Street art just got serious.  Or at least academy serious. With this morning’s announcement that renown street artist Banksy’s turntable documentary on the ascent to fame of artist Mr. Brainwash made the top 5 nominations for the Academy Award in Best Documentary.  Banksy responded to the nomination with his ever present cheeky charm:

The fact was, it was never much of a surprise. Don’t take our word for it though, check it out on Hulu. The film is a work of art in itself and focuses on the ever-expanding world of street art as seen through the eyes of French street artist and camera addict Thierry “Mr. Brainwash” Guetta  and later Banksy himself. The documentary is fascinating as it delves into the unseen happenings behind the street murals the public sees around them.

However, I won’t bore you with a flashy pump up of the film, the documentary is award worthy, that’s a given. But the message behind it is even more pivoting. Exit begins with Banksy, ever hidden behind the veil of secrecy recounts how the film was created with a carefully placed comment:

“It’s not Gone With The Wind but there is probably a moral in there somewhere.” -Banksy

That was the first clue that lead us to the conclusion that Exit isn’t your run of the mill documentary. Exit is an artistic statement. Banksy is not one to simply throw paint on walls without meaning and he isn’t about to break character when it comes to film making. Throughout the film the audience is suppose to believe that a slightly delusional cameraman can, under the “push” of his idol, pick up the brush, or rather spray can, and in a matter of weeks sell his work for the tens of thousands.

Now granted, this could be a once in the million story and actually be that fantastic. However, reality tends to show that usually when celebrities such as Banksy are involved in what turns out to be an extraordinary story there is usually some “foul play”. The signs in the documentary all point to it.

That is not to say Exit is a work of Fiction but rather  a work of living art. Theirry Guetta is most likely an imaginary character, a pseudonym. The fact that a man who sells vintage T-Shirts for a living can finance trips across the world to film street artists is questionable, the fact that the same man can then finance an around the clock full-time staff and art exhibition is just unreal. The narrator is careful to hint to the audience repeatedly that Guetta refinanced his house to pay for it all but in reality at the most that is around $400k, hardly the amount to rent an old CBS studio, let alone staff.

So that brings the viewer to the conclusion that Guetta is somehow associated closely with Banksy. Rumors have it that Guetta is actually Banksy, if that was true Banksy should be nominated for Best Actor by accent alone. I speak fluent French, and I can’t get near to his authenticity. Rather it is most probable that Banksy is using this documentary to send the art world a message or as he puts it, a moral. In the recent years we’ve seen an over inflation in the realm of street art auctioning that has sold in the high 100 thousands. Banksy sums up the art world’s opinion eloquently:

“I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit.” -Banksy

Thus one may draw the conclusion that Banksy is making a mockery to the art world that anyone, including a slightly off edge film addict with the proper artistic endorsements, can make an impact in the financial art world .

“Maybe Theirry was a genius all along, maybe he got a bit lucky, maybe it means art is a bit of a joke .” -Banksy

If this is true it means that Banksy has reached a new height of artistry, he is now that of a critic. No longer is he focusing on capitalism but rather art itself. The only question is what’s next? Mr. Brainwash has the answer for that:

“In time, you’ll see if I’m a real artist or not.” – Theirry “Mr. Brainwash” Guetta.

Time may not bring light to this story but the for street art, the options are limitless.

A few months ago I was pretty adamant about the fall of the leading user-generated video site YouTube. I wrote about how the commercialization of the site had tainted its originality and gave a few alternatives to the site.

My feelings about YouTube still stay the same, as the user controlled feel that I grew up on will never return. However, my pessimism on the subject has greatly reduced as I have rediscovered the transformation of YouTube and am prepared to once again launch myself into that realm. With the discovery of different popular YouTube Vlogs, (Like daily blogs but video, imagine reality TV without the TV part) I have found new inspiration and have seen the potential that a YouTube vlog has.

So I’m in the planning stage with a friend to create a YouTube daily vlog/show. I know that I’m one in a million Youtubers that dream of the small internet celebrity status but I’m doing this more to record my life in segments as to further our futures understanding of our time.  It sounds lofty but from what I’ve seen these YouTube Vlogs are nothing but that.

