vitaminwater canada blog

after thousands of passionate votes and an exciting race to the contest finish line at 11:59:59 yesterday evening, glacéau vitaminwater is pleased to announce the results of the “are you nash enough” contest.

following careful consideration, it was decided that both adam henkel (victoria, b.c.) and arkinder kandola (vancouver, b.c.) are indeed both nash enough to appear in a video with nba superstar steve nash.

adam and arkie will be travelling to phoenix, arizona. at the end of the month where they’ll have their moment to meet nash and wow him with their “nash enough” personalities. with this trio, the video is sure to be hilarious!

thank you again for all your votes and for your tireless support of all the finalists. we hope to be seeing a lot more from these creative, nashy talents.
let’s watch, once again, the videos that began it all:

congratulations!

image via mashable

it’s arguably one of the world’s biggest sporting events, but everybody knows super bowl sunday is about more than a football. it’s about super parties, super commercials, super snacks…

image via slashfood

and super tweets?

oui.

during super bowl xlv last february, twitter users set a new record with 4,064 tweets sent in one single second. in fact, the previous record for tweets per second (set during 2010′s world cup in south africa) was crushed no less than six times during last year’s game.

experts predict that super bowl xlvi, set to go down feb. 5th, will be no different. and based on the flurry of “actwivity” we’ve seen this season so far, few could disagree.

the debate now lies in which individual player will rock the popular social network most.

will tom brady’s twitter mentions explode? will eli manning make the trending topics list? will chad ochocinco see a spike in followers?

only time will tell, but this wicked infographic from banyan branch gives us the lowdown on who’s been most tweeted up to this point:

who do you think will be this year’s most tweeted player? leave your thoughts below as evidence of your mad football prediction skills.

image via toronto star

meet 17-year-old students asad muhammad and mathew ho. they’re the reason “lego” was trending on twitter this week, and may quite possibly be responsible for a massive spike in weather balloon sales very soon.

the toronto-area students recently completed one delightfully ambitious mission to send a canadian flag-holding lego man 80,000 feet into the air, completely beyond earth’s atmosphere into space.

image via toronto star

four cameras went along to record the journey (plus a gps to help the teens find their unit after it came crashing back down to earth), and the footage that came back is just wicked:

the little guy’s big adventure lasted only a few hours, but it took muhammad and ho countless hours of work plus $400 of their own money to design and execute this experiment. sending a man into space – even a lego man – is no small task, after all!

canadian lego and science enthusiasts were instantly enamoured with the footage, but after the toronto star published this article on january 25th, the teens became international news media “rock-stars” virtually overnight.

“i’ve been bombarded all morning. i feel like i’m their manager now,” lecourgos papathanasakis, the team’s highschool principal, told the toronto star wednesday. “they’ve definitely got star status.”

next up for muhammad and ho? graduation! the grade 12 students told press that they’ve already sent off university applications.

we’d wish them good luck on admissions, but somehow doubt they’ll need it.

good on ya, asad and mathew!

you may have noticed over the past couple of years that vitaminwater loves film. we love watching films, reading about films, making films (sort of) and, of course, hosting parties to celebrate films and their stars.

this is why, when the 84th annual academy awards were announced bright and early yesterday, not even george clooney himself could have pulled us away from the live feed.

sure, there were some predictable moments – obligatory cutaways to the year’s best clips, meryl streep’s 17th oscar nomination for “the iron lady”, and two of the year’s most critically acclaimed films leading the pack with 11 nods for hugo and 10 for the artist, respectively.

stars of the artist, berenice bejo and jean dujardin at the hotel martinez by vitaminwater in cannes

but, as many predicted, the academy tossed a few curveballs too.

reporters, bloggers and even the stars themselves sounded off on surprise “snubs”. funnyman patton oswalt’s comedic twitter rant made headlines across the world even though, to the best of our knowledge, leonardo dicaprio didn’t actually rent out lego land.

here’s are some of the most buzzed about oscar nominations (or lack thereof) from this year’s nomination ceremony:

- the academy allows for 10 best picture nominations, but only chose to go with 9 this year.

