Markets of Britain, a short film by Lee Titt (via Serafinowicz and Popper)
Xeni Jardin at 7:15 AM Fri
[ Watch video: view at YouTube or Download MP4. ]
Boing Boing Video proudly presents Markets of Britain, discovered by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz from the archives of a great and underappreciated documentary filmmaker named Lee Titt, who also never existed.
Earlier this week, we presented this Boing Boing Video interview with Popper and Serafinowicz about their "Look Around You" DVD, just been released in the USA. This film was presented at a recent launch event in Los Angeles, blogged previously on Boing Boing.
Mini emus!
Buy the DVD. Below, a trailer for the DVD produced by BBC America. The actual show is a lot weirder.
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Looking back at Look Around You with Popper and Serafinowicz
Xeni Jardin at 11:30 AM Wed
Watch video: YouTube, or download MP4.
Make sure to have your copybooks ready, you'll want to take notes. In this episode of Boing Boing Video, the offbeat British comedy duo of Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, creators of the BBC series "Look Around You," speak to us on the occasion of the US DVD release for their absurdist fake-educational science program.
Bonus: They are also founders of the faux religion of Tarvuism. In this very video, for the first time ever, they recite the full invocational prayer of Tarvu, meaning that just by watching, you are automatically indoctrinated as a member of the Church of Tarvu. So if octopuses (octopi? octopodes?) start chattering priestmuntyisms to you in the night, you've been warned.
In addition to the LOL-rich endeavors they discuss in this interview, these guys are busy: there's Popper's long-running prank phone call and Timewaster Letter series, work on the IT Crowd, and their Radio Spirit World podcasts, Popper is writing for South Park lately. Serafinowicz has an eponymous BBC show out on DVD, and lots of movie roles in the works, including the new Yellow Submarine remake. US audiences may know Serafinowicz best as the voice of Darth Maul.
We'll be debuting a new comedy short from these guys soon on Boing Boing Video, so stay tuned. Thants!
• LOOK AROUND YOU Season 1 on DVD (Amazon)
• Watch excerpts from the DVD at the LOOK AROUND YOU YouTube channel.
• More Boing Boing Video: tv.boingboing.net, or check out our YouTube channel.
Photo, below: Popper (L) and Serafinowicz (R) at Comic-Con, with a new pal...
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N.A.S.A. Project: "Strange Enough," ft. Karen O, Fatlip, Ol' Dirty Bastard (music video)
Xeni Jardin at 7:30 AM Thu
[ Watch Video: YouTube in HD, or download MP4 ]
Boing Boing Video presents a new music video from The NASA Project ("North America South America"): "Strange Enough," featuring
Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fatlip of The Pharycyde, and what I am told were the last recorded lyrics by Ol Dirty Bastard of Wu Tang (RIP).
The song's infectious, the animation's delicious—with original artwork by Stephan Doitschinoff. Video directed by Lorna T and Studio Giblets, produced by Terence Teh.
NASA project co-founder Sam Spiegel tells Boing Boing, "Calma, Terence, and Lorna blew our mind with this new video. It's a Dante's Inferno of Brazilian art which fits the song perfectly."
You can buy the N.A.S.A. album here: N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo
. The whole thing's amazing.
(Special thanks to Susan Applegate and Syd Garon)
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iPhone 4: How does it perform for video recording?
Xeni Jardin at 12:16 PM Wed
Watch Video: YouTube, or download MP4.
I took the new iPhone 4 out for a Venice Beach bike ride, to test the smartphone's new high-res video recording capabilities. All footage in this video shot with iPhone 4.
Remember that the iPhone allows you to tap an icon on-screen to switch the camera orientation from one face to another. For some portions (while riding my bike), the iPhone was strapped on to my left hand with rubber bands (I call this The Rubber Band Steadicam™), and the iPhone camera was facing out one direction with medium-res video recording. In other sections of this video (skaters skating, orchids, ocean, and interview with skater Kiko, age 8) the iPhone camera was activated in the other direction and captured high-resolution video.
You can see the difference, but the verdict in short form is this: iPhone 4 outperforms other smartphones and handheld ultra-mobile digital video camcorders, and I've tried nearly all of 'em for web video production while on the road. When it comes to video recording in a smartphone (and in "Flip" class devices), iPhone 4 is the one to beat.
Again you do have to be mindful of that camera orientation switch option noted above: when you shoot video out of one side of the device, you get lower-resolution 640 x 480 footage, and when you shoot out of the other side, you get far higher-res 1280 x 720. You can tap an area to focus in and balance exposure and hue, even while you are shooting. Video is saved and exported as h.264 QuickTime, and you can email, MMS, or publish to YouTube right from the iPhone. Editing on the device is possible with iMovie for iPhone ($5 in the Apple App store).
See also:
• IPHONE 4 FIRST HANDS-ON REVIEW
• PHOTOGRAPHY REVIEW
(Special thanks to Eric Mittleman, to Q-Burns Abstract Message whose music appears in this video, and to all the awesome skaters at the Venice Skate Park, particularly Kiko and Drew!)
Rich Fulcher's Tiny Acts of Rebellion: BB Video Interview
Xeni Jardin at 6:50 AM Thu
( Watch on YouTube or download MP4 | More Boing Boing Video ).
