Why Not Hand Over A Shelter To Hermit Crabs?

One of the coolest uses of 3d printing I've seen so far, artist Aki Inomata was inspired by her pet hermit crab to embark on a journey to take advantage of the crustaceans built in competitive side to claim ever larger shells. The minimalist video (Including having no audio) chronicles the creation of a 'Kingdom Shell,' in 3D to placing the finished, translucent product in the crabs tank, and the inevitable take over.

Considering all the previous applications we've seen for 3D printing technology, this idea was truly born from Inomata's whimsical love for her unlikely pet, and her need to indulge it's primal instincts. Now we need a proper sequel to Shadow Of The Colossus to see this moving city in action.

29

Created by Vimeo user Sethnotshep, 29 is a chronicle of one man's transition out of his 20's, created by capturing a few seconds of video every day over the course of an entire year. Memorable moments, visuals and experiences over the course of a glorious 365 days, set to the music of LCD Soundsystem's very relevant track, All My Friends. After watching this a few times I'm nearly inclined to embark on a similar journey myself when the time comes. Lovely.

Dead Space: Chasm To Death is Live Action Awesomeness

The original Dead Space is by far one of my favorite original IPs from this generation. Not only did it provide a sense of horror that I originally thought the Alien franchise could provide, but it also provided some of the best third-person action out of any title up to that point. While the series may have deviated a bit from it's roots, I still hold a lot of respect for what it did for the survival-horror genre in video games.

This bad ass live action short does a pretty damn good job at recreating the sense of fear that the original created while putting a few original twists into the picture. I actually found it super cool to be able to see Isaac's eyes through his helmet, it somehow created a new level of intensity that the original game did not. I'd love to see more love-action shorts of this caliber in the future, it gives a quick snippet of what a game would be like in movie form without going off on a two hour unnecessary tangent (*cough*Resident Evil*cough*).

DIY Bullet time : GoPro Style

Created by Marc Donahue, this amazing GoPro rig uses a few dozen cameras to simulate the effect made famous by the Wachowski's Matrix trilogy, at a faction of the price. Despite some slightly dampened fidelity in image transitions due to shutter speed and the inherently fish eye nature of the lens, this video turned out pretty damn amazing consider it was an amateur effort.

Shaping History, Shaping Tomorrow

It plays a bit like a tourism commercial, but you know what?  I'm sold.  I want to go to Japan.  From the food to the culture, this awesome short highlights just a few things the country has to offer.  Like one Vimeo commenter so astutely put it, it really captures both the modern and traditional side of Japan, and  the meshing of both Western and Eastern influences.

Firefly

It's a pretty simple concept: a dude and his illuminated skateboard travel all around an urban landscape.  What caught my eye (and ear) was the effects and the music.  There's something hypnotizing about this that just makes me want to put it on loop.  I loved the cinematography and understated futuristic look of it all.  Check out the behind the scenes footage here!

Random Collisions

On a Friday, the end of week (for a lot of us, anyway), we just need to chill out.  I don't know about you, but I'm at work for a few more hours, and unfortunately have no access to beer.  So, our second best bet is a wonderful, chill, and gorgeous video compilation.  Our normal content doesn't really gear towards nature videos, but this... This was an exception.  Filmed in Australia, this compilation features a variety of landscapes, insects, and animals.  Perhaps I was inspired by our recent viewing of Ang Le's visually stunning Life Of Pi, and it's amazing cinematography.  Enjoy, and happy weekend!

Larry David's Thanksgiving Special

It's Thanksgiving! I love the idea of families gathering, giving thanks for the things they have before belittling each other over turkey and pumpkin pie. That's why I chose to feature this short. Written by (& staring) Larry David (The man behind HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm), the short has Larry reminiscing about his Thanksgiving in Brooklyn and proves that you can choose friends but families are something you must stick with no matter the situation. Eat your heart out Charlie Brown! I wish you all a happy thanksgiving and try and survive Black Friday.

Mythbuster Adam Savage's Doc Ock Costume For Patton Oswalt

Halloween may have been yesterday, but one of the greatest stories from the holiday came out within the last day. Patton Oswalt, comedian and all around nerd, tweeted that his daughter wanted a costume to match her Spider-Girl costume. The mighty-helpful Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame answered the Bat signal and created an awesomely ingenious rendition of Doctor Octopus (The Spiderman 2 edition).

The 'sentient' arms are made of wraps of durable, lightweight armature wire covered in foam, resulting in easy posable arms. On a plus note, the weight of the foam arms were placed onto the costume wearer's shoulders rather than the waist and back to prevent a Bane-like back breaking scenario. Adam makes costume making look a little too damn easy. Also, how much for that Spirited Away 'No Face' in the background?

Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine

We all waste energy & electricity, but the Polish have created a machine that does the job for us (The idea amused me greatly!). The "Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine" is a rope and pulley mechanism which moves an elevator continuously between the 1st and 2nd floor of a building in a infinite loop. The number of kilojoules are printed out straight into a wastepaper bin. This piece of art is truly a waste of time, and represents how much energy we waste and how little we care. Or don't care. The results are fascinating so give the short video a watch and maybe turn off your plugs when you leave the room!

