"Christmas Comes to Pacland"

The day the Pacman brand was extended too far.

Best Pictures of 2008

Photos

Prop 8 - The Musical

Witness the Resurrection of the Musical

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

Honda Spot and Explanation

The Impossible Dream by Honda


Behind the Scenes

Incredible Stop-Motion

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

Emotion and Colour

"Sigur ros - Gong" / Eric Lerner from Eric Lerner

Autistic Player Scores 20 Points

This is pretty old, but after watching a presentation on autism it is pretty good.

Bobby Knight Golfing

Who Killed the Electric Car

Part One


Part Two


Part Three


Part Four


Part Five


Part Six


Part Seven


Part Eight


Part Nine


Part Ten

It's a New Day

By: Will I Am

An Amazing Ad Windows Ad.

Fox on Sarah Palin Post Election

DL Hughley Attends Palin Rally

1964 Lyndon B. Johnson ad

People are easily controlled by bad theater.

Human Migration

Track where we came from as a species.

Less Than Jake - "For the Rest of My Life"

"The day a child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent. The day he forgives them, he becomes an adult.  The day the child forgives himself, he becomes wise" 

- Alden Nowlen

An Old Man Explains His Interesting Thoughts

Voltron

Vampire Weekend

Urban Golf

Was Obama born in the US?

A Great Scene - Dark Knight

Heath Ledger explains how a story like batman can live in different worlds.

Nike+

This is an amazing product, and is proof of the internet's power to create tribes that exist in a digital space. Nike has provided the vehicle for a novice runner to enter the professional arena.

Paul Newman says Goodbye

Born January 26, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio
Died September 26, 2008 in Westport, Connecticut

A clip from a great movie "Cool Hand Luke". He was professional at his craft and a true philanthropist.

The Professor Wikipedia

Alaska is Evil

Politics Brings out The Worst

Maybe it's because we can't change each others minds.

When you think you're right, and know another group of people are wrong, it becomes easy to think the world would be a better place if said group would evaporate into the sky. The idea of a government system not bothered with bickering among parties appeals to people on a gut level for it's hope of efficiency.

So here I am in Virginia, and the governor of my home state is selected to be the running mate of Republican candidate Senator John McCain.

I've now lived primarily in the lower 48 for the past six years. What I know of my governor, as experienced through my family that lives in Anchorage(an hour south of Wasilla) is that the state is more or less better off with her.

She took on a bunch of crooks, and raised taxes on big oil. No one cared what party she was from, no one cared what her religious beliefs were. She had been like Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

Today, almost two months till the election, people either love me or hate me based on the fact that I was born and raised around the general area that another human being was raised.

No one ever asks my position on topics, but it is rather "What do you think of Palin?"

My reply is simply "McCain '08"

I say this despite disagreeing with her on almost every national issue because it is the best answer I can give.

1. Either I make an instant friend
2. Or piss someone off so badly that they are emboldened to actually vote for Obama.

Semi Going 70mph backwards...Crazy!

It's called a trailer lady.


The Dumbest Woman On The Highway - Watch more free videos

Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live

Meth. Go Big or Go Home.

America Rules!

Eccentric American Idol

This guys name is "Eccentric" and he claims to be a panther. I don't need to explain anymore than that.

Where did the Gates/Seinfeld commercial idea come from?

On January 7, 2008 this video was played at Consumer Electronics Keynote in Las Vegas.  Seems to have birthed the concept for the new Microsoft ads.

Freestyle Rap Translated

Didn't even get the names right, and thus this spoof is simply propagating stereotypes. I found the actual clip which is a freestyle battle between Dose(Philadelphia) and Math(Brooklyn). Math is the second rapper, and pretty talented.


"TRANSLATED"


ACTUAL VIDEO

Treehuggers Cry Over Trees

3 lessons from my 3hr. presentation on Ninjas

1. Ninjas are real today, but might have never existed.

2. Good can happen at the last minute, but great happens working hard for a week.

3. Bullshitting in group meetings, while not productive, is great for group dynamics and a hell of a lot of fun. This breeds better work in the end.

Snapple Cap Writing Factory

Behind the Scenes at Snapple Facts Writers Room - Watch more free videos

What is the difference?

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Coming across music like this redeems my faith in humanity.

Paintball Shot to the Mouth

Some people should never have children.


Idiot Agrees to Take Painball Shot to Throat - Watch more free videos

Cookie Jar

A song that got stuck in my head today. Gym Class Heroes reminding me of a '90s rap video.

HULU.com

I don't own a T.V. Haven't in going on two years, and this summer I've got to watch a seeming endless supply of entertainment on HULU.com. Great shows like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Friday Night Lights.

This vehicle works to build up fan bases for shows that five to ten years ago would have been canceled because people just couldn't get on board a show in the middle of the season. It takes time to get to know someone. Like anything there is an advertising arm connected to this entertainment medium, and it is frustrating that I'm just a grad student and not some media buyer.

