For two nights, Ghost Robot and Encyclopedia Pictura came to the west coast and rocked it like a hurricane with their latest epic for none other than Bjork. At each of those nights, a representative or three from the SRO crew showed up to get a look at the entity that is Wanderlust and see if all the legend and myths were true.

What we found was something we have no business sharing our feelings about until after the proper release to the public in early April, if not for anything, than out of respect for EP and all those involved. However, you know we wouldn’t do you dirrty like that, so instead, we’ve got some photos of the night we thought you’d enjoy. We’ve got everything you could ask for, from the setting to the style to the after party to the surprise guests.

Already this video has been screened multiple times in London, New York, and of course L.A., with a tour of San Francisco on the rise. We feel privileged and honored to say that we’re some of the few chosen, to not only see such a work, but to see it in 3D! That’s right, 3-muthafuckin-D!! Put that in your pipes and smoke it! Of course this couldn’t have been possible without the help of those suave cats over at The New York Stereoscopic Society. Also, big ups to one of the most interesting joints we’ve been to in awhile, The Museum of Jurassic Technology, for hosting this experience and the late night festivities that inevitably follow. Lastly, a huge thanks to our man Mark De Pace, for letting us slide into this affair, next time we hang, the first round’s on us. Peep those images kids and try not to take some Hate Poison when you’re done!

We can’t say enough about what an intimate and historic venue this was. The house was, needless to say, packed.

Tools of the trade. The time will come when you will be called upon to sport these specs, make sure you come correct.

Oh snaps! Daedelus himself showed us how to rock those glasses proper! James says, “Take a hint kids, Denies the Day’s Demise is still the best album you’ve never heard. Buy everything this man puts out. Just do it.”

The two co-captains of this venture, Sean Hellfritsch and Isaiah Saxon introducing us to new hottness. Not since Long Beach and Compton have been together on this track, have a pair been this outstanding.

This screening was so hardcore that it brought out some of the best and brightest in the field. Behold your representatives from The Directors Bureau: (L-R) Patrick “Can’t Stop-Won’t Stop” Daughters, Lana Kim (More on this doll later kids!), Andy Bruntel, and Jaron Albertin

The dynamic duo taking some questions after the 3D (yes 3-D!) behind-the-scenes featurette and mini tutorial.

If you’re talking an L.A. premiere, then you’re talking booze. What better than some classy wine at a classy site. In one word: Sophistication

Producer Mark De Pace and Co-Directors Sean Hellfritsch and Isaiah Saxon when all was said and done. Our hats off to you and your crew gents. Enjoy the ride, y’all deserve it!

All Photos © 2008 Shots Ring Out

That’s right kids. The empire strikes back. You didn’t think we were gonna let ‘007 go by without putting our stamp on it. Silly scenesters, tricks are for kids. This year we’ve even upped our numbers a bit and are thus doing things a bit different. Rather than bombard your senses into overload status with all the videos, we’re instead gonna give you some hearty portions throughout the week so as to give each video the proper respect and consideration they deserve.

So go on break or take your lunch, grab a coke and a smile, and watch as artists take you into the past and into the future. Over the high seas and through the rocky desert. From Europe to South America. A beehive to a bar. Our universe to distant universes. This officially puts an end to 2007 with the one and only list that matters. Any other list would be uncivilized.

It’s unofficial, but its damn good. If for nothing else than the superb editing and pacing. I guess the director is no slouch either.
**Beware of spoilers for those who’ve yet to see this film!**

If you’re only paying attention to the hacky sacking(?), you obviously don’t know Terry Timely.

We’re starting to wonder if the Kaiser Chiefs are becoming more known for their videos or their music.

Skateboarding and fucking with people. A winning combination, like Warner Bros. and Blu-ray.

Any chance we can put Radiohead on our list, we’ll take. It’s all about the performance.

If only this were true…

Its all fun and games til someone loses their head…then it’s entertainment!

A simple, ugly idea. If only we could look away.

A relationship with a tree. We’ve seen stranger things…and we’ve seem them done a bit better.

A straight up performance shot of our favorite cuties from across the pond. What you see is what you get with these ladies.

A darling Jenny Lewis ditching Mr. Sennett and marriage. Our hopes for her are still alive!

You can’t deny her videos are distinct. As long as you’re not epileptic.

3 minutes of Charlotte Gainsbourg. Sometimes it’s just that easy.

The only decent video to surface from their stellar album. Frankly, we’re a tad disappointed.

A precursor to a fantastic album. Correctly represents the potential and eccentricity of Murphy and Co.

A house party for the ages. And look who’s our host.

Its tough to compete with a catchy song such as this.

The trio from Sweden take on a popular flash game. Couldn’t they find a less painful one?

An editing tour-de-force with…the joker? We liked it better when it was Prince.

Merit Badges with a twist. Whatever Annie Clark says.

Wonderful song helps propel Patrick through a series of setups. Which gets him a magic position on our list. (Cue diabolical laugh)

The best live show we saw in ‘007. We can’t resist Lovefoxxx, forwards or backwards.

A relaxing shot that may have been higher on the list had the year not been full of videos using old footage.

Jack and Meg go down to Mexico and bring along The Malloys for the “trip.”

Ace Norton takes his down and dirty skills and meshes them with his zombie/horror fetish. Oh and John Darnielle raps!

A slick idea, if only we could have seen more done with it.

The D-O-double G takes it back to a time before gangsta rap. Who knew Ace Norton was his set designer?

A foreign video that may have only been more fun, if we were there filming it. We still can’t wrap our heads around those awesome overall shorts, nor the fact that singer Marina left the band.

A simple concept of a pillow thief that wanders the night. Practically textbook.

If all you did was point the camera at the boys in black, you’re already guaranteed to make this list. Throwing in some light tricks and crazy camera moves at the very least pushes you past the filler. Keep ‘em coming fellas.

It begins as an homage to Dire Strait’s “Money For Nothing”, then runs with it, showing how far we’ve come with effects since then. Of course all with Chromeo’s sense of humor and style. Love those sneakers!

Pretty much the closest to a visual representation of a band. Style for style. Too bad this isn’t the first time they’ve done this.

Although unofficial, this is a playful take on the band’s song. Makes us wonder why we haven’t seen this before and why we never thought of that.

Riding a bike in the dark with characters randomly doing tricks in tandom. We don’t understand the hype, so we’ll just leave this one be.

A tough task to make a second version of a video. Let alone one originally made by Saam. Let alone one with girls making out. And yet we’ll never forget this one.

A slow motion, black and white look at a moment in a bar. We’re not ones to give credit to old tricks, but the creepily laughing, falling blonde haunts us too much to let this one go by.

The most blatant use of the popular Nostalgic-scope this year. What sets it apart from all the others is the use in conjunction with the music of Beirut. And the filled in portions with Mr. Condon himself, including his own skateboarding stunts!

A heartfelt story of a young man and his car stereo. It almost plays like Rocky training for a fight, running through his hometown with everyone behind him. It’s gritty yet earnest. We support it like the fella’s parents support him.

Albertin wasn’t just satisfied shooting in reverse. He had to go upwards, downwards and all around-wards. Shooting a video for an album long past its shelf life could have been pointless. But like a great director, Albertin turned the cards in his favor.

Part of the reason we’re still waiting for the band’s official full length release. Part of the reason we’re still listening to that first e.p.

The video to Pitchfork’s choice single of the year steadies itself on the slow build. Any other song and the video would have been lost on us. Kuntz forces us to hear the song face to face with Murphy, and thus both reward us for our patience.

A precursor to their more popular “Knife” shot, this one got looked over by many, and where it should not have. It’s just as strange and interesting as any of E.P.’s other work, with the coolest of the cool being that Ferro fluid. Or maybe it was that digital matte painting of the forest?

No, not THAT Feist video, the one all of the people who are too cool like. The one where Feist dances in an airport. The one directed by Patrick Daughters. The one whose song was used in a commercial to sell “Chocolate” phones.

A video with heart, conveniently in search of heart. Yeah it feels like a knockoff of The Office, but the video/mocumentary is so much more. It’s over-acting at it’s best, because it does what so many videos try so hard to do, yet fail at. Make us smile.

A gimmick video that looks like it was a pain in the ass to make. However, that doesn’t mean that we weren’t glued to the screen to see what would pop up next. A group of gnarly guys, synchronize dancing on the rooftops of a city without their shirts on? Who knew we’d see shit like that? We wonder if those guys are still cleaning all that ink off to this day?

As quirky as they are, The Hives have yet to give us a video that wasn’t at the very least interesting or entertaining. Haglund riffs off of Mueck to give us a look at what the Hives would look like if they were as big as their egos. In our opinion, they’re still not large enough, but we’ll take this video and the single anyways.

Another video that rode the second version wave of ‘007. This time done with one less Gondry and probably a little more cash that stuck with the band after last year’s treadmill sensation. We’d worry that the band is becoming known more for their videos than their music, but then, we’d actually be down for that.

We’ve read that long, one-take tracking shots are two steps from cliche, we guess Spoon didn’t get the memo, to which we’re thankful. In their own idiosyncratic way, they and McAlester furnished us with a look into their recording space, a place where we’d all like to visit one day. We stopped smiling halfway through however, because it struck us then that when it comes to Spoon, this could very well be what goes on when they lay down those catchy tracks to tape.

If you’re thinking that this is a misstep because of all the light-effect heavy videos/commercials that came out this year, you’re sorely mistaken. Seymour worked this shit early in the year, but got lost in the crowd without getting his proper respect. The Willowz may do things a bit off-center and on the cheap, but they’ve also been associated with Gondry, Norton, and now Seymour. Think of this everytime you see that certain Sprint commercial and all of the others that have since followed, and you’ll see the impact.

Under normal circumstances, this video would have been off this list. But since when are circumstances normal, especially on our tops of the year list. All this video needed to do was get rid of the original track and go for broke within their settings. It paid off and reminded those of us watching, that even sound can be important in a music video.

It was only a matter of time before Connor Oberst’s dark songs caught up to him in video form. Although in his last video before this, he was in a plane that was crashing into the ocean, this one seems to cut deeper. With a black and white look, we get a more real approach to his standout single off of Cassadaga. It’s no mistake that Daughters gives us the feeling that we’re all there watching this happen and in fact participating in the misconduct. It’s also no mistake that Connor chose Daughters as the man to make this shot.

If you’ve been following Kasabian’s music video trajectory, you’d no longer be surprised at the quality they uphold. You wouldn’t be surprised at the quality their music upholds either. This, by all means is no surprise.

The L.A. Film Festival saw fit to show this during their music video highlight portion. And if you read their treatment, it says it all.
“It sounds hard to imagine? That’s because nothing similar has been done ever.”

Just like the song and just like the band, this shot is a slow burner. In contrast to “Wolf Like Me” the boys shifted gears and went with no colors and a clean frame. We guess you really can’t go wrong with putting a great looking female at the center of your shot either.

It’s not just a shot about a guy doing a crazy dance on crutches. It’s a long continuous shot of a guy in New York who walks, dances, and skates with and without crutches. The money is when the skating portion begins, turns into a beautiful shot in the sun, and ends with a frozen crash pose. Wonderous.

A normal projection shot is just that. Normal. See Bright Eyes “Hot Knives“.
Released one month after, Daughter’s second tussle with projection pays off in dividends. So what did P.D. teach us? Whereas nice things are all and well, it’s the visually striking that’s gonna turn peoples’ heads.

The final video in director Saam’s trilogy (so far) keeps the Klaxons high atop our list once again. Yes, it’s another strange trip that has the boys breaking things in super slow motion. But it’s also something we have yet to see before. Where are the Klaxons? Who are they supposed to be? What are they defending? Who is the enemy? When it comes to art direction, sometimes you just can’t beat Saam.

Wrap your head around this piece. A backwards shot (yes, again) but it’s also an extremely slow revealing one that centers around beauty and it’s obsession with itself. The song, the sounds, and the reveal move forward. The players continue backward. The back and forth dynamic and its commentary makes this an important piece. Especially with so little given. Less is more?

