David Lynch Talks about YouTube
Well, not really, but the point is the same… The clip is from special edition of Inland Empire.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Benazir Bhutto’s last moments before assassination
What a courageous woman! She knew she was a target and yet she tried to make change. I am shocked that such a figurehead from such an important country (Pakistan is a nuclear state) can be so easily killed. Long ago, I predicted Musharraf will end up being a major problem to the people of Pakistan, I got a couple of harsh comments which accused me of trying to rag on Pakistan. Like I said then, it had nothing to do with the country but everything to do with the fact that there is no such thing as a benovolent dictator. He will remain in “power.” Powerful enough to call himself President or Prime Minister but not powerful enough to tackle Al Qaeda. That requires the vote of confidence from the people which I doubt will ever be given to him.
These photographs are heartbreaking in so many ways. The possibility that she could have lived if she didn’t stand up through the car’s sun roof, if she was more relunctant to be so close to the people. And so on.
Our list of Best Online Videos for 2007
This is our second annual “best of” list. Like the 2006 list, this isn’t one of your neat and tidy “best of 2007″ lists. It is not like I have a problem deciding, after all we have posted over 1360 posts (and some posts have several video links), but I think all of these videos listed below are too deserving to be slighted. So if you see a strange category, you can attribute that to the video’s insistence on being heard.
While 2006 seemed like a banner year for online video, 2007 seemed to bring out a lot of pessimism that mainly revolved around the question of profitability. Also, the online video market continues to get saturated with content, just like old school blogging did. It seems like every blogger has some kind of podcast feed now. The word Youtube is synonymous with online video like Google is with internet search (scary?).
It used to be that among my circle of friends, I would be one of the initial people to find out about an online video phenomenon. This is no longer the case. I cannot tell you how often I feel l am either late to the party or missed it completely. The internet has become the biggest, baddest, most chaotic cable channel in the world and everyone is getting hip to it.
SHORTS
We had some great shorts this year, some from the years past but we found them online this year, so it officially fits our very loose guidelines to be eligible for our 2007 list.
Best Short: One Rat Short (Post) – From the story to its execution, this short is flawless. It is a dark tale of romantic love between two rats that steals from Romeo & Juliet as much as from Pixar.
Best Abstract Short: The Outlaw Son (Post) – There are no rewards in this film, you can choose to be in the moment or not. The One Rat Short showed how much can be done with excess, the Outlaw Son shows how much can be done with minimalism.
Best Animated Short: Jojo in the Stars (Post) – I saw this years ago at Resfest. The online experience is not the same, to say the least. Those rich blacks are washed out and the little animated touches are almost completely lost. Nevertheless, what a film! The animation is breathtaking. When she makes her appearance from the disco ball, I remember wanting to jump up and scream.
Best Comedic Short: The Shovel (Post) – Another film, I was lucky enough to see at a festival. Many films possess bigger, funnier set-ups and jokes but this comedy stands out because of its restraint.
- Dear Stranger – Yes, it is my film. But even if it weren’t, it would be here.
- The Raftman’s Razor – It doesn’t require several viewings but I always watch it everytime I come across it.
- Atama-Yama – Beautifully ugly. Hard to resist scratching your head.
- Forklift Driver – It looks like it is as old as the hills but it is edgier than the recent Tarantino gorefest.
- Wes Anderson’s Hotel Chevalier – One of the most popular posts of the last year. Deserving in many respects.
- Josie’s Lalaland – I went back and forth between this film and Jojo in the Stars in choosing the best animated short title.
MUSIC VIDEOS
2007 has been a great year for music videos. Mainstream stuff is still all about the cinematography but the independent videos are all about the ideas. There is also a return to linearity versus the 90′s simple-minded non-linearity where a video cut back and forth between locations and scenes with no development of any kind.
Among the major video forms, this format seems to be the only one concerned with formal elements in video. Some of that is seeping into shorts but the rest of the film world is largely vanilla.
