both created by Chase Bliss.

I do not make music but I must admit that hearing the output of these two devices does make me want to start tinkering. The Generation Loss MKII emulates the sound quality loss from analog devices like VCR overdubs or cassette decks. The Lossy is the flip side of the same coin; emulating digital degradation like compressing an mp3 into oblivion.

If you're like me and not a musician, you can still appreciate the effect here. If you are a musician, consider picking one of these up and then send me what you make. I am sure it'll be lovely.

General Trust dropped two new songs over the weekend; "If I Could Change Your Mind" / "If I Could Read Your Mind." Both continue to evolve the dark, electronic sound that General Trust has been cultivating all year but both have new vibes previously unexplored. The former has a pop hook to it that is undeniably catchy and the latter has a sinister quality to it that I was not expecting! If you wanna pick them up on Bandcamp, you can! If you wanna stream them, you can do that too. I recommend doing both.

A bit of instrumental and ambient Bowie from 1980; originally appearing in a Japanese TV spot.

Hey, it just so happens to be Bandcamp Friday and I just so happen to have a dose of Nashville based music that would be worth your dollars and, more importantly, your time. Books on Tape is the latest full-length from Sam Hoffman and it hits me in all the right places. I have played "Glencrest Lane" more times than I can count. It's got that yearning melancholy vibe that I am a total sucker for. And the artwork from Sarah Goldstein is top notch.

The cover / title combo on this one should tell you everything you need to know - Here Come the Warm Jets. It's rare to be able to make a Brian Eno Hot Tub pun but Rainsticks did it! The record itself is not funny but it's got a light hearted and airy vibe to it.

Just a single song here from BIFFF but "BABY TAPES = GONE" packs a lot in for its sub-3-minute run time. Love those occasionally frantic drums, the DIY-ish production and the sparkling guitars. Get it into your ears.

Have I talked about my annoying levels of enjoyment for Total Wife previously? I really like them. At it's core it's shoegaze; lots of fuzzy guitars, low-mixed hushed vocals and enormous walls of sound. That alone is completely satisfactory for me. With each new release from TW, they explore new layers, sounds and techniques. It's the natural progression you want to see from a band - growing and changing without going too far afield from what you initially liked about them. If you're not a huge fan of walls of noise, start with "Rest" and ease your way in. If you're up for something a bit more challenging, dive into "UHF optate wav.er" and prepare yourself for some unexpected late 90's blast beat drums. The entire record is a delight and I recommend a start to finish listen ASAP.

Car Colors - Old Death is...

The first new music in 20 years from Charles Bissell, the singer-writer-producer of the Wrens, his first release since the landmark album The Meadowlands.

If you know The Wrens album Meadowlands, this will be exciting news! If you do not know that album, maybe start there as it is a phenomenal piece of work.

Having listened to that prior record so much, this new 3-song EP is immediately familiar. Bissell's voice is distinct and his use of acoustic guitars driving a load of other layers is just wonderful. I am also intrigued by how similar the artwork is between these two releases, 22 years apart. I can't tell if this is an intentional nod to the previous work or just an affinity for a type of image.

Anyway, this isn't meant to be an in-depth review - just something I find worth recommending.

Oh, and I'd also say you should check out Aeon Station, the new project of Kevin Whelan - also of The Wrens. Gotta hear it all.

Been taking a bit of a deep dive into the Tennessee Encylopedia lately; specifically the Nashville Music Venues article(s). That's right, I'm directing you to read an online encylopedia and I stand by it.

It hasn't been updated since 2018 but still manages to cover a lot of ground; from the Bijou Theater in 1904 through Mary Mancini's Revolution's Per Minute that became Lucy's all the way up to Mercy Lounge. That's all useless gibberish unless you're invested in Nashville's history of music venues, which somehow I am!