May 24, 2007
"PLANET UNICORN" HEY!
"Planet Unicorn" is a funny online animated comedy series. It is so ... well, you just have to see it and complete the sentence yourself.
Domo arigato to Kate L. for the tip!
Posted by Supercore at 01:28 AM
May 22, 2007
"Cave Rulz" Episode 1
What happens when a group of Flash developers and programmers in the interactive department of a major global advertising agency's New York office release pent-up creativity in the form of an episodic video comedy series about their work area? "Cave Rulz" ... that's what happens!
Posted by Supercore at 11:16 PM
May 18, 2007
Video: A Tiger Attacks a Man on an Elephant ...
Wicked! Poor dude on the elephant.
Domo arigato to Jon G. for the linkage.
Posted by Supercore at 08:47 PM
May 14, 2007
Shilpa Shetty Film Premieres in London
From low-brow to high-brow, from Celebrity Big Brother to independent cinema, from launching a curry house chain to launching a perfume, 31-year-old Bollywood movie star Shilpa Shetty has transformed her new global fame swiftly and shrewdly. This weeked witnessed the premiere of new Indian film, "Life in a Metro," in which Shetty plays a neglected homemaker in contemporary India. The movie is a chance for Shetty to showcase her legitimate acting talents to a wider audience. Depending on the film's success and Shetty's performance, Shilpa will either have a long, acclaimed cinematic acting career ahead of her in the West, or she will be best know for running a chain of curry houses.
Photo by Bahl Sonu / SantaBanta.com. Used under Creative Commons license.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:37 PM
Putting the "Lo" in Lohan ... More Juicy Celebrity Gossip Linkage ...
Lindsay Lohan in Tongue Fest with Calum Best in Bahamas ...
Critics Dump Hate on New Lindsay Lohan Film "Georgia Rule" ...
Lindsay Lohan to Play Stripper in Next Film Role ...
Paris Hilton Gets No Time From Gov. Arnold Scharzenegger ...
Indian Actress Shilpa Shetty Appeals to India's Supreme Court ...
Jessica Simpson Dishes About Her Sex Life ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:20 PM
May 11, 2007
Video: The Amazing "Automatic Graffiti Robot"!
Love it, mate. Freaking love it! Freaking brilliant! Now we know what we want for our birthday this year!
Posted by Supercore at 10:55 PM
May 10, 2007
Video: London Graffiti Writer in Action!
Caught on tape: Some graf-writing on a train in London. Sick, mate.
Posted by Supercore at 11:01 PM
May 09, 2007
Video: Graffiti Writers Flash-Tag a Subway Train
This looks a little too staged, a little too easy, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. And the speed and coordination with which this group of taggers throw up these massive pieces of graffiti on the train (while it's still in the station, mind you) is like a carefully choreographed ballet. Impressive, in spite of it being total vandalism.
Posted by Supercore at 11:07 PM
May 08, 2007
Video: Paris Hilton Sentenced to 45 Days in Jail ...
The serious and sober Reuters filed this television news report on Paris Hilton receiving a jail sentence of 45 days.
Posted by Supercore at 10:40 PM
April 30, 2007
Juicy Celebrity Gossip Links ...
Courtney Love to Sell Late Nirvana Singer Kurt Cobain's Pajamas ...
Lindsay Lohan Addicted to "Shopping and Sex" ...
Prince Allegedly Humiliates Paris Hilton at Las Vegas Concert ...
Britney Spears Wears See-Through Outfit ...
K-Fed Allegedly Drove Britney Spears to Brink of Suicide ...
Former "Posh Spice" Victoria Beckham and Her Nipples Hit LA with See-Through Top ...
Alec Baldwin Rumored to Write Book Bashing Ex-Wife Kim Basinger ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:21 PM
April 27, 2007
Video: New GEICO Caveman at Airport Commercial ...
Unlike the previous GEICO Caveman commercial set at an airport, this one is only a 15-second spot instead of a 30-second. Still, it's a nice little "sequel."
Posted by Supercore at 01:42 AM
April 26, 2007
Video: The Trailer for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie "Colon" ...
We freaking love this television show. And now there's a movie! Woo-hoo!
Posted by Supercore at 01:55 AM
April 25, 2007
Spiderman 3 May Be the Most Expensive Movie Ever Made
The latest installment of diretcor Sam Raimi's Spidey movie franchise, Spiderman 3, is set to open the summer season and it's already being called the most expensive movie production ever. This is in part thanks to Amy Pascal, the fiscally-loose studio head at Sony Pictures who also is a genuine, passionate film buff. According to Kim Masters' article in Radar Magazine, it may also be due to Pascal's incredible track record of greenlighting one box office mega-success after another in her time at Sony. But when one considers that the success of a movie like Spiderman 3 is as close to a sure thing as film can be in the extremely risky business that is Hollywood, $300 million (or even half a billion, as Spidey 3 is rumored to have cost) seems like a shrewd investment given the recent global box-office take of similar films and Spidey's predecessors, Spiderman 1 and 2.
Posted by Supercore at 12:30 AM
April 19, 2007
Video: The "Unboxing" of a Sony PlayStation 3 Ordered Directly From Amazon Japan ...
Posted by Supercore at 11:37 PM
April 11, 2007
DNA Proves Larry Birkhead is Father of Late Anna Nicole Smith's Baby
Eventually, science was going to resolve the media-genic high-drama of figuring out who the freaking hell was the biological father of the recently deceased Anna Nicole Smith's daughter. The DA tests show photographer Larry Birkhead to be the father. That it even had to come to this makes Anna Nicole Smoth's life seem even lamer and more tragic. But with so much money at stake, it was inevitable that lawsuits would be involved and ultimately the courts would lead to testing. The episode suggests that Anna Nicole was havig a hell of a lot of unprotected sex with a lot of fellas at some point in the last couple of years of her pathetic life. It also suggest that Anna icole herself may never have known or was never quite sure of who the real biological father of her daughter was.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:15 PM
April 06, 2007
Video: Real-Life Spoof of Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer
This is a bit rough around the edges, but it's a pretty damn good spoof of the new Grand Theft Auto IV trailer. The creator used live-action footage culled and edited from various existing video clips posted to YouTube in order to make the spoof. Full marks, dude!
Posted by Supercore at 11:10 PM
April 05, 2007
Video: Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer
The trailer for the new "Grand Theft Auto IV" to be released by Rockstar Games in October 2007. "GTA IV" will be set in New York City (though it won't be called New York City in the game itself).
Posted by Supercore at 11:54 PM
April 04, 2007
Grand Theft Auto IV Announced, Trailer Released ...
Few things get us as excited as the announcement by games producer Rockstar Games regarding the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series. "Grand Theft Auto IV" is on its way, kidzzz -- and that promises mo' better GTA to get you through the day. The new title will be rolled out October 16, 2007. When Rockstar make this announcement a couple of days ago, it also released a trailer for "GTA IV."
The game series has evolved dramatically through the "GTA III" phase, which saw the release of the original GTA III (aka, Liberty City), Vice City and finally the epic San Andreas editions. Between Liberty City and San Andreas, the game has grown and improved tremendously.
Meanwhile the evolution of the new crop of higher-performance gaming platforms, from the Microsoft XBox 360 to the new Sony PlayStation 3, have upped the potential for bigger, richer, faster games with even better graphics. It's only fitting that the Rockstar team would revisit Liberty City and develop the game environment to a larger scale and on a more fully visually realized level.
The word is that the Liberty City of "GTA IV" will be a more detailed and realistic carbon copy of New York City (albeit four of its five boroughs plus Jersey) in every way except the actual names. And this time around the main character will be an Eastern European immigrant. Can't fucking wait for this release, dude.
Posted by Supercore at 11:25 PM
April 03, 2007
Sanjaya Malakar and Howard Stern and the Sabotaging of American Idol
The curious success and popularity of American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar is the subject of much discussion among fans and non-fans of the Fox talent show. As has been observed, Malakar is far from the top class of singing talent to appear on American Idol. His voice is not stellar, and he botches lyrics to his songs. But the American Idol-viewing and -voting public have rallied behind Malakar and made him their own, pushing him upward and onward week after week to the finalists stage of the competition in spite of his shortcoming as a peformer. Simon Cowell, the notoriously blunt Brit, who is the show's producer and sits on the judges panel, has spoken his mind and acknowledged that he is powerless to stop the Malakar phenomenon. So why has a semi-talent like Malakar as far as he has?
