This was just to good to pass. The legendary Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Andrew WK in the studio working on Lee's album. This seems like an odd duo to start with, but throw in a big bag of green, group clapping, some colouring markers and Jesus Christ, and it makes for one crazy studio session...and by crazy I mean crazy. By the way, Lee's hat and kicks are serious, and  true evidence that Lee is from the future, and has been sent here to relay messages from Jesus in the form of ill dub beats. Jesus crystals don't lie...Respect. [via PitchforkTV]

How is it possible that I have never stumbled upon this ridiculously awesome website before?! The Take-Away Shows are video podcasts of artists or a band that have been invited to perform on the street, a bar, elevator, subway, etc... Since 2006, founders Chryde and Vincent Moon were seeking a new way to share and film music. Currently, with other directors globally joining forces on this project they are planning for a world wide expansion. 

This type of project is exactly what makes the internet so brilliant. The footage is raw, real, candid and no editing is involved -- one take. The clip that I posted above is of the one and only Tom Jones, performing We Got Love in his hotel room. This is truly a moment...a moment of many moments on this site. Check out the footage of Bloc Party performing out front of a pub too. 

What a ridiculous library of exclusive live music performances this will become one of these days...one I'm sure the founders will retire on.  

I pretty much gave up on the general local directory sites a long time ago. There wasn't many features and search always felt outdated. Who uses a phone directory anyhow these days? With the ease of calling 411 on my mobile or Google local, why would I bother. Well the new Canpages.ca might change your mind. They have a load of features integrated into their mapping tool to get you the information you want. You can have it delivered to your mobile, or share it with your friends on Facebook, or save it as a document for future reference. It's actually quite impressive. 

But the real asset here is that they have started to add Street View, which is only available in specific areas of BC right now. Looks like Google Local will have some competition in Canada. In addition, Canpages offers access to traffic cams in realtime so you can get a snapshot of what to expect on route to your destination. You really have to try it for yourself as there are a lot of rich search features that helps you to narrow down your request. However, I think the big hit is their iPhone app which I've been playing with earlier today. It's got a simple interface, it's quick and it has speak recognition built in so you don't have to type your request while on the move. Great job!

Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of a little thing called the World Wide Web. The video above is from the TED conference, where he talks about the Semantic Web. Its very exciting and humbling to hear him speak about linked data and his vision for the next web. Forget EF Hutton, when Tim Berners-Lee talks you should listen. [via TED]

My wife and I went for a walk this weekend and came across a tiny little antique store at the top of our street. We were immediately drawn to these simple and playful teak wooden toys. The shop owner didn't know the artist's name but he informed us that the toy was made in Denmark in the 50's or 60's. Regardless, we had to have them so we bought both and now we're trying to figure out who the artist was. After a few quick searches in Google we came across two names, Kay Bojesen and Hans Bolling (who's work seem to be the closest to our find). Hans uses teak, rope, fur, and the eyes are painted similar to that of the figures we bought. That said, I couldn't find images of these exact figures. If anyone out there can confirm or knows who made these please contact me!

Christopher Nolan (the director of Dark Knight and Momento) made his directorial debut in 1998 with a movie he wrote called "Following". The movie revolves around the main character Bill. Bill is described as "an unemployed aspiring writer who lives a solitary and boring life in London, England. Bill has a fascination with people, and with hopes of finding material to write about, begins to pick individuals out of a crowd, and to follow them." Okay, does that sound a lot like Twitter? Did Nolan have early insight into a personality disorder affecting generations of people today? Think about the massive popularity of Twitter and Facebook, in essence, aren't these sites set up to stalk people virtually?

Yah yah, I know I'm reaching, but today is Friday the 13th and to be honest when I receive email notifications that someone I don't know is following me on Twitter I get a bit nervous. The idea that strangers are silently following your every tweet is a bit creepy, no? I guess the point of this post is becareful who you follow and be aware of who's following you...mmoohahaha....

P.S. You're all more than welcome to stalk...I mean follow me on Twitter!

When people take the time to put thought into a project, and think about what their fans want...well, the end result is a happy customer, which in turn will translate into sales. Canadian band Metric, has done a great job to promote and sell the latest album via ilovemetric.com. Big record companies take note. 

Offering your fans a choice, good value, and maybe a bit extra isn't that difficult. Why wouldn't I pay for something like that? Metric's site offers many choices to purchase their new album, Fantasies. Buy just the digital download, digital + vinyl, digital + vinyl + cd, or the deluxe edition (full of good bonus material) all priced accordingly from $8.99 to $64.99. Visit their store to see all the offerings which include everything from posters to clothing. 

