DollarDreadful.com
August 28th, 2008
Just a random site I stumbled upon- but it got me thinking about how you rarely see html/css go this old school.
View site here.
The thing I hate most about advertising…
August 24th, 2008The thing I hate most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become out artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.
Banksy
New graphic design, competitive reality show
August 18th, 2008
MTV’s The Engine Room, takes 4 teams of digital designers, from 4 continents and has them competing in creative challenges. Being a BIG fan of shows like Top Design and Project Runway, I had always hoped a show would come along to showcase graphic arts… I just kinda assumed it would be on Bravo.
Using photographs to enhance videos of a static scene
August 15th, 2008Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene from pro on Vimeo.
Pretty incredible.
Dane Cook comments on his new film poster…
August 14th, 2008
Everyone hates on Dane, but I found this amusing…
I’ll save you from logging into myspace, by showing the post in its entirety- but if you want to see the original you can find it here.
Dane’s comments:
Before the downpour let me just say that my new movie, “My Best Friends Girl,” is the best / funniest film I’ve done yet. It’s got a terrific cast. Kate Hudson, Alec Baldwin, Jason Biggs, and myself really kicked the funny around. This movie showcases our talents accordingly as it expands on them. It’s a fun R-rated flick. An edgy comedy with a dash of romance.
That being said, let me address the fact that although I’m not a marketing major, I have a bit of a trusted reputation after 18 years self promoting. I’d like to inform you I had no say in this marketing campaign, but if I did, things would be different since it is obvious that this poster is boring / odd and has zero to do with the movie I performed in.
Here are a few things that truly blow about my upcoming movie poster to promote the release of the film opening on September 19th:
1. Graphics:
Whoever photoshopped our poster must have done so at taser point with 3 minutes to fulfill their hostage takers deranged obligations. They should have called Donnie Hoyle and had him give a tutorial using “You Suck at Photoshop” templates. This is so glossy it makes Entertainment Weekly look wooden.
2. My head:
The left side of my face seems to be melting off of my skull. I guess I am looking directly into the Ark of the Covenant? Are they going for the bells palsy thing here? My left side looks like Britney Spears’ vagina.
3. The Stare.
My character apparently has fallen in love with a strand of Kate Hudsons hair. Kate’s mannequin is desperately in love with the inside of my right ear while Jason is half stunned, half corsage.
4. Lips:
It looks like I’m wearing Maybelline Water Shine Diamonds Liquid Lipstick. My characters name is now Winter Solstice and I’m a hooker with a heart of gold. Jason is my floral carrying pimp, while Kate is my first trick!
5. Fashion:
My character is sporting a very high collar. I mean damn they should be snow capped at that altitude. It’s going for the vampire lurking in the castle basement vibe. An Olympic pole vaulter would have a tough go clearing that collar. I’m also able to turn my head comfortably 360 degrees, because I was raised in an abandoned barn by a family of owls.
6. Flesh:
It’s no secret that I’m more rugged facially due to a drunken visit by the teen acne fairy, but according to this poster I’ve got perfect porcelain flesh. I look like the fuckin’ bathroom floor at Caesars Palace. One of Marie Osmond’s dolls would look at me and say “shit … that guys got flawless skin!”
7. Hair:
It’s actually a close up shot of Tom Sellecks Magnum P.I. mustache they photo-slapped on my noggin’.
8. The set:
Pick one. This entire film takes place:
A. on Gattaca
B. at the Fortress of Solitude
C. inside a crystal wind chime
9. The cast:
Alec Baldwin is so fucking funny in this movie! Is he on the poster? I think so. He plays the wise talking plant Jason is clutching.
10. Final thoughts:
I set out to make a movie like the men and women, that you and I respect, are making. My generation of comedians, actors, directors and producers that I wish to collaborate with as I build a solid body of work.
