Circumstantial Art

There is something amazing about people in these times. Despite layoffs everywhere and a crummy economy, it seems like most people have remained fairly optimistic. Cards of Change is a website that asks people to upload a business card from their last job with an update of what they're doing now. This might turn out to be another Postsecret type of community art project. All the cards featured on the website have some sense of optimism or sense of relief - letting the viewer into the untold story of why they may have not been happy at their jobs to begin with.

Asian Moms

Check out this website, My Mom is a FOB, started by two smart alack college kids in the UC system. FOB, by the way, stands for "Fresh off the boat" which is a derogatory name for an Asian immigrant. But in this case it's used in a lovingly way.

What's interesting about this little collection of moments is that it's so distinctly American. You realize that it takes two people to create this one crazy Asian mom character portrayed on the website - the immigrant mother and the Americanized children.

Go through a couple of these posts and you'll find a mother knows what she is trying to do/say but it's comes out contextually wrong. And then you'll see a kid who knows what their mother is trying to do/say, but they won't give their mothers the benefit of the doubt.

1000 Years Magazine

Opium Magazine created an issue that will take 1000 years for it to reveal the story, which is 9 words long - that's one word per century. They are using two layers of black ink. The top layer will disintegrate with exposure to UV light and reveal words in the bottom layer.

The concept plays around with the idea of anti-instant gratification. But the more interesting story, I think, is how they are using this to make print relevant. Magazines are disposable. And this device forces you to keep it for a while, but also creates the kind of spectacle to gain the attention that this medium so desperately needs to be meaningful to people. Interestingly, they didn't try to establish relevance through content but rather interaction with that content. Have all the stories that can be told, been told?

Interacting With Women Makes Men Stupid

Researchers in The Netherlands ran two studies that measured men and women’s cognitive abilities after interacting with each other. In both studies, men performed worse than women – especially if they were attracted to the person woman they were talking to.

The researchers have a couple theories:

1. Men are spending too much brain-power trying to look cool and not enough is left to say or do smart things.
2. Men may be taking on traditional sex roles and try harder to live up to those expectations of being manly and cool and attractive.
3. It might just take more brain-power to control yourself around people of the opposite sex. Researchers think we just have more experience being around the same sex that when we meet people of the opposite sex, it throws us for a loop.

I guess this falls into the category of science verifying the obvious. I mean, how many times have we tried to introduce ourselves to an attractive woman only end up posting about the disaster on Fuck My Life?

But this has interesting implications for learning and builds a case for having same sex schools. Check out the rest of the article here.

Break Dancing Robot

As if the possibility of them becoming our future overlords wasn't enough. You just got served.

via @mike_damico

Youtube Celebs Vlog for Charity

Here's an interesting twist. Youtube celebrities KevJumba and Happy Slip have started new channels to host some of their more casual, b-roll, outtake videos. These guys also happen to be official Youtube partners and make a cut of the money made off the ads running on their videos. So what they are doing is donating the money made on their second channels to charity. They're asking people to subscribe to the new channels and encouraging them to view the videos.

Smart idea. Brilliant. It demonstrates how these guys really understand the magnitude of their popularity, but also the economics of Youtube. Check out KevJumba's channel here where he'll donate his earnings to a different charity each month. And check out Happy Slip's channel here where she'll donate her earnings to Operation Smile (cleft lip surgeries for kids).

Toy Fail

You mean I have to fake shoot myself in the face to get a piece of candy?! Ok, I'll do it.

via @davetreston

UPDATE: credited the wrong person I stole this from.

4 Foot Tall Gundam Papercraft

Freedom Gundam - 4 foot papercraft from Taras Lesko on Vimeo.

An artist in Washington state created a 4 foot tall replica of an Anime action figure. Check out the rest of his website as well. It turns out this guy is a designer/artist who is just starting to explore the world of papercraft. He's got a couple other videos over sized replicas of his and his pastor's head.

Real Human Interface

Hi from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

This is just a cute video that personifies your computer and how you interact with it.

Be Like Kutiman

Check out this website that's a dashboard of Youtube videos that you can play together to create songs. Kind of like Kutiman and his epic remixes.

Self Important Tweet

Check out Tweeting Too Hard, a website that collects the most self-important, narcissistic tweets for everyone to vote on. It was bound to happen. The whole medium lends itself to self-indulgence since we have the benefit of broadcasting our thoughts without the requirement of having something to say.



Related to this, check out #tweetingtohardmashup, the beginnings of a meme where they just go for it.

Time Magazine Calls Out Youtube

Image from Newteevee.com

Time magazine named Youtube one of the “10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last Decade” citing the fact that it hasn’t been able to generate enough profits to break even since it’s inception.

Newteevee.com makes a good point in that Youtube is a cultural institution that has managed to “democratize access to content production and consumption.” Beyond that, I wonder if marketers are partly to blame for not being able to find creative ways to use Youtube and helping make it a better marketing platform.

