Blu Video Installation

Here's another animated installation by Blu; this one contains some of the multiplicative themes as in the last one I posted. 

Michel Gondry's Paint Piano

I thought this was a pretty interesting idea; here Gondry connects a piano to a device which sprays paint so that whatever colors come out coordinate with the percussion from the piano. 

The Knife "We Share Our Mother's Health" Video

This is an interesting and creepy The Knife video I found. It uses simple animation and reminds me of infantine imagery. 

man in the dark

Just check this out.

Flooded McDonald's

This video piece by Superflex really caught my eye.  Undeniably relevant in our current economic situation, it's a quiet look at a disaster effecting one of the most shallow and contrived (though massively popular) of human environments/constructions.  

Flooded McDonald's from Superflex on Vimeo.

Sixty Days

A gentleman documenting his experience living two months under house-arrest. This is not something I would have imagined looking for online, but I am not at all surprised at stumbling across it; more and more I feel like if you can think it up, you can find it on the internet somewhere.

I'm only a week or so into his video archive, but it's holding my interest. (And not just because they have an adorable kitten.)

http://sixty-days.com/about/

It's interesting to see what he does with his six hours outside each Sunday. It's very much a reexamination of what you appreciate about the world. Just a bike ride around the city, and sharing that on camera, is really striking.

Dan le Sac VS Scroobius Pip

I'm not really sure what to say about this video, but it really struck me as an interesting commentary on both past and contemporary pop-culture.




...and on religion. (Christianity)

Microscopic Art?

This guy is an incredible artist--the patience and time it would take to do such things. And they're beautiful sculptures. I just have to wonder if art is meant to be seen in an accessible form.

Frog Jesus

A strange short film by Benjamin Peters. I found the description below on the film's website (www.frogjesus.com).

"A nostalgic voyage takes a darker turn, exploring the naiveté of mankind through the eyes of a young boy."

Is it meant to be humorous? A critique of religion, society as a whole?

Nice Mash-up

This video of conductor Valery Gergiev in rehearsal is fun to watch, and a good example of a smart mash-up.

Lucy and Bart

Lucy and Bart are an amazing collaborative art duo. They use simple, low-tech materials to augment the human body, drastically changing its appearance and mobility. I find their photographs to be incredibly striking and beautiful, and just the sort of thing I have been thinking about (only much better realized) to use in potential performances. I highly highly recommend checking out their blog.

Where the Hell is Matt?

This video is in response to Andrew's BOOMBOX post. I thought of it immediately.

Great Animation and Story

This is a really good short animation--a little creepy and very well done. The story is incredible and it reminds me of Tim Burton.

BOOMBOX: 100 days, 100 songs, 100 locations, 100 dances

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

Goes a little long, but great performance.
Possibly better than the video, his site: www.welikehim.com.

Yes, it's supposed to look that way...

KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Speaking of compression and other digital video problems, this new vid from Kanye uses these to achieve a pretty innovative effect. I think it makes a statement about our lo-fi digital culture. Whereas we once were obsessed with the pristine (aka film), now the readily available digital youtube content is more than sufficient for our prying eyes.

Kanye West f. Kid CuDi
"Welcome to Heartbreak"

"Kittens inspired by Kittens"

This simply cracks me up. What a personality that little girl has. Haha.. 

I think I'll watch it again now...

Photo of the Day Aug. 20, 2007

Why is it that National Geographic photographs are always 8 billion times better than anything I could do? What makes an amazing photo?








Androscoggin River, New Hampshire, 1981

Photograph by Sandy Felsenthal

Crazy Climber

In the spirit of Man on Wire, check out this insane picture of a man apparently scaling the side of a huge building. I have no context for this picture; I don't know who the guy is or what he's doing this for, but it's pretty incredible nonetheless. I can't imagine doing something like that.

Aicha Aicha

Here's a video my friends and I used to watch all the time in high school. If anyone would like to speculate on the backstory to this video please do, I for one still can't figure it out. This guy is either the most fearless romantic on YouTube or he's a master of parody. What do you think?

hilarious!!!!

Papa Smurf....in real life.

From Youtube:

For many years Paul Karason drank a solution known as colloidal silver, which is touted by many as being a cure all and remedy for just about any disease, illness or health problem there is. The problem is that colloidal silver does none of this, but it does cause a condition called argyria where the skin of users turn blue after ingesting this quack remedy.

"Dynamo Jack"

A documentary crew goes to the island of Java to film the work of a chi healer, nicknamed Dynamo Jack, who uses electric currents to cure the sick. Dynamo astonishes the crew with his chi demonstrations but are they real or just part of an elaborate hoax? I, for one, am convinced of his healing abilities...