The twee gang is obviously unsatisfied with the ordinary. Each song is crafted with as many details and nuances as can fit. Why would their visuals be any different? The first part could be silly as with many of their songs. But as it kicks in, the group switches it up, giving us a colorful educational experience south of the border.

Largely agreed upon as one of the top albums of the year. What’s impressive about this, is that M.I.A. brings herself out of her senses overload videos (slightly) and gives us something beautiful to go along with this cover. She still finds time to throw in her own style and bring to light others we don’t see everyday. It’s tough to find females at the tops of these lists, M.I.A. does it with ease.

Sometimes all you need is a solid song and a solid idea to make something special. A nostalgic memory, like a dance from long ago. Or a song about life and standing up to it. There are times when all you have to do, is stay on course and not fuck up and your video will do all the work for you.

We’ve yet to see !!! in concert or meet them in person, and because of this video, we don’t want to. We want to believe that there are some crazy ass hardcore party people out in the world who go all-out, bat-shit crazy. Dickinson knows how to handle this as the tone and look of the shot never wavers. From the party goers, to the band, to the set decoration and props. We’re waiting for our invite to the next fiesta.

Ahh, Jose Gonzalez and Andreas Nilsson. You don’t see this kind of shot coming out of America. Things like these videos only birth out of the minds from foreign lands. Nilsson’s eye for the ugly and eccentric, satisfy our cravings for the different. Meanwhile, J.G.’s voice and guitar cradle us in warmth and life. A double team double shot.

After what we saw of the Rapture in “Get Myself Into It” and “Whoo, Alright…” it was a breath of fresh air to see the gentleman take it slow and classy. A rather chic video that kept its cred by avoiding a complete black and white color wheel. It fiddles with lights, dabbles in effects, and keeps the ladies dancing so we don’t forget to tap our feet to the beat. It’s because of this we keep a girl dancing beside us at all times. Like the iPhone, how did we ever live without it?

We hate The Horrors. Nothing against them. They’re just not our cup of tea. Knowing that and seeing where they fall on our list must say something about this animated shot. A gruesome blend of drawings and live action shots, “She Is The New Thing” supplements the heavily used organs to a ‘T’. In fact we’d probably buy a few prints had we the access.

Brendan Cook returned this year to breathe visual life into another somber ballad. Creating quite the companion piece to Gotye’s high vocals, Cook took the idea of “Preparing the Earth for burial,” and made a visually rich shot that left us impressed. Like true art, we continue to watch and re-watch discovering new qualities that amazes us and keeps animation fresh on our taste buds.

With someone as exceptional as Haines it takes someone special to take her music and put it to a visual. Albertin knows just what he’s dealing with and its not easy. No matter what it looks like. If shooting with this newer thermal technology was so simple, why didn’t someone else do it? Could you really see this shot matched so well with anyone else? Every choice to make this video was correct, which if you know anything is sometimes the hardest thing to do.

This video is far fucking out. It takes place on a normal stage, but o, does it have some of the most imagination we’ve seen in a long while. Running through a city. Developing a lobster arm? A ghost in the crowd?! Stopping to catch an arrow!?! We wish most plays had this kind of fun and imagination. Of course when it comes to Of Montreal, how foolish was it to expect anything less?

Yes kids, it’s Saam again. Although surprise surprise, no Klaxons in sight. In fact, who is Unklejam? When it comes to this video, it doesn’t really matter. The darkness and multi-colored look is exceptional and even though he uses his liquid staples, it still looks different than anything he’s done prior to. The outfits are out of this world and so are those liquid dancers. We applaud for creating things out of nowhere and taking us places we’ve never been before.

When we think of Animal Collective and their work, we no longer expect the usual. In fact we prepare for the worst, in the best way possible. “Peacebone” is no exception. A love story between a freak and an alien sounds wrong already, but with Saccenti at the helm, it becomes a visual masterpiece. Gruesome close-ups and disgusting details make us marvel and sick at the same time. Nice.

There should be no reason for Fergie nor anyone from the mainstream pop world to be on this list. Except that this video is crazy awesome. Crazy because of the pop-up book idea. Awesome because of how well it was pulled off. Its fun, yet intricate, and even though the acting leaves a little something to be desired, it’s no fooling when we say if we’re to be subjected to this kind of music, then it better be accompanied with this caliber of shot.

Saccenti killed it this year with this video. Everyone was talking about this shot, and for good reason. With a crystal clear view, we saw a group of four young men spinning in a cube with all of their equipment, playing a song that was not of this world. An intellectual conversation between vision and sound in the infinite. No video made such an impact with so little.

And now one of the largest singles this year. All we could have asked for was for Jonas & François not to fuck up this video. Instead, the boys became ballers, and stepped up big. So big they even found themselves almost snagging an award from Mtv! Even the Kanye follow-up couldn’t compare, nor detract from this shot. Which managed to make us forget to find out what Justice looked like the entire shot.

Another hugely hyped shot from a huge band. This was in the works for a long ass time, and it shows. How something like this was conceived let alone accomplished is beyond us. Rock formations and odd beings make for dense subject matter, but just because it’s tough, doesn’t meant it isn’t exceptional.

Wow. We half jokingly mentioned this as being great for an ad. Lo and behold Apple took it and ran with it all the way to the bank. Not that Feist didn’t either. And who, of course, orchestrated the whole thing? Why Mr. Patrick Daughters of course. The go-to guy for Feist, Daughters’ whimsy side fits her music so well that we couldn’t imagine anything better. One question P.D., how’d you make all those dancers appear and disappear so slyly?

We’re not sure if this is more compelling because of the song (Off one of SRO’s top albums of the year) or the video itself. Bees being used as slaves to the evil tank birds and their dreams of rising up. It sounds crazy, but it’s quite the dark and somber tale. Elements of 3-D animation and real life items catapult this shot into a higher level. Making us feel for the bees. Making us stare at the pieces of the fallen bees. Who knows what this is all for, but when it’s through, we’re left wondering how we relate to those tiny insects.

There was already a video for this song. The album was long since fresh. Still, that didn’t stop Warren Fu from taking an idea and turning it into something intricate and delightful. Sending the Strokes out into another universe to communicate with other life is a hard sell. However, this Class-A piece of art almost shows us how far we’ve come from our own beginnings. Before it ends, we’ll all be treated to an elaborate landscape, a cool as fuck performance piece and the return of the mighty Strokes.

With so much out there in the wild wild web, its tough to stay on top of your game. Stepping it up this year on all fronts was The Arcade Fire. Building up their highly anticipated follow up to Funeral, the Fire led many on wild goose chases with phone numbers, cryptic websites, and informercials. After the release, the band continued their assault with one hell of an inventive idea. an interactive video. Got a problem with the video, there’s only one person to blame. You. Click above to become a hot shot director of Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible”. What other band can say they did that for you?

It’s one thing to be a female recording artist and be respected in the video world. It’s another to be a female director and respected in the same circles. We don’t know where Alma Har’el came from, but her collaboration with Zach Condon, aka Beirut, was serendipitous. She was able to take a song, Brilliant and Vast on its own and make it Worldly and Epic. And Elegant. And Exquisite. And Timeless. Through no one else’s eyes could this have been accomplished and we can’t wait to see what else this darling has in store for us.

Hip-Hop isn’t seen much around these parts. We won’t say it’s because all the videos are the same, that would be lazy and too easy. Whatever the reason, when we come across them in our endless searches, we normally look upon them with our noses slightly upturned. Until this video came and punched us in the gut. We were fixed on not only Dizzee’s track, but on what this video was showing us. The gritty streets. The horse in the house. The bloodthirsty hunters. The brave hunted. This video represents a side of hip hop that needs to be seen way more often than not. W.I.Z. is a trailblazer, someone that comes around once in a while, who shows us how it’s all done.

Well, here it is. The best video of 2007. After all of those before it, the video that could hold itself against all others. And look at that, it was released as early as could be in January, how convenient.

A video that takes place in myth and story, for a band that too rises above most. As we all anticipated the newest album from Modest Mouse, what we should’ve been preparing for was a video that reminded us the capabilities of our imagination.

An old sailor’s tale of his time at sea and the adventure that would forever change him. Who could’ve come up with the idea of a strange land based on music and its technologies. How it and its inhabitants consume that which it comes across in order to worship that which it loves. And just as Isaac Brock explains his tale to the naive in his company, he could just as well be making a case for the video to us, the viewer.

It’s a shame that in many, if not all of the video lists out there, this video was not even mentioned nor put in a deserving spot. To leave such a masterpiece lying to waste in oblivion is almost a slap in the face to Modest Mouse and more importantly, Motion Theory’s. If you check out Motion Theory’s past work, you will see that this is par for their course. You’ll realize that this was no fluke. That just as much effort went into this video as was anything your beloved Encyclopedia Pictura put out this year. Let it be known that any year Motion Theory puts out a piece, is a year that they are a contender. Do not fuck with them.

To you gentlemen and your staff at Motion Theory. We raise our glasses high.

Well it’s that time of year again. Marked by heavy drinking and gift giving, two things that are staples of the SRO staff diet. And, since we realize heavy drinking is an easy skill to master, we decided to once again guide our loyal readers to the ideal gifts for your friends and family this season. You don’t have to be a hipster to shop here, our gifts transcend all monikers and classifications. So don’t hesitate, read up and then get out that web browser and start shopping.

Also, if any of you out there have some killer ideas to add, leave us a link in the comments and we will entertain adding them to the list if they delight us. With credit given to you of course. So let us know what we missed that you love!

Nerdcore 2008 Calendar

For every cool kid, there’s always a bit of a nerd lurking somewhere in the depths. What we’ve done is found something to take that inner dork and turn it into something prideful. In our travels, we happened upon Nerdcore, a company that takes our favorite geek qualities and turns them into delicious art, albeit somewhat risqué.

Last year, they took to video games and their accessories and draped them over some of the sexiest models around. Then they got famed photographer Cherie Roberts and designer/artist Jason Adam to take those images and concoct a calendar out of it. This year, they’ve gone and upped the ante with a new geeky theme, Heroes and Villains, and boy, did they outdo themselves. Loading 2008’s calendar up with former playmates in an oversized 12×18 layout, dressed (or undressed) in their skimpiest get-ups, the playa’s over at Nerdcore also added important dates to the months as well, such as:

- The Morning Oceanic Flight 815 departed
- Quentin Tarantino’s Birthday
- San Diego Comic-Con
- The day Marty McFly went back in time
- Movie release dates for Indiana Jones IV, Dark Knight, Speed Racer, Iron Man and more

Note: For best results, snag that two pack of calendars, which includes not only this year’s calendar, but last years as well, for the low price of $40. That’s the deal we’d go with, and that’s our ultimate recommendation. Being nerdy was never supposed to be this cool.

Cost: $25 (1 Calendar) – $40 (2 Pack)

The Watchmen

Last year, we told you to watch out for 300. As of now, it’s grossed over $210 million.

Earlier this year, we warned you about Superbad. Last checked, it topped $121 million and became the Halloween costume of the year.

What will you do now, when we tell you that one of the most fucked up Graphic Novels ever written is being filmed as we speak by the forces responsible for 300? Does that sound like something you might be interested in? It fuckin’ better be.

If your dear hipster friend doesn’t already own a previous version of The Watchmen or has no idea what this is, it’s your job as a friend to bestow this upon he/she. If they are a true socialite and do own a copy, hit them with the hardcover version, as an ‘upgrade’ for style points. If they dare question it, tell them that it will be their favorite movie in the year ‘09. Tell them that it was so good, Time Magazine placed it on their All-Time 100 Novels list. And if it’s a girl, tell her that the movie will star Denny from Grey’s Anatomy (or Judah from Weeds) and Russell from Almost Famous.

