Vicky Moon has a lot of nice images in her portfolio but I'm particularly drawn to the series of night images in Expired LA and C&Y Liquor - both documentation of dilapidated and neglected buildings with a healthy dose of long exposure + neon. Hard to go wrong.

VHX

Back in March, Aziz Ansari launched a comedy special with VHX powering it. It was also, unsurprisingly, the debut of the VHX Artists platform - the notion that videos should be distributed direct-to-fan. Since then, VHX has distributed Indie Game: The Movie, Beauty Is Embarrassing, This American Life, Sound City, Miami Connection and more. We learned a whole lot.

So, we teamed up with Erica Gorochow to make a PSA on The State of Distribution. We even got Upright T-Rex (that's Uncle Skeleton / Nahnee Bori) to make the music. It turned out better than I could imagine and I think the message is on point. Hopefully filmmakers will see this, get fired up, apply now and join us when we release the full fledged platform (very soon).

I can't quite wrap my brain around this photo of Intestinal Bacteria from Martin Oeggerli. These little guys help digest food, absorb nutrients and keep us alive but it just looks like a crazed claymation undertaking to my brain. Love it.

via Kate.

Previously, I mentioned the Sam Smith Life Aquatic posters but it's worth noting that those designs were just the first of many great posters designed for the Spoke Art Castro Theater Series. Sam also has phenomenal designs for Eyes Wide Shut, Labyrinth, Phenomena and Vertigo. Sure, most of those are sold out but you can still appreciate the designs and maybe stumble into a new artist you enjoy.

I don't fault him for taking his time with it but I've been waiting for months to read an official recap of XOXO from the mouth of Andy Baio. Well, I can stop waiting because he's written up The Unified Theory of XOXO and it pretty much hits on all the points that I expected it to. The two most powerful points, to me, would be that there was such a positive spirit to the whole thing; devoid of the typical Overwhelming Internet Snark. Secondly, his point on The Attendees hit home with similar parallels to Whiskerino. This is perfectly worded:

There's also a larger tension between inclusiveness and intimacy. Attendees want an intimate event where they can talk to every person in the room over the course of three days. But, at the same time, I don't want to run an event for the same 400 people every year. I want more diversity and more new voices, with a better balance between artists and technologists, and a better age, gender, and racial breakdown. And, if I'm devoting a chunk of my life to this, I want something with a larger cultural footprint that can make a difference in more lives.

I hope that Baio and McMillan do decide to overcome those fears and host XOXO again. I imagine there's a potential impact there that they aren't even aware of!

Looking for some more quality, non-traditional, Christmas songs? Well, then steer yourself over to the Pip miXmas 2012 or the Williams Family Xmas 2012. Both excellent compilations to have filling the space around you without oppressing you with traditional hymns.

Sick and tired of Christmas music? Well, go snag the new Chirp Holiday 12 mix featuring plenty of non-Christmas goodies.

Kateoplis continues another year of solid content. It's ridiculous how consistent (and consistently good) her site is. We should all be so lucky! Taking some time to today to check out the Favorite Images of 2012 collection - see all six separate installments for the full impact of animals, politics, art and more.

I love it when I see a movie trailer and can't entirely tell if what I'm seeing is actually a promotional vehicle for a full film or an incredibly well done parody that only exists in those 2 minutes. Such is the case with Sound of Noise and its official trailer. Even the Wikipedia writeup sounds like a hoax:

It tells the story of a group of musicians who illegally perform music on objects in the various institutions of a city.

Despite the absurdity, or maybe because of it, I'm super curious to see how it sustains as a full film. Going to keep my eye out for it.

HT Steve

I have to fess up and admit that I'm not really that familiar with that many titles from Double Fine. I remember the ad campaign for Brutal Legend but I'm mostly aware of them because of Tim Schafer, his legacy of game design and the massive Kickstarter they completed. So, it was with great fervor that I dove into his Polygon Double Fine Double Feature - the story of Schafer, Double Fine's woes and angel investor Steve Dengler / Dracogen. It's an exhaustive piece but if you're curious to read about game development that manages to stay somewhat small and nimble while also embracing maximum creativity, it's a Can't Miss Read.

via Mr. Klaff

Mandy Stoller

While shuffling through a stack of business cards this weekend I came across one for the W+K Studio BigCartel - a shop of goods designed by the fine folks at W+K Studio. It's entirely unsurprising that the bevy of goods offered there are top notch, interesting, diverse pieces of work. Don't miss their prints or 2013 Letterpress Calendar.

VevoVsVevo

Richard Clarkson

What a week! Being up in the NYC VHX office for the past five days has been a phenomenal time. Many things were accomplished that will, hopefully, be revealed soon. Enjoy this playlist.

• Bill Murray's Mystery Arrival - because Bill Murray can really do no wrong.
• Kim Beom screams at yellow paint - it's art.
• CGA Hell - an intentionally restrictive bit of animation paying homage to the 4-color CGA palette variant. Read about it here.
• What program do you use to animate? - apparently animators hate this question. I find the video delightfully dumb.
• Storyboard: Tartar Sauce - cute little video about Tard. I wonder if that's his real voice.
• Cat hates his reflection - I find this kind of passion infectious and hilarious.
• It's A Bad Brains Christmas, Charlie Brown - can this be a meme this year? I think it's got legs.

Have a great weekend! I'm trying to put together my Best Of compilations before the holiday breaks set in but I've also got two special projects launching right at the end of 2012 that I must finish ASAP. I know you will love them both.

kevinm1278

Dudeabidez3

guru studio

Sam Aono

I am sure I am extremely late to the party on this one but Chad just introduced me to Longmont Potion Castle - a series of absurd phone calls thats been around for awhile and is delightfully ridiculous. I'm still diving in to the massive amount of content but it seems like a good entry point is this track followed by this playlist.