ARTificial Intelligence???

Performative Ecologies is a recent work by Ruairi Glynn. I have always found robots fascinating, but this social implementation of them as an artistic community that truly interacts with human viewers is truly engaging and fascinating.

Food Porn

It's amazing how gratification can come in many ways. This website is great for all food lovers.

http://foodporndaily.com/

Deep Sea Life

This documentary about deep sea creatures really captured my attention because the creatures are so monstrous looking, and their environment resembles outer space photographs. 

No Surprises

I don't know if anyone else here is a Radiohead fan, but found this music video to be a very simple and distilled visual idea used effectively.  It reminds me of the Neistat Brothers post, and it seems like this head-in-fishbowl idea has enormous performative/video potential, beyond what this video has done.  If you don't like the music, just watching his face is very interesting.

Joaqin Phoenix on Wednesday's Letterman Show

Some of you may have already seen this clip of Joaqin Phoenix on Wednesday's David Letterman show, but if you haven't, it's not to be missed. I think this is a great piece of performance art, deep and really smart in a way. But some people may feel that JP has gone off the deep end or something. I also sort of appreciate seeing Dave Letterman so reduced and helpless. The last time something great like this happened - that I know of - was with Crispin Glover on Letterman way back in the 90's. I've posted some videos and interviews about that event as well.

J. Phoenix clip:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/11/joaquin-phoenixs-bizarre_n_166229.html

Here is Crispin Glover appearing on Letterman in the late 1980's. Letterman leaves the set after Glover kicks the air near his head.



Watch here, Crispin Glover talks about his notorious Letterman appearance in a very interesting way. I love what he says.

Internet crash

I thought this Onion clip was quite funny, and a perfect addition to any blog.  Toward the end of the video, it also made me think about how we would transfer/manifest all of our habitual behaviors and obsessions from the internet back into the "real" world, if this were to happen.  It reminded me a little of some of the proposals from our class.

It'sno tree

Today after lunch, I fell upon this view from the view from the right wing of Prentiss Hall...Who knew footprint patterns could be so aesthetic? Perhaps this is a unconscious message that were all about ready for spring to bring our earth into full bloom... 

Robotic Fish

Ever since I saw that Big Dog robot post, I have been rather obsessed by its naturalistic movement, which I found both wonderous and slightly disturbing (because it was so convincing).  This robotic fish developed by Essex University has amazingly mimetic movement.  And it apparently uses sensors for autonomous movement, which makes it all the more amazing.

Great Obama Town Hall Moment

In case you didn't see this, it is from a Florida town hall meeting that occured yesterday, I think. The young man who asks the question has so much verve, so much spunk and personality and fearlessness that it really moves me. I also think it's amazing how moments like these create their own real opportunities. Apparently, within hours after this was released, this 19 year old, a college student in communications who has been working at McDonald's for 4 years, got a job offer to be the announcer for a local sports radio station for a day. Pretty cool.

Man in Space

In the spirit of Man on Wire, I think this video about Joseph Kittinger is a powerful and beautiful story about an amazing and brave feat.

Our Generation

There are idiots like this everywhere.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Fairey = Koons?

For those of you who are familiar with Jeff Koons' lawsuit about one of his paintings that "plagiarized" a magazine photograph, you might find this article about the famous obama poster interesting.

The Sad Truth?

Curious how many of you spend time thinking about this, and manicuring your facebook pages appropriately?

Artist Files Lawsuit Against Obama Image

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/arts/design/10fair.html?_r=1&ref=arts

I think this lawsuit could be one of the more interesting things to happen in the beginnings of the Obama reign as president. It should be really interesting to see how it all plays out. The rules of copyrighting and photoshopping photographs have always been a sketchy subject.

Super Sweet Robots

Tell me what you think about this, I think it could be good, but I am not a huge fan of the filming. I believe I am now hooked on the birds-eye view we have seen with the rolling baby and so on.

back in the day

It's crazy to think how far we've come.

Nothing to Worry About

Peter Bjorn and John "Nothing To Worry About"


This video has a great juxtaposition of street dance culture, 50s greaser iconography, and a children's choir on the chorus. Makes me want to visit Japan. The song's pretty catchy too.

Peter Bjorn and John
Nothing to Worry About

I was sure this had to be a joke.

After watching about 20 consecutive times I'm pretty sure it's for realzz.

Her Morning Elegance

An incredible stop-motion video by Oren Lavie. While I'm not the biggest fan of Lavie's music I'm astounded by the creativity and vision behind this work of art.

Claymation chess

a really interesting take on claymation.