Cost: $47 Hardcover

Cost: $14 Softcover

You’ve probably already seen some of Knock Knock’s amusing gifts at stores like Urban Outfitters (like their Slang Flash Cards or their Personal Library Kit) but if you haven’t browsed their site you’re missing out. They have lots of cute ideas for stocking stuffers etc. The best of their offerings? This Multiple Choice Correspondence kit has over 43 different multiple-choice letters for a variety of occasions. Just find the right letter, check the appropriate boxes, tear along the perforated lines, and mail it! (No need to grab an envelope-each page is a folding self-mailer.) Genius. It makes old-fashioned mail so easy.

Cost: $25 – MC Correspondence

Cost: $15 – Slang Flash Cards

Cost: $25 – Personal Library Kit

Find yourself up late, unable to put that needle down? Unable to turn off that Colin Meloy? Well, do we have the gift for you. Decemberists Embroidery kit. Yup, for a measly three dollars you can get your fix on and still worship your favorite band, the Decemberists. My suggestions would be to make some killer pjs with a custom stitching job so that indie girl/guy knows you mean business on sleep-over-sundays.

Cost: $3

Final Cut Express 4

Still saving up for that copy of Final Cut Studio 2? Well here is a hint — quit saving and go buy Final Cut Express instead. Then take all that money you just saved and invest in some proper lighting equipment instead. I guarantee your project will take on new beauty with this small but simple step. Final Cut Express offers all the options you might need as an up-and-comer in the world of music videos, so don’t worry about missing out no anything. Seriously, invest in lighting first, and then somewhere down the road you can upgrade to that Final Cut Studio if it makes you feel better. Just a tip!

Cost: $199

Esquire Magazine Subscription

Thinking outside of the box is something we pride ourselves on when it comes to gifts for the people who meet our standards. One such gift, is a subscription to our pre-approved and/or favorite magazine. In this case, it’s Esquire. Sure it’s tailored towards men, but every supermodel that stops by the SRO Labs, can’t help but flip through it to size up their competition, comment on many of the suggestions, or agree with the “10 Things You Don’t Know About Women.” This is the Gentleman’s Maxim. Want to show the ladies (or parents) that you’ve grown up, keep these around the house and see how your game steps up. Here are just a few other features to whet the appetite:

- The Sexiest Woman Alive
- Chuck Klosterman’s America
- The Big Black Book: The Style Manual for Successful Men
- 10 Things You Don’t Know About Women
- What I’ve Learned (By celebrities such as The White Stripes, Jack Nicholson, David Bowie, Homer Simpson and God to name a few)
- Women We Love

Cost: $8 – 1 Year Subscription (12 Issues)

ReadyMade Magazine

Already on their 31st issue, ReadyMade magazine is still filled with fresh, ingenious ideas for DIY crafters. I received a subscription to this magazine a couple of years ago and have loved it ever since, so I can assure you it’s an excellent gift. Want to do stuff like turn pillowcase into a skirt, bake a vegan gingerbread house, or create a coffee table out of chicken wire, 1000 piece puzzles, and twine? Perfect. This is your kind of magazine. And it’s much more than just a crafter’s how-to magazine. They have inspirational features on artists, designers, and architects and all other sorts of fascinating pieces pertaining to the creative lifestyle. For example, in the current issue you can read about three live-work collectives from Philadelphia, Oakland, and Los Angeles, find places for affordable art, take a crash course on rewiring lights, and learn how to create a mesh fruit bowl from orange construction fencing. Awesome.

Cost: $19 – 1 Year Subscription (Six Issues)

Cost: $30 – Gift Kit: 1 Year Subscription (6 Issues) + a ReadyMade American Apparel t-shirt + a Surprise Gift

Trying to quit smoking but been too busy reading Kafka? Then check these little wonders. Probably the coolest literary invention, short of the Kindle(joke), I’ve seen in a long time. Actual unabridged fictional classics that fit inside of specially designed Cigarette boxes. The brainchild of Tank — a London design firm — and apparently available by phone order only. Supposedly they are making their way across the pond sometime next year, so if you want one now, get out your Google skills or make that call.

Cost: Unknown

Mimobots: Flash drives

Techie or not, they would love one of these cute little mimobots. Why? Because they’re awesome! Mimobots are designer USB flash drives that look like charming little characters. They’re quite a few different collections, including popular ones like Star Wars and Halo. Personally, I love the Artist Series that features different artists who design their own. The King & Queen mimobots are my top pick. Designed by Undoboy, an uber-hip graphic designer/advertising art director, they come preloaded with the Mimozine digital magazine and there’s even an optional hoodie-keychain accessory for them to wear! If you’re interested, you should by them quickly though. Most of the mimobots are limited edition and sell-out completely.

Cost: $49.95/$69.95/$109.95 — 1GB/2GB/4GB.

Albums worth your money

Nikki McClure

If you’re trying to make an impression with this year’s gift, and you’d like to stray away from the naked-models-wearing-capes variety, Nikki McClure is who we’re gonna send you to. A staple of art that everyone at SRO whole heartedly adores. Here’s a little info about her from her site:

Nikki McClure of Olympia, Washington is known for her painstakingly intricate and beautiful paper cuts. Armed with an X-acto knife, she cuts out her images from a single sheet of paper and creates a bold language that translates the complex poetry of motherhood, nature, and activism into a simple and endearing picture.

Our recommendation to impress any friend or family member lies with the calendar. You get 12 pieces to last the year, each of which is titled with one word. What does the word mean? What does it have to do with the picture? How does it pertain to your life? The key is to make your own questions and your own answers for that whole month, after which, you get to start anew! Art that not only inspires but makes you earn it, now isn’t that what good art is supposed to do? You can even be proud to display it when your parents stop by, or hell, give it to your parents instead. There’s nothing better than not only being cool yourself, but making those around you just as stylin’.

Cost: $16 – “Things To Make And Do” Calendar

Cost: $3 – $25 Various Artwork

Knife Set

Really want your knife set to send a message. Message being, “If you sleep with my roommates I will stab you in the heart”, then go pick up this little number over at Think Geek. Such a website is chock-full of all kinds of gift ideas, but make sure to bring home that knife set for someone special. Give them something to think about.

Cost: $70 – $100

My watch laughs at the inferiority of your watch. Think you are balling with that ridiculous piece of time on your wrist? Well step to Tokyo Flash, home of the most unique time pieces around. The best part about it is that they actually are reasonably priced. I guarantee you’ll be the only kid on the corner with one of these.

Cost: $90 – $250

Various Films

Taking into account for the current technological war on our hands, each of these films is represented in each high quality format; DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray. Of course, true gangstas would never be caught dead in anything but Blu.

Hearts of Darkness : In this day and age, Apocalypse Now is required viewing for any real cinephile. This old documentary, is now re-released to remind us how fucked up the journey to film Apocalypse was. Practically killing one of the greatest directors of our time. It even comes with a new documentary on his new work Youth Without Youth to show us how pimp Coppola really is.
[Amazon Link]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Collectors Edition): Believe it or not, back in the day Steven Spielberg didn’t fuck around. He aimed high and made no apologies, nor did he pull any punches. His works now-a-days, while still tip top, lack the guts he had back when he was writing his own shit. Even now, when asked recently, whether he would have changed the ending to Close Encounters to make it more family friendly, he said yes. Thank god this release is all hopped up on digital steroids today, so we can continue to pretend he’s still a rebel.
[Amazon Link]

Blade Runner (Ultimate Collectors Edition): Ridley Scott’s 4th film comes at us again in ultra atomic mode. Warner Bros. basically pimped Scott’s ride with 3 versions (Theatrical, Director’s, and Ultimate) plus extras on 5 discs. So hardcore it comes in a silver “Deckard” briefcase and includes a toy Spinner car. More people need to own this, if not to get schooled by Harrison Ford vs. Rutger Hauer, then so I can dress up as Raff for Halloween without having to explain myself.
[Amazon Link]

Stanley Kubrick Directors Series: 2001. A Clockwork Orange. The Shining. Eyes Wide Shut. Platoon. In High Def? Oh Shit, You Craazy Jesus![Amazon link]

Superbad: After what we said earlier this year, did you really think we’d leave this off? Come now. [Amazon link]

Is your girlfriend always coming home with loose change? I know, mine does too. Well this is the perfect way to get that loose change to a saving location. Give her a cloud bank from Kurt Hasely. If you don’t know Mr. Hasely, he does some great work so check out his other stuff over at his site. I really like his prints, but they are hard to get ahold of — so good luck on that. He does have these though — adorable stationary. And we all know cute stationary is how you get sex! You heard it here!

Check out some of his other stuff too!

Cost: $20 – Bank

Cost: $5 – Stationary and Stickers

Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin is the funniest man on stage these days. With little press and not the over the top success of Dane Cook, Demetri has been making people laugh for years. Did you know he was a writer for Conan O’Brien? I know you didn’t. Maybe you saw him on the Daily Show, maybe you didn’t. Either way do yourself a favor and hook up with his cd/dvd combo for These are Jokes or his hour long special Person. “Every fight is a food fight, when you’re a cannibal.” There is also a moment in Person that will take every guy to the floor. Thank us later.

Cost: $15 – Person

Cost: $13 – These Are Jokes

Flight of The Conchords

Two New Zealand bandmates travel to New York to become the biggest band in America. Trials and tribulations follow. None of that is important. What’s important is that somewhere in the show, the band breaks into the greatest music video parodies the world has ever seen. Every thing is included; Flashdance, Bowie, Daft Punk and everthing in between. If you missed the first season on HBO be sure to pick it up today and if you read this blog it’s a must.

Cost: $30

Girls love chocolate. But if you’re out to impress a girl with a cultured, artistic palate, Hershey’s just won’t do. So meet Vosges, a Chicago-based chocolatier that’s one of the premier companies specializing in chocolate couture.

Their Exotic Truffle Box is a globally-inspired collection featuring some of the most outrageous flavor combinations. The Black Pearl, for example, is a dark chocolate truffle with hints of traditional Japanese flavors: ginger, wasabi, and black sesame. The Indian-inspired Naga features milk chocolate paired with coconut and sweet Indian curry. The sweet and spicy flavors of Mexico combine in the Oaxaca truffle: two kinds of chilies, dark chocolate, and organic pumpkin seeds. My favorite pick would have to be the Woolloomooloo, though. Named after some crazy suburb in Sydney, this truffle mixes Australian macadamia nuts, coconuts with a milk chocolate. Delicious! The collection is such an imaginative exploration of global flavors; it makes the perfect gift for the adventurous.

Cost: $25/$39/$73 — 9/16/32 pieces

Small Things Jewelry

If there’s one thing that’ll make a girl be nice all year long (or naughty, depending on how you look at it), it’s the hope of receiving something shiny for Christmas. And you know what I’m talking about: jewelry! But beware, because all jewelry is not created equal. Ugly jewelry –even though it’s jewelry– is still ugly.

I was delighted when I came across Small Things last year. Their jewelry is adorable and truly reflects the meticulous care that is put into it. Artist Teresa Robinson designs, cuts, and solders each individual piece by hand. And because each piece is made to order, you can customize the piece you want by choosing from different designs, shapes, sizes, and colors. There are four collections to choose from. Bits and Pieces is Robinson’s newest. The necklaces, bracelets, and rings are adorned with charmingly simple everyday items like a love letter, cupcake, or telephone. Her Originals collection is my favorite. Delicate images of birds, flowers, skulls, and stars are cut in sterling silver and laid over cut glass in your favorite color.
They’re perfect. Just make sure you order soon for Christmas. Since they are handmade, it takes approximately 2-4 weeks to receive your order.

Cost: $45 – $105 depending on the collection and size

Everyone Loves a T-shirt

Cost: $19

For everyone who loves what we call music.

Cost: $20

Cost: $22

The Design Town

If you’re looking for something truly unique for that special hipster, stop by The Design Town. Let me give you the skinny, every night at midnight (EST) a new item becomes available to buy and when it runs out or turns the next day, that’s it. That’s all you get. You saw something yesterday you wanted, better luck next time. That item will never be on the website again. This website guarantees two things; loyalty and uniqueness. Buy a loved one something unique today because you can guarantee no one else will ever have that item. Just don’t buy something we want.