Here are a few YouTube Vlogs that you should  be watching:

1. Internet Killed Television:

Internet Killed Television is the larger name of the Vlog and YouTube Show of two lovebirds’ Charles and Allie who are posting their lives to the world in the form of daily videos of their lives. With an average hit range of 100,000 to 500,000 a day, there definitely is something unique about the couple. The couple also updates the world through Facebook and Twitter connections.

2. “SHAYTARDS” Daily video diary:

Shaytards is the one year journey of Shay Carl’s 29th year of living.  Basically imagine a toned downed bearded Jack Black without the awkwardness mixed with some sort of Brady Bunch/Waltons show. He’s also a really funny guy and contributes to the Station. Find him also on twitter.

3. Lisa Nova

Lisa brings the comedy with a weekly show as well as other comedic themed shows. She’s also avid on Twitter.

4. The Philip DeFranco Show

Phillip creates the epitome of YouTube shows. He has vlog, he produces humorous YouTube videos, and has a game review channel. He’s an opinionated and altogether funny guy. You can also find him on Twitter and Facebook.

5. The Station:

Imagine a show with all of YouTube’s mini celebrities combined. Yes, they seem to all know each other. I’ll save another blog post for them.

Sprint Mobile, which has often been looked upon as the phone service for the people who can’t get Verizion or AT&T has recently put out an extremely innovating and eye grabbing advertisement, take a look:

Now when I saw this I was expecting Verizon or AT&T to pop up, they’re usually the ones with the marketing mantra (Can you hear me now? and Deadzone commercials). Sprint must be taking a hit because usually when companies are going under they desperately try to revamp their marketing . Well whatever Sprint was looking for, they got it with this one. The ad talks almost directly to the new generation of techies providing immensely interesting facts of the tech world, apparently happening right as you read this.

What Sprint has finally understood is that good advertising is when you either  make the audience laugh (Bud light and Go Daddy), familiarize themselves with a cute animal (Geico) or inform and immerse them with  very interesting tidbits of information that involve them. If Sprint can keep this up, I’m predicting a boost in sales in no time.

A great example of marketing is Verizon’s “Can you hear me now? Guy” the American audience is bombarded with his image at every commercial break that he is now immediately recognizable, enough to show up in New York and be recognized:

The key to this new generation of journalism is the Internet. It sounds obvious but newpapers are still struggling to maintain their overcrowded sites which often see the worst writing of the news room. You’ll find only text, which averages at least 3 page lengths on each story.

What the news companies need is to write quick 4 paragraph sum-ups accompanied with audio and video on EVERY story. In times where a 10 year old knows how to operate a camera a reporter should be able to balance a quick story and video at the same time.

Also, it seems that  when reporters actually shoot video they never find it necessary to do a voice over.  Voice overs are essential for the viewer to understand footage. Even a simple intro on what you’re seeing makes the video so much better. However, if your voice isn’t broadcast quality and the footage is extremely good make an exception.

Imagine if you went onto a top news site and under an article on a new revolution of ideas you found this:

Would you go back to the site for more?

While traveling around the world I have been fortunate enough to not had to have worried about my safety. Of course there were alley ways in Eastern Europe that were a tad sketchy but nothing to the extent that I had to fear for my life whenI walked down the street. But I know that in my future war torn cities and fighting zones are fast approaching. Journalists today that report in the Middle East have to be constantly wary that they are targets which is why they wear bullet proof vests.

However, is it too much to ask to be both stylish and protected? Apparently not as a manufacturer from Bogota Colombia has created a line of clothing that stops bullets, and looks normal even stylish. Rumors even have it that’s what Obama used in the Inauguration Take a look.

Ever wanted to know how bullet proof vests work? Really interesting:

The music in the background built momentum for the dunk, then when he missed it and the music came to an abrupt halt and you’re stunned for a second. Music should never be left behind when it comes to to the editing boards especially when you have free non copyrighted sites like creative commons.

What role does music have on your videos? Post links to share! Please Comment Below:

Follow Random to reason on Twitter to keep yourself updated with interesting and fun information online. Also, if you liked this post and the blog please click the Add This button below:

I began by using the recently created Google Chrome. I was at first amazed by how simple it was to use, due to the lack of clutter that I had become oh so use to in Internet Explorer. The all in one search bar and pre-opened tabs were a delight to someone who had to wait 15 seconds for my Yahoo! homepage to load.

