I can’t stop, I promised I wouldn’t write. I have work to do, e-mail to answer, laundry, over due library books, bills to pay. I’m reconnecting with Monday. Thanksgiving was good. You know it’s unseasonably warm around these parts. Yesterday I did some Christmas shopping wearing a pair of shorts and Manchester United on my back. I’m scrobbling, I have scrobbling enabled, an index of my listening habits recorded and contained on last.fm.

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their first album and coinciding with their new album release and a major world tour, The Pet Shop Boys Catalogue is a celebration of all things Pet Shop. A lavish visual retrospective of Auntie Neil and Chris’ career in pop music. Various aspects of their work is featured; stills and behind-the-scenes shots from every video, film, concert, and theater show; experimental stage sets and cutting-edge fashion and costume designs; collaborations; publications; merchandising; photo shoots; and even their personally designed invitations and Christmas cards. Fans of white space will find this a visual feast.

A creative juggernaut of the post-punk era, Factory Records was the catalyst behind the U.K. music explosion of the late ’70s through the ’90s with groups like Joy Division (soon to be the subject of an Anton Corbijn movie), New Order, and Happy Mondays leading the New Wave. At Factory, musicians and designers commingled creatively, with innovators such as Peter Saville, Den Kelly, Mark Farrow, 8VO, and Barbara Kruger elevating album covers to a new art form. The label broke further ground when it opened its own disco, the legendary Hacienda. Factory Records:The Complete Graphic Album is the ultimate and only collection of Factory’s complete graphic output, including every single piece it produced: extremely rare record sleeves, club flyers, and posters all gathered together for the first time. A must for collectors and enthusiasts, Matthew Robertson’s meticulous compilation of underground ephemera is poised to introduce a new generation of music and design fans to the creative genius of Factory. (via Amazon Book Description) David Lee Filth knocked off the original Factory Poster/Fac 1, 1978 last year, a limited run of Saville bootlegs for the financially challenged and design hungry.

This Flickr set, the Stephen Houston paintings of laborers, boxers and wrestlers are especially handsome, don’t forget to take a look a the WPA art and other images.

∗ Queen Elizabeth II’s long-lost Caravaggio unveiled in Rome

I think I’ve sort of abandoned the idea of using the Google Shared Reader; at least temporarily. Sharing here, there and on del.icio.us is sort of redundant. I dig the concept of using del.icio.us as a sort of quick index, so I’ll sort links and ideas on that site. I’ll probably categorize items as needed and sort by the week, ending on Friday of course. It will probably go a little something like this; jockohomo_weblog_11.24.06.

Green Nightclub: a new nightclub in the Netherlands plans to offer clubbers an environmentally-friendly night out – in part by having them power the place through their dancing.Plans for the Sustainable Dance Club in Rotterdam have officially been launched, detailing, amongst other things, a special dancefloor which converts the movement of the dancers into electricity. Other methods of making the club “greener” include rainwater toilets, biological beer, and walls which change colour according to the heat generated inside the club, without using any electricity.

Pea Flavored Soda: after introducing the world to new soda flavors like fish taco and salmon, Seattle specialty beverage maker Jones Soda Co. is offering a new flavor: Green pea.

When did amateur wrestlers get beards…hot. Actually, I’ve had this sitting on the hard drive for some time and wanted to add it into the mix. I’m always checking out Flickr photo sets, so I’m going to throw those in randomly in the coming weeks. In no particular order, TWB or Tan Work Boots photo sets. Plenty of eye-candy in assorted shapes and sizes, check out the Top 20 Favored Photos, the Most Viewed, and his collection of Abs Arms and Pecs. I quite like the Sexy Everyday Men group, dudes that don’t know they are hot are usually the hottest anyway, or something like that.

No longer on the down low, I’m taking the D.I.Y. to a new level.

Check National Television’s video for the Scissor Sisters’ “Land of a Thousand Words”. Can you say Bond, browse through these various Bond intros to jar the memory. Goldfinger is a particular favorite.

I’ve really only had one Power Tune in the gym this week and that would be Shitdisco’s Reactor Party, a drunk/punk/funk onslaught that characterises the band’s chaotic live shows. Despite the anarchy there’s an intelligence and a two bass-driven groove which lends itself to the dance floor. The sound of young Scotland collides head on with adrenaline fuelled disco.

Hammer Curls with Drop Set
To build your biceps, you sometimes need to push them over the edge. This exercise asks you to “rep out” or do as many repetitions as you can, until you can’t do any more. You’ll use lighter weights as you go, to wring out those last few reps and pack on some mass.

Better Grip Bigger Gains: Fist city, I got a damn big pair of hands and I’ve been working to increase my grip strength. The weighted velocity balls sail pretty nicely toward their intended targets, reserved for off days mind you. Seriously though, researchers think Midlife Hand Grip Strength might be a Predictor of Old Age Disability. Looking to beef up the grips, check out this workout from Men’s Health. Who knows, you might turn into a GripBoard Mash Monster, crushing beer cans, rocks, phone books etc. Go slow, some workouts can be dangerous.

