Researchers at MIT’s senseable city lab have been working on a project named flyfire, which aims to explore 3D display systems composed of self-organizing mini helicopters. the project is being worked on in collaboration with the aerospace robotics and embedded systems laboratory with the intent to transform any space into a ‘highly immersive and interactive display environment.’ the mini helicopters are each outfitted with small LEDs making them each a single element of the larger display, much like a pixel on a screen. Based on specific inputs, the helicopters adjust their position forming a three-dimensional elastic display that can be used just like a standard flat pixilated display. the helicopters can be still be arranged on a single plan or programmed to spread out over 3 axis. they also can be engaged during transitions to create animation like effects. Scooped (& totally plagiarized) from designboom. Vid here.

After 31 days of complete darkness, on January 8th Tropicana and BBDO Toronto brought in the sun to the 3,500 residents of Inuvik in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The event was the kick-off of Tropicana's “Brighter Mornings for Brighter Days” campaign and Arctic Sun is the documentary-style broadcast spot showcasing the event. Arctic Sun is directed by Radke's Samir Mallal, who is also a acclaimed documentary filmmaker. His film Nollywood Babylon, which he wrote, directed and produced along with Ben Addelman, was nominated for the 2009 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
I digress. I love this spot. I think it's really beautiful and I actually got a little misty the first time I watched it (I am a bit overtired). Full credits and a selection of stills are here.

We Have Band's Divisive is the first official music video created by Jul & Mat. Eight months ago I posted their amazing unofficial video for Metronomy (it's great. Watch it). Congrats to Jul & Mat for their first official music video gig!

Directorial collective Pleix have launched a new short film, titled Piu, and a new blog (Piu is posted on the blog).

Pleix on “Piu”:
The idea came from a Christmas card we designed for our French production company warm&fuzzy a year ago. The card showed the one of warm&fuzzy’s logo characters, a bird, looking out a Christmas stocking. To expand on this creative concept, we thought it would be fun to do a simple and playful film with birds popping out of socks, cups, boots, etc... whistling at each other and gradually composing a complex track. “Piu” is the final product.

Pleix on their new blog:
We realized that most of the people knew our personal work and not the commercial side of Pleix. So we decided to build a bridge between our personal films and the rest of the work we do - commercials, print, design, installations and exhibitions. On some jobs some the process of creating them can be as interesting as the final result, so we also added some making ofs and a few behind the scenes pictures. Our goal with the blog is for it to be like a newsletter and keep people up to date with whatever we are working on. We hope you like it and visit often.
pleix.blogspot.com

Yep, a font made out of human skin and clothes pins. Not sure how I feel about this - I think a little grossed out and that some people have a little too much time on their hands. Yep, it's end of day & glossy is grumpy (and it's only Tuesday - gasp). Found via Notcot.

Here's some more adorable character design from Psyop for Nurofen via Mother London. I love how they've personified a headache with that pesky little bird & love the Nurophen hero (could use him right now actually as I was hanging with my friend Dalwhinnie last night). Full credits.

Okay, I have to admit it - I'm not a sports fan. I watched a total of five minutes of the Canada/US hockey game last night. I might have watched more if Team Canada would have played a little better (sorry, calling it as I see it). Anyway, here's a funny spot for Sport Chek, directed by Holiday Films' Wayne Craig via Bos, Toronto. Would be funnier if our guys played better - but still funny. Go team! (cough) Full credits are here.

If you could freeze the exact moment when a five-car pile up happened, what would you see? That's the concept behind the interactive experience at autotopsy.ca and crash-and-burn.com, created by Toronto-based interactive studio Jam3 for the gritty new Showcase series, Cra$h and Burn.

The site challenges visitors to play the part of forensic crash investigator Jimmy Burn, the lead character in the TV show, in order to unravel the story behind a multi-vehicle pile up. Part game, part narrative experiment, the visually stunning site offers a host of interactive video content alongside character case studies that provide hints and red herrings alike.

A video outlining the features of the site is here and a full press release, with full credits, is posted here.

Here's a new campaign for Durex made entirely of typefaces by German illustrator/designer Andrej Krahne. I take it they've been translated from German as there are some typos like "satisfield".

