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Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Cool Hunting, Part Deux 

The cool hunting post continues to generate conversation. Folks keep telling me that they didn't know about any of those sites and that they're following them now. Which is great since that's part of the purpose of this blog to begin with.

I thought it might be nice to share a couple more sites and also share some of my favorite finds from cool hunting sites.

design*sponge
Grace Bonney curates this site. There are a few things about it I particulary love. One is the sheer volume of posting she does. I know that it overlaps with her job in PR, but seriously, Grace posts at a pretty prodigous rate. Secondly, I like really her design sensibility. Most of the stuff she likes I relate to, even if I don't absolutely have to own it. Finally, I like the focus. Many sites try to scan a large variety of cool. Design*Sponge is very much focused on home furnishings.

Uncrate
Uncrate is focused on stuff for guys. As we all know, this is not really my nice and I have several complaints about Uncrate. Firstly, it's guy stuff. (Duh.) Secondly, it's got too much automotive going on for my taste. (Duh, again.) Last, but perhaps most importantly it is both behind the times (the Voodoo Knife Holder was on other sites six months ago) and often banal. To wit, they're flogging a new POLO fragrance. Look, I dig fragrances a lot. Can't you find me something unusual? Like a verbena fragrance that lasts for more than an hour?? That's what I really need.

Now on to my three favorite buys thus far that I discovered from surfing cool hunting sites:

Branie Belt
I designed a black one with silver buckle and orange dot. If you know me, you've seen it.

Transit Tote
Medium Design Group's "Transit Tote" is my daily go-to-work/laptop bag.

Welsh Dragon T
For those of you who made the August bash, I was stylin' in Bread of Heaven's short sleeve red T with black dragon. I've got the black longsleeve version queued up for fall, too.

Tomorrow, we take off to Bar Harbor until Wednesday and then we'll be in Toronto for the Toronto Film Festival with the usual suspects. I've got some blog content in progress, so I'll try to knock one out next Wednesday. The week of the 12th, we'll do the Toronto roundup.

In advance, I will note that Toronto's ticket buying process is really dreadfully organized, especially for us out of towners. There are no clear instructions online as to how to get your tickets if you don't live in Toronto. You'd think they'd have more pity on those traveling and make the process easier to understand. Anyway, please keep your fingers crossed for us that this all comes together.
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Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Sundancing Everywhere 

It's remarkable the number of films we saw at Sundance this year that have found release in what seems like record time including Murderball, Ring of Fire, Grizzly Man, and The Aristocrats.

I was particularly shocked at how fast the docs got purchased and by whom. Ring of Fire went to USA Network and I read that Unknown White Male was bought by Court TV!

Recently, we went to see Junebug for a second time with Kecia when she was in town from Amsterdam. (We actually met Kecia on the plane coming back from Sundance in 2004 and adopted her pretty much on the spot. Since then, we've been to see her and Koert in The Netherlands and now they've paid a return visit to us here in NYC.) K. and I both loved Junebug at Sundance and were more than happy to see it again since one of Kecia's friends was involved with it and it's not so likely to be playing in Amsterdam anytime soon.

A second viewing of Junebug confirmed its virtues: it's focus, it's subtlety and the brilliant performances from Amy Adams and the rest of the cast, including my beloved Embeth Davidtz. It's a film that I could keep watching because I caught lots of details the second time that I missed the first time. The script is a LOT tighter than it appears to be on first viewing. Most everything really is explained.

One of the things that's nice about the speed with which these films are getting released is that there were some that we couldn't get into at Sundance, e.g., The Aristocrats. The press this film is getting is remarkable given what a small audience it's targeted at. (If you haven't caught any of the press, you really must be living in a cave.) Anyway, K. and I caught it a couple of weeks ago and it's an interesting examination of what it means to be a comedian. Seeing 100 people tell the same joke becomes like jazz, which was Gillette and Provenza's point. And it works. Really m0t%erf*C)!! well. (If you know what the movie is about...that's a bit of a joke on my part.)

In any case, if any of the above mentioned films are playing in your area, I suggest you get out to see them.
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