Wes Anderson - From Above - a compilation of overhead shots featuring hands from the works of Wes Anderson. Not particularly zany but a delight to watch.
Old Spice - Bounce - I would be perfectly happy if Tim & Eric stopped doing any of their other projects and just directed commercials like this. It's just the right dose of their insanity.
Apple Scotland - Siri - plenty of NSFW cursing and a questionable Scottish accent but I love seeing Gavin McInnes rage.
Megan Amram on Animal Cruelty - this may come across as in extremely poor taste to some but I couldn't help myself.. I laughed and laughed. Nothing is outside the realm of comedy fodder, right?
Space Stallions - I can not fully explain why I enjoy this. Obviously a bit of nostalgia for 80's cartoons but it stays right on that blurry line between mocking the genre and contributing to it. And the animation style is great.
Toast - you probably know Good Neighbor from their streetinterviews but they do other skits as well. I suggest sticking with this one because right when you can't bear the "toasting" anymore - they take it somewhere absurdly out of left field.
Heavy Panting - absolutely nothing special about this video except the fact that it features 45 Saint Bernard dogs out for a walk. I choose to believe they exist in the wild in this capacity.
Have you seen Letterboxd yet? It's basically the GoodReads / Readernaut for film - giving you the ability to create a personal catalog of movies into your choice of lists and sharing those selections with others. I'm going to try and use it to catalog what I watch in 2012, though I fear I'm already forgetting some things.
Anyway, it's a well designed site serving as a nice tool for people that love movies and and organizing things into lists. If you want an invite, hit me up in the comments - I've got 3 left.
Out of invites for now. If I get more, I'll let you know.
Introducing the Station Street Hot Dogs website. One page. Responsive. No music. No Flash. No PDFs. No muss. No fuss.
If you've ever browsed a restaurant's website you are probably familiar with how awful they can be. I think it's likely due to a lack of concern over web traffic when you're busy trying to run a kitchen. Regardless, these guys are doing it right (the pie charts describing the different hot dog styles are brilliant). It's a great design and a trend I'd love to see become more commonplace.
dotjs - a Chrome extension that runs particular javascript files based on the domain you're visiting. i.e. it runs google.com.js when you visit google.com - giving you the ability to manipulate the DOM to your liking; including removing ads or even loading your own stylesheet. Seems like a handy, and particularly nerdy, thing to have at your disposal.
67Signals - Toke posted a link to this satirical burn on 37Signals the other day and it was totally new to me. I'm sure it's meant in a good ribbing nature but it really does seem perfectly scathing.
Leaving Old IE Behind with Media Queries - a clever and tasteful method for serving up sites to people still using older versions of IE. There are plenty of them out there and this tactic seems to combine the best of both worlds - allowing you full use of contemporary coding techniques and serving a perfectly functional no-frills site to those on a legacy browser.
Comments: How am I supposed to title these nerd links?
Remember that Tribute to Drive that came out awhile back? Well, the same folks have a new project under development - Le Meurtre. I've no details on the release of the full short but I'm definitely curious to see it - love the art style and vibe of the unfolding story.
In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of The Princess Bride, the Alamo Drafthouse has unveiled two bottles of wine - "Inconceivable Cab" and "As You Wish White" - from their wine program "The Bottle of Wits." The bottle and packaging design from Helms Workshop is absolutely perfect. Be sure to check the detail screens to really get a sense of how well they incorporated concepts / quotes from the movie into the overall design. All and all, just another reason to be jealous that you don't have an Alamo Drafthouse in your town - I know that's how I feel.
The folks at Nearly Normal have put together a 3-minute papercraft stop-motion animation that's worth having a peek at. The fable-esque story isn't really the key component as much as the amount of detail on the main character is. Plus, it involves a wolf transforming into a man and getting a job in an office - you wanna see that, right?
