In this episode, we visit Cherry Bomb Bakery and chat with the masterminds behind their delectable delights.

Street Attack: Vision Episode 5 Cherry Bomb Bakery from Mykim Dang on Vimeo.

In this episode we visit Somerville Local First, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping local businesses, artists and crafts thrive.  Check out the video and don’t forget to visit their website for more information and to stay up to date with all of their events.

The online self publishing service Blurb has been around and well known in the do it yourself communities, but we thought with the summer heat wave killing us here on the East Coast, you might find yourself stuck indoors more than you’d like, with more time on your hands to unleash that inner creative being. The Do It Yourself series focuses on sharing tools and technology that make the traditional crafting realm spread its reach far beyond your corner sidewalk sale or flea market and take it to the masses and endless channels of the web.

Granted this may be a strike against the nature of DIY culture’s founding pillars, more and more artists have been embracing up and coming technologies and the web as a way to spread the reach of their once isolated zines and self published projects and publications. Like it or not, the argument is there, and technologies like Blurb are helping artists, and non-artists alike, do it themselves, tell their stories in refined and professional ways and change the landscape of what it means to share and creative exchange information. Check out their site and this little demo below which explains the book editing software they have created which you can use to publish your books (or for the more design savvy they recently started accepting adobe templates).

Getting Started with Blurb Booksmart from Blurb Books on Vimeo.

In this episode, we sit down with the guys behind Emulsion Apparel and find out what makes them tick and how their quality goods are really made.

Street Attack: Vision Episode 3 Emulsion Apparel from Mykim Dang on Vimeo.

The Fun Theory, a website sponsored by Volkswagen, aims to change people’s behavior by making an ordinarily mundane activity more fun. Seems pretty simple, right? Once some of the technology components are worked out, it’s amazing to see how, in fact, something so simple (and fun) can make a difference.

These days, everyone can recognize and understand the potential of a viral video. In this case, the Volkswagen brand is not predominately featured in each video (they aren’t driving VWs or wearing branded apparel). Instead, a small logo at the end is really the only thing that associates the car company with the idea and concept of the Fun Theory. In my opinion, this is rather admirable of them considering the level of branding in many of today’s YouTube videos, TV shows, and movies. If there’s a lesson to be learned from this campaign, it’s that some of the most successful marketing is often the simplest, and most importantly, the most fun.

Street Attack: Vision is the visceral manifestation of our eyes and ears on alternative culture, lifestyle, technology and experience. In this episode, we visit The Floorlords, a Boston-based b-boy group that has been changing lives and making move for nearly 30 years.

Street Attack: Vision Episode 2 The Floorlords from Mykim Dang on Vimeo.

The power of the people: in many topics, Wikipedia is officially more accurate than most encyclopedias. They even say that if you asked 100 people the weight of a cow, the average answer would be more accurate than a butcher’s guess. The masses have changed laws, sparked revolutions and, of course, started memes. But can we use the power of the people to help the people?

Thanks to the recent popularity of corporate social responsibility initiatives, the masses can unite under an organized head – like an international brand such as American Express- to rapidly make a difference. Lately, a few of these initiates have proved successful, benefiting the brand and the world alike. Check out our favorite brands using social action networks to produce a positive impact that goes beyond their consumer base:

American Express- Members Project
American Express is donating $1 million every three months. They’ve given us the responsibility of choosing the most worthy cause. Check the website at http://www.takepart.com/membersproject/vote to choose your favorite charity in the five categories to which they’ll split the $1 million prize: Arts and Culture, Community Development, Education, Environment and Wildlife, and Health and Wellness. American Express is also encouraging donations, and they’re even giving Membership Reward points to those who offer to volunteer at the competing charities.

Pepsi-Refresh Project
You probably missed Pepsi this Superbowl. Pepsi is known for putting out at least one multi-million dollar Superbowl ad every year. For this year, Pepsi decided to place that money into something a little more worthwhile: the Pepsi Refresh Project. Pepsi’s project is a lot like American Express’s – but anyone can submit any proposal. The best ideas will receive funding. And you can tell these initiatives were crowd-sourced as they represent hyper-local causes (like a high school’s video game club). Voting ends June 30th. Check it out: http://refresheverything.com

Crispin Porter + Bogusky
This Miami and Bolder based advertising agency is known for it’s crowdsourcing attempts. They even spawned a crowdsourcing-based advertising agency, Victors and Spoils (http://victorsandspoils.com/). After spurring up some crowdsourcing controversy in which they tried to crowdsource a logo for Brammo (the problem being that crowdsourcing talent devalues the designer), CP+B may have finally mastered the art of the crowdsource: they are asking us the best way to clean up BP’s oil spill. Seems like an ambitious idea, but at least CP+B is out to make a difference. And with our help.

In our first episode, we visit talented artist and graphic designer Steph Love who creates unique, striking canvases out of used tea bags.

