Tokyo Timelapse Video

Via Pink Tentacle.

Write The Future

With the World Cup set to start tomorrow, I thought I'd post Nike's latest epic ad, which you may or may not have already seen if you've been watching any sports — or TV in general — lately.

I got the biggest kick (pun intended) out of Wayne Rooney's alternate futures. The English striker's segment also contains a funny pair of cameos by some members of the U.S. squad, which is hoping to pull off "Miracle on Grass II" on Saturday.

Speaking of Rooney's portion of the ad, our loyal readers who are fans of tennis — of the table and non-table varieties — might enjoy the five seconds starting around 1:40.

As Seth Stevenson points out in Slate, this ad probably had a budget exceeding those of some of director Alejandro González Iñárritu's feature films. The resulting product, in any case, is marketing at its Nike-est.

App Engine Errors Can Strike Anywhere

Plot Holes and Pizza Rolls

I've been meaning to post about RedLetterMedia's "Plinkett Reviews" for a while now. While the site has apparently been doing reviews of Star Trek films for a while now, it gained the most recognition for its review of Star Wars: Episode I, which clocks in at nearly half the length of the film itself. The latest review, of Episode II, takes things even further.

While the reviewer-as-serial-killer "subplot" (hard to explain until you see it for yourself) is hit or miss, the critiques of the storytelling and filmmaking are mostly spot on, and I found myself nodding in agreement with many of the insightful criticisms. As a taste, here is the site's (relatively short) review of Avatar, a film most of our faithful readers have probably seen:

The U.S. Open, Now With More "Open"

TIME has the details:

The United States Tennis Association is debuting a "National Playoff" tournament in the run-up to the main event in late August. These small-time events don't include the luxuries of the real deal played in early September, like actual fans and millions of fresh fuzzy tennis balls. But if you win 15 matches in a row, you can earn the right to get plastered by Roger Federer, at Ashe Stadium, under the lights in prime time.

Related: Novak Djokovic—attired in an orange Adidas t-shirt—gives two-handed backhand tips, and advice on six other common tennis shots, in a TIME video, capped off with one of his trademark impressions:

Classic game characters invade New York

to have more, live with less...

great article that describes the mentality of a typical consumer. 

"Get to the CHOPPER!"

A bunch of Arnold's best lines. NSFW due to language.