Yes, But The Toner Cartridges Are $7600 Bucks!

Chaulkbot is another wonderful use of the human imagination at work. I applaud NIKE for funding the creation of such ingenuity. Give them a shout on twitter – http://twitter.com/chalkbot and you might just have your message read by a half a million drunk French peeps.

Movie $poilers $ave My $anity

Let me be the first to say that I LOVE the movies! I have purchased well over 700 titles, both in feature length and television programming. But to this date a good spoiler will save you money, sanity and frankly the general angst you feel after killing $40 (tickets, bevies' and corn) and two hours of your life. YOUR LIFE! You cannot get it back people.

With that said, I read a great one recently on the movie "Orphan". Now, I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag but let's just say – thank you. Had I wasted the time and attention to get the byproduct that was outed I would have gone mental.

<Insert Spoiler the "Orphan" Here>

Some people tell me "well now you don't want to see it!," and nothing could be further from the truth. More often than not having that knowledge is an appetiser to the films potential.

Some great spoiler sites to improve your quality of life are as follows:
For Television: SpoilerFix.com
For Movies: MoviePooper.com

Who should I know?

I've decided that I want to feature some of the awesomely talented people in my network. So, I'll be interviewing people in a feature I will affectionately refer to as "If You Don't Know Them You Should:" With that said, if there's someone in your network that you'd like me to reach out to please send me the following information:

• First and Last Name
• Email Address
• Business Type
• Position Title
• Any "Must Ask" questions

Thanks in advance!

$50,000 worth of viral concepts

Many of you will remember the following viral videos that helped launch Tiger Woods 2009 into one of last years top-selling games.

Tiger Woods "Walk on Water"

Tiger Woods 09 - "Square Peg, Round Hole"

Both ads were extremely clever, I'm by no means surprised the game was as successful as it was. This year they're asking the user to create the ad. User Generated Content (UGC) is nothing new in the online space. The rise of "new media" advertising with inexpensive cameras such as the ones on cell phones and The Flip have put the onus on John 'Q' Public to come up with the next viral winner.

There are some inherent problems with UGC:

• Very often the same people inundate the boards with concepts
• Often start-up agencies and design houses kill the chances of the little guy investing 'real' money to edge out the competition
• Dependant up the amount of submissions vetting the material can be costly and time consuming
• Often people not chosen can flame the concept with an anti-campaign

I think what [somewhat] separates this UGC campaign is that they give you winning ideas from the past, a simply creative brief and even a folder of video assets to pull from.

Here's a few initial concepts from the likes of the insane:

• Post tournament win party leads to "boosting" a car and getting a DUI
• A chopped and screwed dance mix lead by Flo Rida singing into a SUMO driver shaped microphone
• A remake of Michael Jackson's thriller using golf pros for the zombie dance scene (twofer)

Now I need an angel investor.

Giddy as a School Girl – "check"

Firefox 3.5 has a feature now called "Font-Face". Why this is important is that you can (server side) embed any font and reference it allowing the user to see to intended font. For web designers globally, if this doesn't make you do a little dance in a circle you must be using Front Page.

"Using Font-face for font linking is relatively straightforward. Within a stylesheet, each Font-face rule defines a family name to be used, the font resource to be loaded, and the style characteristics of a given face such as whether it’s bold or italic. Firefox 3.5 only downloads the fonts as needed, so a stylesheet can list a whole set of fonts of which only a select few will actually be used." ~ hacks.mozilla.org

And while Safari, Opera and others have allowed references to Font-Face for quite some time this is the first dominate browser to capatilize on it. This is important, not simply the empowerment to the designer but the recognition that font usage is equally as important as its content.

Something that might be worthy of the $100+ ticket.

While I cannot say that I'm the biggest U2 fan in the world, I can say that their new stage is the future of the live experience.

"The centerpiece, suspended from a massive claw, is a massive video display made of 888 individual tiny LED screens. It's seven stories tall, covers 3,800 square feet and weighs 60 tons. But it moves nonetheless, changing shape during the performance. A little bit like a Chinese finger trap, it envelops the band as it extends, while displaying short films directed by artist Catherine Owens."

The stage was designed by Hoberman Associates; Innovative Designs, which specializes in stage architecture; and Buro Happold, a structural engineering firm.

What I think makes this unique is the cross over into more of a kinetic art experience. Not simply engaging the audience with fancy lights and exhausted volume levels. Stages like this are entry way to giving an audience more than simply a musical retrospective. I believe that audiences are tired of paying too much money and not getting enough quality. Remember musicians, your concert is only as good as it is retold in story. Walt Disney wanted guests to leave the reality of one's everyday life and be transported into a new world upon visiting a park.

Here are a few more recent stage designs that I believe support the future of live venues:

Darren Hayes

Metallica

Tim McGraw

Pink Floyd

2005 VGA Awards

Britney Spears

Rolling Stones

Need I say more?