Monday, October 4, 2010

TOP 5 Stop Motion Music Videos

You all knew it was coming! With so many music videos readily available on YouTube, its hard not to include at least a few whenever I do a video TOP 5. Same idea as last time, but these are all music videos. Some are done surprisingly well, even with a low budget. Enjoy the TOP 5 stop motion music videos!


#5 - "You Came Out" by We Have Band

Alright I'll be the first to admit that this movie is a little creepy... But I thought it was such an interesting idea that I had to include it!




#4 - "Odd Socks" by Grand Pocket Orchestra

Each frame in this video has paper cut-outs that move along with the video. A pretty neat idea.




#3 - "End Love" by OK Go

This video literally shows how long it can to make a stop motion video. Since it is outside you are able to see the sunlight and watch as the shadows grow and it turns to night into day and back into night. Oh, and gotta love the goose!




#2 - "Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie

A catchy tune in a bedroom scene (not THAT kind of bedroom scene you dirty boy!) They put a lot of everyday bedroom objects to good use!




#1 - "Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay

This video is AMAZING. At first I was like oh that is some cool CGI, yadda yadda yadda. But then I saw the end. Just wait; you'll see...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

TOP 5 Stop Motion Shorts

I recently watched all of the Wallace and Gromit videos again, and it just hit me how much time is spent doing each and every frame of a stop motion video. I remember I once tried to make a stop motion movie with LEGOs, but gave up after just a few frames... Keeping the camera steady, being careful to not bump something, and trying to make everything move fluidly was just too much to handle. I read in an interview from Nick Park (creator of Wallace and Gromit) that said they typically can record about 30 frames a day in full production. 30 frames. That is 1 second of film recorded each day! And that isn't even including rework when something doesn't look quite right! Now hopefully we can all have a greater appreciation for stop motion pictures, and with that I give you the TOP 5 stop motion shorts:


#5 - "Typophile Film Festival 5 Opening Titles"

A video some BYU students made for a film festival. Their website claims that everything is real - no CG effects!



#4 - "T-SHIRT WAR!!"

These guys had over 200 shirts made to make this video!



#3 - "The PEN Story"

This is a story [advertisement] of a guy's life as seen through a moving sequence of pictures. They actually borrowed [stole] the idea from here, but I actually liked the look of this video better.



#2 - "DEADLINE"

A stop motion video made with post-it notes. This one must've to taken forever!



#1 - Western Spaghetti

I don't know what it is about this video, but it is just charming and makes me smile. For some reason I especially like the part with the butter... I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!


Saturday, July 24, 2010

TOP 5 Worst Music Videos - Part 2 - American

We've all seen bad music videos. Maybe some kids made their own "music video" at home of a Queen song and it turned out pretty bad, but that's nothing compared to this. In a 2-part series I present to you the TOP 5 worst music videos. I judged these based off of music quality, choreography, special effects, and overall attitude (you'll see). All are hugely popular in their country of origin - none of these are just amateur singer's videos. Most are pretty hard to watch, and after a few seconds you'll just want to turn them off. I DARE YOU to watch them all the way through - WARNING: It's painful!


#5 - "America, We Stand As One" by Dennis Madalone

A patriotic guy who took it a little too far.



#4 - "Little Wings" by Mark Gormley

This is how I'd imagine Ned Flanders would look and sing in real life.



#3 - "Hooked on a Feeling " by David Hasselhoff

I don't understand how he could make a video like this and still end up famous.



#2 - "Losing You" by Jan Terri

A Miss Piggy look-alike doesn't care much about her song.



#1 - "Why Must I Cry" by Reh Dogg

Why Reh Dogg? Why must you make us all cry? I'll just say thank goodness for shadows. Officially the worst video ever.



