Super Biting Steez (no judgement, you gotta make that loot)

Remember VBS.tv and Intel's online video collabo The Creators Project? Super Bitten.

Fader tv and some brand called Belkin put on their thinking caps and came up with the Explorers Series (see how they did that?), which is exactly the same except worse.


Someone once said that innovation isn't necessarily inventing something new, but often involves taking what's already being done and doing it better. This is not that.

If anyone at Fader/Belkin is reading this.....was Explorers Series an attempt at exploring the irony of doing the opposite of what the series is meant to celebrate? If yes, then you are so ahead of your time it's embarrassing.

online videos to promote albums that aren't music videos

Fresh Idea!

Ben Silverman, former co-chair of NBC Entertainmnet who rose to power by copying already proven TV formats (The Office, Ugly Betty, Nashville Star), is now ripping off recently canceled Party Down.

from Cynopsis: "NBC okayed a comedy from Ben Silverman titled Party People. The project is an ensemble comedy script about entertainers who work at children's parties and is described as having the same feel as the classic sitcom Taxi."

While the pitch to the grey hairs at NBC involves a reference to Taxi, I'd say it's just like Party Down but with children's parties.

Man Alive

Everything Everything is a band with an album called Man Alive, which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE exclamatory expression used by my grandma with stunning frequency.

Sign O' The Times (a mixtape): net neutrality slapped again by The Man

Joe Barton, ranking Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, refused to support the Net Neutrality bill backed by the FCC and the White House.

Barton said: “I have consulted with Republican leadership and members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and there is a widespread view that there is not sufficient time to ensure that [the] proposal will keep the Internet open without chilling innovation and job creation...It is not appropriate to give the FCC authority to regulate the Internet."

Free Energy - Bang Pop
FREE ENERGY | MySpace Music Videos

Deregulation VS Fairness: does deregulation=fairness or is fairness undermined by deregulation?



on Deregulation: Bernie Sanders ping pongs ideas off this automaton's forehead...
- Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod.

My Answer: While on one hand deregulation means the "market" remains free, it undermines a central tenant of Americanism. What's so great about this idea of America we hold dear? The American Dream, of course; life, liberty, and the pursuit of putting nacho cheese and ranch dressing on whatever you eat. Americans value freedom, they want fairness. How is it fair for those in power to take a democratizing resource like the internet and literally (quite literally) rig it in their favor? Wouldn't doing so limit access to The American Dream by dampening the fire that propels our literal (ok, figurative) locomotive of progress, social mobility? Social mobility is what keeps American Capitalism on track, motivating our citizens to be productive and innovative. Lack of social mobility is a lack of freedom, and allowing Power to grab more power unfettered is a detriment to social mobility, a detriment to freedom, and an attack on The American Dream.

Male Bonding...


The Rebuttal: On the flip side, letting big business make more $$$ could translate to more jobs for Americans and an increase in social mobility.

Rebuttal to The Rebuttal: Ignoring the nagging notion that greater profits as a result of deregulation probably means bigger bonuses for CEOs (encouraged by DeReg to move jobs overseas) and Finance Barons (encouraged by DeReg to generate $huge incomes$ without actually making anything thereby cutting out the middle(class)man).......Let's take a look: have the last 20-30 years of heavy deregulation marked an increase in social mobility for American families? No.
(I know no one trusts stats anymore but if you care at all, just bite the bullet and spend 5 more minutes reading up)

Now We Can See...



Conclusion: unchecked deregulation is bad for social mobility, bad for freedom, and bad for America. 200 years into the industrial revolution and 400 years into American democracy, The Man knows how to rig the game quite well. The result lately is economic inequality unmatched since the 1920s, consolidation of wealth in the hands of the few, and the erosion of the middle class. This is especially true in a struggling economy when funny money has dried up and limited resources (jobs, credit, education) are out of reach for so many. Ironically, in this regard, America is becoming more like Latin America everyday, so how can we be against all these immigrants?

The Return: THUMBS UP!

so excited for fresh eps of thumbs up I'm just gonna post this without even watching it.

