James Franco on SNL

Since Franco has been such a hot topic for us i'd thought i'd post my favorite blip from his appearance on SNL.

HP webcams racist haha

Check out this article and video. Mainly this is about a software glitch in which the cameras software doesn't work as well with darker people. (it's a problem with the lighting and how darker people don't reflect light as well) Aside from that, look at the comments. Just some of the most racist stuff like "Black Desi is just another fucking nigger complaining that white people are holding him down when really he is just holding himself down by doing stupid shit like this."



Here's the cnn article --> http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/22/hp.webcams/index.html

Tao Lin

Hey guys,
not sure if you read much (jk!) but if you read stupid stuff you've probably come across the writer Tao Lin. His prose is super weird and "quirky" but what interests me more is his project, Hipster Runoff. At least, I'm 99% sure this is his project. For years, someone named "Carles" has been posting wonderful and hilarious articles which succinctly encapsulate the Brooklyn scene and its repercussions so perfectly.
Check it out:
http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/

http://heheheheheheheeheheheehehe.com/

Campber Bike

What a fun little invention! This camper bike is part of a sculptural piece and a convenient concept. who wouldnt want to nap on a bike while in between meetings? I think this is really interesting. I also really like Camper Kart.

Some insight into the Lady GaGa "debate"...?

I know Lady GaGa's been on this blog a lot this semester, but I just thought these interviesw with Ellen DeGeneres and particularly Barbara Walters shed some light on to why GaGa is so hot right now...

Artic Surf Film

If you're like me and enjoy watching videos over writing essays, take 9 minutes and watch this film. I found the whole thing--music, images, story--totally captivating.

Le Grand

Video Phone

Hello Laura Mulvey!! This video basically personifies the Male Gaze to the fullest. Also note how Beyonce appears "white" in some of the scenes and then is juxtaposed in different scenes with her darker skin tones...

the song is pretty uninteresting I feel, however the lyrics do incorporate a great aspect of today's culture and the "video phone." I also really enjoyed the doubled images of beyonce and the men in suits.

Daily Show

The Daily Show with John Stuart is a great show that grounds American domestic and foreign policy. Yet again, John Stuart makes politics just a little bit more entertaining in his new "Most Immature Montage Ever".

What's in there?

I found this animation of an x-ray of someone talking really fascinating. I've been thinking a lot lately about the mechanical functions of the body that allow us to do insanely complex things, like communicate through language, but that really come down to a physical movement in our body. It also makes me think back to my Magic School Bus days (I know I'm not the only one who watched that wonder of a show) and the episode where they take a field trip inside Arnold (I think)'s body to see how it works. It's so strange that we don't know what the majority of our bodies actually look like, not to mention how it works. Like the tongue! We use it every single time we talk or eat or swallow and we know it's the strongest muscle in the body but I still had no idea how big it is! That sucker takes up a third of our skill.
Anyway, something to think about. Or rethink about if you haven't watched Magic School Bus in awhile.

Split Screen Madness!

This video is really interesting. It is a split screen with percussion and really great graphics. Check it out.

Texts from Last Night

Sorta like Lamebook, Texts From Last Night posts peoples most ridiculous text messages they have recieved. Its pretty entertaining.
this is a good one:

(850): you ran down to the water at 3am and rolled in the sand and ran around screaming that you were the corn dog monster.
i now want a corn dog.

Mysterious Spiral in the Night Sky

This short clip is interesting and beautiful.

Disney as Performance Art?

At first I thought this was real, but as it went on, I grew less certain. Is this an example of real love, performance art or Disney advertising?

Dockers...the world needs its MEN back!

"Somewhere along the way, the world decided it no longer needed men!" Docker's new ad campaign is essentially claiming that in order to be a man you must wear khakis. Once all men own a pair of Docker's khakis, the world will be restored of its heros and once again old women will not have to cross the street alone. Apparently its causing quite a controversy.

My question: what is wrong with advertisement and what makes them make such HUGE and HORRIBLE claims that are overly offensive??!

PostSecret Video

Pretty much speaks for itself. While this idea isn't necessarily "new," it's still captivating. Is it art?

Pagan Poetry

I like Bjork. A lot of people don't like her music, but this piece is actually much more focused on her performance and uses lyrics, tone, rhythm and her body to really drive home her point. I find this clip to be sensual, violent and effective. It reminds me of a poem my core class had to read by Sappho about desire as a sweetbitter pain:
Now Love, the ineluctable, with bitter sweetness
Fills me, overwhelms me, and shakes my being.

