Some more fun interactive art  videos and websites:

Have some fun, and paint like Jackson Pollock on this flash website:

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

Even someone with the blackest thumb like me can’t kill their virtual flower garden

Paint Like Picasso here:

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html

Check out the interesting interactive video for Arcade Fire’s song “Neon Bible” , warning that it doesn’t seem to play too smoothly however. There is another one for the song “black mirror”

Interesting art pieces from Creaktif design studio can be seen here

The most wonderful and beautiful flash games can be found on the website,  Orisinal.com, my favorites are bubble bees and bum bum koala.

Finally I’d love to share one of my favorite videos plus a new one freshly discovered, from Vancouver Film School:

Check out their youtube film channel, I love their classic animation playlist

Since their creation, mirrors have been regarded as magical objects. For the ancients, and more recent peoples as well, it was not merely his or her reflection one saw when gazing into a mirror, but their very soul, momentarily divorced from the body.

The belief that such reflections could be asked questions about the future developed and grew into the art of looking into mirrors to divine information about a particular matter; a practice tongue twistingly called, catoptromancy.

Time to complete: 5-10 min max

You will need:

• 1 inexpensive picture frame, 5×7 is a nice size
• black acrylic paint
• foam paint brush

Remove the glass from the frame.

Using the foam brush, paint the glass going in one direction. Paint from end to end, allowing the brush to run off the end. Don’t go back and forth and don’t pick up the brush in the middle of a stroke as it will leave imperfections that will prove distracting.

Allow paint to dry. With acrylic paint, the first stroke will be almost dry by the time you get to the last.

Paint again going in the opposite direction.

A third coat, going in the original direction, would be nice but isn’t necessary.

If you are lucky, the paper behind the glass will be of a heavier weight and a glossy finish. If this is the case, you can paint the paper (the reverse side, without print) instead of the glass itself. This method will add depth to the mirror. The paper will curl when the paint is applied, but it will even out once again when placed back in the frame.

If not, painting the glass is perfectly fine. The last one I did was painted glass and it did the trick.

Put the picture frame back together, paint side in.

Voila! One scrying mirror!

Admittedly this tool is more difficult to hide among normal household objects. If a black mirror is impossible for you, consider the option of using a dark colored bowl filled with spring water instead.

The Arcade Fire has been known throughout their careers to be quite gracious and supportive of all things that benefit other people between their AIDS benefit compilation, being gracious in response to Wayne Coyne’s super diss, and their outward support of Obama. Well they are at it again. The members of the Canadian band have just signed 250 copies of the delux edition of their Miroir Noir DVD in order to sell them online and donate all the proceeds to Partners in Health, a health care nonprofit. The DVD will cost you a pretty penny at $250 but gets you not only the DVD but also a hand screened limited-edition poster that is signed by the artist. Besides its for a good cause and we all know our karma could use a boost after yelling at the guy on the freeway this morning!

And a bit of an oldie, but always a goodie…

Title: Impossible
Author: Nancy Werlin
Category: Young adult

Worth It? For the most part.

The Nitty Gritty: Despite having no parents—a mentally ill mother unable to take care of her and an absent father whose name she doesn’t even know—17-year old Lucy Scarborough is doing A-ok. She has friends, good grades and wonderful, loving foster parents. But life takes an unexpected turn when Lucy discovers that her mother’s illness and absentee father are tied to an age old curse inflicted on generations of Scarborough women. The women become pregnant at 17 and go mad after the birth of the baby unless they are able to complete three impossible tasks outlined in a rare rendition of the song Scarborough Fair. Lucy could be next, but she’s determined to fight. Lucky for her, she’s got the help of her very supportive foster parents and family friend turned love interest. If resourceful enough, they just might be able to save Lucy.

The Good: Distinct plot/story. Good tension between Lucy and her family friend turned love interest. Strong, confident, independent female protagonist. Clever way to highlight the importance and meaning of family.

The Bad: Odd shifts in the timeline. Several pivotal moments were “told” and not “shown.” Often lacked sense of immediacy. Not enough information about the history of the curse.

The Ugly: Poor integration/use of the villain. He should have been more present. One minute he’s all over the pages, next he’s all but disappeared—making his character less impactful/effective.

Other Werlin Reads: The Rules of Survival, Double Helix, Black Mirror, Locked Inside, The Killer’s Cousin, and Are You Alone on Purpose?

Since all the kids these days are using the “intertubes” to do their “bogs” and “e-mailings,” it seems as if bands too are upping the technological ante when it comes to making “moving pictures” for their “musical compositions”. (Okay enough of that).

Gone are the days of music videos featuring murderous animated plumbers chasing dreamboat models  and yours truly wondering how Nick Drake posthumously made a video (and why I suddenly felt like buying a Volkswagen).  The new music video is online and interactive, baby.

