Post and photo by DCist Contributor Mehan Jayasuriya “It’s just not fair,” my friend said to me as we stood and watched multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird perform at this year’s South by Southwest conference in Austin. “How can one guy be so talented?” Admittedly, it does seem a bit unfair: Bird holds a degree in violin performance, is an accomplished guitarist, knows a thing or two about the glockenspiel, has a soaring voice that often recalls…

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week’s collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week’s choice posts from across the Gothamist network. Torontoist (where it’s 75 degrees F as of this writing)…

The weekly Ist wrap-up is written by Seattlest editor Dan Gonsiorowski. Torontoist throws down the gauntlet and challenges all comers: pillow fight, bitch. They also stand up for a fellow blogger taking heat from the TTC and welcome city-wide WiFi. SFist can finally admit it: It’s possible that Bary Bonds juiced. Is Bay Area artist (tempted to put quotes around that) Thomas Kinkaid “kinda crappy” or “explosively crappy” or does he just like marking territory?…