Percussion at 142 beats per minute

My first experiment at remixing open source audio. Your comments would be helpful.


Percussion at 142 bpm by newnimproved

Drum Solo with Bass by newnimproved


June Tabla Beat by newnimproved

Spoof: Truth in Advertising

Truth in Advertising is a riot and a must see for anyone in advertising and marketing or anyone interested in knowing how an advertising agency works. Directed by Tim Hamilton, it’s worth seeing the entire 12-minute parody video.

Poetry in motion: A compilation of freestyle football videos

Call it freestyle football, street soccer, parkour or tv commercials, these videos will simply take your breath away. If I have missed any, please post the links in the comments section. Thank you.

1. Ronaldo 1:

2. Roofball:

3. Ronaldo 2:

4. Nike Breakdancing:

5. Nike Freestyle:

6. Santiago:

7. Panna:

8. Jeremy Lynch:

9. Adidas USA versus Mexico:

10. Nike Brazil versus Portugal:

11. Nike Airport:

12. Brahma Beer Bull Fight:

13. Nike Brazil:

14. Nike Joga Bonito Talento:

15. Nike Bavaria:

16. Adidas Jose +10:

17. Adidas Brasil versus Argentina:

And for those into freestyle cricket:

18. Nike Bus:

Gillette: How to shave your balls

Hilarious viral video. And this from a conservative brand like Gillette.

Poll: Can Microsoft outspend Google?

Microsoft is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That's a big campaign -- big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.





Thank you for your valuable time.

Douglas Adams: Parrots, the Universe and Everything

Douglas Adams was the best-selling British author and satirist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this talk at UCSB recorded shortly before his death, Adams shares hilarious accounts of some of the apparently absurd lifestyles of the world's creatures, and gleans from them extraordinary perceptions about the future of humanity.

Almost 90 minutes. One man on stage. No props. No fancy slides. No music. Just talking to the audience, and a bit of reading from his books. Can't think of very many people who could pull that off.

(Hat tip to Peter.)

Wave of phishing attack on Facebook and Twitter

Phishers are having a field day with Facebook and Twitter.

A new phishing scam hit Facebook users that, like others in recent weeks, sends them to a Web site which steals their log-in information and also secretly downloads malware onto computers when they visit the malicious Web site in what is known as a "drive-by download."

Meanwhile, Twitter users were getting messages from new followers that were posting links to a fake Twitter site with "tvvitter" in the tiny URL, Graham Cluley of Sophos wrote in his blog. His blog has a video of the phishing attack in action. Twitter representatives did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment.

In the Facebook attack, messages circulated with a subject line of "Hello" and a prompt to check out "areps.at" or other URLs ending in ".at".

Preventive measures for Facebook:

--Use an up-to-date browser that features an anti-phishing black list.

-Use unique logins and passwords for each of the Web sites you use.

--Check to see that you're logging in from a legitimate Facebook page with the facebook.com domain.

--Be cautious of any message, post, or link you find on Facebook that looks suspicious or requires an additional login.

--It is important that impacted users reset all accounts (not just Facebook) that use the same credentials. We believe the bad guys here are phishing an account and then trying those credentials on webmail providers. So, for example, if a user is compromised on Facebook and has the same login and password for their Gmail, the attacker may be able to intercept the Facebook password reset and compromise the account again in the future. This is one of the reasons why people need unique passwords for their online accounts.

--Become a fan of the Facebook Security Page (www.facebook.com/security) for more updates on new threats as well as helpful information on how to protect yourself online.

(via CNet)

Nike: Mercurial Vapor Rosa

This wonderful ad for Nike Football mashes up Franck Ribery and The Pink Panther.

IPL versus Fox Sports

Has the IPL Season 2009 tv commercial been ripped off from an ad for a baseball match between Yankees and Twins? The folks at Plagiarism Archive are positive. See and decide for yourself.

IPL cricket ad:



Yankees versus Twins baseball ad:

Stand By Me: Street virtual studio version

This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician called Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added some metal percussion to it.

And from there, it just gets rock 'n' rolling bananas: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video. All done with a simple laptop and some microphones.

I don't know about you, but it blew me away. Best version of Ben E. King's classic I've ever heard in my life. And I've probably heard between five and two billion of them.

( via Gizmodo.)

BMW: Z4 interactive augmented reality

BMW has released a more interactive augmented reality tool for its current “An Expression of Joy” campaign for the Z4. In the normal TV ad, the artist Robin Rhode uses the BMW Z4 as a paintbrush. With this augmented reality software you can now create your own virtual version on your desk. If you’re happy with the result you can submit your work to a gallery on Facebook. You can download the BMW software here.