Here are the lyrics in case you cannot understand her:
She loves him, she loves him
And he makes me want to hurt myself again
She loves him, she loves him
She loves him, she loves him
And he makes my want to hand myself over


Also, some of you may not want to watch this if you are easily disturbed.... I don't want to say more without ruining the tension but... it is not for everyone.

MTV's Jersey Shore

MTV Shows

I don't watch reality TV, but I need to make an exception for this masterpiece.

A place for all the missed connections

I found this blog and thought it was another one of those internet places to get lost in. The drawings add to my curiosity and connection to each post.
Here's the artist statement :
Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections websites. Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down.

enjoy!

A View From A Cat's Perspective

This is an article I read awhile ago from the Seattle PI that I just remembered. These two artists in Seattle put a small digital camera on their cat Cooper's collar, and it was programmed to take a picture every two minutes. The owners decided to do this because they were curious to know what their cat did all day. There ended up being many interesting photographs that were taken, and sixteen of them went on display at an art gallery. I find this to be a very creative approach, and interesting concept to use an animal and create artwork from their perspective. Take a look at the article, and check out the photos as well.

James Franco Interviews Marina Abramovic

I really like both James Franco and Marina Abramovic (who is sometimes referred to now as the "grandmother  of performance art").  So needless to say I find this pairing for an interview (filmed as Abramovic instructs Franco on how to make an edible golden ball of peeled almonds and crushed cardamom pods) to be, well, fantastic.  Abramovic is a sort of sage.   I think anyone (artist or not) could learn a lot from her... and I see her as one of the bravest people I've ever known about.  In this interview she says two profound things:

1. the studio is the worst place for an artist to be today

and

2. no one has ever been transformed doing things that they like

...and she says it with her charmingly classic eastern European accent.

Don't not watch this or read the subsequent article that Franco wrote after the taping!(posted by me yesterday)
Do enjoy!

Real House Built From Lego

Check out some pictures of this full size house built entirely with legos.  It looks cool as can be (especially in its environment) if you ask me.

FAIL

Here's a great list of 15 failed predictions about the future. I just love it when people are wrong.

“Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.”
--Dr Dionysys Larder

Required Reading! by James Franco in the Wall Street Journal

This is such an awesome article on performance art written by the actor James Franco in the Wall Street Journal. Recently Franco decided to do 20 episodes of General Hospital, taking on a job which he also saw as a kind of conceptual art performance on account of the fact that he is usually seen in major motion pictures (fantastic idea!) Please everyone in 180 and 280 take the time to read this excellent piece because I'll definitely bring this up in class next week, and I think you'll see the parallels we've been discussing in class. It also mentions a number of the performance artists we've brought up and discussed this semester.

Tiger Woods Voicemail Slowjam Remix

clever. posted 2 days ago, and not surprisingly over half a million hits.

Butoh Dance

Okay, so i went a little crazy here with posting some butoh dance videos.  As I mentioned in my comments from the other post, butoh emerged in the late 50's and 60's in Japan, and while it explores many universal themes of existence, it has always been thought to have been birthed out of the horrific experience of the hiroshima bombings and the aftermath of that. I find these vids mesmerizing - the movements and the contexts - simultaneously hypnotic and frightening, and just plain intense.  Hope some of you will enjoy them.







here is a rather intense clip from a performance in paris that has embedding diabled

The Parlor

This super clever movie came out several years ago.  It takes the various voices from a somewhat sordid chat room exchange and imagines that all the people are actually sitting face to face in the same room.   It's hilarious and deep -10 minutes but highly entertaining and the ending is classic.  I think you'll appreciate it.

Pshh, hipsters

So, I'm sure many of you have seen this... I like it because it's a great example of human's voyeuristic and self-hate tendencies. Also, it's a wonderful curation of hipster photos.

Is ballet dead?

So, I am not usually a fan of ballet, or performance dances beyond so you think you can dance (and even then--not a whole episode) but for some reason I was really struck by this video. It makes me wonder, is dance, much like modern art, too historical? Videos like this make me realize that it's not that I don't like performance dance, it's just that usually those performances are elitest and antiquated. what do you guys think? Is perfomative dance on the way out? Can it be revived? Do you care?

What is cute?

Here is a video that is, yet again, another video about cute cats. I would like to think that a video like this can bring a smile (or at least the rise of one cheek) to someone in the darkest of moods. I am fascinated by the idea of cute and what makes something cute.

This video was posted on November 29 and already has 1.8 million views. When compared to the view counts of other cute videos (including kittens), the rate at which this video is accumulating views is quite impressive.

Yes, cute has saturated the internet, and there is an argument for dismantling cute, but first I ask, what about cute videos (in particular, this one) is so... captivating/attractive? Why are we drawn to them? Is it the high-pitched voices and innocent gestures of familiar creatures that comforts us from the daily drag? What do you think? What does it say about todays culture that cute is so actively sought out? I dare you to find a video that is cuter than this and make an argument for why it is more so, in hopes that the origin of cute may be revealed.

