Way back when, Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake created an Internet phenomenon with their Dick in a Box song. If you’ve been in a cave, or want a refresher, check it out here. There’s been a lot of imitators and posers, most of them exactly as bad as you’d expect. “Step 1…cut a hole in the box” was the “I’m Rick James bitch” of 2007. That is until now. Leah Kauffman has created a parody (of a parody) that is almost as good as the original. She’s affiliated with barelypolitical.com, which I know nothing about. Her video “My Box in a Box” is inspired. Check it out:

Leah is hot in a waspy, Dave Matthews concert way, and obviously funny. She does have a case of the crazy eyes though. This video is great, I hope there’s more of her out there.

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This is a commencement speech Steve Jobs gave to the graduating class of Stanford (full context here). He tells three stories from his life. It’s long, but I think it’s moving, and worth it.

1. Typography. Turns out that after Jobs dropped out of college he audited a few classes. On of these was calligraphy. This class taught him an appreciation for typography’s history, art, and value. He used this info later when he designed the Apple computer. And, as he put it, “Since windows just copied the Mac, if it wasn’t for this class personal computing might not have any kind of beautiful typography”. There’s a snowball effect for you.
2. Being fired was awesome. After Jobs was fired from Apple, it let him look at his life and pursue his passions again. This led to Pixar, his company Next being bought by Apple, and his wife and family. Not a bad severance package.
3. Death is around the corner. A bit morbid, Jobs explains how he uses death as a motivator in his life.

He concludes his speech with a quote from an old publication from the ’70s. “Stay hungry, stay foolish”. Not bad advice.

video via the always awesome 1938 media.

I leave you with a classic Apple ad. The message of which now, more than ever, is obviously right from Jobs’ mouth.

The new Apple Macbook Air is an amazing device, no doubt. As soon as it was announced yesterday you were sure that Apple would release a commercial for it with some awesome song by a sexy-sounding female singer ala their iPod Nano ad. Well the future is now, and the commercial is out.

What’s this song you ask? It’s by an artist named Yael Naim. There’s an umlaut over the “i” in “Naim” too, in case you’re into that sort of thing. The song is called “New Soul” and is from the artist’s self-titled album. I love the song and from what I’ve heard of the rest of her album, I love all this artist’s tracks. Check them out for yourself.

• Preview and buy Yael Naim songs from the iTunes store.
• visit the artist’s website.

If you want to hear the entire song used in the Macbook Air commercial, check out the video:

I might have to add Yael Naim to my recent mix tape of female singer/songwriters. Before we know it she’ll be in an Old Navy commercial.

Lyrics, for those of you who are into that type of thing:

I’m a new soul I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take.
But since I came here
Felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

I’m a young soul in this very strange world hoping I could learn a bit about what is true and fake.
But why all this hate?
Try to communicate.
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

This is a happy end cause’ you don’t understand everything you have done why’s everything so wrong

This is a happy end come and give me your hand I’ll take your far away.

I’m a new soul I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take
But since I came here fellt the joy and the fear finding myself making every possible mistake

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

Enjoy. If there are other commercials you’d like to know the music to, leave me a comment. Be sure to subscribe as well since I try to post up info on great TV commercial music as I come across ones that catch my ear.

DJ Stout has redesigned the magazine Dairy Today that is launching this month. In addition to a bold new logotype, the magazine will feature a stylized “portrait” of a dairy cow on the cover of each issue in an effort to differentiate it from its competitors.

I think these new covers are beautiful. Maybe it’s because I grew up around them, but I’ve always found cows to have a pastoral beauty. If you’ve ever spent time with them, you’ll know they’re very peaceful, mellow animals.

via SwissMiss, and others.