Candice Ouaknine

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Bo Burnham "Repeat Stuff" (Rami Hachache, dir.)

Bo Burnham knows the secret of a hit pop song. Be vague, be catchy, repeat stuff, and obscure your darkest desires down lest they pop up and scare your audience. Bo could actually use some help on that last element — ie: the fingerbanging references should be masked at least a little bit, you shouldn't let your inner devil voice take over, and tearing a heart out should always be metaphorical. 

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Joywave "Tongues" (Daniels, Zak Stoltz, dir.) Uncensored Version

Been wondering when the uncensored version of the Daniels x Zak Stoltz "Tongues" video would be unveiled? Here ya go... And, yes, it's totally NSFW...

So, enjoy — but not in public or at work —what starts as an homage to pulp horror flicks, or some random acid-soaked hippie/freak film and then builds into an epic battle between the clothed and unclothed.

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Joywave "Tongues" (Daniels, Zak Stoltz, dir.)

You'll be forgiven if at first you assume this is an homage to old horror flicks. Or if you then think it's an homage to some old acid-soaked hippie/freak film. Or, if you go back to your original horror theory. Or, if you dispense with all those guesses, relax, and just let the creative masters Daniels take you into what might instead be an NSFW parable, depicting an epic battle between the clothed and unclothed.

PS: Most of the nudity here is pixelated, so make your own NSFW decision.

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A Massive Star-Studded Trailer for Jay Z & Beyonce "Run" (Melina Matsoukas, dir.)

Holy crap. An all-star, action packed trailer for Jay Z and Beyonce first feature film coming... NEVER. So, breath a sigh of relief, since all involved surely know that this compilation of action flick cliches would be a clunker even by Hollywood crap standards.

That said: We get Beyonce at her hottest, Jay at his most badass and cast that would be the envy of any blockbuster: Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Guillermo Diaz, Emmy Rossum, Jake Gyllenhaal, Blake Lively, Rashida Jones and Kidada Jones. 

And if you want to see Jay and Bey' on the run together: Go get your tickets for their tour — which is what this trailer is really meant to promote.

News

Vevo and Mirriad Now Let You Retroactively Put Products and Placements in Videos

Product placement. If you're a director or producer, you love the money, but hate the strings that come attached: Ceding editorial and treatment control to a third party who might care more about their product shots than making something that serves the greater goal. Also, you hate the agency people on set. And if you're an agency, you hate having to fund a bulk of a video budget and then getting pushed back at every step. Also, you hate being on set with all those production pirates.

So, what if you could retroactively make placements in videos: Affixing advertisements to bare walls, changing storefronts to national chains and all sorts of other digital chicanery.

Genius, right? VEVO has teamed with international company Mirriad — who specialize in "advertising for the skip generation" — to make it happen with music videos. The initiative was first teased via an AdAge report and then announced at the video streaming giant's NewFronts presentation last night,.

First up for the co-venture is Aloe Blacc "The Man" and the newly inserted Levi's ads are constrained just to the VEVO.com version (and not the YouTube.com)...

Next up is all sorts of potential genius... Maybe a body groomer would work great in "Big Bad Wolf"?

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Mr. Little Jeans "Good Mistake" (Ian and Cooper, dir.)

The loneliness of the long distance truck driver is a very real thing. Thankfully, there are pharmaceuticals, energy drinks and surreal rest stops to smooth the ride.

A very solid video from directors Ian and Cooper, who previously blew your mind with cinemagraphs and now use an epic convenience store tracking shot to separate this clip betwen hinted and total madness.  

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Bret Easton Ellis Writes and Brewer directs Dum Dum Girls "Are You Okay"

Author Bret Easton Ellis seems to have caught the music video bug, but instead of just narrating the action, he's now writing it.

Dum Dum Girls "Are You OK" is more short story and art film, than traditional music video, dispensing narrative for something that starts intriguing and ratchets up the tension to full-on disturbing.

Stick with the 11 minutes runtime — which I know is an eon for an online music video — since otherwise you'll miss out on the slow dance with the straight razor.