I hope that this will start a scholarly discussion and not diffuse into a comment-less post. I encourage you to really criticize/analyze/attack/defend cute.

Chickens inspired by Chickens

This video, a remake of one of my personal favorites, is quickly becoming viral with more than 44,000 views in 3 days. I find it slightly crude and mildly offensive... and thus naturally a little funny, but let me know what you think.

"Babies"

The artistic elements in this trailer are very simple, yet seem well done. I thought they were visually stimulating and the scene compositions are very well constructed. Also babies are just great fun to watch!

Let me know what you think!

Chi City response

Some of you may know of the Philip DeFranco show (sxephil) as one of the most subscribed channels on you tube, along side iJustine. Phil makes a good counter-argument in response to Chi City, who also makes a good argument. But what do you guys think? Is youtube really dying? Does it matter if it is? Good or bad? Thoughts?

Chinese news report on Tiger

The Tract House Project

Goatsilk was recently asked to participate in something called the "The Tract House Project."

The Tract House is a "spread-the-word" project that debuted at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore on May 31, 2008. The Tract House has distributed free tracts at Printed Matter, 195 Tenth Avenue, New York, New York and at Three-Walls in Chicago in 2008 and 2009.  In conjunction with the  American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum and Philagrafika, The Tract House: The Darwin Addition will be distributing tracts in Philadelphia in early 2010.

While most popular tracts are religious, The Tract House tracts can be nearly anything— manifestos, diatribes, stories, rants, poems, or lyrics. They can be about whatever the writer finds pressing, whether it be something personal, professional, political, domestic, local, or global.

We wrote a couple of short tracts over the Thanksgiving break and I thought I'd share them here on culturelovesus, since some of what we wrote has to do with things we've been talking about this semester particularly.


NOTES ON NARCISSISM

• Narcissism plus charm is talent, and can be inspirational.
• Narcissism  without charm is vulgar, and can be repulsive.
• Open confession is narcissism combined with vulnerability, and is frequently attractive.
• Refusal to join the masses in the growing network of online social exchange is usually just narcissism combined with elitism.
• Narcissism nourishes voyeurism, and voyeurism requires narcissism.  In fact, these two powerful human impulses collapse into each other almost completely.  It might even be safe to say that the endless appetite for voyeurism can devour as much narcissism as we can offer.
• There are only narcissists and ultra-narcissists, voyeurs and ultra-voyeurs.
• Narcissism is a survival mechanism for the life online.
• Narcissism isn’t new, but the current social networking environment provides new ways of revealing it. 

NEW WORLD NEWS

Museums have ceased to be stimulating to the public, while world news has become more exciting - and more widely viewed – than ever.  Similarly, Hollywood movies have ceased to be exciting, while Youtube and other forms of democratized entertainment are avidly consumed. This is because people are no longer interested in static sanctuaries for canonized trinkets, and rather turned on by the refreshing unexpectedness—and sublime qualities—of real life, real time, real consequence narrative.  Art over time has always followed this course of evolution, away from the artificial and towards the real.  Only now, with the advent of a bona fide digital revolution, and the increased speed of just about everything, we can see this more clearly than ever.  As this pace increases, the fracture between our collective consciousness and the potential realities we may be exposed to gets wider and more troubling. 

How can we restore this connection?

We propose an effective solution for the uncertain future of entertainment and art: employ high profile actors as news broadcasters, and broadcast the news each day –indoors and out- in large screen with Dolby surround at public museums.   In 10 years or less, it will be possible to hire the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, or Scarlett Johansson to host the nightly news, because there will no longer be profit in the artifice of big Hollywood films.  This new mode of delivery would combine the most exciting real world information with the most famous personas of yesterday’s cinema, presented in a public format where empathy most thrives.  The resulting product is not just another Jon Stewart Daily Show, but a non-comedic delivery of world events in the most sincere fashion.  True stories, not myths.  Real people, not roles.  Actual consequences, not just fantasies.

-Goatsilk

Videos we could make in Art 180.

This is a cool video. A video like this could be made by Whitman students!

OK Go - WTF? from OK Go on Vimeo.

The Tiger Woods Incident

I've been pretty fascinated by the recent Tiger Woods incident. It's a news story with as much intrigue as the best fiction. I'm curious what all of you think really happened. Can you fill in some of the blanks?

Here's the beginning of the nydailynews article, which is one of many....

By Saturday morning, nothing much had changed in the Tiger Woods story, which means that we were still supposed to believe that his wife, Elin Nordegren, somehow turned one of Tiger's Nike SQ drivers into the Jaws of Life.

