Fun On Friday #163: What's cooler than Spock in an advert?

...Two Spocks in an advert.

I would apologise for featuring two Star Trek related Fun on Friday's in a row but this advert was too good to put off for another week.

Fun On Friday #158: Christmas Flash Mob

How brave is the woman who starts this?

 
Brilliant!

Landfillharmonic

Not my usual style of music but I felt I had to share this:

Stunning!

Cross-posted to Feedback.

Fun On Friday #157: The Tache-on

This may be my last Tache related post of 2012. Rather than mess about with all that waiting for hair to grow nonsense, I think I might use the Tache-on next year. The results were quite impressive:

The donation page is still open, so it's not too late to give to male cancer charities.

Into Darkness

Oooohhhh yes!

But how long until the release date!?

Fun On Friday #155: Running Out Of Music

I accept that this week's offering is fun only for a slightly bizarre definition of fun... that definition being: "stuff that I find fun". I hope that you, at least, find it interesting.

Unfortunately, the video can't be embedded, so you'll have to go off and watch Will We Ever Run Out Of New Music? on YouTube.

I like the way he entries to make the mind-bogglingly big numbers accessible. Some of the links with the video are worth a look too.

And tangentially related is this video, which I can embed!

Fun On Friday #147: My Favourite German YouTube Video

This, without a doubt, is my favourite YouTube video in the German language.




There is a translation of the dialogue on the YouTube page but I suspect you didn't need it!

Copyright - Walking the tightrope

I have posted here on a number of occasions about copyright, mostly to say how complicated it is - particularly in the digital age. I have also had the occasional rant about the entertainment industry and how their stance is at times counter-productive and sometimes even downright stupid. Here's an example I came across recently. You can decide for yourself if it falls into the latter category...

The example comes from David Colarusso.When I talk to students about the value of digital video in the classroom, I almost always refer them to David's Tabletop Explainer series of YouTube videos. In fact, I usually show them his How To Build An Electric Motor... video (a cross between Blue Peter, Heath Robinson and The Gadget Show!). Recently, I learned from his facebook page that one of his YouTube videos had been taken down because FOX filed a copyright claim against it. You may have to be logged into facebook and/or a friend of David's to see his post, but essentially it shows how he responded to YouTube by claiming "fair use". Thankfully there is a happy ending and the video is now back up:

I think it is a great video. It draws you into some reasonably complex physics in a way that is entertaining and accessible. The animation of the arrows falling is brilliant and the mix of clips and explanation is engaging. Clearly, there is material from the film Speed in the clip but why on earth did FOX feel the need to ask for it to be pulled? In what way was it damaging their profits or their product?

I suspect that what happened was some automated process found the clip and the take down request was generated automatically because when David challenged the request (which I suspect led to the clip being viewed by a person rather than a process), they released their copyright claim. (Again, you may be able to see the image and comment from David from his facebook page.)

The question remains though - is it worth FOX and other copyright holders perusing a zero-tolerance approach to use of their material on YouTube or is such an approach largely counter-productive?

Fun On Friday #143: Dance

Very, very late. A Fun On Friday posted at 11:30 pm on Sunday but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Daughter Number Two brought this YouTube video to my attention. The title pretty much says it all: Tron Inspired Dance. (Don't panic! The first thirty seconds takes place in complete darkness.)

I especially like the way they create a stop-motion animation effect with live action dancers.

Fun On Friday #140: Extra, extra! Three Little Pigs!

Another advert this week:

It's not a new idea, to take a fairy story and turn it into a news report, but I liked the way they updated the story and linked it to current events.

What do you think? Scope to do this in the classroom with other stories?

Fun On Friday #139: Copyright, shmopyright!

It is, of course, right that composers and lyricists are recognised. It is right that people do not make money by ripping off other people's effort. And it is right that the creativity is rewarded. But sometimes the copyright law is an ass.

Here's an example of someone challenging a particularly daft copyright claim:

For reasons beyond reason, the song Happy Birthday To You is (allegedly) protected by copyright. So thankfully Barats... or is it Bereta has produced: "...a copyright-free little ditty about an Egyptian river god who finds a place to sleep atop two sheep and a deer named Harrison, who also happen to be governors of Algiers before the French conquest in 1830."

Thanks to Daughter 1 for bringing this to my attention.

Fun On Friday #137: Keith Harris and Orville

It never occurred to me that I would post something by Keith Harris and Orville and describe it as "fun"... but this is brilliant. (Although, please note the declaration of interest at the bottom of the post.)

Watch and enjoy:

Excellent! Move over Eminem, here comes Kayanoh.