Posted by Supercore at 09:28 PM
April 02, 2007
Celebrity Gossip Linkage to Kick Off the Week ...
Anna Nicole Smith's Partner Howard Stern Gives Up Effort to Stop DNA Paternity Test ...
Creator of Life-Size , Naked Choclate Jesus Looks for New Home for His Confection ...
Usher to Get Married to Long-Time Girlfriend ...
Black Eye Peas Singer Fergie Reveals Lesbian Past ...
Sanjaya Markala and the American Idol Scandal in the Making ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:16 PM
March 25, 2007
Mouth-Watering Celebrity Gossip News Linkage ...
Autopsy Results for Annna Nicole Smith to be Released ...
Report of Prince Harry Drunkenly Assaulting Photographer Outside London Club ...
Snoop Dogg and P. Diddy's European Tour Losing Money Due to Costs of Rappers' Massive Entourages ...
Mel Gibson Blasts Expletive at University Professor Regarding Film "Apocalypto" ...
Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan Have Another Bitch-Slappy Face-Off ...
Amy Winehouse Champions Fellow Rehabbber Lindsay Lohan ...
Is Paris Hilton's Boyfriend Stavros Niarchos Cheating on the Hotel Heiress?
Britney Spears Out of Rehab ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 09:01 PM
March 18, 2007
Celebrity Gossip Round-Up ...
Black Eyed Peas Singer Fergie Kicked Off U.K. Plane for Being Too Drunk ...
Anna Nicole Smith's List of Prescribed Drigs Revealed ...
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are Freinds Again ... Ahh ...
Britney Spears on Coca-Cola-Guzzling Binge in Rehab ...
Lindsay Lohan Out of Rehab and Back on NYC Party Circuit ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 05:50 AM
Street Art from Neckface in New York City
From the Global Graphica site ... fresh street art from NYC, including new images of works from Neckface on the Lower East Side of New York City. Rock it.
Posted by Supercore at 01:07 AM
March 14, 2007
Appetizing Celebrity Gossip Linkage for the Mid-Week ...
Angelina Jolie Adopts Another Kid, This Time From Orphanage in Vietnam
Paris Hilton Puts her Nipples in Public View Yet Again
Britney Spears in Rehab Romance Fling
Photographer Larry Birkhead Demands DNA Test to Determine Father of Anna Nicole Smith's Daughter ...
Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell Ward Words Heats Up Again ...
Jessica Simpson and John Mayer Have Romantic Italian Vacation
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:32 PM
March 13, 2007
The Designs of Thomas Heatherwick
The work of British designer Thomas Heatherwick relies heavily on engineering and sculptural aesthetics. Heatherwick's creations - a seaside cafe, a canal bridge, and landscape pieces - are mainly works of architecture, but ones sometimes mistaken for art, and there's an argument that some of it is. Sitooterie II (pictured above) is a mysterious and striking object that sits in the English countryside like a giant alien landmark.
Posted by Supercore at 07:44 AM
March 12, 2007
Sweet 'n Savory Celebrity Gossip Linkage ...
The "300" Rakes in $70 Million at Opening Weekend Box office -- That's a helluva lot of souvlaki ...
Did Paris Hilton Get a Boob job?
Hilary Duff Dumps More Hate on Paris Hilton ...
Joes Simpson Says Daughters Jessica and Ashlee Will Never "End up in Rehab" ... Oh, Really?
Madonna to Appear on Nip/Tuck
The Rehab Diary of Britney Spears
Posted by Thurston Ali at 07:44 AM
March 06, 2007
Naomi Campbell Punished for Cell Phone-Throwin' Rage
Notoriously tempermental super model (or should we say "ex-super model"?) Naomi Campbell has been punished for throwing a cell phone at her maid. To pay for her crime, Campbell will be doing a stint of community service, mopping up floors at a New York City Sanitation Department warehouse on the Lower East Side. (Welcome to hood, Naomi!) One piece of advice, Ms. Campbell: Leave your cell phone at home.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 07:05 AM
March 04, 2007
Rosemary Goes to The Mall
Video and installation artist Rosemary Williams says she had an anxiety attack the first time she visited the famously gargantuan Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As an art project and means to deal with her personal mall-shopping issues, Williams created the "Wall of the Mall," an installation made of shopping bags from store in the MOA. She also a produced a podcast series documenting the project, to which the Rosemary Goes to the Mall website is devoted.
The weekly Consumed column by Rob Walker in this week's Sunday new York Times Magazine explores William's project and the phenomenon of the Mall of America as a place that has transcended being just a place to buy stuff to being a tourist attraction in and of itself, comeplte with souvenirs shops and t-shirts.
Posted by Supercore at 01:38 PM
March 02, 2007
GEICO Caveman Golfing with Phil Sims
It looks like the GEICO caveman may be crossing over from a car-insurance commercial icon to a fully realized character fit for long-form television programming. That's if this clip of the GEICO caveman playing golf with NFL icon Phil Sims is anything to go by. In this nearly four-minute sketch, the caveman goes 18 holes with the former Giants star. If the caveman seemed overly sensitive and ornery in the GEICO ads, he's even more so here. In fact, he comes across in this video as an obnoxious, iritable douche-bag. He's freaking hilarious. The caveman should have his own show on Comedy Central. It could a late-night talk-fest hosted by the caveman that would air right after the Colbert Report. And the whole thing would be sponsored by GEICO, of course. A higher quality QuickTime version of the clip is here.
Posted by Supercore at 11:00 PM
March 01, 2007
GEICO Caveman Saga Continues ....
This recent 30-second ad by GEICO featuring the ever-annoyed Caveman has actually already been running for a while, but we're including here along with some posts of the other latest ads. It's not the best nor our favorite of the Caveman spots so far, but it's still amusing work. Whether it's effective advertising or not, the jury may still be out.
Posted by Supercore at 11:43 PM
February 28, 2007
Video: Graffiti Writers on Venice Beach
Cool clip of a group of graf writers working on massive pieces in Venice Beach, in Los Angeles.
Posted by Supercore at 11:06 PM
February 22, 2007
Shepard Fairey's Paste-Ups at 11 Spring St., New York City
Over on Global Graphica we've posted a bunch of images from the recent street art exhibition at 11 Spring Street in New York City. Included are these images of massive art works by Shephard Fairey of "Obey/Giant Has a Posse" fame. Good stuff. Check it out, y'all.
Posted by Supercore at 11:47 PM
February 20, 2007
The Coolest Human Beatbox Shtick Ever
From the Kitchen Diaries viral clips collection on British video Website Fame Game. Absolutely funny. And super awesome!
Merci beaucoup to the one, the only, Jess E. for the tip!
Posted by Supercore at 11:12 PM
February 19, 2007
Speed Racer Intro
Speaking of the Toyota "Speed Racer" homage on this past weekend's New York Time Magazine cover, here's a video of the intro to the American version of the Japanese anime series.
Posted by Supercore at 11:08 PM
New York Times Mag's "Speed Racer" Cover
Yesterday's New York Times Magazine ran a massive article on Japanese automaking giant Toyota and how the company has surprassed General Motors as the world's largest producer of cars. The magazine's cover touted the feature with an eye-catching piece of illustration. The cover art shows a salaryman in white suit posing in front of a recent model Toyota. The pose and composition of the image is a direct reference to the iconic still frame shown in the intro of every episode of television anime classic "Speed Racer," known in Japanese as Mach Go Go Go.
Posted by Supercore at 10:49 PM
February 18, 2007
Delectable Celebrity Gossip Linkage for Your Utlra Awesome President's Day Weekend ...
Actor Hugh Grant Splits with Girlfriend Jemima Khan
Anna Nicole Smith is Embalmed
Qantas Hostess Admits to Sex with Actor Ralph Fiennes in Airplane Toilet
Hip-Hop Raptress Foxy Brown Arrested for Assault in Florida
Paris Hilton Bored at Vienna Opera
Nicky Hilton Sued Over Her Hotel Project Fiasco
Recap of the Recent Developments in the Britney Spears Train Wreck
Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:24 PM
February 17, 2007
Video: Britney Spears with Shaved Head
Oh, yeah, people, this is television "news." Oy vay!
Posted by Thurston Ali at 04:05 PM
February 16, 2007
Going to The Archive: Top 5 Video Games for ADD Moments in the Studio ...
