Merry Christmas!

Toilet Paper Typography

For more info about this project click here.

Why Would You Knit That Blog

I stumbled across this interesting blog devoted to weird knitting. Check it out.

Carl's Stone Cold Lock of the Century of the week

My friend Jason just told me about this. Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force picks NFL games on espn.com. This stuff is insane. I particularly liked weeks 8,13 and 14.

Facial Hair Font

I was searching for an example of the guides used when designing a font and I came across this:

Christmas (NSFW)

i hope everyone is excited about receiving their christmas presents from me! as you all know, i'm a notoriously personal and specific giver and this year i found one perfect present fit for everyone!!! it's THIS.

Cockroach and PEZ dispenser

These drawing emerged after comments that I had left on the "WAY FUNNY" post. I drew the first one and Emster did the second. I was thinking about possibly developing this idea into a short animation, but I'm not sure what people would think if they saw something like that on my reel.

WAY FUNNY

for whatever reason, this is one of the funniest things i've seen in a little while. mostly the tom hankses. i laughed out loud in a room by myself. not by the influence of other people's gaiety, but an honest, out-loud laugh. it was no chortle, either.

this was created by johnny chew, the younger brother of my friend billy chew. there's more on his website.

Congress and the BCS

It looks like Congress is moving forward with a bill that would bring about some sort of playoff system to College football. I know some people say that this is a waste of time and tax payers money, but I disagree. I think it's awesome that something could possibly be done to change a product to satisfy the general public. Now, if congress could do something about 24 hour news (get rid of it, it's unnecessary and leads to sensationalism) and cable companies(I would be interested a package that would let me pick the channels that I actually want).

Paula Deen Teaches Pole Dancing

I just read McSweeney's latest "Short Imagined Monologue". If you ever wandered how Paula Deen might approach teaching pole dancing, this might give you a good idea.

I Thoroughly Enjoyed This

fisherman bill dance's classic bloopers. there are loads more on his dvd's.

YESSSS!!!!!!!!

This is the kind of thing that makes me wish that I had dropped out of school and pursued my dreams…I wanted to be the best RN in the world. People kept telling me that I had to go to school for that! Well…this video says I can do whatever I want and you can't tell me that that's not true! For all the impressionable kids out there reading this, stay in school and don't do drugs!

Brain Washed Kid

You know you have reached a major milestone when your young child begins to repeatedly rant about your favorite college football team's arch-rival. Job well done! I just want to clarify, I agree that children should be as hardcore fans as their parents. If a child chooses to root for your arch-rival. You probably failed as a parent. When I have children I will feel that I have failed if they root for the Crimson squad in the "A" day game. Defense wins championships!

Washed Out - "New Theory"

went out with friends on a saturday night to skates 280. we found an oasis best visualized in slow motion. this video features the king of skate dancing, speedy aka jeremy.

Washed Out - "New Theory" from justin gaar on Vimeo.

In Honor of Thanksgiving Week, Here's Paula Deen Being Hit in the Face with a Ham

On VIDEO!!!! HOOORAY!!!! Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving! I know I will, now.

The New Between Two Ferns

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

Strangely Perverse Bud Light Commercial

i find the idea for this add really strange. everyone knows that if you buy bud light you're a pervert deserving of public scorn, but is bud light that cognizant of their clientele? as a fall-back-beer budweiser drinker, i'm thinking.... yes.

Allison Schulnik's Video for Grizzly Bear's "Ready, Able"

Ramona Falls Music Video

really cool animation for this ramona falls video.

Conversation with Todd: Clash of the Titans

I often talk to Todd in the morning via gchat. I thought today's conversation was worth sharing with everyone.














me: Sup, dawg?

Todd: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi342754585/
Just looking at new awesomeness.

me: Looks pretty bad ass! They just need more explosions and badass cars. Where are all the car chases?

Todd: And quicker cuts in the trailer. I was almost able to make out what the actors and monsters looked like.

me: lame! What were they thinking? But seriously...cars would make the thing cooler. And tanks and jets…and a boat chase sequence.Also…where's Statham?!!!They really need him.

