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Video: museum home of Oddities' Ryan Matthew Cohn

David Pescovitz — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:11:08 +0000

The always-excellent Midnight Archive visits artist and Oddities host Ryan Matthew Cohn and his massive collection of skulls, shrunken heads, and other curiosities.

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HOWTO survive an elephant charge

David Pescovitz — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:01:18 +0000

And if you don't know, now you know.…

Cory's Berlin talk: "It's not a fax machine connected to a waffle iron"

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 11 May 2013 04:00:53 +0000

Here's the video of "It's not a fax machine connected to a waffle iron," the talk I gave at the Re:publica conference in Berlin this week: "Lawmakers treat the Internet like it's Telephone 2.0, the Second Coming of Video on Demand, or the World's Number One Porn Distribution Service, but it's really the nervous system of the 21st Century. Unless we stop the trend toward depraved indifference in Internet law, making – and freedom – will die."

re:publica 2013 - Cory Doctorow: It's not a fax machine connected to a waffle iron

Pedals: music video about musical effects pedals

David Pescovitz — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:45:04 +0000

BB pal Scott Matthews points us to Jack Conte's "Pedals," a terrific celebration of music gear (and robots). The lyrics:

Hog Pog Vox Wah Ocatave Multiplexer Big Muff Memory Man Boss Chromatic Tuner Polyphase MicroSynth Frequency Analyzer Voice Box Electric Mistress Freeze Tube Zipper

Check out the behind-the-scenes video below!

Video of recursive hand illusions

David Pescovitz — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:24:25 +0000

"Screengrab" by Willie Witte.… "None of the visuals are computer generated. All the trickery took place literally in front of the camera."

Video about Judith, the strange pregnant "barbie doll" from 1992

David Pescovitz — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:04:28 +0000

Attaboy of Hi-Fructose Magazine started a new video series called "They Actually Made That!" to showcase strange toys from history. This episode is about Judith, a pregnant Barbie knock-off, complete with spring-loaded baby. And if you really want your own Judith to play with, here you go!

Celebrate Herbie Hancock's birthday with Rockit! (1984)

David Pescovitz — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:04:28 +0000

I posted this several years ago, but as it's Herbie Hancock's 72nd birthday today, so let's celebrate by watching Herbie Hancock and friends perform Rockit at the 1984 Grammy Awards. That's Grand Mixer D.S.T. scratching on the B-side of Fab Five Freddy's "Change The Beat."

Some Rollins

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:08:01 +0000

JWZ, who has seen Henry Rollins "do his spoken word thing once a year since around 1912," has rounded up… about an hour's worth of YouTube clips of some truly great Rollins rants for your Sunday viewing pleasure.

Short video about latte portrait artist

David Pescovitz — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:42:17 +0000

NYC barista Mike Breach paints milk portraits in lattes.…

Human bodies mercilessly jiggled by gravity at 2000fps [NSFW]

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:32:34 +0000

LA video artist Michael Haussman recorded human bodies bouncing up and down at 2000 fps, synching the camera to the movement so that the people appear to be standing still while gravity mercilessly attempts to separate their meat from their bones. Add in some spooky music and it's like watching someone in the first stages of being torn to shreds by angry, invisible poltergeists.

This slow motion study reveals the shocking effects of gravity upon our body. What is normally missed in the blink of an eye, is poetically recorded in extreme slow motion, as gravity takes hold and pulls the body down to earth, causing the skin, cellulite, muscles and facial expression to sag down, with a weariness, as if the subject has suddenly aged thirty years. It appears like a special effect, the force ripples from the legs up, turning the body wrinkled and saggy, with a worn, older face that is defeated and depressed. Then the exact opposite effect and emotion overcomes the subject as they are made weightless and set free. We observe the body becoming youthful, rejoicing in it’s expression and flawless skin texture, as it sores away from the earth. All physical and emotional expressions seem to float effortlessly upward in a positive, beautiful direction.

GRAVITY by MICHAEL HAUSSMAN (Thanks, James!)

Video of Obama's shape-shifting alien secret service

David Pescovitz — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:14:31 +0000

A shape-shifting extraterrestrial was on President Obama's security detail during his APIAC speech on Sunday. Above is video evidence. And once you have been convinced, you may want to visit the video's YouTube page for valuable information about Jesus, Satan, cures for Cancer, and that "smoking is of the devil." "OBAMA ALIEN demon UFO ghost 666 devil SECRET SERVICE"

CNN's coverage of the 2003 Iraq invasion, time-lapsed

David Pescovitz — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:59:49 +0000

Ten years ago this week, the US invaded Iraq and experimental filmmaker Bob Jaroc started a month-long recording of CNN that he later time-lapsed. The resulting stream of past current events, seen above, appeared on the 2006 collaborative album/DVD Jaroc released with electronic music duo Plain, titled "Greedy Baby," and in Plaid's live shows.

