The Causecast, Guest Starring Me
September 18, 2008 | Categories: Video

I try not to make this blog about my personal life, though my personal life is mentioned here and there as a point of reference. But I had to show you all the video above because, well, it’s pretty ridiculous. The company I design for, Causecast, has this thing we call The Causecast, which features news about causes and things happening in relation to causes. Well, my boss Levi asked me if I wanted to present one of the stories in my “sassy, Bobby fasion”, and since I have no shame, I decided to do it.

It’s kind of weird because now you’ll all know what I sound like and how I move, but it’s kind of funny at the same time, like breaking the third wall in a play or something. Anyhow, I hope you all get a kick out of this, and if you need to cast a leading role in an action movie, I’m definitely available.

Bobby

Adam Kimmel Presents Claremont
September 16, 2008 | Categories: Clothing / Photography / Video

This is the most insane thing ever. Fashion designer Adam Kimmel teamed up with photographer Ari Marcopoulos to create a video showcasing some new suits created by Kimmel… or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. Anyhow, instead of doing something funny or artsy, Ari got a couple of guys to dress up in the suits and longboard down a CRAZY HUGE hill!

This video is absolutely nuts. They could easily be going 40, 50, 60 mph? And the fact that this isn’t a closed road or anything is horrifying, especially when you see them carving all over the road. If they fell, they’d seriously lose all the skin on whatever part that landed first! Definitely watch the video, at the very least to see how they stop! haha…

You can also find Ari Marcopoulus’ blog on Arkitip here, and here’s a Tiny Vices he did as well.

Bobby

Michael Kenna
September 16, 2008 | Categories: Photography / Video

I can’t remember how I came across the photos of Michael Kenna, but I instantly became smitten with their haunting simplicity. As you can see above his photos are extremely minimal, a wash of cream with black objects poking up here and there. My favorites are his series from Hokkaido, Japan which were taken there in the winter, obviously to give him even more white to use. His website has a ton of his work, starting with this year and going back as far as 1976!

I also came across this YouTube video talking about Michael and his process. I would like to say that video is kind of pretentious sounding and maybe he takes himself a little too seriously, but it’s always nice to see the behind-the-scenes of a cool photographer.

Bobby

Oktapodi
September 7, 2008 | Categories: Design / Films / Video

As of writing this, I only have one tattoo on my right forearm, but if I were to ever get another one it would be an epic-sized octopus encompassing my entire left forearm, wrist, and hand, and it would be awesome. Obviously I have an intense fondness for octopi and all of their squishy wonder, so the video above made me squeal with delight. It’s Oktapodi, the story of a pair of octopus lovers who are ripped apart and must fight to find each other again. Well, all of that is done in the course of 2 minutes, but MAN it’s an amazing 2 minutes!

The video was created by students at the French animation school Gobelins (which totally looks like Goblins, which would be a sweet school to go to) and has been drumming up quite a lot of buzz lately. They’ve won a ton of awards so far, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more from these creative individuals. Watch the video, it’s a slice of amazing, and let me know what you think of the ending! ARGH!

Also check out these rad videos:
+ An Octopus Messing Up a Shark’s Day
+ An Octopus Escaping Through A 1″ Hole

Bobby

Bruno 9li Interview
August 28, 2008 | Categories: Art / Food & Drinks / Illustration / Video

Andreas over at Brothers By Choice was kind enough to send me a link to this awesome interview they did with Bruno 9li for this Brazilian liquor called Sagitaba. The interview was done as part of a series of interviews showing Brazilian culture in it’s different forms, thus highlighting how great this drink is, I guess. Anyhow, it’s pretty cool to hear Bruno talk about his influences, like African and Japanese culture, and how living in Brazil shapes a lot of his work as well.

There’s also a lot of great footage of Bruno working which is my favorite part. Towards the end you get to see him paint this giant mural on the side of a wall, it’s really rad looking. You can also see inside his studio, as well as learning about his progression from black and white to the immense amount of colors he currently puts into his pieces. And just to be clear, I have nothing to do with the liquor, I just think this is a cool video!

Bobby

Gaspar Claus and Pedro Soler Takeaway Show
August 17, 2008 | Categories: Films / Music / Video

+KN reader Jamie Topper sent me this link to a La Blogotheque Takeaway Show that’s absolutely fantastic. I’ve been a big fan of the Takeaway Shows but had yet to post about them, mostly because I thought everyone knew about them. Usually they feature big indie bands like Beirut or Vampire Weekend, but this episode features two amazing artists, Gaspar Clause, an amazing celist, and Pedro Soler, an astounding flamenco-style guitar player.

