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]
Recently in Entertainment Category
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.
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!
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.
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]
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.
CBS, the owners of TV.com who are currently in a content battle with HULU have recently upped their stake to grab more eyeballs by syndicating their content to iPhone users. Via their new TV.com iPhone application (not available in Canada), they are offering access to a library of content from the CBS network of properties (The CW, Showcase, CNET TV, etc...).
Full episodes of mainstream network content ranging from Star Trek to C.S.I. can be accessed to users but apparently a lot of shows still aren't available in their entirety, but hopefully that will change over time. Regardless, this is a great first set and will no doubt put pressure on the others content players to follow suit, so bravo to CBS for taking the first step! Now what about us up here in the north?? CBC, CTV, CanWest??
Oh and I almost forgot...screw you HULU! [via NYTimes]
Hillarious bit at LandlineTV.com poking fun at the obscurity of one of this years most anticipated graphic novel movies, The Watchmen.
Jaman will be hosting a live stream and Facebook chat for tonight's Academy Awards show. Okay, so I guess I can see how this Facebook feature can be popular. The Oscars can drag on, so what a great way to pass the time, especially if you are at home watching alone. Facebook connect allows you to update your status with witty comments, insightful commentary, general film knowledge, or whatever else you'd like to share with others on Facebook or exclusively with your friends while watching the live show.
The concept isn't necessarily a new one, MTV has been allowing their viewers to post 'shout outs' for years via txt messaging during their programming, for a fee. However, Facebook's experience is different in that it won't be broadcast, it's free, and it's strictly an online experience -- lets hope it stays that way. This trend has proven to be a popular one for mainstream events these days. It first made it's debut during the Obama inauguration, most recently at the NBA all-star game, and now tonight's Oscars presentation...and no doubt we can expect to see this appear in many more future events. [via Mashable]
Every year I participate in an Oscar pool, and every year when I get to the category for Best Short Film -- well, I'm stumped. Like most of you, I'm unfamiliar with the nominations in this category. Its quite unfortunate, because I really enjoy the genre on the rare occasions that I'm exposed to it. Like Olympic athletes, short film makers are highly talented in their discipline but aren't given a lot of exposure. It really is too bad because its one of the most innovative, creative, and artistic forms of filmmaking out there. If you want a preview of this years nominees in this category, check out sample clips at Gizmodo.
So it looks like a web war is brewing between CBS corp, who owns TV.com, and Hulu. Here's the breakdown of events. Hulu announces that they are going to be pulling their content from TV.com and Boxee earlier this week. Boxee complied, but CBS has released a statement "CBS Interactive is well within its rights to stream Hulu video content on TV.com under its agreement with Hulu. We are evaluating next steps at this time".
The interesting legal angle here is that Hulu and TV.com negotiated a content distribution deal prior to the CBS acquisition of CNET, who is the parent company of TV.com. So can Hulu just breach that deal because they don't want to play nice nice with the competition? As reported by TechCrunch, TV.com's traffic is growing very fast and has surpassed Hulu in total monthly unique visitors (5.9 million vs. 4.5 million according to Nielsen). That would definitely explain the spiteful regression. Neither side is commenting at this point as I'm sure their men in black are suiting up for battle. [via WSJ]
Hulu has decided to pull content from BoxeeTV??! It seems to me that Hulu's content providers got really high on bad shrooms, got paranoid, and decided it's not a good idea to have their shows streamed to your TV through Boxee. A blog posting on the Hulu's website explains in more detail about the decision. CEO Jason Kilar says "While we stubbornly believe in this brave new world of media convergence -- bumps and all -- we are also steadfast in our belief that the best way to achieve our ambitious, never-ending mission of making media easier for users is to work hand in hand with content owners." I applaud their sincerity and understand this can't be fun for him right now.
It really saddens me to think that the media players who can make a difference are choosing to hinder progress and continue to make the same old mistakes. Boxee was a move in the right direction. Do they fear that Boxee will replace cable? Whether its Boxee or another application, internet television will be an option. So why fight progress when they could be benefiting from the initiative of companies like Boxee. Did they not learn from the mistakes of the music industry and a little application called Napster? Well, Apple did and created something called iTunes.
They say that booze and politics don't mix. Well how much harm can come of mixing booze and American history? Drunk History, featuring celebrities like Michael Cera and Jack Black, is an original series that re-enacts scenes from American history that are narrated by people that are drunk. [via MetaFilter]
It looks like Apple is working on a video streaming service called iTunes Replay. The reported service will store purchased videos up in the cloud so you can access and stream the media to multiple devices.