- there are only two nominees in the original song category this year (no golden globe style madonna / elton john faceoff?) and they’re both sung by non-humans songs: “man or muppet” from “the muppets” and “real in rio” from the animated film “rio”.

- despite a wealth of critical and audience praise, “drive” was shut-out in all major categories. we still love you, albert brooks! hope you get your pants back

- speaking of drive, poor ryan gosling! 3 stellar performances and not even a hat tip for the canadian stuperstar? the web is not pleased.

- additional percieved oversights in the “actor in a leading role category” include michael fassbender for shame and leonardo dicaprio for “j. edgar.” one day, leo…

- a happy surprise: the hilarious melissa mccarthy‘s best supporting actress nomination! the golden globes may have kept her out of the running, but the academy seems to agree that her turn as megan in bridesmaid’s was straight up brilliant.

image via universal pictures

you can full list of nominees here and catch the 84th annual academy awards on sunday, february 26.

predictions, anybody?

the largest gathering of people dressed as video games characters. the most prolific dancing game high scorer. the largest competitive pokemon videogame family.

these are all official titles in what’s become known around the gaming scene as “the video game bible”: the guinness world records gamer’s edition.

this annual compilation of the greatest and most extreme achievements in the world of videogames is now in its fifth year of publication, and the fanfare surrounding it grows larger with every edition.

the 2012 edition of the book was released this week to eager fans in the uk and to celebrate, guinness decided to shine a spotlight on one of this year’s coolest records:

image via guinness world records

the world’s largest videogame controller was created by 23-year-old british engineering student ben allen and two of his classmates at delft university of technology in the netherlands.

it may weigh 4,000 pounds and require two people to operate it, but the device is 100% functional and 100% awesome.

image via guinness world records

impressive!

we’d love to give you a link to places you can buy this gem, or at the very least some diy instructions, but the guys seem to be keeping their method under wraps for now. it did take them 5 months to make, so we’re assuming it might be on the tricky side.

if you’re jonesin’ for your own giant controller and have an extra 100 hours + $200 to space, can we recommend a table like this in the meantime?

image via kotaku

can your e-reader do this, book-shunner mc bookersons? hmmm?

the paperback action in that video is beyond impressive, right? but out of fairness to your tablet, we’ll admit that the books couldn’t have done it on their own.

canadian artists sean and lisa ohlenkamp spent “many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating” this piece, which was actually created as an advertisement for type books in toronto. the independent book shop’s video was racking up over one million hits on youtube in less than a week. right now, it has over 2 million views and had been featured by media outlets around the world.

“this video is a tribute, a love letter to books as objects,” said store owner joanne saul tuesday on cbc radio’s metro morning. “the door closes, the book seller goes home for the day and the party begins. the books get up and dance, they peek around the corner to make sure no one is looking and they have a really good time. it’s magical, it’s whimsical.”

saul attributes the ad’s viral success to our lingering appreciation for the written word, drawing upon the video’s core message that “there’s nothing quite like a real book.”

this isn’t the first time sean and lisa have tackled a stop motion book project. you might remember their “organizing the bookcase” video from last year when we featured it in a post about stop motion awesomeness.

we have an inkling that this won’t be the last time they make a book video, either

from the video's youtube description

***the voting period has ended and the winner has been chosen. see the results here. thank you for all your votes and comments!***

a couple of months ago, vitaminwater canada teamed up with canadian celebrity steve nash (maybe you’ve heard of him?) to issue a challenge of nba-sized proportions:

many of you answered the call, sending us video after video explaining why you are “nash enough” to star in steve nash’s next vitaminwater video with meathawk productions.

our judges watched and reviewed every submission. we didn’t even count how many bottles of vitaminwater were knocked over during fits of laughter and rounds of pacing. it wasn’t a quick job, and it certainly wasn’t easy, but our top 5 finalists have been selected based on the creativity of their submissions and overall “nashiness”. congratulations to adam henkel, arkinder kandola, alex khotsiphom craig stickland, juan sanchez.

unfortunately, only one of these talented young canucks will be flying to meet steve nash for a video shoot later this year. and guess who gets to make the decision?

you!

cast a vote for your favourite finalist in our poll before the end of this month, up to 3 times per day. the contestant who receives the most votes will win the grand prize and potentially become world famous forever. start sucking up now.