Todd: I bet he's the final boss.

me: That would be sweet. Is he playing Hitler?! That's just messed up! Statham can't play Hitler!Burt Reynolds could though…Statham could be Hitler's brother.

Todd: in real life? That would explain a lot.

me: Maybe…that's not what I was talking about...but, you're right. It makes a lot of sense…especially the awesome driving skills.

Todd: And the ability to get the hot girls.Did you ever see Crank 2?

me: Not yet I need to.

End of conversation. I do really need to see Crank 2. I've been meaning to. No excuses though. I'm sorry for letting all of you down out there.

Nick Saban Radio Show Questions

Go here to post questions for Saban to address during his weekly radio show. Falcon and I have sat down and thought long and hard about some of the questions that we really would like Saban to answer. Our questions focus on a range of topics. Specifically, literature, fashion, love and there are a couple of questions about football. Mainly the other topics. The show is Thursday, so get your questions in now.

Three Wolf/Mount Cody Moon

game day is coming. this one is important. we need to channel our energies and project them toward tuscaloosa. i have inspiration for you. go ahead and marinate on that for a little while.

this glorious image is brought to you by alabama man dance over at tower of bammer. if you roll tide, then you should be reading this blog. they've got the information you want, not those dumb statistics and numbers and mathematics that the dummies are always talking about on the electronic noise picture.

Another Badass Video

Passion Pit - The Reeling from phantomcolor on Vimeo.

Staggeringly Beautiful

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

MAKE SURE to check out the making of

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc.

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.

Something I Shot

This is a music video for Alabama Public Television. As an educational lead up to our upcoming Sloss Furnaces documentary, our education producer had local artists contemporize older songs once sung in the mines and furnaces of Sloss. This is a contemporary version of "I Got a Man in the Bama Mine," originally by Merline Johnson and performed here by Kate Taylor and her band. Kate also stars in the video. The intention is to educate through music. This is not the educational cut, but my own. It's only slightly different. I cut out some parts that I thought were less successful, or too obvious, which are appropriate in the version intended for a younger audience. There was absolutely no budget. That's what's up with the fake money. We had a crew of three people trying to do what we needed 5 to 6 to accomplish. It was shot primarily on a borrowed jib with a monitor that was incompatible with our camera, so, we couldn't see anything the camera was capturing and basically had to guess. Oh, public television... That being said, I think it turned out pretty well!

"I Got A Man In the Bama Mine" cover by K. Taylor from justin gaar on Vimeo.

Vladislav Delay - Toive

Vladislav Delay - Toive from Lorenzo Sportiello on Vimeo.

Cullman Liquidation Commercial

i really enjoy when people are brutally honest. why not make that a commercial?

What the @#&%! is wrong with the Japanese?

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rape-Nuts
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Pixar Parody

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

This is pretty good. One of my coworkers shared this with me.

Live Blog of Langford Trial

kyle whitmire is live blogging the langford trial on the birmingham weekly's website!!! this is going to be great!!!

Critique: Miller Lite's New Commercials

I'm guessing Miller is trying to tempt you with the refreshing nature of its beer by haphazardly pouring it everywhere. In my opinion there is just something wrong about being so wasteful with beer intentionally. Sure, you have to waste a little beer when you pour the first one from the tap. If you don't want any head. I know this is the way it works in this case, but I still feel sad after every pour. Has Miller never heard of a party foul? Seriously! You don't spill beer if you don't have to. There is nothing tempting about the way beer spilling looks. Just show it carefully, even over-protectively being guided into a perfectly chilled glass. Do they think average Americans are going to want to purchase a product that promotes wastefulness? Wake up, Miller! No time to be asleep at the wheel.

Robin Williams on Larry Langford

"ol' joke stealer," as they call him in the industry, came to birmingham and made some jokes about football and larry langford. go figure. kinda funny. saw him at a rodeo one time - horse, spurs, and crooked clown commissioner jokes. the man knows his audience.