I was at first excited when I saw/interacted with Arcade Fire’s “Black Mirror,” where the song is basically divided up into six tracks, and we can control which layer of it we want to hear.  After spending a solid thirty minutes tinkering, I will no longer be able to sleep at night, as the ghoulish noises on track 5 will surely follow me to bed.

"Black Mirror"

Then I realized they did it for their tune “Neon Bible” as well, where we control Win Butler’s magic tricks, from bouncing balls to a deck of cards.  Even that’s scary.

"Neon Bible"

Cards are apparently a theme in the interactive music video world, as those brilliant bastards of Radiohead (or at least some seriously and frighteningly devoted fans) are allowing us to mess around with Thom Yorke’s digitized face on “House of Cards.”

"House of Cards"

Black Moth Super Rainbow allows us to control the sun, while MGMT has all sorts of wacky on their website and for their video of “Electric Feel.”

Maybe Neil  Young was onto something after all with his awfully fantastic vision of the future back in 1983.

Let me know if I’m missing any more awesomeness in the form of interactive music videos.  I wouldn’t want anything to get in the way of destroying your productivity at work.

Apologies for my drought of posting. The last two weeks, indeed the last two months, have been a full-on frenzy of activity. The end of the tunnel is very much in sight, however, and I am due to hit it some time on Sunday.

Tonight, however, you don’t need me for entertainment -  the British Academy Video Game Awards I wrote about are taking place, almost as I type this. There’s a live feed on the BBC, along with an interview with Charlie Brooker and Peter Molyneux, but the official site also has coverage.

It is sad that we haven’t yet raised our art form high enough that the awards earn a slot on T.V. (BBC3/4 – why on earth not?) but it’s nice to see them getting some media attention of the good kind, when there’s so much trash flying back in the opposite direction. Let’s also hope that Dara can be a decent host, after the Vic Reeves debacle. If not – Stephen Fry to come out of Bafta retirement, anyone?

As far as music goes, I succumbed to temptation and purchased both Neon Bible and Funeral, although I still don’t quite know what to make of the band. A few more listens will be needed, I think, preferably with a decent sound system. Certainly, there is much to be liked: current favourite from the later album is Black Wave, although its partner in name Black Mirror is a superb opener – it reminds me of Muses’ Take a Bow, although it’s not obvious why.

I’ve also been working my way through Beirut’s album. This is a personal favourite, reminding me very much of Amelie.

Finally, you’ve probably seen this (I did ages ago on T.V.), but I had to link it. It appeals to me on many levels, especially my OCD.

I must be getting old.  I could swear I read about this on somebody’s book blog – again!  Just like A Map of Home!  But apparently I didn’t because I just pulled up all of them on my blogroll and did searches and couldn’t find this damn book.  So I am forced to conclude that I did what I sometimes do, which is search the library catalogue for a book that I did read about – in this case, Nancy Werlin’s Impossible, which Superfastreader said was good – and when I find they don’t have it in, I get another book by the same author.  As a compromise.

I started reading this last night, just for a little while before I went to bed, and ended up staying up until one in the morning to finish it.  It’s all about a girl called Frances whose brother Daniel has recently committed suicide.  She is trying to get involved with a service group called Unity, which is paying for her school scholarship and with which Daniel was very deeply involved.  The group isn’t very welcoming – particularly Daniel’s old girlfriend, Saskia – but Frances feels she owes it to Daniel.  However, things with Unity are not quite right.  Actually quite, quite wrong, and Frances wants to find out why.

This paragraph will contain enormous spoilers.  Frankly I do not tend to like books where people’s family members commit  suicide.  When I started the book, I thought I would probably read it for a little while, find it upsetting, and toss it out of bed.  But – and again I say unto ye, embrace the doctrine of reading the end first – I read the end after a few pages, and ascertained that Daniel didn’t actually kill himself but was murdered by his girlfriend who was working to bring down Unity because it was a big drug scam; and after that I was okay to read the rest of the book.

It was interesting and absorbing and creepy – a bit like the better ones of Margaret Haddix’s books, which I read years and years ago.  In that I enjoyed it a lot, and I stayed up late to finish it, but I don’t feel like I’ll need to read it ever again.

Montreal rockers, Arcade Fire, have posted two excellent interactive videos on their web site that put you in control. In the video for Black Mirror, you get to control the arrangement – you can add or subtract different parts – the vocals, the bass, etc. I’d recommend dropping everything but the string section and checking that out. In the video for Neon Bible (my personal favorite), you get to control Win Butler by clicking on various body parts to affect his movements and voice. It’s all a ton of fun and an excellent distraction during the boring work day (for those of you who have time for distractions)!

Posted by Garvey

The veritable editable Arcade Fire video for Black Mirror by Olivier Groulx & Tracy Maurice.