The company has never really made their big move with AppleTV. Maybe they were too distracted with iPods and iPhones, or just patiently waiting for the right time. Whatever the reason, they tripled sales of AppleTV last year so they know the demand is there. We also know that cloud computing is something Apple is interested in. The launch of the MobileMe service, although a bit of a rough launch, was a sign that they were looking to the clouds.
Storage and streaming makes perfect sense to me. Not only will it save me hard drive space, but my media will be better organized and more accessible. Downloading files seems so 2006, I'm over it. [via ZDNet]
The 2009 All-Star game will be presented in select Cinedigm certified theatres live and in 3D! First of all, watching the live game in the theatre is awesome enough. Throw in the 3D element and it's gonna be off da hizz! [via Electronic House]
Its obvious that video is becoming a huge part of the online experience. Broadcasters are aware of this and have increased the number of streams as well as improved the viewing experience over the past year.
The most alluring statistic for me is the growing number of visitors to broadcast sites like Globaltv.com, CTV.ca, and CBC.ca that visit mainly to watch TV online. If that is the case, are we seeing a growing trend that will inevitably breakdown the traditional scheduled programming model and be replaced by online VOD? I sure hope so! [via Media In Canada]
I was sitting around reminiscing about the infant days of the web. Remember the days before Google came and changed the game forever. Does Excite ring a bell? Maybe you were all about Alta Vista, InfoSeek, WebCrawler, or Lycos....ah yah, Lycos...I was a Lycos guy myself! So I decided to check out Lycos.com and was pleasantly surprised that it was still up and running. Not only was it up and running but I noticed a section called Lycos Cinema, a movie sharing experience, or as their tagline reads "Bringing people together...One flick at a time."
It's an interesting concept. The idea is that you can invite up to 10 of your friends to join you as you watch a movie online. It allows you to chat along side the movie in a clean and intuitive interface. If you feel like meeting new folks you can always join an existing party in the "Social Scene" section and share the experience with others on the network.
There are plenty of pay and free movies, although many of the titles are either older classics, or aren't very recognizable at all...have you heard of Brainiac, Baron Blood, Elephants Dream, or Affair in T'Sien Cha? They do however some obscure documentaries such as Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock, A Tribute to Sam Kinison, and an absurdly large collection of National Lampoon titles.
Variety is reporting that in 2008 "global revenues from digital media exceeded revenue generated by movie theatres and homevideo combined." That is an impressive feat.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, will be one of the 13 competitors on ABC's hit show Dancing With The Stars. The new season airs March 9th. [via BBC News]
Check out the list on the Wired blog.
See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.
Playing Xbox on a ridiculously large Panasonic 103-inch by 150-inch plasma screen is off da hiz-zae! Read the full piece and check out the photos on Gizmodo.
The trend towards "connected tv's" and devices is a sign that people more and more want to enjoy the convenience of being connected without being chained to a desk. Laptops are becoming the norm as prices fall, next-gen kids are growing up not even having used a desktop computer, and smartphones are becoming more accessible and user friendly. So what does all this mean? Well, I hope it means that we've reached the stage where technology is finally adapting to us and not only facilitating but simplifying our connected lifestyle.
ABI Research released a study which included over 1,000 households, and found that the younger consumers want to interact with their friends online and watch tv simultaneously. Yahoo! is on top of this movement with their tv widgets, and have partnered with some of the larger electronics company to stream flikr, news, and weather to your livingroom via the internet. So can we expect channels/widgets for Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter in the near future? I don't know about you but I already use my TV for online content, listening to Last.fm and Twittering. So I welcome a more user friendly interface so I can continue to do these things but on the comfort of my couch and a remote control. [via cnet news]
I usually don't write about celebrity but this bit was too good to pass on. The latest celebrity caught on tape being an a-hole is Christian Bale. Now I'm not a professional actor or work in film for that matter, but I have heard the stories of tirades, ego explosions, and tantrums from friends that do. As well, YouTube has some great documented cases of this first hand. So why do you ask does Bale go off on a set where there is no doubt plenty of witness' with cell phones, smart phones, audio recorders, cameras, etc...? How could you be so naive to think someone won't catch this in today's document-everything-society? I hope the kind of behaviour and abuse that people on set had to endure from these spoiled-rotten actors will end now that technology has enabled people to candidly exposed them.
Let the webbing begin.
RevoLucian's Christian Bale Remix! NSFW
There is no doubt that modern day advances in computing has enabled hollywood to not only bring to life some amazing characters in the superhero, comic book, and sci-fi genre, but also cash in on them too. The blockbuster success of X-MEN, Batman and the Spiderman franchises have really opened the floodgates in this genre. Look out for huge budget, big action, mind blowing effects on the big screen in 2009.
