May 8, 2008

I'm Back

And just in time for my birthday! Yes, today is my 37th birthday, and thanks to the relativistic effects of traveling close to the speed of light, I have it on the highest authority that I don't look a day over 37!

I know you want to know all about my recent trip to outer space, and I was worried that I wouldn't be allowed to discuss it for global security reasons. However, we're lucky that film footage of this top-secret mission has been leaked to the press, with more to come, I am certain.

Now that the space-cat is out of the moon-bag, so to speak, I can speak candidly about the mission I was on. If you haven't seen the leaked clips, watch this:

Yes, the truth can finally be told.

I was on a mission to fight the Evil Space Nazis (ESNs) on the dark side of the moon.

It was very exciting. We've got lots of pictures from the whole shebang, and I'll post some of them in the next few days.

But this adventure with ESNs started me thinking about retro-futurism. Why is it so cool to mix the past into our frothy futurist cocktails? Blade Runner (ha! The Spouse hates it when I go on and on about Blade Runner) famously made 2018 Los Angeles a 1940s-esque noir-fest.

But I digress. Over at his Sweet Homo Alabama blog, Z.C. Byrnes points us to a very cool mashup of canonical western film High Noon and... um, killer robots. How cool is that?!

"Have you forgotten he's got his own deflector shield?" Classic!

Watching this video I was reminded of a tune we heard while in space heading toward the ESN base. In space we got fabulous radio reception from all over the globe, and the crew and I were treated to a fun track on the BBC: The Last Shadow Puppet's "The Age of The Understatement." It's a hoot. Check it out:

Now, while the video gives us Soviet tanks and choruses, the music is heavily influenced by Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores. But with a modern twist. I could imagine killer robots being behind that twist. In fact, I bet it was the killer robots who were running the Soviet army. You read it here first, people.

Which, of course, makes me think of that other great recent western-themed future fantasia in song, Muse's "Knights of Cydonia." If you've been living in a retro-futurist-proof bomb shelter for the past year or so, you might not have heard this song. But even if you've heard the seriously western-themed song, have you seen the video?

Oh, Gustof von Musterhausen, your little film is so full of awesome it hurts my brain.

I've written before about remix culture and prosumers (producer/consumers with the near-professional quality modern tech allows), but with "Knights of Cydonia" we get the full circle -- professional video producers remixing genres, effects, narratives, and throwing in a whole heaping of allusions to other works.

And it's all wrapped in a laser-shooting, kung-fu fighting, unicorn-riding sci-fi western package. Excellent.

P.S. Bonus points go to whoever identifies the most allusions in the Muse video!

File this one under Blog News , Media , Robots , Visuality
Posted by Richard at 4:39 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

I'm a Rocket Man (See You in May!)

So, Richard Branson called right when I was planning my next blog post. Apparently, he needs someone with mad digital literacy skillz to pilot Virgin Galactic's latest spacebuggy. It happens more often than you'd expect.

Since I think it's gonna be a long long time 'till touch down brings me round again to find I'm not the man they think I am at home (Oh no no no), I'm a rocket man... here's a little something deep, profound, cute, and wonderfully wonderful to ponder until blogging resumes at the beginning of May.

Ladies and Gentlement, I present to you, Paul Klusman, engineer, comic, and cat-dude extraordinaire!

File this one under Blog News
Posted by Richard at 7:50 PM | Comments (1)

March 29, 2008

Late to the Party, but No Less Sincere

The new (and last) season of Battlestar Galactica starts on April 4th.

To get you whipped up into a white-hot heat over the premiere, a week or so ago the cast crashed David Letterman's show to read the top-10 list: the top 10 reasons to watch the new season.

Reason #1 to watch this top-10? Number 4 gives us a chance to hear Lee Adama (British actor Jamie Bamber) let his accent slip from bland-US-Midwest to rocking-Brit.

File this one under Media , Robots
Posted by Richard at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

It's Raining... the Horror!!!

The Spouse insists that I share this video with you, as a continuation of my thread on the good & evil being done in the name of grassroots political advocacy.