Untitled Sound Objects

zimoun and pe lang, two chinese artists, have been creating sound installations since 2005 by using computer operated small machines and robots with different materials such as chains, seeds, plastics, and rubbers, that are used as sources for sound. zimoun, along with graphic designer marc beekhuis, is the co-founder of Leerraum which is quoted as being,"an international network, platform and label of artists engaged in studying space, form and structure through a reductionist approach and careful yet radical handling of materials." radical indeed. they've created a room with the aesthetics of a clean room environment, or perhaps some strange sleepy white limbo where the brown noise of simple machines create a never ending slumber. they've just released a video collection from 2005 through 2008 of several installations in switzerland. here is the video collection:

this is a live installation:

these are some test machines and sounds for the 2005-2008 installations:

this is a microphone recording woodworms in a piece of wood:

Woodworms I, Zimoun 2009 from ZIMOUN VIDEO ARCHIVE on Vimeo.

here are isolated sounds from single sound contributions by a sound artist playing behind shutters that when opened increase the volume creating a distinction in what is heard:

The XX

if you've not heard the xx's new album xx then you should get it. it's one of the more interesting albums of the year. here's a track called crystallized made into a fan video by fake tv. it rulez so hard.

Nujabes Music Video

new music video for a laid back nujabes track. the video is basically made up of people running in the most ridiculous, animated way they're capable, shot in super slow motion. it was shot with a Casio EXILIM EX-F1 camera. they're moderately affordable and shoot up to 1200fps. that's pretty fantastic for a pro-sumer.

Georges Méliès - Le Diable Noir (The Black Imp) (1905)

here's some georges méliès for your day. the innovator of almost every early film effect died penniless. this one still has some impressive tricks.

Psychedelic Sperm Machine

add a little color to your sex life why not?

Cardboard Monsters

awesome street animation by sjors vervoort.

Sam Taylor-Wood - A Little Death (2002)

Rich Fulcher's Tiny Acts of Rebellion

rich fulcher of snuff box and the mighty boosh is releasing a book entitled, "Tiny Acts of Rebellion." the book contains "97 almost-legal ways to stick it to the man." here is a video he made to promote the book:

Way to go Australia!

holy shit.

Tobias Stretch News

he's released a new video:

i was completely underwhelmed, unfortunately. the costuming is brilliant, the lighting, haunting, but there was very little to this concept. the urban environment was a change, but something about this ruined the ethereal quality of his work. i also really disliked the song, but hey, you can only do so much with what your asked to do.

he's done an insightful interview with file magazine and is working on a mixed live action and animation short which he discusses in the interview. he's also progressing on an epic feature script and novel. impressive.

Tornado vs. House

This guy I worked with in college just contacted me about a video we worked on together. Apparently it is receiving a lot of views on youtube. We created this video as part of a going away celebration for a former Dean of the College of Communication at Bama. I created the 3D house. We went to the Dean's house and took a bunch of pictures so that I could make a pretty realistic version. At the time, I was pretty nervous we were going to get yelled at or one of the neighbors was going to call the cops. I think it looks pretty suspicious when several college students are taking pictures of a nice house.

It's very classy to let someone know that you are re-using a collaboration. Thanks, Ben.

"The Berlin Reunion" Performance by Royal de Luxe

absolutely unbelievable photo set of royal de luxe's "the berlin reunion" puppetry performance over at the big picture. holy shit it's incredible!

Way Funny King Khan and BBQ Interview

after watching that, you'll need this for a reference.

human font

I was trying to get inspiration for a logo that I want to design when I came across these alphabets online. I was specifically trying to find an interesting way to form an "F". Here is what I found.

Very Intense Music Video

This song is one of the reasons that the ending of Footloose is so awesome. I learned a good deal of my dance moves from that final scene and trust me they are always a hit. The other day I was trying to decide what songs to blip and I thought of this one. I did not blip it in the end, but I did enjoy the video. It's definitely a precursor to Sabotage.