Woods was driving a Cadillac Escalade out of his own driveway, which is the same as driving a tank. He wasn't going fast enough to deploy his air bags. But we're supposed to believe that in a rescue worthy of the new series, "Trauma," his wife had to bust a back window to pull her husband to safety after he ran over a fire hydrant and into a tree.

Not even the people who reported that can possibly believe a version like that. Neither can the Windermere, Fla. police. And neither can all the people Woods employs to insulate him and protect him and cover his assets, the people who made him unavailable to the police for the second straight day Saturday....

Spike n' Kanye--see for yourself...

A Spin On Bohemian Rhapsody

My cousins were telling me about this YouTube video tonight while at dinner. It is the muppets doing a rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. An interesting creation....see what you think.

Beck vs. Palin or Beck/Palin or Palin/Beck or whattt

This is a funny article. Apparently Glenn Beck said some sexist things (surprise...) after Sarah Palin mentioned running with him as her VP would be a "hoot".

Strange to see two of these "populist" figures of America's right-wing media and political power potentially at each others' throats...

From Rap to Romance

As we all know, Lil John has had some great chart-topping hits in the past couple years and has been making music for close to ten years. However, as Lil John gets older and more wiser, he has adapted his business ventures to better match his tastes. For this, America's favorite rapper has turned a more romantic cheek to Lil Jonathan's Winery. There's not a lot to the site, but I thought it was interesting how he has felt the need to broaden his horizons and how he did so. Most artists that attempt to add to their repertoire do so in acting or creating a fragrance, but not Lil John. Maybe it speaks to his creativity, or maybe it speaks to his greater desire to exploit the American people for more of their money. What do you think?

The Burqa - A sign of cultural recognition of oppression of women?

I found this clip the other day as I was catching up on world news, and found this really interesting. I thought about what the makers of Barbie meant when they created the Burqa Barbie, and then I thought about the way it is portrayed to different cultures around the world.

What do you think the intentions were with the Burqa Barbie?

twiminals

Here's an interesting article I found on www.gawker.com about criminals who tweet from prison. Wish we had known about this one for our twitter read!

Also, this might be old news, but here's the first tweet from space.

Mini skirt starts riot, leads to expulsion

Maybe some of you saw this in the news recently, a Brazilian girl started a riot at her school and was later expelled for wearing a mini skirt.
here's a link to an article
check it out here

And here's a video of it, unfortunately it's in Portuguese, but you can clearly hear people yelling "Puta" which means slut/ whore/ bitch




Why did this happen? This really changed how I imagined Brazil, before they were so sexualized-- I mean, "Brazilian waxing", Brazilian thong bathing suits.... Can this riot and those things co-exist?

Banana Man

I was looking at an older site I used to frequent and found this awesome video. It is so well done, and as simple as the lyrics, it's pretty catchy too. Hope you enjoy

Person Swap

Here is a video by Derren Brown that explores the idea of how observant people are. It kind of ties into the conversation 180 was discussing yesterday about being an island and how to create art, you need to step outside of yourself. The participants are not artists, but it's interesting to see how absorbed in their own lives they are that they take no notice when the person they're talking to completely switches. Embedding is disabled by request

What It Feels Like to Kill Someone

I am laid over in JFK for nine hours, so surfing the net is my saving grace at the moment. Loving the blog posts recently, but here's something a little heavier. I'm sure you've heard about this murder of a 9-year-old girl by a 15-year-old girl...what interests me is her motive. Apparently, she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. There are a lot of teen girls this age who get into "emo" and self-expression/individuality through such styles and alternative trends.

But for some reason this case goes beyond a simple emo teenaged girl who cuts herself. How unbelievable the departure is from a few shallow cries for attention on a wrist to a 9-year-old with a slashed throat. Hard to get my mind around it.

Gawker's article, with pictures.

German fake washroom mirror prank

My friend showed me this video, and it is hysterical! A pair of twins mirror their actions in a bathroom, so that when people come in... it looks like there is a mirror... The only problem is they can't see there own reflection. Take a look. I think the music is particularly amusing with this video too.

Youtube is Dying

So another video by our favorite mayne Mr. Chi City. If you feel that you're tired of this guy take notice that this video is four days old. It has earned over 285,000 hits so far. And to further entice you this post takes the charm and personality of "Mr. Chi City" and uses it to tackle some more interesting issues like the relation between youtube and google as a corporate entity and more importantly the types of control that youtube has on its posted videos.

