It will be difficult to follow up last week but there's some goodness in here I do believe.
Sammy Davis Jr - Suntory White - this is the excellence that happens when you let Sammy Davis Jr just do his own thing while filming a whisky commercial. There are more of them that I also recommend watching.
Move Your Body Boogie - sure, Jazzercise videos are easy targets for humor but if you jump around to the 2:00 mark you will be dazed by the oddity of sounds coming from the ringleader.
Rake the Cat - i watched the entirety of this and was delightfully entertained throughout the duration.
Super Meat Boy 90's Commercial - this commercial is for a brand new XBox game.. just done in that terrible video game style we all grew up with. The voiceover is among the most perfect I've heard.
Michael J Fox Spike Awards - recreating the original teaser trailer in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future. And, in case you missed it, footage of Eric Stotlz as Marty McFly has also been making the rounds.
Holy F*ck - "Red Lights" - official video for one of the better tracks off the new album.. featuring lots of cats, playing musical instruments. Ridiculous.
Have a great weekend. Go out there and get something done!
It's been awhile since I posted about the works of Ana Cuba but in that time there have been plenty of additions to the site worth checking out. I'm particularly into the Corbelle and Once I Had a Love sets. You can also follow along on Flickr - not a bad idea in the slightest.
It's also worth your time to revisit Backs & Mountains.. still incredibly good.
Playbutton asks the question "Why just play a record when you can wear it too?" Not really a pondering that I've given much thought but I can see there being a small niche, hip, market for such things. I can't possibly imagine having an entire music collection chunked out into small wearable pins but I can see it being a fun promotional item to encounter at a festival. It would never replace my current form of musical intake but it would give me pause to listen to the music on it if someone handed me one!
This happens to the most 'shocking' image of the set but the entire collection of images from the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition are fascinating. Here's the background info:
In 1911 a group of scientists and adventurers left Hobart under the leadership of Dr Douglas Mawson. They were bound for Macquarie Island and the then unknown parts of Antarctica. The scientists of the expedition produced information that later made an major contribution to knowledge of the region. The exploration of new lands established precedence to claims, formalised in 1936 as the Australian Antarctic Territory. Although James Francis (Frank) Hurley was the official photographer to the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, other members of the expedition also took photographs.
I caught this a few days ago but felt it needed proper archiving here on the site.. this Stella Artois commercial was directed by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola. It's a nice dash of 60's sci-fi / spy goodness with the kind of camera moves and attention to detail that you'd expect from those guys. It's nice when a blatant ad can be so enjoyable to watch.
The promotion machine is really amping up for the forthcoming TBS relaunch of the Conan show. That being said, he's got a new promo in which he really pushes his budget - outdoor shooting, exploding cars, stunt doubles, full orchestra, etc. It is, in typical Conan fashion, absurdly enjoyable.
After my post Thomas Prior I was notified by Bryan Schutmaat that there's a quality photographer of the same name. So, naturally, I checked out the work of Thomas Prior: Photographer. It's unfortunate that my posts just include the one photo to give you an idea of the content because there's no way a single image could proper encapsulate the amount of great work within this portfolio. Sure, I love this image but it's entirely different from this or this.. which I also love.
Long story short, take some time to browse through all the works.. there's too much there you don't want to miss out on.
Now that Apple has changed the Terms and Conditions on iPhone development Adobe Labs has released the Packager for iPhone.. meaning you can create an app in Flash, export it to iPhone and have it show up in the App Store. I actually love the idea of this and hope it's able to reach the full potential it deserves. Not having Flash via the web browser doesn't actually bother me as most full Flash sites aren't designed to work in a mobile environment - but opening up app development to the Actionscript community can, surely, lead to good things. Right?
Has anyone tried out any of the sample apps made with the packager? I'm curious how well they run...
By now I assume you've seen some of the photos from the new 30th Anniversary coffee table book, The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. While I tend to try and keep Star Wars related items on this site to a bare minimum I felt this was worth posting because I'm actually a bit torn about it. While it's been 30 years and Lucas has done everything in his power to tear down any good name of the franchise he created, I can't help but feel like these photos take away some of the mystique of the film. Granted, it's not like I thought Hoth was an actual planet or Yoda (original name: Buffy - Lucas really has had few to no good ideas) was a legitimate creature but seeing "Behind the Scenes" destroys that fourth wall and confirms, you're watching a movie. I'm sure I'm overthinking it but there's something about the suspense of a character hanging above a bottomless abyss that seems less intense when you know there's about 40 or 50 mattresses just right below him. Am I out of line on this one?
