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We Own This Town: Volume 53

It's that time again, another installment of the We Own This Town podcast. If you are, somehow, unfamiliar with this creation that I've been involved with for the past few years - it's a compilation of the latest and greatest music from around the Nashville area as skewed through the lens of my own personal interest. That is to say, it's a bunch of rock, indie, electronic, folk, etc songs all mashed up into a half hour for you to enjoy. So, please enjoy.

Modern Zamanlar

Admittedly, I haven't watched Modern Zamanlar in its entirety yet but I'm super intrigued by the look of it and the description from Vimeo:

Aykut Alp Ersoy has us pegged all of us. “Modern Zamanlar” is a short but potent critique of our 21st-century love affair with constant connectivity or the illusion of it, anyway.

At the very least, add it to your favorite queue for enjoyment at a later time.

The Exquisite Corpse Project

The Exquisite Corpse Project really is a different kind of film:

A documentary about five comedians who are challenged to each write 15 minutes of a movie, after having read only the previous five pages of the script.

You get a good glimpse at the weirdness of the actual movie and the frustration of the writers when watching the trailer. I can only imagine that the film that was created in the undertaking is very bizarre but having it all wrapped in the story of the creation of the actual piece is kind of brilliant. Definitely one to keep an eye out for - watch this spot or this page for proper updates.

Handy Tools for Friday Development

• FixieJS - need dummy content? Fixie takes care of that. Include the javascript, add a "fixie" class to the desired target and you're ready to roll. Get it? Roll? Bicycles. Definitely handy.
• Chrome User-Agent Switcher - spoofing the user-agent isn't always the best way to test cross browsers but it is a convenient technique. I probably should have had this installed for awhile but better late than never...

Amazon Studios Original Content

Do you have an idea for a TV series that you're sure could be fleshed out into something grander but don't have the connections to get into the Hollywood system? Might be time to check out Amazon Studios Series - a new undertaking where new, original, content is being developed for Amazon Instant Video. They're actually offering $10k for script development (if selected) and $55k for series production - maybe not the world's greatest budgets but seems like the sort of thing that would be hugely beneficial to get in on the ground floor with. Pretty cool to see Amazon looking to compete in the digital video realm with new legit content.

Friday Videos - April 27th, 2012

I've been super busy this week but thanks to VHX (and Paul's relentless goodness), we've got a quality round of videos this week. Enjoy the playlist and the videos above.

• Car Ride Blows Cat's Mind - I am almost 100% sure I've seen this before but every time I view it, I laugh hysterically. So it's okay. Sometimes revisiting classics is a good thing.
• Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Roller Skating - another enjoyable intentionally low budget commercial from Rhett and Link. As usual, they nailed it.
• Crown Crust Burger from Pizza Hut - Pizza Hut's new "Royal Masterpiece." This is one of those horrible concoctions that gets us one step closer to Idiocracy's version of Fuddruckers.
• 2 Days of Automatic Cat Feeder - why this cat is going bonkers against the auto cat feeder is beyond me but I was crying laughing while watching him do so. I totally lost it during the cat fight at the end.
• Gaz Coombes - Hot Fruit - from the forthcoming new Gaz solo record. The video is pretty crazy but the song is something I think everyone will enjoy.
• The Avengers 1978 Movie Promo - remember when The Avengers came out in 1978? Yea, it was just like this. Complete with KISS, Paul Lynde and the most hysterical looking Iron Man. Seriously.
• Go Right - classical music set to a load of videogame characters doing what they do best; running right. via Mikesell.
• Pbtfbthbpbpthbp - the video description reads "We had access to a slow motion camera for an hour, wanted to put it to good use." Well done guys.
• Kung Fu Farting - easily the most infantile thing I've ever posted on a Friday Video compilation and, possibly, the entirety of yewknee's history.

Have a great weekend!

Robert D. Junior

There's a good deal of worthwhile photography to see from Robert D. Junior in his portfolio but I'd like to point out taking note of his forthcoming book You Will Live Forever. The description is such: "Junior's first book takes focus on desolation within the various metropolitan cities he has visited." Desolation in an urban setting captured in grainy black and white photography? Sold!

Jordi Huisman

Some phenomenal collections of work from Jordi Huisman over on his official site and photostream. This Irasshaimase! series was particularly compelling given the accompanying description and who in their right mind is going to try to deny this image?! So good.

HT Hey, PLOTWATCB.

We Own This Town: Volume 52

The last We Own This Town podcast came out in mid-February. Here it is mid-April and I'm just getting into putting together another volume. Shame on me! Not because the delay wasn't warranted - I really have been busy - but because there's been a ton of great music released in the Nashville area in the interim that should be heard. I've already got Volume 53 halfway done and am promising myself not to be so negligent moving forward.

Featuring: Meadownoise, PUJOL, The Echo Group, imagine asians, Cherub, Uncle Skeleton, Melody Map, Quichenight, All Them Witches, n o i, Makeup and Vanity Set

Monday Morning Nerding Out

• Jmpress.js - create some pretty nice 3D effects with this javascript bundle. The demo throws everything at you at once, so it's a bit much but you can imagine using 1 or 2 transitions tastefully to spruce up a site.
• Primer CSS - dump in your page markup and this little tool with extract all the ID's and classes for you into a startup CSS document. Assuming you tackle your markup first, could be super handy.
• Nielsen is wrong on mobile - Josh Clark has a great take on how Jakob Nielsen's thoughts on the mobile world are incorrect. This made the rounds heavily last week so you probably saw it but, in case you haven't, take time to read it thoroughly. He's dead on the mark.

Thursday Code Dump

• Meteor - a pure javascript API used for building web apps. The bullet list of features is impressive and the code itself seems pretty straightforward. You probably want to watch the Getting Started Screencast or, at the very least, look at some examples.
• Ziptastic - a simple API to send a zipcode and receive back County, State and City because, frankly, why do you have to enter those fields once you enter your zipcode? This is simply brilliant and I hope to see some sort of across-the-board browser wide integration of the same sort of thinking as we move forward.
• The Current State of HTML5 Forms - the form experts at Wufoo give a rundown of browser support for new html5 input types and attributes. It's nerdy but kind of essential information.
• zxcvbn: password estimator - the folks at Dropbox want your data to be more secure. So Dan Wheeler came up with zxcvbn, an easy-to-integrate password strength meter. The writeup on the thinking behind it is fascinating but the example is bonkers to watch dissect password choices.