Pretty & Nice - Q_Q

The above video for the band Pretty and Nice is the first single off their new album Golden Rules for Golden People. I just heard of this band a week ago and I've been quickly familiarizing myself with their entire catalog. If you're into bands like Self, Pattern Is Movement, etc then this will be exactly up your alley. Lots of pop, lots of quick changes, lots of energy, all enjoyable. Dive in!

9 Film Frames

As you can guess from the title, 9 Film Frames distills a movie down to nine distinct frames. It's pretty interesting to see the choices made for movies you are familiar with and, maybe even more interesting, to see the films you're less familiar with.

A Closer Look At Zoom.

Paper recently undertook the task of adding Zoom to their drawing software but found all the existing solutions subpar. So, they undertook it for themselves and wrote rather exhaustive profile on the task. It's oddly refreshing to read through the amount of work and rational thinking that goes into something as seemingly obvious as a zoom control.

NYC 2013

As you know, I don't post a ton of personal news here on the blog.. as I assume it's too boring to be worth sharing. However, I've decided to make the plunge and officially move up to Brooklyn so I can be closer to my VHX cohorts. I'll be staying in Carroll Gardens and, likely, eating a whole lot more pizza (if that's possible).

It's an incredibly scary endeavor for me but I'm excited to take things to the next level at work. And, if we're being open and honest, it's been on my To Do list for a good 10+ years to live somewhere outside of Middle Tennessee. I've needed to do this for some time. I'm sure it will work out just fine.

I don't really plan on changing the blog up once I'm up there - though I will probably retire my duties at We Own This Town, as it feels strange to administer from afar - so things around here should continue as normal. I'll just be posting more photos of subway tunnels and graffiti. As you do.

Charles Huettner

Using two still images from the blog of Charles Huettner is a disingenuous representation of his style and body of work. His animations, videos and side project involvement are all incredibly noteworthy. Long story short, click those links.. dive in. You'll be a locked in fan in no time.

Square Cash

It's still in invite-only beta mode but Square looks to be launching a new endeavor soon - Square Cash. The undertaking will allow you to email payments "to anyone's debit card." Sounds similar to Venmo, a highly essential app in and of itself. Oh yea, Google Wallet is getting into the fray as well. Lots of big players in that space... should be interesting to see who comes out on top.

The One-person Product

Take some time today to read this great lookback on Tumblr from Marco Arment. It's great to hear insight from an individual that has worked side-by-side with Tumblr founder David Karp since 2006. Honestly, whatever happens to Tumblr happens to Tumblr - it's not the end of the world either way. I think it will be fascinating to watch it all go down. However, it's nice to think that maybe Yahoo really will be a bit hands off and let statements like this ring true:

We - internet users, creative people, publishers, socializers - will be much better served if David can focus on his product's features, design, and messaging instead of worrying about server architecture and raising more money.

via Kevin.

A Better, Brighter Flickr

Jed said it best - Yahoo is really doing a good job of buying cool this week. Hot on the heels of their Tumblr acquisition is the relaunched Flickr. Not only are the majority of pages completely overhauled but they're also giving every user a free terabyte of space. This is the sort of Internet Upgrade we can all get used to.

Yahoo + Tumblr

As if there was any way you hadn't heard about it, Yahoo has acquired Tumblr for $1.1 Billion. Obviously the staff feels great about it, Yahoo feels great about it and users do not feel great about it. Understandably, Yahoo has a fairly decent track record of Acquire and Neglect but that doesn't necessarily guarantee it has to be that way. It's entirely feasible that new CEO Marissa Mayer can turn that ship around, right?

All and all, it's an interesting purchase and I think a good sign for both Yahoo and Tumblr moving forward towards something. We just need to see what that ends up being.

Return of Fops

I loved Thee More Shallows when they were actively making music and I had high hops for FOPS when I first heard them - as it seemed to be very similar in tone. Unfortunately, they went quiet for a long time and I assumed the project was done. But then, much to my delighted surprised, the band released III and promised three more records were on the way in as many months. They're making good on that and have just released Crestfallen. Both new releases keep it short - just six tracks each - but it's the perfect amount for consumption. Long story short: pay attention, FOPS is putting out new music again.

Fancy Hands Relaunch

The team at Fancy Hands recently relaunched their site with a more focused message on what they do (personal assistants for anyone) and a great bit of animation throughout their homepage. I love sites that come alive as you scroll down through the content, it's like a little reward for your effort and an incentive to keep going.

Saul Bass 'Quest'

In 1983, renowned designer Saul Bass (and his wife Elaine) directed a short film based on Ray Bradbury's "Frost and Fire." The resulting 30 minute piece - Quest - has been on my Really Should Watch This list for awhile. So, I'm making sure to put it out there so I'm held responsible for partaking in it. The special effects and set pieces have a familiar early 80's feel (think TRON or even Never-Ending Story) but with that Bass design angle to them. The above screenshots do it no justice.

Many thanks to Drafthouse for the heads up - I can't get over the amount of quality content they put out there unrelated to their own endeavors.

Friday Videos - May 17th, 2013

Another week, another playlist. Are you not entertained!? You will be.