In anticipation of the forthcoming yk / Theory 8 release from And The Relatives I've relaunched the bands official dot com. So, by all means, go check out the new site and then check out the new track "Not the Passion" - from Green Machinery. The song rounds out Side A of the record (when it's released) but since the vinyl manufacturing is taking quite a bit longer than anyone expected I figured it would be good to give everyone another taste of what to expect.
This also happens to be one of the best ways to showcase the photographs we licensed from Matthias Heiderich; something to look forward to with the beautiful packaging that accompanies the album.
Kate pointed me towards the photography of Klaus Pichler; specifically the set of photographs stemming from the Natural History Museum in Vienna. Skeletons in the Closet documents the behind the scenes workings of the museum - quiet photographs of surreal collections of taxidermy, skulls and office equipment. Some of the images are quitefunny.. others are justimpressive. Be sure to view them all.
If you're into that, you may recall the work of Justine Cooper; who takes on the same task of museum documentation - only at the the American version.
Another episode of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis has been posted up on Funny or Die. This go around is with Bruce Willis; who apparently pines for the days of the 80's. Despite the fact that these are obviously put on, they still deliver the goods.
The site / portfolio design of Thomas Prior is quite pleasant - easy on the eyes, good color scheme and easy to navigate. As he is an Interface Designer, no surprises there. However, if you scale the site, that's where the magic really starts to happen. He's done a great job of optimizing the site to work at multiple resolutions. It may not be a new trick but it's not one you see often; and certainly not one you see done this well.
According to the Third Man Records twitter, the spoken word Conan O'Brien piece, "And They Call Me Mad?", is now available on iTunes. If you weren't able (or willing) to procure the 7" of this, please take a moment to go buy the digital version.. it is endlessly entertaining and a great companion to your Halloween season.
Did I receive a marketing email about Yumaki; a new designer toothbrush? Yes. Did I check it out with expectations of a ridiculously over marketed product? Yes. Am I kind of impressed and legitimately sort of like the actual toothbrush? You better believe it.
Eighty Four Films, Ferris Plock and Kelly Tunstall present a new episode of The Seafarers - Trident of Power. Old Man Cruikshank is back with another assignment for the hapless adventurers. The narration is solid and, of course, the artwork is top notch.. so dive in and enjoy.
Many thanks to Jeremy for the heads up on the works of Nas Chompas and his most recent series, Cosmic Brotherhood. It's not too often that you encounter a style of art that is both somewhat sweet and entirely creepy at the same time. If you're in the Portland area I suggest going to the Together Gallery and seeing them in person... if they're this good online, I can only imagine how much better they are in real life.
The latest release from Mutual Benefit is a sweet lo-fi batch of songs "recorded in the midst of an ongoing existential crisis in midwestern basements, parks, and attics." Spider Heaven is a quick listen - just under 20 minutes - but it's one of those records that is perfect for starting your day slowly or for lulling you out from consciousness. In other words, it's best listening to during the quiet times of your day.
Public School gave me the heads up on this photography collection entitled In Almost Every Picture #7 which tells the chronological story of Ria van Dijk - a Dutch woman with a penchant for the shooting gallery at the fairgrounds. She's been visiting almost every year, and having her portrait made, from 1936 to current day. If ever there were a coffee table book of compelling photographs to own - it would be this one. I wonder if each entry has more background information - such as the people accompanying her. There are too many great photos to point out here, so please browse the entire gallery.
I'm just going to copy this entry from Seth Godin in its entirety because I like it so much.
Some industries (like book publishers and analgesic makers) believe that they best serve their audience when the product is available everywhere. It's pretty rare to find a book that's only available in one chain of bookstores, or a pain reliever that's only in one sort of drugstore.
The thing is, scarcity creates value. You can't get a Pepsi at McDonald's. You can't buy Hermes at Target. By limiting choice, you can create value. Exclusivity is often underrated.