Django Django video for "WOR"

Amy Seidenwurm — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:15:47 +0000

We featured Django Django's first single over a year ago. The record came out in the U.S. in October and is still going strong. "WOR" is their 7th video from their self-titled debut, and is a mesmerizing peek into the lives of daredevils drivers at a fair in Allahabad.

Go see the band live - they're fun, charming,extremely talented and have the biggest tambourine you've ever seen. I highly recommend it - tour dates here.

Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace live DJ sets: "f-ing bonkers"

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:52:34 +0000

Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich are launching the debut album for Atoms for Peace with a special series of DJ sets in NYC, London, and Berlin.

The sets will be much more than just two guys with two turntables and a microphone, and will involve live generative visual art, live drum machine programming— they sound like they'll really be something special.

From Rolling Stone:

The performance will also feature dynamic visuals designed by Dutch artist Tarik Barri. "That's fucking bonkers," says Yorke. "It's not like anything else."

Funny French toilet paper TV commercial

David Pescovitz — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:13:13 +0000

Clever TV commercial for Le Trèfle toilet paper by the Leo Burnett ad agency. (Thanks, David Steinberg!)…

Politely refusing to talk to DHS checkpoints

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:16:53 +0000

Hugh sez, "Apparently DHS checkpoints nowhere near the border are a new thing. This video cuts together recordings of such encounters and citizens' polite refusal to answer questions."

Top quote: "Am I being detained?"

Checkpoints (some would say illegal checkpoints) have been popping up quite frequently in the USA. As you see in this video, you DO NOT have to comply with their question's or demands. Don't forget, you have rights.

Top DHS checkpoint refusals (Thanks, Hugh!)

Weekly Wipe: Charlie Brooker shreds TV

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:12:44 +0000

I somehow missed the fact that Charlie "Black Mirror" Brooker's brilliant, sweary, hilarious show Weekly Wipe had returned for a third season. It's the latest iteration of several different Brooker projects in which he sits on his sofa and shouts at his TV in the most amazingly entertaining way. Huge whacks of it are on YouTube, and every episode is pure glod (and oh, God, the bits where he reads awful online comments about bad TV moments aloud!).

Weekly Wipe

Noise rocker Brian Chippendale uses his childhood drawings for music video

David Pescovitz — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:16:41 +0000

Noise rock drummer/artist Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt) made a video for his current musical project Black Pus by animating flip-book comics he drew in middle school. The new Black Pus album, "All My Relations," will be released on March 19 from Thrill Jockey.

Soviet TV advertisements from the 1970s and 1980s

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:11:21 +0000

Here's 53 minutes' worth of Soviet commercials from the 1970s and 1980s, produced by what's billed as the USSR's sole advertising agency:

In 1967, Estonia was founded the creative association "Reklamfilm Estonian / Eesti reklaamfilm" - the only one at that time in the Soviet Union studio, specialized in production kinoteleradioreklamy and "representational" commercials on the orders of the enterprises of trade, industry, services and amenities, colleges, vocational schools , traffic police and other organizations in the Soviet Union, this company for the production of television commercials was the work of a new and at that time quite bold. But among Estonian documentary was a very energetic person - Eedu Ojamaa. It was he who was able to implement such a complex idea in the USSR State Committee for Cinematography. "Estonian Reklamfilm" soon became the largest advertising company of the Soviet Union. He released a year nearly 350 commercials, and also created a lot of documentaries. The company has been amended in Leningrad and Moscow and Riga branch of executed orders for the Union. Among the customers were and Finnish companies. Until 1992, the "Estonian Reklamfilm" took more than 6,000 commercials and movies.
It is clear that under socialism, the absence of private ownership and competition television advertising had a slightly different look and pursued a very different purpose. The director, advertisers still did not have the strict limits and constraints, which are now exhibited customers promotional TV program. So they used all their creativity to create a bright memorable quality product.
For objective reasons, most subjectively and commercials, produced by the company, did not survive. This anthology - a collection of the private collection of Harry Egipta - a former director and screenwriter "Estonian Reklamfilma", called his colleagues "Norshtein advertising" for unusual associative moments in his work similar to the work of the author of "Hedgehog in the Fog". Credo Egipta in television commercials - catchy individual style fast in those days "video clip" assembly, original music and songs, and of course, beautiful women!

SOVIET ESTONIAN COMMERCIAL (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Constellation Tatsu micro-label's cassette and VHS releases

David Pescovitz — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:43:30 +0000

Constellation Tatsu is a music "micro-label" based in San Luis Obispo, California. San Luis Obispo is nicknamed SLO (for its acronym and lifestyle) which fits rather nicely with Constellation Tatsu's lovely ambient, drone, psychedelic offerings. I also appreciate that they keep prices down and the lo-fi aesthetic up by keeping physical releases relegated to tape, in the form of cassettes and, yes, VHS. Stream everything for free to see what you dig. Then you can order a variety of individual products or combo-packs like the "January Batch" that includes 4 cassettes, 1 VHS tape, and digital downloads of the music for $20. The blown-out, color-drenched clip above is from the duo Looks Realistic's "Where Does It Come From?" audio and video project that's included in the January Batch. Constellation Tatsu's "January Batch" (via OMG Vinyl)

Hello Kitty launched into space by 7th grader

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 04:18:13 +0000

12-year-old Lauren Rojas and her dad, Rod, built a balloon-lofted Hello Kitty space-capsule for her science fair project in Antioch, CA, and launched it 17 miles above the Earth's surface, recording its journey with video cameras and various sensors. The video is spectacular, especially the moments right before and right after the balloon burst and the parachutes deployed.