Whole: A Documentary about Voluntary Amputation

So....following up Ana's post about women who genuinely fall in love with inanimate objects/monuments, I thought you might like to know about this equally strange human phenomena. A 2003 documentary called "Whole."

WHOLE takes you into the world of people obsessed with becoming an amputee. Some are "wannabes" while others succeed in ridding themselves of a limb. They are healthy people like Kees, a Dutchman who pretends to be an amputee up to five times a day; Dan, an American who loves to hike and bike in the French Alps; and George, a man so desperate he shot off his leg with a shotgun. This documentary reveals the impact the obsession has on loved ones, and also examines how medical professionals are dealing with the growing worldwide network of amputee wannabes. WHOLE also looks into the ethical, cultural and historical issues that surround this unusual psychiatric disorder.

Here is a link to a clip from the film. If you have the mind (and stomach) for it, I highly recommend watching this whole film, as it will open your mind and (hopefully) tap your empathies.

http://www.whole-documentary.com/clips.php

dog sushi

I'm sorry for all the posts, but seriously you guys, HOW GOOD IS THIS PHOTOSHOP?

David to the Dentist Mash-Ups

I noticed you posted the David to the Dentist video. There have already been some sick remixes to this, but none so perfect as the person who mashed it with the famous Christian-Bale-gets-fucking-angry clip.

on a boat

This leaked (get it? leaked?) last week sometime as a viral-ish MP3 and I was really excited about it. I know we're all tired of the Lonely Island, but I'm really impressed with the appearance of T-Pain here, and the absurdity which kind of convinces you that this is an actual rap song. It's kind of a perfect satire, at least, and so simple at that. In a world where satire is so hard to make, I was impressed with the success of this one.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Yarnbombed Bus From Knittaplease.com

Yarnbombed bus from knittaplease.com
Gotta love this, both the bus and the website url.

objectum sexuals

I watched this documentary last night and found it inexplicably fascinating.


Watch Married To The Eiffel Tower [Part 1] | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

I really like the way the issue is treated here. They really move away from making these women seem like freaks and more towards understanding their underlying emotions. That makes it way more interesting for me as a viewer because I find myself empathizing and relating to them instead of just dismissing the whole thing as another weird fetish you find on the internet. It's also way more disturbing this way. It really forces me to reconsider my relationship to the things I surround myself with.

...Epilepsy....?

... I don't know what to say about this.... except that I'm pretty sure epileptic seizures are inaccurately depicted.

absurdist humor cartoon

just for inspiration...kind of.

holding attention

So here is a third video by this guy.  Part of me finds it annoying, but I am struck at how well he holds (ie held my) attention throughout the video.  This is achieved with random eccentric behavior, but again also through very skillful editing.  We've talked about high energy and holding attention in class, so I thought I'd offer this as a pretty good example.

LiveLavaLive

I stumbled onto these two videos (by the same person), which I thought were both very well edited:
I kept thinking of how easily and vastly this video could change by coupling it with different music/sound.

This one was striking also because of its editing, and I viewed it as a method of recording a person through details of their body and surroundings.  The sound works very well I think:

This Will Cause Laughter

Very cute and funny.

Sky in Motion

When we watched Ben's YouTube collage in class yesterday, part of it reminded me of this video. I think it has to be one of the coolest time lapses ever created. The music suits it nicely as well.

I recommend going to the original site (http://vimeo.com/1250929) to watch a bigger version of the video in HD. Well worth it.


túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

More I-Be Area

It's good to see more of these, after reading the article on Ryan Trecartin from the New York Times on Feb. 1. IMO, he's really doing something different here, and it has caught the attention of the art world big time. The art world seems to be starving for people carving out some new territory like this. Check it out....and there's much much more on youtube as well.

Tupac Barney and Spongebob Soulja Boy.....Oh, and Marge Simpson Soulja Boy too!

Following up Cooper's post with Bert and Ernie rapping, I couldn't help but post a couple of Internet classics which some of you may or may not have seen. I can watch these vids pretty much over and over again, and apparently the rest of the world can too (the spongebob soulja boy vid has nearly 56 million views!). AI think the set up with Marge Simpson-headed guy doing Soulja Boy in front of that corrugated garage has an amazing look to it (very painterly), and the camerawork and editing is sharp.

Video/Audio Matching Perfection

My friend Matt showed me this video and it pertains perfectly to what we are trying to accomplish with our YouTube video collages in class. The video matches the beat and rhythm of the music to a T. The video helps escalate the music as it gets more and more intricate. Michel Gondry directes this music video.



Another video that matches the video directly with the beat is Da Funk by Daft Punk. This video was directed by Spike Jonze.