1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games)
2. The Getaway (Sony Computer Entertainment)
3. Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City (Rockstar Games)
4. FIFA Soccer 2004 (EA Sports)
5. Sim City 4 (Maxis)
Posted by Supercore at 07:16 AM
February 15, 2007
"Do Your Own Adventure!" with Sue Teller
This subtly sponsored viral video from Mountain Dew ("Promotional consideration provided by ..." ) is a riot. "Do Your Own Adventure!" with Sue Teller is a fake cable-access-styled show in which octagenarian Sue Teller teaches viewers how to do various youth-oriented DIY projects like spraying graffiti and mixing records. In this episode Teller shows us how to mash up tunes like a professional hip-hop DJ, complete with two turntables and a drum machine. Holla' at ya' girl!
Domo arigato to Jess E. for the tip!
Posted by Supercore at 11:09 PM
February 14, 2007
Video: Anti-Advertising by Graffiti Research Lab
Posted this on sister site Global Graphica ...
The folks at the ever ingenious and creative Graffiti Research Lab have made a clip of their recent anti-advertising campaign. The guerilla effort exploits video panels that display commercials outside subway entrances around New York City. The point is that the thousands of marketing messages we are exposed to on a daily basis is the true graf problem urban dwellers face.
Posted by Supercore at 11:59 PM
February 12, 2007
"Save Boston" Game Lets Players Smoke Out the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Lite-Brite Mooninites
Somebody has developed a quickie Flash game on the Web making fun of Boston and Bostonians and the whole recent brouhaha over the guerilla ad campaign involving LED light boards to promote the television show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." The light boards were mistaken for bombs, and the security response to the supposed terror threat cost the city millions of dollars. Anyway, the silly game is called "Save Boston." It's a whack-a-mole type of amusement that will provide minutes of senseless entertainment on your PC when you should be working.
Posted by Supercore at 11:59 PM
Ooh, It's Really Bad: Vanilla Ice Does Rap Promotion for Turbo Tax Online
Oh, boy, this really stinks. Though to be fair to D-lister Vanilla Ice, his flow actually isn't half bad. No, seriously, he can rap. But dropping rhymes on video for an online TurboTax promo based on the concept of user-generated content really begs the question -- How low can a washed-up, late-80's one-hit-wonder fake white rapper go? Appearing on the Surreal Life is bad enough. But this? C'mon.
Posted by Supercore at 11:59 PM
Sweet 'n Sour Celebrity Gossip Linkage ...
Anna Nicole Smith Was Planning a Wedding
John Mayer Replies in Japanese When Asked About Jessica Simpson
Ex-Britney Spears Boyfriend Iassac Cohen Kisses and Tells
Paris Hilton's Gal Pal Kim Kardashian to Sue Over Her Sex Tape
Paris Hilton Demands $500K to Appear on British Talk Show
Lindsay Lohan "Loves" Life in Rehab
Mandy Moore Self-Conscious Doing Partial-Nude Scenes
David Beckham's Bodyguards Denied Visas for USA
Kate Moss and Babyshambles Singer Pete Doherty Have Split Up Again, Maybe
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:38 PM
Going to the Archive: 2006 Xmas - Hanukkah Wish List (in Progress) ...
1. Apple iPod Nano - It's sleek, it's sexy, it fits in your shirt pocket.
2. Palm One Treo 700p -The latest Treo with the best form factor and full QWERTY keyboard yet.
3. X-Box 360 - Amazing screen resolution. Wow! Microsoft got it right. Now if only they could do something about the quality of Windows.
Posted by Supercore at 01:30 AM
Going to the Archive: Our Top 3 Favorite Cell Phone Ring Tones at the Massive...
1. "Old Phone" on a Cingular Sony Ericsson T616 cell phone.
2. "Star Wars" Theme on a Verizon Kyocera 3035 cell phone.
3. "Milkshake" by Kelis on a brand-spankin' new T-Mobile Nokia 3595 cell phone.
Posted by Supercore at 01:28 AM
February 10, 2007
Crazy Delicious Celebrity Gossip for Your Crazy Delicious Weekend ...
Anna Nicole Smith Paternity Suite Gets Even More Complicated - 3 Men Claim to Be Father of Her Daughter
Sacha Baron Cohen Will Make Borat Movie Sequel?
Gus Van Sant Sentenced for DUI
American Idol Contestant Akron Watson Kicked Off Show
Paris Hilton Buys Edible Bikini for Valentine's Day
Kim Kardashian Sex Tape Revealed
Nicole Richie "Afraid of Prison"
Lindsay Lohan Buys Marilyn Monroe's Apartment
Posted by Thurston Ali at 10:31 AM
February 09, 2007
The Shocking, Mysterious Death of Anna Nicole Smith
This is a shocker. We're no fans of Anna Nicole Smith and deplore much of what she represents, but her sudden death in a Florida hotel room is tragic and sad. The latest reports suggest drug use on Smith's part may have been the cause of death. Like or loathe here, Anna Nicole was an icon.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 08:45 AM
The Turnstyles "Photomentary" Work of Bill Sullivan
Among the art projects of photographer Bill Sullivan is one in which he snaps images of people faced with the same physical obstacle, in this case the turnstyles of the New York City subway system. Sullivan secretly took 87 pictures of people, each just at that moment when walking through the exit gates. The result is a series of exhibitions and installations of the images in galleries, as well as on the Web, where you can view all of the
subway turnstyle photos via a cool horizontal-scroll widget.
Domo arigato to Jess E. for the tip.
Posted by Supercore at 08:06 AM
February 08, 2007
Video: Music by 8-Bit Band Anamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi are one of a dzoen or so bands who make up the nascent 8-bit music scene. In 8-bit, musicians use 8-bit electronic equipment -- old computer, Nintendo GameBoys, whatever from the prehistoric age of basic computing -- to create a sound palette. Anamanguchi run traditional instrument through sequencers and filters to pump out the blippy and bleepy 8-bit sound.
(Domo arigato to Chris for the tip.)
Posted by Supercore at 07:48 AM
February 06, 2007
Guerilla Ad Agency "Miami" of Sweden
In the week after a guerilla marketing agency launched an under-the-radar marketing campaign that turned into a massive bomb scare, we've come across a small guerilla marketing agency in Sweden that is starting to explode onto the ad scene and get on the radar. The company has a most intriguing name. The firm is called Miami, as in the Florida city, except that Miami the agency is in Sweden, as in Scandanavian country known for Absolut vodka, IKEA furniture, and the birthplace of the Volvo. Anyhoo, Miami has a cool -- if kind of dorky -- and unconventionally simple and unintuitive website that shows some of its work.
Posted by Supercore at 10:18 PM
February 05, 2007
Monday Gossip Linkage ... Yum Yum!
Paris Hilton Shuts Down Website Selling Her Personal Info and Junk
Actor Ryan O'Neal Arrested After Allegedly Assaulting Son, Shooting Gun
Newsweek Contemplates the Influence of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears on Girls
Beyonce Knowles Voted Most-Desirable Fantasy Girlfriend in Ask.com Poll
Chinese Actress Gong Li Rated More Desirable Than Zhang Ziyi in Ask.com Poll
Kevin "K-Fed" Federline Says He's Sorry About Ad to Food Workers
Compiled by Thurston Ali
Posted by Supercore at 08:30 AM
February 02, 2007
Video of the Making of Those "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" LED Ads
Here's an excellent video clip showing how those those "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" LED Ads, which caused the bomb scare in Boston earlier this week, were produced and installed.
Posted by Supercore at 01:05 PM
Geniuses Behind "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" LED Ads Give Surreal Press Conference ...
The avant-garde artists and guerilla marketers who were arrested after installing myseterious LED ads for Cartoon Network's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," give a surreal, ridiculous press conference upon emerging from jail. It's pure theater when a couple of guys tell -- with the straightest of faces -- a throng of reporters that they will answers only questions pertaining to "haircuts in the 70's."
Posted by Supercore at 12:49 PM
Fresh Super Awesomely Delicious Celebrity Gossip Linkage for Your Friday Reading Pleasure ...
"Girls Gone Wild" Impressario Joe Francis Claims Paris Hilton is Better in the Sack Than Linday Lohan, Tara Reid and Kimberly Stewart!
Lindsay Lohan Text Messages Pal from Rehab to Say She WANTS burgers and sex.
Miss USA Confesses to Cocaine Use ... Uh, yeah, no kidding!
