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SOOTW 1

John Cooper — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:58:28 +0000

Song obsession of the week:

“Tin Man” by Future Islands
“Baby Says” by The Kills
“Ballad of Spider John” by Willis Alan Ramsey

Future Past

John Cooper — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:37:20 +0000

Cool video/short film. Riffin on the advent of science and the spectacle of space I suppose…technology…I am guessing. Set to a click-clack drum beat steady and melodic organ laid on like thick electric jelly.

El Diablo – Applescal from Amos Mulder on Vimeo.

Cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

John Cooper — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:23:47 +0000

Mark told us about this film last night after our soccer game. Looks like a great, intense movie.

And it’s a climbing movie as a heads up…Filmed by Corey Richards, one of a three-person team comprised of Richards, Simone Moro, and Denis Urubko on their ascent of Gasherbrum II (summited February 2, 2011). Directed and well-edited by Anson Fogel. Rock and Ice says, “a winter ascent of an 8000-meter peak has never been completed in the Karakorum.”

COLD – TRAILER from Anson Fogel on Vimeo.

The Phantom Tollbooth at 50

John Cooper — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:27:15 +0000

This short documentary brought a little joy to my lunch today. The subject of the movie is the wonderful book, The Phantom Tollbooth, and how it came about. It interviews the author, Norton Juster, and illustrator, Jules Feiffer, both together and separately, as well as many others who comment lovingly about the book. It got me excited to read this again and to get it as a belated birthday present to my nephew, who might really like it.

And this short movie is a teaser to a planned full-length documentary about the book. The Phantom Tollbooth Turns 50 project has already reached their fundraising goal on Kickstarter. I look forward to the documentary and hope the project comes to fruition. In the meantime, we have this…

Rollin’ down to the bay

John Cooper — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:11:16 +0000

My workmate alerted me to this article about an incredible piece of kinetic sculpture, a model of San Francisco constructed entirely of tooth picks. The artist’s name is Scott Weaver. The piece is entitled Rolling through the Bay. Weaver playfully narrates this short video which illustrates the sculpture in action.

It’s things like these that give me hope and fill me with optimism and wonder about humanity.

Scott Weaver’s Rolling through the Bay from The Tinkering Studio on Vimeo.

Detroit Music

John Cooper — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:59:07 +0000

Today I read a nice wrap up of this year’s Decibel Festival on xlr8r.com. Didn’t make it to the festival this year so I was kind of keen on seeing what I missed. While I knew numerous names at the show this year like Zomby, Quantic, Bonobo, Amon Tobin, there are always so many musicians with whom I’m unfamiliar. So even reading reviews after the show bears fruit.

One of the sets that sounded great was by a young Detroit musician named, Kyle Hall. Clicking on the article link brought me to Hall’s website, Wild Kyle Oats on which I found this gem of a movie (short film – 19mins) about Detroit and it’s electronic music scene.

The highlight for me comes at roughly 5 minutes in, when “The New Dance Show” with host, R.J. Watkins, is being discussed. Mind-blowing moves. Totally rad. I mean my sister and I had “Soul Train” when we were growing up, but this show takes the cake and eat it!

Real Scenes: Detroit from Resident Advisor on Vimeo.

50 no-handed bike moves

John Cooper — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:26:07 +0000

This video brought not only a smile to my eye, but one to my mouth as well. Fun and stylish! Made in Portland?

“Golden Tree” by Martin Brooks from Ninian Doff on Vimeo.

The Faces of McBess

John Cooper — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:25:41 +0000

I was recently reading about this new typography magazine called 8 Faces edited by designer, Elliot Jay Stocks. The cover of issue number 3 was designed by McBess, a French illustrator who lives in London. His style reminds me of R. Crumb a bit, but perhaps that was just the prevalence of naked women in the illustrations. Looking around on McBess’ website was pretty fun. I especially enjoyed this short music video/cartoon.

Wanlov the Kubolor

John Cooper — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:30:26 +0000

Wanted to hear this cool jam today, so I’m putting up hear so I can find it again easily. This is the rhythm sending me onto my bike and home and the weekend which will be a full one at Bumbershoot. Getting all psyched up this week…so many musicians and bands I look forward to seeing and hearing. Koga and I are taking the full tour. So with that spirit, hear is Wanlov The Kubolor with a track off of his “Green Card” album.

Curiosity and Rigor

John Cooper — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:40:47 +0000

Following a Twitter link to brainpickings.org, Maria Popova introduced me to both Andrew Zuckerman and his Wisdom project. The first video is an interesting, inspirational talk about how he came to do the Wisdom project and some of the things he learn from it. It is fairly long (for this blog) at 27 minutes, but very worth it. And now I’m really excited to see the Wisdom film, the trailer for which is the second video below.

Andrew Zuckerman from 99% on Vimeo.

WISDOM Trailer from Andrew Zuckerman Studio on Vimeo.