Hey, have you seen that online interactive film… music video… interactive piece… thing?

Google launched a pretty neato “HTML 5 experience” today in the form of “The Wilderness Downtown”. It’s essentially an interactive music video that uses your childhood neighborhood as the setting. Provided it’s on Google Street View, that is. (If it’s not, definitely plug in an address that is to see the full effect.)

But it’s also a pretty sweet way to show off what HTML 5 can do. Which, in this case, is a story spread through multiple viewing windows, all centrally timed to open and close at specific moments that correspond to the soundtrack, and are populated with user-generated content. Pretty cool.

They might not show videos on MTV anymore, but if you can interact with them on this level that might be for the best. Turns out the internet may be a better vehicle anyway.

www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire

Notorious M.A.P.

The internet is a modern miracle simply for it's inherent ability to easily mash-up the seemingly unmashable.

For instance, just the other day I was wishing there were a simple resource that compiled locations from rap lyrics and then plotted then in an easy-to-navigate map so that I might actually visit, say, the club where Jay-Z stabbed that record exec. And it would preferably do it with Google Maps, as that's on double-true record as "the best".

Lo' and behold, the internet provides.

Aerobics Class with Dame Edna

Okay well - I've been waiting to contribute something special for my first foray into the Social Scene of Martinis and Hot Dogs. I need to say - I'm not entirely sure if this is it, but sweet mother of god....

It's amazingly horrific. It's more like a hybrid Narnia aerobics class let by that she/man Dame Edna. Who in hell is Dame Edna anyway and why do I know that name? I digress.

Credits to J. Hads for enlightening us.

Another list I aspire to make...

One of the best things about Facebook is finding cool stuff from people who are your friends but who are not friends with all your other friends. This makes it easy to then pass links, websites, videos, photos etc off as your own discoveries, thereby making yourself look AWESOME, like an awesome finder of awesome things online who is just altogether awesome.

On that note, and with no credit to the fine fellow who actually introduced me to this site, I bring you:

Badass of the Week

Click on The Complete List if you'd like to view The Hall of Badassitude - and seriously, if you don't want to view The Hall of Badassitude, you are probably a loser who can't be my friend anymore.

You may be smooth, but you'll never be this smooth

Thank you to our fellow friend Macoosh for finding this one!

Maybe we should start implementing this at the UN

Congo, Algeria has stated that he likes $2.99 Happy Hour Martinis at Flingers. Like or dislike?

Gives Me Hope for Movie Making

Before we get to the video, let me quickly explain the website:

hitRECord.org, founded by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is a place where artists all over the world can submit their own music, narration, animation, or what have you for the general use of all hitRECord members. Subsequently, anything uploaded can be grabbed by another person to be recut into something new or members can get together to create a project like the video below. Gordon-Levitt will then take something that he feels is a great piece of work and distribute it.

After that, any profits made from the film only half of goes back into the keeping up the site and the other half is distributed amoung the collaborators. You can check out some forums there to see how money distribution is posted and discussed for fairness.

Cool, huh? No studios, no bullsh*t. Just fun and original film making.

Morgan M Morgansen's Date with Destiny was shown at the 2010 Sundance Festival and was one of first collaborations to come out of hitREcord.org.

Not Exactly What I Expected to be Made in France

Also, Blue robot is a lying bastard. You don't have me fooled, Blue.

空中少爺鬧爆惡乘客 跳機劈炮

I think this title is pretty self-explanatory, but for you slower folks this is in relation to Steven Slater, Jet Blue flight attendant extraordinaire. But the focus here is really the manner in which this Chinese station is reporting the story. Best 3D storytelling this side of Pixar.

(Props to my boy Pete for finding this gem).

HALO - Atari 2600 style

This is a brilliant idea, transforming the Master Chief - the poster child for modern, cinematic, exquisitely-rendered, 3d gaming - into the genderless ambulatory kitchen appliance-esque characters of my 8-bit childhood. What is new, becomes old (school).

(Props to Shane for finding this one.)

Thank you Lady Gaga for making it possible...

...for people to cover your songs. Most can't perform as well as you dear Lady, but Jesse Ferguson may have done it, dare I say, better?