video

Flickr Video

Perian: “The swiss-army knife of QuickTime components”

• File formats: AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6, and VFW
• Video types: MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, Sorenson H.263, FLV/Sorenson Spark, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Snow, NuppelVideo, Techsmith Screen Capture, DosBox Capture

The LGPL–licensed QuickTime plugin installs easily on Mac OS X 10.5 and does what it promises. FLV videos (such as those you’d sneakily download from YouTube) open just like any other QuickTime vid, and you can easily export them to other types.

Tankmen is funny, no doubt, but I wonder what it means when we’re deeply embroiled in two of the longest running armed conflicts of US history that we find it so easy to make comedy about war.

Light-Paint Piano Player from Ryan Cashman on Vimeo.

After stuffing yourself with too much Thanksgiving dinner and the tryptothan kicks in, there’s some time when all conversations seem to work like this one from Martin Wilson.

Supposedly this is more real than it looks. See how it was made.

DGENERATE NATION – Skate With Me from DGENETICS on Vimeo.

The TechnoViking will have you scratching your head for the first 90 seconds, then ROFLing for a while. Not enough yet? Watch him dance to “It’s a Piece Of Cake To Bake A Pretty Cake.” This one claims to be the original, and though the sound is bad the video quality is much better than the others.

Thing is, now that you’ve watched it a couple times, did he stop a pickpocket or admonish a groper at the beginning?

You’ll find more than a few of Demetri Martin‘s (his site) videos on the web (one, two, quotes). Though I think he’s particularly good at powerpoint comedy and this flipchart thing, you’d think he doesn’t like to do interviews.

DataPortability – Connect, Control, Share, Remix from Smashcut on Vimeo.

From DataPortability.org:

The DataPortability Project is a group created to promote the idea that individuals have control over their data by determing how they can use it and who can use it. This includes access to data that is under the control of another entity.

• You should be able to decide what you do with that data and how it gets used by others
• Open Source solutions are preferred to closed source proprietary solutions
• Bottom-up distributed solutions are preferred to top down centralized solutions

DataPortability – Join The Conversation from Smashcut on Vimeo.

Who knew an ad that targeted our fear of the dark could work so well or playfully? Then again, what would this ad feature if it played here in the US?

EepyBird’s Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

I have some experience with Post-It Notes in the office, and though that achieved international recognition, it doesn’t quite compare to what we see in this video. Our 5,300 Post-It Notes just don’t compare the 280,951 we see slinking across the screen now.

I love remixes, mashups, and covers. I love it when bad songs get good covers, I love it more when it’s a bad cover. I’m a fan of Coverville and I get excited every time I find yet another version of Smells Like Teen Spirit (hey, this is just a sampling: lullaby version, Patti Smith, The Bad Plus, another jazz version, and another jazz version, a string version, no, two string versions, a tango, a damn chant version, some lounge thing, and one for the opium lounge).

But I think I have yet to hear a decent cover or remix of a track from a rock opera. Take One Night In Bangkok: sexing it up doesn’t help. You just can’t out rock a rock opera. (Really, look for yourself.) It might help that Chess featured a character loosely based on eccentric chess master Bobby Fischer, but rock operas just might be too weird for remixing.

Though…I’d like to be surprised. Perhaps a folk version?

I can, however, appreciate the irony in a sex-laden video for a song that had criticized moral decay. Video may be NSFW.

Not every song Johnny Cash has covered turned to gold (see Personal jesus), but Hurt is magic.

Mike Figgis‘ Fig Rig works equally well for guys in sneakers and guys in suits, but they’re not free, which is why you have to love Keith Lewis’ DIY version. PVC is sexy!

No, I’m not likely to vote for any republican candidates, but this is funny. From the producers:

I’m Voting Republican is a satirical look at the likely outcome of another four years of Republican government. The not-so-subtle message behind the film is the importance of a united bloc of citizens willing to take the time and effort to vote Democrat in order to improve America’s domestic and foreign policy.

Written and directed by Charlie Steak, who previously appeared in Synthetic Human’s award-winning film Drain, I’m Voting Republican features 28 actors and would not have been possible without their efforts and the support of many others. In the research during the development of the film, we came across the quote “Democracy is not a spectator sport.” We hope you agree. Check it out, pass it on, and please, register to vote. Democrat.

Newton isn’t really a kitten, but he is cute. Anyway, I got a new video camera and all I’ve done with it so far is shoot closeups of a cat. Is that why I got it? At least it’s not as bad as this.

Music is Jungle Struttin’, by The Lions.

It was only after I’d taken my seat and David Weinberger began his ROFLcon keynote that I realized there was a box of t-shirts at the side of the room with a sign over them that said something along the lines of “FREE: t-shirts from worn out memes.” Thinking that the internet might be old enough now that the old memes might be resurrected in some ironic way, I almost jumped over Jessamyn to rifle through the box and claim a prize. What stopped me was the realization that with about 500 people in the room, anything left in the box must be really, really past its expiration date.

By the time I did get to look in the box, all I found were snakes on a plane t-shirts. And then all my anticipation disappeared with a sigh as I realized snakes on a plane really wasn’t worth resuscitating.

That was before I had a few drinks, remembered I had this old video, and decided to give it a go anyway.