2012 is finally upon us, and its time to get busy, if the Mayans were right about everything, which seems unlikely.

Here’s hoping we can put some distance between us and all the doom and gloom of last year, and the world turns a corner, for the better.

Our new year’s resolution is 1990 X 1080, most of the time. (Bah dum, tish).

On with the links.

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1.  Iowa Nice

This is being shared as an ‘Iowa Tourism Video’ but its not that exactly, it is more a response to some recent media slating Iowa received.

Note that it contains some NSFW language, which is why it made it here.

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2. Viktor Hertz : Honest Logos

This is what global brand logos would look like if they told the truth.

Click on the pic to see more.

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3. BLR Soundbites

This one is of Ron Paul, but there’s gallons of them.  BLR stands for Bad Lip Reading, and these guys have done a huge amount of random re-dubbing of US Presidential hopefuls, based on what it looks as though their lips are saying.  Makes sense…

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4. Raptor Mascot Double Fail

Yep, love this for a quick bellylaugh.

For some reason this Mascot is attempting to rollerblade down steps whilst being blinded by his dyno-suit. Super awesome.

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5. Friendly Bear Waves Back

Animals do the darndest things, etc

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6. My Dinner With Paul

Why is it crazy to go for a quiet meal / some advice on the ladiez, with anybody who’s ever been in the band Kiss.

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7. Vinne Jones : Hands Only CPR

I suppose this will have to get a mention as it is a slow week.  Nice enough all the same.

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8. Azealia Banks – L8R

This one in from the BBC SOund of 2012, big hopes etc.  Good vibe despite textspeak title for riot-ready kids.

Again contains some NSFW language, if you work in a clownshop of some sort.  Not our problem.

Have a great weekend one and all.

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From "http://fineartamerica.com/featured/blank-tony-murray.html" - an Anti-Art Project

We have written elsewhere on this blog about the inexorable march of progress and technology, and one of the missions here is to examine ways we’re affected by digital culture, and explore how that is changing us as people.

Something that has been in the back of my head recently, as an undefined thought: the instantaneous moment-to-moment nature of the online world is actually killing the persona of the loner, although I suppose you won’t find too many lone wolves on social media platforms, which is where I’m exposed to the greatest variety of viewpoints and ideas these days.

I’ll show my age here, and point out an example.  Consider the Red Hot Chili Peppers unusual album filler from back in the day, “Thirty Dirty Birds”:

Right about now, you’re either somewhat amused, or you’ve left this page.

If you’re in the former category, you and I may have some converging interests,  in that we share a sense of humour, or remember the first time a friend played the track to us, or wonder why it was there in the first place.

I’m not suggesting that we both share an interest in eating worms, that would put you in a converging interest group with someone else…

Nothing revolutionary about that, people like all sorts of different things, but what’s changed is how fast you can find all the other people who like the same things.

If we consider the example above, the first time I ever heard of the Chili Peppers was in a movie that came out in 1986, Tough Guys.  (The scene is here).

Forgot all about them, until Blood Sugar Sex Magic dropped, with the smash hit “Under the Bridge”.

By then, they were pretty well known.  But they had quirks in the back catalogue, and Thirty Dirty Birds gave us a fascinating glimpse of this…

So, for you to have ‘got this’ as a cultural reference would have implied you had listened to a lot of weird stuff, maybe you had a certain affinity for subversive humour, and it all took a great deal of TIME.  It took a long time for the Chili Peppers to build their career.   It took a lot of time wandering around as a misfit teenager to find a snippet like the above, that made you smile for reasons you didn’t understand.  A number of unlikely coincidences would have been necessary to bump into somebody in a pub who would ‘get it’ if you quoted it.  And believe me, there wasn’t much stuff like this around at the time.

So, in short, it was pretty hard to find people who were like you.  Maybe nobody was.  Being honest, there was a weirdly grim comfort in the fact that you may have been totally misunderstood, mysterious, and unknowable.  You weren’t, but we didn’t know that back then.

