Office 2010 The Movie Doesn't Star Tom Cruise

Here's the trailer for Office 2010: The Movie, full of matrixy characters and missionimpossibly situations.

Thankfully it's just a promo and there won't be any Office 2010 movie. It was created for Microsoft by Dennis Liu, who also did the how to pretend you are working video. [Thanks Dennis]

Office Team Lead: Guys, we need something really exciting to make people excited about Office 2010.
Some Office Programmer Guy: Can we call Google to hint at ChromeOS to take the heat off of us when we launch on Monday?
OTL: Already done. We need a video.

SOPG: What should it include? A little run-through of the program? Sort of a screencast that folks can watch and understand and then maybe get excited about Office 2010? Maybe we can put some Feist in there? Make it really minimalistic?
OTL: No. We need an action movie.
SOPG: What?
OTL: We have a huge marketing budget and nothing to spend it on. Let’s hire some dude to make a movie.
SOPG: But that won’t tell anyone anything about the product?
OTL: Who cares. We don’t need to sell Office anymore. People will just buy it without thinking. People are dumb.
SOPG: But what about Google Apps?
OTL: A red herring. They’re unusable. This is much better.
SOPG: Can I move onto the XBox team?
OTL: Soon. Soon.

From Gizmodo via CrunchGear.

In Lieu of Fireworks, Chinese Villagers Hurl Molten Iron at a Wall

During the Lantern Festival last month, one village in China celebrated the same way they have for 500 years—by throwing molten iron at a wall to create showers of make-do fireworks.
The villagers of Nanchuan, China put on an hour-long performance each year called Da shu hua (beating the tree to produce flowers). The iron throwers are protected from all that molten metal by nothing more than a hat and a sheepskin coat. Is it dangerous? The throwers joked that it's not, as long as you're not afraid to die.

Manny Marroquin's Mixing Techniques

Multi Platinum mixing engineer Manny Marroquin reveals his mixing techniques. In these samples, he contrasts Kanye West's "Stronger" with John Mayer's "I don't trust myself".

Wonderful Country Western Song

If my nose was runnin' money.....

Partly Cloudy

from Pixar

XBox360 on a 160' screen!

The 72 x 160-foot LED wall at the center of the new Cowboys Stadium is certainly impressive enough when it's showing game highlights or concert footage, but no giant screen ever truly earns its credentials until it's been put to some real use: playing video games. Thankfully, Jonas Brothers video director Steve Fatone somehow pulled himself away from concert preparations to do just that earlier this week, and apparently became the first person to ever play Xbox 360 on the display in the process. The two certainly seem to be made for each other, although it looks like the controller can get a tad touchy if you stray too far while trying to play it.

Tour Bus vs. SM58!

You've heard about road-testing mics? You've never heard it like this. Tour bus vs. SM58!

Mackie's Mythbusters: Torture testing small mixers

Watch as the Mackie MixBusters pit the 802-VLZ3 against the competition in a no-holds-barred destruction challenge.



Of course, these are certainly not "real world" tests for most of the world. When shopping for mixers, I'm not necessarily planning for driving over the mixer with a big truck. I'm planning for clean inputs and outputs (which Mackie also has, as do its competitors) straitforward operation (ditto) and actual product availability (whoops!).

On the other hand, it's really fun to watch pro audio gear getting beaten up!!

Raised From the Dead: Beheaded!

I know both the gentlemen who are telling this story. I know them to be trustworthy men. This really stretches me!

Straight Talk to Men

This is the best video I've ever seen on men and women. (Skip the first 5 minutes of announcements.)

David Crowder*Band's studio.

David Crowder*Band's studio. With David Crowder*Band's screwball sense of humor.

(If you're having difficulty seeing the video, click the title at the top of the page.)

The Worship Team vs. Audio/Video Tech Team - Shocking Frustrations Finally Confessed

Have you ever thought about how tech people and musicians see each other? These secret interviews were recorded over the last several months. Names have been changed to protect any innocents.