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Friday Videos - Mar. 12th, 2010

You know the drill. Here's the playlist and the breakdown:

• Hutts and Recreation - I could do without the singing but the edit is spot on perfect with the opening of Parks and Recreation. It's dumb but it's an enjoyable dumb. Via Falfa.
• El fin del mundo - this is incredibly entertaining, hilarious and perfect in so many ways. However, it requires that you read along and pay attention - the humor is not served to you on a platter. Pay attention and you will be rewarded. Via WAXY.
• Cyriak - Cycles - it gets more and more insane as it goes so stick through the entirety. Amazing piece of work.
• Bill Murray NBA announcement - I'm sure this is old but I have no idea what's going on and it's new to me. Bill Murray continues to dominate.
• Zoobooks! - I've watched this at least 30 times this week.
• Sex Offender Shuffle - I'm sure there are any number of parody's of the Chicago Bears shuffle video but this is pretty funny; especially as the introductions of each offender keep getting more and more absurd.
• Raquel Welch Space Dance - I don't want to question why this exists but... why does this exist? Is this a legit video for her version of California Dreamin? Is this a Youtube mashup of completely unrelated clips?

Bonus
→ Star Wars Uncut - Scene 378 - I've no idea how this fits into the overall scope of the Star Wars Uncut project (aren't you supposed to re-shoot scenes, not recut existing footage?) but it is so great that it must be visually consumed right away.

Have a great weekend.

Feed America with a Backpack

Email marketing firm Emma has teamed up with Feeding America to donate 1,000 backpacks to hungry kids / families - all you have to do is help them gather up 1,000 clicks on their promo page. It's actually a pretty slick page - very well designed and fun - and provides a link to their newly renovated site; yet to be fully unveiled to the public. Do the right thing - go click and donate.

Kumi Yamashita

The work of Kumi Yamashita reminded me of the trash silhouettes from Tim Noble and Sue Webster but his her work is done with a much more subtle touch. Browsing through her selected work you see a lot of pieces that are a single slat of wood that, when properly lit, will cast the full intended silhouette. I've been through a good chunk of his work so far and there's not been one era without a significant dose of great stuff.

Genetically Modified

Chad pointed out this series of MTV bumpers from Umeric that are incredibly bizarre. Some even say worthy of expanding into something more fleshed out... a concept not entirely worth discrediting. Be sure to watch the A and B versions.. along with their other great work.

Thomas Hudson Reeve

Pinhole camera photography always has an appeal to it due to the built-in ethereal quality of the images it produces but I gotta give it to Thomas Hudson Reeve for seemingly taking it to another level - creating the entire camera out of light sensitive photo paper and exposing the entire interior creates a bizarre canvas shape that you've got to sort of piece together. The set showcasing them has some unfortunately small images but Google Images provides some bigger views - such as this blog post.

Via Drew.

Dusdin Condren

Heads up - the goodness of the Dusdin Condren photostream that was found here is now located here. Update those bookmarks and contacts; as he has never failed to deliver consistent visual goodness as long as I've been following along.. you don't want to miss out.

He's also got a tumblog that I just came across that should, more than likely, be in your worldview as well.

Viola Cangi

Spend some time with the photostream from Viola Cangi - a predominantly quiet bit of photography with some great diptych's, some cinematic moments and a healthy dose of artsy.

Via Pope Saint Victor.

Appear DK

I'm absolutely loving the portfolio site of Denmark based agency Appear. The click through might take you a moment to get used to what with the dragging and scrolling but it's incredibly well done and it's not Flash. There are some great sites out there really pushing the boundaries of what can be done with javascript vs what you'd expect with Flash and I think this one ranks way up there.

Via Will.

The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour

I guess when you're prohibited from having a TV show and Twitter starts to get boring you launch a nationwide comedy tour. It seems to be the next logical step when prohibited from doing the thing that you know best. I've no idea how a live Conan tour would translate from the TV show but I would bet good money that some of his more absurd characters will be showing up - like this guy or this guy. Not that I'll be attending said show (the closest he is coming to me is Bonnaroo, and I'm not attending that) but I really hope there's some way for him to recreate this.

Makeup and Vanity Set

Local 8-bit electro artist Makeup and Vanity Set has launched his latest, self-titled, album and I'm recommending you go listen to the record and take a moment to partake in the cover art; courtesy of Version Industries. It's rare that I see cover art for an artist making the kind of music that MAVS is making that actually feels right on the money. It's gritty, it's dancey, it's rooted in 8-bit and it's got a dark undercurrent to the whole thing - a description that could apply to either the music or the cover art; hence my feeling of ultimate appropriateness for it.

→ Get the album
→ View the Cover Art

yk mix: Summon Solstice

Spring is around the corner.. summer just right beyond that. I am very ready for this winter to be over and return to a refreshed state of mind. I put together a mix of various songs that have been grabbing my attention lately and it just so turns out that a large majority of them seem to evoke this mindset of a brighter, upbeat, renewed state of things.

Please partake in my latest mix offering - Summon Solstice - and lets get this whole Spring Season cranked into high gear.

