A gorilla that walks like a man

It just doesn't get any better than this.

Kuroshio Sea

This is a pretty amazing video shot at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan. It reminds me of the scene in 'The Life Aquatic' where they find the jaguar shark. Click full-screen on this sucker and enjoy.

Music by Barcelona.

Karate chimp

This should make your day a hell of a lot better.

Kraftstoff Vodka flasks

German flasks with great illustrations by Heiko Windisch.

Click image to enlarge.

Inspired by Poe

Via ffffound.

Paintings and drawings by Josh Keyes

Fascinating images by Josh Keyes of Oakland, CA. There are plenty more where these came from.

"Where the Wild Things Are" movie poster

This movie has been "in production" forever. Apparently the studio got all fussy when they realized director Spike Jonze wasn't making it into a goofy kids' movie. Hopefully they don't fuck it up.

Click image to enlarge.

Update: Watch the trailer! I'm going to go ahead and call the best-cinematography Oscar for this right now.

Check, mate

Sit back, click full screen, and enjoy the hell out of this animation for WWF Australia, featuring "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes.

Our life at the cost of theirs?

There's some sweet illustration going on in these WWF ads from India.

Click images to enlarge.

Know your enchanted cuts of meat

Vote now for the Enchanted Cuts t-shirt to be printed by Threadless!

Design by Luke Oeth of nerd mug fame.

Smokey Bear is alive and well

Smokey Bear is probably the single greatest ad campaign animal mascot of all time. And now he's voiced by the great Sam Elliott.

2006 Ford Escape Hybrid Ad

Can you believe this ad is almost three years old already? I still like it, even though it's kind of ridiculous to call any car green. Plus, Kermit totally sold out. But as the American auto industry currently looks like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, I can't help wondering what happened to the promise of more vehicles like this? Why isn't the Escape Hybrid the best selling car in the U.S.? It's roomy, all-wheel drive, fuel-efficient, and (mostly) American-made. Were they poorly marketed? Or are consumers really that short-sighted that they want an F-150 when gas prices are low and a Prius when gas prices are high?

Now the automakers need a huge loan for "retooling" to make efficient vehicles. It's not like they don't know how to make them. They sell efficient cars in Europe and South America, where there's more tax on gasoline. Should America have a higher tax on gas to keep consumption down? The money could go towards lower income tax, carbon offsets, infrastructure and public transportation. But I can already hear the wave of backlash to that idea, especially during a recession. Higher fuel efficiency standards could help, but the lower cost of filling up would probably just make some people drive more.

Michael Moore has an interesting proposal to force the automakers to put the taxpayer money towards efficient vehicles, and having them build the public transportation systems we need. But I know a lot of free market types would be against that too. So how about this... Instead of our only choice being gasoline, why don't we have the choice of gasoline, diesel, biofuels, electric, and natural gas? Instead of continuing this stranglehold of Big Oil, we could actually let the consumers choose which is most efficient. We can even choose on a daily basis how we want to fuel our cars with plug-in hybrids and flex-fuel vehicles. Total free market solution. We just need government to stop listening to the monopoly and start letting the people choose.

Once again, I'm proud of America's choice of an inspirational leader who appears to make intelligent and sustainable decisions based on what is best for average Americans (and he plays it cool). We've decided to change. Now let's do it.

Worldchanging's Alex Steffen

Alex Steffen, the mastermind behind Worldchanging.com, recently spoke at the Sustainable Innovation Conference in Sweden. The camerawork in this video blows, but it's still worth watching for some real-world examples of sustainable solutions.



Also, be sure to check out Steffen's book, Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century with foreword by Al Gore and design by Stefan Sagmeister. It might make a nice gift for that eco-design-nerd in your life.

Christopher Silas Neal

Brooklyn-based illustrator/designer Christopher Silas Neal has a pretty fantastic use of color, texture, typography, and wit. Well done, sir.

Raymond Biesinger

Illustrations by Raymond Biesinger. Dude's got mad skills.

The Office Returns

NBC's The Office is back to kick off season number five with a one-hour premiere tonight! Quick, go watch last season's finale, "Goodbye, Toby."

Photo by the super-talented Jill Greenberg.

Update: If you missed the premiere, you can watch it at NBC.com.

Ice Skating Chimps

No plans for the weekend? I suggest you watch this video of ice skating chimps repeatedly for two days straight. It's a guaranteed good time.

Thanks to BlogFoot for the wonderful find.

Polar Bear Life

On a recent visit to the Milwaukee County Zoo, I had the pleasure of watching this enormous polar bear swim around and entertain the crowd. I was so thoroughly fascinated, that I'll probably go back to the zoo soon just to watch the polar bears some more. You don't see it in this clip, but there was also a window looking into the side of the tank, so you can watch the bears swim underwater. I'll try to catch some more video of that next time I'm there. But take my word for it, that is a very cool thing to see!

You may have heard by now that the polar bear is a threatened species. Despite this fact, President Bush has called for oil drilling in the bear's natural habitat. Needless to say, this would be harmful to the polar bear's survival. Alaska's Governor, Sarah Palin, has even filed a lawsuit trying to take the polar bear off the threatened list so they could drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If you're like most people with a soul, and think this is completely wrong, then here's a little petition for you to sign.

Oh, and this post also kicks off the new "wildlife" category here at Beard Crumbs. Lot's more bears, primates, birds, and other interesting creatures can be found here. Check it out!

Update: More irresistible polar bears here.

Beards 'n' Bears

Found on FFFFOUND!

MMJ - "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2"

Here's the official video for My Morning Jacket's "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2." It sounds just as cool watching a strange monkey catch fireflies as it does in the back of a Black Cab. Very Where the Wild Things Are (or aren't).

Video by Mixtape Club.