Yet another example where incongruity captivates us. Here the high production values make a the motley mix of unattractive men a baffling delight as we just can’t understand why they aren’t little hentai school girls.
Consider the crafted timing: as you start to realize that charmer with the Ed Grimley do isn’t just a background distraction and you’re wondering, ‘what kind of elaborate gay bridge club home video is this?’ And then, bang!, we’re on a soundstage. You know this is the real deal then and that every element is befuddlingly intentional, making the Grimley do all the more distracting.
Meta jokes and commentary are all the rage. OK, they have been for a while. So it makes sense that several pretty good videos are floating around with meta mockeries of various media genres.
Here’s TV News, mocked, in TV News format.
Here’s an award winning movie trailer, mocking that venerated genre. Really, it’s pretty well made. This team could probably make an actually decent movie.
Two very talented media makers have new(ish) audio collage projects out. Both amazed us in concept and execution. And both reminded us of the potential within a sonic sliver of time.
First, here’s “Skynet Symphonic” by Pogo.
It’s way more than just a movie mash-up. All the sounds are slices of the soundtrack from the film.
“Each section is composed entirely of sounds from a major scene in the film. For example, the Terminator pounding on the fire escape door is used as a kick drum. Bones breaking play the role of a snare. Electrical disturbance acts as a crash cymbal.” – Pogo’s You Tube channel.
Makes you want to train your ears a little more precisely right?
Well another project inadvertently reveals how this kind of remixing works. Ze Frank’sPain Pack is a disarmingly ingenious idea. Ze Frank asked people to leave a voice mail message describing their emotional pain. Then he sent those voice mails to DJs who broke the cathartic voices into beats and sounds to re-mix.
One DJ wrote:
“I didn’t expect it to be as emotionally exhausting as it was. I felt a responsibility to do each person’s pain justice by making something crazy cool out of it…”
Listen to some of the messages, see the full process (which is half the fun of Ze Frank’s collaborative projects) and best of all, in light of the Terminator symphony up top, hear the 138 sounds/samples the DJs made and the 15 songs from those samples. Worth a click so here’s the link again.
LINKS:
For more on Pogo, tone poems, and collage audio, read a blog post about him here. Or better yet, just go to his You Tube channel.
For Ze Frank’s other project’s have a gander at his website.
Follow @absurddelight on twitter for other updates and links.
If you don’t know what the yearly Idiotaraod is, then the name should give you a hint. And what that doesn’t explain this video will:
OK, that explains very little except that this race involves shopping carts, costumes and dodge ball.
Here are some of the rules (selected for their explanatory power or humor):
Each team consists of five racers and one shopping cart.
Any team wearing spandex is disqualified.
While the cart is moving during the race, four racers must be forward of the back wheels of the cart (the “sled dog”position) and one racer must be behind the cart (the “musher” position).
The Committee has sole discretion over all points awarded or deducted, prizes awarded, which prizes are being awarded, race rules, all laws of physics, what time it is, and what happened in the past, all of which are subject to change without notice.
For anyone who likes puppets and cursing in public here’s an event for you. The confusingly located 92nd Street Y in Tribeca is hosting a participatory Team America screening.
Step 1: watch this video and memorize the explicitly complex lyrics.
And to get you in the mood, have a gander at this great photo gallery from the ridiculous movie here. You can see the puppetology, strings, and explosions in motion stopped glory.