Today, technology has decreed that no matter how weird, mundane, illegal or banal your interests, there’s a forum for them somewhere, and you can immediately start pitching in with lots of like-minded souls, who also collect chewing gum from the street, or whatever it is.

Remember, you’re still a weirdo, (we all are) but it must be gratifying to know you’re not alone, and you’re not the worst. (Who is?)  It is also instantly gratifying.  No more feeling alone and alienated for long, we’ve just moved the ‘us and them’ goalposts slightly.

So, if there’s no more conforming, because everybody wears all of their interests like flair badges on all the available profile spaces to indicate what tribes they’re in, chances are that everybody is actually conforming, if you see what I mean.  So where does that leave the difficult loner?

Dead and gone, with some other tough guys in the grave, because the terrible beauty of being yourself seems to finally be ok.

That’s not to say I’m ok with it, I still feel surging inexplicable anger towards lippy hipsters, but we all have our crosses to bear.

In short, I think it took longer to find your tribe in pretty much every previous incarnation of teenagers;  since the ‘discovery’ of teenagers as a distinct group by marketeers and film studios, the James Dean generation teens.

It is possible that there were merits to feeling alienated, such as building resilience etc etc, however it is highly probably that we’re eradicating the phenomenon of an isolated conscious mind, within a generation, through endless collaboration, feedback and digital connection to everybody.

Try This!

Stop, and think for yourself about anything for one minute today, and don’t tell anyone about it afterwards.

If this exercise hurts, there is something very weird about that.

It is increasingly obvious that online attention spans are shortening.  The length of time an audience is likely to spend looking at an individual piece of content is dropping dramatically, so this puts the onus on producers of this content to get to the point.  Quickly.

Benjamin Royce has an excellent post about 5 second pre-roll video ads being the future, and this concept is backed up by research and implementation by MTV; the channel, some would argue, that gave the world ADD.

Let’s be honest, if you are clicking on a video on The Onion or Funny or Die, you don’t really want to watch a 30 second TV ad before watching a clip that may only be 15 seconds long itself.  This is a developing film form, and even has its own film festival, now in its 3rd year.

So… you have 5 seconds to get my attention.  What can you do, and is this an effective narrative time-frame?

What can be done in 5 seconds?

This Adidas ad for the All Blacks:

This group of film-makers on Vimeo – “Me Glasses”

This ad for milk:

This drawing competition for Cadillac:

“Justified Alcoholism”

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And so on.  You get the idea.

If you’re attention span isn’t fried from looking at these samples, you can always listen to the full MTV insight on 5 second ads here.

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It is a little sporadic here, we should perhaps start calling it links of the month or something.

Incidentally, this post’s amazing link picture above is a pair of Stormtrooper Cufflinks, which were sold here

I’m sure whoever bagged that deal is a real hit with the ladiez.

Anyway, here’s some stuff from around the www that caught our eye.

New Stills Camera:

This is a new type of camera that classes itself a “light field camera”.  There’s also a certain amount of “living pictures” blurb etc on the site.

What does it do? Well, it only has one button – SHOOT, as you don’t need anything else.  It takes a photo that can be manipulated after the event, so you can select the focus area etc later.  Here’s an example, click around the frame and you can focus on different things.  Natty, eh?

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THIS WEEKS HOT MASH UP – 2PAC THE TANK ENGINE

Thanks to internet addiction and the rise of ADD, it is no longer sufficient to listen to one song at a time.

You guessed it.  Good wholesome stuff right here:

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A SONG (In French) ABOUT WHAT WE USED TO DO BEFORE GOOGLE

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A RANT WORTH LISTENING TO

Just in case you’ve been living in a cave on mars and are not one of the 10 million-odd people who’ve laughed at this, here it is:

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SUB CITY PARIS

A beautifully composed study of people in Paris.

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STORYFOLD – THE BATTLE – MUSIC VIDEO WE MADE

Here is a look at our recent music video for Irish Band Storyfold.

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FOSTER THE PEOPLE – PUMPED UP KICKS PARODY

Imitation is the sincerest form of copying someone, or something.