Nice video installations by Jennifer West for Calvin Klein's Spring 2010 collection. More info on NOTCOT.

Here's the explicit version (like I'd post the PG one) of Ben Harper's Lay There and Hate Me directed by Zoo Films' James Frost with VFX by The Mill. Sexier than the opening credits for a Bond film, no? Frost says it's a bit of a homage to Robert Brownjohn - more from Frost, full credits and a selection of stills are here. As I've mention before on glossy, James is also the director of the amazing Radiohead House of Cards video.

Check out Carson Ting's, AKA Chairman Ting, digital graffiti art performance at the Salt Building inside the Athlete's Village at the 2010 Olympic Games. Carson is also an art director at Rethink and he did the super cute illustrations that are on Lollipop's website.

Here are three great posters created for Queen Bee Waxing by Hanlon Worldwide Industries, Los Angeles. Queen Bee was looking for something to put on the walls of three waxing rooms in the salon that would be humorous conversation starters. When the work was presented, the laughing didn’t stop for five minutes. Scooped from Communication Arts (where there is some more info).

I love this spot created for Bombardier (a Canadian company that makes airplanes - among other things) which I caught during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games (which I thought were quite a bore). Agency is Taxi. Like it? Check out this other amazing Bombarier spot. For more info on the Olympic spot, there's an article in today's Marketing Daily.

Samsung is always a proud sponsor of the Olympics and to celebrate the 2010 games, the Toronto office of Cheil Worldwide created two visually driven spots - one featuring Jarome Iginla and the other featuring which features Hayley Wickenheiseter which has oddly been blocked on YouTube by the International Olympic Committee (odd). Both spots were completely produced in Canada by Canadian talent, which is nice to see as the games are here in Canada. Thanks to Noreen for the links.

The more I watch this beautiful new Nike spot the more I like it. Love the images, love the flow, love the music. I've watched it five times now - no joke and I'm actually having a really freakin' busy day. Agency is W+K Portland, it's directed by Smuggler's Brian Beletic with visual effects by MassMarket. Just beautiful. Full credits.

Because this Sunday is Valentine's Day, I thought I should re-post this amazing spot created by Psyop in 2008. Happy Valentine's Day, based on O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi", was headed up by Psyop's Todd Mueller and Jon Saunders and features the song "Love in My Pocket" by VHS or BETA. So sweet, so bloody. I love it. Full credits are posted here.

Also with the thought of all things Valentine's and sweet, I'm posting this lollipop art created by Brooklyn-based artist Julia Chiang. Chiang uses Ring Pops for her work - a ring-shaped lollipop which you can wear on your finger. View images and the full story on Creative Review's blog.

Stunning new Sprite spot directed by Ben Steiger Levine (love him - check out more of his amazing work at aWHITELABELproduct) for Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York with vfx by MassMarket (man they've been busy lately). The spot features Hip Hop/R&B/Rap artist Drake and utilizes a mix of live action, animatronics and visual effects. Full credits are posted here.

Wow. Love this new video created by Click3x's Mark Szumski for Rihanna's Rude Boy. Love the 80's yet modern feel. And man she's hot. Kisses to Trevor for the link.

Here's another spot for Knorr Sidekicks featuring the adorable Salty character. Agency is DDB Toronto and it's directed by Sons and Daughters' David Hicks with VFX by AXYZ. Full credits are here. The Salty character was created by Toronto-based Bigshot Toyworks. Want a Salty or your own? You can get a free Salty when you purchase three packages of Knorr Sidekicks - info here. Still want more Salty? Become a fan on Facebook or follow him on twitter.

Okay, this spot for Old Spice has been making the rounds for about a week now - but man it's freakin' funny and the vfx transitions are so good. I've watched it about five times in the past week, just cuz it cracks me up every time. Agency is W+K Portland and it's directed by Tom Kuntz with vfx by The Mill.

Here's a new Olympic sport...um, no. But it is a pretty cool vid for Samsung - I'm guessing for their Olympic sponsorship. Looks like it was fun to make. Created by The Viral Factory. Thanks to Freddy for sending my way.