Mr. Chi City Kills a Bug

So, I have to admit, Matt B. got me into watching some Mr. Chi City (who I'd never run across before) with his post of a few days ago.
Larger than life personalities have a certain charm, whether it be comic or otherwise. The melodrama of him killing this bug is pretty entertaining. I didn't think he was gonna do it.

cool song, cool vid

I dig this song, I like the imagery of this video. Check it out,

Mr. Chi City

Just thought this was hilarious.

I Want A Goat

This video is spoofing the song "I'm On A Boat", for charity by making it "I Want A Goat". Personally I feel like this song really doesn't fit and it makes almost light-heart of this serious issue. I did not feel like was effective at all. See what you think.

sexual selection: which mates are prefered?

I was reminded of this video by the Windowlicker post where two men are trying to pickup the two women. Just like the male spider in this video, at first they are calm, but ultimately one gets very aggressive. Also, the female spider here is fake!

Matt Bangcaya's C.A.S.A. dance crew

Check out 280's own Matt Bangcaya tearing it up at cakes for C.A.S.A. last week.
Matt, you should have let us know about these skills earlier! They're useful!
Hope this link to facebook works for everyone.

Seventh title for Manny Pacquiao

This is really more of a visual culture moment for myself and the the people of the Philippines as of Nov. 14th, 2009, Pacquiao is now the WBO welterweight champ of the world. But moving beyond the monumental ass kicking of Miguel Cotto I would like to compare the likes of Pacquiao to that of an endurance artist like that of Chris Burden or David Blaine. With the actual sport aside, physical pain inflicted upon others is something that attracts humans. Watching 12 rounds of this fight is brutal. That means over 36 minutes of two people bashing each other's faces, not in disgust of the immediate crowd but of mass camaraderie for their respective boxer. Although something like Endurance art is meant to be an expression of "artistic expression through acts of physical pain, trauma, survival or deprivation" (wikipedia) as you can tell from one of the attached videos that many people find meaning in this fight even if that meaning is relatively shallow. So watch the highlights and check out the audience reactions taped from a Filipino perspective.

It's So Cold In The D

There's not a lot of artistic value to this video, but the more I think about "It's So Cold In The D" I can't help but think about how smart it is. In my politics course we are talking about globalization and the use of technology in order to get your voice heard and have people understand your cause; the use of technology as a vessel of knowledge. In terms of this video, I think it is very clear that the use of technology is implored in order for other people to understand Detroit's condition and how it's affecting the people who live there.

Sometimes I wonder if this movie is really this horrible and if it could have been helped. But if it could have been made better, it wouldn't fit their message of the fact that Detroit, and effectively the state of Michigan, is falling apart.

Lady Gaga...Mathew Barney...Chris Cunningham

Sidney and Sydney recently posted the latest Lady Gaga video. It's definitely a visually attractive montage, and a high energy song per usual gaga. But other than its potent eye candy feel and catchy sound, I'm not sure it goes much further than a variety of luscious cliches, upgraded by all the latest glitzing tech (which are real nice! I admit, and an art in and of itself). It's pretty digestable and I suspect that people find just the right tolerable amount of edge in her. She seems to be at peak popularity these days. I'd like to hear more in depth critique of this video--and just generally about her persona as a a pop star - from some of you, actually. There are some interesting precedents to her imagery, also, in particular the figures/styles of many of the characters in Matthew Barney's Cremaster films. Here's a little sample of that.



and also, I think you get that same fantastical, beautiful, and sometimes disgusting feel in Chris Cunningham's work, like for example this now classic video for Aphex Twin's Windowlicker. Highly entertaining (IMO)....watch all the way through to see the imagery which I'm talking about.
BTW, 280, "This is The Flow" contains an essay about Chris Cunningham and in particular discusses this video. I think it will interest you even more after you watch this.

Ray Tintori's "Death to the Tinman"

Ray Tintori started making films DIY style and then made the interactive video "Electric Feel" with the popular band MGMT (who he was friends with). After this his work caught the eye of Spike Jonze and with his endorsement started doing larger budget projects. "Death To The Tin Man" is one of his earlier films. It was featured in the Wholphin series and also won an award for short films at Sundance some years ago. It is on youtube in 2 parts (watch them both to get the full of effect of this work!). It does some pretty interesting things with convention. Very cool music used throughout here too. Enjoy.

Bad Romance

So I am one of the biggest Lady Gaga fans out there. After seeing her live in Madrid, I was totally in love with her weird, bizarre yet creative flair. Her new video is example of this weirdness and I believe that her gestures, actions, music and even her clothes, fashion and video ideas are just fantastic... check it out

Ted.com: Sociologist Stefana Broadbent on How the Internet enables intimacy

Ethics of Vid Games

Can video game designers go too far?

Larrie Vs. Carrie

Who wins?

