Zune has been a great supporter of the arts with their Zune Arts initiative, and its been incredible to see all of the artists - illustration, 3d, animation, and now graphic artists they have been supporting! The latest project is The Lost Ones: "a graphic novel written by celebrated writer Steve Niles. For the Zune-commissioned novel, Niles was paired up with visual artists Dr. Revolt, Gary Panter, Kime Buzzelli and Morning Breath to take the reader on an epic journey through time and space. Each artist illustrated a different chapter of the novel." On the next page you can check out a trailer video... i've also pulled some of my favorite pages from the novel, as well as the covers of the various chapters.

GIVEAWAY! There are two sets of a special collectors edition of the novel with a silk screened cover and poster waiting for two lucky readers ~ so leave a comment with your favorite on/offline comic and why you love it (by monday night PST) for a chance to win it!

TO PAGE 2 of "GIVEAWAY! The Lost Ones"! ----->

Tags: art - book - comics - contests

Firstly ~ look down to the left corner! How cute is that little orange bouncy raccoon balloon? Secondly, this is not a paying advertiser of NOTCOT, yet i put it on all my sites for free... because i'm in love with the genius of this campaign.

Orange (the mobile phone guys in the UK) are launching the "World's First Internet Balloon Race" in 6 days - and essentially it is kind of like their own stumble upon race... users register their "balloon" and they can race from site to site trying to get as "far" as possible to win a trip to Ibiza... as for where they go? Sites like this one, can register on their page and put up little balloons, so when people are racing, they go through your sites! (and who knows, some might come back later!)... SO, free advertising for the sites, which give free advertising for Orange, and fun exploring the internet for the users... AND super cute raccoon balloon flash 9 animation for me to have bouncing on my screen. On the next page, i've compiled all the info on what happens and how things work ~ and FYI my balloon is named NOTCOT, feel free to give it a boost and i'll boost you back when the race starts.

So, take note advertisers, if you make it cool enough, you'll definitely get around... and future advertisers, lets break out of the IAB ad boxes, i'd love to work with someone who wanted to sponsor the next little balloon or critter to hang out somewhere non intrusive and unexpected on our sites!

TO PAGE 2 of "World's First Internet Balloon Race"! ----->

Tags: advertising - contests