Link roundup

1. The Oakland A's were the talk of the sports world on Monday after signing Cuban slugger/outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who put out a truly outlandish promotional video. If you're not convinced it's worth your time to watch, read this detailed description.

2. A lengthy analysis of why the Death Star's trash compactor makes little sense.

3. Bonsai tree houses.

4. Gyroscopically stabilized pool table for cruise ships.

40 minutes of Mass Effect 3

40 minutes of Mass Effect 3, including (very brief) character creation and the opening cinema, and a level from later in the game. Via.

*Buy Mass Effect toys at Amazon.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare

Here's the first developer's diary for Alan Wake's American Nightmare. Ignore their blather about the game's features and pay attention to what's going on behind them. Via.

*Previously: Watch Bright Falls, the Alan Wake prequel.

Rob Ager's new analysis of Stanley Kubrick's films

The latest fascinating analysis by Rob Ager of Stanley Kubrick's films.




His analysis gets really exotic in part 3, as he examines the significance of Woodrow Wilson and the real life Jekyll Island Hotel.




*Buy The Stanley Kubrick Archives at Amazon.

The Secret Policeman's Ball

Advertisement for Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Ball, featuring character designs by McBess.




*Buy McBess Dunnys at eBay.

Space Stallions and Wing

Two great projects from students at The Animation Workshop.

Space Stallions is a brilliant homage to 80's cartoons:

Story:
As darkness is covering the multiverse, far away in the galaxy of the wild stallion, a spark of hope is born. Guided by the light of Mother Mustang, the Space Stallions must defeat the Demon of darkness, Destructo.

By: Thorvaldur S. Gunnarsson, Jonatan Brüsch, Ágúst Kristinsson, Arna Snæbjørnsdottir, Esben J. Jespersen, Touraj Khosravi and Polina Bokhan
Composers: Friðfinnur Oculus Sigurðsson

Wing is totally different in tone, featuring Dementor-like monsters:

Story: A solitary, one winged creature called Wing is harassed by a group of oppressive crows due to being weak and different from them. He decides that he wants to overcome his disability and escape from the forest. He builds a catapult and a mechanical wing to accomplish this. When he launches himself away from the forest, the wing malfunctions, and he crashes into the territory of the crows. The crows are about to harm him, but are then lured away by a two-winged humanoid, who the crows attack instead. Wing finds the creature, and discovers it is a female of his own kind, and that the crows have torn one of her wings off. As the crows come towards them, Wing gets the idea that he and the female can fly in tandem by flapping each of their single wings while holding onto each other, and they manage to escape from the forest.

By: Asger Grevil, Mette V. Madsen, Jonas Kirkegaard, Michael Bech

Via.

The Watchmen saturday morning cartoon

A classic - - The Watchmen saturday morning cartoon.

*Previously: Plush Rorschach; Future Cinema's screening of Watchmen.

Commercial for Nike Football Combines

Advertisement by Nimpsy for Nike's football training sessions. Via.

*Buy the Nike+ Sportband at Amazon.

Me and You by Nero

Me and You by Nero - - the song from the commercial for Beats by Dr. Dre at Best Buy.



This is good, too: Nero - Must Be The Feeling (Delta Heavy Remix):



Available as a free download.

Super simple way to use Facebook to promote your town

One tiny town in Switzerland found a fun (and entirely wholesome) way to promote itself on Facebook. Via.

Zelda Zine

I've mentioned the Zelda Zine before - - it's now on sale.

And speaking of Zelda, here's off the charts adorable Wind Waker-style Zelda animation by Joel Furtado:



*Buy Legend of Zelda toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Moonbot Studios' animated film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore is currently a free download at iTunes. (The same studio made the interactive primer The Numberlys that I mentioned earlier this month.) Thanks for the heads up, Charles.

2. Packaging for chocolates, featuring pin-up girl illustrations. Via.

3. Joe Quinones posted an alternate design for the Mary Jane as Venom cover I posted the other day.

4. A teacher describes what's it like when MTV's Made is filmed.

Vice presents crazy party stories

VICE and Project X's Party Legends present animated versions of wild memories by Snoop Dogg and Nick Swardson. Snoop's is NSFW.




Relatedly, Has The Internet Discovered The Exact Day Featured In Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day"?

Watch Jon Stewart lose a pushup contest...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

to Paula Broadwell for charity. Via.

Luc Besson's Lockout looks terrific

New trailer for Lockout, which is basically Luc Besson's remake of Escape from NY. Via.

Vampires advertise Audi's new car

The rare commercial that's very funny and actually tells you something notable about the product.

A Walk in the Dark

Very cool corrupting smoke monster in this trailer for A Walk in the Dark. Via.

Giant spider puppet

Air-powered giant spider puppet. Via.

Mary Shelley's Frankenhole

Season 2 of Mary Shelley's Frankenhole starts Sunday at 12:15:








The show is by Dino Stamatopoulos and Starburns Industries:

Facetracking mirror creatures

The official description:

Viewer’s movement and expressions are mimicked by an animal’s head which is overlaid on the viewer’s reflection. From the viewer's perspective the animal image appears directly on top of their own.

Via.