I like the idea of Snap Preview, the concept of allowing readers to preview pages or get a glimpse of other sites before having to jump to another site. By rolling over any link, the user gets a visual preview of the site without having to actually jump. Good concept, not sure how useful this tool really is but it’s sort of interesting to demo like I’m doing with the links on this site. Snap preview is free and is ready to go out of the box. Some of the less popular sites aren’t in their index yet so it takes up to 30 seconds at times to record the site and add to their preview. It might be the most useful for sites that are graphically heavy, and yes, there is a way to only include links rather than exclude them, check the FAQ for features. Doubt this will be a permanent feature, fun to preview.

*Script removed. Interesting tool, would like to have more control over what pops a preview and what doesn’t. Sure, you can turn off internal links but there is no way to easily turn off all links and select items for preview, unless you want to fuss and code your ass off on each distinct link, might be good for smaller sites with less activity.

Abandoned Shopping Carts
Everyday throughout Los Angeles thousands of shopping carts are ditched in neighborhoods and dumped in back alley’s, used and abandoned. Serving as a key element in our commerce driven society photographer Morgan Hager takes to the sidewalks, ravines, and fields of the City of Angels to document the outlaw carts in the wild. Post modern pack mule abandoned a glimpse at a strange odyssey.

James Bond fingers his Thunderballs via Queer Bacon
Come on the guy is just adjusting his Duprees. Nice square cut though.

Look out For Nick Holland

Using sheets of wood as a canvas, he renders clean yet powerful images with a slight graffiti style, of everything from trees, flowers and unique building perspectives to portraits of Loyd, a strange looking character with a weirdly shaped head. The images definitely stick in your head. I think he sells off the street in Williamsburg but don’t quote me on that one, contact him through his website to purchase.

Bravo Barcelona Show at The Cleveland Museum of Art
Another nice review…”Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali” is a visually and intellectually captivating exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art,” they even used the word opulent, heh heh…nice. If you’re in town it’s a must see over the long holiday weekend.

Ouch! Indifference is Fatal
New York your patois is showing. The Whitney’s big celebratory 75th birthday show is a dud, writes Christopher Kinght. “Fittingly, apathy is pretty much what the show deserves. Why? Call it an eye for an eye. The myopia is breathtaking. We might be living in a new millennium, but this exhibition still thinks the only 20th century American artists of note are New Yorkers. This boring, repetitious lack of discernment might also help explain a rising tide of inchoate critical restlessness with Manhattan’s art museum culture. (Myopia, Exhibit One: The Whitney) Ouchee Sheeesh…

Bettie That (Not So Fine) Line Between Art And Graffiti
A man paints a giant cartoon of pinup icon Bettie Page on the side of his house in Seattle. Th city knocks on his door calling it graffiti and demanding he take it down, what the fuck!

Music photography and Some Background Stories
Photographer Sebastian Mayer goes wherever life drags him. Starting by playing in a band himself and doing photography on the side, he got to meet all sorts of musicians in Berlin before they became the stars of today, was working with music magazine Spex, did all sorts of photography for music, advertisement and friends, toured as the bassist for Ladytron for 9 months, moved to Rio de Janeiro, neutralized in New York for some weeks and just arrived in Tokyo. Here are some of his photos, his future plans and overall – some nice star-gossip! File under world wide photography and music via Ping Mag.

Taxi Driver
I often think I’m rather obsessed with Taxi Driver. American Movie Classics is airing a restored version of the film. You can catch interviews with Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd and others before or after the showing. You’ll never look at the smoke rising out of the sewers the same way, ever again…

B2D4 Video Game Scarves

Remember when 8 bits and 16k of memory were enough to create a universe? Remember how you rescued the princess, attacked the invaders and saved the world to the sound of blips and beeps? Now wear your trophy with pride. Live in style – bit by bit with these Fantastic video game scarves from B2D4. So cool I ordered up 2 on the spot. All their scarves are made of 100% merino wool. They say they are really soft and not scratchy at all, the wool is from Italy, the scarves are knitted in Germany, and damn the site is cool too. Take a closer look.

Phillip Toledano Video Game Portraits
Have you seen these portraits of people playing video games by photographer Phillip Toledano? He wanted to take portraits of people that would reveal a hidden part of their character, and I think he’s done just that. Who said it’s just a game, virtual worlds and real time action, check out the expressions on the faces of his subjects, fascinating and a damn great idea too! (via WFMU)

Cheaper Online with Frucall
The next time you’re standing in the local store ready to attack and impulse-buy something, call Frucall to see if there’s a better deal available online. Here’s how it works: Call 888-DO-FRUCALL and enter the product’s barcode using your phone’s keypad. Then listen to see if one of Frucall’s partners has a lower price. If you’re a registered user, you’ll then have the option to order the item immediately; bookmark it for later reference; and even leave yourself a voice note. Ah, but does it really work? Lifehacker puts it to the test. Frucall seems pretty cool. Hell it’s a 1-800 number, it factors shipping into the prices, it “remembers” you on subsequent calls (so you don’t have to listen to the lengthy introduction message every time) even if you haven’t registered and it actually seems to come through on price. (via LifeHacker via The Consumerist)

The Top 5 Mac Blogging Tools
I’m seriously happy with the switch to WordPressp; still working out a few kinks and addressing some particular customization options. It makes writing easier, linking easier, everything easier too, but you might want to take a look at the top 5 Mac blogging tools anyway.