New Lady Gaga

You never know what she's gonna do... Here's the new video. Pretty cool.

Baby-Sitter's Club Blog

So I came across this blog, Claudia's Room, over the summer and proceeded to read the entire thing over three very boring days at my internship.

If you were a BSC fan, or even read one book, this blog is worth a look. It's quite hilarious.

Douchebagery

Here is a video that relates to 280's most recent project. We read a live streaming feed of twitter posts based on any word that we searched for. Our favorite was Douchebag.

It seems they are tired of being put in a bad light.

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Celebrating 40 Years of Sesame Street

Jim Henson was a creative genius. He helped create this educational children's tv series, that combined both education and entertainment by making the very well known "muppet" characters. My personal favorite was Ernie singing about his rubber duckie in the bathtub. So you can watch this video and relive your childhood memories of those days spent watching Sesame Street.

Thinking of You

This video is from the same person as the last one. I think the story is pretty entertaining even though there is no dialogue and the music fits very nicely.

Also, here is another really funny one with Sam Alden and Caitlin Tortorici from the T-Sports (Varsity Nordic). I didn't post it directly because it's 10 min long.

Watching You

Someone is watching your every move... 

Synesthesia

This video reminded me a bit of what Tessa was trying to do in the last assignment. I think this video is beautiful and does a great job blurring what we usually consider to be fairly defined senses.

I love ART!!!!

Here it is!!!

U.S. Cellular AD Campaign

I love U.S. Cellular's new ad campaign. They are very arty creations that are very well edited. They also seem to present a more social form of art. This attached clip is a really neat gesture. Tonight I saw another one of their commercials that I thought was absolutely the coolest thing I have ever seen but it is not on youtube yet, but when it is Ill post it. I hope you enjoy this cheerful ad...

Public Toilets

I found this clip of the greatest public restrooms today. It reminded me of Sidney's post of the really cool playgrounds and instilled in me the sense I got when I watched the piano stairs video. Bathrooms are so common-everyday use structures. Public bathrooms are usually dirty, stinky and unpleasant. But they dont have to be. Take a look here and some of the really awesome and artistic structures you could be peeing in next.

Can Vegetarianism Stop Global Warming?

I read this article in The New York Times and found it fascinating.  Humanity seems to be oblivious to eating habits in terms of Global Warming.  The first sentence really got me: "IS eating a hamburger the global warming equivalent of driving a Hummer?"  Check it out!  

Camille Utterback / Interactive Installations

We've been talking a lot in class about the essential role of the audience. This artist creates interactive digital paintings that change to reflect the physical presence of people in the room:


Some thoughts:

• The piece is entertaining and appealing for the same reasons the subway piano stairs are: it's fun to play with.
  
• There's a sculptural aspect to the gestures participants make while interacting with the projection. It's also interesting to think of the room and people inside as one form with negative and positive space.
  
• If the space and bodies in the room are considered part of the work, the piece becomes a system. The shapes on the wall respond to the human movements, which then affect the humans, etc.
  
• What if a future version could sense the moods of the humans in the room? This would make the feedback effect extremely powerful. The projected images are traditionally beautiful: their colors, size, light, and lines have the capacity to make viewers feel a certain way. What if the emotive qualities of the piece changed to either amplify or switch the feelings of the people in the room?
  

Advertising

I watched this advertisement in my History of Social Theory class today and thought it might be relevant to the Levi's Go Forth discussion.

This ad is for a microchip that is inserted under your skin and keeps track of all your health records so that they may be accessed in emergencies. The advertisement really plays into a lot of emotions-- fear, health, safety, family, etc. (Sidenote: there's a shoutout to Wilfred Brimley in there too!) While the product is I believe inherently creepy and violating, the frame in which the advertisers use to promote the product is fascinating. You don't even learn what the product is at the end of the advertisement. This ad is creating is as I see it a new disturbing status quo.

Also, I'm not super blog saavy-- can anyone fill me in on what 'IMO' means?

Owl City- Fireflies

This is a really awesome video!! It is so fantastical. I always thought my toys came to life!!!

Harry Smith

The art history department has brought Rani Singh to campus this week to present the very avant-garde, experimental films of Harry Smith. She spoke to my senior sem class this afternoon about her work as an archivist at the Getty Institute. She seems like a really fascinating person and Smith seems even cooler. There is a screening of Smith's films tonight at 7 in Olin and another screening of Singh's documentary tomorrow at 7:30 in Maxey. Should be pretty awesome of you have the time to check it out.

Levi's Go Forth!

Let me start this post by saying I love commercials. I especially love commercials that are completely ambiguous until the very end. The new "Go Forth" campaign by Levi Jeans is attempting to bring back the American jean company to a more homely, down-to-earth visual aesthetic. I think we've all seen this ad but tell me what you think.

