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Altoids "Curiously Strong Awards" from Marc Ritzema on Vimeo.

Just in case you have not seen this yet. I seem to know all these people.

Thanks for the votes!

I've been traveling, but the big news is that my Singfrancisco music video won one of the runner-up prizes in the Swiss International Airlines contest promoting their new service to San Francisco. I won two round trip tickets for a flight in Europe ... cool! You can still see the video on my YouTube channel.

By the way, as I was catching up with my reading I checked James Fallows' blog and he had a post recommending Pamplamoose (links to their cover of Lady Gaga Telephone on YouTube). They are really fantastic and show how good a modern music video can be ... highly recommended!

More when I recover from my jet lag.

Why doesn't this happen on the Vienna U-Bahn?

Improv everywhere is at it again! Let's try to organize something similar in Vienna!

The Truman Show - Vienna

One of my favorite movies was The Truman Show, I thought that the plot was quite good, but also enjoyed seeing the new urbanist city Seaside Florida, the movie setting.

Anyway Oliver Hangl, the artistic director of the Vienna Complaining Choir among many other artistic projects, is doing a project this week called Kino im Kopf: Die Truman Show where the audience rides through Vienna on a streetcar (they have headphones for the soundtrack) and people on the street act out scenes from The Truman Show movie. Oliver needed extras so, along with many members of the Complaining Choir helped out. We worked at Lancaster Square (actually the Josefstadterstrasse U-Bahn - Tram stop).

Here's a photo of the people on the tram enjoying our performance. Our job was to bend down and hold our ears for the 15-seconds while the tram went by. (I had the camera balanced on my leg and just shot, so it's out of focus). More photos are on my flickr site tagged Truman Show Vienna.

EXTRA: We helped out throughout the week and on Saturday we were in the audience on the tram. The show was great and I took more photos which are also on the flickr site.

It's going on until Saturday 26 June 2010, highly recommended if you are in Vienna!

What the iPad means for social media

Nice article from Salon on social media:

What the iPad means for social media

And, don't forget my music video Psycho (Social) Networker on YouTube.

Posted using ShareThis

Psycho (Social) Networker

My newest music video on the perils of on line social networking. Hope you like it.

Emergency Brake

emergency brake from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

Here's a great video about the emergency brake in the NY City subway cars. It explains a lot about New York.

No Pants Subway Ride 2010

Improv Everywhere's film of their 2010 No Pants Subway Ride ... great fun.

Ode to a Miele

By Andy Nash (realname TM) "Vac-Master Nash"
Seriously? You want me to write a review for a vacuum cleaner? A vacuum cleaner. How is it that gmail doesn't catch these e-mails anyway? Oh well ...

It's a vacuum cleaner. I mean it's not like I bought it because I wanted to. Or because I really really liked it. What can I say? It was a gift. For my mother. In honor of all the vacuuming she did for me growing up. A thoughtful son, wouldn't you agree?

She sent me an e-mail saying she liked it. But, then, isn't that what all modern mothers do?

Photos? Now you want photos too? Well I do remember one with an old girlfriend. It was a hot steamy day and it was our first time doing serious ... cleaning ... what did you think I would put in a review? She began vacuuming TOPLESS! Thankfully Facebook wasn't around for sharing embarrassing photos then (what did we do without it?) so it's lost. But, wait, it was another brand of vacuum (funny the things you remember about relationships), so never mind!

What about design? Well if I wanted a cool design I would have bought a Dyson. By the way, aren't those Dyson Blade hand driers great? Most of those hand dryers in public restrooms are like Republicans, lots of hot air with no real use, but I digress.

The Miele does look cool. Perhaps I should draw a picture of it, making it look smaller and send it to the Transportation Security Administration. I could say that I saw someone trying to sneak one into an airplane restroom for who knows what evil purpose. Imagine being searched at airports for mini vacuums. Ignore this paragraph, in addition to shamelessly ripping off Graham Greene (Our man in Havana), it doesn't have anything to do with this review. (By the way, the book and film are great - oh no, now I'll need to write two more reviews.)

Is there a word requirement for a review?

Actually, I'll fess up. I actually have a Miele too. That's why I bought one for my mother. I can't say I like it, I mean who really likes vacuum cleaners? I hate using it, although I hate using it less than I hated using my old vacuum cleaner. As a vacuum cleaner it's pretty good.

I guess that's enough. Aren't you glad I didn't say the vacuum cleaner "sucks"?

Posted to Amazon on November 6, 2009 - I wonder how long it will last?

The Astounding World of the Future

This is one of the funniest videos I have seen in a long time (aside from my own of course!). A look at today - especially with respect to transport and land use - from the perspective of yesterday. Thanks to Planning Commission Journal.

Grocery Store Musical

Just returned from Zurich and found this in my mailbox ... as I have written before, ImprovEverywhere makes me want to move to New York!

Improv Everywhere: NY Subway Yearbook Photos

Another great project from NY's Improv Everywhere. Why can't public transit always be this much fun?

Swiss Travel System Video Contest!

Here's my entry in the Swiss Travel System's video casting contest. Please take a look and rate the video highly ... extra points for those who know what I am alluding to ... send me a comment! Thanks, Andy

James Bond in Bremen

I have always believed that comedy is a great way to learn and communicate. My music video on high speed rail and some others I have "in production" are all done with that in mind.

At the VREF's Future Urban Transport Conference this week, Michael Glotz-Richter, from the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen's Sustainable Mobility department showed us two films on how James Bond was able to outwit his opponent using public transport and bicycling in Bremen. The films are great examples of using comedy to encourage sustainable transport. The public transport film is above, the James Bond bicycling in Bremen is here.

Zurich's public transport operator has been a leader in using comedy in transport advertising and has even done some research to determine its effectiveness. This sounds like a good Transportation Research Board paper!

Saving the Auto Industry - Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
You're Welcome - Auto Industry
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

John Hodgman, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart's "You're Welcome" correspondent presents his ideas for saving the auto industry. I really miss the Comedy Channel!

Is funny the new black? Is this a mixed metaphore?

Scott Brown at Wired has an interesting article Scott Brown on Stand-Up Comedy, Lingua Franca of the Wired World. I think his point that comedy on the internet helps

facilitate ironic linkages, unexpected resonances across genres and media, and anarchic twists on established, institutional forms

is fascinating because this is just what is needed to help spur creative ideas in areas from research and development to business planning. I guess I need to go to comedy school ... but Brown has the solution: just being part of the e-world will help. Hope so.

By the way, the photo is from Luzern, it's under a big hook that can be used to pull people out of the river. The sign says that it is an "Official Rescue Device" and that "Missuse will be punished." Reminds me of the Vaudeville hook used to pull bad acts off the stage.

Franz Kafka Airport - Onion Video

Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport

Here's the Onion's news report on Franz Kafka International airport being named the world's most alienating airport.

PLEASE SEE COMMENT - THIS IS NOT A REAL AIRPORT! Prague is a wonderful city to visit and the people are very friendly - the opposite of the video! See: http://andynashnetwork.blogspot.com/2008/09/weekend-in-prague.html.

In a related item we are looking forward to attending the Wiener Festwochen presentation of Franz Kafka's The Process in May. We won't be flying through via Franz Kafka International!