Cost: Various

Joe Leobetter Prints

Joe Leobetter. Helped create one of the greatest music videos George has ever seen. WATCH IT. You can buy prints of the characters or other shit he has from his site. Get on it!

Cost: $40-$100

We just thought this was clever and by the way, how is that working out for you?

Here’s the deal: every video is available via YouTube for casual, low quality viewing. Every video is also downloadable in higher quality to truly appreciate the work (and to amass a nice music video collection for your iPod/Zune/PSP/etc.). Simple.

For those who plan on downloading many videos, we offer the videos in 10-pack zip files. If you want to download many, most, or all of the videos we beg that you use this option to prevent our server from blowing up in a fiery death ball. For the truly dedicated and tech-savvy we also have the entire list available in one shot: a torrent file. Take this option if you can as it’s the fastest way to have the best videos of the year living happily on your hard disk. Of course, you can still download individual videos as you wish.

Enjoy!

*** Mass-Download options (we prefer you use these if you can!) ***

DOWNLOAD ALL VIDEOS (torrent)

The link below is a torrent link. If you don’t know what that is, don’t bother with it: try the ZIP files instead. I think I only 80% know what I’m doing when it comes to torrents, so please let us know if the torrent isn’t working.

***
UPDATE 01-17-07: Okay, so our previous torrent tracker (Torrentbox) got shut down, so I’ve created a new one via Mininova. Hopefully this one sticks around for awhile longer. This torrent is a directory and not a ZIP file, so there’s an improvement at least. Let us know if something isn’t working.
***

(1.36 GB – Directory, via Mininova)

DOWNLOAD VIDEO 10-PACKS (zip)

Clicking the link will take you to a page. On the top right of this page is a 3 letter code. Enter this code and hit ‘Download’. You will then be shown a counter where you must wait 45 seconds, after which you can click the actual link to begin the download [via MegaUpload].

(248.3 MB)

(241.6 MB)

(256.3 MB)

(251.2 MB)

(245.9 MB)

(148.2 MB)

Individual downloads available within the list. Speaking of which…

The Top 56 Music Videos of 2006

If you haven’t caught on, Music Videos are an underappreciated art form. Especially as of late, music videos get very little respect as the money to produce them is scarce and the means to view them is questionable. Compared to feature-length Hollywood movies, Music Videos are barely a blip on the radar. Wannabes do music videos; real men make movies.

If you want to make the analogy, imagine Hollywood films (the popcorn, summer movie type) as the arrogant rich kid and Music Video as the scrappy kid who works twice as hard for half the reward. Of course the arrogant rich kid always picks on the scrappy youngster, pushing him down, stealing his money, and getting the girl. Poor little kid can’t get a break, and nobody at school respects him at all.

Now imagine that scrappy kid walks right up to that arrogant rich kid and with no hesitation punches him in the face, knocks him out, catches the football to make the game winning touchdown, grabs the arrogant rich kid’s girl, and walks away into the sunset. That, in a nutshell, is “Knights of Cydonia”.

Technically, the video is amazing. Everything is shot absolutely beautifully. It looks just as good – hell, it looks better – than what’s currently playing at your local multiplex. All this holds while making tongue-in-cheek mistakes based on the fictional production company that would have made a space cowboy epic, like being able to see the crew in the mirror during the bedroom scene. All the details, even the mistakes, are present, accounted for, and perfected.

Artistically, Knights of Cydonia is in a league of its own for creating a compelling world. Sure, everything is culled heavily from a handful of cinema greats, but this is essentially a great popcorn movie edited down to the bare essentials to a tidy 6 minutes. This video is your favorite movies, with all the boring crap edited out. I’ll say it right now: this is a complete film, start to finish, and quite honestly it really loses very little compared to the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, James Bonds, of the world. This music video has proven what we’ve known all along: our favorite movies are really 6 minutes of goodness surrounding by 114 minutes of filler. This music video is doing “movies” better than most movies are.

While other videos may be a bit more clever or have a better gimmick, none of them have the balls that Knights of Cydonia has in battling Hollywood on it’s own turf and taking a win. The minor point is this: if this were a full movie, I would pay to see it. The major point is this: if this video were expanded into a full movie, it wouldn’t be as good. This is not music videos being Hollywood: this is still a music video through and through, it just happens to beat Hollywood at it’s own game. What Joseph Kahn has done is shown that music video has the potential to rival the art form that spends so much time looking down on it. The boundary between music video and Hollywood cinema was just obliterated and with that Mr. Kahn has created the best music video of 2006.

(36.1 MB)

You either like the Mountain Goats or you don’t. Their sound is very defined and I’m pretty sure at this point the phrase Mountain Goat-ish has become an adjective that is well understood in the indie world. Being a fan of John Darnielle, I was presently surprised to see Rian Johnson tagged as the director for their latest video. His debut film Brick made quite a splash in the cinematic world, garnering him much acclaim and little hate, for a movie that was mostly successful for its clever writing. Juxtaposed to this video, which is all tricks and edits, one wonders what else this young director has up his sleeve.

Rumor around the internet said that this was done with only two cuts and no post production trickery, and while I’m no film editing/trickery/magic expert, I do find it hard to believe. All of the fade in and outs from the TVs are too clear to be done without cuts and more importantly, on a few of the zoom ins the angle becomes tilted or slanted and could no way be obtained from just getting closer to flat screen. The cuts are seamless though and do make for wonderful and tricky video that at first may seem like an inappropriate companion to an acoustic/slow going song about loss and love, but after it finishes all the flash seems quite appropriate. No matter the number of cuts, this video stands as quite an accomplishment for director Rian Johnson and his next project will definitely be scrutinized and anticipated with equal fervor.

(20.5 MB)

3) Sean Lennon – Friendly Fire (Michele Civetta)

As far as music videos go, Sean Lennon’s Friendly Fire opus goes well above and beyond the norm in both style, scope, and caliber. Granted, the help of his and his namesake’s deep pockets and significant connections are a factor, this project still could’ve been a trainwreck. Director Michele Civetta’s keen eye and distinct style marry the visuals to Lennon’s score impeccably giving the piece a kind of class that is scarcely found in the disposable field that has engulfed mainstream music videos.

The mere fact that this encompasses an entire album alone make Friendly Fire worthy of being placed on this list, however, what sets this apart from the other album-related projects, is its devotion to one entire storyline via alternate routes found in daydreams, memories, and outright fantasies. All of which, no matter how whimsical or fantastic, hold respect for the audience without pandering to us or lowering its standards for the general populace.

Like most of any artist’s finer works, the album and accompanying film spawned out of the tragedy, pain, love and loss that surrounded Lennon, and it is with that, in which he presents us with such a personal tale, 10 songs long, that I’ve no doubt his mom does and dad would approve.

We leave you with the first two pieces of this truly inspiring work as but a sample of what Lennon has to offer. It would be a disservice to such a project to post it in its entirety, not only because of the monetary angle, but because craftmanship like this should and needs to be supported. Do yourselves a favor and buy this from somewhere, shit like this needs to be encouraged for sure.

Dead Meat

(51.62 MB)

Parachute

(45.24 MB)

4) The Teddybears – Cobrastyle (Ace Norton)

Ace Norton is the wunderkind, straight outta USC Film School, who seems to actually represent what most of us expect of someone to have attended such a prestigious establishment. At 24, his work is already acclaimed and his resume longer and more established than most of the players in his field. With no less than 20 videos already under his belt, its scary to think that his stride has even begun to form.
And in the midst of all the quality videos he’s dropped on us so far, including Death Cab’s “Crooked Teeth”, The Faint’s “Desperate Guys”, Smoosh’s “Find A Way”, and The Willowz “Ulcer Soul”, I find it hard to top his crowd pleasing Mockumentary-like shot for The Teddybears “Cobrastyle”.

Norton throws in the usual rock star fare of drugs, sex, parties, overdoses, and homages to famed classic incidences, however the means he uses to sew them together so that we end up rooting for them to come back to life or feel sorry for them when they miss their child’s first “grrr” impresses the hell out of us. Not to mention his attention to detail in balancing the humor and respectability of handling such an idea that could’ve easily gone the road most traveled. Kudos to him and his team for giving all of us a video we can watch again and again without having to explain ourselves.

(27.39 MB)

Ben Rollason has been a busy boy this year; directing clips for Little Man Tate, Battle, and two for Jeremy Warmsley. Here we find him tackling a worse song with a better concept (versus his work for ‘I Believe In the Way You Move), Rollason pulls off a great video with a simple yet effective idea. Filming still actors while having them move only certain parts of their body and then speeding up the frames and doing some post production magic, Rollason creates a visually stunning ride that leaves you asking ‘How’d he do that?” Well from the mouth of the director and a much better explanation than the sentence above:

“The backdrops are stills, but it’s all shot with a moving camera. Scenes were filmed for several minutes, with actors posing still. Unbalanced poses are supported by ropes, boxes, sticks, inflatable air mattresses and so on.(which you can see in the shots). The point was to see genuine physical pain and uncontrolled muscular spasm as the ’stills’ collapse.

The post process was simply to speed the footage up by varying degrees (up to 20x) and then blend frames together to create a time continuum within each frame, (sometimes as many as 700 frames per frame). The blurring is real motion blur. Sometimes the actors held a pose, save for one limb which they continually moved back and forth. In the finished shot they appear static, but the limb is a blur.

As the footage speed increases and the frame blending reduces, the movement reveals itself.”

As you can see he likes his tricks and his videos serve as evidence that he is quite savvy at pulling them off. Rollason is definitely a director to watch and it will be exciting to see what the new year has in store us/him.

(11.1 MB)

6) Justice vs. Simian – We Are Your Friends (Rozan & Schmeltz)

The Mtv video lovers across the pond chose this as their “Video of the Year” much to the distaste of a Mr. Kanye West. What this proves is, that no matter the budget, genre, or star-power a shot is driven by, nothing beats fuckin’ with your passed out drunk friends. Granted some of these -ahem- “situations” are completely ridiculous and far-fetched, their payoffs are damn well worth it, to the point that if we ever got the chance, we’d love to do this to our own friends.

And that my friends is a testament to the power of a video, in which it excites and motivates you to replicate it or its ideas outside from your “viewer” position. Like Jackass or any of its other subsidiaries, it was a big thing because of how it influenced so many people, despite being for the wrong(?) reasons. Yeah, this isn’t some groundbreaking serious masterpiece, but it still leaves a lasting impression on us and shows that some plain old lighthearted fun can translate over into art and still keep up with those that hit on a more thoughtful or significant level. Here’s to exploiting our friends when they’re most vulnerable, and doing it with style!

(21.89 MB)

7) I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness – The Owl (Emmanuel Ho)

The song The Owl is a wonderful 2:30 instrumental piece. Despite having no lyrics, the video for The Owl might just be the most perfect visual representation of a song this year, or ever. The moment the opening guitar is paired with the vibrations of the wire holding the crow captive you know you are in the midst of something very, very special. The trend continues throughout the song, with every subtle shift, addition, or pause in the music paralleled by a perfectly representative symbolic representation on the screen. The ominous chords paired with the images of the Owl make for an absolutely chilling moment that ignites a sense of impending doom like no other.

Aside from this perfect marriage, the visuals themselves are a thing of beauty. While technology has allowed animated videos to tend to more dense layering and increasing complication, Emmanuel Ho takes a completely different path in The Owl that evoke a naked vulnerability. Working in black and white, the images in The Owl define a bold serenity that add a sense of urgency and anxiety to the visuals. Every single still frame in this video would make a stunning print to hang on your wall (Note to Emmanuel: contact us for our mailing address wink wink). Further, every scene is pregnant with symbolic structure: every time I watch this video the symbolism becomes more textured, deep, and brilliant. Bold, haunting, and unique, The Owl is easily the best animated video of 2006, adding credence to old adage that “less is more”.