“We spent about one month planning and executing it,” he said. “We used a company called High Altitude Science in Colorado to get the equipment, the weather balloon and flight computer.”
Lauren and her father mounted small video cameras on their rocket-shaped gondola to record Hello Kitty’s journey. The balloon reached an altitude of 93,625 feet (17.73 miles), Rojas said. There, the air was so thin that the balloon burst, sending Hello Kitty from the sky. It landed in a tree 47 miles from the launch site, according to Rojas.

Girl Launches Hello Kitty Doll Into Space [Katie Kindelan/ABC]

(via IO9)

Ode to Joy performed on broken crockery

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:00:21 +0000

Mennyi made a video in which he performs "Ode to Joy" by kicking broken plates around under an overpass of some kind. I suspect trickery, but in the service of a very good cause.

Shard football: Ode to Joy (Thanks, mennyi!)

Open source ecology explained

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:34:57 +0000

Tristan sez, "Open Source Ecology founder Marcin Jakubowski and the OSE team explain the philosophy behind their work and the open source movement as a whole. We're always looking for remote collaborators to pick up and run with our designs. If you're interested in building or improving on our work, please visit the OSE wiki."

Open Source Philosophy. (Thanks, Tristan!)

Scottie Puppy Pinwheel

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:59:14 +0000

What is a Scottie Pinwheel? Glad you asked. (HT: Joe Sabia)…

Twitter launches video sharing app

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:40:37 +0000

Twitter's just released Vine, a video sharing app designed to make it easy to create and embed short snippets of high-quality, low-bandwidth video on the web. The shortcomings of animated GIFs, and the bloatedness of most web video, leave a poorly-served middle-ground that it intends to fill—but only, for the time being, if you have an iPhone or iPod touch.

Jimmy O'Neill, RIP: Remembering Pandora's Box and the Sunset Strip teen riots

Andrea James — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:56:37 +0000

Last week, deejay Jimmy O'Neill died at his home in West Hollywood at age 73. O'Neill was a central figure in hippie culture, and he got a pretty raw deal from The Man for his efforts. O'Neill was host of the enormously popular teen music show Shindig!, then used his clout to open a nightclub called Pandora's Box on the Sunset Strip and book his favorite acts. This led to massive throngs of teens and traffic on the strip, and soon the killjoys descended. The city hastily enacted a series of loitering and curfew laws targeting teenagers. The footage in this clip from November 12, 1966 shows what happened next.

In what would become a template for youth resistance, young people gathered at Pandora's Box to defy the 10pm curfew. The riots kept growing, and the panicked L.A. City Council quickly moved to condemn and demolish Pandora's Box, which they ultimately did in 1967. The incident inspired many songs, including Buffalo Springfield's anthem “For What It's Worth," often interpreted as an anti-war song. The young people who witnessed this injustice, including Peter Fonda, Phil Proctor, and Jack Nicholson, came away with renewed resolve to fight even bigger political battes.

Televised police chase zips past man recording it on his TV

David Pescovitz — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:45:12 +0000

A fellow was purportedly recording a police chase on TV when the chase went right by his house. In the comments thread on a much longer video of the chase, a commenter says that at 13:05, you can see the fellow looking out his window (screengrab at right).

Beauty of overwrought repair

David Pescovitz — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:32:32 +0000

Industrial design student Paulo Goldstein's "Repair is Beautiful" project is about fixing boring broken products like lamps, headphones, and chairs with unusual bits of detritus such as string, metal odds-and-sodds, and even bone. The results are provocative, beautiful, and gloriously overwrought. "Repair is Beautiful" (Thanks, Jason Tester!)

Quadcopter vs moose

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:55:31 +0000

Espen sez, "Tech-enthusiast Eirik Solheim (@eirikso) at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) was out fooling around with his quad-copter this weekend, and managed to sneak up on a slightly confused moose. The enthusiasm then reached new heights (audio is a must)."

Update: Eirik sez, "I am amused by the fact that people seem to like the quad-moose video so well. Even if they don't understand the enthusiastic commentary track... But it leaves a lot of questions, so I updated my blog with some answers.

Sa hei til intetanende elg med fjernstyrt helikopter (Thanks, Espen!)

Beautifully strange slit-scan video made with $2 Mac app

David Pescovitz — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:41:31 +0000

Trevor Alyn demonstrates the surreality of slit-scan video as created with his Slit-Scan Movie Maker app. (Thanks, Dustin Hostetler!)