New Broken Letters Song

broken letters are about to release a new ep, or, they could have already released it and i'm purveying false information, yet again, through this new form of media that the old media says is disseminating poor information like glenn beck with a tv show. this is a live performance of the new broken letters song, "eyetooth & i" from that ep. it's my favorite song on the new release. i also happened to help shoot the live video. all the good shots are mine. the bad looking ones are everyone else's. j/k yall. omg!

t'Broken Letters - EYETOOTH & I from Matt Whitson on Vimeo.

Awesome Jumbotron Video

Explosions really get a crowd pumped up! Especially when you blow up the team's city! There could be more explosions though. Also, shouldn't the polar bear be mauling more stuff/people? Maybe the opposing team?

Sloss Performance Art

here's some more video from the upcoming sloss trailer. this is cast iron performance art from the 2009 National Conference on Cast Iron Art as Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark.

Industry to Art - Iron Performance from Alabama Public Television on Vimeo.

koyaanisqatsi much?

Little Nemo

here is the beginning to masami hata and william t. hurtz's adaptation of little nemo from 1992.

Little Nemo in Slumberland

Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend

edwin s. porter was an engineer, cameraman, and film pioneer. he is most noted for his work with the edison company. the great train robbery is his most famous work, but i am posting his adaptation of the winsor mccay comic strip, dream of the rarebit fiend. porter made this in 1906. he borrows pretty heavily from techniques french director, george melies, developed.

mccay's character, little nemo, is present in this film. the comic strip character would later become his own strip with little nemo in slumberland. mccay also went on to create several animations for a series titled "dreams of the rarebit fiend," most of which are available on youtube.

Sloss Furnaces Documentary Trailer

the trailer for alabama public television's doc about sloss furnaces is finally up. it is tentatively titled, "Industry to Art: The Sloss Furnace Legacy" but is more than likely subject to change. the trailer turned out pretty cool and you get a glimpse at some of the ridiculously beautiful images we got from different metal pours. i've talked a little bit about sloss' transformation from it's oppressive, negative past to it's current mecca-like state for the metal arts world in an older post. the documentary, basically, deals with this story. it's pretty awesome! check it out:

Washed Out's "Feel it All Around"

this music video was produced by fiction for washed out's "feel it all around." it looks great because it was shot on a canon 5d mark ii. that's the way to do it. this is in the same vein as the memory cassette song, "surfin" that i posted a month or so ago. i love this vibe. it's a great way to start a day.

FEEL IT ALL AROUND from Northern Lights on Vimeo.

Fleggaard Commercial

here is a really awesome NSFW thanks to those european perverts.

Lost in a Moment

lost in a moment from dennis wheatley on Vimeo.

the filmmaker says:
We were sitting in this sushi bar pondering how best to set up a camera to film things all by itself whilst we were in Tokyo.
Take our hands out of the equation... let the camera have its own journey.

I'd taken a cannibalised record turntable with me from the UK with the idea of filming slow panoramas but it was painfully bumpy and stopped every minute.

Then we had our eureka moment and filmed this.

A few years later I was working on a piece of music and married the two together.
The music is all about that feeling when you're half asleep in the sun.. the ambiance of foreign voices becomes a lullaby to dream away.
There's something beautiful in not understanding a language.. it becomes abstract, musical.
Opera is so much better when you can't understand the words!

What we loved about watching this film back was the space that the camera was able to enter.. extremely personal and scrutinising but not too lingering.

Lernert and Sander

this video from lernert and sander really shouldn't make me sad. i think it is because i assign human emotion to the bunny's eyes.

Chocolate Bunny from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

i may have posted about them before. this video became viral a year or so ago, but i couldnt find any discussion of it on the blog. anyway, lernert and sander are lernert engelberts and sander plug, two dutch artists that collaborate on art projects, films and commercials. they have a very distinct aesthetic. here is a sampling of their work:

a series of short videos as part of a 2 hour documentary about revenge for VPRO television

Revenge from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

a short for MTV europe

CDEFGABC from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

another short

Color correction from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

and my favorite: part of a new 9 part documentary series for limboland tv in which abstract artists explain their work to their parents. unfortunately, this is the only one subtitled for english, but hopefully there will be more. this is beautiful.