Obviously, a lot of us still rely on impressions through banner ads and the occasional viral video as our main tools on Youtube. Some more advanced marketers may create a brand homepage to house videos and others may have contests. But all in all, there seems to be a “if you build it, they will come” attitude about using the platform - which is the opposite of what you should be thinking if you want a quality marketing program to come out it.

Marketers tend to set their objectives to quantity over quality – meaning they want to see thousands of views and submissions. But to aim for those goals you run the risk of ending up with small, fleeting moments of engagement with a lot of people. Because you can’t ask all of Youtube to upload a 5-minute long masterpiece – most likely way to involve that many people you’ll have to ask them to do something incredibly easy.

I don’t think we as marketers have a strong grasp of users on Youtube either. We tend to think of them as “young creative digital people” or some other (perhaps more clever) segmentation. I think we should actually examine them as a whole – the Youtube community – and then segment the audience based on participation level (lurkers, raters, commentors, producers, etc.). That way we can leverage learning from the Obama social media campaign and build ways in for everyone in the community to participate.

As much as people cringe when marketers get involved with social media, everyone seems to have an understanding that it’s not free. Right now, they tolerate us because we’re helping to pay for some of it. But we still have the responsibility of making interesting programs for them to get involved with because ultimately that’s how we’ll get the most for our money. And from there Youtube can offer to help produce the programs since they have the expertise.

UPDATE: There is also an interesting conversation happening on Techcrunch.

Craigslist Personals

Craigslist is an interesting phenomenon that attracts probably the more diverse group of people you'll ever see. The casualness of the website really lends itself to attracting that type of audience, I think. But the most interesting part of the website has to the be the personal section where every woman seems to get pictures of penises and every guy can get an easy lay.

Photographer Mark Andrew had an insight about the how the personal ads were both anonymous, yet intensely personal. He solicited the people in the ads to shoot them in their homes, creating beautiful photos that add an interesting context to their original ads. A lot of personals offer to trade photos, so you don't see the person in their ads. Needless to say, that leaves a lot to the imagination depending on how cynical/optimistic you are. I wouldn't say that these photos make the ads any more attractive or the people any more desirable. But I think it makes the insecurities that we see in those ads much more surprising.

Check out Andrew's work here.

Reviews for a 3 Wolves Moon Tshirt

Order yours here.

via @clevahgrrl

7 Days to Get Married, Have a Kid, and Divorce

A pair of artists explored the idea of a conceptual relationship that starts and ends in the span of 7 days. Zach was the brainchild of the project and wanted to explore all the emotions and patterns of a relationship collapsed into a week. But is also a living project where they acted this way around their friends as well. Zach, in general, doesn't seem to enjoy the traditional norms of dating and relationships, as he mentions in this interview. However this project did give in an interesting insight:

More than ever, I understand the appeal of these behavioral norms. Over the years, I’ve always felt a sense of dissonance when I’ve imagined myself being in these stereotypical situations, but now that the project is over, I feel like it’s easier for me to understand why so many people choose to go down these pathways. Maybe it’s easier to imagine myself going down them, too.

For more, check out the blog here.

Folded Paper Drawings

A German artist created 2-D "drawings" from just folding paper. Amazing. Find more of his works here.

via PSFK

Group Discount on Computers

The guys over at Zeus Jones found out about Dell Swarm, a group buying program launching in Singapore.

It’s a website that will offer the bulk price on a computer if enough people agree to buy it. Right now it looks like it’s only running in Singapore. I think this is an interesting innovation in their sales channel, because in Asia group buying is already an established practice. The problem is people head straight to the stores instead of going to the manufacturer. By cutting out the middle man, Dell can offer an even better price, making it a more lucrative deal for their consumers.

However, if you've browsed through Dell's annual reports, you'll find that they have identified their lack of retail presence as a fundamental weakness in their business. It makes sense because they have prided themselves so much on selling direct to consumers since their inception. It will be interesting to see how this program will affect their relationship with retailers.

Lord of the Ring Spin Off

Film maker Chris Bouchard created a 40 minute spin off to tell Gollum's story, which was left out of the original "Fellowship of the Rings" title. This movie, "Hunt for Gollum" was shot on a shoe string budget with about 160 volunteers. And to avoid copyright issues, they decided to give it away for free. Click here to see the movie.

Websites Useful Anymore?

Mike Arauz has an interesting discussion going on his blog questioning the purpose of websites. The general consensus is that people are visiting fewer websites in general these days. It’s like they have a top 8 that they visit regularly. And if you want to be part of their consideration set, you probably have to build the greatest website in the world. Otherwise, it’s not worth it to sink so much money into something that someone might visit once for about 56 seconds.

I mostly agree. I think the Internet has matured to the point where it’s not the Wild West anymore and the building boom has outpaced demand. But I think the point is more relevant for microsites – those one off websites that last no longer than a few months with content as deep as a ditzy blonde. Corporate websites are still important as a source of reference, but microsites are like intrusive billboards on the interstate. As Mike pointed out, it makes no sense to build the microsite and then use ad buys to drive traffic to it. And if the content isn’t that deep, why not put it in a rich media banner? At least you are guaranteed impressions, which is more than you can say about a microsite.