The best thing they did though was the addition of a media player that can be shared across social networks or embeded on a website like I have above. Its a nice touch. Embedded are 2 full tracks, a documentary, and a music video. Good stuff and if by any chance Metric or their label has come across this blog, I just want them to know that I'd love to work with them on any future digital media projects, I've got lots of ideas...call me!

Form of chemical liquid...form of florescent molecular tea bag...Wonder Twins power, activate! No relations to the cartoon heroes, Korean designer Wonsik Chae's creative light concept in the form of a tea bag is really quite beautiful. "Consisting of a cup filled with a chemical intermediate and a bag containing florescent molecules the light works through a catalyst of this chemical reaction."  [via Gizmodo]

Flickr clock is an ongoing project. By joining the group, Flickstr's can then contribute their videos and display them on a timeline at the exact time they were taken. The theme here is to capture a "real moment" in time, so don't go uploading lol cats, movie trailers, or your latest slideshow animation, as those will be screened and removed. The more the merrier, so tell all your friends as they are hoping to grab a worldwide snapshot of specific moments in time....reminds me of the Van Halen track.

You can't go wrong with a sci-fi series about a crazy large spaceship, helmed by a Captain that hangs with a Vulcan named Spock, and beds down green babes from outta space. Rrrespect. So don't even kid yourself, this movie is going to rock the bells, Run DMC styles! The movie website is pretty slick too. Enjoy...05.08.09.

Here's a sneak peak at the new homepage design which is scheduled to go live next week. In typical Facebook style, the design has not deviated too much with the exception of nice rounded corners on profile thumbnails. In terms of experience, there are some significant changes. Basically, they've simplified the publishing tool and have consolidated the system so you have one stream. And the best part, I think, is that you can now filter your streams based on groups. 

There is some crazy hot talent online. Kutiman is an Israeli funk musician and producer. And Thru-You is a website where he showcases some masterful-monster-mashups using music tutorial videos from YouTube. Its simply genius! 

This is just ridiculous. A attic converted into a sick home theatre, with a drum set to boot. There is even a motorized sound proof door and James Bond poster to cover the equipment rack. [via Electronic House]

Zillion TV is yet another startup in the internet TV arena who plans to offer streaming movies and television directly to your tube via broadband connection. The company has already struck deals with major Hollywood studios and TV networks, such as Disney, 20th Century Fox, NBC, and Sony Pictures. What makes this service unique is that Zillion doesn't require you to buy expensive equipment or pay monthly subscription fees. With a minimal activation fee of $50 you will receive the Z-bar, a box that connects your TV to ethernet, and a fancy laser remote, which will give you access to a library of up to 15,000 TV and movie titles.  [via CNET]

The underpass of a bridge is usually synonymous with dark and sketchy.  However the pedestrian underpass, seen above, located in Amsterdam is quite luminescent. A media architecture collective, called Urban Alliance, created a 24 metre long light installation that interacts with the people that pass through. Very cool! [via Design Milk]

And from College Humour....

Sony's CEO Howard Stringer is taking down the silo's and focusing more on designing products over designing org charts. His plans are to de-emphasize traditional electronics in favour of software and devices that connect to the internet. Smart move. 

Most of the focus has been on a new division called Network Products and Services, formed by merging the Playstation, Vaio, and Walkman line of products. The combined intelligence in this division should make for some interesting results. [via NYTimes Bits]

Microsoft's future montage video, named 2019, seems weak to me in terms of vision. According to this video the future consists of us be surrounded by touch screens and accessing content from multiple devices. The interface in typical MS style is cumbersome and seemingly slow (maybe it's the music). 

Don't we pretty much have most of these capabilities right now? I mean, outside of the pretty promotional design, glass screens, and digital paper. Most of these concepts and ideas were already floating around the MIT lab for years. As well, for a vision of what's to come in the next decade I would think they would reach a bit higher than what's shown here. Where is all the 3D, entertainment systems, voice navigation, organic interfaces, etc... How about showing us how our everyday lives will be improved, more efficient, and more green as a result of innovative thinking? Overall, not impressed...I would be impressed if Microsoft were even around in 2019. [via Boy Genius]

An architects work is only as good as the photographer that showcases it. The documentary Visual Acoustics by Eric Bricker, explores the career of 98-year-old architectural photographer Julius Shulman, who "would become one of the artists responsible for establishing the cohesive "look" of 20th century modernist design." The film is narrated by Dustin Hoffman, and contains in depth interviews with architect Frank Gehry and designer Tom Ford, as well as many others.