[ Download Summon Solstice ]

1. Sparklehorse - Happy Man (EV11 Mix)
2. The Goldroom - Strangling Gloves
3. Junk Culture - Carmel Valley Girls
4. Phantogram - Make A Fist
5. Jack Penate - So Near (Penguin Prison Remix ft. Travis Allen Archer)
6. Pantha du Prince - Bohemian Forest
7. Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit
8. Yppah - Son Saves The Rest
9. Secret Machines - Terrible Light
10. Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines
11. Field Music - Let's Write A Book
12. Kid Static - I Been Good
13. Zeus - Kindergarten
14. Caribou - Odessa
15. Port O'Brien - Tree Bones
16. Sparklehorse - Piano Fire
17. Jason Lytle - Wonder Why in LA
18. Keegan DeWitt - End Credits

Alberto Seveso

I'm loving these works from Italian designer / artist Alberto Seveso. The rest of the works in his portfolio are quite a bit different but intriguing in their own way as well. There is just something about ink and water photography that grabs me every time.

Heads up via Kitsune Noir.

Various Distractions

If you haven't played the new Adult Swim game Robot Unicorn Attack, take a moment to partake. The artwork and music are perfect and the Death Screen is not to be missed. The gameplan is pretty rudimentary but that's really beside the point. I found it highly amusing to see Conan O'Brien on Twitter with a handful of posts; all perfectly self-deprecating and in line with what you'd expect from a man who had his late night dream snatched away from him. It just so turns out that he's really running seven other accounts - @CoCosBeard, @ConansSharpie, @CoCosATMCard, @ConansTaurus, @ConansMonkey, @ConansFreckles, and @ConansSquirrel. Granted, Conan himself may not be writing them alone but that is beside the point.. it's a good gag and an entertaining way to keep up with ole Conan if you're somehow feeling a void.

My Little Gentleman

For awhile now I've been keeping up with the postings of My Little Gentleman - a blog of men's lifestyle and fashion. The About says it all:

Man-fashion. Mahogany. 6 o'clock shadow. My Little Gentleman keeps your life running on all cylinders, and looking classically mannish while doing so. We're not olde-tymey, and we won't clothe you in the latest-greatest; we focus on being tasteful and prudent in our selections.

It's an ambiguous vibe on the whole - there are no specific attributes that make something appealing in this realm - but it works. The Internet offers a lot of content aimed towards men and most of it is fairly low-brow and not so intriguing - MLG fills a bit of that void with some worthwhile content. Read it.

Joseph Kosinski

As a bit of an addendum to that TRON post everyone should take a moment to check out the work of director Joseph Kosinski. The majority of it seems to be commercial work for various vehicles but that feels appropriate for the world of TRON. Be sure to watch his faux ad for iPod 3 - it gets good about 45 seconds in.

Heads up via Jeffrey.

Tron Legacy: Trailer

If you've somehow managed to not be inundated with the news that Disney has released the official trailer for Tron Legacy, please allow me to point you in this direction for partaking in such goodness right away.

I easily count myself among the skeptics that think Hollywood is running dry on ideas and that un-needed sequels and remakes are incredibly frustrating. They are exploitative of our need for nostalgia and, usually, pretty boring. However, for whatever reason, I have high hopes for this continuation of the TRON story. The storyline itself seems like it could be well thought out and the special effects seem to be a pitch perfect balance of the old style mixed with much updated technology. Maybe I'm playing right into their hands but I am legitimately excited to see this.

The hint at the Daft Punk soundtrack is a nice little bonus too.. it sounds quite a bit more epic and fleshed out than most anything I've heard from them before.

Usually I don't make this recommendation but I will say that if you are able to watch this in HD - you should. It lends itself to poring over.

Bridges: Backstage

I've always had an affinity for Jeff Bridges but after seeing his acceptance speech at the Oscars on Sunday I think my appreciation of him catapulted into the upper echelons. Watch him backstage after accepting the award talking about how movies & music can save the world (in a serious way) and how much he loves 'The Dude.' Approved.

Believe it

• Woman Crashes Car While Shaving Bikini Area - confirmed: never go to the Florida Keys.
• 24 Secret Restaurant Menus Revealed - basically if you don't think most fast food restaurants offer enough terrible things, there are unlisted items you can partake in. I will admit to wanting to order a Hypocrite Burger after reading this.
• 8-Bit NYC - it's New York + Google Maps done in the style of Zelda (or overhead RPG of your choice).

put.io

Casey pointed me in the direction of put.io - an online storage service that, supposedly, stores your media for you and streams it instantly to any device. It even seems to support downloading torrents for your account. Sadly, it is in closed beta and it doesn't look like too many invites are being sent out due to the amount of bandwidth such a project will require but I am quite intrigued. So, if anyone gets in there and has a chance to have a go with it, I'd love to hear how fast the media stream is.

Facebook Designs, Redesigned

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. These Facebook Designs Redesigned are quite nice and, had they been put in place, I might actually use Facebook more. So maybe it's good that they weren't approved. A three-column view for the type of content being feed to your via facebook just makes sense.. sort of a shame that they went with what they have now; a layout that I still struggle to find pertinent links from.