Star Trek
Push
Street Fighter: the Legend of Chun Li
Watchmen
X-MEN
Astro Boy
Transformers
Terminator
G.I. Joe
If you haven't already visited Crackle.com then you're in for a nice surprise. Previously known as Grouper a user-generated video portal like YouTube that was purchased by Sony Picture Entertainment for a reported $65 million back in 2006. It failed to take on YouTube's rising star back in the day and was reincarnated as Crackle.com in 2007. SPE re-branded Crackle as it's ready-made network for distributing it's original digital content in short form as well as full length programming from it's vast library of content.
This streaming channel has some of the best shows you'll never see on TV...well at least not yet. The short form content is specifically created for your online pleasure with most of their series' running anywhere from 2-10 min episodes. Don't be mistaken here, web content doesn't necessarily mean basement productions, the content on Crackle has high production value on a budget. The writing/editting is tight, actors are recognizable, and most importantly it's bite size and entertaining.
Here's a list of my picks:
The Line: Two best friends, armed with one change of clothes and one simple mission: get tickets to the world premiere of Future Space. They march to the front spot on line and brace themselves for one of the toughest trials of their lives.
The Writersroom: is a black comedy about the trials and tribulations of writing for a Kevin Pollack-hosted late-night talk show. Neurotic scribes squabble and worry about jokes, food, and health care plans.
My Long Distance Relationship: Follow Sam and Samantha, college freshman and high school sweethearts, who with the help of modern technology struggle continue their relationship from Far West University in Oregon and South Southern East State in Florida: as far apart as two people can get.
Star-ving: "Married with Children's" Bud Bundy, David Faustino, is back and bare-assed! David & his whacked out side kick, Corin Nemec of "Parker Lewis Can't Lose", will do anything to get back on top. Nobody ever said that being a short, broke, alcoholic, sex maniac, ex-child actor was easy.
Here are some good links to see the 2009 Super Bowl ads:
My pick for best place to watch the ads. The interface is easy to navigate and the ads are broken up by quarters making it easy to find a specific ad. Video quality is good and it offers fullscreen capability.
Best quality videos w/fullscreen, but usability isn't the greatest if you want to quickly go through all the ads without accidentally clicking on an unrelated one.
http://www.spike.com/superbowl
This is the official Super Bowl site has some commercials I didn't find on the other sites, although you have to endure an NFL commercial before previewing the commercials...oh and there is no fullscreen capability
http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/43/videos/commercials
You may or may not have heard of Josh Harris, but as the trailer (see below) for the film We Live In Public states, he is "the greatest internet pioneer that you've never heard of".
I was really excited to read today about We Live In Public a film by Ondi Timoner
which won the Sundance Festival's Grand Jury prize. I remember watching
this project at the time and everyone at work gathering around a Power
Mac to watch as it went live. The video quality was poor, it was
streaming at 160x120px and it was choppy, yet we were all intrigued
with the idea of watching these people live out their lives via live
video cam 24/7.
If you're interested in reading more about the original project from back in the day I found this archived article in Wired from 2000 shortly before they went live with the project, and another from 2001.
I stumbled across this archived presentation by Jeff Han (a human-computer interface designer) at the 2006 TED conference.
It's quite inspiring when he talks about how computers should conform
to us and not the other way around. Multi-touch isn't necessarily a new
technology, but it is one that is evolving and will eventually be
accessible to the masses as the costs of touch screen monitors come
down, like HDTV's. With the introduction and popularity Apple's iPhone
and the intelligence in it's design of the touch interface, electronic
companies worldwide are racing to get more touch screen gadgets to
market as soon as possible.
One of the big hits at this years CES was Samsung's 50-inch multitouch TV.
The idea that we can free ourselves from the remote control and have a
more intuitive and connected user experience is very appealing. The
idea that the keyboards and the mouse will eventually become extinct as
computers and household appliances become touch enabled. Microsoft has
been working on Surface and I'm told that a company called Troll Touch can integrate a touch system into your Apple cinema display.
Going back to Jeff Han, who's presentation in 2006 went viral on youtube which prompted him to launch his startup Perceptive Pixel which
aims to develop and market the most advanced multi-touch systems in the
world. Check out the demo he has on the homepage just one year later in
2007. Pure dopeness!
Documentary filmmaker Gary Hustwit whose last film about a font face, Helvetica, got rave reviews and a ton of media attention in the 2007 festival circuit. His latest project explores the world of industrial design and the people who create the objects that we surround ourselves with daily. Objectified is scheduled to premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in the springtime. You can view the trailer for Objectified here.