What is a better solution is for a brand to participate in the digital spaces that matter to their consumers – beyond ad buys and sponsorships – but that true integration/authenticity/community building or whatever jargon is popular at the moment.

The best example I can think of is Whopper Sacrifice on Facebook. People around me know that I love this example for anything digital. I understand that it got pulled fairly quickly, however, it keyed in on insights about the user and the norms of the community while making the product at the center of it.

I think one way go at these opportunities is like this:



It might be too simple to guarantee any success while using it, but at least it puts us in the right position to take advantage of the opportunities. I think the most important part is the community insight bubble – so often we don’t ever have a deep enough understanding of how these groups work, but that might just be lazy planning in general – because that’s what makes the whole thing relevant.

Yes? No?

Hand Drawn Conversations

Check out Paper Beats Internet it's supposed to be a social networking website that uses hand drawn images to bring everyone together. I might be over selling it, but it's more like a message board where people talk to one another through hand drawn pictures. It's a fun idea and it gives the conversation so much more character and depth.

via @HashemBajwa

Telegrams Live!

An Australian company, Telegram Stop is bringing back the telegram. For $4.70, you can send a telegram to anyone in the world. This service is great for the same reason we write letters - you make more impact with something real and tangible.

Japan v. South Korea B-Boying

I think I screamed "oh snaps!" and "whaaaaat!" at least 6 times while watching this video. It's an all star team of b-boys from Japan versus the Gamblerz. The Gamblerz might sound familiar, they were the world champion b-boy team in 2006 (I think). They were one of the storylines in Benson Lee's "Planet B-Boy." The funniest line in that documentary was someone from the French team scoffing "I hope the judges don't fall for their amazing bullshit" after watching their performance.

B-Boying actually has a lot of followers in Asia - most notably in Japan and South Korea. They have competitions in China as well, but I think the consensus is that they aren't as technically proficient as the guys in Japan and South Korea. If you watch "Planet B-Boy" you'll see that it's not that each country developed a style, but it's more about each person making it their own. It's a very powerful observation because when we see a video clip of guys doing head spins, that's what it looks like. But to have that context and understanding of the person makes every move so much more meaningful and exciting. In that documentary there's a moment when they do a slow-mo of the Japanese team's battle. You'll see what I'm talking about.

Anyone Can Animate Movies Now

Kind of. One of the guys at work introduced me to Xtranormal, a website that allows people to easily create animated movie clips. All you have to do is type in your script, dress up the characters, add emotions/movements (choices are limited), fiddle with the cameras a little (if you want) and you're done. Click here to see my first movie (the embed code doesn't work for some reason).

This is one of the powers of cloud computing. Animation takes a lot of processing power, so you need a fairly robust computer to do it. I created this with a tiny little Macbook that can run a little more than a handful of programs at the same time properly. The trick is that the website's servers does all the processing and rendering for you. This makes these sorts of applications available to more people in general and it's more efficient in terms of costs too. I don't have to buy a massively powerful computer to do something like this.

MV in One Take

Nyle "Let The Beat Build" from Nyle on Vimeo.

Check out Nyle's music video done in one take. It's nicely executed, but a great song as well. My favorite lines because they are so optimistic, yet realistic:

I won't be stressin’ this recession if it leads to a depression
It won’t be in my mind, I'll be fine as long as I can survive off the beat and rhyming?
Then I don’t mind surviving off eatin’ no ramen
Cause where I’m standing, right now, this is the best time to be grinding
Cause ain’t nobody signing, so ain’t nobody shinin’
No more dreams are going down and spitting that fly talk
Dudes talkin' street when they barely sidewalk

Mixed Reality

Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo.

Just a video from a student's graduation portfolio. She plays a couple of visual tricks on us that's pretty fun to watch.

Nerdy Urban Farming

We Make Money Not Art hjavascript:void(0)as a great look at re:farm an urban farming initiative with a technology twist. The premise is that everyday people (city dwellers especially) have lost a lot of farming knowledge over the last century and we need some help if we are to grow sustainable, bountiful gardens in urban settings.

To fix that these guys create open source hardware and software to help manage an urban garden. That way, anyone can do it well. Right now the hardware is a watering system built from an old water pump and some tubing. The software is supposed to tell you what fruits are in season, what local varieties are available, what dishes it's used in, etc.

A more high tech version of this was started in Japan when they converted a basement vault in a bank building into a farm where everything from temperature to artificial light was controlled by a computer.

But the advantage of re:farm's work is that it's much, much cheaper to implement. It's also interesting to think that in the past we've used technology to beat or outwit nature into higher yields. Now we're using technology to be much more complimentary with nature.

New School Soul

Just stumbled upon Mayer Hawthorne who has this refreshing old school soul and jazz sound with a little of pop mixed in there.

Despite not having a record out yet, he's been featured on BBC radio and is starting a multi city tour in May. There is something very clean and honest about his music and it might have something to do with the retro vibes that comes from it. More info about him here.