(courtesy of: Pitchfork)

Location// Montreal, Quebec
Interests// Interactive films, David Lynch, Godard, Actionscript and the “extraordinary”
Aesthetic// Asynchronous, autumnal, quirky, lo-fi, emotive
Notable// AATOAA, the studio behind his interactive video series for the Arcade Fire’s 2007 full length, Neon Bible
Clientele, Collaborations, Etc.// Roi Ponpon, Arcade Fire,
Avec Pas d’Casque
Quotable// The web is fun
Info// Vincent Morisset

Black Mirror [2008]

Thumbnails// L to R: Electric Princess, Bon Golem, Neon Bible, and Arcade Fire (Lyrics)

Black Mirror / Espejo Negro: Three Projects by Pedro Lasch

Black Mirror / Espejo Negro: Three Projects by Pedro Lasch

Exhibition at
Luxe Gallery
53 Stanton Street
New York, NY 10002

Oct 12 – Nov 9, 2008

Opening Reception:
Sunday Oct 12, 2008 from 4-6pm

Closing Reception:
Saturday Nov 8, 2008 from 6-8pm

mas info en http://www.mexicanosunidos.org/arte.html

ARCADE FIRE DOES IT AGAIN: BLACK MIRROR

It started with the interactive video for Neon Bible.  Arcade Fire returns with the hotness on their second installment of online video fun, this time represented in a video for the song Black Mirror from Arcade Fire’s latest album Neon Bible.  By clicking on the numbers 1 – 6 on your keyboard, you can control the several layers of audio within the song and become a song producer yourself.  The video also features art by Tracy Maurice. 

To say that this video is truly inspirational both from an artistic standpoint and also from its interactive side wouldn’t be enough.  The features provided are simple enough for anyone to use.  Engaging and creative as all hell.  Thanks to BG for sending.

Tô aqui procurando mais cds de 2008 pra baixar e pra espalhar pelo mundo, quando eu me deparo com o clipe da banda Pete & The Pirates e me lembro que aaaah como é bom ver clipes super handmade sabe, aqueles tipo feito em casa? Logo que eu vi o clipe deles eu lembrei de um clipe do The Apples in Stereo, e depois lembrei de outro clipe de uma banda que eu não lembro o nome, também não lembro o nome da música, só lembro que a Van gostava. E é claro, como eu poderia me esquecer do clipe do Franz, o primeiro deles, de Darts of Pleasure? Não importa a tosquice, não importa a qualidade do video, o que importa é que esses sim são os meus clipes preferidos! Os mais toscos, sempre.

The Apples In Stereo – Same Old Drag
(Eu há muito tempo tentei gostar de The Apples in Stereo, mas as músicas de 10 segundos do New Magnetic Wonder me irritaram. Dia desses baixo o bicho de novo e tento prestar mais atenção nas músicas mais… né.)

Pete & The Pirates – Knots

Franz Ferdinand – Darts of Pleasure
(Mano, esse clipe é quase mais velho que eu)

Existem mais videos desse tipo onde eu peguei, mas a minha preguiça e meu sono me consomem.
(E a verdade, verdade mesmo é que desses três só o clipe do Franz faz parte dos meus favoritos. Mas enfim.)

* Bom, agora voltando ao Pete and The Pirates – mais outra banda do Reino Unido blablablá o resto vocês já sabem. Mas eu gostei e achei melhor do que muita coisa de lá! Bem legal, bem legal. Eu sou mais legal ainda e coloco quatro músicas do álbum Little Death, que também tá fresquinho!

Pete and the Pirates – Moving
Pete and the Pirates – Knots
Pete and the Pirates – Ill Love
Pete and the Pirates – Bears

* Considerem a minha ausência, mas eu só fui ver isso hoje: Black Mirror / rorriM kcalB. Morri.

-Tchau

In case any Arcade Fire fans missed this, check this out. It’s a video for Black Mirror but you can mess with the audio mix and it’s alot of fun. It’s kind of creepy if you take out the drums or watch it as a silent film. 

Here’s the link http://www.rorrimkcalb.com/arcadefire.html 

Here’s the seventy-third video taken from Arcade Fire’s ‘Neon Bible’ but seeing as it’s rather excellent, I don’t really care. What is more interesting than watching the clip on Youtube, however is checking the video out here where you get, effectively, six channels of audio so you can switch off certain instruments/vocals etc, which is a really nice idea. They also had an interactive video for ‘Neon Bible’ and it’s really interesting to see where the internet can bring music video. Seeing as MTV barely show music videos anymore, it does feel like the internet is the leading force in music video these days. I know, as is plainly obvious from these pages, that I get to see most of my music videos on the interweb. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more bands experiment with where they can take the interactive music video as it certainly seems to me that it’s an area that is only at the beginnings of being truly explored.