Jessica Simpson Botches Lyrics to Boyfriend John Mayer's Song at Concert
Nicole Richie May Go to Jail
Mandy Moore Afraid of Dating
Rosie O' Donnell Rants Get Reviewed
Posted by Thurston Ali at 08:29 AM
January 22, 2007
Cool New Volkswagen German VW Phaeton Commercial
Who knew hand-shadow puppetry could be so modern? Super liquid-awesomely cool. Whatever you may think of the Volkswagen cars (or how well-made or not the cars actually are), the coomercials of VW have always been a cut above.
Posted by Supercore at 12:42 AM
January 18, 2007
Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay!!!
Wow! Like this is a shocker. Everybody could see this coming from a million light years away. Yup, kidzzz, Actress, singer, celebutante Lindsay Lohan has official checked into rehab for alcoholism in West hollywood. Looks like Paris Hilton has lost one of her best frenemies of all time. Now, if only there was a rehab program available for pop singers who like to party pantyless and flash their va-jay-jay all about town (yes, we mean you, Britney Spears!).
Posted by Thurston Ali at 09:44 AM
January 17, 2007
In Japan: Flipping Through Recent Issue of "Studio Voice" ...
Studio Voice is a Japanese magazine devoted to design and style. The monthly mag is a must-read for Japanese designers and has something of a cult readership among global design creatives working in advertising, interactive media, the graphic arts and fashion. Though we can't read all the Japanese articles, flipping through the pages and absorbing the gorgeous graphics and layouts is enough to tell us Studio Voice is quality.
Posted by Supercore at 03:55 AM
January 16, 2007
In Japan: Another TV Commercial with Tommy Lee Jones Selling Boss Can Coffee ...
Respek!
Posted by Supercore at 03:45 AM
January 15, 2007
In Japan: Tommy Lee Jones Stars in Japanese Commercial for Boss Canned Coffee
Posted by Supercore at 03:42 AM
January 12, 2007
In Japan: Another Pocky Commercial Starring Yui Aragaki ...
Love the voiceover tag at the end -- "... it's thin, it's light ... Pocky!!!"
Posted by Supercore at 03:39 AM
January 11, 2007
In Japan: Loving Japanese TV Commercials ... Let's Eat Pocky!
Posted by Supercore at 03:33 AM
January 10, 2007
The Apple iPhone -- We Want One!
It's here .... it's finally here. Well, almost. The much talked- and speculated-about Apple iPhone was announced at MacWorld by Steve Jobs during his keynote speech. Wow! Wow! Wow! It's a stunner of design. The new phone will be like a video iPod, cell phone and small computer/PDA all rolled up into one. The first phone will be available from Cingular in June. Now, the question is how much of what we're being shown is a reality in terms of what will actually be a functional phone. And will it be buggy? Will it be durable? Nobody is getting a chance to give the device a full test battering yet. We'll have to wait and see. But for now ... yes, we're in love.
Posted by Supercore at 12:16 AM
January 06, 2007
In Japan: Late Nights with "Oden-kun"
"The Adventure of Oden-kun" is a childish anime series targeted toward adults watching late-night Japanese television. Even if you don't understand Japanese, the show is intriguing in its droll, surreal premise. In the cartoon, various ingredients -- tofu, eggs, radishes, and so on -- used in a tradional wintertime stew called oden come to life as anthropomorphic characters inhabiting an "oden world" and embarking on myriad mini adventures, kind of like the way Sponge Bob and his pals do in their fantastic undersea world. Except the ingredients in oden are food afterall and eventually will get eaten by customers. That's when things really get interesting.
Posted by Supercore at 09:09 AM
January 04, 2007
"Cocaine Rap" and The Rise of Young Jeezy and Clipse
In his recent New Yorker magazine article titled "Coke Is It," Sasha Frere-Jones puts in another stellar pop music piece. This time he looks at hip-hop artists Young Jeezy and the duo Clipse. Young Jeezy and Clipse repesent the epitome of so-called "cocaine rap," a style of hip-hop lyricism that's focused on the cocaine culture. Both artists claim real-life experience dealing coke. From the sounds of it, the Bolivian marching powder is still a big part of their lifestyles. According to Jones, while coke has always been around in the music business, it's now making something a comeback.
Posted by Supercore at 10:46 AM
December 23, 2006
The Nintendo Wii - A Deep, Detailed Look of How It Works
There's no denying what we would want as present this holiday season if there was such a thing as a Santa Claus. The Nintendo Wii, with its motion-sensor controller, is the most original and innovative videogame platform to emerge in practically a decade. It also -- and more importantly -- just looks like a helluva lot of fun. And really, really, really want one. (Even in spite of the nototious strap problem.) But how does it work? The Times gives us a detailed breakdown on the technology.
Posted by Supercore at 10:41 AM
December 19, 2006
MissBehave Magazine Rocks It!
Though we're probably not as a group part of the target demographic, MissBehave magazine has seriously left an impression on us. The new Brooklyn-based "girls" lifestyle mag reads and looks like an editorial DNA-mashup of Mass Appeal, Nylon, and Tokion, but with more of the streetyness and flava' of Mass Appeal. The magazine design is gorgeous, vibrant, fresh and sick. The second issue features the delicious British poptress Lily Allen on the cover and it's a prize. Check it. Rock it. Love it. Be it.
Posted by Supercore at 11:42 PM
December 13, 2006
The Year in Ideas
In our opinion, it's the most interesting and stimulating annual issue of any magazine in the English-publishing world. It's the New York Times Magazine "The Year in Ideas." Some of the many ideas explored in this issue that got our attention include "Trash-talk Exegesis," "Jujitsu Advertising," "Digital Maoism," and "For-Profit Philanthropy." Kudos, NYTM, for another great issue.
Posted by Supercore at 01:33 AM
"The Burg" - Indie Sitcom Extraordinaire
We've been finding lots of laughs from the independently produced Web-based sitcom "The Burg." The show follows the ups and downs of a group of roommates and friends who live in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn neighborhood that has in recent years become the young hipster-creative nerve center of New York City. "The Burg" takes a scathing comedic look at the stereotypical hipster types who inhabit the nabe - indie musicians, aspiring actresses, moronic trust-fund babies, bohemian political activists and out-of-place Wall Street frat-boy yuppie.
Posted by Supercore at 01:24 AM
December 12, 2006
The GEICO Gecko Has a Blog!
Yes, the GEICO gecko lizard has his very own weblog. The site is tantalizingly titled "Gecko's Fun Stuff - Gecko's Blog." On the site, the iconic reptile (and car-insurance company mascot) writes about all manner of subjects related to saving 15 % on your car insurance, including the low-down on all the music used in the recent GEICO Caveman commercials. So if you've been wondering about things like what the jaunty electronic tune is in the Caveman "Airport" TV ad, here's where you can find out. (By the way, that tune is "Remind Me" by Norwegian group Royksopp.) By now, that an anthropomorphic, computer-animated spokes-lizard with a cockney accent would have a blog should not be surprising -- it really was inevitable, wasn't it? Next thing you know, the toenail on my left pinky toe is going to have its own blog.
Posted by Supercore at 01:57 AM
December 08, 2006
Animation Created by Using Post-It Notes
Posted by Supercore at 12:59 AM
December 01, 2006
What the Heck is Up with CNN's Lou Dobbs
In the New Yorker magazine this week, media critic Ken Auletta breaks down what's going on with opinionated CNN newsman Lou Dobbs and his recent streak of angry political editorials from the anchor desk. According to Auletta's immensely readable profile piece, Dobbs has gone from being a calm and cool-headed business news personality to a cranky populist, which has won him both critics and admirers.
Posted by Supercore at 02:47 AM
Lipsmack Ya'! Spicy Celebrity Gossip to Round Out the Week ... Oh, It's Been Too Long ...
Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson File for Divorce ...
... And Borat is To Blame for Kid Rock and Pamela's Split
... But Actually Kid Rock Was Fed Up with Pamela's Party-Girl Ways
... and Yet Borat's Cultural Icon Status Even Greater After Kid Rock-Pamela Divorce
Britney Spears on Panties-less Party Spree in L.A. and NYC ...
Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are New Best Party Pals ...
Lindsay Lohan Reportedly in Alcoholic Rehab ...
Jessica Simpson's Chewing Gum on Sale on eBay ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:29 AM
Clientcopia: Living the Painful Ad Agency Dream
For anybody who works with "clients" in the media or marketing and especially for anybody who works specifically in an ad agency and interactive advertising (like us), you'll want to check out the web site Clientcopia.com to relish in the anecdotes, gripes, tales and observations of that crazy dynamic that can be the client-creative relationship. We're living the dream, we tell you, and it's like pulling teeth. Fun stuff. (Domo arigato to Evan K. for the tip!)