Comedian Rich Fulcher is best known for his multiple character roles on the hit BBC comedy series "The Mighty Boosh"—the most notorious of whom is Eleanor—and for his dark sketch comedy show "Snuffbox."
I caught up with him on a Venice Beach rooftop to discuss the release of his very funny new book, Tiny Acts of Rebellion, and to roast s'mores beneath the stars. The resulting Boing Boing Video episode includes gutbusting fits of laughter, and melted marshmallows coated with gravel and cat-hair. Fulcher's a lot better at comedy than he is at cooking campfire treats.
LA folks: Fulcher will be performing this Friday, May 28, at Largo in Los Angeles, with a terrific lineup including Chris Hardwick, Har Mar Superstar, and Neil Hamburger. Maybe Eleanor will make an appearance?
Poster with details below, tickets here, and proceeds benefit a Nashville flood disaster response fund. More Fulcher (and Eleanor) shows in LA and other US cities to follow...
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Die Antwoord's US debut at Coachella: interview, photo gallery (Boing Boing Video)
Xeni Jardin at 7:01 AM Wed
(PHOTO in video still: Clayton Cubitt)
WATCH VIDEO: YouTube, or download MP4.
Ninja and Yo-Landi of Die Antwoord sat down with me for an interview just after the South African "rap-rave" band's first-ever US performance at the Coachella music festival. The duo spoke about their explosive, internet-fueled burst to fame, and about the origins of their "car crash music" (it's disturbing, but you can't look away) by way of District 9 and an anarchic internet and music subculture in post-Apartheid South Africa.
I'm told this is the only interview Die Antwoord granted during their US visit. Our conversation originally streamed live as part of the Los Angeles Times / Brand X magazine Coachella Oasis Webcast.
After the jump, a gallery of photos from their Coachella performance, shot by Dave Bullock (eecue).
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South Park's 200th, litigious celebs and Mohammed: Matt Stone and Trey Parker (BB Video)
Xeni Jardin at 6:00 AM Tue
Watch on YouTube. or Download MP4
In this Boing Boing Video exclusive, South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker speak with Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin on the eve of the 200th episode of the hit Comedy Central series. Stone and Parker reveal their plans to revisit battles over the boundaries of what can and cannot be done on television—including a quest to see just how many celebrities they can manage to piss off in a single episode, and whether Comedy Central will once again try to stop them from depicting the image and voice of a cartoon version of the Muslim prophet Mohammed on the show.
The 200th episode airs Wednesday, April 14 at 10pm on Comedy Central. Fan tributes here: South Park 200 (southpark200.com)
Related: Reason.com on the Mohammed/South Park/Comedy Central controversy.
(Special thanks to the production team of Matt West and Eric Mittleman)
Peter Serafinowicz: Boing Boing Video interview
Xeni Jardin at 10:59 AM Thu
VIDEO: YouTube, or download MP4.
Today on Boing Boing Video, part one of my interview with actor and comedian Peter Serafinowicz, whose "Peter Serafinowicz Show" DVD just came out this week. He's starring as Paul McCartney in the Robert Zemeckis remake of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, his Apple parody ads are the stuff of viral legend, his #PSQA tweets delight mutants throughout the globe, and fans of his BBC show find much to LOL in the likes of Brian Butterfield and the robot talk show host Michael-6. Or perhaps you remember him in Shaun of the Dead, or from Tarvu, or Look Around You? No matter. If you're not familiar with any of this, just watch our interview, and you will be.
Mardi Gras 1956: "Through my father's lens" (Boing Boing Video)
Xeni Jardin at 6:40 AM Tue
(Watch video: on YouTube, on Dotsub, or download an MP4)
Today's episode of Boing Boing Video features rare and historic film from Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1956. Artist Mar Dore stumbled on a box of slides in her family's home in Texas a few years back, and inside, discovered photographs that her father, John Mizenko, took of the parades back in the era of "Mad Men." That box of slides was like a time capsule, Mar says, and opened a door into history—the history of New Orleans, and of her own family.
I've blogged one of his photographs here on Boing Boing before (you can buy prints now), but in today's Boing Boing Video, we explore the personal story behind them, and we travel back in time through "found" video footage of that same parade.
Below and after the jump, Mar (who, it should be noted, is a member of my family) shares the story behind this video:
My father was born in the small town of Covington, Louisiana in 1921. He was a chemical engineer, inventor and builder, and an amateur radio operator. He worked for major oil companies and we had to move around a lot.
He shot the photos you see in this video in 1956 on February 12th and on Mardi Gras Day, February 14th, on the Mid-City route and on Canal Street in front of Miller-Wohls Department Store, which is no longer there. A lot of the New Orleans you see in this video is no longer there.
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N.A.S.A.: "O Pato," feat. Kool Kojak + DJ Babao (BB Video)
Xeni Jardin at 12:55 PM Wed
(NSFW! Adults, watch this video: YouTube, Dotsub, or Download MP4)
Boing Boing Video presents "O PATO," featuring Kool Kojak and DJ Babão, from the NASA music project (North America South America). Directed by Didiu Rio Branco and Robson Minghini, this NSFW, raunchy romp features animated versions of NASA project founders Sam and Ze getting funky with their fine feathered homies in São Paulo, Brazil. Bonus: a moonwalking Michael Jackson cockroach. My, the bugs really are bigger in South America...
You can buy the project album here: N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo.
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