If there is a group of people that should not, under any circumstances, be allowed to discuss (let alone regulate) the mysterious and wonderful world of sex, the Texas Legislature has to be at the top of that list.  The 60 minute documentary The Dildo Diaries tackles the absurdity of Texas’s many ill conceived attempts to regulate the doings and happenings of many a bedroom, and now the film has been edited down into a 11 minute version which you can view right here.

As you might imagine, there’s some NSFW audio visual herein, but it’s certainly worth a looky loo.  After all it features reporter Molly Ivins, and that’s good enough for me. 

Aleix Pitarch directed this stunningly well animated clip for Prefuse 73 (aka Scott Herren) out of Atlanta, and gawdamn! I was completely blown away by this one.  Visually arresting is about the best term for it, as the blend of rotoscoping and CG is just amazingly well done.  Take a gander at ”The End of Biters – International“ from Prefuse 73’s 2003 release ‘One Word Extinguisher’. 

I’m going to break a semi-rule I have about posting people just being ridiculously stupid on tape because frankly, this video is unintentional genius.  The true and sad tale of what happens when your drunk ass fires enough neurons out of sequence to reach the conclusion that robbing a liquor store is actually a really good idea.  Like all good surveillance cam footage, it’s sans sound so I was forced to add what I thought an appropriate soundtrack.  Enjoy. 

While trying to combat underage drinking is about as effective as banning teen masturbation, I will say going after specifically binge drinking is a smart move for a public awareness campaign.  The After Too Many site is chock full of the normal kinds of warnings and statistics you’d expect, but what really set it apart (beyond the Flash design*) were the two ads that can be viewed there.  Kids calmly discussing the stupid (and sometimes horrifying) things they’ll do when blitzed is pretty sobering indeed. Check ‘em both out right here.  That’s some effective PSA work.

*A note to brand and PSA site designers:  If I had my way, site creators that force a fixed-size popup that contains the actual site would be considered criminals and immediately punishable by a raging neck punch.  Cut it out already.

Or make any sense, for that matter.  As AdRants correctly pointed out, these two spots for Virgin Mobile are the kind of work that leads one to think that ad creatives are just horrid hipsters who just sit around getting really, really high thinking up ways to freak out the squares in the flyover states.  Pig Wrestling to sell a phone?  Why not?  How about a taste of Bollywood on crank-laced PCP?  Watch them both right here.  Seriously, that’s just messed up.

Who greenlights this stuff, and how the hell do they convince the clients to sign off on it? 

The consistently kickass site TV in Japan hipped me to this intro for an anime about well, the secret lives of operating systems, I guess.  Think of it as an anime version of Tron, but Bill Gates is the MCP.  Oh, and Bruce Boxleitner isn’t it in, which is why it must be inferior to Tron. Still, it’s pretty awesome. 

The consistently excellent 1up.com has visited the unintentional comedic landfill otherwise known as video game ads on a couple of occasions, and now they’ve thrown PC ads into the mix.  For the non-nerdy, you’ll see nothing more than ads that brutally reinforce already bedrock preconceptions about gamers, while the rest of of us remember how totally effin’ stoked we were about the stuff they were hyping.  Because, you know, we’re dorks.  I mean, seriously.  Have you seen the kinds of discussions that go on in the Transbuddha forums?  We are D-orks.

I present this link not just as a ‘laugh at the nerdiness’ link, but as an ominous warning to you ad types out there.  When you’re dealing with a crowd that may very well be smarter than you, don’t treat ‘em as hormonally imbalanced sociopaths. (Even if we are)

Gorgeous art and graphics! But come on; can a brother get a thumbnail?

alphamonkey sez: Another phenomenal art find, and yah, the site is in Japanese so don’t expect a lot of exposition unless your browser supports that character set. 

I have this endless fascination with entertainment news.  On occasion there’s something that a reasonable person can consider a noteworthy event, but mostly it’s about as relevant to real life as reporting on the political turmoil of Sasquatch tribes.  However, last night I came across an interesting note: IMDB is reporting that New Line has kicked Peter Jackson off the upcoming Hobbit film.  I mean, really.  What amounts of lead paint do you have to drink to think that removing Jackson from a Lord of the Rings film is in anyway shape or form a good idea?  Buddha knows I didn’t think the LotR trilogy was the landmark in human achievement it was heralded as, but I can certainly state that Jackson was the right guy to do it.  Seeing as the semi-official reason for his ouster was as a petty response to Jackson not contributing to a New Line tribute video, I’m going to have to put that down as one of the stupidest studio decisions since someone decided Freddie Prinze, Jr. was a star in the making.

I was also surprised to see that there’s talk of a prequel to LotR in addition to the Hobbit (which itself isn’t slated for production until 2009).  How the hell does that work out?  Do I need to learn more about Samwise’s inability to flirt with a bar wench?  Does the world need a couple more hours of Aragon acting tortured and conflicted (while maintaining his rugged stubble)? 

The Cathedral (or Katedra in the original Polish) was done by by CGI house Platige Image (and directed by Tomek Baginski) and was nominated for an Oscar in the Animated Short category in 2003.  It’s easy to see why.  It’s a gorgeous piece filled with atmosphere.  It’s based on the Polish Sci-Fi writer Jacek Dukaj’s short story of the same name.