One song. Two incredible videos. Director Jonas Odell (with skilled assistance from Nexus Productions and FilmTecknarna) turns flat photographs into a three-dimensional journey through iconic landscapes reminiscent of the group's early album art. Watch Odell & Co.'s video for U2's "Window in the Skies" here. Now for something completely different, Gary Kroepke and his crew at ad agency Modernista! (their exlamation point, not mine) team up with post-production and effects house The Mill. The result? Other musicians -- from Frank Sinatra to Jimi Hendrix to Nina Simone to Thom Yorke -- bring the song to life. Watch their video. (An ambitious blogger breaks it down scene by scene, guest star by guest star, here.)
A "doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives...universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds...The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur," according to this piece by David Leonhardt in The New York Times. Leonhardt continues, "All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another: The war in Iraq." Links to the economic studies and number crunching here and here.
Ran across this video of the Gwen Stefani track "Wind It Up" and was struck with the number of references to "The Sound of Music." The song, produced by the Neptunes, opens with a sample from "The Lonely Goatherd" and even has some yodeling. Director Sophie Muller reinterprets Alpine skies, a nun's habit, the von Trapp estate, scary thunderstorms and playclothes made from drapes. Watch the original goatherd puppet show from the 1965 Robert Wise film here. This isn't Stefani's first foray into borrowing from musicals. Earlier, she teamed up with Eve to rework a "Fiddler on the Roof" song as "Rich Girl."
A "doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives...universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds...The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur," according to this piece by David Leonhardt in The New York Times. Leonhardt continues, "All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another: The war in Iraq." Links to the economic studies and number crunching here and here.
