The Hopp Stop

• Cut the Rope, a very fun iPhone/iPad game, has a free holiday version out. Recommended.
• Marco the Tumblr gets to use an enduring rotary phone with his Verizon FiOS connection.
• Spencer Hall with another hilarious column at Every Day Should Be Saturday, this time centering on the West Virginia hiring of a football coach-in-waiting.
• The Times has been running a series over the last week on the 1960 plane collision over NYC that resulted in a plane crashing in Park Slope. This article on the state of the neighborhood in 1960 is a great read if you’ve seen the vitality of the neighborhood today, or are interested in urban planning and post-war urban decay in US cities. It’s remarkable how much of urban decay was caused by a combination of lending practices (encouraging a move to suburbs by middle-class whites) and racism.
• This post, another in the Park Slope crash series, has a great 1960/2010 matched photo of the wreckage.
• I love the National, so I really enjoyed this Pitchfork interview with Aaron Dressner, one of the musical forces behind the band.

Check out this great video for “Fly Trapped In A Jar” by the Saline Project. Apparently the Mouse had it pulled from the Interwebs a couple years ago, but now it’s authorized and back up. Thanks to Underwire for the video.

• Earlier this year GQ magazine ran a great oral history of the making of GoodFellas. Lots of fun tidbits therein. I find these oral histories to almost always be total winners. E.g., previously GQ had an oral history of the making of Dazed and Confused (my Googling is coming up empty on that, sorry).
• Fluxblog, a great music blog, has its year-end “survey mix” of material from 2010. Eight discs worth of MP3s to download and check out.
• Very fun new tower defense game for iPhone/iPad (universal app): iBomber Defense. I’ve been enjoying it over the last couple days. Here’s the Touch Arcade review.

Starring fuzzy friends!

“Everyone was wearing fingerless gloves…” Love the Julian Casablancas aspect.