We are now two teaser trailers and two full-length trailers into The Social Network. Check out this latest one; it includes a bit more new footage and features Kanye West’s super single “Power.” The movie about the rise of Facebook hits theatres October 1, 2010.
Category Archives: Video
A sneak peek into how the sound for Inception was conceptualized
Check out this “Inception” Sound for Film Profile and learn how all the intricate sounds were created and matched to the mind-bending action that takes place on the screen. Sound designer Richard King, re-recording mixer Lora Hirschberg, and re-recording mixer Gary Rizzo try their best to explain things as rudamentary as possible. It’s an interesting watch. (…But I still want to know where the “burrr” comes from. Maybe it’s here.)
Flower Warfare
From the dude who brought us “Light Warfare” using the awesome technique of light painting comes “Flower Warfare.” Creator Freddie Wong has put together another masterpiece with weapons at the forefront; only this time they don’t shoot light, they spray their enemies with–you guessed it–flower power! The nod to the Internet’s latest meme in the final frame is perfect!
Kid Cudi performs at BAPE, drops new single, delays album to October?
Kid Cudi recently performed his first single “REVOFEV” off his upcoming sophomore album Man on the Moon: The Legend of Mr. Rager at the BAPE clothing store in NYC. He teamed up with YouTube to have a VEVO crew follow his journey to the store. The best part of the collaboration is that the video is in HD and the audio is perfectly audible. Don’t have much time? Scrub to timestamp 1:37, that’s when the song actually starts. Remember you can download the track here.
Moving on to some important news regarding the release of MOTM II… According to Rap-Up, Cudder’s new album has been delayed twice in the same week. Last Thursday it broke that the album would not drop on September 14 (aka G.O.O.D. Music Day) but instead be pushed back two weeks to September 28, the same date T.I. and Young Jeezy are expected to drop King Uncaged and TM 103, respectively. Then two days ago it was reported that his label Universal Motown decided to delay the record by nearly another month. Though this is all up for speculation, sources say that MOTM II is now expected to drop October 26. Bum-mer.
In the meantime, you have “REVOFEV”, “Erase Me”, and now “Mojo So Dope” to enjoy. “Mojo” found its way onto the ‘Net a few weeks ago in snippet form, but early this morning the full, tagless version was let loose into the wild and it’s hella good. Its got this hazy, retro, dream-like vibe to it–Cudi’s signature stamp if you ask me. Take a listen below and click the download link for keeps. The wait is worth it, the wait is worth it. You gotta keep saying that to yourself..
Download: Kid Cudi – “Mojo So Dope”
[audio: Kid Cudi – Mojo So Dope.mp3][Via KWBlog]
Kanye West braces for new album by previewing new songs at Facebook, joining Twitter [Update: Rolling Stone visit]
After spending some time out of the limelight, Kanye West has returned to entertain us with his slick, emotionally-driven raps and different side of his thumping ego. On Wednesday Kanye visited Facebook HQ in Palo Alto, California to preview four tracks from his upcoming album. He donned a fresh suit and rapped a capella atop a table inside a fluorescently lit conference room in front of Facebook employees. He starts with a “fun rap”, that’s the one embedded above. It rocks. “Kill the hypocrisy/This is an aristocracy..I’m Socrates/But my skin more chocolatey.” The next rap is rather short; it may just be a freestyle, but it’s got a sick line in it: “Lost in this plastic life/Let’s break out of this fake-ass party, turn this into a classic night.” The next song likely titled “Chain Heavy” is dipped in politics and contains this humorous line: “They try to tell me that aliens built the pyramids/I swear life’s on bitch on a period”; it concludes with my favorite line I’ve heard this far: “This is the making of a masterpiece/So we broke out the chains and told our master, ‘Peace’.” The fourth song is called “Mama’s Boyfriend” and it’s an extremely emotional track about Kanye’s late mother Donde West. In it he journeys back to the days when his divorced mother started dating other men. “I’m my mama’s boyfriend/I’m her little husband…Keep your hands off my mama” he screams. Apprently this track took him 33 years to write and it clearly means a lot to him. ‘Ye drops so many uses of the n-word in this track, but he says, “I’m allowed to use it.”