Has anyone played Paper Monsters from Crescent Moon Games yet? The reviews make it sound like a very traditional platformer - ala Super Mario Bros - that actually gives the mechanics of DS games a run for their money. I'm still not sure how any iOS / Android game could go up against a device with actual buttons but I'm glad to be seeing that more and more level style adventure games are coming out for mobile devices... as opposed to exclusively puzzle games or fixed screen realms. Long story short, my curiosity is piqued.
Feel Good Lost is a video production company with a long list of quality videos on their belt. To celebrate their one year anniversary of creating such goodness they put together a compilation showreel showcasing all the work they've done in the past year. While you certainly don't get the cohesion you'd normally have with one of their videos you do get a smattering of beautiful and inspiring images. Have a look.
The other day I read through this amusing story of how comic writer Chip Zdarsky was approached to write new additional materials for Alan Moore's Watchmen series of graphic novels and how he intentionally screwed it all up. It's a farce, of course, but it's amusing and shows how revered the series is.
Turns out, much to my surprise, DC Comics actually has planned a massive new series of prequels, sequels and mini-series based around the world created from Alan Moore's vision called Before Watchmen. Moore is not involved.
WIRED has an interview with Len Wein; original editor for Watchmen and now editor for Before Watchmen, defending the new series but I don't think there is any level of rationale that will settle the nerd ire around this one. It's easily the equivalent of Episode I - III for the comic book world, minus any level of actual anticipation.
I'm letting my nerd light shine a little heavily on this one but I am a huge fan of the original series - revisiting the world it created 25 years later just feels like a cash grab. I guess nothing is sacred but it'd be nice if something as visionary and impactful as Watchmen could just be left alone to exist as visionary and impactful; not just the jumping off point for a potential mediocre empire of books. That being said, I'm likely going to buy a few out of morbid curiosity...
There is never any argument that advertising in Japan is off the wall but you have to wonder if it got there gradually or if something snapped along the way and it all hit at once. With this Vintage Japanese Advertising set on Flickr we can at least surmise that their more daring take on things has been around since at least the 1930's. Don't get me wrong, it's not an admonishment in the slightest - it's captivating and inspiring in so many ways.
If you ever needed an example of how Javascript and new browser technologies are taking over the web, look no further than Seriously JS. The site features realtime green screen video substitution (on an OK Go video) via WebGL and is one of the more impressive displays I've seen in awhile. At least worth a quick peek to click through the video filters.
There is no shortage of compelling and inspiring photography in the photostream of Magnificent Ruin. Personally, I'm drawn to these chaotic posterrips and signexcerpts - of which there is an abundance of material to see. Seriously, dive into this stuff - you don't want to miss gems like this.
If you're in the giving mood this morning you may want to check out this Kickstarter project for a proposed quarterly publication called Distance. Every three months three authors will tackle different tech based subjects and dig into a 3,000 - 5,000 word longform article about the "whys" of design, UI, UX, coding, etc. The project has actually already reached its intended goal but the first issue looks so compelling that you may want to go ahead and chip in a few dollars to pre-order it anyway. Go check it out.
Yea, posting links to BuzzFeed isn't exactly the cutting edge of web discovery but their Behind the Scenes gallery on the Kitten Halftime Show from Animal Planet's yearly Puppy Bowl is too adorable of a treat to be missed.
Every time I hit up the Google Web Fonts repository I am overwhelmed with the choices - 90% of which feel incredibly amateur, sloppy or just too kitschy for their own good. Fortunately, Beautiful Web Type helps to clear up where some of the finest choices can stm from - Vollkorn, Lato, Gravitas One and Abril Fatface are among the beauties being showcased and you really can't deny how great they look in their context. Maybe it's time to revisit Google Web Fonts after all...
Comments: Beautiful Web Type: Best of Google web fonts
CSS3 Properties to Handle Text and Word Wrapping - forget what you think you know about "word-wrap" - it's out! Read through this article to find out all the great techniques associated with the forthcoming spec for "text-wrap." With Chrome, Firefox and (new) IE auto-updating these days it doesn't seem like we'll even have to wait that long before we can start deploying it.
