Archive for THINGS WE LIKE

THINGS WE LIKE: The Best Wedding Invitation Ever

Paper Record Player from kellianderson on Vimeo.

Check out the video above that demonstrates the really awesome wedding invitation for Mike and Karen’s wedding by Kelli Anderson. It’s basically a wedding invitation that transforms into a makeshift paper record player. Pretty amazing. This is what Kelli Anderson had to say about it (but check out the whole blogpost for more details and pics):

I just finished up a really fun project—a paper record player wedding invitation! In the booklet-style invitation, a bit of paper-folding amplifies the sound of a sewing needle moving along the grooves of a flexidisc record. The hand-spun record yields a garbled, but scrutable listening of an original song by the couple. It requires a bit of tinkering and folding —effectively championing the inner science-nerd kid in the recipient. The whole thing serves as an interactive packaging for the song—which can be experienced on the paper record player, unscrewed + set on a regular turntable, or enjoyed online (for the non-nerds and/or audiophiles out there.)

-e

THINGS WE LIKE: The Hype Men Podcast

Back again with another edition of THINGS WE LIKE! Woop wooooop!

I’ve got a real love/hate relationship with The Hype Men Podcast. I like it because it’s nerdy dudes talking about rap for an hour with occasionally interesting guests. I hate it because sometimes it’s just unbearably nerdy at a very specific, uninteresting level… and it all too often turns into Jensen relaying pointless anecdotes about BEING A WHITE RAPPER SIGNED BY INTERSCOPE and WORKING WITH KANYE and blah blah blah. We get it, buddy: Interscope tried to cash in on your whiteness and multi-syllabic rhyme patterns and Jimmy Iovine would probably spot you money for an Orange Julius if he saw you in the mall. (By the way, what the eff is up with white rappers and multi-syllabic rhyme patterns?)

Anyway, I guess my point is, I have a love/hate relationship with this podcast mostly because of lack of options. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, there’s not a whole lot of rap-related podcasting available, which seems really silly to me. Surely there’s plenty of people that would love to hear hour long interviews with their favorite rappers that delve into deeper discussions than the 5 minute youtube/vimeo/worldstar interview clips where random-rapper-guy is just like “YEAH I WAS IN THE STUDIO WITH WIZ KHALIFA AND HE SEEMS PRETTY COOL! BY THE WAY GO BUY MY NEW ALBUM! SHOUT OUT TO DUBLIN, IRELAND!” or whatever. I guess the Juan Epstein Podcasts are good but they don’t come along frequently enough. A podcast is unfortunately only as good as the podcasters’ commitment to updating frequently. So, yeah, begrudgingly, I like the Hype Men Podcast and you should check it out when you get a chance. The Just Blaze Episode is legitimately great and Fat Jew Episode is legitimately hilarious. Their entire archive is worth scrolling through. They’ve interviewed 88 Keys, Jean Grae, Freddie Gibbs, and a few other notables. Also, Jensen sharing 2 of Yeezy’s earliest beat tapes is an awesome look.

Kudos to the Hype Men boys for trailblazing this hip-hop podcasting ish and, at the very least, providing a constant stream of material that at least ATTEMPTS to move in more interesting directions than most rap journalism out there. And, big up rap nerds everywhere!

-e

THINGS WE LIKE: @JonathanMannion




And now for more THINGS WE LIKE! Honestly, I don’t know crap about Hip-Hop photorgraphy and photographers. The only reason I’m up on Jonathan Mannion is because I stumbled across some random post on Hypebeast about a show in Paris several weeks ago. He’s done some really amazing photography and captured some really iconic moments as the Vimeo videoclips below will quickly remind you. I’ve posted a couple of my favorites from his website above but I just thought I’d shout dude out on the blog real quick… because he’s ill! Anyway, go check his blog and follow the man on twitter after you watch the clips below.

Back in the Days : 27 Mars à La Bellevilloise , Episode #1 from Nadim33 on Vimeo.

Back in the Days : 27 Mars à La Bellevilloise , Episode #2 from Nadim33 on Vimeo.

-e

THINGS WE LIKE: WTF Podcast

I’m starting a new series on this here blog called THINGS WE LIKE devoted to things that aren’t related to music that we’re into over here at CFB HQ. One of these such things is Marc Maron’s ridiculously awesome WTF Podcast. For those not knowing, Marc Maron is veteran comedian that’s been around for the better part of 20 years and is good buddies with folks that are a lot more famous then him (but not significantly funnier then him). He basically uses this podcast as an excuse to interview a rich variety of comedians–most of which he has personal relationships with–and conducts really personal, insightful, engaging, and often times touching interviews with these folks. Maron isn’t interested in being a journalist in the classical sense so he interjects himself and his own issues into the interview very frequently, but this isn’t a shortcoming at all. In fact, Maron’s insistence on interjecting his own mania and issues into each and every conversation is primarily what pushes these conversations in such interesting directions. He really has a gift for this type of interview and it’s pretty clear that he’s in his element when conversing with these folks: riffing, exploring, postulating, proselytizing, cracking stupid jokes, and even flirting with the variety of female comics he interviews that he’s clearly in love with. Anyway, I can’t get enough of this podcast and highly suggest you check it out. I’ve posted links to some of my favorite interviews below, but even the interviews with comedians you’ve never heard of before are really awesome.

Conan O’Brien
This interview just went up yesterday and is a really interesting talk with Conan who comes across as a really intelligent, compassionate, interesting guy.

Carl LaBove
Really interesting interview with Sam Kinison’s best buddy Carl LaBove. LaBove tells a bunch of stories about coming up with Kinison and reveals some really crazy personal stuff about their relationship. Heart-breaking stuff really.

Mike DeStefano
Speaking of heart-breaking, this interview with the recently deceased Mike DeStefano (RIP) is not for the faint of heart. In this interview DeStefano reveals his struggles with being HIV Positive, taking care of his HIV Positive wife in her dying days, growing up a wanna-be wise guy in the Bronx, and a bunch of other stuff. This is truly one of the most heart-wrenching interviews I’ve ever listened to, but DeStefano is inspiring in his positive, hilarious approach to life in the face of it all. If you listen to just ONE of these interviews, make it this one.

Louis CK (Part I) (Part II)
Maron and Louis were buddies back in the day. Somewhere along the line, their friendship fell apart. This two part interview is basically the two of them working things out… which sounds boring, but it’s not because their both goofy and hilarious.

Hope y’all enjoy this stuff as much as I do!

-e