One of my biggest pet peeves has to be "Geo-Targeting", according to Wikipedia this method is used to determine your geo-location so that a website visitor is delivered content most relevant to them. In practice, they are road blocks to stop you from viewing content based on your region, in my case Canada. So if you are outside of the U.S, and want access to sites like Hulu.com, MTV.com, TheWB.com, etc...download Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield hides your IP address so geo-targeting sites don't know where you are coming from. You should now be able to enjoy all the content you want without encountering road blocks!
i.TV
is one of my favourite iPhone applications. You might think, well
what's the big deal it's just a TV guide right? Wrong. If you're like
me and currently use Rogers you know exactly how painful it can be to
scan the guide on that VCR sized cable box. I'm not sure how it's
possible that a company that has a virtual monopoly on the
cable/vod/broadband business, making billions of dollars can be content
with the service it's providing it's customers. The guide interfaces
for most cable/satellite dealers have horrible usability and sluggish
response times at best. There are no visual cues, poorly written
synopsis, and the longer titles are truncated so you have to guess at
the title.
So along comes i.TV, a great solution...even their ads are well integrated.
When
you first launch this app it will synch up your iPhone via postal code
and service provider to bring you the relevant programming information.
This can take a minute but it's a one time process. The guide is
displayed by title and thumbnail images so you can immediately
recognize what you are looking for, as well as the channel, rating,
reviews and a well written detailed synopsis. If available you can also
view a sample clip or trailer.
i.TV also allow
you to search movies and theatres based on your location using the
iPhone's GPS feature. It also offers tons of great sorting features,
email alerts, reviews, search, share and customizable features (you
need to sign up for a free account). Using TiVo DVR? Then you can set
to record it instantly. Got a Netflix account? Instantly add your
selection to your queue. Now if it can only replace my outdated cable
box...if anyone from Rogers is reading this please please contact i.TV
for help!
Earlier today I posted a link to download FREE selections from the Sundance Film Festival on iTunes. I was really hoping one of those selections would be a short film by Last Picture called ASSHOLE starring Gavin McInnes. The trailer is embeded below, and if you want to check out more shorts starring Gavin click here.
Additional info: Gavin
co-founded of Vice Magazine in Canada which eventually became a
multi-million dollar brand empire in the U.S. He left Vice in 2007 and
launched a new company called Street Boners and TV Carnage. A blend of street fashion critiques and compilations of really bad television. If you loved the DO's and DONT's section in Vice magazine then this site is for you.
History will be written tomorrow and there will be no shortage of witnesses to this monumental moment in American history. It's been reported
that ticket's to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration tomorrow
are selling in the 5 digit price range! So if you're like me and
cutting back due to the current economic climate, you will most likely
be watching the swearing-in of the 44th President of the United States
in some other manner.
That said, I've prepared a general guide to the inauguration online.
Inauguration Home
Schedule
Get Mobile Updates
HBO Presents WE ARE ONE
The Obama Inauguration Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial
Video and Photos
LIVE STREAMS
Youtube
Joost - Inaugural Pre-Party Playlist
Twitter
MTV - BE THE CHANGE
Obama To Speak To Youth At Inauguration
PHOTOS
Oh and of course I will post the live feed tomorrow on my blog as well!
If there are any great links that I should include in this post please send me an email.
After reading an article about Boxee in The New York Times this past weekend, I decided to download the software and try it out for myself. Wow, was I ever pleasantly surprised, in fact I spent the majority of the weekend streaming videos and music on my TV. I've had my Mac mini connected to my 40" LCD TV for a while now but using a wireless mouse and keyboard just doesn't allow for a smooth experience. Boxee does away with browsers and makes accessing media from the internet seamless.
What makes Boxee great and stand out from the rest is that you can navigate through this media center using the apple remote control that comes with your Macbook. The interface is so easy and well thought out. Within minutes I was a pro user.
I've never been more excited about an application. Go download this NOW!
By
the way, for those of you that want to set up your own internet TV but
don't know how I will be posting a video tutorial in the coming weeks.
My favourite new discovery is the streaming "Animated Music Video" channel on Crackle.com. Sony Picture's next-gen entertainment site. Crackle also offers lots of other great original content as well which I will cover in a future post, so enjoy this for now.
Samsung's is kicking it up a notch with their latest line of TV and devices.
1. The 50" Plasma FP-T5094 wireless TV. With the exception of the power cord, all your home entertainment devices plug into a seperate box which delivers wireless communication to your television.
3. The latest must have for the new media crowd is Samsung's Pico
projector phone...that's right folks a phone with a 5mp camera that
also has a DLP projector. Check this...
Move over Apple, I think Samsung's gunning for top spot over the next few years.
