The folks at Improv Everywhere are really make the world a better place. Their most recent stunt brought Princess Leia, Darth Vader, and a small army of Storm Troopers onto a NYC subway car. Watch the “mission” unfold in the video above.
Category Archives: Video
Face-mash!
Remember the main menu feature in Super Mario 64 where you could stretch and distort Mario’s big head in any which way you desired? Ever wondered what it would look like to perform those similar actions on yourself? Probably not, but that won’t keep you from watching this!
Animated short boasts great aesthetics, unsettling conclusion
What starts out as a nice animation that “explores how advances in open-source synthetic biology allow a young man to grow his very own action hero” quickly becomes something bizarrely disturbing during the final moments. Watch Tom Judd’s animated short “Bruce” and see for yourself.
[Via @kpereira]
Man animates fire at will
Over the course of two weeks YouTuber brusspup utilized the power of stop-motion to create this fascinating fire animation. Stop-motion involves snapping pictures at rapid rates to capture the illusion of movement; when the individual shots are placed together in post-editing they can be played in a continuous sequence, and this results in a video (of pictures). I cannot imagine the amount of time and patience it took to make all this happen!
Video games invade our world again in “Gnarcade”
Check out Mike Benson’s “Gnarcade”, a world where classic video game characters and obstacles interact with pro athletes. Pacman, Frogger, and baddies from Super Mario make memorable appearences. But it’s the Portal effect at 2:21 that gets me every time. Beats are provided by Ground Up. Enjoy! (I say “again” in the post title in reference to the awesome NYC pixel takeover.)
Domino medley uses a wonderful arrangement of instruments
Brett Domino and his partner-in-crime Steven Peavis are back to perform a medley of popular songs using an ecclectic choice of instruments. Said instruments include (in order of appearence) soft drink cans, an iPod Touch (using the DigiDrummer app), accordion, Roland E-36 keyboard, Korg digital piano, Stylophone beatbox, theremin, ukulele, egg shaker, Roland AX-Synth keytar, recorders, glockenspiel, kazoos, and stylophones. From Jay-Z to Bieber to Ke$ha the talented duo cover it all.
Gary Numan plays hit song “Cars” on cars
Apparently one Platinum DieHard battery can power a cube of lights, a double-stacked keyboard, 24 cars without batteries, and um, Gary Numan. Watch the ’79 one-hit wonder perform “Cars” on keyboards hooked up to car horns. He’s aged, hasn’t he?
Over three days in the desert, a team of six engineers worked on 24 cars and removed the batteries from each. Instead, they connected them all together to a central computer and a keyboard. The horns inside the cars were removed and instead an MP3 player was used to tune it. The entire set-up was hooked to one DieHard battery. .. As Numan hit each key on his keyboard, the software turned on the lights and sound for the corresponding car.
[Via Wired]
Showrunners Robert Kirkman & Frank Darabont talk up AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ (first BTS video!)
Having followed the initial murmurs of the new AMC zombie program based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book of the same name, it’s very exciting to see the first behind-the-scenes video footage of The Walking Dead coming together. The show follows a group of survivors who are forced to deal with the aftermath of a devastating zombie apocalypse. Kirkman serves as executive producer. In the video above he gushes about how swimmingly the show is assembling as the season premiere looms in the near distance (this October). Writer/director/exec producer Frank Darabont is also having a blast making this show. “We’re going to following the Robert Kirkman narrative pretty closely,” Darabont reveals. “We’re giving ourselves permission to veer off the path and find the interesting detours.” So far, Kirkman has had no problem with Darabont’s methods. We’ve seen production stills from the set, but there’s nothing like seeing these zombies in action. And man do they look scary as hell. But we should expect nothing less from makeup/special FX lead Greg Nicotero. This show hasn’t even started yet and I’m hooked. And that’s why I got so excited when I heard Darabont utter these words: “I’d like to do twenty years of zombie TV.”
[Via EW-Popwatch]
David Cross joins FOX’s ‘Running Wilde’
Now this is fantastic news! Actor David Cross is joining the new FOX comedy Running Wilde. The show stars Will Arnett. The show is created by Mitch Hurwitz. Have you connected the dots yet? It’s an Arrested Developement reunion! In Hurwitz’s Arrested Development, Cross played doctor-turned-aspiring actor Tobias Fünke, the brother-in-law of Arnett’s Gob Bluth. Cross will be featured in 7 of the initial 13 episodes as “the radical environmentalist boyfriend of Keri Russell’s character” according to IGN. Hurwitz and Arnett serve as creators, writers, and executive producers. Arrested Development directors Anthony and Joe Russo and executive producer Jim Valley are also on board.
FOX is giving Hurwitz another chance with Running Wilde, so make sure you tune in Tuesday, September 21 at 9:30PM. We can’t give the network another opportunity to shun Hurwitz & Co. away from making great TV like they did with the prematurally canned Arrested Development. With a handful of AD alum signed on, I have a good feeling this comedy will tower over other network premieres in terms of quality. AD‘s theme was “family first.” From the looks of the trailer (embedded after the break, along with the synopsis), Running Wilde will take a new yet familar path: Russell’s Emmy to Arnett’s Wilde: “I am going to make you a better man.” Family, relationships, heart, hilarity. Welcome back, Hurwitz.
[Via IGN] Continue reading David Cross joins FOX’s ‘Running Wilde’
Taiwanese news outlet tells the story of iPhone 4’s woes the only way it can
..with Sims-like animations! Taiwan’s NMA News is back again to shed some light on what’s being dubbed “Antennagate”, the negative firestorm surrounding the iPhone 4. You don’t have to understand the language to find this news coverage over-the-top, absurd, and yet so right about everything. I mean, who can complain about their animated coverage concerning the Conan O’Brien vs. Jay Leno debacle and the Tiger Woods scandal?
[Via Gizmodo]
Check out Apple’s $100 million phone test labs
To prove that they invest a lot of time, energy, and money in making sure their phones are ready for launch, Apple showed off their state of the art testing facilities. Apple spend $100 million to create 17 anechoic chambers. These buildings are the largest on the Cupertino campus. These chambers are “designed to stop reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves”, and this makes for the perfect environment for cell phone testing. “You have to build these rooms or you don’t get accurate results,” Steve Jobs pointed out at today’s press conference regarding the iPhone 4’s antenna problem. The chambers are “connected to sophisticated equipment that simulates cellular base stations, WiFi networks, Bluetooth devices – even GPS satellites” to ensure that all aspects of the phone are tested properly and thoroughly. Apple also said that they have 18 PhD scientists and engineers on hand when it’s testing time.
Apple released three stills of these strikingly designed sound proof rooms; check ’em out in the gallery below. Also head over to Apple’s site to watch a brief video that takes you into some of the chambers and does a great job of describing how they’re utilized.
Update: Apple uploaded the behind-the-scenes video to their YouTube page. I went ahead and embedded it for you; it’s sitting after the break.
Continue reading Check out Apple’s $100 million phone test labs
New Droid X trailer captivates sci-fi lovers
The “See You Tomorrow” teaser trailer–erm, commercial–is making its rounds on the ‘Net and TV. It promotes Verizon’s latest smartphone from Motorola, the Droid X. The 8-megapixel packin’ 4.3-inch beast of a phone is now shipping for Verizon Wireless customers; $199.99 with a new two-year contract.