UNLOST BUT NOT QUITE FOUND CAMERA

This is the story about Judith and her unlost, but not yet found camera and some really bad karma. Seems Judith lost her camera on a trip to Hawaii with well over 500 photos on it. You can imagine the disappointment she must have felt in losing all of those photos. Well, imagine her excitement when she received a call from a park ranger letting her know that the camera was found. One call later and she was talking to the people that found the camera. Turns out they gave it to their diabetic son who had been enjoying using the camera. Anxious to get her photos back, Judith amazingly accepts their story and asks that her memory cards be returned with a little monetary compensation for them keeping the camera - $50 - not much as it was a $500 camera. Originally she was going to give a reward for the return of the entire camera.

Two weeks later she received a package of burned cd's containing her Hawaii images. Also enclosed was a note that said they kept the memory card to use with camera and they used the cash to buy a charger. Judith called them once again and was told outright that she was lucky to get anything. Crazy bad karma on their part. Check out all of the comments from outraged people on the Lost Camera blog.

ARCHITECTURAL OPTICAL ILLUSION

This is a really interesting optical illusion. Artist Felice Varini paints on architectural elements in a way that creates an illusion of a shape or an object that doesn't really exist. Viewing from the incorrect spot yields an unruly mess of painted lines that don't add up to anything, but once you find the one specific spot, the lines converge to form the intended pattern. Reminds us of those crazy sidewalk artists like the Master Street Painter, Kurt Wenner.

VALENTINE'S DAY 2006

Well, it's Valentine's Day. Initially we were going to tell you how the human heart works. Then we were going to shock you by sharing the scientific truth that the broken heart syndrome is actually real. Instead, we have decided to share a little gem that is perfect for today... What is Love? Made by Paul Blanchard for his son's grade 2 class, it a short film project that doesn't need any further explanation. Just watch it.

GORILLAZ GOES LIVE AGAIN

Gorillaz worked their magic again and performed live with Madonna at the 2006 Grammy Awards. The performance was a mash-up of the songs Feel Good Inc. and Hung Up. They performed as the same holograms used at the 2005 MTV Europe Awards, only slightly altered. Midway through, Madonna gracefully appeared on stage and did a remix of Hung Up and Feel Good Inc. amazing the live audience as she walked among the animated projections as if they were actually real. She the moved to an adjoining stage and continued performing her song.

Gorillaz have also made plans for a huge world tour in 2007 - 2008 which would also use the Pepper's Ghost technology - a digital animation projected on special transparent foil in a way that appears holographic. These shows are going to be pre-recorded and Damon Albarn (founding flesh and bones member of Gorillaz) has stated that he will not even be there when the performance will happen.

FUTURISTIC TOUCH SCREEN

Amazing new touch screen technology. Functionality and artistic qualities combined. Oddly similar to the computer that Tom Cruise used in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. The artistic element reminds us of beautiful sand animation.

WORLD PROCESSOR - GLOBAL ART

This is a really interesting concept. It is an ongoing art project by Ingo Gunther in which 12" plastic globes serve as his canvas. He represents political, statistical, informative, and/ or controversial items as art on the globes. Some of the pieces are quite stunning, some are bold, some are shocking and others are minimal. They speak as a human commentary. A view of the world. Reality turned to art. via: republish.org.

2006 SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS

How could a Super Bowl go by without watching any of those incredible commercials? See them all here.

ENTREDEUX THE SHORT FILM

Entredeux is another fine short film from the French animation/media school Supinfocom Arles. Directed by Francois Turquety & Laurent Labouille, the film uses computer animation, an interesting story and dramatic music to bring human emotion to life. Enjoy!

CLIKCLAK - THE WORD ROBOTS

It seems that every year the French animation/media school Supinfocom Arles, produces some superb filmmakers. Most notably, Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland and Damien Ferrie, who, as a graduation project, made the beautiful, unique and truly haunting film, Muppets Over Time. This year, in what seems to be an hommage to Rube Golberg, the Peter Fischli and David Weiss film, The Way Things Go, and the Honda COG commercial, students, Aurelie Frechinos, Thomas Wagner and Victor-Emmanuel Moulin have made, ClikClak, a fun and delightful film in which two word robots embrace the curiousity of a little child and introduce him into their world. It is well worth watching.

Looking at Muppets Over Time and ClikClak, we can see that Supinfocom seems infuse its students with the right kind of passion and skill needed to bring together a great story, wonderful visual elements and perfectly suited music. The results are great films. Keep up the good work!

THE PUPPY BOWL II

If you didn't watch Super Bowl XL, perhaps you were enjoying Animal Planet's second annual Puppy Bowl... complete with The Bissell Kitty Half Time Show! How can you not love this?! [via: camcorderinfo.com]

FILMING THE SUPER BOWL

On the weekend we found ourselves thinking about the sheer scale of the Super Bowl. Not as a sport, but as a production. It is after all a major television event that demands advertising costs of $5 million per minute. Just what does it take to film Super Bowl XL??? A fine question. Evidently the answer is 36 HD (high definition) cameras. That's it. Just 36 camera's. It is substantially more complicated and involved than that, so I urge you you to read this article for the details. [via: camcorderinfo.com]

SPIKE JONZE - MILLER LIGHT AUDITIONS

Part of a long rumored Miller Light campaign set to air during the Super Bowl, these seem to be part of the viral web aspect of the television ads. Directed by one of our favorites, Spike Jonze, these clips seem very similar to one of our previous projects. Not to say he ripped us off, but at least capturing the intrigue of the audition process is the same. Watch our trailers for the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival... Singing Jew - Meshugenah 1 - Meshugenah 2.

RON JEREMY FOR PETA

Sex has been great for porn giant Ron Jeremy - but for millions of unwanted puppies and kittens each year, sex means suffering and death. Ron Jeremy says, "Too much sex is a bad thing for animals." Seriously. Ron Jeremy is now working with PETA to stop over-population of furry, little animals. Oh the irony. Watch the interview here.

Speaking of Ron Jeremy, check out this sound clip from our documentary, Fluffy Cumsalot, Porn Star, which featured Mr. Jeremy.

AURORA AUSTRALIS FROM SPACE

Aurora is a luminous glow of the upper atmosphere which is caused by energetic particles that enter the atmosphere from above. We often hear about the the Aurora Borealis of the Northern Hemisphere which is known as the northern lights, but there is also the Aurora Australis of the Southern Hemisphere, known as the southern lights. From space, the aurora is a crown of light that circles each of Earth's poles. From the Earth's surface, the ring would appear as a curtain of light shimmering across the night sky. On September 11, 2005, four days after a record - setting solar flare sent plasma - an ionized gas of protons and electrons - flying towards the Earth, the ring of light that the solar storm generated over Antarctica glowed green in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum as seen in this beautiful video. [Note: The video of the aurora is overlaid onto NASA's satellite-based Blue Marble image.]

Read more about the Aurora or why not go on a trip and see them for yourself?

[via: hedonistica.com]