Category Archives: media/arts blog

The Translation of Classic Film to Brospeak

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What kind of world would this be if we didn’t understand the complexities of language? We’re surrounded by such a vast variety that sometimes we get lost and need translation. Luckily, comedian/writer Mike Lacher of Wonder Tonic understands this predicament perfectly and has managed to bridge the language gap between “Classic Film Dialect” and “Brospeak.” Breathe a sigh of relief, boys—you can finally understand classics like Gone With the Wind and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Meant as nothing more than a humorous, post-modern take on classic cinema, “Classic Movies Subtitled for Bros” combines film images and moments we’ve come to know well and given them an entirely new twist, because we’ve all heard the Bro dialect once or twice and can probably recognize it at the drop of a hat. Take heed while watching this video, for you may never see the films in the same way again.

Lacher has certainly made something of this classic English to Brospeak translation concept–he has published On the Bro’d, an entirely Brospeak version of Jack Kerouac’s classic novel On the Road. The book is set to be released April 15.

Presto! Instagram Printing with Instaprint

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Here is a nifty idea brought to you buy the tech design crew over at Breakfast—Instaprint, an Instagram printing photo booth. It revolutionizes the popular iPhone photo application by giving it full printing potential. So just in case you were saddened by your pictures’ inability to break from the interwebs, fret no longer: a door has been provided so that they can step out into the physical world.

The Instaprint photo booth is small and easily assembled. It also works as a location-based wireless printer, so cables are a non-issue. Once your iPhone and Instaprint have been configured, printing your Instagrams will be a mere click away and you’ll have enough vintage-effected prints to cover your walls with, throw into the air like confetti, or scatter strategically around the house.

As perfect as this all might sound, Instaprint is a concept on the verge of fruition. Breakfast have started a Kickstarter campaign to give it legs to stand on (s0 to speak, of course) and once their goal has been reached, Instaprint production can begin. They hope to reach this goal by the end of April and start shipping at the end of summer 2012.

Odd Future’s Video Present

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By now we’re well aware of Odd Future’s relentless ability to make us cringe with each released track. This reaction is usually brought about by their lyrics, but now it’s due more to the imagery in their newest video for NY (Ned Flander), a song from the upcoming second volume mix tape, ‘OF Tapes Vol. 2′, out March 20. It doesn’t quite take us down a dark and angry alley, but it is slightly unsettling. The song’s ominous tone—similar to the rest of Odd Future and Tyler, The Creator‘s sound—certainly adds to this feeling.

Directed by Tyler, The Creator’s alter ego Wolf Haley, the video takes us to a broken down home. OF rappers Tyler and Hodgy Beats live here, playing the role of impoverished baby and balding baby daddy, respectively. They each have a verse in the quick, two-minute track, held together by a somewhat demonic child-like background melody.

Infamous: The Fight Against Joseph Kony

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If you knew that a man created an army of criminals, solely meant to terrorize, mutilate, and kill innocent people, how would you react? If you then learned that he created this army by kidnapping Ugandan children right out of their homes, forcing them into sex slavery and to kill their own parents, you’re bound to wonder how this man could have gotten away with it, especially considering the numbers involved.

Joseph Kony, Ugandan guerrilla leader and war criminal, has been a violent force for 26 years and during that time he’s captured over 30,000 children. He’s forced them into his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and they’ve not only been stripped of their childhoods, but the notion that life is worth something. Over the past year, Invisible Children have taken it upon themselves to spread as much information about Kony and the LRA as possible, increasing awareness and the hope that he’ll eventually be brought to justice for his heinous criminal actions.

This video is the campaign, the message. Directed by movement instigator Jason Russell and excellently scored by Joel Preston West, it illustrates so much of why all of us should be actively involved in any capacity we can. The idea is to appeal to as large an audience as possible and make his name a household one—in other words, make him famous. The point is not to celebrate him, but to expose him for his severe behavior at an unprecedented global scale. The cause is too great to be ignored, and people are definitely responding.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. You can donate to the KONY 2012 cause, shop at the Invisible Children store, or sign their pledge. 

“Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live.”

The Charming Story of a Kate Spade Pop-Up

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This is the story of a man with a bright red typewriter and bright blue socks. He sits on his desk and stares out the window at the girl across the way. She dresses in colors poppy and textures feminine while she plays her ukelele for another man. A meet-cute that is also a color feast for the eyes, this Kate Spade fashion film appeals to the girly girl in us all.

Directed by Kinga Burza with the intent to document the label’s pop-up shop on London’s Henrietta Street, the Partizan Darkroom film perfectly captures the quintessential Kate Spade youthful grace and elegance, adding a punch of boldness by combining bright colors and general spunk, both elements present in the film’s heroine, Anna Brewster.  The film’s soundtrack (courtesy of French singer Soko) makes it all the more cute, with lyrics like “I will never love you more than Woody Allen movies” and “I will never love you more than the ‘White Album’ of The Beatles.”

