Road tripping Ducks...

Admittedly, this might be one of my more random postings to date...

Usually I try to find a central theme to tie everything together, but today might veer from that particular mode. Note: "Usually" is an interesting choice of terminology to use, since I've only had this particular blog for about a month. I don't know how "usual" anything can be until a lengthier data set is produced. So I guess I mean to say that today may not wind up as tied together as my previous posts have been. (Stupid semantics.)

A lot of bloggers in the writing community display whichever book they are currently reading off to the side of their blogs. I almost feel as though the side of my blog is too busy as it stands, so I'm not going to go that route. What I will do, however, is take a moment and let you all know what I'm reading. (Who says men can't compromise!)

Last weekend I went to the library with my wife and picked up, amongst other things, a copy of Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference." I'm almost done with it and have to say that it has been an incredible read.

Now, I'd been meaning to check out some of Gladwell's work for a while, but it was simply out of my mind. Well, last week was the birthday of my best friend (of the non-wife variety...) and I picked him up a copy of "Blink" as a gift, because I thought he would be interested in reading Gladwell. Sure enough, he told me that he had actually thinking about buying the book himself.

Anyhow, that reminded me to pick up Tipping Point. It's a fairly quick read and amazingly insightful into human nature and how some ideas and trends really explode in popularity. I've never taken any collegiate marketing courses, but it should be a must read for students in that particular discipline. Additionally, anyone with an interest in psychology, sociology, criminology, or just humanity in general should read it, too. It is a fascinating work. Obviously, I strongly recommend it.

Speaking of incredible works, this upcoming Tuesday (3/9) a new album is going to be released and I'm especially looking forward to it. The "group" is called Broken Bells and it is actually collaboration between Danger Mouse and The Shins' front man, James Mercer. I'm a fan of The Shins and really enjoy a lot of the work Danger Mouse has produced to date, so I was excited to hear about the project in the first place. (Thanks go out to Eric for telling me about it all...)

There are two tracks which stream on the Broken Bells website and both are outstanding. Link found here.

Also coming out in the near future is a new Gorillaz album (Danger Mouse actually was a producer for their "Demon Days," which was simply a remarkable disc...). Upon hearing that news, I was initially elated. But then I stumbled across a preview of the album and my excitement certainly waned. I might give that one a chance, but the jury is still out and leaning against it. Link to preview is found here, so feel free to make up your own mind about it. Broken Bells will be a certain iTunes download the moment it becomes available, though.

Well, maybe this wasn't as absolutely random as I had initially feared. Of course, I intentionally started this off without really knowing where I was going. Every once in a while it's nice to hop in a car, head out with no map and no particular destination, and just see where the road takes you...