(22.6 MB)

The Maccabees – First Love (Terry Hall)

Everyone wants to fall in love. Everyone wants to find that one person that completes them. The sad truth is that not everyone finds that, or if they do, it’s only for brief moments in their life. So, anytime someone can creatively capture the sentiments of love and the mystery that surrounds it in a way that makes you tingle a bit, I say we should take notice.

Oh the Maccabees – where to begin? After reveling in their cloud of British obscurity for the past few years, they hooked up with Terry Hall and somewhere in that encounter get a top notch video made and for no money I’m assuming. (No money = very little money.) Presently they’re getting mentioned all over the web from the ville, to the fork, and back again for their creative efforts. I say bravo. They’re well deserving of the adulation.

This is the kind of perfect coupling of video and song that conjures the most heartfelt sentiments. Between the off-kilter vocals and the quirky, yet meaningful imagery throughout the video, it’s sure to strike a chord in everyone it reaches. I have shown this video to quite a few official “I don’t like music videos” people and I have come away with nothing short of praise and acclaim for it. Nothing speaks truer to the inherent value of a work of art more, than when it transcends the boundaries of its medium and reaches those others, who would normally not take notice.

The video itself is the work of Terry Hall, who does a stellar job at capturing the “first love/lost love” sentiment in familiar objects – be it a car, lips, clothes, a room, a broken mug, or the imprint of a hand. All these items convey a surprising amount of emotion when presented visually and are much more effective than overtly obvious, classic concrete images that usually signify love and loss and pain. Similar to the scare tactics of great horror/suspense film makers, the less you show the audience and the more you leave up to their imagination, the more successful you will be in evoking the desired emotion – be it horror/love/sadness or anything else.

Simple stated, the video is touching. This rarely happens in the realm of the music video – maybe a few times a year, at best. Sure, there are plenty of visually stunning or gimmicky/tricky videos out there, but the ones that touch your heart are the ones that are remembered – just like with love.

(35.9 MB)

9) Wolf Parade – Modern World (Adam Bizanski)

Despite the fact that the modern world is all around us and we all actively contribute to it, we sometimes fail to realize how modernization actually effects our society. Adam Bizanski’s vision for Wolf Parade’s Modern World takes us through an alternate-reality where everything, even the making of music, has become mechanized. It is here that we find our heroes of this ‘Modern World’, just trying to make ends meet.

Opening with a premonition of things to come, the video follows through the scenario of a modern world becoming modern to a fault, and neglecting its human inhabitants. The visuals are amazing and Bizanski does a superb job, putting to shame other stop motion attempts and proving his peerless status. It actually seems like the eyes of the characters are actual video, superimposed over the stop motion dolls, giving them an added life-like quality.

For such a simple song, it’s amazing to see such a complex treatment of it, allowing us to extrapolate all kinds of themes and messages. The over-modernization of the workplace, the harm in technology, the effects on blue-collar America, and our most historic fear of robots taking over the planet, are all brought to light in the short 3 minutes that it runs. When Dan Boeckner sings, “Modern world, I’m not pleased to meet you/You just bring me down,” the sadness that this band is feeling sinks in and we feel something for them/us, thinking “maybe that could be me someday.” Closing with the images of the initial premonition becoming reality and a beautiful shot of the characters at sunset, Bizanski closes out one of the best videos of the year.

(28.72 MB)

10) Mogwai – Friend of the NIght (Woof Wan-Bau)

How do you make a compelling video about connection without using ANY social interaction? This is how. A long, drawn out breath in a field full of screaming, Friend of the Night is a sort of semantic bullet-time for the mind where the path of intertwining themes and ideas come to skip from one manifestation to the next. The long sweeping trail of connection becomes more and more intriguing as the elements become more random and symbolic. Despite lacking a gimmick or a plot, this video is rich with meaning and you’ll be sure to connect new dots and create new interpretations with each viewing.

Visually stunning, the set for this video could have easily comprised an art show all its own. The motion, however, is as crucial to the message as the music is to the tone and in that music and video of combine to create a unique and masterful piece showcasing the power of the form. This is exactly the kind of video that challenges the viewer to dig deeper and rewards for the effort. While not everybody will be up to the task (many will call this video boring before they ask where the treadmills are), with videos increasingly moving towards quick, clever gimmicks a work like this definitely stands out from the crowd and deserves praise.

(28.72 MB)

11) Beck – Cellphone’s Dead (Michel Gondry)

Possibly the biggest name in music video, it’s no surprise to see Michel Gondry on a list of the best of the year. For Beck’s Cellphone’s dead, Gondry explores the line separating identity from location as as a chase unravels not through physical motion but through physical transformation. Why walk over to the chair when you can simply *become* the chair? While Cellphone’s Dead may not live up to the greatness of Gondry’s past work as the execution is just a bit off, there’s no denying that even when all the pieces don’t quite fit the picture they combine to create is something of understated brilliance.

(iPod Compatible: 43.6 MB)

12) Basement Jaxx – Take Me Back To Your House (Dougal Wilson)

Russian kick-dancing. That’s it: that’s why this video is great. I mean sure, we have a catchy Basement Jaxx track and a catchy pop singer, but when it comes down to it this video is probably the most bouncy and fun yet well-thought out and perfectly executed of the year and that fact is perfectly encapsulated by the Russian kick-dancing. In stark comparison to your typical pop/hip-hop number, the brilliant dancing is nestled within a fine layer of atmosphere and joviality that is breath of fresh-air in the sometimes too pretentious for their own good world of music videos. Also, this videos continues this year’s hottest music video trend: people in bear costumes.

(iPod Compatible: 15.62 MB)

13) Spinto Band – Oh Mandy (Jon Watts and Sean Donnelly)

If there is one technique that music videos love to abuse it is stop motion animation. When every other video is using a stop-motion, your video better be damn good (see Wolf Parade’s Modern World) or have a unique angle. Thankfully, the Spinto Band’s Oh, Mandy manages a good deal of both. The town of Mandy is imagined as a construction paper wonderland with its inhabitants being cut-outs from photographs. The style comes of as both adorably quaint and technically impressive, something that the similarly styled video for the Format’s The Compromise doesn’t quite manage. The ice sculpture at the end is stunning and the whole package just melts together with the song to form a simple yet enchanting, invigorating tale. Much respect to the animation crew.

(30.9 MB)

14a) Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s – Quiet As A Mouse (Michael Jones Everett and Mike Jenson)

Taking hundreds of paintings and manipulating them into a coherent, animated video is a beautiful marriage of art and technology. While there are plenty of stand-out animated videos this year, most of them fall into the trap of showing you how well the production house can manipulate Flash or After Effects. Quiet as a Mouse, on the other hand, uses such wonderful software tools to do things with honest to goodness a-brush-touched-canvas Stacy Novak paintings that simply would not have been possible a few years ago. Most computer-animated videos can seem too polished and too slick, but this work actually allows you to see the brush strokes and paint dabs, allowing a feeling of intracacy and whimsy like seeing your favorite oil painting in a museum for the first time. This also happens to be one of those videos where YouTube compression absolutely ruins the work, so we humbly command you to view the high quality download lest you be disappointed.

(iPod Compatible: 45.9 MB)

14b) Psapp – About Fun (Thorsten Levin)

Visually, About Fun is very similar in concept to Quiet As A Mouse: While the latter animates cats via paintings, the former animates cats via the illustrations of the lead singer herself, Galia Durant. Where Quiet As A Mouse takes a more dramatic, narrative turn, About Fun focuses on, well, fun. The bouncy track sees the cats chasing, playing in bands, working crazy sound -making machines and generally just being as delightful and random as Psapp themselves. What animator Hanke Hilberg does with the illustrations is masterful as a seamless, never-ending world flows from one ridiculous situation to the next with beautiful layering and not a hint of over-effected buzzkill. Bringing traditional static arts to a new level of kinetic energy is definitely one of the high points in the resume of music video.

(20.0 MB)

15) Zero 7 featuring Jose Gonzalez – Left Behind (Adam Bizanski)

With anybody else the stop-motion would immediately raise a “not again…” flag, but with Bizanski I let it slide because the man knows how to make it work. Here we have a pretty little Zero 7 but really Jose Gonzalez track and a pretty little video to pefectly match it. Bizanski takes one emotion and perfectly expresses it with the canvas of video. Simple, emotional, and powerful, there’s no denying that when a song and video match up perfectly it can create something that is more than the sum of its parts.

(iPod Compatible: 13.8 MB)

16) Gorrilaz – El Manana (Hewlett & Candleland)

Remember that happy windmill from Feel Good Inc.? You know: “Windmill, windmill, for the land… blah blah blah” and then that rap part kicks in. Let’s tear down that windmill. No, better yet, let’s send two helicopters to use machine guns to hose it and it’s happy little inhabitant into swiss cheese. And then we’ll fly right through that damn windmill to make sure it’s a crumbled, flaming wreck. And then we’ll send the whole fucking floating island the windmill is resting on back to the earth. And then we’ll drop a couple of bombs on it. Yeah, sounds good. Coupled with the somber song, no other video gets across the sense of hopelessness that can fill the soul when the Man decides you no longer deserve your small bit of happiness.

(20.7 MB)

17) Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (Robert Hales)

As one of the biggest songs of the year from one of the breakout artists of the year, you probably have a love/hate relationship with Gnarls Barkley and/or Crazy. However, there’s no denying that the video for Crazy is the coolest thing to happen to the Rorschach since the Watchmen. Channeling some of the hypnotic flow of Alex and Martin’s Seven Nation Army video, Crazy makes the list for being the most iconic video of 2006. Years from now somebody will flash an inkblot on a white screen and the first word that will come to your mind is “Gnarls Barkley”. If that doesn’t define a successful video, I don’t know what does. Also notable for making the inkblot test a lot harder to conduct from here on out: “What does this picture remind you of? Gnarls Barkley. And this one? Gnarls Barkley What about this picture. Gnarls goddamn Barkley.

(11.5 MB)

18) Placebo – Meds (David Mould)

Take one part Trainspotting, one part Blackhole Sun, a touch of Smack My Bitch Up, and a whole pile of fucked up and you get Meds by David Mould. Reportedly worked into and shot during Placebo’s actual touring schedule, this video shows that you don’t have to compromise just because time and money are lacking. This video gives you a no-nonsense visual handshake to the stellar song, allowing a glimpse into the drug-addled (or non-drug addled) eyes of a rock ‘n roll frontman. The subtlety of manipulations of the very real situations gives the whole package a raw, voyeuristic quality that most other directors shoot for but ultimately fail to accomplish and end up looking postured and false. Also gets bonus points for unabashed rocking of the tighty blackies.

(24.9 MB)

19) Simian Mobile Disco – Hustler (Saam)

Girls making out, over and over and over again; everyone wishes they had thought of this first. It takes the right type of song though, and Simian Mobile Disco’s dance/rock/puck/disco is it. It also works because it’s common knowledge that girls just wanna dance…..and then make out.

(28.72 MB)

20) Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Cursed Sleep (Andy Bruntel)

From practicing his falconry to wrestling with E.T., Andy Bruntel, with help of his star actor Mr. Oldham, takes us on a wild little ride set to a beautiful little song. The crux of the video has Bonnie making a metamorphosis from a blind/sleeping birdman into a red sweat suited Ornithologist, all in a matter of a three minute song about a cursed love and its strangle hold on his life.

(39.4 MB)

21) The Horrors – Sheena is a Parasite (Chris Cunningham)

I felt people expected more from Chris Cunningham when this video came out but for a song that runs a short 2 minutes, I think he played his hand quite well, delivering one of the better performances pieces of the year. Showcasing some a simple yet able ‘parasite’ effect, with lead singer Faris Badwan jumping back and forth in the frame, the video is exactly as the he sings, ‘Sheena is a parasite’ and it shows.

(28.72 MB)

22) Death Cab For Cutie – I Will Follow You Into the Dark (Monkmus)

Bunnies are cute, drawings of bunnies in an animated music video are cuter. DCFC making the soundtrack to said cuteness, is the cutest.