Moderatly amusing. Oh, and has a dubstep breakdown. How current.

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THE RUBBERBANDITS – SPASTIC HAWK

This is how funny should be done, in my book.  Dat’s Limerick Citaaaay Kid.

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Have a top weekend one and all!

What an eventful week that has been.

The kids of London have shown us what can be achieved in a few nights if you’ve some time on your hands and no shame.

Good news is that this swag can now be back safely in the hands of the consumer, via ebay / craigslist etc, according to this story.

Anyone for 3 iPhones in boxes?  Top marks there, I’m sure that will be handy for the cops.

Again, the rules of Darwinism will prevail.

If anyone thought this was a good idea, it shows how uninformed they are about the zero-privacy nature of the online universe we live in.

This leads us happily to our first vid of the week:

ANOMYMOUS : FACEBOOK WILL FALL ON NOV 5TH:

Hilarious stuff.  The argument is that they wish to draw attention to the way Facebook handles personal data (although now they seem to be back-peddling and claiming it has all been a misunderstanding)

Either way, it was a bit of a giveaway that Facebook asks your political and religious views on sign-up.  Again, Darwinism will prevail.  Those who don’t realise that everything done online can be traced are not the people you really need to worry about… so eh, good work, ethical hacker comrades.
PS if we get hacked for writing this, that would be ironic, as that is in itself a form of censorship.

PPS your video editing sucks.   Talk to us

RIOTS IN EDINBURGH / SWEEDEN / HULL (and a few other copies with names changed)

This bad boy doing the rounds, showing some unenthusiastic riot action. Amusement Rating : Mild

MOVE:

I know this is so last week, but we didn’t post last week.

Interest Rating : Medium

Carbon Skidmark : Excessive

LEVIS – GO FOURTH (& RIOT)

Great ad, canny timing, has people up in arms.  Posted already, but there you go.

Cynical Timing: Unprecidented

Now, the good stuff, music videos of note:

RAPHAEL SAADIQ – “GOOD MAN”

Love Love Love.

REAL SCENES – DETRIOT

RECORDING XNTRIX

One of ours, showing off our new toys

AND FINALLY – BILL WITHERS “USE ME”

Have a great weekend, one and all.
One Love.

It is hard to know what to say about the current riots in the UK.

All of this activity has stemmed (purportedly) from the shooting of Mark Duggan on the 4th of August.  What we are watching now is unprecedented mass uprising and theft on a massive scale, as the UKs ASBO population take over the streets.  If there was some sort of political point to any of this, is would be one thing, and would ironically provoke a more heavy-handed response from the police.  (We are all familiar with 5,000 students doing a sit-down protest over funding cuts, etc, only to be beaten by armoured police with truncheons, etc etc).  Not the case if you want to rip off the local Dixons or Boots, and then set fire to the place.  The police seem to be doing very little to contain this situation.

A number of noteworthy nuggets are emerging from all of this.

1.  This has NOTHING to do with political dissatisfaction or anything like that, messages are circulating mobilizing the gangs, inviting them to “come get free stuff”.

2.  Zoe Williams has an excellent article in the Guardian exploring the psychology of the riot / looting, and she notices that:

“In Clapham Junction, the only shop left untouched was Waterstone’s, and the looters of Boots had, unaccountably, stolen a load of Imodium…”

She goes on to explore the types of things being stolen on a mass scale, and it is largely flatscreen TVs, sportswear etc.  She points out that even if luxery brands were being targeted, this would indicate a point being made about consumerism.  This is not the case.

The strongest explanation for the motivation of the rioting mob is that advertising has been so successful in promoting a fantasy land that is beyond the financial reach of the people involved, that they have just decided to grab it while they can.  Pop is indeed eating itself.

3.  Iran’s reaction was pretty funny.

Iran called on the British Government to restrain the police and stop the violent treatment of rioters (story here).

They have also kindly offered to dispatch a group of experts to investigate “human rights violations” in the UK.  Touché!