The normal TV ad.

(via Fubiz)

10 tips for film marketers

1. The fundamentals of marketing have not changed. There are some great principles that come from traditional advertising, but people seem inclined to throw them out just because it’s digital. We can learn a lot from traditional advertising to help develop marketing thinking in this new landscape.

2. Do not go into the planning process with any prejudice, assumptions or illusions. Don’t approach a campaign preoccupied with the latest internet marketing buzz words. Consider what is right for your product, keeping in mind that people react to things that are original, that have a heart, that are human.

3. Try and identify what it is about the individual film that will get people talking. Think about who will love the film, what will be the key aspect they will like about it and come up with a creative way to feed into this audience and this aspect of the film.

4. Find your audience, target the opinion formers and be honest with them. Go to the top of the tree and treat them like friends. If a film is a biopic, for example, find the fans of the subject matter and say “we have this film, we think it is right up your street.”

5. The director’s eye is extremely important to create a consistent campaign that accurately represents the film being promoted. A really good online marketing campaign starts with the film-maker first.

6. Press on your clients the importance that the earlier you can get your promotional Assets and interrogate the themes of the film then the more intelligent and effective the campaign will be.

7. Do not be afraid to try things. There is no scientific formula to follow to create the ‘perfect’ online campaign. Learn from your previous films’ marketing, the things that worked and the things that were less effective, but always strive to give your consumer something they have not seen before.

8. On set blogs and diaries can serve a number of purposes from providing entertainment and information about the picture to making your potential audience feel part of the filmmaking process. It can also improve your ranking in organic search and help create a ready made audience for your film’s release.

9. Integrate. The best film campaigns of recent times, Cloverfield and Be Kind Rewind for example, have used a combination of digital and traditional approaches. These have not operated independently from one another, and have cross referenced and continued themes and calls to action. A great example of media and creative working together.

10. Identify your campaign objectives at the very start. This will help you ascertain exactly how you will measure its success and use the assortment of tools at your disposal to track the performance of your campaign and the amount of buzz it is generating.

Helen Reddy: I Am Woman( Live Midnight Special 1975)

“Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes."

~Clare Boothe Luce

"In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she's a feminist or a masochist."
~Gloria Steinem

“Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels. “

~Faith Whittlesey

“I asked a Burmese why women, after centuries of following their men, now walk ahead. He said there were many unexploded land mines since the war.”

~Robert Mueller

“Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.”

~Cheris Kramarae and Paula Treichler

“Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.”

~Timothy Leary

“I think, therefore I'm single.”

~Lizz Winstead

“It starts when you sink in his arms and ends with your arms in his sink.”

~Author Unknown

“To me, "sexual freedom" means freedom from having to have sex.”

~Lily Tomlin

“The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces”

~Maureen Murphy

“Easy is an adjective used to describe a woman who has the sexual morals of a man.”

~Nancy Linn-Desmond

“I am beautiful as I am. I am the shape that was gifted. My breasts are no longer perky and upright like when I was a teenager. My hips are wider than that of a fashion model's. For this I am glad, for these are the signs of a life lived. “

~Cindy Olsen, co-owner of The Body Objective

60 Seconds In An ADD Brain

Another music video created by my dear friend John Scott G and his team at Golosio


Country ~ Doug Colosio (Merle Haggard)
Roots/Texas Swing ~ Scott Joss (Merle Haggard; Dwight Yoakam)
Groove ~ John Scott G (The G-Man)
Electronic/Rock ~ James Sotelo
Urban/R&B ~ Funk Foundation and Country-Fried Funk
Trance ~ DJ Insane
Soundtracks ~ Colosio & G

Contact: One call to Scott for sync & master rights
Studio: 818-223-8486 / Cell: 213-369-7619
scott (AT) golosio.com

I Wonder If I Do Too Much

Music and video created by my dear friend John Scott G and his team at Golosio


Country ~ Doug Colosio (Merle Haggard)
Roots/Texas Swing ~ Scott Joss (Merle Haggard; Dwight Yoakam)
Groove ~ John Scott G (The G-Man)
Electronic/Rock ~ James Sotelo
Urban/R&B ~ Funk Foundation and Country-Fried Funk
Trance ~ DJ Insane
Soundtracks ~ Colosio & G

Contact: One call to Scott for sync & master rights
Studio: 818-223-8486 / Cell: 213-369-7619
scott (AT) golosio.com

McDonald's : Picadilly Circus

A very interesting billboard from McDonald's in London that is designed to fit into the picture-taking behaviors of tourists. A great example of taking a static advertisement billboard and making it dynamic by providing interactivity.