Google Chrome is insanely fast, it beats every other web browser with its legs tied. I was really enjoying myself until I began to become more and more involved with the tech industry and blogging/Twitter. I found that Google Chrome was severely lacking in apps and was forced to maintain numerous amounts of tabs, cutting down my time to a computer. After opening so many tabs, Chrome began to feel more and more cluttered and would often shut down on bad days.

My friend, noticing my dilemma  suggested Firefox. At first I was hesitant because I had a special feeling towards Google Chrome as I was using it the first day it came out but after I became fed up when my tabs would repeatedly close up I downloaded Firefox. I wasn’t disappointed.

The amount of apps and helpful features that I can use astounded me, sure I noticed a slightly slower load time but the applications made up for that in no time.

Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious and Gmail suddenly became so much easier to use with the applications and I gained a ton of time to learn more and update my blog.

Chrome may be faster but in the end Firefox won the race.

I keep in mind however that Chrome is still in a beta stage, hopefully they’ll learn from the success Firefox has had and I’ll be the first one to return to it.

Here’s a video that times the two browsers for you to be the judge:

What is your favorite Browser? Please Comment Below:

Follow Random to reason on Twitter to keep yourself updated with interesting and fun information online. Also, if you liked this post and the blog please click the Add This button below:

MG Siegler, an immensely popular tech blogger for Venture Beat has created a movie review site all in Haiku format, here’s a look at his review of the Oscar’s Best Picture:

Now if that isn’t time efficient what is? An added plus is that you can always impress people by telling them you’re an avid reader of the Japanese Haiku. Make sure to follow ParisLemon (MGSiegler) on Twitter who is an consistent poster with a ton of great information.

One of my favorite movie review sites  is Spill.com. Their whole review is basically a host of 4 animated characters, 2 white guys and 2 black guys (and sometimes a computer) basically  tearing a movie apart holding nothing back, it can get pretty raunchy but the funny thing is is that most of what they say is true. Sometimes their reviews are better than the movie itself, like this one on 10,00 B.C.:

In between laughing all I could think of was how they hit that movie right on the spot.

1. Facebook Video

Facebook video is my new favorite because it immediately promotes the video among your contacts. Instead of having to promote your video which can take a while and often be unfruitful you can link it to friends and even if you don’t it still comes up on their Wall. The upload times are fast and and setup is simple. Plus you don’t have to visit 2 sites for socializing online and uploading your video.

2. Vimeo

Vimeo is what Youtube should have grown into. The interface is easy and inviting. You’ll also find a better community and quality of videos (in the artsy way). The downside is that to upload your videos it can take around an hour and twenty minutes. When you’re on Vimeo it feels more official, you feel like your a part of something new and exciting, which Youtube has lost.

3. Veoh

Veoh and Vimeo are really similar in upload times and ease of use. The quality you can have on the video is really good, but you have to wait for an an hour and twenty minutes just the same. What makes Veoh unique is that you can watch full length TV shows and even movies on the site. This takes away from the community feel but it’s still an awesome way to combine TV and user video on one site.

4.Viddler

Viddler feels a lot like YouTube in it’s older days, a little messy but still sweet. It has an ultra fast 29 minute upload that beats YouTube and is really simple to use. A downside is the sloppy advertisements and design but if that isn’t a factor Viddler is a great site for an alternative of YouTube.

5. Blip.tv

One word describes Blip.tv: Stylish, You won’t be finding really any sloppy looking graphics or excessive advertising on the whole site. Blip.tv is in essence run by a few core “shows” that even advertise on the site. This is a great video up loader if you’re planning on doing something that looks professional as the site is catered for such. But stick to the above if you’re just doing the run of the mill type video.

YouTube is now advertising all over its site, even on videos that takes away from the originality it once had. But what is really killing YouTube is that they now allow companies to have super accounts that let them post High Def videos for however long they like. C-SPAN recently posted President Obama’s Adress to Congress that lasted almost an hour. Here it is:

The video, along with another one from C-SPAN was featured on the the YouTube Homepage. Since when does an hour long video become featured on YouTube? In a way it’s sad how low YouTube has gotten. They have to know that the average web surfer isn’t going to watch an hour long video on YouTube, especially when it begins with over 2 minutes of just clapping. That’s insane.

YouTube either needs to get it’s priorities straight or someone else is going to have to take over the online video market.