New Web Typography - you heard of OpenType? Not quite sure what it means for the web? Well, this article clears that up for ya. Small Caps, Ligatures, Kerning, Fractions and more are all on the way to be standard.
Thanks to a handy heads up over at Country Life I went to check out the Arcade Museum at Game Galaxy. It's not often that I get a chance to visit a dying mall in the suburbs that just so happens to have an absolutely thriving arcade; much less two of them. Maybe I'm being over nostalgic but there's a rich history to arcades and it'd be a damn shame if they went extinct. As a bonus, I snapped this pic from the excursion and I can't stop staring at it. Score.
Had the pleasure of seeing The Artist over the weekend - somewhat due to its recent Oscar nomination but mostly out of curiosity if a modern day silent film could prove to be legitimately entertaining; not just novelty. If you're unfamiliar, go watch the trailer to get a sense of the melodramatic but whimsical tone of the film. I would think the lack of dialogue combined with contemporary short attention spans (thanks Internet!) would make this feel incredibly slow paced but, turns out, it had my full attention the entire time - possibly requiring more of me because it was silent. Obviously I'm not alone in my adoration of the film but it does no harm to chime in and throw one more recommendation in the ring - go see this.
And if you're a filmmaker; consider embracing something as outlandish as making a silent film in 2011 - maybe the Talkie didn't win out afterall.
Pretty clever campaign over here for the Shillington School (of Graphic Design). I'm a sucker for hand drawn type - particularly depictions of familiar typefaces and the Comic Sans repetition is worth a small chuckle to get your day going.
While I can't personally attest to how well it actually works the mindset behind Groupshot is stellar. Basically it's an iOS photo merging app that lets you selectively choose faces from a number of photos to create the ultimate, perfectly posed, photo. I imagine anyone with a family, particularly small children, would find this to be a rather convenient way to create the perfect image... though there's something to be said for the amusement of a kid acting up in a photo when you look back at it 20 years later.
The fine folks at Dinevore have something new up their collective sleeves over at Wander. It's not entirely clear what it actually is yet but the two pages I've seen from it are so well put together (not to mention entertaining and playful) that I can't help but be intrigued. Maybe go reserve your username?
Plenty of videos in this weeks playlist but the majority are all pretty short - so you get a quick blast of humor. I am sure you'll enjoy.
"Let's Dance" - I don't want to spoil the surprise but lets just say that I'm indebted to Lee for the magic that is RockerClogger.
Coming Soon - Ferris Bueller 2? Some sort of Superbowl promotional something or other? I guess we find out Feb 5th.
Ball Boy Catch - nailed it. "Everybody's on their game."
No No Thom Yorke - you will never hear Radiohead the same again.
Kaylee Blowing out the Candle - basically it's the new David After Dentist but, who cares, it's adorable and hysterical. The entire time.
Kramer + Skrillex - whatever your thoughts on Skrillex are irrelevant because you can't deny how perfect this blend is.
Wastelander Panda Prologue - "The tale of the last remaining panda in a post-apocalyptic wasteland." This is actually the prologue to a legitimate TV series in development. Guess who'll be watching that one?
Romantic Saxophone (HD) - Crudely animated birds? Check. Terrible Water Ripple Effect? Check. Scantily clad woman playing a saxophone? Got it. Favorite thing ever? You betcha.
My buddy Blake recently served as Director of Photography on the short film The Arm - directed by Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos and Jessie Ennis. Not only was it accepted to Sundance but it won Best Comedic Direction in a Short. Now it's up for this Yahoo! Best of Sundance award. While I'm not usually one for caring much about online voting, this could do nothing but help out a friend and it's entertaining to watch. So, I'm asking you to head over here, watch the short and scroll down to vote it in to win.
ArcText.js - want your text to bend on a slight arc but don't want to use a PNG? Deploy ArcText javascript and you're good to go.
