There are moments when the mind and body work together in perfect harmony; Moments where mental and physical capacities can be far surpassed; Moments where the absolute unthinkable or even unreachable can happen; Moments, indeed, where the word "cool" is born"..Personally, I haven’t experienced any of these moments. However, I can say that I’ve got some of the hottest feats of humanity ever caught on a UMD and let me just say that after the video mine eyes hath recently feasted upon, the word "cool" would be a major understatement.
Ocelot Production’s "Book of Cool: Volume One" UMD for the PSP handheld features some seriously incredible footage of some of the most gifted and supremely talented trick artists from around the world performing insane feats that most would not even have the creative ability to dream up.
I’ve seen a soccer stylist continually bounce and balance a soccer ball off every limb of his body for over a 15 minute period of time without the ball ever touching the ground and I honestly think he only stopped because the camera stopped rolling. I’ve seen a Rugby star dropkick a football 50+ yards straight through the uprights perfectly every time with tremendous accuracy and watched another guy acrobatically twiddle, spin, and flick a writing pin throughout his fingers with unbelievable fluency and not so much as blink an eye. And there’s plenty more where that video came from as the UMD features 26 international experts showboating 133 different skills, tricks and moves on approximately four hours of film.
Following up a successful 3-disc DVD set and a 320 page book, now the Book of Cool: Volume One has found a new home front on the PSP handheld. The first two parts of the series specially designed for the PSP come with the electronic version of the original book and a new action repeat feature. More importantly, though, the award winning series which would have otherwise been more suitable for home viewing has now officially been made portable allowing for consumers to take this amazing footage out on the road with them throughout their daily travels.
The biggest reason to own the Book of Cool, however, is not so much the fact that it’s packed with tons of spectacular video, but more so because of it’s tutorial feature which allows you to not only view all the great tricks but also systematically breaks down each segment of the trick with helpful commentary from the experts themselves so that even you might learn to perform these amazing stunts yourself following their step by step instructions.
The menu interface is also very sleek and easy-to-use so you’ll have no problem accessing each trick and viewing its various underlying video tutorial segments.
As mentioned before the PSP version of the Book of Cool comes with an "action repeat feature." Of course, with this feature studying apiarists will be able to replay and further analyze video footage on the fly to help develop a deeper insight for how the trick is performed and increase their chances of being successful at attempting it down the road. For an even more in-depth look at the tricks themselves, you can access the electronic version of the instructional book to review things in much greater detail.
Be forewarned though, these tricks are performed by some of the world’s best and surely not to be perceived as stunts that can be mastered overnight or even in a shortened period of time. It will take much practice and patience to pull a lot of this stuff off if you’re truly serious about re-enacting these feats. More importantly, though, some of these tricks such as rollerblading, skateboarding, and scooter free-styling are considered very dangerous and you’re prompted with a warning message at the beginning of each of these segments advising you to use extreme caution and not to attempt anything without truly understanding it first.
Without a doubt, the Book of Cool is a rare gem and nice new edition to the PSP media library. It’s very easy to get absorbed in its jaw-dropping footage and an even bigger bonus to have the option of trying some these cool moves yourself. The commentary and step by step instructions from the experts themselves is very insightful and inspiring and truly helps to provide you with all the tools you need to be successful in the future.
The UMD itself is beefed out with excellent video clarity and music variety to help make things that much more attractive and, more importantly, the fact that all of this great footage is now in portable form means that you can now go out and impress all your friends and pals out in the world and spread the word about this hot new UMD.
The bottom line is things don’t get much cooler than this as the Book of Cool: Volume One racks up a super solid 4 GiN gems. For more information on this title and how to get your hands on a copy check out the website at www.bookofcool.com.