Posted by Supercore at 02:22 AM
2006 Blip Festival Powers Up in New York City
A while back we posted an item about an electronic music group from Poland called Gameboyzzzz. The band records and performs music composed of the blips and bleeps that emanate from a half-dozen or so Nintendo Gameboy handhelds. The band is one of many to emerge as part of the global "8-bit" music scene. This week sees the kick off of 2006 Blip Festival, or "BlipFest, a four-day event in New York City celebrating and showcasing the work of musicians and artists who, like Japanese duo Portalenz pictured above, use low-bit videogame and computer hardware to make music and video. While Gameboyzzzz themselves will not be performing at BlipFest, dozens of other artists from all over the globe will be. It's going to be electric. It's going to be sublime. (Domo arigato to Chris G. for the tip!)
Posted by Supercore at 01:30 AM
November 30, 2006
We're Back from the Thanksgiving Break
Yup, the Air Massive is back along with our official feline mascot Cornelius (pictured above). We took some time out from the Massive to celebrate the American Thanksgiving holiday and to max and relax in New York City with guests from Tokyo.
Posted by Supercore at 10:25 PM
November 22, 2006
Video: Michael Richards' Awkward, Incoherent Apology on Letterman
Ok, he said he was sorry. He explained his actions. But what's with the long-winded incoherent , cringe-worthy and weird six-minute rhetorical exposition. Somebody needs therapy, ASAP.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:22 AM
November 21, 2006
Video: OMG! Michael Richards of "Seinfeld" Kramer Fame Goes on a Racist Rant During Comedy Gig!
Ouch! Somebody's got some serious issues to work through. This is appalling and really bad. (Warning: Video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK!)
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:40 AM
Ouch! New York Times Reviewer Dumps on the New Sony PlayStation 3 Big Time!
As the Sony PlayStation 3 went on sale in the United States last Friday and patient gamers finally got their hands on the much-anticipated and much-coveted gaming console, a New York Times journalist was busy wrapping up a week spent test-driving the PS3 for his technology review. After thirty hours of putting the new Sony platform through its paces, Times scribe Seth Shiesel penned his review, which appeared in today's edition of the Old Gray Lady. His verdict on the PS3 is pretty hurtful. To quote his article, "... it often feels as if the PlayStation 3 can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time." Ouch!
(Domo arigatoo to Jess for the tip.)
Posted by Supercore at 01:53 AM
November 19, 2006
Turning "Obsessive Consumption" Into Art
In a fascinating, multi-layered twist on illustrating how art meets commerce, "Obsessive Consumption" is an art project inspired by the artist's monthly credit card statements -- actual paintings of her mailed Chase-logoed, computer-spewed statements. The artwork is for sale, naturally, on the Internet, and Obsessive Consumption has become something of an art-cult brand.
Posted by Supercore at 04:39 AM
"Freaky Delicious" Gnarls Barkley Video for "Gone Daddy Gone"
The latest music video from the Dangermouse and Cee Lo collaboration known as Gnarls Barkley is a clever and amusing CG-heavy clip for the track "Gone Daddy Gone." As Air Massive tipster Jess E. put it, the video is "freaky delicious." And indeed it is.
Posted by Supercore at 04:26 AM
November 15, 2006
Tasty Celeb Gossip Linkage for the Mid-Week ...
Supermodel Naomi Campbell Tries to Plea-Bargain Her Way Out of Jail Sentence ...
Porn Producer Offered Alleged Sex Tape of Britney Spears and K-Fed ...
Tom Cruise Reportedly Too Fat to Fit INto His Wedding Suite ...
Nicole Richie Denies Talk of gastric-Bypass Surgery ...
Paris Hilton Goes Out on Date in London ...
The What Made Lindsay Lohan Call Paris Hilton the C-Word ...
The OC's Mischa Barton "Tired" of Being Skinny ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:59 PM
Yet Even More Fun with Japanese Mac Ads
Okay, okay, we admit it -- we can't get enough of these ads. It's interesting to compare the U.S. versions of the ads to the Japanese versions. Apple relies on the advertising agency TBWA/Chiat Day, and the concept for these TV ads campaigns were created out of the Los Angeles office (it handles all of the Apple work).
Posted by Supercore at 11:53 PM
More Fun Japanese Apple Mac vs. PC Commercials
This is one is the spot that talks about "cool apps" and how Macs have that easy-to-use iLife suite of software.
Posted by Supercore at 11:51 PM
Japanese Versions of Those Clever Apple Mac Vs. PC Television Commercials
Now this is what we call being in control of your brand. For the Japanese market, Apple Computer has rolled out a television ad campaign based on the same 30-second concept the company deployed in the U.S. Like the ads broadcast in America, the Japanese commercials (or "CM's," as our friends in the Tokyo ad world call them) feature two men chatting with each other in front of a white backdrop. One man is a stiff, buttoned-up, businessy salaryman who represents a PC (presumably a Windows-based machine). The other guy is a relaxed, casually hip and slightly smug twenty-something. The commercials are doppelgangers of the U.S. spots, except that the actors are Japanese and naturally speak in their native tongue. The music is the same, as are the themes -- how Macs are easy to use, relatively immune to viruses, and so on. Even if you don't understand Japanese, they're fun to watch.
Posted by Supercore at 11:30 PM
November 12, 2006
Delectable Celebrity Gossip Linkage to Kick-Off the Week ...
BRITNEY SPEARS FOUND K-FED WITH OTHER WOMAN WEEKEND BEFORE DIVORCE
Charlie Sheen-ex Denise Richards Throws Laptop at 91-Year Old Lady ...
Oh, It's On Again: Lindsay Lohan Spits C-word About Paris Hilton ...
Madonna Disses Her Fellow Celebs ...
Snoop Dogg in Trouble with the Law Again ...
Nicole vs Nicole: Nicole Appleton Disses Nicole Richie for Being Too Skinny ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 03:34 PM
The Definition of "Shizzolator"
Just to make gosh-darn sure we're all on the same page with our use of Snoop Dogg-inspired hip-hop patois
here is the definition of "shizzolator," which may differ with some popular, generally accepted interpretations of the term's meaning.
Posted by Supercore at 02:23 PM
November 11, 2006
Yet Another Cool Sony PlayStation 3 TV Commercial
This one is the "eggs" television spot for the soon-to-be-realeased (Nov. 17) Sony PlayStation 3, or PS3. Loving this ad campaign.
Posted by Supercore at 02:44 PM
November 10, 2006
Rubik's Cube Stars in Another Cool New Sony PlayStation 3 TV Ad
Here's another one of those cool new television commercials for the soon-to-be-released PlayStation3 game console. Like the baby-doll TV spot, this one is set in a stark-white, empty room. A Rubik's Cube levitates in the presence of a new PS3, which stands monolith-like and seems to be emanating some invisible, supernatural force that solves the Rubik's Cube puzzle. Cool.
Posted by Supercore at 02:34 AM
November 06, 2006
Choice-Cuts Gossip Linkage to Start Off Your Work Week ...
Lindsay Lohan Allegedly Dating Son of Diana Ross ... Baby, baby, baby, baby don't ...
Paris Hilton Would Rather Eat Than Have Sex ...
Nicole Richie Supposedly Stops Rehab for Shopping Spree ...
George Clooney Has the Hots for Cat Deeley, Allegedly ...
Kanye West is a Sore Loser or Prankster at Euro Video Awards Show ...
Posted by Thurston Ali at 12:24 AM
October 31, 2006
Cool NYC Graffiti and Street Art
More cool New York City graf and street artistry from the Global Graphica file, including a new series of images documenting truck graf and fresh work at 11 Spring Street in downtown Manhattan. (Photo courtesy Ivan Corsa / Global Graphica)
Posted by Supercore at 03:14 AM
Toyota Scion Car Will Be Sold in Second Life
Fo' realzzz, yo ... Japanese carmaker Toyota will soon start to sell digital versions of its popular Scion cars in the online community Second Life (SL). The virtual version of hot box-shaped car will sell for $2.00. The plan to sell the cars in SL came as Toyota's ad agency developed its new marketing campaign for the car, which included advertising and giving away digital Scions in SL. The agency soon realized, however, that people in SL would actually pay to own virtual models. The rest is virtual marketing history.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:03 AM
October 29, 2006
Tasty Weekend Celebrity Gossip Linkage ...