How to explain my parents from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

Tricky Dick, Try and Catch Him!

booyah!!

Sony Bravia

do you remember that sony bravia commercial with the colorful bouncy balls in san francisco? you should. if you don't, you're way dumb with bad brain parts. if you do, then you'll be interested in the following 1's and 0's. it's a making of:

Jonathan Yeo's Portraiture, or How I Learned to make Porn into Art

this video, recently released by artist jonathan yeo, explains the origins and concept behind his porn collage portraits. the explanation is really quite funny, as is his discussion of culling through pornography for the finishing touches of a portrait. not exactly safe for work. (even though that's where i saw it)

Combo by BLU and David Ellis

this is a collaboration between BLU and david ellis from the fame festival. i'm not sure that i've posted anything by david ellis so there's a video below for you to make his acquaintance. this collaboration is really great! i enjoy the combination (combo) of ellis' time-lapse and BLU's stop-motion.

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

here's david ellis working.

there's a cool video from one of his installations here.

Yo La Tengo in Montmartre

la blogotheque's take away shows are a particular brand of unique beauty and no one needs me saying so to confirm it, however, this particular take away show, i must confirm, is cinematic masterpiece.

Yo La tengo - A Take Away Show - Part 1 from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Yo La Tengo - A Take Away Show - Part 2 from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

The Yes Men Hit the New York Post!

the yes men hit the new york post!
ha ha ha ha ha ha haha ha!

"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.

the yes men are activists/culture jammers. they've pulled some very hilarious and poignant pranks. read the wiki link above to see how the criticism from one of their pranks got the man who owns the trademark on the word freedom, g.w. bush, to say, "there ought to be limits to freedom."

the new york post representative in that video is an amazing caricature of what i would think a new york post representative would be like. except he's real. gross.

my favorite prank of their's is the vivoleum project. they appeared at canada's largest oil conference as national petroleum council representatives and explained that the much anticipated results of a study commissioned by u.s. energy secretary samuel bodman found that the continued exploitation of key canadian oil sites were increasing the chances of large, even global, environmental catastrophe. they then went on to explain that the bright side to the study was that the bodies of those killed could then be processed into oil called vivoleum. they handed out candles to hold a vigil, but were unfortunately found out before they were able to tell the crowd of 300 oilmen that the candles in their hands were made from a exxon mobile janitor that died while cleaning up an oil spill.

The Seed

The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

and the making of:

Making of 'The Seed' from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

West Texas

West Texas from You and Yours on Vimeo.

New York 2008

New York 2008 from Vicente Sahuc on Vimeo.

New Animation From sam3

AND a new animation from sam3:

EXSITU INSITU from sam3 on Vimeo.

here's a sam3 animation test done with water that i dont believe i've posted:

New Piece From BLU

damn i love his work! here's a time lapse and some photos of BLU's new piece at the fame festival.

Nollywood, Nigeria's Hollywood/Bollywood

i'll start with this:

nollywood refers to the vibrant nigerian filmmaking community, the third largest film industry in the world and an industry that exists in a country with no cinemas. they make hundreds to a thousand movies a year and they're all released straight to home video.


watch this half-hour documentary by london's journeyman pictures called "nollywood dreams" about the very interesting industry. you should definitely check it out.

here are more trailers with badass effects:

Pogo's Bangarang has Been Removed From Youtube

here's what he has to say about it:

Ahoy Everyone,

Today, Sony Pictures Entertainment claimed that 'Bangarang' is an infringement of copyright, and the video has been removed from YouTube. I suppose this had to happen eventually given the kind of world we live in.

