Inkbase | Jason Landry

Stress, the new video by French duo Justice, is a difficult video to watch. It is full of senseless violence and a complete disregard for the world around you, which isn’t really new I suppose, but in this case it seems more like a documentary on youth violence in France than a music video—it’s too real. If the video proves to be a bit much for you, you might want to lighten things up reading a few comments translated (badly) from French to English: “On am the blow I say...”

This weekend I will be attending the first Graduate Exhibition for the Master of Applied Arts Program at the Emily Carr Institute—sorry, it’s the Emily Carr University now. It should be a good time.

In light of the recent duck fiasco, I figured it was worth linking to Toxic Alberta, a 15-part series about the Athabasca Oil Sands produced by VBS.TV. The series is obviously biased and not always 100% correct (Fort McMurray isn’t even close to the Canadian Tundra), but it’s still worth a watch. 

This spot has been linked everywhere, but it’s so damn cool I’m going to link it again. BBH and The Mill teamed up to produce Gymnasts to announce the new Audi RS 6 Avant. Stunning.

Interactive maniacs Hi-ReS have been featured on the Apple Pro site. Be sure to check out their reel.

IBM 1401, A User’s Manual probably isn’t what you think. It’s a 2006 album by Jóhann Jóhannsson, an Icelandic musician, composer and producer. The music was inspired by a recording his Father made of an IBM 1401 computer and features the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. I would describe the sound as atmospheric retro-futurism—a phrase that has been used to describe Thomas Dolby apparently. It’s not my thing, but I thought it was interesting enough to warrant a mention. 

Heroes & Villains is a photography show featuring portraits of notable artists in the underground/street/comic art world. The photos were taken over a three year period by Tatiana Wills and Roman Cho and features Dave Kinsey, COOP, kozyndan plus many more. The show opens tomorrow at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. Check it out if you’re in the area.

Last night I was at the Vancity Theatre for the SIGGRAPH presentation of Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution. The evening began with Michael Rubin giving a summary presentation of his 2005 book Droidmaker. The book gives an insiders look at George Lucas, his company Lucasfilm and its impact on modern media. The second portion of the evening had Dr. Alvy Ray Smith (ugly site alert) telling stories of how he came to join Lucasfilm, the work he did there and the founding of Pixar. It was a great evening and Michael’s book looks to be a gem as well. If you’re interested in Lucas, Pixar, digital media… I suggest you check it out.

A few days ago Banksy pulled of his latest stunt and the results are pretty impressive. Equally impressive is that fact that he has managed to keep his identity hidden for so long.

If you grew up skateboarding in the ‘80s like I did, you might be interested to know that Steve Caballero launched a blog last month. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the internet and its vast collection of data can help you reminisce about your youth. I’m finding images, names and stories that I haven’t thought about in almost 20 years. Steve’s blog is another nice reminder of old times.