***see the results of this contest now!***

this one goes out to all our checker-chested homies. the tartanists. the buffalo boys. the proud walking, wild-living straight up plaid fanatics:

we could write an entire book about how much plaid shirts rule, but figured that would be kind of pointless because

a) writing books takes forevvvver and
b) you already know why plaid shirts rule. chances are, you’ve got (more than) a few in your closet right now.

plaid is universally flattering, always on-trend, and if we may be so bold as to offend our friends in williamsburg, it’s downright canadian chic.

more than a pattern, tartan is a familiar sight for sore eyes that are tired of neon deep-vs at the concert / club / beach / school / grocery store…

some might even argue that plaid is to a 20-something man’s wardrobe what black is to all women everywhere: a versatile wardobe stable which works for young to old, prep to punk, casual to dressy and everything in between.

why heck, there’s even a massive facebook group dedicated to it.

and now, there’s a rap song, too:

josh johnson, joe cummings and michael krivicka really love plaid shirts. they love them so much that they produced not only a rap video, but an entire web series dedicated to plaid.

we love it. good on ya, guys!

if you have a passion for plaid, get at us in the comments or post a photo of your favourite shirt to our facebook wall. we can’t promise that it’ll end up on the cover of gq, but who knows? it may just land you a modelling contract with kilts ‘r us! fingers crossed

here we are almost one week into 2012 and like the superstar you are, those new year’s resolutions are holding strong. good on ya!

we know you’ll continue to sweat it out at the gym every day, bring your own lunch to work, volunteer on the regular and quit stressing for good, but on the off-chance that your new years goals don’t quite work out as planned, here’s an easy backup for you: resolve to make your shower more than a simple shower. make your daily shower an experience!

a simple tweak to your bathroom decor will not only improve your morning fun factor by at least 40% (according to our super-scientific research), it’ll impress the heck out of anyone who visits you.

your humble blogger makes it a point to show every single guest the periodic table of elements shower curtain in her bathroom, just like sheldon and leonard:

here are some more fun shower curtains to spice up your shower:

the social curtain: how many times have you been told to clean up your facebook profile? this takes creeping to a whole new level… of fun!

the bacon strips shower curtain: undeniably the trendiest food of this past decade, bacon gets the shower curtain treatment on etsy. epicmealtime would approve.

draw-your-own shower curtain: your resolution to be more creative? bam.

horror movie shower curtain: not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. fortunately, horror buffs are rarely either of these things.

police line shower curtain: an appropriate replacement curtain for when the one above wears out.

a yellow submarine shower curtain: this is a custom piece, but there’s no reason you can’t be inspired to make your own!

dr. seuss curtain: for the young, the young-at-heart, and those who appreciate timeless pieces of classic literature. people who

king of pop curtain: moonwalking may be easier with wet feet, but please don’t attempt to dance in the shower. danger!

singing in the rain (shower): dancing in the shower = no. singing in the shower = yessssss.

bam! instant life-enhancement. unless you have one of those showers with glass doors…

in which case, may we suggest a decal?

image via tumblr

it’s barely just begun, but 2012 has already proven to be quite a promising year for technological innovation.

we’ve heard about clothes that can clean themselves using only sunshine, rock & roll egg boilers, typewriters that can paint pictures, file sharing as a religion and a whole rash of small furry animals doing big crazy things.

image via geekologie

yes – that is a hamster-powered submarine. and this is the kitty twitty:

image via makeprojects.com

essentially, this toy allows your cat to post twitter updates to his own feed all day long, no hoomans required. this is a very important societal development because, as i’m sure you’ve noticed, the internet is a little bit short on cat-related content right now.

marc devinick created the toy for his wife who used to miss their family’s feline while she was away at work. now she can get direct communications from chester every time he bats that orange bird – even if he does it 80 times and hour for 9 hours straight.

a cat who tweets! it’s like two pets for the price of one, right?

feel like turning your cat into a social media guru? devinick posted the complete step-by-step instructions for his kitty twitty toy on makeprojects.com.

good luck, and be sure to let us know your furry friend’s handle so we can follow his adventures… or lack thereof.

image via lovemeow