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.

Classic game characters invade New York

"Get to the CHOPPER!"

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

Sampras Serves and Agassi Returns ... Animosity!

The charity doubles match between Pete Sampras & Roger Federer and Andre Agassi & Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells took an awkward turn when Sampras and Agassi switched the tennis balls with insults:



I'm guessing Rafa's wedgie suddenly got more uncomfortable than usual!

Postverbindungen: March 3, 2010

Some random links from recent internet travels:

• I can only hope that the Zoolander sequel lives up to the original, which still makes me laugh just thinking about it. No word yet on whether Owen Wilson will reprise his role as Hansel, but Jonah Hill is reportedly in talks to play the villain. Justin Theroux (who played the break-dance-fighting "Evil DJ" in the first film) will write the screenplay (his other writing credits include Tropic Thunder and the upcoming Iron Man 2).
• From what my friends tell me about the after-work life of the South Korean salaryman, it's no wonder that scientists in that country are at the forefront of hangover reduction research. Stay thirsty, my scientist friends, or you might find yourself trailing the Japanese, when they begin studying the vodka-snorting phenomenon mentioned by the first commenter on the linked article.
• Meant to post this a while back, but here's a crazy video from the security cameras of a bus whose driver fell asleep and wreaked havoc on a Taiwanese freeway.
• John Gruber pretty much sums up what I have to say about the Apple-HTC Patent Thing. In short, I don't believe that software patents are a bad idea in principle, but the current system is broken, and so it is unfortunate but understandable that companies would stockpile patents for defensive purposes. It's when companies use them offensively (pun intended) that a bad taste is left in everyone's mouths. A friend of the site, Joz, was lamenting recently that Steve Jobs — and, by extension, Apple — would be looked upon much more fondly if he rested on his laurels of good design and constant innovation, rather than always picking fights with or making snide remarks about people/companies/technologies. Unfortunately, life is rarely so simple, and we have to take the bad with the good.

Finally, I'm a sucker for a good Rube Goldberg machine, so I'm happy that OK Go and Synn Labs put in the effort to make this one (available in HD):

Update: Forgot about this video, which may be of some interest to the Japanophiles and yo-yo-o-philes among the Hydrans:

Spin to Win

On this Super Bowl Sunday, let's take a moment to recognize those other warriors of the sporting world—competitive pen spinners:



Boing Boing guestblogger Kristie Lu Stout sez:

I had no idea this subculture existed beyond the brio-spinning guy who sat in the back of my high school Trig class. But, yup, they're out there.

Rose Ball

Anybody here ever play it?

From what I've read:

this is Street Fighter IV, in practice mode. Both players are handicapped so they have a pixel of health, and both have selected Rose as their character. They are playing best of 9. At the beginning of each round, one of them “serves” by performing Rose’s “Soul Spark” move - a half-circle towards on the joystick, and a punch button. Then, they take it in turns to perform her “Soul Reflect”, which can reverse projectiles; this is a quarter-cirlce away on the stick, with a punch button. Whoever fails to time the parry correctly will get hit by the “ball”, and the other player will win the round.

So: they’re playing Pong, inside Street Fighter IV.

Everything is Amazing Right Now, and Nobody's Happy

The "funny because it's true" factor on this clip of Louis C.K. on Conan was so high for me that by the end of it, my eyes were red, my cheeks were stained with tears, and my jaw and neck were sore — and that's so true it's not even funny.

Update 2009/03/04: Replaced the original YouTube embed with a higher-quality (and more legal) Hulu embed.

Update 2009/03/18: Time interviews Louis about the clip.

Super Bowl Commercials 2009

One week later, here's my take on 2009's notable Super Bowl commercials.

The Good

• Audi — The Chase: Jason Statham helps Audi take a stab at its competitors, saying that while previous decades might have been owned by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus, it's now time for the four rings to shine. It doesn't hurt that the car itself is one slick beast.
• CareerBuilder.com — Tips: I agree with everyone who says that this ad got tiring after the first 30-45 seconds, but in terms of getting people talking, it was second to none. Watch twitter explode when it airs, in The New York Times' interactive tracker (click "Talking about ads").
• Cars.com — David Abernathy: This type of ad has been a trend recently (e.g., Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World" ads), but I can't argue with the result here, even if it was a bit disappointing, for some reason, to find out that it was for cars.com.
• Hulu — Alec in Huluwood: I love 30 Rock and I love Hulu, and I love 30 Rock on Hulu, and I don't love this ad, but I like it a lot.
• Monster — Double Take: Simple, well-crafted, and clever. It easily got a laugh out of me.

