Epic Shepherding FTW

It's my second "hey this ad is cool" post of the day, but OMGWTFBBQ.

magnifique publicité

I love it when an ad agency gets a good idea and just figures out a way to work it into a product promotion.

Stella Artois has launched smoothoriginals.com - a collection of short film parodies - to support the release of its new light product. From the site:

Ah, le cinema! Remember the days when men were strong and silent, women were chic and sophistique, and the action was as smooth as our 4% tripled filtered beer? Formidable!

John Mequlaine apathetically follows Simone's cryptic instructions in "Dial Hard", rap battles get a bohemian redux in "8 Kilometers" (Monte Carlo side! Say bonjour to your mother), and a Belgium Jack Bauer contemplates just how long "24 Heuers" really is.



Hooray for Stella and its agency, Mother London, for a great campaign.

Factoid Monday!

The presentation is a little heavy-handed, but a lot of the stats are pretty interesting.



PS - Does anybody else find it amusing that a presentation with a lot of "wow are things obsolete fast" messaging used a techno-pop song from 1998?

Tee shirt appropriate for movie openings, parties, bar mitzvahs, etc.

I'm down with the guys at Jinx. Great guys, make some nerdy shirts and gear. They work hard, play hard.

This is all time:



Nice work guys. Simple, back to your roots, and works at many functions.

Oh and for everyone like Hex, internet superstar,- Here you go.

Juan Atkins and the Detroit Sound

Yeah. You need to check out the wikipedia if you are scratching your head:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Atkins

And then get into this:



and the title link is the trailer for the documentary.

Cosmos on Hulu

More ways for Satorical to put off doing real work, now available for viewing.



And while I'm at it -- here's the classic Family Guy bit -- Cosmos for Rednecks

Enjoy!

The Most Independent Movie Ever Made

Two dirty garages, way up!

Samurai Sword Umbrella

The fact that there's not actually a sword somewhere in here is somewhat disappointing, but it's still a pretty cool idea.

Electric Purgatory

It takes an hour to watch this documentary -- but it's soooo worth it.



Seriously -- did you know Rick James used the lead singer in a band featuring Neil Young on guitar?

BBC comedies

Because you are in the US, and you don't have someone helping you out. I sent you the Mighty Boosh and IT Crowd. Now you have some other tasks. First you need to check out Spaced. Oh and leave nasty notes on anyone who doesn't let you embed their youtube videos.

Then you need to check out Black Books. Oh and you should look for "black books the cleaner" on youtube. Some people just won't be cool with embedding.



If you do netflix just get the complete series of each in your queue.

off you go, shoo....

The Glenn Beck Show Generator

Deus Ex Malcontent is always awesome, but especially when he takes shots as precise and as effective as this one.

Enjoy!

NCAA March Madness on Demand

If you're like me (and I know you are) then you need this. Live first round tournament coverage on your computer at work, 100% free. I have a separate bracket that I've prepared that pits the things I have to do today against my desire to just watch college basketball.

I don't want to spoil the surprise, but guess which one is gonna win.

The Recession Claims Another Victim

Word out of New Zealand (where the Americanized version of the show is filmed) is saying that the Disney Company has pulled the plug and cancelled all future seasons of the Power Rangers.

Yes, it was still on the air.

..Well, now it's not. But it was.

Apostrophe Abuse

Bored?

Sure you are. We all get that way sometimes -- there's no shame in it.

Clicking on this site for more than an hour?

.. there might be some shame in that.

Youtube Mashup

As I happen to like mashups, the more questionably legal the better, I'll throw this one out there:

http://thru-you.com/

Also if you like that, there is a man named Greg Gillis aka GirlTalk who would like to have a word with you...

I mean I don't like Biggie Smalls and I don't like Elton John, but somehow together it is some peanut butter and jelly stuff (check the end of "Smash your Head" on Night Ripper)...

http://illegalart.net/girltalk/

and I'm not talking about Peanut Butter Wolf who is also worth checking out.

Private Parts

(almost) Full disclosure before I start: I work in the online ad industry. The company I work for doesn't do any of the behavioral stuff I talk about below, but I'm far from completely removed from the subject matter.


So Google is gonna target ads based on user behavior. The only surprise here is that they haven't started this already. The cool bit, though, is that they're going to give you access to YOUR user profile. This means you can log in and execute the digital equivalent of saying "Oh. My. God. I am SO not into cheerleading anymore! Do NOT show me cheerleading ads, Google! For serious!" This is also the legal equivalent of Google saying "Ha ha Congress, you don't get to lecture us about user privacy!" (See Google chief council Nicole Wong, pictured left, bearing her teeth at any congressmen that were tempted to pretend they understand what the hell they're talking about).

The win here is that you don't get ads that mean nothing to you, but you can control what the advertisers understand about you. THIS IS THE RIGHT BALANCE OF INTERNET PRIVACY PEOPLE, and you should use it to its fullest. In that vein, here are a couple of interesting links to help you sculpt the digital version of you into exactly who you want that to be:

Google Ad Preferences Manager: The Goog tool for profile management. It's probably a little slow today, and chances are you've not been tagged yet (it's an incremental release). Keep an eye on it, though, and remember - if you log into Gmail, Blogger, or YouTube, you automatically have a Google account (and you told them it was cool to keep an eye on YOU). See also Google's catch-all Privacy Center.

Network Advertising Initiative Opt-out page: A load of ad networks participate here, you can see if you've been cookied by them and opt-out of any targeting they're doing based on your behavior.

EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy: the EFF is the ACLU's smarter and more reasonable younger cousin. They've been around a while and do good work... like this handy guide (which has a bunch of useful links itself).

Don't be the silly people that say that any online tracking is an evasion of privacy... but don't be that guy that never deletes his cookies, either. Read those little pamphlets you get from Verizon, or AT&T, or Comcast, or whoever does your service provision in that world. If they don't make sense, call and make a person explain it to you. It shouldn't be up to Google or Congress to do the work for you... be as private as you like because you're smart like that.

At HRTotM, we don't collect any of your personal information, and wouldn't use it anyway, unless you're especially attractive, in which case we might divulge at a party that "this totally hot chick" left a comment on a post, and further use that as some indication that our wit is worth notice.

Really, Does it Get Any Better Than This?

I think not.

Serious Science

Your expert opinion is needed immediately to assist the University of Salford Acoustic Research Centre in their efforts to be ready for this years Red Nose Day (a UK-based fundraising effort to combat international poverty).

If you're interested please head over to Soundsfunny.org and vote for the whoopee cushion sound you think is the funniest.

It's a fart sound judging contest for the homeless. Do I really need to say more?

Schultz City

If this is the way he treats Linus, just imagine what's gonna happen to Lucy when she decides to yank that football away before Charlie can kick it.

Moderation

"Sweet Dreams" from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

This one's mainly about the aesthetics, but completely worth it just for that.

Thanks to Dorie at Clicking for the link.

Layin' it Down, Plastic Shoes and All.

Ok, I admit it. If it weren't for Cartoon Brew, I wouldn't have shit. But this made my day. Go Mickey!