Because I believe the world is what we make it, I aim to investigate the reasoning behind this manoeuvre and speak with whoever is in charge. I want to make it very clear to my listeners and anyone questioning the legalities of my work that:

1. My tracks are strictly non-profit, and will never make me a dime until all samples are cleared.
2. I do not, and have never aimed to supersede the works from which I sample. My tracks promote the films from which they are sampled, commercially and culturally.
3. My tracks help to fulfill the intention of copyright law by stimulating creativity for the enrichment of the general public.
4. My tracks pose absolutely no threat to the markets of the films from which they are sampled. On the contrary, they have acted as stimulants for these markets in that many viewers express desire to purchase the films I promote after watching my videos.

My work serves as free viral marketing to the organisations that own the films I sample from. It's high time the music industry pulls its head out of its ass, and realises that today's remix culture is an asset, not a liability. To shoot down the potential here would be utterly illogical.

My deepest gratitude to everyone for their amazing support. It inspires me to know that the world is full of people like you that encourage original thinking and welcome the future. Our right to create, enrich and inspire is one of our most valuable freedoms as a society, and I will not have that freedom taken away from me.

Pogo.

well put.

New "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis"

the new "between two ferns with zach galifianakis" is the best yet.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

InterviewProject.com

austin lynch, son of david lynch, appears to be traveling about the country on a 20,000 mile roadtrip interviewing people he meets along the way. david lynch is in the beginning of the introductory video/trailer for the series. the project is cleverly titled interviewproject.com. the videos are interesting. it's just ordinary people talking about their dreams, lives, aspirations, and milestones.

William Christenberry

in the 1960's, william christenberry, a tuscaloosa born, hale county raised photographer, painter and sculptor, picked up where walker evans' work left off. in 1968 he began photographing local landmarks throughout hale county. he moved to new york shortly after this time, but continued to return to hale county every year or so on his trips back home to visit family. he would make the trip around hale county to find and photograph those same landmarks. in fact, while in new york he ran into walker evans, showed him his collection of photographs and was encouraged by evans to continue the work. he has continued to this day. the southern eye might see christenberry's work as well composed photos of insignificant buildings. his southern gothic imagery is a common place site for those of us from the south, but his work transcends architectural photography or cultural documentation. his work is about decay, about the passage of time, about human life and time and how the two are forever coupled. even the seemingly lifeless human creations can't escape death. where is there a better place to capture stagnant decomposition than the black belt of alabama? the hot and humid weather forces the people to move and talk a little slower and the misfortunes of history have detained economic and social progression. i know i've been to towns in alabama where it felt like time stood still. without christenberry's patient lens, the subtle, even imperceptible, effects of time may go unnoticed. christenberry says, "What I really feel very strongly about, and I hope reflects in all aspects of my work, is the human touch, the humanness of things, the positive and sometimes the negative and sometimes the sad." there's a great interview with christenberry here. here are photographs of a house he has photographed since the sixties:






that's not the full set and i dont have the years for each photo. the photo below is a collection of the full set but the inset pictures are small.

another building made famous by christenberry sits only a few doors down from theresa burroughs and the safe house museum. it's been a juke joint, a bingo hall, another juke joint, another bingo hall, and in more recent years a club formerly called the underground railroad, currently called the house of blues. these photo groups aren't the best, but you can get an idea. for better photos, there are several great books full of his work, which i'm sure you can find at your local library.

Walker Evans

let us now praise famous men was written in the late 30's in hale county. walker evans, the photographer who accompanied james agee into hale county for the book, went on to photograph greensboro, tuscaloosa, birmingham and the surrounding areas pretty heavily for the farm security administration after the completion of let us now praise famous men. evan's job was to capture the hardships of southern life during the depression. in the process, he preserved excellent examples of southern architecture, culture and humanity. evans is quoted to have said that his goal was to take photos that were "literate, authoritative, transcendent". the new york times recently revisited several places made famous by evan's work. check out some photos:


(bud fields, wife, and child for let us now praise famous men)


(another family, possibly the burroughs, from let us now praise famous men)


(fish stand near birmingham in 1936)


(greensboro in 1936)


(grocery in selma in 1936)


(the same grocery in selma taken in april of this year by the new york times)


(sprott, alabama post office in 1935)


(the sprott post office in 2009. a storm took off the top half of the building)