You Should Read - The Massive

What does it mean to be an environmentalist after the world’s already ended? This is the question that Brian Wood's 2012 comic, 'The Massive' presents. The story revolves around the environmental action trawler Kapital, which is scouring the earth’s oceans for it's missing sister ship: The Massive, while struggling to redefine its core mission.

I've been reading Brian Wood's masterfully crafted comic since it's debut, and whilst the story may not be for everyone it's a book I would highly recommend because of it's amazing art, original story and atmosphere. Linked above is the official animated comic adaptation released by Dark Horse, and part two can be watched after the break. They're a great taste of what the comic is about, but I'd still highly recommend tracking down the back issues and giving it a proper read.

Retro Wreck-It Ralph Arcade Game Ad Is VHS-tastic!

This year has had a number of good (and a ton of awful) movies, but as we head towards the end of the year we shouldn't forget another highly anticipated film, Wreck-It Ralph. The mashup film broke the mold of typical Disney movies by incorporating actual villains and mascots from the videogame world, an honest effort to get in touch with current generations.

Since it's premiere at E3 (Which blew our minds) we've been eagerly anticipating Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, which is just a few weeks from release..I couldn't be more excited. The film looks like fun and unlike other films released by the Mouse this year it seems to be doing a fantastic job at generating a viral presence online. This little promo is a true flashback to a retro 1980's style commercial, promoting the Fix It Felix Jr arcade game. Check it out!

'Gallagher in Slow Motion' Is Everything You'd Expect It To Be

Nothing is really cooler than seeing things in slow-motion, especially when using something like the Phantom Miro at over 1,000 FPS. Mix in famous comedian Gallagher and you've got one of the best videos you've probably seen in a while. You got to admit, in a strange way, seeing chunks of watermelon mixed with glitter is rather beautiful. Beautiful or not, I wouldn't sit in front of it with my mouth wide open waiting for thousands of pieces of glitter to enter my esophagus.

#Socialmedia

Reposting this video on this blog is pretty ironic!. #Socialmedia by ABOVE is a look at the current state of society and how we, as a people, have started to rely on social media for everything. This painting was executed at the GALORE festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. The painting is a time-lapse composed of over 9,000 photos and painted over a 5-day period by a person who doesn't use (and completely detests) social media. Great concept & a creative idea with a very true message; have we all become reliant on social media or are the people who think like that behind on the times? It's a very subjective answer for an interesting video I expect you all, in irony, to share via Facebook.

INFOGRAPHICS OF THE FUTURE

I just came across this interested infographic/interactive design project. The deleted city is the joint effort of Richard Vijgen and The Archive Team, a full fledged archeological research concerning the now defunct Yahoo website service, Geocities.  This kind of thing, this boundary breaking- cross discipline project is truly an amazing gem, a culmination of the internet phenomenon. These guys took a 650 gigabyte file encompassing all of Geocities and transformed it into a minimalist map with an easy to use interface. Internet archaeology at its finest, and that Beck midi cover sure spiced things up.

Blow Job By Tadao Cern

Simplicity is truly a beautiful thing, especially when it comes to art. Just take a half dozen or so females, an air gun, and a high speed camera and the result is nothing short of mind (face) blowing. These shots, which probably only took a few seconds each spawned this video, and a total of 100 amazing portraits extracted from the stills, which you can find on Tadao Cern's Facebook. I get the feeling that I'll be having nightmares based off this videos thumbnail for the weeks to come.

MCBESS FOR ROTRING

Matt Bessudo's talent will probably come as no surprise for our regular readers, as we've posted a fair share of his previous works and more recent collaborations here on AwesomeRobo over the last year or so.

This time around, Mcbess teams up with German technical drawing-instrument makers Rotring, sharing a little on his creative process and showing us what he does best; Absolutely incredible black and white illustrations rendered in his signature style.The only downside of this video though, is that is damn too short. Enjoy!

SOLIPSIST

Trippy, mesmerizing, and somewhat disturbing... but in a good way. This excellent experimental film was created via the power of Kickstarter, and has already won some critical acclaim for its incredible visuals. The best part about this short is that, according to Huang, the short barely uses any special effects, or as he put it, "99% Practical effects!"

Check out the making of video by Andrew Huang (The director) which goes into detail about the creative process after the break!

TALENT KNOWS NO RESTRICTIONS

Niels Meulman is a graffiti artist from the Netherlands, showing off what can you do with a bucket of water, a broom, and talent. There's a simple beauty to his reliance on the bare minimum to create beautiful type. Kudos to Joia for sharing this.

SKIFCHA : Mysterious Russian Hipster cat

I just discovered Skifcha recently..A mysterious Russian cat who hides behind hipster paper glasses and appears to enjoy dubstep, as well as lurking Eastern European country sides in a most mysterious fasion. The cat has one hell of a following overseas, with its most recent video getting close to 900,000 views in just 2 days. Why does Skifcha need to hide her identity? We're going to be keeping a close eye on this cat on its Facebook page.