It is an advert for the SIM only, no contract, mobile company. They offer some great deals. For example you can get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited web for just £10 a month. And unlike some networks, there is no "fair use" clause on the data usage - unlimited really means unlimited.

If you are interested in getting a free SIM with £5 of credit, try the link below but remember to read the declaration of interest before you do.

Declaration of interest: This amused me so much, I think I would have posted it as a Fun on Friday anyway but I should point out that if you use the link above to order a SIM, I get 500 points when it is activated. And what do points make... well to be honest, I'm not sure but I think I can use them to get a discount on future charges.

So, shameless profiteering or a good Fun on Friday. Let me know what you think.

Fun On Friday #133: Christmas on YouTube

A late fun on Friday comprising of three seasonally appropriate YouTube videos.

First, some Blues:

And next, something for the Prog fans:

And finally, the real meaning of Christmas... at least, the real meaning as told by puppets to a tune by Queen:

Thanks to Jane Thomson for the last video and Paul Thomson (no relation?) for the Prog video.

Right. Off to wrap more presents.

Have a great Christmas.

Fun On Friday #126: Star Treking

So... I love Star Trek; especially the Original Series with Kirk and Spock. And I would say that Star Trek IV: Voyage Home is in my top ten favourite movies.

Then there's Queen - a great rock band with an outstanding front man. And Bohemian Rhapsody; probably one of the greatest singles ever released.

So, iconic TV series and an iconic song. Now wouldn't it be a great idea if we could combine the two somehow? No! Of course not! It's a car crash of an idea. And yet...

If you just heard this version, you might think it was quirky or even, in the manner of the Chinese curse, "interesting" but the video! The word "bonkers" doesn't even come close to beginning to hint at the merest smidgeon of an idea of how completely and utterly deranged this video is.

And yet I was amused. The first snigger was when the cut out mouths of the paper star sign figures started singing but by the end I was just howling with laughter.

What about you? What do you make of it?

Fun On Friday #124: Crazy Paper Thing

Now I must admit, I haven't tried making this yet but really, the question is "When?" rather than "If"!

If you make it before I do, take a picture and post the link here.

Fun On Friday #122: Stop Motion Squared!

If you are looking for something to do over the next couple of weekends, why not try something like this:

Hmmm... On second thoughts, it might take you more than a couple of weekends!

What I like about it is the way there is an animation within the animation - the people holding the pictures move about and the pictures they are holding are themselves like a flickbook animation. Brilliant.

And while we are on the subject of clever animation, have you seen the Ultimate Dog Tease?

It's extraordinarily well done, yes? I assume they use something like CrazyTalk but for video.

Have you come across any quirky animations? If you have, leave a comment pointing me in their direction.

Fun On Friday #115: Stovies

Dustin Hoffman extols the virtues of stovies:

And ice cream for pudding!

Fun On Friday #113: Cup Of Brown Joy

An extraordinarily late Fun On Friday again and one that's slightly self indulgent since I was originally just going to send this to Daughter Number 1. I hope, however, that this rap from Professor Elemental on the joy of tea will appeal to some of you:


If you enjoyed that, there is a Professor Elemental website where you can access more in the same vein as well as details on how to purchase polyphonic recordings of his material. Or you could head to YouTube where you'll find many more videos including Fighting Trousers, which is Professor Elemental's dis tune aimed at Chap Hop practitioner Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer.

And talking of Mr B, why not try Straight Out Of Surrey:


What do you think of steampunk rap Or chap hop? It has opened a whole new world of musical fun for me!
P.S. I should say thank you to Mitch Benn and his wonderful comedy music podcast for introducing me to Professor Elemental and to Dave Major, a chap I met at the Apple Distinguished Educators' conference for telling me about Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer.

Fun On Friday #112: Rush

I'm going to see Rush in concert at the SECC tonight, so a couple of fun Rush videos seemed appropriate.

First up some unseasonal advice from Geddy:

Next, Rush meet Rock Band:

I love that I read an interview where Neil claimed that he was doing the right drum part and that it is the game that was wrong!

Fun On Friday #111: Viral Videos

Last week, the Times published an article that it billed as "The 40 Best Viral Videos". Number 1 was David after dentist which has been seen umpteen million times but didn't do it for me. Next was Battle At Kruger which was a sort of amateur Wildlife On One style video of a square go between a herd of buffalos and a pride of lions which is more interesting in a car crash kind of a way.

Number three though was Human Tetris - now that's more like it:

Brilliant, and if you want to see more of the same, head over to Game Over. Stop motion animation on steroids!