An American Tale

Parlovr

Good! While the song seems to be about negotiating certain obstacles on the road to fulfillment, the video is mostly about being 30 (or 80) and still having a good time. But you can't retire your youth and then try to turn it on again when the time is right. You're not Michael Jordan. You have to stay young. Fuck it, wear a beard and wayfarers or a risky hat if it helps keep you in the mood to wig out.

Parlovr - Pen to the Paper from *safe solvent™ on Vimeo.

Proud Bastion of Stereotypes Increasingly Anti-Woman

Modern Lady - a segment on Current TV's show Infomania - talks beer commercials, the absolute best our culture has to offer in modern sexism.

Bruise Cruise: best sweet idea i've heard this week

Whatever your feelings toward these bands or ardently hip people in general, sweet idea. A three day music festival on a boat full of stinky tattooed mustaches wearing cutoffs traveling from Miami to the Bahamas in the dead of winter sounds fun any way you slice it.

Bruise Cruise Launch! from BRUISE CRUISE FEST on Vimeo.

Google a threat to Net Neutrality? (or...Fairness Raped Again. Guess who? Corporations)

Google, have you no shame? What was all that one in a million talk?

As far as I can tell, net neutrality is viewed as essential equality under law by everyone except corporations with a profit motive. Why does the FCC have to negotiate with broadband providers to define net neutrality? Incentive is everything. Google and Verizon would never advocate policy that doesn't tighten their grip on power and market share.

from PC World: "In addition to the 'public Internet,' which is basically what you're enjoying right now, Verizon wants the right to maintain a private Internet, on which companies can pay for fast delivery of traffic."

Money always gets the last word. Isn't this straight Big Money corporate influence laying wood to fairness?

Google: Don't Be Evil from MoveOn.org Official Channel on Vimeo.

Might common folk benefit? Perhaps..........Reaganomics 2.0, anyone? A data trickle down effect, I can see it now! Data streaming efficiently and speedily to wealthy corporations who then wield that bandwidth to spur economic growth that enables universal wi-fi for every American citizen and small business (albeit, the slow "public" internet).

I'm skeptical. The whole thing smells like tax cuts for the rich.

Google's public position mentions compromise. What is there to compromise? we're talking about net neutrality. Net Neutrality. My small human brain might not get it. What am I missing?

Unstaged

If the best thing to come from the American Express/Arcade Fire/Terry Gilliam/MSG quadfecta (with Youtube and Vevo, a sextecta) turns out to be this Behind the Scenes video, then I'm sold. More sponsored YouTube events pairing music and video. Dig Gilliam as the likable, believable host and narrator.


Overall the event seems to have been successful and replicable.

You watch it live (on Youtube) or catch it later (on YouTube), just like you'd use a DVR (but embeddable and social-media-distribution-ready). And you get "American Express Presents", tastefully. The rest is the filmmaker and the band doing their things, but together and seemingly unfettered by instructions.

this here video, but one of many from the night, has 68,000 views after less than a week. it'll be on the internet forever. Our kids are going to be slurping that American Express sponsorship, man. How do you measure the worth of The Sponsorship that does not die associated with a band people already consider classic? That has got to be some ROI, it gosta. At least until someone purges the internet.

speaking of the power of youtube........Youtube and Vevo kinda just raspberried MTV. A liscensing dispute between Vevo and MTV ended with Universal Music Group yanking its artists (Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Kanye) from all MTV sites. Basically Vevo wants to "power videos we have under license" as a syndication partner to every major outlet that wants to feature music videos online. Sounds like they are asking for a lot until you consider the logic of UMG (who partnered with Google/YouTube to launch Vevo):

"In less than 8 months since its launch, Vevo has already become the web's #1 rated video network with over 49 million unique visitors monthly, dramatically eclipsing those on MTV's online properties, while attracting scores of major advertisers and tens of millions in advertising dollars."

MTV Networks president Van Toffler in regard to competing online with Vevo: "We haven’t really unlocked the great visual history we have in music across our channels around the globe, which we’re slowly going to do." Key word here is slowly.

"You got a real good attitude."

the big news here is that a guy from brooklyn made a cool song that could also be described as hip. but also the video...

Twin Shadow 'Slow' (NSFW) from Twin Shadow on Vimeo.

