yo what’s good we’re back at it with the 23rd edition of cool stuff i found! there’s so much that i got to explore and i feel joy in being able to share with you all. something that i’ve been able to do for like a month or so, a little less a little more, is being able to write 3 pages a day. be in a moleskine notebook or a yellow legal pad, i’ve been finding a way to get thoughts onto paper and it’s brought me a whole lot of clarity in life. i’ve been trying to do this in the mornings, especially before notifications yielded by social media give me my lil’ dopamine fix of the day. i try to minimize the time between when i get up from bed and when i write. it’s something i def recommend that you try! anyways, away we go!
if you’re new here:
“Cool Stuff I Found” (formerly “Cool Shit I Found”) is a series where I create a highlight reel of cool stuff I’ve come across in the past week or just in general. I hope that this newsletter will inspire meaningful conversations and connections. As always, thanks for joining me on this journey of exploration and self-discovery.
This newsletter is broken up into the following:
I. My Work
II. Articles + Essays I’ve read
III. Visual Art + Media
IV. Music I’ve been listening to
I. My Work
featured essays:
this week yields some modest output. i quickly put this essay on the evolution of my design tastes together. i pray to God Almighty that it’s somewhat coherent. but to the least, i would have written and published one more essay than Haroon did yesterday, and i think that makes me happy lol.
II. Articles + Essays I’ve read
on being ready by isabel
this excerpt from the essay really struck me because it’s something that keeps happening to me. although, the question of “am I ready?” is a concentrated distillation of the myriad of manifestations of self doubt that i encounter. like should or should i not ______? fill in the blanks with whatever, my brain spins over the same q’s ad nauseam. but the truth, as this reminded me, is that i won’t know until i actually go out and do the thing. i found a lot of similarities between this reflection and my thoughts on kyle broschniak. hope you enjoy!
[06 November 2023]: "Perishable Instant" — global solidarity and oppression olympics; whack-a-mole methodologies; optimization; vile forms of study; love deficit by Kameelah
for every kumbayah-esque motherf*cker out there, this one’s for you. Kameelah has a way of delicately expressing a frustration i’ve long held when someone retorts back to carefully thought out analysis with a trivial “more love xoxo, less war!!” type response.
III. Visual Art + Media
rAAve & GHO Passport
one of the things that i don’t feel gets talked about enough is the immensely progress made artistically during the last crypto bull rush. seriously. sure a bunch of people were buying jpegs and then selling them like one would do with any other type of derivative trading, but the by product of that whole scene was a bunch of really art forward technologists putting up fun ways to experience life.
below is a really great example of a well-designed stamp card, not unlike something you’d see in a rewards app for a store, that creates this whole unique experience for the passport holder. each attendance to an event yields a unique stamp on the passport, which builds this sort of joyful credibility that makes you want to interact with the brand more. i love seeing thoughtful + beautiful + functional design like this.
samna’s palestine work
@samna.aziz is an oakland based designer that made this really wonderful piece. it caught my eye this week. shout out. i love the framing of the poster using the Arabic word for “Palestine.” i think when you look at her work, there’s this great mastery of space that’s at play. like every element in this poster feels like it fills up the right amount of space, and there’s also so much detail to dig into. it’s inspiring and motivating to such level of craft.
ALD winter look book
i love this photoshoot. got that “Coming to America” Eddie Murphy fresh off the plane in Queens type vibe. i wish my vocabulary was better about how i feel about this so bear with me as i attempt to explain why this piece speaks to me.
i love how the lighting has this green tinge to it and lighting goes from the bottom left to the top right while still having a bit of light shining from behind the model. the composition is clean and classic. idk there’s like 3 shades of brown here that all dance together the coat, the hat, and the gloves. but there’s also some surprise brown by the wooden chair in the background and the curtain (?) to the right side. the gray suit has a greenish tint to it (i think?) that just makes it pop out. also the tie-collar combo looks so crisp. oh also, the white wall provides such great framing for the model and offers that whitespace to really let us take in the fit. but too much whitespace can leave us drowning, so the small text places on the left feels like it adds just the right touch of balance to it. idk that’s all i got. maybe one day i’ll get acclimated to the lexicon of fashion.
IV. Music I’ve been listening to
Daboor
based out of Ramallah and backed by BLTNM بـلاتـنـم (which i’m pretty sure this it’s the arabized version of platinum), Daboor release In Ann about 2 years ago but has been picking up major steam over the past few weeks. Daboor is joined by fellow Ramallah based rapper Shabjdeed to make this beautifully intense piece.
JammJam & Ibrahim Maalouf
In 12 minutes, Maalouf, a fr*nch-Lebanese trumpeteer, blends soulful jazz with traditional Arabic scales as he then smoothly transitions into a more familiar LatAm-Spanish flavor of sound joined on stage by artistic heavyweights like Cimafunk and Tank from Tank and the Bangas.
Thanks for reading this edition. Share this with your friends, your grandma, or your neighbor. And if you made it to the end of this essay and you didn’t just scroll, dm me a 🎺 on either twitter or instagram. or leave a comment! As always,
Sincerely,
Haroon
P.S. Check out my previous newsletter if you’re curious: Cool Stuff I Found #22