Best Music Video: Grizzly Bear “Knife” (Post) – Also, the most original video of the year. I am convinced the video was invented by an alien of some kind. For much of it, the video looks like it is concerned with mythology more than the song. And though many believe that the video desecrated the song, I believe the opposite is true.
Other notable music videos:
- Handsome Furs “Dumb Animals” – Seemed like a tragic ending to a great romantic tragedy. Daring, innovative and strange as anything else from this year.
- Tom Baxter – “Better” – The idea is a little cheesy but the end result is quite beautiful.
- Cat Power “Where is My Love?” – A video that Dylan Thomas would have been proud of.
- Dave Gahan “Kingdom” – Architecture & loneliness seem like a perfect couple.
- Plug-In City “Broke On A Wheel” – Cute idea, cute video.
- The Strokes “You Only Live Once” – Money doesn’t necessarily destroy creativity.
- Kate Nash “Foundations” – Girl point-of-view cuteness.
- The Bees “Listening Man” – Guy point-of-view cuteness.
- Feist “1234″ – Yes, from the iPod commercial.
- Dizzee Rascal “Sirens” – Tackles white colonialism with great dexterity.
- Emily Haines “Our Hell” – The effect and the song are a match made in heaven.
COMMERCIALS
What constitutes a successful ad has changed in the last couple of years. The focus is to create a buzz online. A lot of this has already become quite tiresome.
Best Commercial: Epuron (Post) – Simply brilliant.
Most sophisticated ad ever: Martin Scorsese’s Key To Reserva – The plot seems to play with genre than anything else. Is it a documentary? a short? an ad!
VIDEOBLOGGING
I am somewhat disappointed with the general direction videoblogging seems to be taking. Talking heads with a lot of personality get the views.
Best Videoblog: Alive in Baghdad – I am amazed at the result as much as how it comes about.
Best Post: Banana Bus – I award myself in all humility. So far, there is not a person who I have met who has not been seduced by the little bus.
Best Series: Young American Bodies – Some of the most daring videos from any medium.
Best Comic Series: Psycho Bob – Scary as much as funny.
OTHER AWARDS
Best Viral: Ninja Warrior (Sasuke) Makoto Nagano (Post) – Read the comments from our post to witness its effect.
Best Stop-Motion: Pes – Sneaux “Skateboard” ad (Post) – Pes = Stop-motion. No surprise.
Sexiest video: Room Service (Post) – Boing!
Best Photography Slideshow: Minutes to Midnight (Post) – A great journey highlighted by even better photography.
Best Graphics: Herr Bar “Clark” (Post) – Little to do with FX dexterity as much as prettiness of the images.
Best Video on Art: Paul Rand Tribute Film (Post) – When content and form meet perfectly.
Best Adaptations: Billy Collins Inspired Videos - Can online video bring poetry back to the spotlight? These videos sure do that.
Best Parody: Wheels (Post) – Trailer, parody and short all at once
Best WTF video: Chocolade Haas (Post) – Some have listed as their favorite video of the year.
Second Best WTF video: Nodern’s video (Post) – We are clueless as you are.
Best Documentary: Michael Moore’s Sicko (Post) – Yes, it was available online, illegally obviously.
Coolest Video: Visual Effects on a Trampoline (Post) – I’d be surprised if you haven’t seen it.
Hippest video: Hipster Olympics – If you been to Williamsburg, you know.
Best Mash-up: Put Your Hands Up for Detroit (Post) – Was in the running for the sexiest video of the year as well.
Best Action: Ryan vs Dorkman, part 2 (Post) – George Lucas has nothing on these guys.
Best Action Comedy: Deadly Finger (Post) – Jackie Chan, meet finger!
Best Television: The Office “Dunder Mifflin Ad” – This is a very personal choice. I love The Office and thus this scene.
Best Feature: Four Eyed Monsters (Post) – They put their film online this year. A daring move, much like their work.
Dek has also compiled a list of his favorites which in some ways is different from mine. He has become the primary blogger on this blog, don’t know what we or I would do without him. TickleBooth continues to grow at a healthy pace, 8 times as much traffic as the previous year with less big hit posts and more steady growth.