Fader tells me the video was modeled after these banned-from-TV Calvin Klein ads. I remember remembering these ads, but watching this now I'm sure I had never actually seen them. The voice of the genius behind the camera would have stayed with me.

Time Magazine is Edgy.

Fairly intense TIME mag cover photo you'll see and hear described in this video. The accompanying headline: "What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan"; no question mark, a declarative. Point taken. Costly as it is, there is some obligation to "help out" over there. It's jerky to adopt an abused dog and, after a few years of it chewing up your New Balances and pissing on your carpet whenever you have guests, just take it back to the pound because you're tired of the extra expense.


Is it possible that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will mark a turning point in our nation's history, possibly world history? What if the world's most powerful and exorbitantly funded military slowed its roll, took stock of an abject failure of strategy and its costs ($$$ and beyond). Vietnam was not an aberration. War sucks. So do Iraq and Afghanistan. Whose fault? "We didn't mistreat that dog, society did." But I bet there is a great way to get a mistreated dog to at least stop pissing and shitting on everything. I don't know what it is, but with enough time and money you could figure it out.

!!!!!!Segue!!!!!!!

On a related note, the US military and its HUGE R&D budget have been responsible for loads of technological innovation that has eventually reached the consumer market and allowed us all to stream porn on hand held devices. What if the US military kept most of the guns and robot fighter pilots, but allocated some loot to devising new methods of diplomacy and nation-building-military-intervention? How do you educate an impoverished citizenry, establish functional political stability, and keep women from having their noses and ears cut off? With enough (well spent) time and money they could figure it out.

Then we could take that know-how and apply it to our own increasingly flawed political and education systems. Believe it! Military spending could show us the way!!

Converse: Patron of the Arts

Another Converse sponsored musical threesome, only this time it maximizes appeal by exploiting enthusiasm for summer. I'm not against this at all.

Would it be better for the music industry to remain in this weird give and take between consumers and labels; relying on consumer spending to inform record execs who try to select for and engineer what they (execs) think consumers want? What if artists have more free reign because Brands can subsidize their careers in exchange for the occasional promotional cache?

This song is good. Keep your eyes dry.

Facebook movie, not in 3-d.

something to get me posting. How about this stuff huh?

As good as this looks, here's what I'd like to see: Zuckerberg as the avatar for every person who has invested faith in Facebook as a means of actualizing a better version of themselves. Cooler, more popular, better looking, more successful, having way more/better sex than their peers, and meeting tons more famous people in the process. Even if those famous people are asshole reality tv stars.

On Innovation

"I want our best minds to be able to make a killing from starting new companies rather than going to Wall Street and making a killing by betting against existing companies."

Find myself agreeing with Thomas Friedman lately.

Progress

The Creators Project is prolly the best web video product out there. Any surprise that Vice is behind it? It's a straight up "sponsored by" scenario where (I assume) Intel gives the keys to a creative team/emerging multi-media powerhouse for the early 21st century, develops a simple yet solid concept, and puts decent money behind it. It surpasses most everything out there for combined production value, storytelling, entertainment value, information value, and relevance to the world. Name me one better. Most importantly the goal of each piece is to mine for insight to new, fresh ideas in Arts & Media.


Not being dummies, they make an effort to fulfill the (rarely realized) potential of the 2010 internet by pairing each vid with written words, in this case an interview. Words and video on the same page, including a vital stats bio. Plus thumbnails of extra video content related to the featured video. And comments, which are never a bad idea. all good.

This is what the world is like

Nice piece about Damon Dash, his work/life/business philosophy, and how he's basically remaking himself as a Diddy meets Warhol type for the decentralized, indie community-entralled landscape of today.

“[Prisoners of wack world] have no other choice, there’s no other option,” he explains of P.O.W.s. “So people have to fit in where they can and just be mad, and that’s why people don’t work as hard, because they don’t enjoy what they do. They live for Fridays. You know what I’m saying? I hate Fridays. Sunday in here is just as packed as any day. Because, this shit, you enjoy it. You wouldn’t compromise it for the world.”

video of the whole thing unfolding at CreativeControl.tv

MTV Waah Waah (sound of comic failure or brilliant new revenue stream?)

