Immersion

Ever catch yourself in the reflection of your computer screen or TV set and feel like you're staring at a stranger? A couple months ago a friend made a video of me working and though hilarious to watch a nine hour work day compressed into a two minute time lapse, it was also slightly disturbing to see how immersed I had become staring into a computer monitor. Now comes Immersion Blog, a fascinating look at user interaction with the various media that have come to dominate our daily lives. Most shocking perhaps is photographer, Robbie Cooper's Immersion study (above) and Godfrey Reggio's Evidence videos which record the facial reactions of children while interacting with a video game and television set respectfully. It should be noted that advertising agency, Fallon London attempted a similar execution in their CBBC spots a couple months ago that shows the joyous expressions of toddlers immersed in children's programing on the BBC. One idea, three very different results--all of them illuminating in their own way.

via Coups de Pub

Who is Dick Whitman?

A special episode of Jeopardy featuring an entire category devoted to the AMC show Mad Men will air tonight so cancel dinner at the club and pour yourself another old fashion. Can't wait until tonight? Play the online version here.

Also, check out today's feature on Wired.com Real Ad Men Talk About Mad Men, in which Anthony Young, Benjamin Palmer and others, separate fact from fiction in today's ad industry.

Bring the Payne

I'm really digging the new Max Payne trailers. With a fanatical video game fan base eagerly awaiting the film version of the uber violent Rockstar game, I was really hoping that the new Max Payne movie website would be equally as interesting and in-depth as both the video game and the trailer but alas, a splash page, two movie trailers and a couple movie stills and a registration page? Huge missed opportunity there.

We do.

via ffffound.

Bump & Grind

OK, so I'm not a huge fan of Grind House era B-horror movies but I've seen a fair bit and I can appreciate the art direction of the new Agent Provocateur interactive web movie but to be interactive the users has to be interested enough to at least stick around. After about 10min of cackling and tomato eating I had had enough so I attempted to purposely fail at the interactive game of "saving the virgin" and get the hell out of there only to be asked the choose-your-own-adventure style question a second time. I appreciate the idea and the nod to kitsch horror but the payoff here seems to be an endless reel of tomato fetish.

via Adverblog.

Donky Kong Construction

Berlin agency, Scholz & Friends went nostalgic for this outdoor display for the German Gaming Museum. Other than the questionable tax dollars involved in building a "gaming museum", the agency spent relatively little by taking advantage of the building's scafolding.

Yahtzee Reviews Orange Box

For weeks now I've been watching this commercial for the Orange Box. I'm not a gamer. I'm not even very good at using chop sticks but I'm also not oblivious to the fact that millions of 12-30 year-old's out there are the equivalent to Mr. Miyagi catching flies when it comes to video games. So I thought it was an interesting promotion. 5 games. 1 box. Hell of a deal. But that's not all, Steam,a subsiterary of Valve, the distribution company behind the Orange Box, offers users who previously purchased Half-Life 2 or Half-Life 2: Episode One and then purchased The Orange Box to receive gift subscriptions for their duplicate titles that they may give to another person added on a Steam Friends list. Brilliant! Essentially what they've done is forgone short term profits in an effort to build a consumer community.
However, the gaming community is a fickle one, where the reviews of the community far outweigh any teaser ad. This one comes from Yahtzee, a British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer who takes a stab at the Orange Box only to find the contents a little unsatisfying. Full review below...