There is so much potential with online media advertising like HULA because for the first time in forever I can actually remember the advertiser that I watched because I only had to sit through a 30 sec clip. A small price to pay for free streaming video that I can watch on my time.

The potential here is being overlooked though because advertisers simply run the same ad for a company like say Blackberry over and over and over. So in a show that has a runtime of 45 minutes we see the exact same ad four to five times.

Instead, how about someone create a story of three conecting ads. Something that runs parallel to the show, and acts as branded content. Consumers can handle the complexity, and would actually embrace this new approach to the thirty second spot.

Unfortunately I am in school for another year, and now get to watch someone do it first.

hulu.com

IMAX

Investing in IMAX theaters seems to be a wise choice. It was once told to me that two things do well in a recession, haircuts and movies. The haircut is a cheap feel good, and the movies are an inexpensive escape from reality.

If this economy does slowdown for any serious amount of time investing in these two business segments would be wise. Unfortunately for us there aren't too many publicly traded barber shops, or that would be our first choice. So looking around we see great opportunity and potential in the brand IMAX movie theaters.

IMAX has an established reputation by being in primarily educationally minded places, such as museums. So, there is a great deal of trust by college educated/money makers here that cannot be overlooked.

As travel is limited by high fuel costs communities will begin to embrace small local attractions. It becomes easy for IMAX to do well here because consumers will seek this new movie going experience as bigger titles are rolled out. The Dark Knight was just the beginning. Iron Man II???

Internationally economies around the world are doing better, and have begun to embrace technologies that were isolated in the West.

IMAX Corporation and Hoyts Cinemas Ltd., one of the largest exhibitors in Australia, today announced a joint venture agreement to install four IMAX theatres in the cities of Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. The deal marks the Company's first international joint venture deal featuring the Company's new IMAX digital theatre system and doubles IMAX's footprint in Australia. -Fox Business

And good in America too.

IMAX and Regal signed a partnership agreement in March for 31 IMAX theaters in 20 U.S. markets. - Augusta Chronicle

The future is coming quick quick folks, and IMAX will do well.

David Walker

Why didn't we listen to this guy years ago? A bipartisan issue.

National Crime Prevention Council

Most of us can remember the days of McGruff the Crime Dog, which was originally created by the AdCouncil and Saatachi and Saatchi in 1979 when they were called Dancer Fitzgerald Sample. Despite generating fear within communities McGruff has lived on through many generations.




Today I saw an online ad for the National Crime Prevention Council, and I questioned how relevant a non-profit organization like this is today.

click here

In 2008 we get topics like bullying; pathetic wastes of ad space and money. This is all common sense stuff, but for our quick reference the National Crime Prevention Council posted tips on this and a wonderful list of other topics.



Couldn't all the information just be posted online, project done, for people to read? Do we need ads, costing millions of dollars, directing consumers to provide relevance for this council? The money that funds this organization could probably be better used for starvation, cancer research, actual police, or the laundry list of worthwhile causes.

The NCPC is a perfect example of something that has run it's course. Like Brett Favre.

http://www.ncpc.org/

Waiting for McCain

McCain

New Kids on the Block

One day a group of music executives sat around and thought collectively, "How can we make some dollars? What sponge haven't we squeezed for the last drop."

After watching the first sixty seconds of New Kids on The Block's latest attempt at a music video creatively titled "Summertime" we have our answer. Fortunately there is an entire generation that was too young to give a damn about this group when they were actually deemed relevant.

As they travel across North America I wonder how many half empty stadiums and canceled shows before the music higher-ups understand this may have been a poor reinvestment? In fact they could have just watched This is Spinal Tap, and saved themselves the folly.

There target audience of women age 28 to 35, give or take a few years, are not going to get behind this video because it fails to showcase a natural masculine progression toward manhood. The marketers rather make a failed attempt to recapture a moment in time when their target was young and fickle. We can assume that this target may have adjusted their tastes in the last fourteen years since NKOTB's last album was released. (1994)

This is how you pick up a girl!

It's just audio.

Mogwai - Friend of the Night

Not sure how this made me feel.

Internet Celebrity

If you don’t know who Chris Crocker is then you are better off for it.

This emotional wreck of a man/woman rose to fame by way of his passionate defense of his idol Brittney Spears, and now we can all sit back in quiet admiration as we watch his fifteen seconds of fame evaporate faster than a twenty dollar bill in the hands of a homeless man.

Today a video of Mr. Crocker desperately hawking t-shirts came across my view, and it sent me on a roller coaster of emotions.

At first I laughed out loud.
Then made a sandwich.
Then started to feel an ounce of sadness.
Then sat down to write because this confused me.



If you skim through YouTube you can find all sorts of nobodies like Chris Crocker trying to entertain you with skits, political rhetoric, acts of stupidity, and the such. Each seems to be hoping that their existence, which has amounted to a bank account of $34 and a permanent residence in their grandma’s basement, will somehow be redeemed if they become famous.

