Tom Breihan of Stereogum writes: Whoo! Last month, Janelle Monáe released her Erykah Badu-assisted single “Q.U.E.E.N.,” an irresistible art-funk strut. And today, we get the sort of video that makes an already-great song even better. The new “Q.U.E.E.N.” video is a triumph of vicious charisma and graphic design, starring Monáe and Badu as thawed-out rebels who throw a dance-party in a futuristic museum. And it is so good. Monáe debuts an absolutely deadly early-’60s mod mook, her friends get to show off some crispy dance steps, and Badu gets a perfectly badass entrance. If I don’t get any more work done today, it’s because I’m watching this over and over. It’s below.
Dara Kerr on Cnet writes: On the heels of YouTube celebrating 1 billion unique monthly visitors to the site, the companyannounced Wednesday that these people are watching more than 6 billion hours of videos every month.
For a little perspective, that's equal to nearly 684,000 years of viewing -- or -- an hour a month for every human on Earth.
The 6 billion hours is up 50 percent more than last year and is also up substantially from just January, when the YouTube announced users were watching 4 billion hours of videos per month.
Heathrow of Stash Media writes: Paper cutout inspired cuteness pulls at the heart strings in this spot for Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo from Toronto studio Crush via creative agency Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener, Seattle.
Amanda Lin Costa of MediaShift writes: This year the Tribeca Film Festival took digital storytelling directly to the people with an entirely new juried interactive exhibition programmed by the Tribeca Film Institute’s director of Digital Initiatives, Ingrid Kopp. Nestled in a gallery-like space on Varick Street, “Storyscapes” featured five cross-platform/transmedia projects that were both free and open to the public via reservations and walk-ins. A fully interactive, hands-on, immersive experience, one of the projects, “Robots in Residence,” even allowed participants to take the actual robots out into the streets of New York with some surprising results.
Flora Yin-Wong of Dazed Digital writes: Experimental noise musician Roly Porter (formerly of dubstep duo Vex’d on Planet Mu) and longtime collaborator, visual artist Rod Maclachlan will be joining forces once again for a special performance as a part of the specially-curated A/V Hydroacoustics event. The one-off experience will be bringing together site-specific electronic music, A/V performances and installations from cutting edge noise musicians all aboard the MS Stubnitz - a decommissioned East German fishing vessel turned music and arts venue.
The Inspiration Room writes: Apple is promoting the iPhone 5 as the camera for everyday use and sharing in the commercial, “Photos Every Day”. The commercial is a montage of shots of people using the iPhone in many settings, including editing, flash photography, and also the shooting of panoramic photos. “Every day, more photos are taken with the iPhone than any other camera.”
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
Heathrow of StashMedia writes: Buck NY rocks the American experience of the decadent decade in this 15-second ident for the National Geographic show “80′s the Decade the Made US”. Created using pencil, ink, watercolor paint, and that ever-so-1980′s pastel pink. CD: Orion Tait. Music and sound design: Antfood.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
Mentorless writes: Bill Viola is an american contemporary video artist that has been creating for four decades now and exposing his work all around the world. If you’ve never seen one of Viola’s installation, they are often disturbing, but not in the way you would expect. Viola uses images and what goes with them: sound, frames, scale, environment to challenge our reflection and perception.
I don’t come from an ‘artsy’ background, so I know little to nothing about contemporary artists, but I had the chance to discover Bill Viola about ten years ago while I was studying in Spain, and his work did have a strong impact on me.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
Olivia Solon of wired.co.uk writes: IBM has made a stop-motion film—A Boy and His Atom—using individual molecules as pixels, in what Guinness has acknowledged is the world's smallest movie.
The movie's plot line depicts a character called Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a "playful journey." This journey involves dancing, jumping on a trampoline, and playing catch. It's unlikely to win any Oscars, but that's not really the point; it's designed to get people inspired about science.
Chris Crum of WebProNews writes: Netflix uploaded a trio of behind-the-scenes videos for its new show Hemlock Grove to YouTube. If you’re a fan of the show, check them out:
READ AND WATCH THE FULL STORY HERE.