Ugh. Just terrible. I think the American music videos were far worse than the foreign videos. I mean at least the other countries tried to make it good... I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did. Although extremely hard to watch, they were pretty funny at the same time. Leave your name if you were able to watch them all the way through, and be sure to leave a link to the worst American music video that you've ever seen!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

TOP 5 Worst Music Videos - Part 1 - Foreign

We've all seen bad music videos. Maybe some kids made their own "music video" at home of a Queen song and it turned out pretty bad, but that's nothing compared to this. In a 2-part series I present to you the TOP 5 worst music videos. I judged these based off of music quality, choreography, special effects, and overall attitude (you'll see). All are hugely popular in their country of origin - none of these are just amateur singer's videos. Most are pretty hard to watch, and after a few seconds you'll just want to turn them off. I DARE YOU to watch them all the way through - WARNING: It's painful!


#5 - "I Wanna Love You Tender" by Armi ja Danny

A 70's band from Finland.



#4 - "Novi God" by Steklovata

Extremely popular boy band from Russia.



#3 - "Tunak Tunak Tun" by Daler Mehndi

The Brittney Spears of India.



#2 - "Aiin No Uta" by Mini Moni

The Spice Girls of Japan.



#1 - "Chaccaron Maccaron" by El Chombo

He's from Panama. No Comment.



I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did. Although extremely hard to watch, they were pretty funny at the same time. Leave your name if you were able to watch them all the way through, and be sure to leave a link to the worst foreign music video that you've ever seen! Stay tuned for part 2...

P.S. Thanks to Landon for finding "Chaccaron Maccaron" for me!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

TOP 5 Recent Annoyances

This is something new I wanted to try out. Let me know what you think and if you can relate to any of these. Here are the TOP 5 things that annoyed me recently:

#5 - "Baby Bumps"


Man I hate it when women refer to their pregnant bellies as "baby bumps". I really think it is just a stupid term. I saw a gaggle of women on campus the other day standing around feeling each other up, and I could hear them saying stuff like "Feel MY baby bump!" and "Wow I really like your baby bump!". Ugh. Please SOMEONE, come up with another term that doesn't sound so ridiculous.

#4 - Bicyclists


Yeah, I understand how you all want to be part of the road and considered part of traffic, but if you want to ride on the road you need to start following the rules of the road. All the time I see you guys roll right through intersections with stop signs. Stop signs are for you too! If you want to ride in the road, make sure you are riding at the current speed limit. Otherwise move over to the shoulder or ride on the sidewalk! Lastly, I know you think you are really awesome when you ride around without holding onto the handlebars with your hands in your lap, but frankly I think you look pretty stupid.

#3 - The MANY Costs of College


I can't believe some of things you have to pay for at college. I swear they try to squeeze you for every last drop! Here are some of the things I have recently paid for, or decided against because of the ridiculous price:
  • Application for Graduation - $50
  • Graduation Announcement - $2.15 each
  • Cap and Gown - $35 (its even more if you don't buy early)
  • Diploma Frame - $140 (lowest price)
  • Application to Graduate School - $50
My friend Brady portrays the situation best in his recent comic strip for The Globe at SLCC.

#2 - EVONY


Have you ever seen one of these side banner-ads? They seem to be popping up more and more across the internet. This is an advertisement for a game called "EVONY", a MMO (massively multiplayer online) game. Most of the ads are MUCH worse than this one (in regards to risque clothing, and innuendos), but the funny thing is that they are entirely misleading. You know how the car and cigarette industry use(d) sex to sell their products? This is another prime example of that same technique. Here is a screenshot of the actual gameplay:


Kinda looks like Sim City and nothing like a sexy party...

#1 - Lazy People


Have you ever been to a grocery store parking lot? That is EXACTLY what you see! For some reason people just can't find the energy in themselves to return their shopping carts. Can't they just walk a few more steps to put their cart away? And for some reason it is infinitely worse at Wal-Mart. Most likely this is because the people that shop there are cheap and they drive crappy cars and wouldn't mind if their own car was hit by a shopping cart, but come on. People need to start taking some responsibility.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

TOP 5 Terrible Clients

Having worked for the last year with a creative design agency, I've seen a lot of the communication between our design team and their clients. While we usually don't have many (if any) issues while working with them, every once in a while we'll get a client who is outrageously picky, or just can't seem to be satisfied. These stories and websites are some of the funniest/worst/truest examples of what designers have to put up with ALL THE TIME. Enjoy, and don't forget to vote for your favorite!