So the internet has become a garbage can for folks like this. Limited skills all hoping to win the proverbial jackpot of fame and fortune, which perpetuates the messiah complex that this country has. They don’t have to work because one day they will be saved by the state Lottery, Allah, scratch- offs, YouTube, a rich boyfriend, the Easter bunny, Jesus Christ, Santa Claus, or the laundry list of other pipe dreams that act as a buffer to accepting a reality that they may just die a nobody.

But hey, Mr. Rodgers told us we could be anything we wanted to be. So we will continue to sit back and watch the endless supply of town jesters perform themselves into a future of hawking t-shirts, and sadly realize that every time we click on their video we validate their life in some small way.

Time Management Time

As we grow older we become more aware that time is running out. From the moment we took our first breath we began to die. and our time is more rare than any mineral or dollar bill. The problem is managing it effectively is damn hard to do.

So as myself and the peers from my graduate program plunge into our first weeks of summer internships it seemed appropriate to share a rather beneficial video that came across my observation, and provide some tips toward freeing up some time for exploring.

Randy Pausch, who is a professor at Carnegie Mellon and terminally ill with cancer, gave a speech at the University of Virginia about getting the most out of a day. Usually I’m not one for “motivational talks”, but this is a pretty good. Keep in mind that this man is an engineer so his processes are very precise and perhaps a bit more extreme than most folks can handle, but there are some nuggets to be pulled out that I hope will curb some habits.

Freedom of Speech

Notice the reaction differences in these two countries.


Hungry

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO


America

John Kerry, U.S. Senator

"President Charley"

Step aside from the bias a formal education provides us and assume this young lady is not insane.

It's far more interesting to ponder what kind of economic and family background promoted these theatrics? It could be safe to assume it was one where resources were limited, and territory guarded. In a situation of diminished assets standing up to the encroachment of others could manifest into the physical outburst we see here. Reminds me of an angry rooster marking off territory.

My question is how this old lady kept it together? Hilarious.

Thoughts from a young man stuck on a rock in a river.

After being pounded against rocks in the rapids of the James River I found myself battered, bruised, and stranded.

Being young and blindly courageous affords a certain sense of invincibility, but sometimes we push this notion to limits as my friend Joey and I discovered in our failed attempt to reach a set of islands up river in what looked to be a more placid portion of the flow.

Now surrounded by the torrent of rapids with no life jacket it was a quick realization that there was no going back to the safety of the moment before we chose to dive in. We now were left with the dilemma of being separated as Joey waved to me from his new home on a great log a hundred yards upstream.

As I familiarized myself with the new surroundings I wondered what to do. Was there a responsibility to attempt the rescue of both of us since we jumped into the turbulence together, or was my own self-preservation more important?

Luckily, our friends called the fire department and we were rescued by a motorized raft from the consequence of our judgment. Amazingly the guys that saved us seemed pretty happy about the whole thing. Who wouldn't want to get out of the office on a sunny day to go boating?

Later as the events of the day sunk in I found the situation of being stuck on the rock was much like life. Sometimes we're farther down stuck on a log, other times we are waving from a safer more opulent rock with a plasma screen TV and a three car garage.

Regardless, the pursuit of future adventures often leaves others with the impossible task of navigating the rapids to catch up. In this sense do we have a responsibility to be patient and assist others at our personal risk? Perhaps we decide to float through the rapids of exploration alone, or more simply never attempt escape at all.

I have a feeling that I’ll get stranded a couple more times before I accept the answer to this.

Barry Bonds is Just Like Me

There needs to be a reminder to the world that I made an impact. This is my guarantee that a monument will be constructed one day to inspire the next generation of human struggle in my memory.

This might seem unrealistic looking at my current situation as a graduate student living just at the poverty line of a moderate sized American city, but there is determination here. Making sacrifices in health, sleep, and dating has become habit, and defeating the limitations of the twenty-four hour day is the primary battle for immortal transcendence.

Luckily there are friendly businesses willing to help in this quest. It is ridiculous for a man in my position to prepare his meals. The time wasted on this most basic need should be used more wisely. I could be out saving children from a burning building or discovering a cure for cancer; this is America and every second counts. Outsourcing the maintenance of basic life is a perfectly rationale way to win.

By utilizing cheap quick food my increased odds of gaining the admiration of the world far outweighs any long-term problems that may be raised by my lifestyle. Hell, with the money and power gained by cutting out frivolous wastes of time I will have more than enough capital to correct unforeseen problems.

So I don’t understand why everyone gets so pissed at guys like Barry Bonds. He’s not any different than guys like me. We are just utilizing outside resources for personal gain. Do government agencies or league offices have the right to tell us how to play the game? Are there rules?

Begins with Mark

Felt it appropriate to begin Exits & Airlocks with an excerpt from Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer published 1876. A lot of wisdom in this story about getting others to paint a fence. Thanks for taking the time to interpret these words.

Full Text

“He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while - plenty of company - and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.

Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.

The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then wended toward headquarters to report."

-Mark Twain