The MOO Goldmine: what we loved in July

Here at MOO, we love sharing recommendations with each other. Books, podcasts, movies… we want it all. And because there are a lot of us, we’ve even dedicated a Slack channel to it. It’s called Goldmine – and we want to share every one of these gems with you.

Each month, we’ll share what made us smile, inspired, or changed our perspective. Discover some of our favourite finds for July here.

Summer of Soul

Katie Lyssejko is our social designer in London. To celebrate the return of sunny days, she watched Disney+’s Summer of Soul documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. For Katie, it was an opportunity to travel back fifty years. “The footage was never seen and largely forgotten but the documentary shows you amazing performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, and many more.”

Her favourite part? Getting immersed into the cultural atmosphere of the time. “The documentary shines a light on this epic event that celebrates Black history, culture and fashion. It gives a historical insight into the America of 1969 and shows us a moment of joy and celebration that over 300,000 were able to be a part of.”

The Many Moods Of Ben Vaughn

Whether it’s a trip to the beach or a barbecue in the garden, summer is a time to turn the volume up. Roger Babineau, head of product engineering in Rhode Island, loves to listen to The Many Moods Of Ben Vaughn.

Ben Vaughn is a musician, producer, and radio show host. In his weekly one-hour music broadcast, he likes to explore a wide variety of musical genres – for Roger’s delight. “He gives me tons of exposure to different artists I’ve never heard before and shares deep gems from artists I know and love.” A great mix for any occasion.

Weird Work

MOO’s creative director James North found his favourite new listen in Weird Work. Hosted by marketer Sam Balter, the award-winning podcast focuses on “people who have found their passion, no matter how weird it might sound.”

James finds inspiration in the extraordinary career paths of the show’s various guests. “Weird celebrates folks who’ve broken out of the traditional 9 to 5 to pursue their passion. Work isn’t work when you do what you love. That’s definitely true for the financial dominatrix, pet influencer agent, dinosaur erotica writer, and others documented here.”

Dune

Based in Providence, Michela Tedesco is a graphic designer in our design services team. Wowed by the recent Dune movie, she couldn’t wait for the second one and decided to dive into the book series by Frank Herbert. “I’d never read a sci-fi novel before, and especially wasn’t sure if one written in the 1960s would hold up, but those pages (and there were a LOT) flew by!”

There are no bounds to Michela’s praise for the series. “The plot still felt unique, all these years later. Even though the setting is on fictional planets in the future, all the politics and technology felt so relevant, from resource conservation to political power struggles. Environmentalism was a strong underlying theme, and I think it’s more important than ever to keep that conversation happening!”

Little Felted Animals

Rich Ives is an operations planning manager working remotely in the UK. He’s also MOO’s official duck eggs and lamb pictures provider from his smallholding in Norfolk. He invited the London team to visit his property and meet his animals to celebrate the beginning of summer.

Using wool from his own sheep, Rich taught the team how to create little felted animals. To prepare for the day, he used Marie-Noëlle Horvath‘s Little Felted Animals crafts book. “Marie-Noëlle Horvath helps to create a menagerie of felted creatures using basic tools and simple wool roving. It made something incredibly hard on the face of it very accessible.” The MOO team concurs.

Want more? Connect with us on LinkedIn and check out our open roles to meet (or join) the MOO team.