Together they’re devastatingly talented, producing a kind of music that I’ve honestly never heard, at least not at this kind of quality. The video above is one of 4, and features them playing in an old hotel called The Belvedere. We get a short tour of the beautiful hotel and a brief histiry, and then they set up their instruments in the old cinema and begin to play. They have an amazing energy while they play together, and honestly this made my entire afternoon even better. Towards the end of the video the intensity of the music, along with the camera movements, really got me emotional, there’s something insanely powerful about the whole thing performance. I’m also kind of amazed by the fact that just these two men could create something so special.

Watch the video and then click here to watch the others and be amazed.

Bobby

Darcel: 2 Girls, 1 Cup Reaction
August 17, 2008 | Categories: Design / Illustration / Internet / Video

I’m a big time fan of Craig Redman’s work on Darcel Disappoints, an auto-bographical(?) comic featuring a little black egg man with wood glasses living one disappointing moment after another. Every few days he updates his site with a new comic, all of them done in a simple but fantastic style, sometimes godo things happen, sometimes bad, but always interesting.

Well now Craig has upped the ante and started making animated Darcel cartoons! Okay, cartoons might not quite be the right term, but it’s an animated short and it’s wonderful. Darcel gets an eye full of the 2 girls, 1 cup video, and has the same reaction that I did. Watch and enjoy!

Bobby

English House by Fleet Foxes
July 26, 2008 | Categories: Music / Video

I was checking out some of the clips from the recent Pitchfork Music Festival when I ran across this Fleet Foxes performance and I thought I’d share it. The song their performing is called English House, which is of off their Sun Giant EP which was released earlier this year before their full length dropped. I’d actually never heard the song before, and I didn’t even realize they had an EP, so it was kind of double exciting for me personally. The song itself is pretty good, and it’s always cool to see these guys perform, as they’re simply amazing. If you’d like to see some more of the performances from the festival, click here.

Bobby

Why America Is Fucked… Graphically, At Least
July 25, 2008 | Categories: Design / Video

People who are excited about design always gets me excited, but when they start releasing passionate, foul-mouthed, rants about the current state of half-ass design out there, well now you really have something! Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design Co. along with the folks over at Coudal are creating a three part documentary called Draplin Project, which obviously stars Aaron and I guess it’s going to be his thoughts on the world.

But what they’ve decided to do is give everyone a sneak peak of the film, with Mr. Draplin going on an amazing tirade of how design in America can seriously blow, and how we need to take back design and make it something amazing again. The clip is titled, Why America Is Fucked, and is really amazing, like I couldn’t agree with him more. It’s also filled with a lot of “fucks”, so if you’re sensitive you probably shouldn’t watch the video. As a sidenote, Aaron wrote a note to his parents with the video post, which I’d like to share with you all as well:

DEAR MOM AND DAD: I know you raised me well, and taught me how to speak and behave like an appropriate adult and all that, but, Jess asked the question and I got all fired up and then started swearing like a sailor. These things happen. Don’t excommunicate me.


Click here to watch the video directly, but definitely visit his Aaron’s site as well if you’ve never been. I can’t WAIT to see what else he has to say!

Found through Chris Glass

Bobby

Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes
July 23, 2008 | Categories: Films / Video

I just finished watching this really great documentary called Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes, a rather self-explanatory title but extremely interesting to watch. Stanley Kubrick is somewhat of a cult figure (just read through Coudal on any given day) so people trying to figure out the deepest parts of Kubrick is nothing new. But in this documentary Jon Ronson is invited to the Kubrick estate to go through his immense collections of boxes, which number into the thousands. The contents of the boxes are extremely varied and all over the place, from photos to fan letters, and show what a detailed and intelligent man he really was.

One of the things I found most interesting was his obsession with perfection, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. For many of his films he’d have his nephew Manuel Harlan take tens of thousands of photos to see what was out there. He took photos of doorways, morgues, estate gates, costume shops, anything that might be useful. He did those for most of his movies as well, like trying to find the perfect hat for the droogies to wear in A Clockwork Orange.

If you have any interest in Kubrick I would definitely suggest watching this, it’s quite insightful. Also, I don’t know how long the video will stay up, so watch it ASAP.

Found through The Constant Siege

Bobby