Boxing With Robyn

This average (and two-minutes-too-long) remix by Ocelot of Robyn’s pseudo-hit from 2005 gets a new video that really packs a whallop midway through – some interesting camera work, some hopefully contractually obligated participants, one pink boxing glove, and some ungodly fast shutter clicks later, we have a music video that mostly has me wondering about what professional boxers must be enduring over their professional careers.

Mr. Zero Punctuation

I was a little late in catching onto Mr. Zero Punctuation [Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw], an English video game reviewer for The Escapist magazine. A few scant months back, a co-worker of mine played Croshaw’s review of The Orange Box for me (knowing that I was a huge fan of the game) – and I found myself really not only bowled over by the quality of the review itself, but in the funny and unique presentation. Obviously, the guy gets his moniker from his verbal delivery… he snarkilytalksreallyfastandgetsinalotinaveryshortamountoftime – but the accompanying minimalist / information graphics-style animations are so simple, subversive, and friggin’ fast that you NEED to be paying very close attention to be getting all the jokes, cross-references, jabs, and barbs.

Hell, I’m even not the world’s biggest gamer (in fact, I remain blissfully unaware of most of the games he reviews), but whatever… I could watch this guy review breakfast cereal.

Check him out either via The Escapist or his blog.

Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tartust

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor just posted the following on his blog:

Big news today!

As many of you know, I’ve been working closely with Saul Williams on his new record. We’ve spent many hours together in hotel rooms, busses, backstages and studios around the world working on something we knew was great. This is the most involved I’ve been with any project outside NIN since Antichrist Superstar, and I’ve been impatiently waiting for the chance for you to hear it.

Well… guess what?
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! has arrived!
After my own recent dealings with record labels we decided to release it directly to you. Head over to www.niggytardust.com for all the details. Register now and you can download the record November 1st.
Working on this project was a real pleasure. Saul was interested in breaking boundaries / crossing genres / defying expectations and we learned a great deal from one another in the process. When asked about the sound of the record, I’ve had to resort to “… I really don’t know HOW to describe it.” That’s a good thing more than ever these days.

A word on the way we’ve chosen to release this.
There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new record and the way we’ve chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I feel we’ve improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit you, the consumer. You obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that IS very different in our situation is that Saul’s not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on this more than ever. If you like what you hear, spread the word.

I hope you enjoy the music,

TR

For Nine Inch Nails / Saul Williams / Hip Hop fans alike (not to mention music fans), this is GREAT, long-awaited news.

Inscribed in the Living Tile

This article, plain and simple, blew me away. Presented at the ATypI Conference (Brighton, U.K., September 2007) by Joe Clark, a Toronto-based Accessibility Consultant, designer, and writer, this well-researched and comprehensive dissertation on the triumphs and foibles (but mostly foibles) of the inconsistent use of signage throughout Toronto’s city-wide transit system opened my eyes to so much happening around me (and I don’t just mean in regards to the TTC).

Everything from information design, accessibility, clarity, font usage, and branding comes into question throughout the article, taking into account history, opportunity, hegemony, possibility, and bureaucratic politics. It’s a bit of a long read, but I promise you’ll learn something.

The Politically Incorrect Alphabet

Inspired by Dick Bruna’s Miffy, The Politically Incorrect Alphabet was supposed to just be a cute little one-off creative joke created by one Mark Jones to taunt his wife (who just happens to be a kindergarten teacher). Of course, ‘project creep’ sunk in and the effort snowballed.

As an online alphabetic flash-card set, it’s equally offensive, cute, fun, inspiring, stupid, useless, awesome, and completely politically incorrect (hence the name, duh). Most of the illustrations were inspired by suggestions culled from the site’s various forums (one for each letter).

It doesn’t look like it’s been updated in about a year, but I guess that’s what happens to weird stuff like this on the web – sooner or later, anyone can discover and ‘explode’ it.

Be sure to check out the additional downloads and look for animated easter eggs.

Briefs – Episode One

Check out the debut episode of Briefs, an online animated series about the ins, outs, perils, foibles, quirks, cliches, idiosyncrasies, truths, lies, and graphic violence of the advertising world.

To quote one advertising Blogger:

“…it may be offensive to some in our business since [Briefs] pokes fun at advertising stereotypes like excessive drinking, creative directors that don’t work, internships that last forever for no pay … there is a bit of cartoon gore, men in tighty-whiteys and mistreatment of both interns and account executives.”

If this sounds like something up your alley, go take a peek… but beware, the above part about men in tighty-whities is true.

Absolute scads of episodes are in production and coming soon!