(17.6 MB)

23) The Raconteurs – Steady As She Goes v.2 (The Malloys)

Every kid wishes they could have soap box races as cool as this. The Raconteurs do, but not with out throwing in some some evil villain to cause some hi-jinx and a cameo from Pee Wee, proving is ever looming comeback is for real. Definitely better than Jim Jarmusch’s take.

(29.8 MB)

24) Field Music – In Context (Dan Lowe)

Film someone drawing something to music. Simple as they come yet still deserving of praise. The zoomed in perspective is what sells it, not unavailing the money shot until the end.

(29.2 MB)

25) Cornelius – Fit Song (Koichiro Tsujikawa)

For Japanese musician Cornelius, Tsjukikawa offers a completely insane ethereal interpretation of everyday objects that takes the form of whimsical Rube Goldberg machine that will make you look at sugar cubes in a whole new light. This video really must be seen to be understood so just watch it and discover the best video from a band you’ve never heard.

(18.3 MB)

26) Kanye West – Touch the Sky (Chris Milk)

A rap video that doesn’t follow the standard formula is aces in my book. Some people call him the whitest rapper on the scene, but if I have to see one more video with money, girls, cars, and some rapper telling me about stuff I’ll never care about, I think I just might start up my rapping career and then I will be the whitest rapper. No one wants that. So keep up your image Kanye, it’s refreshing.

(52.8 MB)

27) Jarvis Cocker – Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time (Dougal Wilson)

Released just days before 2006 came to a close, this video highlights an important point: don’t do your year end video list until the year is actually over because something like this might come down the pipeline and make you look foolish. Dougal Wilson’s second appearance on this list has Jarvis Cocker playing the Cab driver from hell… or maybe just awesometown. While videos with voice and soundwork separate from the song itself tend to polarize opinions, here it is used effectively to communicate that some things just aren’t worth worrying about no matter how pressing they seem. A clever gimmick that isn’t ashamed of what it is: a bit of pre-fab fun.

(24.3 MB)

28) Hot Chip – Over and Over (Nima Nourizadeh)

This is a green-screen video that flips the premise: the point is not the final special effects shot but rather the actual people-dancing-around-in-front-of-a-green-screen production. The deceit isn’t always perfect (for the video to work you have to accept that green = invisible, which isn’t exactly true), but I’ll be damned if Hot Chip doesn’t have some good old fashioned fun in exploiting every green screen trick for the silliness that it is. The most satisfying part of the concept is that relies on the viewer piecing together what the final special effect would look like, leading to a few bits of “a-ha” hilarity. Still, as enjoyable as the video is, I can’t help but point out that it may seem a lot more engaging to those interested in video production than it does to normal, discerning folk.

(36.3 MB)

29) Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – Gold Lion (Patrick Daughters)

Karen O sings “This is a Moon Without a Tide.” She’s talking about herself, the band, the song, and the album. One of the years best singles off of one of the years best albums. This video should be on one of those lists and low and behold here it is. Daughters takes the Yeah’s to the cold and fiery desert and shows us that one our time’s most volatile bands isn’t afraid to get drrty-drrty. DO NOT Underestimate The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

(22.04 MB)

30) Ok Go – Here It Goes Again (Trish Sie)

Who in their right mind would’ve thought that Ok Go would still be around in this day in age, let alone come out with a video (so appropriately titled as well) that would take the music video world by storm? It’s a one-trick pony of a video, so any and all derivatives in the future beware, the power is all if not completely gone from this idea. And is it me or does the bald singer look like that bald gay guy from “Sex and the City”? It was fun while it lasted though, but alas “Here It Goes Again…”

(18.17 MB)

31) Futureheads – Skip To The End (Martin De Thurah)

A hypnotic journey into the future of a newlywed couple, Martin De Thurah’s work looks as beautiful and poetic as always. Unfortunately, the high concept never quite comes together as the symbolism can be hit or miss, which keeps this video from achieving the great heights it may have otherwise reached. Still, this abstract affair achieves more in its missteps than most do in their success.

(iPod Compatible: 14.5 MB)

32) The Thermals – A Pillar Of Salt (Whitey McConnaughy)

The Thermals hatched one of the year’s most goofy and enjoyable videos without a treadmill at the hands of Whitey McConnaughy. Its fun, its easy and it uses every trick in the book to achieve its proper level of entertainment. We couldn’t ask for more.

(18.01 MB)

33) Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Cold and Wet (Einar Baldvin)

The Prince isn’t quite known for his mainstream comedic prowess, actually, we doubt he’s known for anything more than his music outside of the tiny indie music blogosphere. So this shot may come as a surprise to many of you who aren’t aware of his dark humor or of his existence in the first place. It’s a messed up little cartoon attached to one of his tiny ditty’s. Together they’re the perfect match for trouble.

(26.20 MB)

34) J-Dilla – Nothing Like This (Daniel Garcia & The Mixtape Club)

Jellyfish love is something you don’t typically hear about on the tube or around the watercooler. Especially jellyfish love set to the hefty beats of J-Dilla. Stones Throw dropped it like its hot with the whole Chrome Children audio/visual release this year and we should all be grateful. The Soft Serve Ice Cream monster alone is worth the price of admission for this kids. No two ways about it.

(29.28 MB)

35) Fiona Apple – Not About Love (Michael Blieden)

How do you take the sheer serious fucked-upness of Fiona Apple’s songs and turn it into a comedy? You grab a relatively unknown comedian and throw him in the same vicinity of Ms. Apple herself, turn on the camera, and cross your fingers. We swear we even saw Apple smile and laugh. Checkmate.

(25.11 MB)

36) The Knife – Like a Pen (Andreas Nilsson)

The Knife aren’t one of the easiest bands to decipher or even like for that matter. Why would their videos be any different. This one follows suit by being ten kinds of crazy yet, somewhat likable in that Knife-y sort of way.

(21.18 MB)

37) Jeremy Warmsley – I Believe in the Way You Move (Ben Rollason)

His second to breach our tops of the year list and for good reason. Its a commentary on life, love, aging, and flexibility, things we all must face sometimes with one another, and sometimes, alone. No apologies. No explanations. Just enough time to smell the flowers. We’ll be right back.

(19.81 MB)

38) Arctic Monkeys – Leave Before the Lights Come On (John Hardwick)

I like videos that come back to a beginning. This video starts and then ends where it began and we learn something along the way. A different ending may have suited the story/video better, like if she just jumped the second time and it ended on a mid air shot of her falling to here doom, but I like where things went, it gave me a little smirk. See for yourself.

(20.2 MB)

39) Albert Hammond Jr. – 101 (Patrick Daughters)

You can see who led the Strokes in their humblest of beginnings and its obvious where they now stray from when you hear the first single off of Hammond’s solo effort. He’s one of those nice guys who just wants to play some good music and take a leisurely bike ride around the town. What’s the worst that could happen…

(19.78 MB)

40) TV on the Radio – Wolf Like Me (Jon Watts)

TVOTR are hot this year. Their album Return to Cookie Mountain has been mentioned in almost everyones year end lists and mostly near the top. Despite all this fire and hotness surrounding them, I kinda wanted more from John Watts, maybe because my TVOTR love is so strong. Watts goes crazy giving the whole clip a gritty silent film type look, while telling a story about werewolves getting revenge for being persecuted at a club. Don’t ask, just watch.

(27.3 MB)

41) Gnarls Barkley – Who Cares? (Barney Clay)

Barney Clay took the pop culture loving Gnarls, threw in Mario Van Peebles, and a little bit of Blacula to create the year’s best homage to a film. It’s campy, yet sophisticated and held together with some solid art direction that is sure to please anyone in the know or out.

(20.85 MB)

42) The Album Leaf – Always For You (Aaron Stewart-Ahn)

An exquisitely edited piece highlighting the simultaneous connection and separation of missing love via split screen. Scored by Jimmy Lavalle’s subtle, yet grand songwriting, and elegantly woven together by editor Rob Ryan, the piece would lead you to believe that this is a romantic video, but if you pay attention in the end, there is some question as to what was really going on between the couple. His words, memories, things he wanted to change: they were all for “someone”, but is that “someone” finally his making this track something of a victory lap? Or has that “someone” turned and left him, thus rearranging the song’s intention as a sort of eulogy for the failed relationship? The ending is both frustratingly and satisfyingly left open to interpretation, so check it out and draw your own conclusions.

(30.5 MB)

43) Klaxons – Magick (Saam Faramand)

Eye vomiting is the new rage. Uncontrollable eye vomiting, well, that’s just a whole other level of hardcore. We wish we could step to this, if only we could stomach past the whole vomit part. Is there a word more disgusting than ‘vomit’? This shot isn’t, but it is more badass. Step to it, we dare you.

(25.03 MB)

44) The Killers – Bones (Tim Burton)

The Burton descends from his mountaintop of cinema production to lend a hand to those dapper lads The Killers and shows us that a size 0 is the new chubby and the size 1 is the new fatass. Skeletal is in. Nicole Richie knows this, now you do to. Only, Devon Aoki, you just stay how you are….big is beautiful baby.

(12.67 MB)

45) Emily Haines – Doctor Blind (Jaron Albertin)

With her full band Metric, Emily has not been shy about being in front of the camera and she continues the extroversion with her first solo single. Director Jaron paints an eerily isolated picture of department store pharmaceutical shopping gone awry, touching on chemical dependence, threat, violence, and madness in a completely delicate and simple manner. His dynamic approach is reserved, following the model of the track itself, creating a beautiful marriage of sound and vision that will leave you satisfied and a bit unsettled.

(48.7 MB)

46) Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill (Chet White)

Have you seen those pictures where the actual landscapes/buildings/monument look like they are miniature models instead? Well this is the music video version of those pictures. The same tilt/shift camera trick has been employed, along with some other footage of a paper cutout bird being hand-flown, and also Mr. Yorke himself taking a plunge. Not much of a concept but the stark and interesting images coupled with the bird shots, play well with the glitch happy electronica that is Harrowdown Hill. A beautiful video.

(20.2 MB)

47) CSS – Alala (Cat Solen)

A backwards fight scene, blood and punches. The gore doesn’t seem to add up though cause we all know girls just pull hair. Maybe if this video got together with the Hustler video then things would have went off. Maybe even secured the number one spot. As it stands, could have been more but definitely worth mentioning.

(17 MB)

48) The Rapture – Whoo! Alright – Yeah… Uh Huh (Ben Dickinson)

This song is a party, actually, this album is a party. What better way to help convey that message than by throwing one on a rooftop in the city. The Rapture have invited their friends and we’re inviting ours. The Dress Code is “Scandalous” and drinks will be provided. Just make sure you’ve brought your boogie shoes, no excuses.

(21.76 MB)

49) Matt & Kim – 5k/Yea Yeah (Colin Devin Moore)

We won’t even mention the other cute boy/girl couple band, as we don’t want to invite comparison, suffice to say that these two rugged kids got that spark and aren’t afraid to take the lumps and bruises that it will cost them. Both videos are different as can be on supreme low budgets, however the results are the same. Good times.

(14.57 MB)

50) Battle – Children (Ben Rollason)

We’ve seen the whole weird random yank effect before (hmm….where was it now?) but alas, this year we get it outdoors with the relatively unknown Battle. Will they survive long enough to employ more gems like this? We will see, but for now, we’ll take this incredibly crisp looking joyride of a shot and ask questions later.

(15.41 MB)

51) Bob Dylan – When The Deal Goes Down (Bennett Miller)

You can’t really go wrong with Scarlett Johansson and Bob Dylan. And even if you could, its probably better than most anything out there on the market. Take this to a picnic, on a drive, or fall asleep to it, just don’t miss out on it. This means everything.

(30.15 MB)

52) Scissor Sisters – Land of a Thousand Words (National TV)

Why did this goddamn video have to be so goddamn good for a band so goddamn bad!? Another homage shot, but not for a movie in particular as it is inspired by opening credits. We’re sure the James Bond camp would’ve approved of this back in the day and if we never heard from the band subsequently, life would be a little more enjoyable.