I'm not saying the comps are perfect and make sense for every page of the site (how would an event look? how would you edit your profile? etc) but they are worth a little poring over. Also, be sure to pay attention to the comments used in there.. some funny stuff sprinkled throughout.

Via Will.

yewknee - v9?

Lately I've been pondering the next version of this site - both the design and the functionality. I've got a lot of ideas for where I want to go with the visual side of it but I've really been pondering my choice in platforms lately. In terms of keeping with the times, yewknee.com subscribes to the old model of blogging - sort of shouting out into a void and hoping that people read what you're putting out there. I browse around the web all day, bookmark items to post about in the future and hope that my 5-7 items per day is enough to satisfy the small readership that I have. Thus far, it seems to have worked.

But what if I switched the site over entirely to Tumblr? There's a huge built-in community there.. people are more apt to reblog / add their insight on a post as it provides content for their own site and it would enable me to post much more frequently - as the content is always rolling in. There are some downsides to it but I wonder if anyone would really care:

• Tumblr has no comment system - so I'd either have to roll my own or integrate Disqus. Neither is a huge challenge but with the proliferation of reblogs, Google Buzz, Twitter / Facebook, I wonder if comments are even necessary anymore.
• Call me old school but I don't like having my entire site hosted by someone else - I like that all my posts / images are stored on my server. I can either A) get over this or B) integrate with the Tumblr API so my posts are actually stored locally. Is this something I should even care about?
• It's entirely possible that the format I have here is fine and shouldn't be messed with. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, ya know?

So I guess I'm looking to you, the person reading this, to see if it matters at all or not. As long as the content is vaguely the same, does anyone care where it comes from? Does anyone actually read this site in the browser and not in an aggregated feed?

Asteroid Wipeout

Apparently there was some debate over what really killed the dinosaurs so a panel of 41 international scientists got together and have decided that it was a monumental asteroid impact that did the deed.

The dinosaurs, which had ruled for 160 million years, were wiped out in a matter of days. Large marine reptiles, like the mosasaurs and the plesiosaurs, the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs, giant snail-like ammonites and many species of marine plankton, were also were also obliterated. Bird species also suffered losses but survived.

I'm actually sort of surprised to hear this is still being debated as I'd never really heard anything different - volcanic activity or climate change theories were always just an addendum to the meteor theory. I've no idea why scientists felt the need to really lay this issue to rest or how they feel that their conclusion is more definitive now than it was before but the article is an interesting read and describes a chaos beyond what even Rolland Emmerich could envision.

Via Kate.

Russian Theme Park

A blog post about abandoned Japanese towns is always welcome but usually nothing too new - hospitals, mines, bowling alleys, etc.. but the Russian Village Theme Park really caught my eye. Abandoned after just six months of being open, this ill fated amusement park featured elegant Russian architecture mixed with fake woolly mammoth archaeological finds?! There's a video roundup of a few brave explorers experience.. well worth looking into.

Via Lactarded.

Brush and Spoke

Brush & Spoke is a combination Art and Bike Blog. Meaning; the content is comprised of artistic works featuring a bike of some sort. If you like bikes and you like photo / art blogs.. this should be your new #1 destination. It gets a bit overwhelming sometimes but there's enough variety that you're bound to find something good.

Here is the Light

Here Is The Light by Jonathan Percy.

Jonathan has always had great photos but I'd say this one in particular is incredibly perfect.

Iron Man 2: Trailer 2

Despite the fact that I think the plot for Iron Man 2 looks a whole lot like the plot for Iron Man 1 but with more glowing chest things and robot suits.. and despite the fact that I know better than to be excited about a comic book movie adaptation.. I have to say that the new trailer for the May 7th film got my nerd blood racing. Even with Mickey Rourke's sort of laughable accent, it appears to be a great bit of proper action nerdery.. lots of tech, good special effects, action and Robert Downey, Jr's personality is pretty much undeniable. Like I said, I should know better but I can't deny it.. I'm ready for it.

Things You Should Be Reading

Looks like good friend Jim Renaud has started himself a new music blog - in which he shares his various (good) taste and hilarious stories like this one. It goes without saying that I highly recommend you start following him along right away. The title of the blog might make you apprehensive but the content will keep you there. The EYE M SICK blog does a good job of providing insightful writeups on LOST episodes and maybe, just maybe, providing a bit of insightful speculation about the references being made and what the writers may really be getting at. It's along the same lines as the Doc Jensen weekly insights but not quite as lengthy... still a worthy read tho.

Misc Nerdery Monday

Start your Monday off with some proper nerding out:

• Pure CSS Speech Bubbles - surprisingly simple markup for something that would have required loads of images not even a year ago.
• Rapportive Replaces Ads with Contacts - Tech company Rapportive has created a gmail plugin that replaces the text ads in the sidebar of an email with web-content specific media specific to that person. I'm actually surprised this isn't a violation of gMail Terms of Service but based on reports from friends that are running this - it works as reported, no hangups.