Is it just me, or is this Swedish website were you can virutally milk a cow utterly (pun intended) gross? Though I have to admit, I milked until the time ran out. Have no idea what the pop-up message said, as I don't speak Swedish. Thanks to my favourite Swede, that's you Miss Bratt, for sending my way.

There's something about taxidermy-like animals in TV commercial that kills me - especially when they are doing people stuff (ya, "stuff" - that was eloquent). These three commercials for Denny's, created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, directed by Kinka Usher and edited by Arcade, kill me. The three spots are Chicken Warning, Chickens Across America (my fav - love the silence of the chicken in space) and Chicken Birthday. Full credits are here.

I love anything that reminds me of a kaleidoscope or a spirograph, so of course I'm digging this new vid from Acid Washed for their song Snake created by Anthony Burrill, Jack Featherstone and Paul Plowman. It's also refreshing to post a non-super bowl related post (yay!) and I love the song too. Full credits and a selection of stills are here.

My favourite spot of the Super Bowl is Parisian Love Story for Google created by 1stAveMachine's Aaron Duffy via Google Creative Lab. So simple. So good (always the case). Great work Aaron xo.

According to USA Today's Ad Meter, the Snickers spot, via BBDO New York, starring Betty White was the best spot of the Super Bowl. It was directed by MJZ's Craig Gillespie with visual effects by MassMarket. Full credits.
My friends at MassMarket also did VFX on a few other Super Bowl spots including Emerald Nuts, Cars.com and Vizio, featuring Beyonce and edited by Paul Martinez at Arcade Edit.

AdVerve released their 17th podcast today - this one dedicated to PR for advertising and is full of great tips for what to do and not what to do. Thanks to Angela for giving glossy (me - Shannon Stephaniuk) a shout out. xx

It's my birthday. I love my birthday - probably because I love when things are all about me (I admit it). The other reason is because when I was little my mom used to put on killer BD parties - KILLER. So to this day I always get excited in anticipation of my birthday. Anyway, thanks to Sean at Rooster for sending this amazing link my way (also all about me - my pic in there). And, I don't mind at all that it's a site promoting Sweden's TV tax. Nice creative.

My friends over at AdLand have posted a great cheat sheet for this year's Super Bowl ads. AdLand also has an archive of 38 years of Super Bowl spots (wow). Kisses to Jane & Ask.

There are three commercials made for this year's Super Bowl that won't be aired - they've been banned. The first is this spot for ManCrunch - so many gay-hater comments on YouTube (not that I'm surprised, but shame on those people). And I LOVE this spot for KGB. And finally, this Go Daddy spot is banned too. Seems there shall be no reference to homosexuality or heads up asses during the Super Bowl. Just a lot of men running around in really tight pants slapping each other on the ass. Story scooped from The Denver Egotist.

Congratulations to director Joachim Back for having his short film, The New Tenants, nominated for an Oscar. More info and view the trailer here - and Vincent D'Onofrio is in it (LOVE). Back is repped by Partners Film in Canada.

To and support The Heart Truth, Blacklist's Pistachios have created these two very cute spots for Diet Coke via W+K Portland. Fit and Summit begin airing tonight during American Idol. Full credits are here.

I love Lego! Fashion Week is probably the last place you'd expect to find a Lego-based project, but to raise money for charity, four unique Lego pieces, each created by a leading fashion designer, will be auctioned during London Fashion Week later this month. See full story on Creative Review's blog.

If you are in Toronto over the next ten days, I urge you to go see Invisible City - a National Film Board of Canada, Industry Pictures and Shine Films’ award-winning documentary directed by Oscar nominee Hubert Davis. Invisible City (view trailer) won the Best Canadian Feature award at the 2009 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. The film traces three years in the challenging lives of two teenage boys living in Canada’s largest social housing project, Regent Park in Toronto.

Royal Cinema
608 College St. West, Toronto
416-534-5252

Friday, February 5 at 7 pm
Saturday, February 6 at 4:30 pm and 7 pm
Monday, February 8 at 7 pm
Tuesday, February 9 at 7 pm
Wednesday, February 10 at 7 pm
Thursday, February 11 at 9:15 pm

Gearing up for the ads for the big game, Creativity has made a list of what they think are the top 20 Super Bowl ads of all time.