Later that day he posted this message targeted to the Facebook employees: “Many times in life I’ve had to deal with moments of doubt. And as it’s been a minute since I’ve performed any fresh material in front of an audience, this could’ve been one of those moments… but it wasn’t. Your energy was a gift so electric, so genuine, that it really helped me give my best. The energy was so inspiring I had to keep going! I just hope you got as much from me as I got from you…which was everything!” Be sure to look after the break to listen to all the tracks.
From one popular social network to another, Kanye finally caved in and joined the Twitterverse. And you know what? He actually comes across a non-egotistical funnyman. Peep his first tweet: “Up early in the morning taking meetings in Silicone Valley.” This was followed almost immediately by: “Lol I spelled Silicon wrong ( I guess I was still thinking about the other type of silicone ITS A PROCESS!! : )” Then came some important news regarding his upcoming album: “The album is no longer called “Good Ass Job” I’m bouncing a couple of titles around now.” Just confirming our suspicions, Kanye. After giving a handful of shoutouts to various blogs for reporting his Facebook HQ visit, he started to notice how quickly he was garnering a following. In less than two days he managed to gain a following of nearly 300,000 (he’s currently at 293,687 followers). With tweets like these: “My thoughts on Twitter so far… at the end of the day, God damnit I’m killing this shit!!!” and “I think Twitter was designed specifically with me in mind just my humble opinion hahhhahaaaahaaa humble hahahahhahaahaaaa” you might think ‘Ye is stroking his ego again, but I think he’s actually starting to satirize himself. He’s finally realized that he “has the power to let power go” and he’s learning from his past mistakes. Hilarious comic (and one of Kanye’s friends) Aziz Ansari started trending the hashtag #PredictingKanyeTweets, and Kanye simply retweeted jokes that were on him. “Damn I wish Hermes made edible snacks, Cheezits just ain’t dope enough for my mouth”, tweeted Ansari. The fact that he’s not retaliating but instead having fun with his new lease on life through Twitter makes me believe that he’s turning a corner for the better. But don’t take my word for it. Follow @kanyewest and form your own opinions.
At the end of the day, it appears as if Kanye wants to begin a new chapter in his career. After coming out of hiding he decided to tease some tracks and open up his fanbase using the power of social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter. It’s an interesting and unconventional route to take but it’s one I can commend. Welcome back Mr. West. September 14 come now please.
Update: Later in the week Kanye visited a bunch of magazine headquarters including XXL and Rolling Stone. A video surfaced on YouTube from his meeting with the latter outlet. Look for it after the break.
[Via KWBlog; KWTwitter] Continue reading Kanye West braces for new album by previewing new songs at Facebook, joining Twitter [Update: Rolling Stone visit]
Trailer: Sucker Punch
From the mind of Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) comes Sucker Punch, an action-fantasy flick that features an ensemble female cast. They include Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, and Carla Gugino. To say this movie is going to be hot, steamy, and sexy is an understatement. Now before you watch the epic trailer might want to find out what exactly this movie that Snyder calls “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns” is all about:
“Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of Baby Doll (Browning), who is trying to hide from the pain caused by her evil stepfather and lobotomy. She ends up in mental institution in Brattleboro, Vermont and while there she starts to imagine an alternate reality. She plans to escape from that imaginary world but to do that she needs to steal five objects before she is captured by an unknown adversary. She has 5 days to escape before being lobotomized. In order to cope with the situation, she enters the hyper-real world of her imagination, and the lines between reality and dream begin to blur. She is joined with friends who are inmates from the institution. Lessons learned in the said fantasy world could help the girls escape their real-world fate.”
DRAGONS! Did you see the dragons?! Can’t wait for this one. It releases in regular and IMAX theatres March 25, 2011. Look in the gallery below for an awesome banner plus posters of all the leading ladies.
