Whether or not you like the musical stylings of avant-garde Icelandic singer, Bjork, you can’t deny that her latest effort, Biophilia, released with a corresponding series of iPad apps meant to enrich the listening experience, isn’t a clever idea – much less something that could be considered an industry changer. The app claims to allow you to experience how nature, music and technology come together.
Biophilia, released Tuesday, has iPad apps that accompany each track to immerse listeners in an interactive experience – letting them play along on digital instruments, for example, or chart out visual representations of a song. With CD sales plummeting, could this experimental iPad album change the way people listen to music and save the industry – or is it just a silly gimmick?
I know that I, personally, over the years have moved from having to own the actual album to just buying the music I want online via iTunes. My husband, on the other hand, cannot fathom not owning the actual music – holding the jewel case in his hands, looking at the album art – he needs and wants something tangible to go along with his favorite tunes. His kind though is a dying breed, and artists who take their music in this new, interactive direction, may be tapping into converting their CD buyers into ones who will now appreciate the music with this new interactive, digital album art.
Say what you will about the music, but nothing has come close to the way Biophilia re-imagined the album as something functional. It makes the static cardboard album art, whose loss has been so bemoaned over the years, look like, well, cardboard.
What say you? Do you think this kind of interactive album will revolutionize the music industry and catch on as the new thing? Have you purchased the album and the apps and, if so, what do you think?
What’s that, you say? You haven’t caved just yet? You haven’t indulged in the latest change to be cast upon your beloved Facebook account?
Well, once you do — or at least once the almighty one, himself, enforces said profile change — it’s no doubt that we’ll all have to adjust a bit to the new Facebook Timeline feature that launched the other week at the #F8 conference. Among some of the features packaged into Facebook Timeline, are the following:
Wider user interface — Similar to that of WordPress or Tumblr
More visual components, including ability to view posts, photos, etc as they’ve happened in time — Think virtual scrapbook
Ability to revisit older posts & add to them to fill in blanks — Share more about the memories that make you most nostalgic
Ability to add social apps to your profile (i.e. Spotify, Foodily, etc.)— A bevy of apps from media, gaming, lifestyle, & more (and all easy to access/ update in one location!)
Summaries & categorized activity — Likes, Edits, Friendships, Music playlists, & more (At end of each month)
Cover photo + profile picture — Can you say deeper self-expression?
Sounds pretty cool, right? … No?
Well, some may disagree with you as they embrace the ability to tell their story. Just as the last profile change crept in though, Facebook has at least allowed for an opt-in period, giving users ample time to navigate & address any important questions/ concerns about the new interface. So, while you may not have been one of the tech/ social media junkies to jump on the bandwagon before it took off — setting up the early developer version & publishing their Timelines — you still have time to get your bearings, adjust, and all-in-all warm up to the idea of Facebook Timeline.
(Personal feelings aside) Check out the images below for how some users are getting creative with their profile presentation.
What is it about profanity and other vulgarities that draw an audience in?
Aside from the obvious being humor and added shock-value, I might suggest that it may be for the purpose of casually identifying with others or getting on their level. While there are those (even a vast majority of) people that may find it inappropriate and distasteful to use in marketing or in any type of professional setting, I can’t say that I disagree with them, but I can say that I’m certainly okay with it. And, no, I will not curse in front of small children or teach them bad words… I have 11 young cousins and grew up babysitting most all of them, and I can guarantee you that they didn’t learn any four lettered words from me.
For these reasons among many, I believe in monitoring my mouth as in any other healthy balance of things. Though admittedly, I can’t help but giggle over the occasional, casual use of the F-word or of the ‘so-unimaginable-to-most-people-so-i-wont-even-abbreviate-it’ word(s).
To some, profanity is familiar, it’s casual, even relieving at many times when the situation calls for it. And, again, to some this claim may be entirely inappropriate or untrue, and I totally respect that, I do. I cannot speak for every person. However,my thought here is that profanity — among other ways to push the envelope — screams for attention, while inevitably and successfully getting it.
Much like the controversial F*ck Cancer movement, other campaigns, projects, and additional movements are jumping onboard the profanity train, well, because “it’s what everyone is thinking”. Regardless of your personal feelings about the use of it, when profanity is used in a public campaign for social good it urges us all to pay a little more attention. With somewhere in the ballpark of over 125,000 supporters (in over 11 countries) and quickly growing, this is also true of the latest campaign I’ve stumbled upon to bank of the use of both vulgarity and profanity: GIVE-A-SHIT.org.
By way of some ridiculously hilarious marketing strategies, a not-so-subtle concept & one relatable topic, Give a Sh*t, has successfully reached the masses and is continuing to grow in support with the help of actress and celebrity, Nikki Reed (Twilight) as the face of the cause.
Please be warned that the video clip you are about to see contains vulgar content & excessive profanity.
Why the bad language, you might ask?
“Some of you may be wondering why we’ve used bad language.
Well, we’re not offended by bad language. We’re offended by billions of people dying from lack of clean water. We’re offended by the rainforest being devastated by human greed. We’re offended by famine in Africa. So if we have to talk shit, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Doesn’t it just make you feel all warm and tingly inside? … No? Well, maybe the cause will or at least the idea behind it. At GIVE-A-SHIT.org they’re not asking for anything. No, really. All they’re asking is for you to give a sh*t and share it with the world… share the fact that you care, that is. Still not convinced? Check out their website (GIVE-A-SHIT.org) to learn more about the cause and how YOU can give a sh*t while taking one in order to support the world around us.
Last week I posted a video of a really cool stop motion animation that involved fingernails. I am fascinated by stop motion animation, so making it work on fingernails blew my mind! On top of that – it was a commercial for a new Kia.
Last night, as I was clicking through the many links that were showing up on my Twitter feed, I happened upon a promotional stop-motion animation that broke a world record as the largest ever created – for Nokia. It was directed by the geniuses over at Sumo Science and used 11,000 square feet of beach area to make it. (These are the same guys who shot the World’s Smallest stop motion animation). I watched it and liked it – but really wasn’t overly impressed. It was cool, but not something that I really even thought much about sharing – until I saw the other video which is the “Making of the Video”. OMG – SOOO COOL!!! I was totally blown away by how they actually made this. Watching and learning how creative people work inspires me and this is one of those videos I will keep bookmarked for inspiration for a long time.
So, here is the actual promo video:
And here is, in my opinion, the even better part of the promotion:
Yes – you read that title correctly. Nail. Art. Animation.
The words “art” and “animation” go together easily, but the word “nail” sounds out of place. Are we talking about a hammer and nail? Nope. We’re talking about finger nails.
1200 bottles of nail polish.
25 days and nights.
2 hours of drawing for each nail.
900 fingernails.
Sound a little weird? Check this out and get ready to be amazed! A stop motion animation that is a commercial for the new Kia Picanto.
disagree with them, but I can say that I’m certainly okay with it. And, no, I will not curse in front of small children or teach them bad words… I have 11 young cousins and grew up babysitting most all of them, and I can guarantee you that they didn’t learn any four lettered words from me.