(Via Adverlab)

Björn Borg's Interactive Break Up Test

Having doubts about your relationship? Take Björn Borg's Interactive Break Up Test, and find out if it's time to find new, true love. Should you move on or stay strong? What a great idea!




(via Mic Boc)

Maxell: Into The Valley and Me Ears Are Alright

“To keep your ads fresh, you’ve got to keep yourself fresh. Live in the current idiom and you will create in it. If you follow and enjoy and are excited by the new trails in art, in writing, in industry, in personal relationships, whatever you do will naturally be of today.”

~ Bill Bernbach.

The creative minds responsible these two brilliant tv commercials for Maxell Tapes, circa 1990, take Bill Bernbach’s advice to heart and pay homage to Bob Dylan in the process.

Into The Valley



Me Ears Are Alright



Bob Dylan: Subterranean Homesick Blues

This is a segment from D. A. Pennebaker's film, Don’t Look Back (a documentary on Bob Dylan's tour of England in 1965). In the film, Dylan holds up cue cards for the audience with words from the song on them. While staring at the camera, he flips the cards as the song plays. Interestingly, there are intentional errors throughout the video. For instance, the song's lyrics say "eleven dollar bills," but the poster says "20 dollars". The video takes place in an alley behind The Savoy Hotel in London where poet Allen Ginsberg makes a cameo appearance.

T-Mobile: Hey Jude

I love unconventional media and here is a brilliant idea from T-Mobile. The mobile firm projected the lyrics to the Beatles' Hey Jude over a billboard, then passed mics out to people on Trafalgar Square. It's neat to watch the faces: people look earnest, but uncertain, and over time they just kinda lose themselves in the na-na-nas and the feel-good Hey Jude-in'.




The fantastic original:



(via Adrants).

Over 60% of Twitter users quit after one month

Microblogging service Twitter has exploded in popularity on the back of celebrity tweeters such as Ashton Kutcher, Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Fry but over 60% of users stop visiting the site after a month, according to research.

The data from Nielsen Online, which measures internet traffic, shows that despite growing "exponentially" in the past few months the rate of retention is just 40%.
Before talk show queen Oprah Winfrey began singing Twitter's praises and tweeting the retention rate was below 30%.

David Martin, Nielsen Online's vice president of primary research, said in a blog post: "People are signing up in their droves and Twitter's unique audience is up over 100% in March. But despite the hockey-stick growth chart, Twitter faces an uphill battle in making sure these flocks of new users are enticed to return to the nest."

The figures reveal that Facebook and MySpace, which have seen similar explosive growth rates to Twitter, have much higher retention rates of nearly 70%.

Martin warns that there "simply aren't enough new users to make up for defecting ones after a certain point". He concludes: "Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty. Frankly if Oprah can't accomplish that, I'm not sure who can."

(via Brand Republic)

5 ways you can market your product using YouTube

1. In-Video Overlays

This function allows you to advertise in the middle of a video with small pop-ups. This means a coupon button could pop up right after they see the food, or a “buy this on DVD” ad pops up right after the punch line.

Monty Python Channel

Best thing is, it’s working. Monty Python has recently put some of their most popular content on YouTube and with the click-to-buy links under the video. Mashable reports that even though the content is online for free, Monty Python’s DVD sales have skyrocketed by an amazing 23,000% on Amazon and reached the #2 on the bestseller list.

2. Brand Channels

These homepages can save a lot of money and be more effective. YouTube now offers enough customization you can basically create a microsite for peanuts. Also, users can stay within the YouTube environment without clicking out to get the coupons, games and other goodies.


Nature Valley’s Brand Channel

3. Annotations

Advertisers no longer need to buy banner space around their content on YouTube. They simply place it within their content for free. Annotations are also great because you can change easily without re-editing or re-uploading the video. This means brands can respond quickly to what people are saying by adding their own comments to sections of the video. Another function of these annotations has been a these choose your own adventure video (shown below). Annotations are changing the way we tell brand narratives.

Samsung Instinct

Street Fighter

4. Out of the box experiences

YouTube is willing to work with clients to make the standard video player more dynamic. Take a look at the creative approach Goodby Silverstein & Partners SF took in advertising the Nintendo Wii game Wario Land.

5. Deeper Insight

YouTube’s Insight portion helps you monitor how hot or cold your video is. It generates graphs at what time your audience is leaving or where they go back for another look. It also gives you demographics and info as to where they discovered the video. After looking at hot spots, you could better decide where to add annotations and in-video overlays. You can also understand how long your audience is willing to stick around.

(via Fallon.)