Cool Hunting Video Presents: Okamoto Studio

by Cool Hunting Video

Takeo Okamoto, an established sushi chef in his native Japan discovered his calling for ice sculpture and moved to the iciest place he could think of, Alaska. Winner of several international awards, including a Silver Medal in the 1998 Olympics, Takeo now runs Okamoto Studio with his son Shintaro in New York City.

We were introduced to them through Jeremy Mangan, an artist whose coffee paintings we admired. When we spoke with Jeremy he mentioned that he also sculpts ice—he's in fact Okamoto's principal carver—the result of Jeremy and Shintaro having met in an art class at Hunter College.

We decided right away to make a video of the studio and, after some deliberation, we realized CH mascots Otis and Logan would make the perfect subjects for a video and a great feature at our 50th Episode party. Guests were treated to the breathtaking sculptures of the Sealyham Terriers themselves and to raw footage from the video of them being made.

Memento Mori Death Watch

by Watchismo

Dating back to 1810, the Memento Mori Death Watch is a particularly dark reminder—even more so than most timekeepers—of our inevitable demise. Designed in the shape of a miniature skull with hinges, this pocket watch tells the time when you peel back the upper dome of the cranium. Made from 18K gold, enamel and diamonds, the fusée skull sold for $16,000. Click images for detail.

Blackberry Pearl

by Josh Rubin

If you've been reading CH for a while you know I'm rather fickle when it comes to mobile phones. I'm always looking for the right combination of form, features and usability. Well, there's a new phone du jour—the Blackberry Pearl. While the previous Blackberry form factors are destined to be tomorrow's kitsch (check out the slideshow), the Pearl follows a more classic, "candy bar" stye form without compromising the powerful email capabilities.

Beyond the perfect size, shape and weight a few things set the Pearl apart from its predecessors. Most importantly, the interface is now controlled by a rollerball placed front-and-center on the device. In addition to being usable by lefties and righties alike, it now lets you move the cursor left, right, up and down—a long overdue improvement over the original 2-way scroll wheel. But because it's a ball it allows for much faster scrolling than on other "joystick" or "donut" type controllers typically seen on today's phones. This is also the first Berry with a built in camera and they've included all of the picture phone functionality for sharing images and using them to customize the device. Lastly, it syncs with the Mac! Blackberry has helped PocketMac clean up their act and the new sync software is much more simple and reliable.

The Pearl uses Blackberry's TrueType keypad which only took a few days to get used to. It's laid out like a regular QWERTY keyboard but each button holds 2 letters. To use it just look for the button that has the letter you want and press it, the software figures out what word you want each time you enter a space. Beyond email and SMS, the Pearl also comes with an IM client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo!.

If you want a Blackberry that doesn't make you look like a dork talking on a pocket calculator or just need an email device that fits in your jeans pocket, check out the Pearl. For now it's a T-Mobile USA exclusive and it's compatible with their MyFaves plans (which I just switched to and am also happy with so far).

Halloween 2006: Three Better Than Candy Corn Treats

by Letizia Rossi

If you're looking for more than gum stabilizers and Red #7, CH found some alternative sweets by some of our favorite candy-makers.

From the chocolatier behind the beloved Halloween Lollipops ($3 each) with creamy almond and hazelnut praline (above center).

Marzipan artist Rebecca Russell, makes Skull Boy and Nosferatu figures (above right) that are both creepy and cute.

If you're still craving chocolate on 1 November, Vosges has created Day of the Dead Skulls (above left) in Venezuelan white chocolate, dark chocolate with ancho and chipotle chillies and Ceylon cinnamon, deep milk chocolate with hickory smoked almonds and grey sea salt. All have edible black glitter eyes and are available from Vosges for $8 each.

It's All Good

by Wendy Dembo

Boogie, a photographer born and raised in Serbia and now based in New York, has a love of chaos, violence and danger, which perhaps can be attributed to growing up in war-torn Yugoslavia. His first book, It’s All Good, is an ode to the gang members, prostitutes and junkies of notorious New York neighborhoods Bushwick, BedStuy and Queensbridge. His stark photos show junkies shooting up in their homes, kids playing in abandoned lots, and gang members with guns and dogs. An attempt to document his subjects with no judgment, Boogie says “the last thing I wanted to do was moralize—anyone could end up like that.” Judge for yourself by picking up It’s All Good from Amazon or seeing more images here.

Itz a Stitch

by Evan Orensten

Adding personal flair to Waspy needlepoint, custom-made accessories from Itz a Stitch make an ingenious gift for rebel preppies. Select lettering and iconography from the company's library (add an extra $50 for images that fall outside of their collection) to make a one-of-a-kind belt, pair of slippers, wallet, compact and more. Available for $300 from Itz a Stitch, items take about six weeks from ordering to arrive.

via the New York Times magazine

(Photo by Jens Mortensen)

Freddie Cruger: Soul Search

by Ami Kealoha

He's back… and just in time for Halloween. But don't be scared! This Freddie Cruger is a friendly old-school Swedish B-Boy with a penchant for crafting breakbeat-laden sample-heavy instrumentals that make for dancefloor anthems, catchy downtempo nu-soul, jazzy hip-hop head-nodders and blazing latin mash-ups.

Most of Cruger's music has previously been available only as limited edition 12" vinyl singles on the Swedish Raw Fusion label. Soul Search is his first full-length album as Freddie Cruger (he released an album earlier this year as 3 Foot People on his own Homegrown imprint), and is available in the U.S. exclusively on Ubiquity Records through a deal with Raw Fusion.

Freddie has also released countless remixes, mostly on the GAMM label, using the alias Red Astaire, including the underground classic "Follow Me," a remix of D'Angelo’s "Left and Right." Quantic liked Cruger's version so much, he recorded a live remake of the remix (possibly a historical first), with Alice Russell on vocals.

Soul Search draws from Cruger's characteristically wide range of styles. Two songs with frequent collaborator Linn (mentioned previously in "What's Going On Pt.2: Swedish Soul Food') are some of the best. "Over the Ocean" is another standout, with an original sounding blend of reggae harmony vocals and a raw drum loop backing track.

Listen or buy at Ubiquity or purchase from Amazon.

by DJ Scribe