4.  All of this stuff is being organised across mobile web platforms, with Blackberry smartphones etc, (Blackberry in particular as it allows the sending of encrypted messages).   The makers of Blackberry have now been targeted by hackers, as they open up their servers to help police stop the communications of the rioters.  If 2 wrongs don’t make a right, try 3.

5.  Levis have released an ad today, encouraging young people to celebrate their brief moment of glory by rushing out and doing something significant, like rioting, and this is bound to raise a few heads above the parapit.  A lot of knee-jerk reactions already, but also genius.  Advertising relies on the subterranean flow of desire and taboo, and this is today’s taboo.  Weiden & Kennedy (of ‘Old Spice’ fame) know this.  There was bound to be a bit of rioting this year, and it makes sense during the ad break on SKY News (Riot TV) to have ads featuring edgy rioters, protesting their fundamental non-conformity by all being well-attired in the same Levis uniform.

We all know that in real life, scummers were athletic attire for ease of identification and to aid the hurling of blunt objects.

That’s it for now kids, more news at 11, as Public Enemy’s Flava Flave used to say.

Apple seem to have put both feet in it with the latest release of Final Cut Pro.

This might not seem that interesting a news story for you if you’re not a Pro editor, but we believe it will have ramifications for the whole Apple product line going forward, and shows some important insights into how they view their most ardent supporters.

The core of the debate is as follows, Apple have released a software update that is a complete overhaul of their hugely successful edit platform Final Cut Studio.  Good news, you would think, however it is becoming clear that they may have jumped the shark, in that this is a new version of iMovie, if anything, and lacks Pro functionality.

Final Cut Veteran and respected authority Larry Jordan is one of the evangelists of the Final Cut line, and has been for some time.  It is interesting to note that he had some initial concerns when the product was demo-ed at NAB, and then was contacted by Apple engineers, who gave him a look under the hood, (and perhaps some laughing gas!) and he decided that it looked more interesting than it appeared, only to have to rescind and agree that FCP X is a massive fail, as it initially shipped.  We’re back in a position of waiting for Apple to respond, and have to hold our collective breath, hoping they will address some of the glaring omissions from the new software.

So what’s all the fuss about?  Basically, this software is now available as a download from the iTunes App Store for under $400, as a download.  The last version of Final Cut Studio we’ve bought into retailed at around €1,200, and comes on over 6 DVDs, and requires over 50GB of hard disk space to run.  Good news for the novice looking to make family holiday videos look cool, bad news for those of us who’ve bought into the system for over 10 years, and have critical broadcast projects sitting on that platform that we can’t open in the new version.  Yep, you read that right. Anyhoo, there’s a load of things wrong with it, so we might let some of the videos do the talking.

Get your shit together Apple.

CONAN O BRIEN ON FCP X

FINAL CUT PRO X PARODY AD

FINAL CUT PRO X FIT FOR THE BIN

How Apple plans to resolve these issues, only time will tell, but a lot of people in the professional end of the market have already concluded that this is not a professional package, and competitors Avid and Premiere are now offering 50% discounts to disgruntled FCP users who may be thinking of migrating off the platform altogether.  It would be interesting to see how Apple plans to make amends to some of its most loyal and passionate user base, as for now they have remained mysteriously silent, having been forced to issue refunds for the product on the second day of sales, in an unprecedented move for the App Store.

Yes indeed.

It’s going to be hot this weekend.  We deserve it.  That’s why the wonderous stock photography woman above is gently massaging sausages.

Bar B Q weather, and it also has something to do with links.  Er… well anyhow, we don’t want to keep you from whatever it is you do on sunny days.

Here’s the good stuff.

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The Trons – Self Playing Robot Band

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The museum of me

All you nerds are going crazy for this one. Here it is, and an app too. Meh. Hats off.

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Karakuri

This is a nice one from some guy on vimeo. (Vimeo = Youtube for people who understand focus)

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Jellyfish Lake

Eh, ow?

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Gil Scott Heron, RIP

Nice doc from RSA films.  God bless you Gil.

