What's That Weird Hand Dance Video? Meet Irish Dancers Cleary & Harding.

This wacky and mesmerizing video has been rapidly climbing the viral charts since its debut on YouTube four months ago. A strange song accompanies a man and a woman at a table in front of an oddly decorated wall engaging in a choreographed 'hand dance.'




What is it? Who are these people? If these questions have plagued you like they did me, read on.

  

It turns out that this video, We Speak No Americano, is from Up & Over It, self-described as "Irish Dance for the Post-pop generation." A collaboration between Suzanne Cleary, Peter Harding and Jonny Reed, Up & Over It aims to stretch the concept of Irish Dance to its limits.

 

The duo spent four years with Riverdance, after which they toured with Magic of the Dance where they were quickly appointed artistic directors. They now perform as Up & Over It for live audiences and has created a series of videos of their performances as well as some multimedia films produced by Puck Productions.

Here's a few more of their videos for you.

Cleary & Harding live in Cardiff 2010, Music: Frankmusik - 3 Little Words:




A multimedia production for Up & Over It Spring 2010:




Here's a reel of behind the scenes, outakes and 'bloopers' if you will. Compiled by Johnny reel they call it their "Best Bits" and it really endears you to Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding:




Up & Over It

The Hi-Can. A High Fidelity Canopy Multimedia Bed.

The Hi-Can (short for High Fidelity Canopy bed) is another one of those modern decadent hedonistic multimedia beds we've been seeing more and more of these days.



This particular bed was designed by Italian designer Eduardo Carlino for Hi-Interiors, a spin-off from design company Detamobili.



There's not much the bed lacks, except maybe for a built in espresso maker.



The bed has blinds that can enclose around you created by Somfy, a state of the art sound system by JVC, reading lights, a built in PC by Microsoft, and a full multimedia complement with game and entertainment console (XBox 360) connected to a projector so you can enjoy hi-definition images, games and movies on the screen that slides up and down at the foot of the bed.



The bed itself, mattress and mechanics is said to be one of the finest and are made by Nottinblu. The bed does adjust (of course, how else could you sit up to keep the popcorn from getting in the sheets?) and all can be controlled by one remote that can be customized to control other appliances in your home as well.

 

And, the Hi-Can bed is available in eight different colors:


 Price: €42,000 euros or $62,349.00 USD and that doesn't include, tax, shipping or installation. To order your own hi can bed, go here.

 


Other luxury multimedia beds: •The Yoo Pod, modern multimedia bed. •Karim Rashid's Exclusive Shere bed for Hollandia

New Narrative Style of Online Documentaries

Announcing the launch of Minimovies.org, a site showcasing unique online documentaries brought to you by The Submarine Channel.

About Minimovies:
A Minimovie is an episodic documentary consisting of 8 to 10 episodes. Episodes are 7 to 10 minutes each. Put together, they form a self-contained story. With MiniMovies SubmarineChannel explores a new narrative and visual style of documentary filmmaking. You can watch the Minimovies here or simply download them to your digital device of choice.

"A Second Life", one of the movies you can view and/or download:
Synopsis:
In January 2007, a man named Molotov Alva disappeared from his California home. Recently, a series of seven video dispatches by a Traveler of the same name have appeared within a popular online world called Second Life. Filmmaker Douglas Gayeton put these video dispatches together into a documentary of seven episodes.

Director:
Douglas Gayeton, director
Douglas Gayeton wrote and directed, together with William Gibson, 'Johnny Mnemonic', the first interactive cd-rom based movie, for Sony Imagesoft. His digital animated series 'Delta State', was named best animated TV series of the year at the 2004 Annecy Film Festival. Gayeton has also created or designed online social networks for such clients as AOL, MSN, Vivendi and Napster.


above: A still from A Second Life



Just launched, minimovies.org has only two movies up right now. But more will be available soon. Below is just some of what's coming:



So be sure to bookmark www.minimovies.org and you can view (or upload, or embed or e-mail) original, creative episodic documentaries. Yet another wonderful creative avenue available to you through the internet.

Inspiration (or ways to avoid working all day long)

As you all know, there are a million impressive interactive sites out there.
Rather than waste your precious time searching, bookmarking, e-mailing to friends, and so forth, I wasted my time for you.

These sites are not only beautifully designed but also many go on and on, so deep, that you could literally spend your entire day clicking and watching, watching and clicking.

If you're doing actual work today and haven't the time to f@#! off, be sure to bookmark this and come back to these. They are worth it, trust me.

The most intense and mind-blowing of these is Nobody Here.

Fancy yourself the next Jackson Pollock? Okay, then start here.

You can watch a collection of fabulous films that all take place in an elevator, with a wonderful interactive interface called Elevator Moods right here.

Or watch the world go by right here

Love animals? here's a beautifully designed site that doubles as a 2007 calendar.

Okay Dave. A very talented portfolio center grad who now works for Frog design in NY has a both moving and funny site right here.

Lit Fuse design (two guys in seattle) have created a fun interactive site with barbie dolls and GI joes that shocases their talents. Check it out here.

Wanna see where Subservient Chicken got their inspiration? That'd be right here. And yes, this site was first.

Don't feel like inspiration, but mindless entertainment? Or you're unemployed, stoned and bored? then check out The Boohbah Zone here.