[Via SuckerPunch; Wiki]
A walk across America in stop-motion
One Canon EOS 5D Mark II. One tripod. One tape measure. One protractor. A couple of friends. That’s all you need to produce what you see above. Conscious Minds Productions and director Sam Griffith hired a model and approached Levis (the jeans and clothing company) to pitch an idea to film a person walking across America in stop-motion. Levis jumped on board and sponsored the shoot. With over 1.4 million views to date, Levis made a great decision–it’s viral marketing at its finest! Anyway.. the final product is quite impressive. The video consists of 2,770 individual still frames, or photographs, bundled together. The magic of stop-motion and time-lapse photography provide the awesome illusion of movement. The 14-day shoot and the editing process that followed were extremely tedious and required much patience. Due to the lack of expensive professional instruments, the team was forced to “MacGyver” their way through it all. Producer Peter Cote: “We did not have any really expensive instruments to ensure really smooth orbital camera moves. ‘I created a protractor in Photoshop printed it out and taped a piece of string to it.” There was a fantastic behind-the-scenes video that accompanied this video on YouTube, but unfortunately it was taken down for some reason or other. I will be sure to update this space if it pops up again. Click here to view their their journey in Google Maps. (Diggin’ the song? It’s “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.)
[Via Planet5D; MailOnline]
20 parrot tricks in 2 minutes
This Senegal Parrot can perform 20 parrot tricks in just 2 minutes. Yes, that’s a world record. Now become astonished!
[Via @kpereira]
FOD: Joshua Jackson promotes Pacey-Con
Watch as Fringe‘s Joshua Jackson freaks out Comic Con-goers by promoting the long-awaited return of Dawson’s Creek Pacey Witter.
[Thanks, @aimeees]
Jeff Lewis stars in the The Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour
The name of this new web series gets me every time: The Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour. “Coming soon” is this new foul-mouthed, crazy hilarious series that brings The Guild‘s Jeff Lewis into the spotlight. The first season is directed by Sean Becker (The Guild, Awkward Pictures). I was given a taste of the first few episodes this summer and I must say they truly are freaking laugh-out-loud hilarious. Lewis is riot; it’s about time he’s starring in his own series. The video above was shared last week at Comic Con during the “Celebrate the Web” panel. It was received extremely well by the crowd. Do yourself a favor today and watch this sneak peek and prepare yourself for the hilarity that will surely ensue when the “5 Minute Comedy Hour” hits the web soon.
Warning: This video contains lots and lots of swearing.
The Guild’s latest music video goes Bollywood! [Update: iTunes DL link]
I still can’t get “(Do You Wanna Date) My Avatar” out of my head and now there’s this! At this year’s Comic Con acclaimed web series The Guild unveiled their latest creation, Bollywood-inspired music video. The lyrics are catchy (again), the production value is top notch, and the art direction is superb (thanks to the enormously talented Greg Aronowitz). So watcha waiting for? Jump in and GAME ON!
Update: Great new, Guildies! “Game On” is now available to purchase for keeps at iTunes. Since it was placed in the digital store it quickly climbed the charts to become the #1 top-selling pop music video in the US and UK, surpassing the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. The video currently stands at the #2 spot behind Kenny Chesney for top-selling overall music video. Help the cause, purchase a copy, and let’s make “Game On” the top-selling music video today!
Microsoft one-ups Google Maps with Street Slide
With Google Maps and Bing Maps Streetside you can navigate between immersive 360-degree panoramas to visualize your route. Although this street-view integration is very helpful in visualizing your route before you drive it, there are problems with it and the brainiacs at Microsoft Reseach think they have the solution. They describe the problem like this: “The discrete moves from bubble [360-degree panorama] to bubble enabled in these systems do not provide a good visual sense of a larger aggregate such as a whole city block. Multi-perspective “strip” panoramas can provide a visual summary of a city street but lack the full realism of immersive panoramas.” In other words they can be quite disorienting. Their solution, called Street Side, allows you to seamlessly zoom out of the bubble to view a multi-perspective panorama view of a street. In this zoomed out view you can pan across an entire street to find exactly what you’re looking for or to plan your route in a more effective way. Once you find a particular destination or a location you’d like to investigate further simply zoom in to view a part of a street on more detail. The mapping tech is extremely impressive; check it out for yourself in the demonstration above. The developers are currently making an iPhone (and presumably a Windows Phone 7) version of the maps to bring to mobile devices. Don’t get too excited, though; only about 2400 panoramas of 4 kilometers of streets has been covered thus far.