We’ll be crossing Iowa a couple different ways later on this summer, and fall. You can be sure of that. Plans are being drawn up.

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THE PECULIAR DESIGN SENSIBILITIES OF THE GDR: An interesting article called “The ABCs of East German Products.” From what I’ve read, it was a scary, bleak, paranoid place. It’s fascinating to see how the cultural barriers of “pure functionalism” drove the design of the place, and how eveything was just kind of screaming out to have that extra little bit of optimism, but couldn’t, or something? I don’t know enough about it all, so I’ll keep my trap shut.

Be sure to go through the product details section. Some beautiful stuff in there. (Thanks, Martin.)

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SOMETHING FROM THE OPTIMISTIC “OLD DAYS”: “The Timberline Motel” of Wenatchee, Washington, sent in by one Brenden Stromberger of the United States. Nice find, man. You guys steal any towels?

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REMEMBER ALL THAT TALK OF “LONG DOGS” AND “FINLAND” AND SHIT YESTERDAY?: Well, we put it out there, and then stuff like this comes in. That hound does not look amused! Ha. As they say in the chatrooms and painfully dry officeland inter-memos, “LOL!”

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THE DDC WILL LIFT YOU UP: Literally. Little brother Matt Cooley came by and we had a nice lunch, catching up on all sorts of shit. This link has no real value to yer day to day battles, but is meant to illustrate “how shit goes down” around these parts. Fuck, time for a haircut.

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THIS LITTLE LINK IS FOR EWAN: Print-and-fold Taco Trucks. We’ll do one this weekend, man. (Thanks, Schille!)

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IF YOU’VE BEEN UNDER A ROCK, RECENTLY LET OUT OF PRISON OR IN A COMA: We’re selling a career-spanning poster called “Pretty Much Everything Up Until May 24th, 2009.”

Good for halfway house rooms, lean-to ceilings and hell, wherever you lay yer head. It’s a good time to “get orange.” You need one of these. Each order comes with a free poster tube and extra. This small piece of hyperlinked text right here can get you going on the road to being “very orange.”

I’m getting “an email an hour” about them showing up all over the globe. Good news. And for those of you that still haven’t received it we’ve got two line items for you: 01. Sorry. 02. It’s on it’s way, I assure you.

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NICENE CREEDERS, UNITE!: Here’s how we started out our day this morning: On the way down to the shop, I stopped off at the record store and bought the new Pavement Brighten The Corners Nicene Creedence Ed. vinyl beast. And that’s what we’re listening to right goddamn now. Wow. Lost tracks. I drive by Malkmus’ house daily and can’t help but just smile thinking about that smarmy fucker and all the amazing shit he’s made over the years. Incredible.

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ON THE PLAYER TODAY:

01. Pavement - Brighten The Corners Nicene Creedence Ed.
02. Sam Prekop - Who’s Your New Professor
03. Muslims - S/T