Honorable Mention

• Bud Light — Sweden: Conan O'Brien + Japandering in Sweden (Swedepandering?) is a great starting point for comedy, but Bud Light's typical frenetic editing left the overall commercial a bit lacking.
• Coca Cola — Avatar: You can always count on Coke to bring the harmless but fun branding ads. "Avatar" is a take on our increasingly virtual connectedness, and the power of physical contact. Also, pretty girls are gamers too!
• H&R Block — Death & Taxes: Something about the tax services provider's ad stood out to me over many other equally eligible candidates. It must be the Abe Vigoda.
• Miller High Life — 1 Second Ad: If this really aired during the broadcast, then I missed it, but it's a concept that always gets a response when I mention it to people. As expected, it's just one small (but expensive) part of a bigger overall campaign.
• Pepsi — Refresh Everything and Pepsuber: The Pepsuber ad (with Richard Dean Anderson) probably wasn't very funny unless you've been following the recurring MacGruber sketches on SNL (and even then, maybe not, for many people). Combined with the aspiring-to-be-anthemic "Refresh Everything" ad, though, it was a decent one-two punch for Pepsi. Still doesn't make up for the logo downgrade ...

The Bad

• Cash 4 Gold — Ed McMahon & MC Hammer: Setting aside the fact that the shady company is basically a scam, it was pretty sad to see the hard-for-cash Ed McMahon (fresh off a stint rapping for FreeCreditReport.com) and MC Hammer trying to make the funny, though there are chuckles to be found.
• Castrol — Grease Monkeys: There are worse ads that I could have put on my list (I'm glancing at you, Doritos). Indeed, the production values here aren't even that bad. It just seems like they took the path of least resistance. I kept waiting for the punchline, and all I got was a man-on-chimp smooch. That's not going to cut it, Castrol.
• GoDaddy.com — [all of them]: Scraping the bottom of the barrel again. I wonder what Danica Patrick gets paid for these ads.
• Jack in the Box — Hang in there Jack: On the whole, I'm a big fan of the long-running campaign featuring Jack Box. This one had some nice touches — did you notice the angel on the store window in the final shot? — but it and the associated viral campaign seem wholly unnecessary to me. Or, maybe I just can't stand the thought of Jack not making it!
• Sobe — Lizard Lake: It's the second year in a row that SoBe has wasted its money on these pointless dancing lizard ads. Adding 3-D, football players, and ballet only made it worse. Whenever I see these ads, I can just picture the marketing meeting from which this mish-mash of bad ideas emerged. The focus groups must dig it or something. On the other hand, I credit them for being way above GoDaddy.com's level.

Now you've heard from me. What's on your list?

Sunday Night Videos

I would never, ever attempt to be like these guys ...



... for fear of ending up like this guy:



Steve Nash is more consistent at free throw shooting than I am at ... breathing ...



... though I am better than this girl at explaining the plot of Star Wars:

Inspirational Montage

(Credit: Matthew Belinkie; via Cinematical)

Lucky Penguin

I feel like the penguin in that video is smarter than the humans.

The killer whales may not be so merciful next time, my friends!


Aside: I have seen the future, and it is YouTube in 720p HD! (1, 2, 3).

(I have also seen the past and the present, a.k.a. Vimeo HD.)

Eat the Head!

Have your birthdays been, well, a bit dull lately? Try being this guy.

Head tracking without a Wii.

Head tracking with a chicken. (+ superz-kyut follow up)

Yao's favorite food.

(first three videos via Waxy)

Mr. Show: The Audition

[via Cyn-C]

Raisin Brahms

Day of the Golden Eagle

This post has been translated into English from its original form, a series of bleats and baas called out into the wilderness.

To our faithful goat audience — do not let this scare you away! It is only a vision [no equivalent for "movie" in goat parlance —ed.] ... Turn the young ones' eyes away, but teach them the story. The mighty death bird [Golden Eagle] is to be feared! See this vision of its air walk ending the life of your babes in a most horrifying way:



[via Waxy]

Ken Lee by Valentina Hasan

Mariah's response to the video was, "I applaud anyone who can perform in front of an audience."

Miss Hasan got better though:



The original version was so popular, you can support it here.

Blood, Sweat, and Bears

Some videos to pass the time:

• Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty ... of death!


• In America, you hit tennis ball with racket. In Soviet Russia, racket hits you! (apologies to Yakov Smirnoff)


• Kids, don't miss out on the hottest new dance craze that's sweeping the nation — do the Bear! (plays after a short ad)


• Keep those Rock Band skills sharp, my friends; you never know when your musical talents will come in handy. (read the linked Wikipedia page too, if you have the time)

Mr. Show: The Fairsley Difference

It's about time for me to post another Mr. Show video. Enjoy!



[via Waxy]

Space Shuttle vs. Giant Spider!!

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.


[via ... the whole internet]