Thanks to all the submissions, comments and general support.
One Show – Paul Rand Tribute Film (2007)
Wow. The graphics and the video is as worthy as its great subject.
A 4 minute short about Paul Rand created for his posthumous induction to the One Club Hall of Fame in 2007. Produced for Imaginary Forces by Cara McKenney and executive produced by Maribeth Phillips. Additional I.F. credits go to designer/animators Joey Salim, Jeremy Cox and Liz Centolella and animators Andrew Chung, Sean Eno and Chase Massingill. It was edited by I.F.’s Corey Weisz, with sound design by Derek Lee.
Duelity
Marcos “Boca” Ceravolo and Ryan Ulrich present a clever motion piece that tells the story about the universe origin. With a twist.
“Duelity tells the creationist’s version of the beginning of the universe using the language of science while simultaneously presenting a scientific cosmology using biblical lingo.”
via ComputerLove and MotionoGrapher
The Story – Listening to Nazis
I am a big fan of Dick Gordon. I am always amazed how one program can find that many great stories. Anyways, in a recent episode, Gordon interviews Henry Kolm, a Austrian Jew who witnessed the Nazi invasion and had to flee to America as young kid. Incredibly, as a adult, he was recruited by the American armed forces to interrogate captured German officers.
Currently, it is impossible to get through any respectable news program and not hear how America should interrogate (torture) its captured militants . Kolm has plenty of insight into of all of this. His experiences on his life and also torture are priceless. Kolm is against torture, besides it being the wrong thing to do, he believes you can never trust information that comes from such methods. But another point, a more subtle one, is that war has changed drastically from less than a century ago. Kolm doesn’t think the Al Qaeda’s of the world should be treated as soldiers because they are fundamentally different from Nazi’s. War and how it is conducted is on the slide, after a brief show of civility, we have regressed into being…idiots.
Listening to Nazis page – Download the show (download will start automatically) – Subscribe to the podcast
The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Go for it! (Flash Video)
Homophopaedia
That’s the name of the game. The rules are simple: I’ll give you the pieces, and you link them as you prefer.
Watch Conservapedia vs Wikipedia.
Watch Middle Sexes: Homophobia Experiment.
Watch A Brief History of Violence.
Watch We Are One Planet.
What a Freegan Waste
What is a Freegan? And why are so many of them popping up all over the place?
Directors Notes posted this half hour documentary by Craig Rook about people that, in their own way, fight actively the environmental disaster.
Grab the short here.
Interview with the author here.
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
From Wikipedia:
a short documentary film directed by Les Blank in 1980 which depicts director Werner Herzog living up to his promise that he would eat his shoe if Errol Morris ever completed the film Gates of Heaven.
An absolute classic. Another chapter in the illustratious life of Herzog.
Protagonist
Incredibly interesting.
Explores extremism and the limits of certainty. Inspired by Greek drama, this visually inventive documentary weaves the stories of four men – a German terrorist, a bank robber, an “ex-gay” evangelist, and a martial arts student consumed by personal odysseys.
Reminds me of the Errol Morris film “Fast, Cheap & Out of Control”, which was great.
Pat Condell: Was Jesus Gay?
… and what would it matter if he was?
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Do It Your Own Damn Self!
In an industry where filmmakers continue to play by the same tired rules, it’s always refreshing to see someone come along and mix things up like Michael W. Dean has done, making his documentary [D.I.Y. OR DIE: How To Survive as an Independent Artist] fully available to watch on YouTube and, consequentially, here as well. In a similar move to recording artists like Radiohead or Saul Williams, you can watch Michael’s documentary for free, and always purchase a DVD if you so feel like doing so. Either way, you will get to see it.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
via GreenCine Daily
Clinton Got A Blowjob
The first video version of Eric Schwartz‘s funny diddy about the crimes of Clinton and Dubya compared.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
via svarten
How Presidents Keep Spinning You to Death
War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.
The documentary written and directed by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp, is available on Google Video.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Feel like donating? The Media Education Foundation is waiting for you!
Recent Picks