Nicole Richie Enters a "Clinic"
Actress Jessica Alba Getting Hot with Boy Toy in the Sea
Kate Moss Chugs Champagne in Her Underwear
Actress Tara Reid Talks About Her Breasts Issues
Ashlee Simpson Has a Bad Hair Day
Posted by Thurston Ali at 03:08 AM
October 28, 2006
Video: Media "Creatives" Goof Off with BMW Toy
See this what those crazy creative folks who work in interactive media in New York get up to when they're brainstorming ideas or have idle time on their hands.
Posted by Supercore at 03:23 AM
October 26, 2006
The Style of 1993 Lives On in 2006
A New York Times Style Magazine article looks at style trends inspired by the fashions of 1993, when the grunge look emerged from the music underground of Seattle. We're not quite sure we see it. But some of the make-up (or, rather, the lack of make-up) and clothing of the grunge era have become a part of the contemporary style kit. We can't see flannel shirts coming back in a big way anytime soon, but Nirvana's "Nevermind" will always be a part of our MP3 collection.
Posted by Robsam at 11:53 PM
October 25, 2006
Video: Borat Interviewed by Chuck the Movie Guy
The Borat publicity juggernaut continues with this interview of Borat (as played by Sacha Baron Cohen) by Chuck the movie guy. Borat is a riot, as usual.
Posted by Robsam at 01:39 AM
October 23, 2006
New GEICO "Talking Head" Caveman Commercial
The recent reappearance of the GEICO caveman in a new commercial (the caveman is gliding along an airport concourse on his way to catch a plane when he spots an insulting GEICO billboard) suggested that there were more 30-second TV spots to come as part of a new series of ads. The latest ad (see above) features the GEICO caveman as a guest on a very Fox News-like TV debate program, where the caveman is one of a pair of guest talking heads verbally tussling with each other and a news anchor. Funny stuff, as usual. Love the caveman.
Posted by Supercore at 11:54 PM
The Borat Movie Website Rocks
By now many of us know of Borat, the fictional TV journalist from Kazakhstan portayed by British actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, and we are eagerly awaiting the soon to be theatrically released movie "Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." The website for movie is a clever little dig at the government of Kazakhstan, which has publicly criticized Cohen for his character and the way it supposedly casts the Central Asian nation in a negative light. The movie's site is designed as the official Kazakhstan government's Ministry of Information website. This should really piss off Kazakhstan even more. Like the character Borat himself, the website is a phony. Upon casual inspection it's an obvious joke. As Borat would say, "Very nice! I like!"
Posted by Robsam at 07:43 PM
October 20, 2006
The Comedy of Demetri Martin Goes on the Road and the Web
Demetri Martin is one of the funniest young stand-up comedians in America today. He is truly an original comic. His style brings to mind the deadpan, clever one-liner observations of Steven Wright. You may have seen Martin's concert special on Comedy Central in the past year or caught him doing a segment on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he is an occasional guest reporter and "expert." Though Martin has been playing clubs around the country, he's now on a proper comedy concert tour and has a promotional Web site called Clearification.com that has some of his short sketch comedy videos and audio clips of his routine. Great stuff.
(A big domo arigato to Sam. C for the tip.)
Posted by Supercore at 01:51 AM
There's a Blog About ... Tuna!
Seriously, folks, there's a blog about tuna ... ya' know ... the fish. Well, it's not so much about the fish in and of itself, that is, about the species, but rather about tuna as a food product, and specifically in it's canned form. Tunablog.com is a web site put together by the United States Tuna Foundation (naturally, that's the U.S.T.A. to you and us). The Tuna Blog title is qualified by the tagline "Everything You Need to Know About Canned Tuna in the U.S." We kid you not. (You can't make this stuff up!) Apparently, there's a lot one needs to know about tuna.
Posted by Supercore at 01:49 AM
October 18, 2006
Video: The Dove "Evolution" Commercial Reveals Distortions of Beauty in Advertising
This great 60-second Dove television commercial called "Evolution" is a time-lapse video of a plain model being lit, made-up and styled before a photo shoot, as well as the process of shooting the images and the subsequent and substantial retouching in Photoshop. Eventually we see the image of the model's "distorted beauty" used in a billboard ad. This is awesome to watch over and over again.
Posted by Supercore at 03:34 AM
October 15, 2006
How Friendster Failed and 13 Other Social Networking Sites Won
Remember back in 2003, homies, when Friendster was all the rage? Since then it has quietly dispappeared from the buzz around social-networking, while copycat and better social-net sites likes MySpace emerged, built up a massive base of registered users and were bought for over half a billion dollars by News Copr. in 2005. Freindster practically pioneered the the social-networking phenomenon as we know it. Within a year of its launch in 2003 it was offered $30 million by Google, which the new start-up turned down. From there it gradually failed to capitalize on its momentum and failed to become a huge moneymaking dotcom success story. So much so that it was recently ranked number 14 in social-networking sites. Oh, how those giant egos at Friendster have fallen.
Posted by Supercore at 12:40 PM
July 19, 2006
Materazzi vs. Zidane - You Write the Dialog ...
There is another entry among the crop of inspired Materazzi-Zidane Web sites that have been popping up on the Internet since the World Cup final and the unforgetable head-butting incident. The site is called Materazzi Says and on it you can write the dialog you think Italy's Marcos Materaazi exchanged with France's Zinedine Zidane before the latter head-butted his opponent. After you write your version, you can play back a video of infamous incident and see your words in the video as subtitles. Neato!
Posted by Supercore at 02:14 AM
July 14, 2006
"Brazilname" - What You Would Be Called if You Played Soccer For Brazil
Have you ever wondered what your "Brazilname" (your Brazilian nickname) would be if you played soccer for Brazil? Instead of a last name, almost all of the great Brazilian players use a one-name nickname professionally. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka and Dida are just a few examples. These names are on the backs of their uniforms and used by the press. Now you can see what yours would be by using the Brazilname generator. Just key in your first and last names, pick a jersey number, hit the generate button and -- Presto! -- you have your nickname. If Air Massive was a Brazilian futbol star, we would be called "Airmassiveincha."
Posted by Supercore at 01:00 AM
July 12, 2006
Gawker Media Mogul Nick Denton's Art to Gaining Media Attention Revealed
Slate has an essay explaining how Internet media-mogul Nick Denton is able to gain so much effective publicity for his stable of Gawker Media sites, which include Gawker, Wonkette and Defamer. Denton, a former Financial Times journalist, seems to keenly understand how the media works and how to deal with journos and editors by limiting his interviews and quotes to only certain types of publications at certain times, measuring his remarks carefully and serving them with a dollop of British understatement.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 11:35 PM
The "Girls Gone Weed" Photoblog Site on MySpace
You've heard of "Girls Gone Wild," but have you heard of "Girls Gone Weed"? Well, you have now. It's a blog site on MySpace devoted to, er, chronicling in photographic glory scores of young women smoking herb in a variety of ways, including the classic apple-bong.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 01:30 AM
Wired News and Wired Magazine Reunited After 8 Years!
Wired News is being reunited with Wired Magazine after the two historically related but seperately owned and published media entities had been apart for eight years. The print magazine was bought by Conde Nast in the late 1990's, whereas the online-only Wired News was owned by Lycos. Part of this arrangement explicitly prevented Wired magazine from pursuing a Web presence beyond simply having its monthly magazine content hosted on the Wired News site. This made for the sadly ironic circumstances in which the most fervent, forward-thinking and influential magazine covering the culture of the Internet and technology did not have its own Web site. Now that the two are again part and parcel of the same publishing family, think of the possibilites.
Posted by Supercore at 12:56 AM
June 21, 2006
Animator vs. Animation
Flash animation is all over the Web in the form of banner ads, online cartoons, motion graphics and entire Web sites. It's called Flash because of the name of the Macromedia software program used to develop animation. The people who use the software for the Web are called Flash developers or simply animators. What happens when an animated creation takes on a life of it's own and does battle with its creator within the Flash program itself? One clever Flash developer named Alan Becker imagined just such a scenario and turned it into a clever little Flash-based cartoon titled "Animator vs. Animation". It's brilliant.
Posted by Supercore at 09:56 PM
June 08, 2006
Soccer Massive Web Site Launches
In time for the FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany comes our latest blog production, a Web site devoted to soccer called Soccer Massive. Though we tend not to be sports fans in general here at the Massive, there is one athletic passion that unites us and that is soccer, or "football," especially European soccer and, naturally, the World Cup. Check it out.