Granted, one poster stinking up the joint isn’t the end of the world. Yet it sends the wrong message about our movie and I just wanted you to know, that I feel the pain. I really love the film and I know from past missteps marketing wise that the wrong poster sends the wrong audience into the theater.
Thanks again for all of your support. If you have not seen the red band trailer (which is excellent and represents the flick accordingly) watch it below! Just click of the mute button and your rolling!
PS - “Its funny what love can make you do.” I just threw up all over this awful poster.
Wow, wait … it looks better.
Hey … I love my new movie. Jeez … it IS funny what love can make you do.
Can you guess the movie from just one letter?
August 11th, 2008
This little quiz is pretty tough-
My correct answers were as follows (x’s denoting the ones I couldn’t get.)
CxN xxU xxESS xxx THxSE MOxIEx FROx Jxxx TxESE LxxTxRxx
Check it out here.
I Met The Walrus
August 11th, 2008A kid sneaks into John Lennon’s hotel room and actually gets an interview…
Your mind + this = blown.
LOLinator
August 2nd, 2008
Byline: the first native google reader iPhone app
July 30th, 2008
It’s not official, but pretty damn sweet.
Byline (developed by Phantom Fish), syncs to your Google Reader account so you can star, share items and mark as read, on the go.
It’s missing a couple of crucial features (there are no folders- just a big list of unread items and it should have a built in browser rather than launching safari every time a link is clicked), but overall it’s pretty solid and might get me away from my reader web app for a bit.
Check out the video tour here.
spreeder.com: forces you to speed-read any text.
July 28th, 2008
When I tried this initially- it didn’t work, so I had to bump up the settings…
Try spreeder by pasting the first chapter of Moby Dick, which you can find here.
Here’s an explanation I found on digg, via user prisoner24601:
“It occurred to me that people who look at spreeder and have never before really tried speed reading might not quite “get it” when they test it. “The text I pasted in flashes at me one word at a time. Interesting, but why? Is this just some sort of entertaining visual effect or something?” Fair question, and no.
When you read, you normally fall into what’s called “subvocalization” which simply means you sound out and pronounce each word mentally. It’s like your brain goes trough the process of preparing to verbalize every word of every sentence, but just doesn’t send the signals to your vocal cords to *actually* pronounce the words. You don’t even notice it really, but you will naturally read at pretty much the same speed you would speak.
Speed reading is simply disciplining yourself to NOT try to subvocalize each word. You brain is actually very capable of this once you get used to it. The problem is that on a written page, you have a second problem that you have to train your eyes to actually “scan” a word and then MOVE to the next one and (depending on the layout of the page, font size, etc.) that is also a challenge. (That’s why people who speed read with physical paper books will often move their finger quickly back and forth across the page, or use an index card and drag it down the page to reveal lines at the rate the want to read, but help keep their eyes from wandering.
Anyway, obviously doing this with software where the program breaks the sentences down and flashes just one word at a time remove the entire “mechanical eye scanning” sort of issue. I’ve looked at a bunch of programs to do this for years, but spreeder is the first free one I’ve found.
Drop some text into it and run it. The only “problem” is that the default speed isn’t really all that fast (which is probably why some people try it and “don’t get it” since they can actually subvocalize that fast) so they aren’t getting any benefit yet. The magic is in gradually bumping up the speed you are using and it will get you to the point where the part of your brain that subvocalizes starts “falling behind.”
Now push it just a little faster and your brain will “give up” trying to subvocalize, but (probably much to your surprise) you will actually have very high comprehension of what you just read anyway. In fact, then as you push higher over time (and not that much time actually, your brain is VERY good at this once you get used to it) you’ll find you have VERY high comprehension at speed that would have sounded absurd. I’ve honetly shocked myself at the word per mintue my brain can recognize when I’m not trying to pronounce them in my head at the same time.
Basically you are training your brain to directly connect visualized words to their known meaning without having to go through the “detour” of your brain’s speech center. (Or something like that…)”