Very much puzzled by this. On one hand it's great. But on the other, where's the rest of the song?



MTVU's Ahead of the Curve brings you the hot new shit that hip kids in the street are bugging out to! And they do so by making lovely, exclusive performances in picturesque settings; surely spending tens of thousands producing the thing, not to mention the man hours spent planning. Maybe the primary purpose is as a TV spot, fine. But MTV has this MTV360 ethos going which aims to put MTV in your face via every possible medium.

"Our users have televisions, computers and stereos in their rooms, often all on at the same time," says Sarah Cohen, Vice President of Programming and Production of MTV.com.

Cohen elaborates, "With the development of the 360 strategy, MTV.com has become a brand in its own right. As our strategy evolved, we developed MTV.com as an original programming destination rather than only thinking of it as an extension of promotions or marketing. This is true online programming – the television medium cannot by nature provide it. MTV.com qualities like community, interactivity, and broad, deep music access are now part of users’ and viewers’ expectations of the MTV brand as a whole."

So this Local Natives performance gets distributed online, but only 41 seconds of it. This is "deep music access"? "True online programming"? I assume they did not spend all that money just to shoot 41 seconds of the song.

Why not put the whole performance online? Why??? They have a whole site dedicated to these abbreviated performances with lots of great artists. I don't get it.




Is this a licensing issue? A sly way to get more unique views, more clicks, run more ads, make more ad money? Or is this a failure of brand strategy, kind of a waste of money, and frustrating to viewers all at once? Ahead of the Curve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The most widely copied graphic-driven editorial innovation in magazine land gets its own TV show.

from Cynopsis: "Bravo has a new original series in development titled Approval Matrix (wt) inspired by the weekly feature in New York Magazine. Approval Matrix is a studio-based, hosted show where four rotating pop culture gurus debate on which news items should be placed in the quadrants: Highbrow Brilliant, Highbrow Despicable, Lowbrow Brilliant and Lowbrow Despicable. The show will sport guest opinions and audience interaction."

norah jones is quality

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Shotgun

A frozen weekend spent at a friendly cottage in Ontario with NYC rock monsters Earl Greyhound yielded this, our ol' team's latest music vid effort. (don't be shy, play it full screen).

Earl Greyhound - Shotgun from think/feel on Vimeo.

Director......Chell Stephen chellstephen.com
Producer.....Sam Winter
Cinematographer......Gregg Conde
Light Design......Bryan Parker
Editor......Chell Stephen/Sam Winter
Production Company......thinkfeel.tv
Hair & Makeup......Meagan Hester @ MHArtistry
Stylist......Chelsea Conklin for tarotvintage.com

from the just released album Suspicious Package. Stream that noise right here!!!! Don't miss Holy Immortality. S'good.

Keep Innovating, Fader TV

from the Fader post regarding their Double Vision concert series: "...our modern eyes have become bored and weary of looking at the same ole’ shots of faces and guitars and faces people make while playing guitars. We are living in the year 2010—isn’t it about time that our eyes caught up with our fast-paced, internet-ravaged brains?"



Credit where credit is due, Fader. but as always in life and internet videos....do more, better. can't wait to see what's next.

Read more: http://www.thefader.com/2010/04/13/double-vision-holiday-shores/#ixzz0l5iZPCGi

Creative Destruction, other

thanks for the find, b boogie of theburningear.com

Whap

Only the coldest mofo in town can be president and call 'whap'. (Game winner against ex-NBAer with 40 million people watching no less).

For me, just as monumental as Health Care Reform. Way more thuggish than clearing brush, eh?

The People. The Man. The Internet.

Creative Destruction

Some innovations you just miss - when your era, the epoch of your epic life, doesn't mesh with history's schedule. Sometimes an innovation comes after your time. There's nothing you can do to reel it in. Alas, it's 2010 and I am not 19 years old. I'll die never having beer pong dunked, with or without my shirt on.

Long Post, Relevant News

at the risk of doing that annoying thing when bill simmons points out when one of his predictions comes to fruition......

