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Top Picks: The book 'Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream,' the film 'Foxcatcher,' and more

Jeff Bridges' 'Sleeping Tapes' are whimsical and winning (and proceeds go to the charity No Kid Hungry), a Buzzfeed video looks at how often young adults actually use their phones, and more top picks.

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  • By Staff

Dynamic design duo

Long before husband-and-wife design team Charles and Ray Eames defined the midcentury modern aesthetic, another wildly talented California couple was joyously transforming the US design landscape, from Catalina Island to Chicago’s Wrigley Field to Times Square. Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream, by Norman Hathaway and Dan Nadel, is the lavishly illustrated saga about the life and work of Dorothy and Otis Shepard. Their story was lost to history until this beautiful book brought them back in living color. 

Folkways renewed

Recording collector Alan Lomax is responsible for capturing the early sounds of Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, and others during the midcentury folk music revival. With his new album, Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project, Stone taps into that collection with a talented team of roots musicians who carefully mined and reimagined 19 traditional American songs. Check out a video of the project at http://bit.ly/JaymeStoneLomax. 

Keep your head up

How long would you guess you spend on your phone in a day? BuzzFeed filmed young adults discovering the unnerving truth as they used an app to track their usage. Will they change their ways? Maybe. Would you? Check out the video at http://bit.ly/phoneusevideo.  

Chilling crime drama

Foxcatcher is the quietly disturbing story of wealthy chemical fortune heir John E. du Pont (Steve Carell), who created a wrestling training program and recruited brothers and Olympic athletes Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo) and Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) to relocate to the training facility at his mother’s horse farm. “Foxcatcher” delivers extraordinary performances by the actors as it delves into the psychopathology of the ties that bind. It’s out this week on DVD and Blu-ray. 

You’re getting sleepy...

Laid-back Jeff Bridges wants you to get more sleep. Along with composer Keefus Ciancia (“True Detective”) and graphic designer/writer Lou Beach, Bridges has created Sleeping Tapes, a whimsical and winning collection of spoken word, ambient sounds, and soothing music to help you nod off to dreamland. You can select your tracks at DreamingwithJeff.com. All proceeds go to the charity No Kid Hungry.

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