Sheep. Brilliant.

I am so glad this exists.

Laroux - I'm Not Your Toy

Love the song and the video is beautifully done, weird and leaves you with a nice feeling. Embedding is disabled by request, so here's the link. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7IGE58IPgo

Surprise Wedding Reception

I thought this was the cutest thing. The bride looks so happy in the whole video, and it definitely made their wedding more memorable.

The 350 Day Movement

This is a cool video that was put together about 350 day (an international day of climate action) which took place on October 24th. Over 180 countries came together to call for action and leadership on our climate crisis. The goal of the 350 movement is to "stop climate crisis." Here's the video:

Grocery Store Musical

Another great performance from Improv Everywhere.

Wait, That Says “Google”?!

This brief article claims that Google is being "smug" about the use of their logo... I find it quite creative, though I must admit that I have also experienced occasional confusion when visiting the page. What do you guys think about the fact that Google often recognizes foreign holidays but not necessarily American holidays? I wonder how they choose which events to represent. Do you think they need to do this? What is the benefit of altering the logo so much?

Wait, That Says “Google”?! | The Big Money

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Future Careers for Seagulls?

Did you ever think that maybe a Seagull would like some time in the limelight? Well maybe its time to give them a little bit more attention:

Feltron, Anual Reports, Daily datan

Nicholas Feltron is a NYC based designer who has become famous for his personal annual reports. He obsessively records his actions: what he reads, eats, how he spends his time, who he spends it with, and where. His infographic displays are fascinating. In his most recent (2008) he conflates his time spent in Grand Theft Auto IV with his real life data.



Daytum is his side project to make it easier for you to be OCD with your personal data. As Joanna put it, it's like Last.fm but for ANYTHING you want to keep track of.

Monkey/Daughter

This is a video clip from a documentary about a couple who owns a monkey and consider it their daughter.  The mother puts make-up on "Jessie" and does her nails and such.  It's pretty weird and interesting.  Embedding is disabled by request so here is the link.

Playfully enticed to get some exercise.

This video makes the idea of the stairclimber less boring.

In the past I have noticed a full escalator and no one using the stairs. I have used the escalator up sometimes, but I always uses the stairs on the way down.

I love the idea of provoking the public to interact with an installment.

Another Keyboard Cat Made out of a Recent TV Moment

Feelings on the Internet

http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Check it out. Super visually stimulating.

Sticky Note Experiment

This video reminds me a lot of the dominos video that was posted last week but might be even cooler... because they're sticky notes! I never would have thought of using sticky notes to make such a colorful and playful video.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Youtube luvs animals

...there are thousands of posts about goats. This one is most popular of them all.

Why are we so obsessed with animals and specifically anthropomorphism?

Cat Massage

Love the editing on this one.

Electric Feel

We all know that MGMT hit it big last year with "Electric Feel." The song is outstandingly unique and the video is absolutely insane. Check it out here. (There's no embedded link, sorry!)

Now, you can make your own version of this crazy good video with the interactive music video. Give it a try here!

So fun.

Marina Abramovic

We were talking about Marina Abramovic in 180 last week, and I gave out an essay written by Marina Abramovic.  Abramovic is a living legend in the realm of performance art, and she is also famous for many of her videos.  I've always thought she was one of the most inspiring, willful, and bold artistic voices currently alive.  The videos I'm embedding here are especially good in light of thinking about narrative delivery.  But I'm also posting a link to a Marina Abramovic playlist and would encourage everyone to watch as much of it as you can; she has a broad and exciting spectrum of work, including many endurance projects..  You may find yourself drawn in.





Here is the Playlist.  There are many more videos and pieceds of documentation on youtube as well.

I am not a robot.

I think this video is incredibly beautiful. The lyrics are pretty awesome, the melody is attractive and the visuals are captivating. At least in my opinion.

Bullet Proof

My roommate showed me this video and I fell in love with it. Its absolutely amazing! I loved the scene changes and I feel like it is truly a unique work.
Unfortunately the embedded link was disabled but check it out!

People of Wal-Mart

This is quite a fascinating site that someone recently shared with me. It is a website with pictures that are taken of all the different Wal-Mart customers in the U.S. As the website states in their "About Us" section: "This site is simply a satirical social commentary of the extraordinary sights found at America’s favorite store. Walmart is Americana baby, Enjoy! People of Walmart was founded in August of 2009 by three friends and roommates after an inspirational trip to Walmart." I must admit I was pretty horrified by a lot of the outfit choices, but it really gives one a special insight into Americans.
Click here to go to the website

Big Bad Chinese Mama

For my senior seminar I was asked to look up "Big Bad Chinese Mama" on google. It is a spiff on traditional female roles. I think some of them are quite funny. The humor is in its obvious sarcastic tones of the offensive roles of the women AND please note the ridiculous faces of the profiles...

