We are stardust.

“If you take all of the iron from the hemoglobin of the people in the tri-state area of New York City, you can recover that much iron out of their blood and realize that the iron from that meteorite and the iron from your blood has common origin in the core of a star…as Carl Sagan has said, ‘We are star-stuff’ but there’s a more poetic – and I think more accurate – way to say it; it’s quite literally true that we are stardust. In the highest exalted way one can use that phrase.” –Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Whoa. Deep, bro.

[ Neil DeGrasse Tyson - Greatest Sermon Ever ]

posted by respondcreate on Mar. 10, 2012 in Videos  |  tags: astronomy, inspirational, neil degrasse tyson, space, spiritual, spirituality

Rush Hour Traffic

“Take a sweet, gut-it-stuff-it then we puff it…”

Joey Garfield, one of the many talented directors at Ghost Robot, tapped Elliot Lim, Jason Esser, Aaron Kemnitzer and Nate Costa to create these über-dope visuals for some super-chill tunes by The Cool Kids.

It’s good times all the way around so sit back, relax and enjoy the colors.

[ Cool Kids "Rush Hour Traffic" ]

posted by respondcreate on Mar. 07, 2012 in Videos  |  tags: animation, chill, colorful, elliot lim, ghost robot, good times, hd, hip-hop, joey garfield, music video, the cool kids, trippy

Runaway

Diggin’ this embroidered stop-motion by talented craftsman Aubrey Longley-Cook. Check out his awesome blog, spool spectrum, to see more.

[ spool spectrum: Runaway via imgur > Reddit ]

posted by respondcreate on Mar. 03, 2012 in Pictures  |  tags: animation, aubrey longley-cook, colorful, craft, embroidery, spool spectrum, stop motion

SyncBody

Lights down, full-screen and the volume way up. Strap in and enjoy the latest (seventh) installment in the excellent BRDG series from +MUS.

Choons by Yaporigami; visuals by Daihei Shibata + Hiroshi Sato.

[ [BRDG007] PLMS_IV_D (SyncBody) ]

posted by respondcreate on Mar. 01, 2012 in Videos  |  tags: brdg, daihei shibata, dance, electronic music, future, hiroshi sato, music video, plusmus, robots, science fiction, technology, trippy, yaporigami

Easy Way Out

“Seventeen seconds and I’m over it, ready for the disconnect;
Putting on a brave face, trying not to listen to the voices in the back of my head.”

Have you guys seen Midnight in Paris yet? I highly recommend you check it out. Anyways, there’s this one scene where Ernest Hemingway is asked to read a book by another writer and he preemptively responds that he hates it, even though he hasn’t read it yet. When asked why he says, “If it’s bad, I’ll hate it. If it’s good, then I’ll be envious and hate it even more. You don’t want the opinion of another writer.”

There’s this weird thing with creative people. We’re inspired to make stuff because we admire stuff other people have made and then, when we finally start to make stuff of our own, some weird deeply-buried insecurities start to rise up and the stuff that used to inspire us now breeds resentment instead.

But that’s just a tendency, not necessarily a rule; every once in a while an artist comes around whose work oozes pure creativity that temporarily severs us from our baser competitive nature, freeing us to relax and truly enjoy what they’ve made. You know, someone like Gotye. Every song he writes sounds completely unique; it’s almost as if he takes a few months off in-between each one to explore a different aisle in some eclectic, well-curated record store.

For example: compare the brooding and contemplative Bronte (which we posted back in December) with the intriguing, subdued, angsty and catchy-as-hell Somebody That I Used to Know (which we’ve been meaning to post) with the Odelay-era Beck dirty-funk-rock of Easy Way Out (conveniently attached to the top of the post).

See what I mean? Anywho, all of the aforementioned tunes are off of the infinitely excellent Making Mirrors which you can buy on iTunes and just about everywhere else. The excellent, perfectly timed stop-motion visuals in the video were directed by Darcy Prendergast and executed by lots of other talented folks at Oh Yeah Wow who, you might recall, also created the super-mellow Rippled so be sure to check that out if you haven’t seen it already. Enjoy!

