My pals from The Buried Life just dropped me a note with a link to their new trailer shown above. If you missed the news, they’ve been given there own MTV show! Fantastic coverage of what they’re up to in this past Sunday’s New York Times

Four buddies set off across the country in an R.V., video camera in tow, to knock items off their “100 things to do before I die” list: kiss the Stanley Cup, get a tattoo, grow a mustache.

With plenty of high jinks and adolescent humor, “The Buried Life” seems like the perfect MTV reality show, except for one unexpected twist. At each stop the group helps deserving locals with their own wishes. In Idaho, for example, they took eight children with brain cancer on a shopping spree at Toys “R” Us.

Congrats guys, keep it up!

Inevitably, it starts like this: You walk into a storefront, studio or house. The store is run by men in plaid shirts and sneakers; the studio is ran by men in plaid shirts, sneakers, and glasses; the house is full of art prints, sneakers, and people who look like they belong in a studio/storefront. There are shelves in these places, and on the shelves are toys. They are not toys for boys (or girls) — they have not been made to battle each other, or buried in a sandbox, or forced to kiss Barbie — these are man-toys (wo/man- toys), and they represent something entirely different, refreshingly new, and disgustingly addicting.

The vinyl toy movement (also referred to as the art toy movement; sometimes referred to as the urban vinyl movement) has been creeping through the US for years now, but only recently has it reached such gratifying levels of familiarity. At the head of this movement (or more accurately; at one of it’s many heads, each of which are covered in eyeballs and separately designed by artists the world over) is STRANGEco, a company founded in 2002 by college chums Jim Crawford and Gregory Blum.

Joshspear.com: When, how, and why was STRANGEco founded?

Jim Crawford: STRANGEco was founded in 2002 by myself (Jim Crawford) and Gregory Blum. We’ve known each other for a long time; we were college roommates, which goes back quite a ways now (gulp!). READ MORE…

Even though the N95 is already amply hyped across Europe, I have to direct our mostly unexposed U.S. readers to the Great Pockets site, an incredibly well done viral campaign for the Nokia’s newest “multimedia computer” by the Swedish agency Farfar. Great Pockets features Henry Needle, a distinguished tailor who will introduce you to his new line of “fashionable clothing with very large pockets” that help you maintain a bag-free lifestyle (while still accommodating your need for keeping fifteen electro-gadgets with you at all times). While I think the site does a near-perfect job of entertaining participants, I also felt that the buried mention of what the site was actually for was almost too ambiguous; I was left laughing, but not exactly desperate to get to the bottom of the situation. Take a look at it, because it is brilliant, but let us know your thoughts about guerrilla/viral advertising afterwards. Do you think it’s more effective than traditional advertising? Are you already feeling jaded on this trend, or does it have unlimited potential? And most importantly… any chance the N95 can stand up against the iPhone after their upcoming (and almost simultaneous) introductions in the U.S.?

A few weeks ago I wrote about The Buried Life, an in the works, feel-good documentary that focuses on the importance of getting the most out of our short years on earth. The four boys behind The Buried Life (and the “do before we die” checklist that directs their mission) have just released this new trailer that rather expertly packs their whole theory into just under three minutes. I’ll just say, one more time, that what they’re doing is remarkable, and let the video do the rest of the talking.

Ooh, I’m so excited about this one I can hardly write. Four boys, fresh out of Canada, barely into their twenties, facing miles and miles of highway and a list of 100 things to do before death… why didn’t I think of this? They’re calling it The Buried Life, and it’s an epic get-r’-done style adventure based on a list of silly/serious/seemingly impossible things to do before the end of (their) time. Some are classic save the world concepts (#7: Plant a tree), and some are pretty out there (#100: Go to space), but all 100 work into their goal to prove that anybody can do anything. So far, the guys have covered almost a third of the list, which is certainly detailed (I mean… I have a to-do list, too… but my #59 isn’t getting shot out of a cannon. Canadians, sheesh.). Rumor has it that #26 (Tell a judge, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”) might actually go down Supreme Court-style. You need to see the entire list to get a true feel for the magnitude of what they’re trying to achieve, and we definitely recommend taking a look… it is AWESOME. Good luck crew- what you’re doing is completely inspiring, and we’re with you all the way.

Avalanches are a serious and palpable threat in mountain regions throughout the world; more people than I want to think about in my life have been affected directly or indirectly by them– most certainly a byproduct of where I’m from. A lot of research has been done with avalanches, and the studies have found that a vast majority of deaths occur not upon impact, but after burial. Swiss mountaineering gear maker Mammut took a step in the right direction with its Barryvox avalanche transponder this year. Not only does the Barryvox transmit a signal for the location of a buried individual, but it also displays pulse and respiratory data about the victim. In a situation where there are multiple people buried, a device like this makes it easier for rescuers to make the tough decision of who to rescue first. We’ve seen a lot of innovation in this field in recent years (e.g. the Avalung), and hats off to Mammut for continuing that trend.