Best Superbowl Commercial: GM Robot

Amidst a sea of lame Super Bowl commercials, the GM robot stands out. I was watching the Super Bowl in a room full of beer-guzzling guys who fell silent at the sight of this lonely metal fella -- he just struck a chord with everyone.

Like the Bud and Geiko commercials of Super Bowls past, GM created a character that people could relate to, a shiny yellow robot who embodies fear and vulnerability. Though I'm a sucker for suicidal robots, my favorite part of this commercial is when the GM bot finds work as one of those street-side sign wavers. Can you imagine seeing a robot hanging out in front of your local condo development?

Inside Broadcast

By combining paper animation with cut and captured video stills, this short by Daily Reel favorite Leo Bridle crafts a visually complex world.

Apple iPhone

It may only be two and a half inches wide and a half and inch thick, but the new Mac phone has the entire tech world creaming their pants. With no buttons or click wheels, the sleek black design does the one thing that consumers have been waiting for: combine their entire music library music, cell phone, internet, personal organizer, and camera to create one end-all-be-all device.

Some of the coveted device's patented features include multi-touch support, a sensor that turns off the screen when it's close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, WiFi, and 4GB or 8 GB of storage. Apple quotes 5 hours of battery life for talk or video and a full 16 hours in music mode.

As some one who relies religiously on Mac technology, has owned an iPod since its initial release, and whose job it is to watch hundreds of videos a day, I think my future husband may have some competition in the upper-right ventricle of my little techie heart.

15th Century Email

Absurdly funny, the 15th Century Email is written with steadfast romanticism that loses its charm when composed on a 20th Century laptop.
Here is one of my Top Ten finds, check out The Daily Reel for more of my recent "need to watch" picks.

Picks from 2006

I know it’s a little late to be rapping up last year. But I have been so focused on making this one even better, that I am just getting to my retrospects now.

For the best in short film and online content, check out my Editor’s Picks on The Daily Reel.

I also did a write up on a highly-visual podcast series (Best of Squigglebooth) which you can find on Ticklebooth, a collaborative online video blogsite that I contribute to.

Galacticast - Superman I.V

Galacticast is a weekly web series that claims to parody all the worlds of geek-dom. The show's creators and stars, Rudy Jahchan and Casey McKinnon, write, shoot, and edit this larger-then-life web series in their studio apartment. Using a green screen, a camera, and a couple of lights, the sci-fi comedy brings a Lucas-esque quality to the viral video scene.

After launching in May of 2006, Galacticast continues to gain recognition from the vlogosphere for its well-scripted episodes and use of basic effects programs to create a vivid fictional world. In the spirit of Galaxy Quest, the comedy series developed as a mash-up of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comic book, and video-game references into sketch comedy spoofs.

This week’s episode references Superman and the Common People video “Zod Speaks from the Phantom Zone.” Some fans are calling this episode one of Galacticast’s best videos to date; with fellow podcasters (the Ray brothers and the Bui brothers) appearing as talking heads at the beginning of the episode, how could it not be?