As always, big ups to my friend Findlay on finding this clip of a Copenhagen flash mob in action; and in super-classy, no frills style at that.

I love flash mobs. When done right, they can generate nothing but joy for people, be it as a participant or unwitting observer. As Fin had commented, flash mobs should be “…a surprise not sprung on one unsuspecting individual, but a treat for everyone to enjoy.” Hell, even the ones that are done a bit wrong still have a positive effect.

Probably my favourite aspect of them is how the internet has been so instrumental in bringing together these large groups of otherwise strangers to do something in real life that is both out-of-place and wonderful at the same time.

If you’ve not seen it yet, you should probably check out this TED talk by Charlie Todd, creator of Improve Everywhere and one of the first to popularise the concept of flash mobs (the joyful ones).

Edit: Just clicked on that flash mob: it’s like they took this earlier awesome concept and made it more awesome as a flash mob. Nice.

Christopher Morris is an American Photojournalist whose main body of work has concentrated on war; including the US invasion of Iraq, the drug war in Colombia, the Persian Gulf war, the wars in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yugoslavia, and Chechnya.

Since 2000, he has been the official White House Photographer and also works in advertising, fashion and portraits. All awesome. A large collection of his incredible body of work can be found here and even more over at his official website.

Official website

20+ Beautiful Sand Sculptures

9 Ton Chocolate Mayan Temple Sculpture

Chewing Gum Sculpture Defines Collaboration

Inside the Sketchbook of Amsterdam Artist Chris Berens

(Simon Roy) povorot’s  photostream

Jake Wyatt (I just personally like this one as a sketch, but his actual works are really, really good).

• Why politicians don’t get the internet
• Somebody please, for the love of god, fix shipping/couriers (YES!)
• George Lucas Does Something Likeable For a Change: Revenge on Rich Neighbors
  

  George Lucas’ rich neighbors don’t want him building a movie studio in their backyard. His response is the best thing he’s done in years.

• The Original Piece of Wood I Left in Your Head
  

  Wildcat pop-culture critic Perkus Tooth and Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze met, at Tooth’s insistence, at Yonah Schimmel’s knishery on Houston Street in New York City. A small digital tape recorder was placed between them.

• 23 incredible new technologies you’ll see by 2021
• Reset Firefox – easily fix most problems

One silver lining of being so sick and confined like a leper, has been the opportunity to finally clear up the encroached chaos that is the room I’ve been living in; that and listening to some fine new music.

One fella in particular has had a lot of replay in the last few days is Hanni el Khatib, an LA based singer/songwriter whose influences include (but aren’t limited to) the blues, garage rock, punk and doo-wop; and his debut album Will the Guns Come Out has this great raw edge sound that’s reminiscent of The Black Keys and The White Stripes. Hell, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys will be producing his second album, so that’s got to count for something.

Makes sense…

Been a fun filled week of flu, but that has been happily offset by some new music that’s simply not getting off my playlists.

XXYYXX is the name of 16 year old (!) producer, Marcel Everett and his music is fantastic; like the ebodied sound of a cocktail mixed one part joy, one part melancholy and two parts beauty. That, or I’m thinking about cocktails too much, but do check out the lad’s stuff.

Ooh… this one I really like. The Eagleman Stag (directed by Mikey Please) is a stop-motion short that tells the story of Peter Eagleman, who’s always lived with a obsessive predisposition towards time. Wonderful art direction, fantastic animation, a really great soundtrack; all this coupled with a well told story whose themes touches on time, subjectivity and even bits of existentialism… It’s pretty easy to see why this short has been recieving overwhelming acclaim of late.