I feel that this is a very artful way to present more serious, social and political commentary on feminism.

Sign Language Miley

In response to the last post... (although probably not answering any of your questions)
Try watching this one both with and without sound. I found this very entertaining and thought-provoking. How do deaf people listen to music? I know I've heard things before about feeling vibrations and such... but do you think watching Miley's video, in combination with this video, in combination with some sort of vibrations could give you the same effect? Might be something interesting to try...

The Miley Cyrus Post

As Dave Chapelle once stated in his For What it's Worth stand-up "How old is fifteen really?"

Well Miley Cyrus is sixteen. I think we can all agree on the highly sexualized representation of the teen pop-star. But is it too young? Her career also started much before this year with the controversial photo shoot with Vanity Fair.

These new videos to the song Party in the USA are interesting in their subtleties. Who makes up the real demographic for her popularity? Are they 9-12 year old girls that need a role model? Are they 13-17 year olds that need their own celebrity peer? Or are they 45 year old men who are fantasizing?

The WTF Blanket (snuggie parody)

This video makes a joke of a pretty well-known commercial. It reminded me a little of our subdubbing project because it uses a real clip and substitues the narration. Anyways, my friends and I thought it was funny... especially since one of them actually has this. CAUTION: this clip does contain profanity.

Subtitle Spoof

I couldnt help but laugh at these cats. This video is pretty much what we did in class. I feel that the scene is great and the words match pretty well to the actions in the clip. Let me know what you think:

Dominoes...game, toy, art?

This video is really cool. Dominoes in general are cool. I dont really care for the music in this video, or the editing, however I feel that the content is very interesting. Just the pure form that these dominoes create is aesthetic. Some of it is very beautiful. It also reminded me of the Jack Ass clip we watched in class with the mouse traps. I feel that the same idea is present here.

Real or Fake?

We've been talking a lot about "real or fake and does it matter" in class and this is a prime example of it. What do you think? I don't know how it would be faked, and yet....

Symphony of Science

I'm not sure how others will feel about this video, but I am obsessed with it. It's such a neat way to transform other videos and famous voices and then realign it with original music. It turns out to be a rather beautiful song

Did you mean to search for Beyonce?

This may be old news, but I still find this to be funny.

Another Version of "The Drunkest Guy Ever"

This version is also quite well done in its aesthetic treatment.  I prefer the contemporary feel of  the other one from the earlier post, but this is well worth the watch to see how dramatic is the change in feel.  180 peeps, this should remind you quite a bit of that first assignment with different soundtracks used to alter the tone.

Yacht - Psychic City (Voodoo City)

This is a beautiful video.  It has an original feel, it's visual striking, and it has a great build to it (both the music and the video).

Watch This!

I suppose this could be fake, but in any case this is an pretty amazing treatment of some supposedly real security cam video. Another brilliant musical mosh up.  If indeed this guy is inebriated then I suspect he's on something much more than alcohol.  Striking piece.

A Human Experiment

This is an interesting experiment done by a group called the FunTheory. This group believes in changing people's behavior by making things fun to do. In this case, they changed the stairs to be a walking piano to see if more people would take the stairs instead of the elevator. Check it out!

Figurines: The Way to a Woman's Heart

Cheap budget or a good video?

I personally could not stop laughing while watching this video. The combination of the lyrics and figurines... All I could think of was someone trying to use this on me to "woo" my heart.

Artistically, though, do the figurines even have value to what he is trying to say? I mean, the dinosaur? Really?

Auto Tuned Health Care

Confused about the Health care debate? T-pain helps clear things up with his new i-phone application.

ugh. another great youtube production.

This is annoyingly good. I have a big crush on this video.

Not so much a meme...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Invisible man?

Also check out these other photoshoots that he's done. The obvious amounts of hard work put into every photo really gives a message of sincerity. 

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/meet-the-real-life-invisible-man.html

Photoshop wall paper!

Cassandra Jones has taken everyday- iconic images and turned them into household art. This interview shows how she has taken the image of the cheerleader and transformed it into a floral patterned wall paper. I feel that this is a great example of how new genre art is being incorporated into our lives daily.

Baby does Stanky leg dance

This infant has more rhythm than I do.

Pop Inspiration

The 'Diabetes' video had us talking about the strange inspiration and sincerity that came from the video.  Here is an old classic that was strangely very popular.  Seems a little cheesy to have gotten so big.  But hey, we love to be inspired.