A better way to use icon fonts - I'm a big fan of the proliferation of Icon Fonts these days but Eric Eggert has some great insight into how to deploy them even better than what most are suggesting. It's even super friendly to screen readers. Score.
I am pleased to announce that today marks the official release of the first new music from Uncle Skeleton since his May 2010 record, Warm Under the Covers. This new track / single, "Sophisticuffs", is the first track from the forthcoming double-LP All Too Human - planned for release on my little label. You can snag the four tracks over on Bandcamp or just preview them with the player above.
Many thanks to Burgers for the remix, John Baldwin for the mastering and, of course, Ross for the music.
If you're in the Nashville area, please come out tonight to the Mercy Lounge to see ole Uncle Skeleton play.
You might think you've no interest in a commercial for Japanese department store Sunshine Sakae but when you hear that it's directed by Michel Gondry you will watch it immediately... and love it. His unmistakable style is perfect here.
I'm mystified by this photography set, Intersections, from Alessandro Puccinelli. Even though it is described as a work-in-progress collection I find myself poring over each image - the delineation between ocean and sky being incredibly difficult at times. Absolutely lovely.
Really enjoying these mosaic style works from Tim Biskup. He's actually got a nice variety of style throughout his portfolio but I like the "simplification" that's going on with the geometric pieces. Plus, he tackles pop cultureentities for some of his work; bonus!
Excellent 2011 Annual Report from the folks at Warby Parker. Aside from being a pleasant layout with simple sliding animations there's a dense amount of information packed into each page. I love the timeline along the bottom - keeping track of milestones (legitimate or ridiculous) is a practice we should all maintain.
Take a few minutes today to test your eye for color by playing through Color - a six step game that runs through Hue, Saturation, Complementary, Analogous, Ternary and Quaternary colors. If you're not familiar with some of those words then maybe this is a good place for you to start. There's even a Color Blind Assist mode if you're in the 7%.
Did you know that every second there is one hour of video uploaded to YouTube? If you're having trouble visualizing just how much video that is, check out One Hour Per Second; a little promotional site to put things in perspective. Even if you're not having a hard time wrapping your head around that idea, make sure to visit the site as it's a wonderfully illustrated, animated, impressive bit of non-Flash eyecandy.
I bet it's been awhile since you thought about anything LOMO related. With the widespread proliferation of cameras in phones, and the manipulation apps that come with them, it's easy to forget about the world of haphazard analog film that they created. Their latest foray back into your mind is the LomoKino; a 35mm powered movie maker and it's LomoKinoScope viewing buddy. The results it creates are pretty great - very much so in the style of what you'd expect from anything Lomography related and just outside the reach of what I've seen any apps capable of doing. Plus, you actually keep the results if your harddrive crashes. Doubtful that the $99 pricetag is going to make it something everyone runs out to obtain but it's nice to see that they're still fighting the good fight.
CodeKit - looks to be a pretty slick application for managing projects, compiling all sorts of nu-tech like Less or Coffeescript and optimizing images. Potentially a one-stop shop for getting a project underway. via Madrid.
OSX in CSS - while it doesn't do much you have to admit that this creation of OSX almost entirely with CSS3 is pretty impressive.
Bootstrap 2 on the horizon - the new version of the Twitter developed framework is on the horizon (Jan 31st). I'm committed to building at least one project with this finally; looks to be even better the second go around.
Looks like the folks at Vimeo have a new design and if you want to give it a test drive you just need to steer yourself over here and click the big button. You'll be signed up to the tester list and get a dose of screens showcasing the new pages.
Justin Ouellette is a man of many worthwhile projects. His blog points out that one such recent project was working on 'Robot and Frank' - the feature film debut from Jake Schreier. Justin designed all the fictional user interfaces that appear on screen - TV's, cellphones, tablets, etc. A dream job if there ever was one.
EW has an inside look at the film; including four clips that showcase the relationship between Frank and his new robot housekeeper (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard). The film looks great and will, hopefully, make its way to a theatre near us all soon.