IFC introduced its new programming slate, which includes:
"Onion News Network - Scripted comedy series inspired by the weekly newspaper and web series of the same name. The series will be a weekly report of zany news and hilarious headlines with wacky debates between the show's news anchors and guests. Produced by Area Man Productions LLC, the 10-episode half-hour series will debut in first quarter 2011."

As stated previously, The Onion has been one of few print-to-video transitions that is succeeding from a content perspective because they go beyond making the least effort possible. Makes sense, because they are iconoclastic and comedic and probably don't take themselves too seriously; therefore they take chances and stumble upon creative ways of translating their brand to video. As important, they are hiring TV talent to appear on camera. Maybe most important they spent money on all of the above (and below).

Today Now!: How To Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election

You may not know it but other major players in the print game are trying to translate their brand to video in a way that eventually leads to TV and all that TV money. NYTimes recently launched Times Cast, a video series resembling TMZ crossed with CNN. It's dry but edible. I'd embed it here but NYTimes Video is still against this.

Print -> Digital Video -> TV is a pretty logical progression; and soon there likely won't even be much separation. There are so many cable offerings these days, how far off are we from The NYTimes Channel?

....also, the rest of IFC's new development slate looks good.

"IFC also has a number of original series in development:

I Love the A.D.'s (wt) - Animated series set during biblical times with dinosaurs added in. Developed by Ed Productions (Crossroads Television).

Dead Set - Zombie/horror series that takes place on the set of UK's Big Brother will make its debut in the US over five nights, October 25-29 at 12 midnight. Produced by Endemol Entertainment with Zeppotron.

Young, Broke & Beautiful - Host/travel book author Broke-Ass Stuart journeys to cities around the US and takes viewers underground to discover cool and fascinating experiences and lifestyles for the young, broke and beautiful."

More Future Now

Innovation: always bet on black?

Ayeeeeeeeee! The Holy Fuggin Future!!

remember when the ipad was revealed and naysayers said nay. The real value of the ipad is as a delivery system for digital subscriptions to what were once known as print magazines and newspapers. See! See!

VIV Mag Interactive Feature Spread - iPad Demo from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.

London from Brooklyn + Lightspeed from London

I can't leave Theo London alone. I want to push him all up in your internet space/face. He's recording new stuff with the Lightspeed Champion dude, and judging from this clip the results are going to be New Favorite Real Fast (NFRF).

thanks Fader for this doc slice. more, more, more.

Yes!! Something to get me excited about America!

Preview Trailer #2

why would I lie?

i promise i don't troll pitchfork daily in order to define my tastes, but saw this there and it impressed the heck out of me. I've exhausted all my heck for the entire week.










this less so, but worth a look

latest mashup from Black20: gaga in wonderand

Newt G basically declares war on pinko commies, otherwise known as other Americans including city and state Governments

please not another civil war, please. let's work it out.

But he reveals a weakness in the message, saying the way to defeat the left is to slow the debate. I can only assume he means Less Exchange of Information and Ideas. What the Fuck?

You ever argue with someone, and you're both screaming back and forth? Then the tide totally turns in your favor because you unleash some airtight logic that can't be rebutted. Then the other person just tells you to shut up their not going to argue anymore, and they refuse to discuss the issue further, then they stonewall you and start doing laundry. Total Bullshit.

CNN make windows...aaaahaahaahaaaah...to see what I don't know

fiery friedberger

Stand By Your Man

Yippee-ki-yay, motherFer.

Makes me think of Die Hard when John McClane says to Deputy Police Chief Dwayne Johnson, "I'm not the one who just got butt fucked on national television, Dwayne". Meanwhile Argyle is in the limo listening on the CB laughing it up.

By the way, CNN.com and ESPN.com are emphasizing video more than ever. Their recent redesigns put links to video and big players front and center. Click on a headline story and you often have a video accompanied by the written story below. Makes tons of sense because both CNN and ESPN were in the TV business before they peddled words in the online game. And in many cases the web content is more substantive than what might make it to a TV newscast. On TV, you'd only get a fraction of these highlights of Obama at the GOP retreat. Especially good is the last clip. Tell 'em where you came from, O! Tell 'em what time it is!

And bone to pick with ESPN...Sportscenter has become all former athletes talking analysis and meaningless predictions when I'd rather be seeing highlight reels. Alas, that is what the web is for!