We talked about Tom Waits; yea I would like to see him in concert. He played Cleveland then Akron last summer, and even stopped by the local music shop to buy a guitar made out of a two by four. They say it’s a pretty hot sound if you have it plugged into the right amp. His new CD set is titled “Orphans”, 3 CDs about coming and going, hope and hopelessness, desire and despair. The collection is brilliantly divided up into 3 sections; Brawlers (the rowdy stuff), Bawlers (the sad tear jerkers) and Bastards (the wild and weird). Anyway, it was a tough week last week, I lost my place while reading the paragraphs and my voice trailed off for a day or two, it’s just that way sometimes and the new Tom Waits adds plenty of humor and perspective.

Happily the down cycle has been followed by an excellent weekend filled with good music, good food and much fun. Catharsis through lifting the iron, I’ve discovered the joys of UnderArmor while kicking it hard in the gym, it’s the meeting point of science, sport, utility and comfort. Shirts available in that cool shade of Army green, perfect match with the Camo shorts.

Let me see, what else, I was playing with the Sony Network MP3 Walkmans at the store this afternoon, and while I’m firmly a Mac guy, the tiny music players were sort of cool. Units weigh less than an ounce, small is good, l.e.d style display streams song choice and a three minute charge will provide up to three hours of playback time, while you get 28 hours of continuous playback with each full charge. Not sure what the limitations are, but damn they’re tiny, light, jump drive-esque, and possibly a nice alternative to the iPod, Nano, Clip route. I’ll have to have another look see, not that I need another player but I’m sort of a gadget freak.

Oh, kudos to The Ohio State Buckeyes, send that Heisman trophy to Columbus. Fight news, the skilled Canadian George St. Pierre captured the UFC welterweight title with a second round victory over Matt Hughes. The Steelers pulled out a close one today…and it’s a short week due to the holiday. Woo Hoo…The Simpsons satire on publishing fads, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, Michael Chabon…so funny.

I like this photo of Pete Sell rocking, the evil big mouth Phil Baroni from a past fight. Yea, I was kinda hopin’ Pete would come out on top in the latest edition of The Ultimate Fighter, but it wasn’t meant to be, he took some knocks, but hit the wall towards the end. (Sherdog Gallery) The man’s got a god damn good nose, and gave plenty of good TV. Serra won though, and that made me happy, let’s here it for the power packed short dudes!

Ohlala supports Aid For Aids
To celebrate their 3rd anniversary, Steph & Alek from Ohlala have launched “The ONE”, a limited edition t-shirt. They have decided to donate part of the proceedings to Aid For Aids (AFA). French photographer Fred Goudon took the photo.

i-YO Business Cards With a Bite
A firm from Barcelona has reinvented daddy’s business card. Their personal contact cards are distinctive and surprising, because they are: designed by avant-garde designers and custom made by hand…mmm…small & sexy.

Skype 2.5 For Mac_|_VDoogle Video Search
Mac OS X only: Send SMS messages and talk with up to 10 people simultaneously with the latest version of Skype for Mac. In addition to the new SMS and conference-calling features, Skype 2.5 lets you leave messages for friends when they’re offline. It also displays a running tally of the funds remaining in your SkypeIn or SkypeOut account. Also check out VDoogle lets you search for video across multiple sites, including Dailymotion, Google Video, iFilm, and YouTube.The site currently indexes 14 video sharing sites. If its search results look familiar, that’s because VDoogle is built on Google’s new custom search engine.

Flowerd Falvored Water
The Balance Water Company has introduced 3 new products into the bottled water category. Billed as world firsts the simple but sophisticated design encases a non-flavored, non-colored, and non-allergenic functional water which has been infused with Australian wildflower essences.

WP Admin Drop Down Menus
If having to click the mouse twice and load two pages just to get to where you want to in the WP Admin interface drives you mad, you can try these drop down menus. Hover over the main menubar and the options for that selection drop down – one click and you’re there.

Hey hardcore, you’ve got a Message from Kathy Ebel

Darkel – Earth
Hmmm so perhaps this is the hidden track to the opening of Fellini’s 8 and 1/2, or just an odd sort of morning soundtrack. Darkel is one half of the French, electronic music duo Air. Otherwise known as Jean-Benoit Dunckel, his solo album is out now. According to Dunckel (or Darkel) himself, “Most of the tracks contain some piano, and the chords are on the black keys most of the time, because I like the sound of that.” Of the 10 tracks (or 11 depending on the version of the album) two are instrumentals. (via LastFM) Darkel on MySpace and Jean-Benoit’s Darkel Site.

This site extracts colors from related images to create customized color schemes for any word or phrase. I put in FUCKER and it gave me Burlywood, Coral, Salmon, Sandy Brown, Light Pink and Black.

Just in case you’re needing a little bit of fresh and compelling rights managed images that run from minimalist modern to vernacular baroque.