Posted by Supercore at 11:11 PM
May 27, 2006
Air Massive Moves to New Downtown Digs
It's been quiet here on the Massive site the past week or two as we've been on hiatus, taking a short vacation before getting super busy with a big move to a new downtown space in New York City. We apologize to our regular readers for the lack of posts during this time.
We moved the Massive HQ back into the heart of the Lower East Side, and into our favorite part of the neighborhood, which, depending on with whom you speak, is sometimes also referred to as "Northeast Chinatown," "LoLIta," "LoHo" or "Bel-Del" (for Below Delancey Street). It's a fascinating part of NYC, one with tons of history, culture, bars, restaurants and music venues, as well as tons of diverse characters. It's a place where the living remnants of Manhattan's historic Jewish immigrant neighborhood of the Lower East Side rubs up against the newer bustle of Fujinanese Chinatown on one side and an old Puerto Rican barrio of "Losaida" on the other side farther to the north and east.
A few doors down from Massive HQ, in a now empty and decrepit tenement building, is where Lou Reed used to live back in his Velvet Underground days. Down the street you can find the best caipirinhas outside of Brazil. Around the corner, you can find the best fried dumplings outside of China. And a few blocks away you can drink the best espresso in Manhattan and eat the finest almond croissants outside of France. We fucking love it.
Now that we're done unpacking and have settled in, we thought we'd share some images of the new Air Massive nabe below.
Posted by Supercore at 12:12 PM
April 26, 2006
The Ka-Ching in Getting a "Second Life"
The Internet life-simulation game "Second Life" is probably going to see a spike in new player registrations in the coming weeks. Businessweek magazine has a cover story in its current issue about the game, which has approximately 170,000 users worldwide. More importantly for the mag's readers, the feature article looks at how players (and companies) are making money -- a lot of money, in some cases -- by providing products and services within the game environment itself. Players are selling such things as virtual land and "rezzed" avatar clothing to other players. The business is transacted in "Lindens," a virtual currency that can be exchanged for real-life American dollars. (300 Lindens are worth about $1 U.S. dollar.) One entrepeneur based in Germany has amassed a small fortune of $250,000 by developing virtual real estate for players seeking homes for their avatars. Aside from the business angle, "Second Life" is a fascinating, open-ended and more D.I.Y-based online experience than that other similar and popular life-simulation game, The Sims Online.
Posted by Supercore at 12:39 AM
April 04, 2006
The "Ol' Gray Lady" Ain't What She Used to Be; New York Times Redesigns Web Site; It's All Good
New York Times Digital, the online publisher of the New York Times, has just rolled out a redesigned Web site for the esteemable broadsheet. The new home page layout for the American newspaper of record looks more newspaper-like, more "frontpagey, if you will, above the digital fold. At first glance, the changes might not be so apparent, but on close inspection, especially as one scrolls down the home page and clicks through to deeper levels of the site, some of the changes are more obvious. The year-long effort to redesign the site seems to have made the NYTimes.com seem wider, packed with more upfront content, but with more space to accomodate it too. We give it the thumbs up. The paper explains its reasons for the updated look in A Letter to Our Readers. (Domo arigato for the tip, Jess.)
Posted by Supercore at 12:41 AM
March 29, 2006
"Lazy Sunday: U.K."
A dorky duo from Cambridge, England throws its hat into the Narnia Rap Battle with "Lazy Sunday: U.K." This latest salvo in D.I.Y. hip-hop videos is irreverent and funny as it reps tea-drinking Albion. We still feel the "Lazy Muncie" entry is the best so far, but the U.K. version beats the L.A./West Coast entry "Lazy Monday" by a country mile. Best line: "Tea, motherfucka'-fucka'! Tea, motherfuckaaaaaaaa!"
(Mad props to Jess E. in NYC for the tip.)
Play the video in the embedded player above or go here
Posted by Supercore at 10:34 PM
March 28, 2006
"Post Secret" Weblog Art Project
One of the biggest stories on blogging this past year was that of the online art project "Post Secrets." According to Technorati, the site is among the top 10 most-visited blogs on the Web. If you visit the site only once, it's not hard to see why the site is so compelling. Its appeal is other people's secrets. The secrets are written anonymously on homemade postcards. The cards are sent into the site by good ol' fashion snail mail. A few are selected, and those chosen are then scanned and posted to the site.
Posted by Supercore at 02:32 AM
Jack Black's "Nacho Libre" Video Podcast
Want to see actor Jack Black get his chest waxed? Well, do you? Of course, you do. And now you can when you watch Episode 3 of Black's new video podcast, produced from the set of his upcoming movie "Nacho Libre." The film is the latest directorial project by Jared Hess of "Napolean Dynamite" fame. Sure, this is all about promoting the film and building up some buzz ahead of its June 2006 release, but these behind-the-scenes "confessionals" show Black with his comedic wit and charm fully charged. You can download and watch the video podcast -- for free -- from the Nacho Libre movie Web site.
Posted by Robsam at 01:48 AM
March 10, 2006
MC Hammer Has a Blog
Late-80's and early-90's flash-in-the-pan rap sensation and C-lister MC Hammer has a blog. Seriously. And it's on Blogger. Seriously. And he uses a T-Mobile Sidekick to take pictures that he posts on his site. And seriously, he gets around. One day he is in San Jose, Cali, the next he's in New York City strolling through Times Square. And seriously, he uses a laptop PC running Windows. And he loves taking pictures of himself in the mirror. His most recent post is an open letterto pro baseball player Barry Bonds. The site has audio posts to accompany some of the photo postings. When the site loads, some new MC Hammer music automatically plays. "Hammer time," indeed.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 02:49 AM
March 03, 2006
Funny Video: What if Microsoft Re-Packaged the Apple iPod ... Oh, the Horror, the Horror!
There's a brilliant, hilarious three-minute video clip (watch via video player above) going around the Internet that really illustrates the differences between Apple and Microsoft's design sense and -- ultimately -- these two companies' cultures and marketing savvy (or lack thereof). The video clip shows how Microsoft might re-package the Apple iPod. Anyone who has ever worked in an ad agency, branding firm or design house will especially get a big, big kick out of the clip, which you can watch by clicking the play button in the video player above or going here. Oh, the horror ... the horror.
Posted by Supercore at 02:01 AM
Konnichiwa, Bitches! It's "Japan on the Web"
Japanzine is a popular monthly English-language magazine in Japan, published and edited by American expats for the young gaijin crowd. It's an all-round up-to-the-nano-second what's-on type mag filled with useful features, quirky articles and humor and lots of reviews and events listings. The March issue, which has just hit the streets, is Japanzine's annual "Japan on the Web" edition in which dozens of Japan-based or related English-language Web sites are recommended and reviewed. Naturally, Japanzine, being the Web-savvy publication that it is, has "Japan on the Web" on its site replete with links. It's definitely worth checking out for anyone going to Japan or living there or fascinated by the county and culture. (Full disclosure, yours truly is a former writer and editor for Japanzine, and contributed selections to this year's "Japan on the Web.")
Posted by icorsa at 12:22 AM
February 28, 2006
New Media: The Visual Dictionary
The Visual Dictionary is an awesome new media (Web) project on a mission to build an online photo-image catalog of English words. The images are of words that appear in what geographers like to call the "cultural landscape" -- signage, street art and graffiti, and advertising. It's sort of like a Flickr "cluster" of photos of words (if such a cluster exists). The Visual Dictionary is a fascinating idea and leads one to re-think how one perceives language in the everyday environment, as well as re-rhink how one assembles vocabularies and meaning from imagery. The project is only a month old, but growing fast, and the public can sign up to contribute images to the project. (That means you -- and us -- can participate.) There's also a Visual Dictionary Blog chronicling this new media adventure.
Posted by Supercore at 11:57 PM
February 26, 2006
Love Hong Kong Film's Best of 2005 Readers Poll
The excellent Love HK Film Web site is, as its name suggests, about Hong Kong movies. The site has run an annual readers' poll of the best of Hong Kong cinema since its launch in 2002. Love HK Film is currently running a poll for 2005 releases. The polling ends March 23, 2006, when, as the site notes with cynicism and cheek, "results will be tabulated and the lucky winners (not) informed. It's just like Democracy."
Posted by Robsam at 12:36 PM
February 23, 2006
Fun with Weebl & Bob
We've been spending a lot of time watching the Internet animation series "Weebl and Bob." This website for this cartoon is one of the most popular, most-visited sites in the world. The Flash-animated series is a British production created by Jonti Picking and is actually official called "The Everyday Happenings of Weebl and Sometimes Weebl's Friend Bob." The series is now on its 102nd episode. We're addicted.