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Hanson are Back!

mmmbop indeed.

Nice summer tune, happy video.  You’d have to be pretty cynical not to give this a chance.

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Denis Leary – Asshole

When the weather is this hot it always reminds me of this song.

Have a great weekend kids!

So, last weekend there was a fairytale Royal Wedding, and the weekend ended with the bad guy being killed.  Disney fodder, people said.

Not sure that this weekend will be as exciting, but let’s take a look back over the stuff that grabbed our hummingbird-like attention spans since last time.

So without further ado, here’s the stuff dreams are made of.

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A Bee for Battens

Lovely little video here to raise awareness about Batten’s Disease.  Nice work.

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How to make an Action Movie

Canal + have created a very useful flow chart for those of you who may want to make your own action film.

Ditto Horror film and Animated Movie.

As they point out, shooting a film isn’t that simple, and they support those that do.

Maybe remember that before you shit all over somebody’s work in your next review.

Click on the stolen pic below for the flow-chart.

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Will Ferral as George Bush reacting to ‘The Gopher’s” death

Here you can see Will and his take on what Bush may say when…

All good stuff, if highly cringe-inducing!

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Music Toy for those who can’t

Nice find by @redbloc to help people understand a little about the building blocks of music.

Particularly like the ‘bonus’ mode.  Have a play by clicking on the pic below:

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Irish Hip Hop Championships 2011

Yep, this is one we did, and we are very clever.

Great to be a part of the Hip Hop Championships again, and to see the bar getting raised year after year.

Well done to all involved, and to the Crews that are going to represent Ireland in Las Vegas this year.

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The Magnum Pleasure Hunt

Hard to know with this one. An interactive game / web voyage developed for magnum, and a load of other brands along the way.

Interesting and very well excuted concept all the same if you have a few.

Click on the image below to play.

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Complete Lack of Inspiration

Ever wondered what a complete lack of inspiration might look like?

The following video shows you what atrophy may look like, in under 40 seconds.

It scares me to think what these guys could do on an inspired day…

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LIVE – A moving painting by Gonzalo Cordero de Ciria

This is beautiful.

Have a great weekend one and all, one love.

Have been a little too busy with our actual paid work of making fabulous video, and its not our job to entertain you, so shame on you.

Now that’s been cleared up, let us look at the finest the intertubes had to offer this week.

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THERE’S AN INTERN FOR THAT

Internship is the new slavery.  Love it! If you’re doing something creative right now in college, you can look forward to working in a world where you won’t get paid.  Addressed by the Hyper Island Students wonderfully here:

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THE DEVIL IN YOU

Top thinking from a publisher of books you read in paper form and not on the intertubes.  Interesting campaign, that allows you see the world from inside the morally vacuous head of Bret Easton Ellis.  You have a little video game to play, and various moral choices to make, presumably as a means of engaging with the plot of the book.  Click on the picture to play.

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YOUR TASTE IN MUSIC SLUTOMETER

They’ve gone and done it.  Science has finally proved that the type of music you listen to can show how far you’ll go on a first date.

Read all about by clicking on the hot pic below.  Coldplay?  You’re a prude.

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SOMETIMES THE CASH IS SO GOOD…

Excellent parody of the SKY Atlantic HD ads that have been running all over Sky for some time now.  You know the one, Dustin Hoffman etc.

This is an Irish one too, produced by some good friends and colleagues, and is one of the best potential virals in Ireland at the moment.

Look, laugh and learn.

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SNEEZING BABY HUMAN

It takes pandas to show how idiotic we really are.  Nice twist on meme finding.

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BRIDGESTONE DOG SUICIDE

This has been out for a few years, but it is new to me and sure made me laugh to beat the band.

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TYLER THE CREATOR SCARES US…

If you thought hip hop had gone a little safe and commercial lately, Tyler reminds us how scary it can be as an artform. Spooky!

Thanks to @IMJ_Ireland  on twitter for the heads up!

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AND FINALLY…

May you sing like no one is listening. Here’s how!

Happy Friday, one and all.