It may be a new year but the format hasn't changed - another weekly dose of videos for ya. Here's the playlist. Enjoy!
Mannings Plus Cat Quest - maybe you've seen some awesome commercials in your day but this one will now reign supreme above all others. via wiseacre.
Beard Punch - I try to stray from the Beard related content these days but this is too ridiculous to miss. You know what's coming but it's still great when it happens.
Doakes throws Dexter a surprise party - some NSFW language in this 5 second clip but, from what I hear, it's better than the entire last season of the show.
Cat attacks singing card - the ferocity involved with the attack (especially the second one) is the perfect representation of how we all feel when encountering these kinds of cards.
Gymkata - Kurt Thomas is three time world gymnastics champion... and a fighting force not to be messed with. His combination of fighting and gymnastics creates a whole new form of karate - Gymkata. Go ahead and queue up the whole movie for your weekend pleasure. via Joey.
Harrison Ford watches Indy for the First Time - for whatever reason, Harrison Ford has never watched the Indiana Jones films. This video captures him screening the films for the first time. Brought to you by the same quality source as Alien Autopsy and Michael Jackson's Ghost videos.
Green Goblin Makeup Test - turns out the Willem Dafoe Green Goblin from the 2002 Spider-man could have looked a lot more like the comic book version. In proper nerd lamenting style, I wish it had gone this way.
Conspiracy Theory Rock - a 1998 Robert Smigel TV Funhouse that only aired once and has been removed from all later airings. While it's certainly not Ace & Gary style funny, it is phenomenal that this was ever put on TV. Glad it found a new home online.
Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy - best known for his work in The Mighty Boosh, Noel Fielding has his own sketch comedy show coming up on E4. I'll reserve judgment until I've seen it but I'm fairly confident it's going to be beyond weird. Maybe Richard Ayoade can be the balancing force of sanity without Julian Barratt but it's unlikely.
Chevy Cocaine Bopp - take the cocaine snorting of Chevy Chase in Modern Problems, combine it with some freestyle dancing and - viola! - Internet gold.
If history were to repeat itself, today would mark the launch of a new Whiskerino - the online beard growing contest that I curated from 2003 through 2010. However, at the end of the last competition I decided that the whole thing had run its course. I still feel this way and don't regret my decision. I loved all the creativity and the friendship but the whole thing got too big for its proverbial britches. However, there are those that don't agree with this thinking and feel that Whiskerino should live on.
With that in mind, take a moment to check out the Whiskerino Memorial Classic; a scaled down version of Whiskerino being powered by Tumblr and curated by Andrew Schmidt. This introduction gives you the whole rundown on how the new iteration works. I'm not involved at all but have always felt that if someone wanted another Whiskerino to happen bad enough, they'd find a way. It appears that Andrew has taken that thought and run with it. I'll keep on eye on the whole thing and make sure it doesn't besmirch the original contests "good" name but I've total faith that they'll run a tight ship over there. And, hopefully, cultivate the kind of creativity and friendships that the original embodied.
Here is this weeks playlist, watch it on VHX! Some readers have written in and stated that Friday Videos no longer work within Google Reader once I switched to the new VHX system. This is incredibly unfortunate but, sadly, not something that can be fixed by anyone but Google - since they have to "whitelist" an iframe to work within Reader. Such is the pain of early adoption. My apologies to those of you getting this in Reader but VHX is all kinds of compliant with browsers, mobile devices, etc - so just click this link to watch the videos!
Bill Gates Leaps Over Chair - Connie Chung, Bill Gates and an absolutely ridiculous physical challenge. Phenomenal.
Car Jump Rope - yep, it's a car jumping rope. Nope, I can't believe it either.
Patrick Swayze PBR Commercial (1979) - the last thing you likely equate with PBR is Patrick Swayze and Disco Dancing - until now! You can put the video on repeat and have the best day of your life.
Tiny Legs of Fire - a compilation of random videos from Doug Bayne - featuring, among many great things, BeardSlap. Some of it is a bit gruesome and/or work inappropriate but that's more of a quality seal of approval in my mind than anything else.
Big Cat Halloween - what happens when you give large jungle cats a bunch of pumpkins to play with? They behave exactly as you'd expect a housecat to act - they have a blast. Maybe you've seen this one (Since it's from 2010 and has almost 2 million views) but it's still a playful romp.
The Adventures of TinTin - an unofficial opening title sequence for the forthcoming movie. I know nothing about the film, the books or the world of TinTin but this an incredible piece of motion graphics work.
