Forget the Film, Watch the Titles

The people over at SubmarineChannel love good opening movie titles sequences. They like it so much they’ve created a project dedicated to gathering an online collection of the most stunning and original main title sequences for films. Check out their site as they have gathered some of the coolest clips available to watch on their site as well as additional updates to their collection every month.

[Submarine Channel]

-phil

Ocean’s 13 – Teaser

I always enjoyed the ‘Ocean’s’ movies whether it was with the coolest of the cool, Frank Sinatra, and his Rat Pack friends in the 1960s version of Ocean’s 11 or with the George Clooney and his friends in the 2001 remake of Ocean’s 11 and Ocean’s 12. I thought the remake of Ocean’s 11 was terrific. It was very stylish, the dialogue was witty, the soundtrack was superb and the characters of the movie were memorable. To round it all up, the plot was pretty good as well. Although I did not enjoy Ocean’s 12 as much as the others and thought it wasn’t particularly necessary to come up with a sequel, I still thought it looked great on screen (visually) and overall, it was fairly entertaining.

Well, it looks like Daniel Ocean and the rest of the Ocean’s crew are back in Ocean’s 13 (what other name did you expect?), the final installment of the ‘Ocean’s’ trilogy. Although Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones will not be returning in this film, I can’t wait to see this. With its great cast, the directorial style of Steven Soderbergh, the casting additions of Ellen Barkin and the legendary Al Pacino, you can’t help but to look forward to this. What I love most about the ‘Ocean’s’ films is that its about the entertainment and its style. They’re not about trying to make cinematic history or looking to sweep the Oscars, its just a crew of great actors having fun and putting on a show for its audience. You can definitely say it stays true to the philosophy of what the Rat Pack did back in the 1960s version.

[Ocean’s 13]

– Jon

Visual Poetry

Great works from Visual Poetry at Abnormalbehaviorchild.com. I don’t know about the artist and who made these pieces but they are truly worth checking out. They look incredible and definitely could fix that ugly wallpaper on your desktop. Definitely check out WALZ 57, a visual-sound research footage. Great use of motion, graphics and animation.

[Visual Poetry at www.abnormalbehaviorchild.com]

– Jon

The Vice Guide To Travel

When VICE decided to produce a travel guide, you had to have a slight hunch it wasn’t going to have the same content you’d expect in your typical Fodor’s or Lonely Planet. Known for its controversial content, VICE often provides an ironic pose on today’s world and society. So instead of visiting Disneyland or Rome, VICE decided to visit the most fucked up locations on this planet. Places you don’t hear about. The idea turned into The VICE Guide To Travel, which features 7 short documentaries of the best places NOT to visit.

Hush Studios – Showreel of Works

Simply amazing. Those were the only two words I could conjure from my mind after seeing this. Hush Studios compiled a showreel of all their works with well known corporations. This fast paced clip blends a whole range of campaigns that Hush has done with companies such as Planters, Chili’s, Evian and National Geographic. Be sure to also check out their projects with Nike. Just click on Works from their page to watch them all.

[Hush Studios]

-phil

Cingular x Samsung Blackjack Commercial by Shilo

Just came across this impressive commercial by Shilo, one of the best known creative production studios in the world. It features the Samsung Blackjack smartphone, that will be available by Cingular. The commercial portrays the thinness of the Blackjack by using a visual analogy comparing it with a deck of cards. Check it out at Shilo Design.

-phil

Hip-Hop is Dead

From the hugely anticipated upcoming Nas album, Hip-Hop is Dead…The N, here’s the video to the single Hip Hop is Dead. Kinda sad that BET had to butcher much of the song by censorship. Nonetheless, I’m really lookin forward to this album, and hopefully I won’t be let down.

-phil

Stussy World Tour Film Preview

A while ago, Stussy created a documentary film called the “World Tour” which takes a look at 16 artists who influence street culture around the world. Last month, there was a screening of this documentary at the Vista theater in Los Angeles. For the most of us who haven’t seen it yet, here’s a short preview of what you can expect. From the looks of this, it looks really well done.

-phil

Jordan TV Commercials

Sneakers.fr has a really impressive collection of television commercials for most of the Jordan shoes including the early days with Mars Blackmon. Many of these bring back nostalgic moments for me, as I enjoyed many of these commercials as a kid. These commercials are done extremely well, since Nike always works with the best creative agencies. All you Jordan fans can check it out here.

-phil

Subtle – The Mercury Craze Music Video

Here’s a cool music video I came across by an Oakland based group called Subtle. The video for their new single, The Mercury Craze, is produced by Norwegian/Japanese animation collective ‘SSSR’. They combined drawings, animated models, cut-up film and 3D computer graphics for the video. This is one of the coolest concept for a music video I’ve seen in a while.

-phil

Justice vs. Simian – We Are Your Friends Video

See the music video which Kanye West bitched over after losing Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards in Copenhagen. I know this video has been around for a while but is it really our fault? It’s the first time I’ve seen it and being stuck in North America, we don’t get an opportunity to see the music videos in Europe. Instead we’re stuck watching Jim Jones yelling “BALLLLINNN’!” for the up-teenth time.

Anyways, the music video was for the collaboration of French electronic duo, Justice, and the rock group Simian. It’s not that great to be honest but its got some elements I like. Very post modern and abstract. The music video, “We Are Your Friends”, also beat out Gnarls Barkley’s music video for “Crazy”. In my opinion, “Crazy” was the best video I’ve seen this year. I don’t know why Kanye flipped. “Touch The Sky” was a cool video but it wasn’t a breakthrough video or anything. Definitely not worth rushing the stage during the announcement and declaring “If I don’t win, the award show loses credibility”. Kanye’s got no class.

Btw, if you want to see Kanye throw a hissy fit at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, click here.

– Jon