Face swapped Mulder and Scullly look like a great synthpop band

posted March 15, 2016 #

this is perfect. via @forestmconner

The Walk Of Life Project

posted March 15, 2016 #

HYPOTHESIS: "WALK OF LIFE" BY DIRE STRAITS IS THE PERFECT SONG TO END ANY MOVIE

Dive into the Walk of Life Project to test this hypothesis by viewing the end scenes of Terminator 2, Robocop, Modern Times and tons more famous films. Are they all made better by the inclusion of the Dire Straits hit? It's hard to argue against.

via Ronnie.

The Music Startup Meltdown

posted March 15, 2016 #

James tipped me off to this piece on The Music Startup Meltdown that basically gives a high level overview of how much struggle is occurring when even the biggest heavy hitters in the music space. Soundcloud is hurting, TIDAL seems like a flop to most folks and even Spotify is continuing to raise money; despite it being the biggest player in the streaming music world. This quote is a nice bit of insight into the why this is happening:

Startup founders also overestimated just how much music matters to the average person. When you love music, you surround yourself with similar people, and that creates a confirmation bias - everyone wants to share playlists and discover new bands just as much as you and your friends! But really, they don't. The average consumer is happy to listen to the radio or Pandora, see a few concerts or a festival once a year, and leave it at that.

That doesn't explain why a service like Pandora or Spotify would be having a hard time with funds but it's a piece of the puzzle worth considering. Pretty much every music startup is a passive experience, as music is a pretty passive experience in itself.

I don't think this spells doom and gloom for the music world one bit. It's clearly harder for everyone to make money with music - startups, labels and musicians alike - but we're in a transitional period now and it's going to be interesting to see who makes it through.

Augmenta

posted March 15, 2016 #

What is Augmenta? It's the "worlds first, actually convincing, augmented reality system. A face computer, real time capture device and retinal projector. A layer of magic, in front of your eyes."

It's also a great bit of CG and advertising from Sandwich Video, which is always a treat.

In reality, it's an ad for the Amazon Studios movie Creative Control featuring the likes of Jake Lodwick, Reggie Watts, Nora Zehetner and writer/director Benjamin Dickinson about the perils of immersing into VR. Couldn't be more timely.

posted March 14, 2016 #

You know the expression "Who pissed in your Corn Flakes?" Well. Now we have our answer. It was this guy: https://t.co/QzCyYl439t

posted March 14, 2016 #

Dan Quayle misspelled potato & tarnished his legacy. Now we have a GOP frontrunner who misspells tweets to millions & nobody cares.

Responsive Pixel Art

posted March 14, 2016 #

It can be a little funky but this repository of reponsive pixel art is incredibly impressive. I can't remember the last time I just stared at a website for awhile dragging the mouse around to see what it would do. I think the Teiresias piece is my favorite but Zeus is probably the most bonkers of them all.

The David W. Niven Jazz Collection

posted March 14, 2016 #

Archive.org has really been killing it lately with the massive archives of lost music. The latest collection to sprout up is the David W Niven Collection of Early Jazz Legends - a series of literal mixtapes that document jazz works from 1921 to 1991, dubbed from a massive collection of 78's, 45's, and full LPs. This is a nice overview but you can also just dive into the full archivists notes to fully understand the enjoyability of the project. The music within is great but the interstitial commentary from Niven himself is a real treat.

May 1st Reboot, 2016

posted March 14, 2016 #

Because I clearly work best with deadlines, I'm throwing my hat in the ring for the 2016 May 1st Reboot. I might fall flat on my face (free time is scarce these days) but I'm definitely excited to try and finally overhaul this site into a new look that I'm happy with. Consider this post some public culpability.

If you don't know what the May 1st Reboot is, it's pretty simple. Designers, Artists, Creators or just anyone with a web presence renovates and relaunches their site for a debut on May 1st. It's a nice Spring Cleaning for the web.

posted March 12, 2016 #

Saw a dress-up kit called "Notorious Mustaches" and one of them was the "Chaplin," and it's like, please be honest about your toy mustaches.

posted March 12, 2016 #

This person is building a BB-8 replica: https://t.co/nUSbsNy274

posted March 11, 2016 #

"people used to watch a fire like they watch TV now. i think we've always wanted to watch flickering images after the evening meal."

posted March 11, 2016 #

Wow ...President Obama just now at Austin DNC fundraiser on Trump https://t.co/lOaj7MSoQj

This guy is not a cop

posted March 11, 2016 #

Real lulz

posted March 11, 2016 #

This photo is amazing. ?Behold the unhappiest photo ever taken at Disney World.? https://t.co/3d578dRGZB https://t.co/hRH9vcMnCl

Steer The Canyon

posted March 11, 2016 #

Green Lights - Music Band

posted March 11, 2016 #

The upcoming album from Nashville's Music Band, out April 1st on Infinity Cat Recordings.

Friday Videos - March 11th, 2016

posted March 11, 2016 #

I saw a tweet the other week that said something along the lines of "Time isn't passing faster, you're just experiencing a greater rate of decay." That's not verbatim and I can't find it anymore but, man, it really struck a chord. Anytime I think about a week flying by super fast, I just remind myself that it passed just as quickly as any other week, I just decayed a little faster than usual. Uplifting, right?

SXSW starts today and I'm not attending a single portion of this year. It's the first time in a very long time that I haven't made the trek to Austin to fight the masses. I'm not really even bummed about it. I'm sure I'll remark more on this later, as anyone that is down there should go see some Nashville bands.

On to the distractions! Many thanks to @_Pandy for the cover image this week.

Orkestra Obsolete play Blue Monday using 1930s instruments - Personally, I don't care for the vocal element of this but the instrumentation is great. I'd be down to hear more influential electronic bands covered by instruments of this era. via Austin.
A Man with 1,000 Klein Bottles Under His House - this guy is a delightful weirdo. We should all aspire to this level of comfort in our interests and home tinkering. I absolutely love his homemade tiny forklift.
ALONE - a somewhat NSFW short film about what people do in the privacy of their own homes when they're alone. Are these people actors? Were they actually captured alone by themselves? Definitely hard to tell sometimes.
Patrizia Pellegrino - Automaticamore - not a good video but a song you should play on repeat for the next month.
MAGI Synthavision Demo Reel (1980) - these guys went on to do the special effects for the original TRON. This demo reel covers their work predating that and it's great.
Stephen Paul Taylor - sometimes its just good to watch someone fly their freak flag loud and proud.

And, yes, there is the Lonely Island movie trailer and new Captain America trailer but you certainly saw those already, right?

The Unbearable Homogeneity Of Design

posted March 11, 2016 #

Very interesting piece from Morgane Santos on The Unbearable Homogeneity of Design. In it, she posits that digital design has reached a local maximum - a boring homogeny that creates a preventative environment from trying anything new. This Jon Gold tweet sums it up nicely.

While she doesn't necessarily have the answer to the problem, she does suggest that breaking out of the mold of 'Designer Dude' can be a helpful antidote. More design ideas from a wider variety of backgrounds can only help, right?

I tend to think that the problem isn't so much a lack of creativity as it is a symptom of the web moving more towards business focused messaging. Fifteen years ago the web felt more like a big art project with lots of mistakes being made and creative expression being one of the driving forces. Now it's about startups and growing users and finding explosive growth. I'm not saying one is better than the other, they're just wildly different and have very different experiences.

It's a great read and an excellent conversation topic. I don't even necessarily agree with all of it but certainly think it's a piece worth partaking in.

posted March 10, 2016 #

cultural criticism still matters in a world of instant gratification. critics just need to learn how to adapt to it. https://t.co/hSSgYTcJNp