Girls’ Ode To Ma

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An ode to a mother. Perhaps this woman represents a mother you know or knew once. Girls have released the music video for their track My Ma, from their 2011 True Panther album release “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” and while the song is clearly paying homage to a very specific family member, the jury is out on whether the woman in the video is actually front man Christopher Owen’s actual mother.

Directed by Focus Creeps, The video is rich in light, a sensory experience similar to standing in a sun-drenched California living room plopped right in the middle of a warm yet desolate desert. It focuses on the nostalgia-heavy emotional plight undergone by a somewhat elderly woman with a hippie past, indicated by the bangs and long blonde hair that she’s held onto over the years and a navajo-printed sweater she wears on an asphalt stroll.

The song itself embodies everything that one would associate with an extended, slowed-down longing for the past.  All of the sounds linger, stretching out like a rubber band and pulling you in the process–very Thrills-esque. Excellent song to video adaptation, guys.

The Virgins: A Film

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First comes the kiss, then comes the next part… Both a rite of passage all on their own, though they may create the same reactions: anxiety, hesitation, discomfort, uncertainty, and a general sense of confusion and awkwardness. We’ve all had different experiences, but this list seems to ring true for most and independent filmmaker Jack Turits has surely encapsulated these emotions perfectly with his short film The Virgins.

Simple in premise, the film is composed of two characters: the guy and the girl teenager. We don’t see too much of a back story, but it’s not needed. Even with minimal dialogue, we’re aware of the film’s subject, introduced surrounding a somewhat expected prom storyline, to help get the meat of the point across, just in case we were flailing in confusion. Both characters are slightly dopey yet entirely affable—in other words, true.

Having written, edited, and directed The Virgins through his own production company Turits Film, you might call this Jack Turits’ ten minute lovechild—raw, disconcerting, and all-too-real, but also intriguing and incredibly satisfying.

Nicolas Jaar’s PS1 Dome Piece

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Music and art can be sight-specific. We can experience each of them differently based on a unique setting and how this brings something new to the table. The same can be said if you combine the two with a choreographed dance performance and  powerful visuals to boot.

Nicolas Jaar is the New York-based electronic musician who collaborated with the Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 contemporary arts institution to create a sensory experience inside a dome earlier this month. He describes the show as an extended improvised jam session with dance choreography, saxophone, synthesizers, voice, light installations, and projected wall images. Jaar discusses how the dome setting wasn’t planned, but the point of the show was improvisation, so he just went with it, as he was planning on also feeding off of the audience’s vibe to continuously create the music for the piece. Jaar was featured to discuss “From Scratch” on Pitchfork TV web series +1, a series dedicated to featuring intimate interviews with artists regarding their performances.

Nicolas Jaar’s PS1 Dome Piece

Posted on by

Music and art can be sight-specific. We can experience each of them differently based on a unique setting and how this brings something new to the table. The same can be said if you combine the two with a choreographed dance performance and  powerful visuals to boot.

Nicolas Jaar is the New York-based electronic musician who collaborated with the Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 contemporary arts institution to create a sensory experience inside a dome earlier this month. He describes the show as an extended improvised jam session with dance choreography, saxophone, synthesizers, voice, light installations, and projected wall images. Jaar discusses how the dome setting wasn’t planned, but the point of the show was improvisation, so he just went with it, as he was planning on also feeding off of the audience’s vibe to continuously create the music for the piece. Jaar was featured to discuss “From Scratch” on Pitchfork TV web series +1, a series dedicated to featuring intimate interviews with artists regarding their performances.

Every Little Thing You Love

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Survey says that the collective creativity of Boston band The Bynars knows no bounds. Just take a look at the evidence—last summer they released the video for their track How Does It Feel To Be In Love? and it takes everything we thought we knew about music videos and renders it dated (Mashable was also pretty excited about its release). Twelve interactive videos taking place simultaneously, allowing you to click on any of the video squares to start the next one…and the next one. It’s definitely the most fun video we’ve ever seen with enhanced clicking capabilities (Hint: click on the picture to see the video!)

Now, the band has figured out their next video project for the track Every Little Thing You Love. If their last was a creative spectacle of epic interactive proportions, then this next one is sure to push the envelope even further. They’ve enlisted the help of J.P. DiSciscio, the art director from their first video, to direct it and they’ve certainly got the concept down:

The premise of the video is simple: a girl falls in love with an alien.  But it will run the gamut from there.  There will be love, action, animation, roller skating, heartbreak & tears, blood & guts, good guys and bad guys, evil scientists…”

The Bynars joined campaign website IndieGoGo to raise funds for this video, which, based on their impeccable previous history, should over-deliver in oohs, ahhs, gasps, and joy. They’ve even released the script for the video, to ensure not only its greatness, but their sheer enthusiasm with this project. We hope it’s a go because we already can’t wait to see it!