RBMA World Tour 2011 - a myriad of musical styles provide the soundtrack to this immersive animation. The stop motion stuff is my favorite but I fully appreciate all the other styles worked together. Be sure to check out the Behind the Scenes stuff as well - "impressive" just doesn't seem to properly sum it up.
Brad Pitt Ping-Pong - I watched the entirety of this 3:17 video more than once. It's incredibly ridiculous and only made more perfect with its lighthearted soundtrack.
BONUS
Cat vs Hair Dryer - you may feel a bit saddened to learn that the cat is blind but I'd still take the bet that you'll easily laugh aloud seeing the cat attack the warm air.
Stella Artois 9 Step - you'd think a four and a half minute video describing the proper steps to pour a glass of Stella Artois wouldn't be that entertaining but here's proof that it can be done.
It's October so, for me, it marks the time for another installment of my Halloween mix. After seven years of making these it becomes increasingly difficult to compile a quality batch of songs actually about Halloween so I've gone with a more atmospheric vibe, sort of like last year. But I digress...
I present Endless Hell, the Halloween 2011 mix intended to created a crazed, spooky, gloomy vibe. I highly recommend the Single MP3 or M4A mix as there is some actual blending going on that I think benefits the whole immersive vibe.
Idiot's Guide to Viewport and Media Queries - not a ton here you probably don't already know but it's good to make sure you've got the basics down before diving into the advanced. It definitely taught me a thing or two about the possibilities and robustness of media queries that I did not realize were possible.
Firefox 7 - I think Firefox 6 just came out last month but they're really rolling them out with extreme speed now. I actually really love the reasoning behind it from Johnathan Nightingale, Director of Firefox Engineering:
The push to ship faster isn’t some kind of software machismo. We push ourselves to ship faster because the web is under threat. Amazing and innovative people are doing amazing and innovative things and right now they have a choice: build for the web, or build for the walled gardens. The web can win that fight.
Well played Firefox.
Comments: Worthwhile Insight into Technical Topics
Darren Holt, aka Ned Kelly, has plenty to see up on his photostream. Aside from a load of great photographs, he is also sharing a number of his drawings. He is, without a doubt, an incredibly talented guy. If you need reminding of where you may have heard that name before - just check his Whiskerinoarchives.
Remember this Kickstarter that sought to digitize old wood type fonts? Well, they received funding and their first set of typographic offerings are available for procurement at the Wood Type Revival. I'm partial to Gothic Open Shaded but there are several available worth perusing.
Everyone in our company is super creative. Most of the men have beards and the women joke about how lonely they are. Last week, Karen, our producer, said that she saw a pacifier on the sidewalk and burst into tears. I know that doesn’t sound like a very good joke, but the way Karen said it made everyone laugh really hard. I don’t even think we noticed Karen walk away. One of us was just all of a sudden like, “Hey! Where’s Karen?”
That's just but one gem of a countless many contained within the posting. Fortunately I don't ever really encounter people with this personality but I know they exist and I'm happy to steer clear.
For those of you that come here because of some familiarity with Whiskerino or Moustache May you are, undoubtedly, familiar with the undertakings of mOtke Dapp and Paul Armstrong (wiseacre). They, along with many other talented folk, have a film production company called Fighting with Forks. They've done a number of quality short films and are taking on a new full-length this summer called The Many Monsters of Sadness (you can watch a teaser here).
Long story short, they need some help to reach their production goal and have started a Kickstarter Campaign to, hopefully, get them there. They are a quality crew of folks and, assuming you have a few extra dollars, it'd be great if you could help them out.
The concept behind the freshly launched Everyday app is extremely simple - take a picture of yourself every day. The introductory video is pretty amusing and just a little bit bizarre; well worth a watch even if you've no interest in the app. While I've no personal interest in creating a repository of images of myself (i've done itbefore) I think the app appeals to peoples most narcissistic sensibilities.. which means the likelihood of it being a popular app is incredibly high.
Designer and movie aficionado Sam Smith has been running down his Top Ten Movies of 2010 by designing unique posters for each film... sort of a tribute to the films he loved. The designs run a wide gamut and it seems like he tossed them together in a short amount of time but when it hits.. it hits well. I love the Bluebeard, Black Swan, Never Let Me Go and, especially, the honorable mention of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives entries. I highly recommend adding the whole blog to your reader of choice; consistently good stuff.
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: I enjoy updates from my actual friends but it's hard to top the absurdity provided by: @UtilityLimb, @Cat_Fancy and @YourAuntDiane #nonsense
Comments: Friday Videos - Jan 6th, 2012