(40.88 MB)

53) Daedelus – Sundown (Clay Lipsky)

Daedelus’ lush sounds and vocals are honored with a painstakingly intricate vision brought forth by Clay Lipsky whom we all hope finds his way into the hands of more artists as time bleeds on. The blend of animation and Daedelus’ live action is paired in a way that is neither tiresome nor dull. It’s not what we would’ve predicted as a video to the song, which is mostly why this is such a success. Here’s to more where this came from.

(24.09 MB)

54) The Raconteurs – Level (Sophie Mueller)

There was much debate on this site over the merits of this video, its effect, and production. Aside from all of that, it still makes the top 50 due to the sharp style of the video and the performance by the band that humbly powers through the song. Now if we could only get the audience in the shot to play along by showing some life, then we can get to the nitty gritty of things.

(24.54 MB)

55) Cursive – Dorothy At Forty (Michael Grodner)

Michael Grodner puts Cursive’s ode to the Wizard to Oz to film via a forty-year-old double-dream sequence. His “Dorothy” seems to be living the prototypical life with the two kids she has to drop off at school on the way to her unrewarding job. The dissatisfaction between her current life and the dreams she once held becomes unrelenting as a rainbow representing ideals and possibilities long since abandon beckons her. Does the rainbow have that which she seeks, or an even more important lesson to be learned? Watch the video and judge for yourself.

(17.1 MB)

56) Wolf Parade – I’ll Believe in Anything (Matt Moroz)

Fighting. Drinking. Ladies. Guns. Chickens. Would you expect anything else from the last band to live up to their hype? Could you expect anything at all from a group of fellas obviously not from this planet? Your guess is as good as ours and we’re keeping the faith that the Parade will forever keep us on our toes. Cheers boys, we smash our champagne classes to you.

(27.75 MB)

[This list wouldn't have been possible without: a) the kind directors and bands who may or may not have sent us videos (wink wink), and b) the videos.antville site and community giving us a quick way to find who directed what (as well as pointing us to a few video gems along the way), and c) whack year-end lists fueling our spiteful fire. Thanks guys!]

By Brian Lopiccolo

Well it’s holiday time again folks, the season of giving and if you are like me, you enjoy spending money but sometimes find it hard to find the right gift for the right person. Especially those really hard people who seem to have everything and are snobby about everything else. Well being quality snobs ourselves, this year SRO is here to help out, giving you numerous gift ideas that are sure to please anyone on your gifting agenda. We stand behind the quality of all these products; they have been tested thoroughly and are approved by the SRO labs (not really), so buy with confidence.

Flickr Pro Account

You know that friend who takes a picture of *everything*. Yeah, we all have that friend. Well, what better way to support their habit than by getting them a Flickr Pro Account. If you don’t know, Flickr is a swanky website that allows you to post your pictures online and it lets you and your friends comment on them, make notes, and generally be giddy. A basic Flickr account is free, but it is fairly limited in that it only allows you to upload 20 MB of pictures a month and only allows you to organize them into 3 separate “sets”. A pro account eliminates all that by giving you 2 Gigabytes of uploads a month and as many sets as you want to make.

Flickr is a way slicker solution than that MySpace rubbish you probably have going on (Facebook isn’t so bad, if you have the option). A Pro account lets your friend or loved one load up pictures of themselves, and you presumably, making asses of yourselves all over town to their heart’s content. It’s an especially good gift for long-distance friends as it will encourage you to share pictures and comments with each other. And isn’t that what the holidays are all about: being able to see your friends and family drunk at a party, no matter where you live.

Cost: $24.99

Order it online directly from Flickr.

Beautiful People with Beautiful Feelings

For the artistic and cynical, Beautiful People with Beautiful Feelings showcases the work of Donny Miller as he explores the inner and often depressing realities of our inner thoughts. Some of them are hopeful (“I will always love you. No matter what my horoscope says.”) but the majority of them are definitely not (“Expectations are disappointments in disguise.”). My personal favorite? “I’d like you a lot more if you liked me a lot less”. So harsh, but sadly often the truth. If you are purchasing for your significant other, make sure they don’t read too much into it. Unless you’re looking to break things off, in which case I suggest you bookmark the page that says “We’re at the point in our relationship where I’ll have sex with anyone but you”.

Here’s a commercial for the book that will explain nothing and possibly offend:

Cost: $14-24 (depending on where you order it)

Order from Amazon
Order direct from Donny Miller: he’ll sign it

Linn Olofsdotter Illustrations

Linn Olofsdottor is a Swedish graphic design artist. I’m sure you have seen some of her work somewhere and were just unaware. She has designed numerous things for numerous companies, (more info here) and now works with her husband Nando Costa doing freelance in Portland Oregon. Although she does all kinds of art, it was her illustrations which brought her to my attention and while not personally involved that heavily in the art/design/illustration world, I still feel my ‘quality control’ can discern beauty in any form and beauty is what Linn creates. Go and check out her portfolio and while you can’t purchase much of her work yet, she and her husband have set up an online store called Lard & Joy where you can choose from a limited amount of their work. Check it out and get on board with Linn Olofsdotter, her art is amazing.

Cost: $15-125

Check it online at Lard & Joy.
Check her portfolio

Stephane Tartelin Illustrations

Another illustrator/artist this time from France. His work is lovely and full of color and life and sex; if someone wants to buy me one of his canvas prints I’ll take any of them. Again, art is so subjective and has a lot to do with personal taste but I dig on all his work so check it out and thank me later if you do too. You can find most of his work for sale at very modest prices over at his new online store, so hop on over before they sell out.

Cost: $50-170

Check it online at Graphiste Freelance.

iPod

Putting an iPod on a holiday shopping list is tantamount to putting “food” on a grocery list, but we’re going for it anyway. Why bother? Well, the iPod is a device who’s primary function is to play music and video. If you hadn’t noticed, we’re kind-of-sort-of all about providing downloadable music videos. These music videos are iPod compatible, meaning you can drag them into iTunes and they’ll load right on to your iPod so you can enjoy them wherever it is you like to be. Therefore, an iPod is really the perfect SRO accessory: load it up with some music and some music videos and baby you got yourself a stew going! ((Arrested Development holla!))

For this reason, we suggest the 30GB traditional iPod (white or black: it’s all good) over the iPod Nano or the iPod Shuffle as it gets you that sweet video action at a decent price ($250). If you REALLY like whoever you’re buying this for and they have tons of music you can spring an extra $100 for the 80 GB version. If you don’t like them that much or money is tight, go for the cheaper iPod Nano ($149-$249) or the iPod shuffle ($79). They don’t do video, but they still kick out the jams.

Cost: $250 (30 GB) / $350 (80 GB)

Order directly from Apple.

Emusic Subscription

It took me a while to get aboard the Emusic wagon but once I did my hair has started to re-grow and girls are talking to me again. While results may vary, it’s still a good service; they don’t always have all the music you want, right away, but since they specialize in indie acts they tend to get a lot of the music that I want eventually. I don’t use Emusic as my sole resource for buying music, but having them on my team has been a great addition and has saved me a lot of money. A few things that Emusic has over your other downloading sites, most notably the wretched Itunes store are as follows:

1. Much much much cheaper. Their best deal is the 75 songs for 19.99 which is roughly 5-6 albums for 20 dollars or about 25 cents a song. Also you can sign up and pay for the entire year and get 25% off which makes things even cheaper.

2. Once you purchase an album, you can go back in and re-download it at anytime as long as you are still subscribed to their service. What this means is that if your hard drive dies or your Ipod gets flushed down the toilet, instead of the Itunes official policy of you’re fucked, you can go back and re-download your songs without having to pay again. Yeah I know, good times, less worry.

3. Emusic’s songs have no DRM which means you are free to do what you want with the songs instead of having the crippled I-tunes that are only playable on a limited number of computers and unconvertible. Who wants songs that are locked down and not completely yours, that’s bad times.

So basically Emusic is the way to go if you care about things like money, good music, integrity, but only if you possess things like patience and intelligence. Get on that.

Cost: $10-20/month

Check it online at Emusic.

Various Albums

Once you get your Emusic subscription plan you might ask yourself ‘what albums should I get now?’, well don’t worry SRO has your back with some 2006 albums that are essential and classic and available on Emusic.

Irving Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers: Irving plays jangling pop. They make music that you should like. They know how to write hooks and deserve to sell lot’s of records. Get this one, I have nothing but praise for it.
[Emusic link]

Arizona Welcome Back Dear Children: Besides the atrocious ‘Stay With Who You Know’, Arizona pulls off a debut album that is at the same time warming, heartfelt, energetic, somber and mostly memorable. I know those words mean nothing to you, so just know that we like it a lot. Also they are pretty low on the indie rock radar so get on these guys now to get maximum hipster cool points.
[Emusic link]

M. Ward Post War: M. Ward has recorded one of the top ten records released this year. Enough said. I guarantee that it will break the top 15 (realistically the top 30 for sure) in the P-Fork year end list and if that’s not a good enough reason to own this album, I’m not sure what is.
[Emusic link]

Tokyo Police Club A Lesson in Crime: This album is a must own. Period. 4 out of 4 SRO writers agree. [Emusic link]

Rolling Clock

Buro Vormkrijgers makes some downright beautiful furniture. Concentrating on light fixtures and chairs, I’m especially fond of the clocks. Last year’s pong clock, where time was told by the score in a computer controlled game of pong, was all the rage for closet nerds the world over. This year I present you with the Rolling Clock, a timepiece that elegantly communicates that time is indeed always moving. The circumference is marked with a long continuous sentence roughly indicating hours of the day and the clock literally rolls around your desk so that the current time is always displayed on the bottom. This perfect combination of art, poetry, pretentiousness, and time-keeping is sure to make your cubicle desk stand out from the pack.

Cost: 99 Euros ($127)

Order from Cultivate in the Netherlands.

Tabletop Wooden Sudoku Board

Instead of printing them out on your computer and using a pencil, pushing little buttons on your small electric version, or using the stylus of your DS, why not play Sudoku in the sophisticated fashion of a wooden table top board. All the cool kids play it this way, trust me. Anyway, it’s a fashionable way to play so hurry up and get yours and be the envy of your friends. It even comes with a life-time guarantee so you can mistreat your purchase and then replace it should something go wrong, what more can you ask for.

Cost: $39.99

Check it online at Hammacher Schlemmer.

300

If you knew us way back when, we could’ve told you that Frank Miller’s Sin City Graphic Novels were the stuff that dreams were crushed by, years before the movie was even a thought. Since many of you didn’t, now is the time to listen to us, when we say to catch one of his older works 300 in the literary form, before it becomes next years coolest movie.

The story entails one of the nuttiest battles ever, concerning 300 Spartan soldiers defending against a Persian army of over 200,000. Throw that story, with Miller’s detailed artistry and his hardcore storytelling, into a blender, hit puree, and you’ve got one badass excuse for a history lesson.

As I said, the movie comes out next year. Give this to you’re socially inclined sidekick now and next year, after your mind is blown from having just seen the battles on the big screen, you and your mate can totally play it off by claiming “Eh, the graphic novel was better…” You know its going to happen, so you might as well take care of it now.

Cost: $20

Order from Amazon

My Morning Jacket: Okonokos (DVD)

I already talked about the live album and warned you the DVD was coming out so I won’t go into that again, but I will remind you about how awesome this concert footage is because I just now watched it and it was excellent. They play in a faux forrest with chandeliers and lots of lights and Jim James sings his lungs out to an assembly of woodland creatures, mostly humans. The show is nonstop energy with great footage of one the best indie bands out there. It doesn’t substitute for seeing Jim James sing live, but when ‘Golden’ comes on and you squint your eyes and turn it up loud, it’s almost like you are there.