Street Attack: Vision Episode 1 Steph Love from Mykim Dang on Vimeo.

Street Attack is proud to announce the launch of it’s online web series of original content highlighting the people, places and things that are defining our culture.  Street Attack: Vision is the visceral manifestation of our eyes and ears on alternative culture, lifestyle, technology and experience.  Stay tuned for more information and keep your eyes out for the first episode this week.

We’re so busy talking about social media’s effectiveness in advertising and attempts at privacy that we forget about the fun stuff. Truth is, there have never existed better channels for broadcasting that priceless joke and transforming it into an eternal meme. Here’s a few humorous memories that deserve a place in the Social Media Hall of Fame.

Twitter:
@ferris_bueller: Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss something. And boy, did you ever. On May 7th, the entire Ferris Bueller’s Day Off movie was replayed on Twitter, complete with Foursquare locations, twitpics, direct tweets to @Prin_Rooney, @sloanepeterson_, and @JeanieBueller, and a flat out amazing dialogue retelling the story. Ferris complained about receiving “save ferris” texts, tweeted a photo of Cameron wrecking his Dad’s car, and even received the Photogenic Foursquare badge.

@BoyInTheBalloon: While all news sources had their cameras pointed to the sky – fixated on the little boy who had supposedly climbed into a helium science experiment and was now flying across Colorado – all they needed to do was read his Twitter! As soon as the whole fiasco began, some funny guy was already tweeting under the guise of Falcon, the poor boy who truly lived up to his name. “Falcon” tweeted from the sky about his predicament, his thoughts on his crazy parents, and even the TV shows he was missing on his flight. And while we now know that Falcon wasn’t in the balloon after all, “Falcon’s” tweets will remain in infamy.

Conan O’Brien: He’s got over one million followers on Twitter. And he follows: 1. Conan O’Brien decided to follow a girl at random, and he’s forever changed the life of that girl (whom he describes as a lover of peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs). The best part? Now this random girl has 30,000 followers herself!

Facebook:
Can This Onion Ring Get More Fans Than Justin Bieber?: We all know that Justin Bieber fans are insane. And there’s millions of them, those preteen girls finding their way into our trending topics. Well, one kid decided it was time to make a difference. Facebook user Toby Brittan created a fanpage for an onion ring, in hopes of ousting Justin Bieber’s massive fan count. And, in just a few days, he succeeded. The last tally, before the Onion Ring page was mysteriously deleted by Facebook without the consent of its owner, was:

Bieber Fan Count: 1,648,758 fans
Onion Ring Fan Count: 2,152,536 fans

A huge victory for Bieber-hater’s everywhere. Unfortunately, this success started an incredibly annoying meme that consists of random inanimate objects attempting to defeat celebrities. Can this baby turtle get more fans than Miley? Can this Pickle get more fans than Nickelback? (It did.) Can this raw steak get more fans than PETA? The list goes on.

Skittles:
Trust me, we’re all for cause-based marketing and campaigns. Almost all of the top Facebook brands have at one point taken a try at Facebook philanthropy: KFC had its buckets for cancer, and countless organizations offer donations for fan-counts. But when Skittles gave it a try, they were perhaps… less ambitious. As soon as Skittles receives 100,000 likes (this is still in progress), they’ll send a guy to bowling school. That’s it. Yes, there are better causes out there, and Skittles doesn’t even hint at who this ‘guy’ is, but they’re set on sending him to some sort of bowling engineering college. And that’s just hilarious.

Lamebook: Why whittle Facebook down to a few comedic instances? Facebook has millions of funny interactions, and most of them are with our friends. Check out LameBook, where users can post screenshots of amusing Facebook gems. While some are user submitted comments of had-to-be-there jokes, most submissions are examples of the ridiculous. Yes, some people ARE that stupid, and LameBook is here to prove it.

Foursquare:
The Douchebag Badge: Think twice next time you’re about to check into that hipster place you love – you might just unlock the Douchebag Foursquare badge. Not only that, you’ll most likely automatically tweet about it to your Twitter followers, and your Foursquare friends will see your badge: a picture of a pink popped collar. Lots of people have complained, and even Dennis Crowley (head of Foursquare) said the badge might be popping up a little too much. For now, Foursquare has no plans to ditch the Douchebag, so be careful out there!

Tip For Tat: Foursquare has its share of user-generated humor. While most are area specific (like a few infamous artificial check-ins), a trend is a-brewin’: phony tips. While these tips are ranging from the comical to the absurd, the backhanded tip has proved extremely useful for the wandering consumer. Example: Buy the $5 milk at (some location), the outrageous $1.50 markup is tax-deductible! Foursquare has finally given the comedian (and more importantly, the critic) the perfect forum – where jokes can both make us laugh and even distribute some much needed and advantageous criticism. So be careful next time you read a Foursquare tip, that “secret menu” at a nearby establishment might just be a sarcastic slap-in-the-face to a hated restaurant.