Shoe monument for man who threw footwear at Bush

I think it's fantastic that there exists a sculpture in honor of a man who made a political statement by THROWING A SHOE, and he is being glorified for it by his country.

Here follows the article (originally found here)

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - An Iraqi town has unveiled a giant monument of a shoe in honor of the journalist who threw his footwear at former U.S. President George W. Bush.

The two-meter (six-foot) high statue, unveiled on Thursday in former dictator Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, depicts a bronze-colored shoe, filled with a plastic shrub. "Muntazer: fasting until the sword breaks its fast with blood; silent until our mouths speak the truth," reads an inscription, in honor of journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at Bush and called him a "dog" at a news conference during the former president's final visit to Iraq.

Zaidi has been held in jail in Baghdad since the incident, facing charges of assaulting a visiting head of state.

Fatin Abdul Qader, head of an orphanage and children's organization in the town, said the one-and-a-half-tonne monument by artist Laith al-Amiri was titled "statue of glory and generosity."

"This statue is the least expression of our appreciation for Muntazer al-Zaidi, because Iraqi hearts were comforted by his throw," she said.

(Reporting by Sabah al-Bazee; writing by Peter Graff)

"OMG Baby Teacup Chihuahua, *@!$*# ADORABLE!"

Yes, it's another "take a video of miffy and muffy, put it on youtube, and label it 'Cutest Dogs Ever!!!!!!" But this one kind of caught me by surprise. For starters, the delicate piano playing is quite a choice for such video. I was expecting to to hear little whines from the dog or at least to hear from the human being like, "Look over here! Aww, Look! Muffy, hey muffy, no, no, right here.. look at mommy!" But instead the baby talk was covered up by soft piano music which in some cases makes it even more cliche because of the delicate setting they're in. And as if it couldn't get any better, suddenly to the left of the screen you see a bank of america card randomly sitting there while the dogs are tripping over it. It is then that we see how telling the video is. These tiny 'teacup' chihuahuas are known to be a status symbol among the stars and hollywood. Elite america is fascinated with these dwarfed creatures and will spend an exponential amount of money (ranging from 2,000-5,000) on one dog-think Paris Hilton's "Tinkerbell". On top of it, because it is such a money maker, people specially bread these dogs until are as dwarfed as they are. So when you think about it, it's all kind of disturbing. Artistic 'embellishment' with dog and credit-card for this one was quite self-revealing. Needless to say, 1,604,850 people have viewed this video.  

Incredible Muppets

Maybe it's just because I love Beaker and Bert and Ernie, but I think these videos are great. Even if you don't find them entertaining, you still have to appreciate the time that it must have taken to go through and edit them. I love every second though.

Someday I'll find Champ

Could this prehistoric fish found in Japan have relatives we know as lake monsters?  Are the Loch Ness and Lake Champlain monsters so unbelievable?

I could not help myself. This is maybe the best match in Australian Open History. It's to bad that Roger didnt pull off the win though. This is what i live for, so please enjoy. Roger started crying during the award ceremony after he lost in front of thousands live and millions world wide on tv. I think that says a whole lot about how determined and dedicated and heart breaking a match can really be...

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Because it's going to be EPIC. And robots are amazing.



My housemate showed me this trailer earlier today and I've watched it about 8 times. I just cant get enough of the sounds they make when they are transforming, and the entire transformation process in itself--they just launch out! Rad.

SpongeBob bling exists!!!!

And I would have to work for many many years to afford this:


"We are always looking for innovative ideas to develop fine jewelry, and the Nickelodeon partnership to license SpongeBob is the perfect addition to the Simmons Jewelry Co. family," Simmons Jewelry Co. co-owner Russell Simmons said in a media release.

The collection will feature designs for both men and women and will be available at fine-jewelry and specialty retailers in fall 2009, with pieces retailing between $150 and $75,000.

For full article see: http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/njn/content_display/fashion/jewelry-fashion-reports/e3if42f3145e3efa9c41e827ec7a9f2ac58

Timelapse of a 9-month-old at play

I'm amazed by this kid's energy!

Snuggie Craze

You may have heard about these or seen these on TV, or even have one yourself. In any case, there is a consumer craze currently going on for these Snuggies. It's the sort of thing that reached a viral tipping point and is now a real economic boon, as well as a true iconic item. People apparently do dedicated photoshoots in their snuggies and create facebook albums dedicated solely to Snuggie fashion. It also appears to be the perfect time to market such a thing too, when everyone is turning down the heat and staying at home looking monkish. Get yours today, while winter is still with us.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/01/30/carroll.snuggie.cnn