Track List:
1. The Party 2. Wordless Chorus 3. It Beats 4 U 4. Gideon 5. One Big Holiday 6. I Will Sing You Songs 7. Lowdown 8. The Way That He Sings 9. What A Wonderful Man 10. Off The Record 11. Golden 12. Lay Low 13. Dondante 14. Run Thru 15. Xmas Curtain 16. O Is The One That Is Real 17. Steam Engine 18. Anytime 19. Mahgeetah 20. The Attack

Cost: $15.99

Check it online at Hammacher Schlemmer.

Nintendo DS Lite

If you don’t consider yourself “into” videogames you probably have an idea that video games are these things teenagers and young adults play so they can shoot and kill various things in dark apocalyptic virtual worlds. This is largely true, but Nintendo has quietly changed all that and is really approaching videogames from a whole new angle with their portable Nintendo DS. The DS has two screens, touch controls (like a PDA), and features a microphone. This set-up makes for games that don’t really play like anything else you’ve ever seen as you have to tap, scrape, point, speak, and blow (really) your way to success.

In stark contrast to the hardcore nerd-fests that you may associate with “XBox” and “Playstation”, the Nintendo DS is all about the quirky and approachable fun with games like Cooking Mama (Slice and dice food, like a virtual Iron Chef), Brain Age (small mental challenges featuring Sudoku), Elite Beat Agents (a tapping version of Dance Dance Revolution centered on an FBI-like squad of dancers), Trauma Center (Be a virtual surgeon! Fulfill your Grey’s Anatomy dreams!), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (an attorney simulation) and Nintendogs (a virtual puppy who’s sole purpose is to melt girls’ hearts). You also get more traditional videogame favorites like New Super Mario Bros, Metroid, and Final Fantasy if that’s how you roll. The Nintendo DS is the videogame system for people who don’t really like videogames so buy with confidence. It also connects to the internet so you can play with friends around the world from anywhere you can find a Wi-Fi connection. Even better, it comes in Classy-Apple White, Girlfriend-friendly Pink, and Nerd-friendly Black.

Cost: $129

Order from Amazon

Acquired Taste (Sub Pop Music Videos)

This is 25 music videos from Sub Pop featuring The Shins, The Postal Service, Chad Vangaalen, Wolf Parade, Sleater-Kinney, Rogue Wave, Mudhoney, and others. At $10, this one is a no-brainer. Get it, watch it, and then come back to us to bitch about why it’s so hard to find downloadable music videos that look this good.

Worth it for the Ugly Cassanova video alone because that video is just straight up about poop.

Cost: $10

Order from Amazon

Chuck Klosterman IV

If you’re reading this site in the first place, then this is a no-brainer/already-gots-it. Yes he’s pretentious. Yes he’s probably overrated. Yes it’s just about as obvious as an iPod. But have you ever considered his points invalid or a waste of time? Nay. For instance, take a gander at his insight into a certain ex-Mrs. Federline.

Most of this may have been culled from his work over at Esquire ((A gift subscription to this specific magazine wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Just make sure you get the address correct. Sorry James.)) but for those of you who’ve sadly missed out, you get to play catch up without all of the work. And those who have already partaken in his scribble, can re-live the glory in a nice new package. (At least that’s how George Lucas taught me how to re-sell things an audience may already own.) Read this book, and get ready for another year of handy conversation topics for all those hipster pre-parties, cocktail parties, business mixers, after-parties, and post-post afterparties you’re gonna attend.

Cost: $16.50 (Plus S&H)

Order from Amazon (However, watch out for that video clip of his chat with Bill Maher. It may hurt more than it helps if you’ve never encountered the Klos himself. Just a heads up.)

Point Break (Pure Adrenaline Edition)

A classic coming of age story about young men and the vices that consume them. While Point Break didn’t win any Oscars, it did win over the hearts of many fans and to this day, who can honestly say that they don’t like quoting some of Keanu’s classic lines from this cinematic-masterpiece-maybe. Well now the ‘Pure Adrenaline’ edition is out, and while not a
Blue-Ray or HD-DVD version, it does contain 8 new deleted scenes, cast and director interviews, and a ‘filming of’ clip; totally making this a must have for fans of movies. This is Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in their prime and at their best, so make sure you pick this up.

Cost: $14.99

Order it online from Amazon.

Symbol Coat Rack by Desu Design

Forget those ugly wall hooks or that wooden coat rack you’ve had for ages. Step up to the last coat rack you will ever need. It comes in vibrant colors or monochrome aluminum, and almost looks like an art piece when not in use. This is seriously the coolest coat rack around so if you can afford it’s hefty price, pick one up for someone who appreciates solid, nifty and functional design.

Cost: $395(color) – $445(monochrome)

Order it online from Desu Design.

Brick

Okay, as the on-staff filmmaker, it is my duty to post at least a film or two that anyone who cares about art or writing or quality would do right by giving as a gift to their friends/loved ones. In this case I have chosen two, and before you call me out on the Death of DVD’s, hear me out on this one. Trust me.

Technological advancements aside, as a filmmaker/fan, I’m saddened to say that I have not bought an official dvd from any of this years films. Unfortunately, most of them have either been let downs or released late, in which case their films will not be out until later next year. However, there are two tiny films that actually superceed both the technical sphinx and merit conundrums. The first of which is Rian Johnson’s Brick.

A noir of the darkest, set in the confines of a high school and its outcasts. You should be on board already. There are Femme Fatales (Nora Zehetner of Heroes), an eccentric..um..Eccentric (Lukas Haas of Mars Attacks) and of course the tough, make-my-own-rules, loner protagonist (Joseph Gordon-Levitt of 10 Things I Hate About You and Mysterious Skin). After this, keep an eye out for all, especially Gordon-Levitt, fool’s career is gonna devastate us all in the years to come.

From the get go things aren’t as they seem. For instance, just because its set in teenage territory doesn’t mean that it’s gonna be that easy. The language is damn near cryptic and the story is even moreso an anomaly until the last shot. You could watch this on a 10″ screen in the back of a soccer mom SUV, an iPod, or a black and white portable tv and you would still be blown away. I highly doubt something of this caliber and low-profile will be hooked up anytime soon with a Blu-ray/HDDVD version, so buying it will not really be an issue. Not that it should be anyways. Support shit like this by giving it to your buddies or put it on your own list for your parents. Diamonds like this come few and far between.

Cost: $20 (Plus S&H)

Order From Amazon

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The obvious connection between the aforementioned Brick and this film would invariably be genre. In the case of both, we have Film Noir. Just as it is dark with the same players Femme Fatale (Michelle Monaghan of Mission: Impossible 3), eccentric Eccentric (Val Kilmer of well, you better fuckin’ know) and loner protag (Robert Downey Jr…seriously, if you don’t know….) the movie has a significant difference as well.

This shit is fuckin’ hilarious!

It’s quick witted, sarcastic, and straight up dirrty at times (like accidentally peeing on dead people dirrty). Folks there is no watching this film once. And just like Brick you can basically watch it anywhere, but as I failed to mention before, you have to pay attention! From the start, words and story are gonna fly by without regards for the distracted.

I’d almost advise for said recepient to watch it alone so as not to get sidetracked at anytime. Turn off your cell phones. Get off of myspace (unless you’re leaving us comments). And if you’re eating, make sure you have everything taken care of. Watching without full attention would be a great disservice to the filmmaker/writer Shane Black (who cut his chops writing all 4 Lethal Weapons).

This film is smart, funny, adult (Lots of cussing, violence, and yes, Michelle Monaghan nudity.) and surprising at times, which makes this a keeper for even those pretentious indie film geeks who talk shit on derivative mainstream films, while secretly coveting them in their cavernous rooms late at night. Buying it for them can at least give them an excuse for seeing it (“Eh, it was a gift.”) And hell, if they don’t like it, jack it from them while they’re passed out on the morning of New Years. Might as well start the year off right!

Cost: $20 (Plus S&H)

Order From Amazon

Ticket Album

For those obsessives/packrats who can’t dream of throwing away memories, or need reminders because of a certain intoxicated state of minds, we have here what really is a no brainer, The Ticket Album. We all know you go to tons of shows and although this doesn’t solve the problem for those super indie shows that don’t even sell tickets, this is still a pretty useful/wise prize for your hipster companion.

I could use this mos def, as my 4 year old $.99 business card holder with an Aquabats sticker on the cover, has lived well past its prime and run out of space for all those shows I continue to go to. We know there are some of you out there that are too cool for the time honored tradition of ticket saving (movie stubs got nothing on you) but there are those of us who want to prove that we were there or that want to believe we were there, even if we can’t remember, in a stylish way. It’s cheap. Useful. And if you go the custom route, can definitely be pretty witty. Unlike myself.

Cost: $7.95 – 9.95 (Depending on your choice of custom cover or standard)

Order From TicketAlbums.com

Chipotle Gift Card

A few years back, I realized a few things concerning Christmas Shopping. I never considered buying stocking stuffers until the morning of X-mas, hence my roommates/parents always wound up with little-to-nothing in their stockings. I also realized that, however safe gift cards were as gifts, I was getting a little bored with the standard Best Buy, Target, Tower Records (whoops!) business. Finally I put those problems together and wound up killing two birds with one stone.

Gift Cards for Food!! However small or insignificant this may sound, its actually a perfect gift for stocking stuffers or for that buddy of yours who you kinda have to give a gift, but don’t wanna spend too much on. This is also perfect for most of the indie hipsters out there, as many of you are starving college kids or starving artists (I assume). You can’t go wrong with food, and I can attest as I have been on the receiving side of this in the years since discovering this great idea. It has also come in handy for those times when rent was paid in the morning (or the bank account was in the red) and later on in the day there was a rumbly in my tumbly that Ramen noodles just could not satisfy.

Which brings me to my choice in sustenance. The Chipotle gift card. I’ve been hitting this place up at least once or twice a week for the past 3 years (Even though I’ll admit, I’ve burnt out on it here and there.) and I still stand by it as one of the better things in life. Its quality food and quality business approach are standards that I can support and at the same time reap the benefits. Plus they give me a free drink everytime I flash my student ID, fuck yeah! You really can’t go wrong with a gift like this, but you don’t have to take MY word for it!

Cost: However much the person is worth to you.

Order From Chipotle

Lost Girls

When it comes right down to it, Alan Moore is basically the apex of writers in the graphic novel neck of the woods. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of putting up anything other than the colossus that is The Watchmen, but you’re all hipsters in the know, and Moore/The Watchmen should be nothing new to you.

So instead, I’ve put up Lost Girls, the newest (and highly anticipated) work from the mind of one of our times greatest storytellers. Surrounding the pure heroines of stories we all know and cherish (Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Alice from Alice and Wonderland, and Wendy from Peter Pan) Moore basically violates said stories and pushes the characters and the reader into some fucked up territory. Basically he’s turned the stories into porn, although not the nice porn or weird fetish porn that goes with sexually realized fictional characters. No this is pornography (kinda) with consequences, which in turn charges the reader to examine not only their limits, but what happens when ideas we’ve held as precious and wholesome become aged and perverted.

This book could very well be taken the wrong way and will most likely incite debate, but the best stuff usually causes those kinds of reactions if you think about it. Besides, would you expect anything less from a guy who wrote about Jack the Ripper (From Hell)? Not the most kid-friendly or brightest gift to put under a tree, but for those special friends in your life who are open-minded or damaged goods (or both), this one is definitely up on the high road of gift giving

Cost: $47

Order from Amazon

Vibe Earphones

Just to let you know, the sound quality of your earphones sucks. Yep. If all you listen to is mp3 encoded at 128 or 192 kbps you won’t really notice, but the discerning hipster always goes for super high quality audio. You can’t listen to super high quality audio on cheap-ass plastic earbuds: it’s a slap to the face.

If you want to stick out from the white earbud pack get yourself some chrome or gunmetal black Vibe earbuds from V-MODA. They look sweet, they sound sweeter, and you can be smug in your audio superiority. More importantly: chrome and fucking gunmetal black! Sold

Cost: $101 (not that bad in high-quality audio land… trust me)

Order directly from V-Moda.