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io9Toys & CollectiblesIn This Week’s Toy News, We’re All This Mr. Potato Head Mug
Head empty, just vibes, warm beverages, and toy news.
Andrew Liszewski & James Whitbrook -
io9MoviesThe Team Behind Soul Tells Us About the Culture and Future of Pixar
The thing Joe Gardner loves about jazz is how it’s always changing. Joe is the star of Soul, Pixar’s latest animated film being released on Disney+ on Christmas Day. After the best audition of his life, Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx) is on top of the world. Until he dies. He then attempts to return … Continued
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io9MoviesJazz Music and the Afterlife: Here’s How Pixar’s Soul Came to Be
Usually, movies about where babies come from aren’t appropriate for kids. However, Pixar’s Soul aims to tackle that subject in an unexpected and surprisingly family-friendly way. It’s about the death of a Black jazz musician. Stay with us here. Soul, which will now debut on Disney+ December 25, follows Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a … Continued
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io9TrailersDisney’s New Soul Trailer Shows a Man Defying Death to Fulfill His Dream
What would you do if you could maybe go home again? Would you sacrifice everything, even a future in heaven? In the new trailer for Disney Pixar’s Soul, a jazz musician with everything to lose searches the afterlife for a way back to Earth. The latest trailer for Pixar’s new film Soul stars Jamie Foxx … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidI Feel Like I’m a Part of This Jazz Band Captured With a Depth-Sensing Microsoft Kinect Camera
Microsoft’s Kinect, the depth-sensing, motion-tracking technology, might be dead as a product, but the hardware lives on, and is being used for far more than just video games now. This experimental film by Marcin Nowrotek mixes 3D footage of jazz musicians with 3D animations to create a music video where the musicians almost appear to … Continued
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Tech NewsThe Lost Designer of This Classic 90s Pattern Has Finally Been Found
You know jazz. Even if you don’t know it you know it: A jagged oil-crayon scribble of teal, laced with a zig-zag of purple, found on paper cups and plates all over the country through the 1990s. Jazz has long had a cult following, but its designer had always been lost to the sands of … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
Classic Metal Albums Redesigned As 1950s Jazz Records
Look at the covers of all your favorite metal albums. While they’ll probably fall into a few different schools of design, you can bet not a single one looks like anything that came out of the 1950s jazz scene. But judging from Brazilian designer Rafael Melandi’s redesigns—maybe they should have. The project, appropriately if not … Continued
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Tech NewsVince Guaraldi Trio: Christmastime Is Here (Instrumental)
I consider myself lucky. I managed to make it through the first weekend of December relatively unscathed by bad Christmas music—I didn’t even hear the “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” remake, which I consider a victory. But there’s one album you could put on repeat from now until December 25 and I wouldn’t mind one … Continued
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io9Long-Lost Jim Henson Animation Turns Jazz Music Into Something Visual
Jim Henson may be best known for his puppeteering, but he also created a number of experimental animations, including this one, a visual interpretation of one of jazz great Chico Hamilton’s pieces. The Jim Henson Company recently rediscovered Drums West, one of a number of Henson pieces inspired by Hamilton’s music. Henson created the short … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech News
Mess with the Meter of a 1918 New Orleans Jazz Record
Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. Tracks by participants will be added to this playlist as … Continued
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io9
What’s going on inside the brains of musicians while they improvise?
Watching a skilled musician improvise a piece, you almost feel as though he or she is plucking the notes straight from thin air. Fortunately, science has given us a few clues as to what’s actually going on inside the brains of musicians who are improvising. The Link Between Improvisation and Dreaming Charles Limb, a professor … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech NewsTow Away Zone: Thad Jones & Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra
I love big band, but I also get that it can be lame. Like really really lame. But Thad Jones and Mel Lewis aren’t like that. They and their band actually groove and are generally badasses, and their 1969 album Central Park North is a classic. “Tow Away Zone” is the first track and it’s … Continued
