A stroke of genius is all you need

Have you ever had an idea that seemed crazy — maybe crazy enough to work? Every invention starts out as an idea, and it only takes a bit of genius to make it reality. See how some of the greatest inventions were brought to life in The Stuff of Genius video podcast.

Recent episodes include:

•During World War II, William Mitchell made a discovery that led to the emergence of junk food for the masses. Learn how tapioca led to pop rocks and what powdered egg whites have to do with it.

•When Philo Farnsworth was just fourteen years old, he had an epiphany that changed his life -- and ours. Tune in and find out how this former sharecropper created the modern television.
•Norman Borlaug spent most of his life fighting world hunger and led the effort to grow more productive, disease-resistant wheat strains. Discover how Borlaug's wheat started a revolution.

I saw this article on HowStuffWorks. Liked it and instantly posted it to my blog. Owned by The Discovery Company, How Stuff Works is an awesome general knowledge website. Go there.

iPod > iPhone > iPad > next... iPeed > iPood

The Apple iPad Nano Private is here! An amazing tech innovation, this one's for women only. Ladies... rejoice. Lads... soak it up.

Here's an old spoof from MadTV. With all the hype and hoopla around the iPad, it's made quite an online comeback and enjoying many hits lately.

What's truly remarkable (and quite bizarre) is that it's actually an iPod spoof made in 2006 - four years before the iPad launched.

Not fall-down funny or anything, but I guess it deserves a standing ovulation... erm, I mean ovation - just for eeriely freaky timing.

Let there be light... lasers, waterjets, fire !!!

A few posts ago, I said "Let there be light... and lasers please!". Seems like the uber-talented French heard me and now, there's no stopping them.

Titled 'Water Poster', here's a wonderful display of laser lights projected on water (via Paris creative agency BDDP & Fils) using supersmart technology called AquaScript.

To mark the occasion of World Water Day (Mar 22, 2010), it was conceived to raise awareness of the perils of unsafe drinking water. The sheer brilliance of the concept takes one's breath away. Enjoy!



Solidarité from La Boite Concept on Vimeo.


Meanwhile, in exotic India, another gifted Frenchman, Yves Pepin (Creative Director of ECA2, he was Artistic Advisor, with Steven Spielberg & Ric Birch, for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Opening/ Closing Ceremonies) has collaborated with the good souls at the Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar (named after Mahatma Gandhi) to create a mega project called the The Water Show.






A multi-technology installation, The Water Show combines high-end pyrotechnics, powerful waterjets, laser lights and film projections on a huge 130 x 70-feet water-screen and a precision-sync'ed musical fountain - to create a spectacular display of sound n' light, a mind-blowing fusion of colour n' design or just simply, awesome outdoor entertainment.

Click here to view amazing shots from the Opening Ceremony

 
Both the above ambients are out-and-out celebrations of creativity. Truth be told, it's ideas like these that make me glad I am a creative. Someday, I hope to come up with one such stunner...  Until then, Jai Swaminarayan.

Mr. Madness would like to thank Mick/ Michael of Campaign Brief 

and Jainesh/ Kalpesh/ Vipul of Akshardham for this post.

Fatal Attraction... Love knows no Limits - 5

For the first time in 2010, we bring back our Love Knows No Limits series.

This time we feature a honeymooning couple heavily in love. The intimate shots from their album clearly show love is blind - so are lovers. It's true. Real love knows no limits of colour, nationality, body shape or weight.

Acc. to skeptics, the man in the pics married drop-dead gorgeous Amazon Amanda, of USA, only for a Green Card. But from the lovey-dovey poses, methinks it's purely a case of fatal attraction. What do you think?

Mr. Madness would like to thank Zubin Singh for this post. No, it's not him above!

Woof barf howl = 'I am mad' in dog-lingo

Of all those insane videos floating on the web, there's something nakedly human about this one. What I particularly liked is the wife remains absolutely calm through the crazed man's bizarre histrionics. She must be so used to him!



When Snoop Doggy Dawg heard about the incident, he instantly recorded this protest rap on behalf of the dogs, in pure Dawg-dialect:
Bow Wow Wow yippee-yelp, yippee-yo,
Drop it like a snizzle on my drizzle,
Put a chisel to yo Shih Tzu Schnitzel,
Drop it like a Bow Wow Wow (repeat x26)

Let there be light... and lasers please!

Over the past 7 months in Auckland, I've seen some very cool light projections and laser displays.

Last year, it was Telecom Night Lights - a son 'et lumiere extraordinaire.








To see more videos on the same, click here to go to my Youtube Channel.


Last month, at Urbis Design Day... it was The Dub Module (same guys did Telecom Night Lights) who transformed a static, empty corner of a wall into a simulated dynamic environment with amazing laser projections of live fish, animated whiteboard and even a ticking clock. See the video. Be amazed.





Just the other day, I saw this Graffiti Wall built by the guys at Saatchi & Saatchi IT - Matthew Marsh & Peter. A nifty installation, it featured a laser projector beaming a paint application on to a glass window screen. Then they bluetoothed a Wii remote to create a motion sensor field all around it. And the most ingenious thing, a digital spray-can - Matthew actually soldered an Infra-red laser pointer into a bottle!

Matthew Marsh spray-painting his digital canvas

@Mr_Madness... I've been GRAFFITI'd 

Everytime you press the head of the digital spray-can, it emits an IR beam which is detected by the Wii remote to turn the spray-can into a wireless mouse, and lo! behold... colour on the graffiti wall. Genius!

This may make you cry with laughter

Here's an outrageously hilarious commercial for Tide.

Conceived by Leo Premutico & Jan Jacobs (when they were ECDs at Saatchi & Saatchi NY, pre-Johannes Leonardo), it features a talking stain - the real star of the ad.



Simple idea. Killer execution. Memorable end result.


The above also features the best use of gibberish in an ad ever.
As for best use of gibberish in a feature film, this comes to mind.



This scene makes me fall off my chair - everytime!