[ Gotye - Easy Way Out - official film clip ]

posted by respondcreate on Feb. 29, 2012 in Videos  |  tags: animation, darcy prendergast, gotye, hd, music video, oh yeah wow, stop motion, trippy

Boabab Trees

“Adansonia is a genus of eight species of tree, six native to Madagascar, one native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and one to Australia. The mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that island…more”

Did you know that 85% of all plant and animal life on Madagascar is found nowhere else on the planet? I recently learned that little factoid (among many other fascinating things) while reading William Finnegan‘s ‘Slow and Steady’, an excellent article about the black market that has sprung up surrounding the almost-extinct ploughshare tortoise in the January 2012 issue of The New Yorker. If you can get your hands on a copy I recommend you check it out.

If anyone knows who took this picture please drop us a line so we can update the post with the proper credit attribution.

[ Madagascar ]

posted by respondcreate on Feb. 25, 2012 in Pictures  |  tags: chill, madagascar, nature, peaceful, photography, trees

Wood

NSFW Disclaimer: There’s some animated nudity towards the end so don’t watch this at work, OK?

We’re diggin’ this bizarre, monochromatic music video for The Dead Pirates created by Matthieu Bessudo and Simon Landrein. In addition to being a member of the band Matthieu is also known as Mcbess, a London-based illustrator whose work successfully combines a grab bag of influences from the early 20th century – like Elzie Crisler Segar‘s Popeye and Max Fleischer‘s Betty Boop – with a tight, sterile (but in a good way) and modern rock-a-billy aesthetic.

The attached is one of two videos produced at The Mill for The Dead Pirates. The other one, CH / CH, is quite a bit shorter but definitely worth a watch. Enjoy!

A big thanks is due to Drew for sending this one our way. Cheers!

[ Wood ]

posted by respondcreate on Feb. 24, 2012 in Videos  |  tags: animation, bizarre, hd, matthieu bessudo, mcbess, monochromatic, music video, nsfw, simon landrein, the dead pirates, the mill

Glowing Man

Serving instructions: best seen in full-screen HD late at night in a pitch-dark room. Enjoy! (Well done, Jacob Sutton!)

[ Glowing Man HD ]

posted by respondcreate on Feb. 19, 2012 in Videos  |  tags: eerie, hd, jacob sutton, light, monochromatic, night, snow, snowboarding, winter

The Work of Andy Gilmore

“A master of color and geometric composition, Andy Gilmore’s work is often characterized as kaleidoscopic and hypnotic, though it could just as well be described as visually acoustic, his often complex arrangements referencing the scales and melodies in music…” (more)

I first discovered Andy Gilmore whilst perusing Ghostly’s free-to-download wallpapers page. Even among all the truly top-flight work on display there Andy’s distinct, colorful, geometric and just down-right pleasing images stood out. The Hemicube is currently occupying the base layer of pixels on my Air and a few times already today I’ve employed Exposé to quickly sweep aside any obscuring windows to take in the whole image.

The six images selected here for your perusal were found during a quick once-over of Andy’s massive, seven page archive that houses, at present, one-hundred and fifty four images. So if this didn’t sate your appetite (and why would it?) visit there for a more considered, patient browsing session. Oh, and if you want some that are a suitable size to adorn your desktop just head on over to Ghostly, they’ll take good care of you.

Can I suggest an appropriate auditory accompaniment for your ear drums while your eyes take the colors in? If you’re up for it, give a listen to Get Better John by Mux Mool. I recently picked up his latest album, Planet High School on iTunes and, since then, it’s been in constant rotation through my headphones. Needless to say, I highly recommend you check it out.

[ Andy Gilmore ]

posted by respondcreate on Feb. 17, 2012 in Pictures  |  tags: andy gilmore, art, colorful, geometric, ghostly international, hypnotic, kaleidoscope, mathematics, trippy

Trichrome Blue

“Other companies may offer you paint, clothes, makeup, or any other range of objects to give you the experience of a color. A red convertible, blue wallpaper, yellow flowers, There are endless products to choose from. But at the end of the day, these are just objects, mere things. Trichrome can give you more…”

From the looks of it, Lois van Baarle intended this to be the first in a series of three films. There hasn’t been any new activity on the project in about two and a half years so I’m assuming she’s moved on. Bummer. The attached is a short, moody and ethereal sci-fi exploration into what types of products and services could soon be available in a future where technology continues to rapidly progress. Enjoy!

In addition to her animation chops Lois is also a fantastic illustrator whose work is definitely worth checking out.

[ Trichrome Blue ]

posted by respondcreate on Feb. 17, 2012 in Videos  |  tags: animation, colorful, ethereal, hand drawn, lois van baarle, ocean, science fiction, trippy, whale