Growing up across the river from Detroit in Windsor, I have been able to see Detroit in its highs, and now in it’s lows. Ten years ago Detroit was one of America’s jewels. It was riding high on the economic boom of free spending and gluttonous automobile purchases. All that has changed now, and although I am not old enough to have witnessed the riots of 1967, it seems Detroit is at it’s lowest point ever.

Hoping to help shed light on this plight, Johnny Knoxville and Palladium Boots have teamed together to bring us a documentary about Detroit. It was once the fourth-largest metropolis in America—some have called it the Death of the American Dream. Today, the young people of the Motor City are making it their own DIY paradise where rules are second to passion and creativity. They are creating the new Detroit on their own terms, against real adversity. Knoxville and co put on their Palladium Boots and go out to explore Detroit and the people trying to bring it back.

The Palladium Boot has created a bunch of “Exploration” campaigns, in which Palladium explores and documents hidden and abandoned urban places in search of unique stories. These Explorations are then turned into viral videos that live on their website.

For more information, please visit Palladium Boot Explorations

To touch further on my Torontonian movie love (see The Broken Social Scene Movie), I have come across the trailer for No Heart Feelings. This movie is a coming-of-age tale of what it’s like to be 29 and living near Trinity Bellwoods. Set almost entirely on Dundas St. W, the film is largely improvisational, using non-actors and shooting with a tiny crew and budget. Using an intimate and immediate aesthetic, they created an honest and funny portrait of a generation resisting commitment.

The film debuted at the Calgary International Film Festival in August of 2009 and has gone on to screen in Kingston and Buenos Aires. Unfortunately it was passed up this year by TIFF which will allow it to be released in theatres here starting August 27 at The Royal for a one week run.

For more info, check out their site http://noheartfeelings.com/

Check out CBC’s review below.

Broken Social Scene is one of the greatest Canadian bands to date. That is my opinion and I’m sticking to it. Needless to say, their last album Forgiveness Rock Record is amazing and quite epic. So how do they top that? Well, they come out with This Movie is Broken, the BSS movie.

Director Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo) tells the story of Bruno, who wakes up in bed next to Caroline, his long time crush. But tomorrow she’s off for school in France, and maybe she only granted this miracle as a parting gift for her long time friend. So tonight — tonight is Bruno’s last chance. And tonight, as it happens, Broken Social Scene, her favorite band, is throwing a big outdoor bash. Maybe if Bruno, with the help of his best pal Blake, can score tickets and give Caroline a night to remember, he can keep this miracle alive.

The movie takes place in Toronto and does a good job of portraying the real city. Filmed in July of 2009, the story interweaves throughout the city with images of garbage piled up from the infamous Summer of 2009 Garbage Strike.

The music is phenomenal. According to reviews from Blogto.com, the “set list leaves nothing out.”

“…with a string of crowd favorites spanning the entire performance including original contributions from Feist, Metric, Jason Collett and Stars. The no stops approach to the show certainly must be attributed in part to the filming of this movie, but it also really felt like a thank you to the city that raised them.”

For film screening times and cities click here.

For a full review, check out the great article by BlogTo: The Broken Social Scene movie: a review of This Movie Is Broken.

How to fix a ball mark

How to fix a divot

How to rake a sand trap

Where to leave the rake

Golf etiquette on the green

It was only a matter of time before Hollywood put out the story of facebook as a film. Seeing as its the largest social media site out there with over 500 million users, it was a no brainer. Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich, the film is directed by David Fincher and staring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and Rashida Jones. Should be a very interesting take on the whole story of facebook’s rise to the top. This is one movie I will be looking forward to. Question is, will you share this link on your Social Network? More trailers after the jump.

Check out the official site @ http://www.500millionfriends.com/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The people over at RevShock have created custom code that allows for conversion of Flash files to Javascript/HTML5 on the fly. In the video above, they show how without having to install any plugins or special features, the code will convert your flash so that it is playable on an iPad or iPhone. This will be very handy for us in the industry trying to solve the issue of how we can get our ads viewable across the entire spectrum.

Could this spell the death of flash? I really can’t answer that. This technology really doesn’t replace flash, only allows it to be more accessible. One thing is for certain, it helps the applications that don’t support flash to gain more ground. Its a small step forward in Flash’s inevitable death, but I don’t see it slowing down any time soon. Working in the industry I am starting to see a backlash against Flash, has this started to effect the way you build projects?

Check out more info at http://smokescreen.us/

via Lebowitz.net

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is here and it promises to be a great one! With the advent of broadcasting technology, every single game will be broadcast online, on tv and over the cellular networks (at least here in Canada). With all that television air time comes commercials. Usually the World Cup brings some new and innovative ads. Unless its a Rogers Communications ad, in which case we will see the same shitty commercial over and over from now until Christmas (“…off the plane and on the train, we’re on our way to the FIFA World Cup..”). God they suck! Anyways, I have compiled a list of 10 of my favorite World Cup commercials so far. Which one is your favorite? Please feel free to leave a comment and let us know your favorite.

Puma – Journey of Football

Click here to view the embedded video.

ESPN – One Game Changes Everything

Click here to view the embedded video.

VISA Europe – Football Evolution

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nandos – Ama Visitors

Click here to view the embedded video.

Carlsberg – Team Talk

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nike – Write the Future

Click here to view the embedded video.

MTN – Two World Wars and One World Cup

Click here to view the embedded video.

adidas Original – Star Wars Cantina

Click here to view the embedded video.

Coca-Cola – History of Celebrations

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sony Europe – Superstar

Click here to view the embedded video.

Great concept from the Netherlands on how to handle the FIFA World Cup fan’s attire. Every soccer fan knows the standard celebrator shirt flip, but this time around you can feature your favorite player as well (as long as you’re a Dutch fan). Fantastic idea! I want one.

Advertising School: Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Creatives: Bas van de Poel, Daan van Dam

via The Cool Hunter

Durex Condoms has released a great iPhone app that replicates what it’s like to care for a new born child. By downloading the app a user can impregnate another iphone thus causing the user to have to take care of his baby. The app wil alert and annoy you constantly, just like a new born does. The only way to block this, or prevent it is by getting a link to the condom app through the QR Code on the condom box.

Not only is this a novel app to help guys relate to the duties involved in caring for a baby, but it sells condoms. To avoid hearing the baby crying and having to feed it all the time we will buy the the condoms for the QR code. But most importantly, we will now use them to avoid having to do this in real life.

Credits: Art Director: Nicolai Villads, Peter Ammentorp and interactive designer: Raul Montenegro for the Future Lions 2010 competition organized by digital agency AKQA and Cannes Lions Advertising festival.

via mymodernmet.com

One thing to note is that when setting up 3rd party chat programs like Adium, the settings don’t work the same as for regular @gmail.com domains. Searching for this across the web brought up numerous tutorials and how-to’s, but none ever touched on the settings one must put into Adium for it to work. After the jump are the settings to use. Enjoy!

1. Adium > Preferences.
2. Select the Accounts Tab.
3. Choose your Google Apps for Domain account and select Edit.
4. Select Options Tab
5. Enter the following settings:
   
   Connect Server: talk.google.com
   Resource: Adium
   Port: 5223
   Security: check off Force old-style SSL and Do strict certificate checks
6. Hit OK

And you’re all set. Enjoy using your new Google Apps Chat!