Check out this amazing animation by the artist BLU which is painted exclusively on public walls. See his other videos here (one my favorites is Loop which he did on the Tate Modern in London).

The title, “Green Porno” is shocking but the reality is probably no less bizarre than what you first imagined. A series of eight short films depicting the strange and amazing sexual practices of insects, Green Porno was written, co-directed and stars Isabella Rossellini. It was created for the Sundance Institute and premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival but was made to be viewed primarily on mobile phones.

Since the films have been pulled from YouTube “due to a copyright claim by the Sundance Channel”, I’m posting the AP story featuring clips and an interview with Rossellini below. However you can see all eight films on the Sundance website.

If anthropologists from the distant future took a look at the objects we’ve left behind, what conclusions would they come to? KQED’s QUEST series explores this idea with a funny and revealing take on the “future” analysis of plastic water bottles. What does our use of these objects say about us and our society?

Special thanks to Morgan M. for the tip!

Now that the democractic presidential contest seems to be winding down (we hope), progressive organizations like Moveon.org are focusing their efforts against McCain. Their latest venture is the Bush vs. McCain Challenge which uses an amusing interactive game to link the two men and their policies in the player’s mind. Ofcourse it does get a bit ridiculous by the time you get to the McCain-Carrot Faceoff…
Here’s the partner video created by Progressive Media USA:

Have you ever had trouble explaining RSS feeds to your parents or Wikis to your boss? Thanks to a simple idea and smart marketing, the folks at Commoncraft.com have made this problem their bread and butter. Using only paper cut-outs and a video camera, they built a following by making complex concepts easier to understand. And with clients like Google and PR Web, Common Craft’s short explanatory web videos will only continue to expand. Right now they offer free videos for the public like “Social Networking in Plain English” and “Twitter in Plain English” on The Common Craft Show. Higher resolution and improved versions of their videos are also available for purchase at The Common Craft Store. Below is “Podcasting in Plain English” for your viewing enjoyment:

We all know by now that drastically reducing carbon dioxide emissions would be good for the planet, but many of us also wonder how strict environmental policies could effect the economy. Is regulation aimed at protecting future generations worth it if people will suffer now because of reduced growth?

Enter Yale Professor Robert Repetto who has put together an interactive website that calculates the costs of climate change (Treehugger.com is featuring an great post about his work today). The site, See For Yourself, is unique because it allows you to input your own assumptions about the economic impact of policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Then you can form your opinion based on the final calculations. Hint: As the site states, “Assumptions matter. Even under worst case assumptions the economy would continue to grow.”

Two years ago, a documentary filmmaker named Jehane Noujaim won $100,000 in seed money and support at the TED conference to create a one-day, global, cross-cultural film festival. This May 10th, Pangea Day will present 24 short films selected from around the world for their ability to foster cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. Live broadcasts of the event will take place simultaneously in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro with content streamed online, featured on network television and broadcast on cable channels like Current TV.

Judging by other global online extravaganzas like Live Earth, this event will be more of a symbolic gesture of solidarity than the real deal. But art has the power to transform and as long as product placement is minimal and celebrity hosts reign in their desire to self-congratulate, Pangea Day will be a good start towards better global dialogue.

Over the course of his campaign, Obama has managed to capture the attention of the online world through official and unofficial viral videos, articles and photos (he’s definitelyshown up on our blog quite a few times). Last month the campaign struck internet gold again by teaming up with Moveon.org to create the “Obama in 30 Seconds” video ad competition. After over 1,000 submissions and 4.7 million votes, 15 finalists are now being featured on the website for the last round of voting. The winning ad will appear on national television.

Here are some that I particularly liked, starting with the compelling ad by John Duerler and Blake Adams that depicts a life-long republican who is voting for Obama:

Here’s one with great production quality by More Dust Than Digital out of Seattle:

And a fun and creative animation by Reggie Schickel:

These days book authors are turning more and more to web video and social-networking to promote their work. The result is often a hit-or-miss encounter between “old” and “new” media but sometimes this collaboration creates wonderful new art. Take for example this little gem of a video inspired by the new book I Was Told There’d Be Cake, a collection of essays written by Sloane Crosley. While brainstorming for engaging ways to promote her book, Crosley decided to create dioramas centered around three of her essays and teamed up with Milk Products Media to make it come alive.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley from Book Videos on Vimeo.

Here’s the first in a series of three companion videos that make up “Diary of a Diorama”, a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating the film (with narration by Crosley):

Diary of a Diorama: Smell This from Book Videos on Vimeo.

I’m a big fan of the MediaRights e-newsletter created by New York-based Arts Engine and these days I’m particularly excited about their Media That Matters Film Festival which will be coming out with a new batch of short films this June. Until then, you can view last year’s winners on their YouTube site which is ranked the #8 all-time most viewed non-profit channel.

To get you started, check out the winner of the 2007 media literacy award, “POPaganda: The Art and Subversion of Ron English” about an artist who challenges capitalist messages by posting alternative billboards: