Two years ago, Microsoft’s soulful “Mad World” commercial, directed by gaming ad auteur Joseph Kosinski for the debut of Epic’s Xbox 360 game, Gears of War, posted a brand new level of artistry for the marketing of videogames.
Entries Tagged 'Music' ↓
This Means War.
November 6th, 2008 — Advertising, Gaming, Music
Baring All.
October 6th, 2008 — Gender, Music, Music Video, Pop Culture, Religion, Sex, TV
Seeing the video for Alanis Morrissette’s “Thank U,” above, released ten years ago today, is probably the closest I’ve ever gotten to a religious experience while considering a piece of popular art.
Eating Out.
September 24th, 2008 — Music, Writing
Here’s a great piece from The New York Times’ fantastic “Measure for Measure” series, which documents the songwriting impulse and process. In this edition, artist Suzanne Vega, above, talks about her computer systems analyst mom, her techy daughter, and how ease with digital tools seemed to have skipped a generation in her family.
But, most of all, she discusses creating her a cappella song “Tom’s Diner,” which became a 1990 hit when British producers Nick Batt and Neal Slateford, aka DNA, remixed her vocals over a shimmering, trampolining beat.
Can’t Truss It.
September 16th, 2008 — Culture, Entertainment, Gender, Music, Race, Youth
O.K., friends: The world got just a little bit bigger today. Thanks to my high school friend, Angela Renee Simpson—no singing slouch in her own right—I now know the name of countertenor Matthew Truss, an ’06 Boston Conservatory grad, and apparently one of the hottest new talents out.
If, like me, you get to the opera about once a kalpa, or you confuse the word “countertenor” with “counterterrorist,” prepare to be stunned by Mr. Truss’s rendition of “Addio, addio miei sosprir,” from 18th century Bavarian composer Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera, Orfeo ed Euridice.
The video is from the Intermezzo Foundation’s Elardo International Opera Competition this past summer in Brussels, at which Truss won the $5,000 Jerry Hadley Award. While you listen, remember: Your eyes do not deceive you.
Illin’ for a Drillin’.
September 15th, 2008 — Music, Satire
Hey, kids: Don’t forget to get your entries in to the WIRED Science blog “Drill, Baby, Drill: The Remix” contest.
Participants are asked to cut up the clarion call from lonely Black G.O.P. guy Michael Steele, above, to the Republican National Convention for the decimation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The competition’s been going on about ten days now, so hurry and send your mp3s to Brandon Keim at brandon@earthlab.net, and post your video on YouTube.
Coolest. Obama. Button. Ever.
September 3rd, 2008 — Fashion, Music
Love jazz? Love Obama? Mutually satisfy those joint urges with this impeccable, 2 1/4″ lapel button (enlarged above) in the legendary Blue Note Records-styled color scheme. Now, declare the only thing better that the Democratic Presidential nominee: The Democratic Presidential nominee backed by a combo. $1.00, plus 2.95 shipping, or 6.75 for Priority, from Democraticstuff.com.
Scientific Proof That a Real British Accent Keeps You Looking Young.
July 30th, 2008 — Controversy, Film, Music, Photography, Pop Culture
Madonna, 49, left; Dame Helen Mirren, 62, right.
Don’t. Look. Down.
July 18th, 2008 — Advertising, Architecture, Controversy, Film, Music, NONFICTION
Director James Marsh’s new movie, Man on Wire: A Tale of High Crime, documents French high wire artist Philippe Petit’s August 7, 1974 tightrope walk between the then new, 1350-foot-high twin towers of the World Trade Center.
The film opens next week, Friday, July 25th. Marsh is a guest today on my WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION, this afternoon, Friday, July 18th, 2 pm ET.
Truly Hard Rock Radio
May 27th, 2008 — Art, Design, Music, Radio
Korean designer Cheol-Ki Jo’s radical redesign of a common houshold radio results in one with no knobs, slide pots, or other usual controls for volume and tuning.
Instead, users place stones of varied sizes on top of the wood case. Certain circular areas there are designed to electronically register pressure via “load cells,” as seen in the diagram at right.
Depending on the weight being balanced upon the two radial surfaces, the concept unit’s volume and frequency are adjusted, making this less of an actual device and more of an art installation piece. It’s still an interesting idea (“Honey, can you give me back the speckled white stone and the three black pebbles so I can listen to NPR?”).
Art installation piece, or maybe children’s device, generating a true experience of discovery and play? Whatever, it represents some serious top-of-the-box thinking.
But Cats Have Cooler Groupies.
May 27th, 2008 — Animals, Humor, Music, Technology
mental_floss’s Ransom Riggs points out with several examples what was obvious to most, but undocumented until now: With the possible exception of the Flaming Lips, both cats and rock stars are united in their hatred of laser pointers.
