OK Go does it again… or… record labels, embeddability, cool videos, and a bit of life in this blog

So I have access to the tubes of the internet again. which means this blog may still have a bit of life left in it… for anybody still reading out there. no guarantees though… working in retail continues to kick my ass. Anyway, as you may know, I’m a pretty big fan of OK Go… and I’m not going to lie – what first sold me was the vector image of an early-model Volvo 240 on the cover of their album (conveniently titled OK Go). I quickly fell in love with “Get over it” which remains one of my favorite songs to this day. So I’m always intrigued when they come out with new stuff. And they’ve recently been blowing up in popularity with their quirky and fun videos… their newest single, This Too Shall Pass, already has well over 6 million views since its upload a week ago. Cool.

Whats not so cool is some of the hubbub surrounding record label rights, embeddability (is that a word yet?), and the way creativity is being handled. Check out more at Gizmodo, who have reprinted lead singer Damian Kulash’s open letter to fans regarding the issues. Interesting.

And for more interesting reading, Gizmodo has an awesome interview with Kulash here.

MCA, Cancer, The Beastie Boys, and how social media is changing the news

Yesterday, The Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch and Adam Horovitz  (more commonly known MCA and Ad Rock) put up a YouTube video as a splash page to the Beastie Boys homepage basically announcing that MCA has cancer of the parotid gland and a lymph node and they would be postponing tour dates and their much-anticipated upcoming new album release.

Fortunately, they didn’t seem all that concerned, so hopefully all will work out well. It’s interesting to see YouTube replacing the traditional press release. The Beastie Boys release their message via YouTube, and the news outlets, including giants like the New York Times, are writing articles entirely based from the video. (NTY article) It’s a unique format in that it offers both information (assuming the creator provides it), and quotes that one can’t extract from a traditional press release. The reporters can comment on mood, atmosphere, setting, and tone, all of which don’t exist in a normal press release. Interesting to see, and certainly speaks volumes for the validity of (at least some) social media outlets.

And as expected, as soon as the news broke, MCA’s Wiki Page was ammended like clockwork.

On a side note I’m amused by the NTY article referring to the guys as Mr. Yauch and Mr. Horovitz. makes me chuckle a bit.

And in other Beastie Boys news, there’s a recently released closer-to-finished version of “Too Many Rappers” featuring Nas. You can check it out here.

And one other Beastie Boys tidbit: Fifteen years have now passed since Spike Jonze directed the video for “Sabatoge” and the Beastie Boys have released a remastered version of Ill Communication, complete with a bonus disc of extra tracks. Definitely worth picking up.

Sour + a bunch of web cams = an incredible music video

In case you haven’t seen this music video for Sour‘s “Hibi No Niero” (tone of everyday) yet, which seems to be popping up everywhere, here it is. Mindblowing orchestration that gives new meaning, new direction, and new possibilities to webcams and social connectivity.

directed by Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura, Masayoshi Nakamura. Amazing. And also pretty stunning to include your existing fanbase in your video.

The Social Media Venn Diagram analyzes your social habits

I’ve been meaning to post this up for a while now… I keep looking at and keep laughing, but somehow forget to post it. I myself am on the fence with most social media outlets (as most who try to keep in touch with me probably know). I understand them, but at the same time, I don’t. They make sense, and the advertising/social networking possibilities are huge. But this beautiful diagram kind of sums up the other side of my feelings.

Available as a t-shirt from Despair.  And I have to say, there’s some beautiful irony in a social networking diagram on a t-shirt.

Need to generate hype? try a flashmob, MC Hammer Style

This “flash mob” is just too beautiful not to share:

The beauty lies in the chosen location of a trendy skinny-jean boutique on Sunset Blvd. and the extreme determined Hammer-esque attitudes of the dancers. Apparently they’d had practice: here’s a video from a few weeks ago on Santa Monica Blvd. in front of the Troubadour.

The interesting thing is that at the end of the Sunset Blvd. video, there’s a URL, http://www.aetv.com/hammertime/, which takes you to the splash page for Hammer’s new reality TV show, where, among other things, this video is embedded on the site.

I have to question the true flashmob nature of the video clips above, and I can only begin to guess how big of a hand A&E TV had in the whole process. Oh. and in case you were worried, you can follow Hammer on Twitter! (seriously?)

Regardless, it seems to be a pretty effective way to create hype for your new TV series, and it looks like it’s working.

I mean really… who’s thought about Hammer in the past few years?

When your dog needs social networking

When you’ve maxed out your own social networking abilities and are searching for that next step, you could always move on to your pets. At least that’s the idea behind SnifTag.

From SnifTag:

Monitor your dog’s activity while you’re away. Keep in touch with his friends and yours. Share helpful information and pet tips online. And get connected to your community. It’s hi-tech, it’s hi-style, easy to use, and completely customizable.

An interesting adaptation of social networking that certainly puts technology to an interesting use. The remote monitoring could be very useful for some… and I can see the potential intrigue in an online social networking site, but at the same time, should you really be “poking” other peoples’ dogs?