Posted by Thurston Ali at 10:32 PM
November 03, 2005
Rocket Boom Turns One!
The rise of blogs during the past four years from the Internet's old-school margins to the mainstream has made words like blog (from weblog), blogger, blogosphere and the recent "blogebrity" part of the media's discourse on technology, society, politics, culture and media itself. The blogger model, coupled with the features of radio and digital audio, provided the framework for podcasting, which has exploded in just the past year.
Now that Apple has released its video iPod and a platform for distribution of AV podcasts, we may see a similar rise of videologs or vlogs. The ever-increasing growth in bandwidth and broadband connectivity to the home will only help vlogs or video podcasts find a much larger audience.
But vlogging isn't so new. We've been keeping our eyes on a few vlogs during the past year and our favorite is a vlog from New York called Rocket Boom.
Produced by (and "starring") Amanda Congdon, Rocket Boom recently marked its first anniversary. To celebrate, Congdon posted a special vlog entry that shows her dancing in the streets like a maniac at famous locales throughout New York City.
Rocket Boom is produced almost daily. That Congdon has managed to keep the vlog going for a year with consistent -- and consistently entertaining -- vlog posts is a testament to her talent and dedication.
But what's the content like? Rocket Boom is like a blogger's version of The Late Show with David Letterman and the Daily Show with John Stewart, mixed with the DIY, guerrilla aesthetic. But Congdon has a personality, wit and style of humor all her own. Rocket Boom and Congdon have not gone unnoticed, as her audience has grown and with it the amount of bandwidth given to her for free by some supportive Internet angels.
Predictions? We'll say this: Amanda Congdon will be videoblogging's first real star, it's first real ... er, "vlogebrity." Yup. you heard it here first.
Happpy birthday, Rocket Boom!
Essential Links
Rocket Boom One-Year Anniversary - Dancing in NYC Vlog Post
Posted by Robsam at 11:33 PM
October 25, 2005
Pump Up The Cassette Jam!
Among Japan's diverse multitudes of otaku collectors, the anonymous blogger who posts by the moniker Not Wild Style stands out for his exhaustive, colorful and seemingly endless online graphical catalog of various brands of blank cassette tape designs from the likes of Sony, Panasonic, TDK, AGFA, etc. The tape designs appear to be from the 1970's, 80's, and 90's. Part of "Project C-90," this mind-boggling collection of cassette graphics from the analog audio era is dubbed "Cassette Jam '05." You've got to check this out, kids!
Essential Links
Cassette Jam '05 - Not Wild Style
Posted by Supercore at 01:55 AM
October 19, 2005
A Good Word With the T-Bird
A Good Word with the T-Bird is a hilarious online series of DIY interviews with mostly B-list music and comedy celebrities, as well as a string of standard man-on-the-street type of imromptu Q&A. But instead of talking about the celebrities' new single or movie, the interviewer throws totally off-topic oddball questions. The responses are a riot. It's kind of like the Daily Show but without any of the satircal journalistic posing. Included are conversations with Method Man, the comedian and VH1 regular Judah, rapper Pit Bull, the Late Show's Max Weinberg, and, our favorite, Andrew WK.
Essential Links
Posted by Shibuyakid at 12:17 AM
July 25, 2005
Hey Kids, Roll Your Very Own Cartman! Yes, It's the South Park Character Generator!
We stumbled across this amusing Web site (under a German domain, no less) called the South Park Studio Character Generator. It's truly amazing just how much character variety can be created using this mix-and-match palette-based tool. As they say, the possibilities are endless. (Well, actually, mathematically speaking, they're not endless, but rather, philosophically speaking, "seemingly" endless.) ANYWAY. Putting together an actual South Park character with the online Generator -- an actual Kenny or Chef, say -- is a lot harder that it looks. But the Generator isn't about re-creating South Park's "real" cartoon cast. This is about you creating your own original South Parker. That's what makes this so cool, but, really, you've gotta see it for yourself to believe it. Check it out here. Think of it: some enterprising and creative soul out there among you could use this to create a whole new set of characters, dump the art into Macromedia Flash and develop an animated alternative Bizarro-world South Park doppelganger, then publish it on the Internet. OK, we've sown the seed. Now get to it, kids!
Essential Linkage
South Park Studio Character Generator
South Park Studio Character Generator [South Park Studio]
Posted by Supercore at 04:22 AM
February 08, 2005
Since We're On the Subject ... Unofficial Beastie Boys Fan Site Beastiemania is Da' Bizzomb!
In the previous post, we mentioned that the Beastie Boys have a great web site. Well now it's time for us to give a shout out to an unofficial fan site we've grown fond of called Beastiemania.com. But first some perspective and context.
Back in June 2004, when the Beastie Boys released the single "Ch-check It Out," the first single from the album "To the 5 Boroughs," the hip-hop trio also re-launched their newly redesigned website, which had been languishing as a mere splash page devoid of content beyond a simple logo in the intervening years since their last big album and the demise of Mike D.'s Grand Royal record label. However, in the process of re-launching the site to promote and support the new disc and upcoming tour, the Beasties created one of the best band web sites we've ever seen.
As the medium goes, www.beasties.com is exemplary in terms of content, design, functionality, multimedia and--especially--interactivity. The site demonstrates how a well-planned web strategy can really add another dimension to the way fans experience the artist's music and how band and fan interact, as well as how the audience turns into a community. The application of the band-site idea is not new--it's as old as the Internet--but the Beastie Boys have raised the bar by employing the Internet so intelligently and by making their site such a high-quality online destination.
The flipside of the offical band-site coin is the unofficial fan web site, the amateur sites cobbled together by hardcore fans with the time and passion to set up the site and maintain it. The results of said efforts can be surpisngly good, but more often than not these sites just look plain crappy, offer little meaningful content or interactivity, and amount to so many stale online shrines in tribute to the artist, be it Justin Timberlake or Judakiss.
But, some of these sites aren't crappy, and, in fact, some of them are amazing resources for the serious and and casual fan alike. The Beastie Boys may have indirectly set the standard here, or rather, the Beasties have inspired an excellent unoffical site.
Beastiemania.com has a wealth of fresh, compelling content. Some of it is the general info on the New York rap group that one would expect, like the Beastie Boys biography and discography. And some of the content is the obscure minutiae that sets the site apart, such as a stunnningly thorough who's who of people who have been involved in big and small ways with the Beastie Boys throughout the band's twenty-plus-year career.
The person(s) behind Beastiemania.com have actually created some well-made stylish graphical elements ( see their logo above) as part of the overall web design. The site design itself is competent and solid, even if style is not quite our cup of tea as far as web site look-and-feel goes. The key, as a fan site, is that Beastiemania is not harsh on the eye. It's not crappy.
In a good way, the old cliche that "content is king" holds ture with Beastiemania. The site goes a few giant steps farther than most such unofficial online fan sites. The producers have conducted their own interviews with all sorts of people related to the Beastie Boys in even the remotest ways. These interviews have been published to the site periodically over the past few years.
One off our favorite interviews is with the Beastieboys.com webmaster, a dude named Minton. Though the interview (as well as the fan site) predates the Beastie Boys current website by several years, Minton himself is still involved with the New York rap group and tours with them. The Q&A is funny and revealing. Minton must have felt like the luckiest webmaster in the world when he got that gig.
Anyway, props to Beastiemania.com. Check it out.
RELATED LINKS
Beastie Boys' Who's Who [Beastiemania.com]
Beastiemania - Unofficial Fan Site
Interview with Minton [Beastiemania.com]
Beastie Boys Official Web Site
Posted by Robsam at 11:36 PM
January 28, 2005
Get Your Sneaker Freak On!
Now here's a Web site we can really dig our heels into. SneakerFreak is an evolving document of mostly personal photos of tennis shoes (or "trainers" as friends in the U.K. say) of all stripes, colors and logos, including both those with mass appeal and those obscure and exclusive. The site is an online venue for sneaker pimps worldwide to post photos of their fave pairs of rubber-sole footwear.
They're all there: Nike, Adidas, Puma, Converse, New Balance, Medium, Reebok, K-Swiss, Pony, Vans, Onitsuka and even BAPE (A Bathing Ape), Le Coq Sportif and on and on. The catalog of images include shots of sneakers being worn on the street, at home, etc., as well as on display, in shoeboxes, and held up to the camera.
RELATED LINKS
Posted by typhoon at 12:23 AM