#5 - "Nightmare Web-Design Clients"

This website details 10 of a designer's worst clients. Some of them were kinda funny, but honestly I just threw this one on the list to make it a solid 5, so if I were you I wouldn't waste my time unless you are really bored.

#4 - "If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers"

This one is a pretty humorous article that someone wrote about wanting a house built, but in the same manner that we often get requests for a website to be built. Literally, we get requests like this.

#3 - "Clients From HELL"

This is a continuously updated site where people can post their own horror stories about working with bad clients. Some of them are extremely funny and/or ridiculous. If you do have time to burn, I'd recommend this one over the first link.

#2 - "How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell"

This comic is awesome, as it comes so close to real life. The 8th frame is my favorite. I often imagine some of our clients like this... It helps

#1 - "The Vendor-Client Relationship"

This video says it all...

Sunday, November 22, 2009

TOP 5 Things About In-N-Out Burger

In celebration of the recent (and additional upcoming) openings of In-N-Out Burger in Northern Utah, I think its only proper to declare the TOP 5 reasons why In-N-Out Burger is so great. Many of you probably have heard me rant and rave about how much I love In-N-Out Burger, and some of you may think it is over-hyped. It might be that I only love it because my dad loved it so much, but hopefully after reading the list you'll come to agree that In-N-Out Burger has great food, and maybe you'll even go and grab a burger right after. So without further ado, here is the latest TOP 5:

#5 - Simple Menu

Have you ever pulled up to a fast-food restaurant only to find yourself over-burdened with seemingly hundreds of options to choose from? Maybe this image below is a familiar sight to you:


This is something you'll never have to worry about at In-N-Out Burger! With barely over 10 items listed on the menu (and over half of those being beverages) you won't ever have to fear that there will be too many things you'll want to try and don't know what to get. Here is an actual picture of their menu:



#4 - Scripture References

Ever wanted to think about religious topics while you eat? In-N-Out Burger has got you covered for that too. Back in the 1980s the owners of In-N-Out Burger decided to print discreet references to bible verses on their cups and wrappers as a reflection of their beliefs.




#3 - The "Secret Menu"

While In-N-Out Burger has always striven to "keep it simple", and their menu definitely attests to that fact, they realize that some people out there like a little mystery. They like secrets. Thus enter the "Secret Menu" at In-N-Out Burger. Its not any new food, just prepared in a different way. For example, the Neapolitan shake. Its not listed on the menu, but man it looks tasty!

Or there are the various diet options, such as the "Grilled Cheese" (no meat), the "Protein Style" (no bun, lettuce wrap), and the "Flying Dutchman" (just meat & cheese).




But by far, my favorite thing on the "Secret Menu" is the "Animal Style" option. You can order both your burger and your fries "Animal Style", and essentially it means they add grilled onions and extra secret sauce to your food. Once I tried it this way, I haven't been able to go back!



#2 - The PxC Ratio

The PxC Ratio is something I use to describe In-N-Out's "patty-by-cheese" ordering feature, where you can order any size burger simply by asking for a "3x3" (3 patties and 3 slices of cheese), or a "2x4" (2 pieces of meat, 4 pieces of cheese), etc. The ideal ratio of course is 1:1, but if you are looking for a really cheesy burger you can always alter the numbers. And there is no limit as to how high you can go. As you can see here with this gentleman who apparently has ordered a 20x20.

Or this group who ordered a 100x100.



#1 - Top-Rated Fast-Food Chain

That's right. According to a survey conducted by Zagat's, In-N-Out Burger is the #1 Rated fast-food chain, and also is rated at having the best burger, service, and food overall. Now that is something! To find out more, visit www.zagat.com/fastfood and click on the fast-food tab.