I know I mentioned the photography work of Garmonique some time ago but if you haven't been following along, you've been missing out. Gems like this are hard not to immediately love but if that's not up your alley surely there is somethingyou'lllove tucked in there.
How Much Do Music And Movie Piracy Really Hurt The U.s. Economy?
Great article from Freaknomics about the truth behind piracy numbers. The whole SOPA/PIPA debate opens up some serious thought about piracy - a concept that you can't really debate is good. However, the supporters of the bill (and, esp. the lobbyists) make the claim that $250 billion per year is being lost to piracy; Freakonomics refutes that rather deftly. Apparently it's closer to $58 billion - not a minuscule amount by any means but a far cry from the proposed loss. It's a quick read and an excellent starting point for further discussion of the issue.
Comments: How Much Do Music And Movie Piracy Really Hurt The U.s. Economy?
Seems like there has been more than a little backlash when it comes to Google's new social results. So much backlash, in fact, that engineers from Twitter, Facebook and Myspace got together and made Focus on the User; a bookmarklet script that grabs the most pertinent social media information and replaces the, usually, irrelevant Google+ listings. The walkthrough video explains it with great simplicity. While I don't see myself actually using the tool I can't disagree with the point that they're making - there is a lot of trust when using Google to get the best results (and, usually, results are legit) but their pushing Google+ pages over more relevant results like Twitter or Facebook is not a good way to treat their enormous user base. Sure, it's their prerogative to do whatever they want with search results but if the benefit of the end user really is the end goal, they'd embrace true social results.
GridPak - handy tool to create responsive grids with break points as you see fit. Actually very well and useful if you're willing to put in the time to tinker with it.
HTML5 Please - ever wonder what new markup you can and can not use? Well, this insightful list should do the trick in answering all those questions. Box-Reflection is out for the time being and position: fixed seems like it's OK to implement. You'd be surprised at the number of tags listed here that you've never heard of.
If you haven't run across this article on io9 yet, take a moment to cruise over there and wholeheartedly agree with their headline statement: "This no-budget science fiction short looks better than most movies." Okay, maybe that's a bit much but Archetype does look incredibly good; especially for a project done in freetime. The creator, Aaron Sims, has a long history of working with special effects and plans to flesh the short out into a full-length. I'd watch it.
Famous Photographers Pose With Their Iconic Images
Check out this short-but-sweet gallery of images of Famous Photographers posing with their Iconic Images. It's always interesting to see the person behind the camera that is responsible for creating powerful images - often because they look exactly the opposite of what you'd expect (see: Karen Kuehn). It's a pleasant surprise and some worthwhile praise is due for those creating such impactful visions.
Comments: Famous Photographers Pose With Their Iconic Images
Pictos recently launched their own Font Server service - ala Typekit - that lets you take advantage of using their servers to bear the brunt of any server load that may come from using a custom @font-face look. However, they took it two steps further. One, no Javascript required. Two, the icon font they are offering has 650 icons that you can mix and match into any keyboard combination you want - excluding any extras that you know won't be needed. Given that icon fonts are only going to integrate their way into the standard of web deployment I can't see this as anything except a great idea.
Beating Borders: The Bane of Responsive Layout - great writeup on how to properly use borders in your CSS. Sure, you think it's as simple as making sure your math accounts for the proper width of the box + border but it gets, surprisingly, more in-depth than that. Very handy info to have in the ole noggin.
Better Tabs with Rounded Corners - really nice proof of concept using an unordered list and loads of psuedo elements to create a great looking tab navigation system. Could CSS Tricks be any better of a site? Answer: no.
yewknee: yoo·ne: n. a. imaginary word with absolutely no literal meaning but an extremely nerdy etymology.
b. Personal website of Nashville resident Michael Eades; freelance web designer and developer, record label experimenter, We Own This Town curator and a man with his hand in many pies.
Currently: Streaming the new AIR album. Today is a good day indeed. http://t.co/44FZ3e91
Comments: Friday Videos - Feb 3rd, 2012