I prayed and prayed, and DIME TV is what I got. Highlights from all the nights games followed by the best dunks of the night. Tastes great, less filling.

Speaking of Diddy

some shiz I edited for Vogue (shot by Barbara Leibovitz)

Creative Control

CURREN$Y - BREAKFAST from Creative Control on Vimeo.

The internet obliterated the music industry as we know it but something new begins to emerge. By launching Creative Control, Dame Dash shows he's at least paying attention to what's going on with music and online video.
4(cheap + potent) = something in that happy medium between the rawness of a quirky live/doc performance and the production value of a traditional music vid. For maximum effect, brand content and blast it as far and wide as the internet can take it. It's a little bit indie and a little bit Diddy.

LAMC Presents: Curren$y from Creative Control on Vimeo.

I'll slurp that!

Saw this Surfer Blood on http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/ and thought it pretty awesome tasting.

CNN actually teaming with VBS!?!?!?

Yesterday was yesterday, and today my last post feels startlingly prescient. CNN.com is actually teaming with VBS.tv! They've created a microsite called CNN Presents VBS.tv featuring docs like Vice Guide to Liberia, Obama's War (a report shot while embedded with US troops in Afghanistan), and a music/travel series created specifically for the CNN crossover called Indie Asia: On tour with Handsome Furs

That slips right up your spine, that stuff.

Liberian Giiiiiiirl. You came and you changed my world...

Vice Guide to Travel: Liberia

I'm such a slobbering fan of VBS when it comes to their travel docs. On the whole, pretty thuggish ruggish. You could make the argument that it's mildly exploitative of another country's unfortunate condition, if you wanted to be that way. But it's not any different than this, I don't think.
Anderson Cooper pulls bloody child from looting mob

takin the train, takin the train

a straight repost from BrownBookElastic...

"Back in the whirlwindcalledseptember, we shot South African awesomes BLK JKS here in NYC and now Secretly Canadian has released the vid for your'n'all'eyes alike. but wait - lets backstory-backtrack!... Some time ago, the very talented Nadia Hallgren travelled to Soweto, South Africa to get some mindblowing shots of dudes surfing trains -- and eventually make the doc Sanza-Hanza.

When BLK JKS wanted to use the doc's footage for the project, they contacted Nadia -- who i then met, and we were off on the road to video. my heart is full of love and whelms for all the people who helped this project along the way: the steering, the enabling, the make-happen-ing, the sweating, the carrying, the whittling, the ALL-ing. thank you, thankyou... i'm so pleased.

BLK JKS - MOLALATADI from Jamie-James Medina on Vimeo.

BLK JKS - Molalatladi
director: chell stephen & nadia hallgren
producer: lisa diebner
Sanza Hanza D.P: nadia hallgren
NYC director of photography: gregg conde
editors: chell stephen & sam winter
glam: MH artistry"

Ground Breaking, Earth Shattering

Aaaaaah, I'd have claimed responsibility for the earthquake in Haiti to have been given a shot at doing this video for Theophilus London. Granted there are thousands of mofos living along the L, J, and G trains with the same skills, experience, and credibility as me; but whenever a favorite on-the-rise Brooklyn based musical artist releases a low to medium budget video without my involvement, I experience quite the irrational wave of wrathful jealousy. But when it turns out this good, I do hand claps (extra points for shooting at Winnie's in Chinatown).

I guess the greater point of this post should be that there's this BK dude Theophilus London making beautiful, brilliant genre-blending tunes. Crossover culture can't be stopped. The Medici Effect pummels all other models of innovation!

Baby Steps

pretty interesting stuff from Esquire in the land of print to digital evolution. Take a photo + copy item from the magazine and turn it into something called AUGMENTED REALITY.

Really could have brought it home if they hadn't short changed the audio. First, AUGMENTED REALITY. Second, TV quality audio. Baby steps.

well worn territory rendered more funny in animation

and sponsored by Samsung

again CurrentTV does something watchable.

just posting this so i'm reminded to watch it again and again

cuz i read my own blog like daily.

"must get to france so we can french kiss some french girls."

(whatever hulu, this is what i'm talking about