• Guacamole - I realize these shows are rigged but this one word delivery is pretty much on the nose.
• Se7en vs The Pointer Sisters - conceptually, this is amusing. in execution, it's insanely impressive. A good edit is hard to deny. Love this.
• Tobias Funke Sizzling Reel - if you haven't taken time this week to check out the Tobias Funke viral marketing site - Insert Me Anywhere - do it now. The action hero sequences are out of this world.
• Ahmed Angle is planet - have you met Ahmed Angel? You can familiarize yourself with the whole meme here but just sit back and enjoy the Photoshopped ride. It's the best. via Paige.
• Spaced (US) - if you've not seen the UK Series Spaced make sure you watch it this weekend. If you have, check out this pilot for a US relaunch. Its never easy to see familiar characters reworked in this way.. sheesh. via Paul.
• Phantom of the Paradise - Brian De Palma's 1974 Phantom of the Opera inspired bonkers musical. How this predates the Rocky Horror Picture Show is beyond me but I'm just going to assume it's a direct influence. It looks ridiculous to say the very least.
• Supercut - Noooooooooo - nailed it.

Have a great weekend!

Jakob Wagner: Urban Zoom

The full portfolio of Jakob Wagner is an impressive collection. I love the Nightscapes, the Thunderstorms and plenty more but I was particularly taken by a few of the photos in the Urban Zoom collection. It's a simple effect but there's something great about it.

Larping League Ad Campaign

If your LARPing League is having a hard time recruiting new members, why not spread the word via a brilliantly clever ad campaign? Seems like an undeniably great idea. Nice work ad agency!

via.

Minbox

Minbox is a menu-bar application that does the same thing as Dropbox - only it claims to do it much, much faster. The cloud syncing itself probably isn't any faster but the generated link to the content seems to appear very quickly. So what's the big deal? You must watch their promo video - it's equally hilarious and aggressive with taking Dropbox speeds to task.* Ridiculous.

It's also deceptive if you look at the actual sync times being displayed but, regardless, it's still funny.

WEMO Devices

Recently, IFTTT announced new triggers for Wemo Devices. My first thought - what is a Wemo device?! Turns out, Wemo is a family of Belkin products that are internet enabled. Remember when you heard that, one day, all your appliances would be hooked into the Internet? Well, here's your first step. Control the power flow to any device running through this special plug and the Belkin app or activate a variety of actions with a motion sensor (i.e. come home, turn on the lights). I am sure there are DIY devices that do similar things but I kind of love that this is mass produced - hopefully it's still high quality.

Alex Prager: Photography & Films

It's been some time since I visited the works of Alex Prager but it works out because there's an onslaught of new material to check out. There are new photo series - Compulsion, Week-End - Short films, interviews, featurettes and more. Also, if you haven't seen the collection of vignettes called Touch of Evil you are missing out.

Long story short, it's time to revisit the works of Alex Prager. It's been too long.

Google I/O 2013

The 2013 Google I/O has been underway for approximately one day and they've already announced a slew of impressive new things. A Spotify/Rdio competitor called All Access, redesigned Google+ and a Google Maps overhaul are the heavy hitters so far but they're also improving search, Chrome, video codecs, Google Glass and more. It's funny how a company perception can go from having their hands in too many pies to being properly positioned for life improvement. Was it a Master Plan or just kismet?

Layervault Relaunch

The recent relaunch for LayerVault is an impressive piece of work. Overall, the look is quite flat and simple but the small details they've integrated (animations everywhere!) certainly don't go unappreciated. Check the customer stories to get a better understanding of the tool but, mostly, just cruise around and look at the pretty design.

The Square Stand

Have you seen the recently launched Square Stand? Square's iPad housing makes for a pretty slick looking checkout experience. I dunno who is behind the design but it's always clean, intuitive and smart. The fact that I, personally, have zero need for a retail register but am still intrigued by this piece of hardware is pretty telling of how right they are doing things.

SIFF 2013

I've never been to SIFF - the Seattle International Film Festival - but based on what I'm seeing from their Internet offerings, it's a worthwhile endeavor. Nevermind the Kyle MacLachlan Tribute or the quality programming - you must see this 2013 Festival Trailer. There are 20 movies depicted in miniature during that one minute and they're all impressive. You can see how it was done in the Making Of but see if you can guess all the films just by watching.

Prints By Scott Benson

I've been a fan of Scott Benson for some time - any right-minded individual would be. I hadn't really scrubbed through his latest works recently so it was a real treat to come upon his latest prints - Travelers of the Solar System and Hemisphere Boreal. Or maybe these have been up for awhile and I'm an idiot for not having seen them already. Regardless, they're inspiring in every way and a healthy reminder - Keep Up With Scott Benson At All Times.

Vanishing Point

United Visual Artists recently launched an installation in Berlin appropriately entitled Vanishing Point. It uses a series of lasers to create arbitrary vanishing points within the space provided. It's hard to imagine what this looks like in person but, in photo, it's gorgeous.

Chiripify Payment Platform

Kevin showed me the Chirpify service yesterday and I was immediately intrigued. On the surface, it appears to be a rather clever way of allowing in-stream transactions to occur with Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Essentially, you see a thing you want, you leave a comment (or @reply) with "buy" and it's yours. Is this exploitative of impulse buying? Absolutely! But that doesn't make it an awful thing.

My question is - what level of safety is being guaranteed here? As a buyer, I don't get a sense of being protected from the site. As a seller, I don't really see a downside. Food for thought, for sure.