I will simply say that I firmly believe we have entered the post-ironic age. Watching this video, can you tell the difference between ironic self-parody and sincere advocacy? I sure can't.

Imagine what this means for our oh-so-trendy students! Now we can simply assume that the ridiculous bug-eyed sunglasses they wear with the hideous snowboarder-chic (ha!) winter garb means that they want to uglify themselves up! Trucker hats (which I do still see occassionally on campus) now mean that the wearer really is a no-brow bumpkin.

Life has become just a little bit simpler. And snarkier. Joy.

P.S. If you need a unicorn chaser, I suggest either Grammatically-Challenged Felicitous Felines or, if you're filled with understandable rage at the horrors of the McCain Girls, Kelly's "You Can't Text Message Breakup." They both always make me feel better.

File this one under Media
Posted by Richard at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2008

Must Love Dogs

This blog has been criticized for what some people perceive to be a pro-cat/anti-dog bias. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This blog, and its blogger, loves dogs. So, as a show of good (un-biased) faith, here's two dog videos for your entertainment and edification, both via BoingBoing Gadgets. One features a monomaniacal dachshund, the other a headless creepy-as-hell robo-fido. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which.

At present I'm working on my book on digital textuality and literacy. But once that gets to a manageable stage, I am absolutely going to start working on something about robots. Crazy, crazy robots.

File this one under Robots , Technology
Posted by Richard at 12:36 PM | Comments (1)

March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As I'm not Irish, I won't bore you with blather about Ireland. Let's get right to the drinking and the singing.

First, a classic sketch from The Muppet Show that may drive you to drink:

Oh boy. Second, "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," a classic folk song here in a shattering performance by Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. The Spouse and I had the rare opportunity to see Dead Can Dance live in concert in DC. Wow.

I know I need a drink after that. Finally, something a little lighter. The Magnetic Fields' "Abigail, Belle of Kilronan," with a video featuring plastic toys. I suspect the Fields would approve.

(Interesting how this turned into a meditation on death and war.)

Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!

File this one under Blog News
Posted by Richard at 9:53 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2008

That's Edu-tainment!

I really, really enjoy the "You Suck at Photoshop" videos. I think that's probably because "Donny" manages to be pretty darn funny and I like his voice. I guess I should say something about that last sentence. The Spouse and I were watching The Daily Show a few nights ago and the interviewee was Grover Norquist, sworn foe of "big government" and taxation. Norquist has been a huge force in modern conservative politics, and has quite a reputation.

He's also got the nasal, adenoidal voice of a high school physics club officer. Let's face it, vocally he's no Darth Vader.

"Donny" isn't either, but his voice fits the persona in the videos, and the frequent near-breaks do a nice job to clue us in to Donny's mental and emotional state. (Hint: it's not good.) That's subtext for the videos, and I really appreciate subtext.

All of which is to say, here's the latest in the series:

Another thing I really like about these videos is that they tell a story while they instruct. They're edutainment.

There are other videos, however, that edutain in other, less positive ways. I posted recently about the groundswell of user-generated support for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Grass-roots mass media efforts, however, are only as good as their creators. As we saw in the last Hillary video, the grass may be rooted, but it's not... good. Well, here comes another "hip" effort from Hillary-land. Brace yourselves.

I think we learn a lot from this video as it tries to entertain us with a "hip" "rap." First, it teaches us that even progressives feel better when there's a cleaning lady around. Classist, exploitative labor practices be damned -- Hillary, you're our kind of maid. Now get in there and start scrubbing. You missed a spot. Or something like that. (Hint: listen to the opening again if you're lost.) Second, rap has gotten a reputation as an art form of "the people," as it was started by people socially and economically disenfranchised from corporate patronage and privilege. That would make it seem an ideal vehicle for supporting a Democratic candidate for president. But we learn from this video that you need a little something I like to call "talent" to make rap work. And dude, you don't have it.

But there are people with talent out there, who can make anything entertaining and informational in rap form. Sammy Stephens is one such talented man. This video isn't new, but it's informative (and entertaining) to watch it in dialogue with the Hillary rap.

See? It's just like a mini mall. Though to be fair, it may be that Stephens has better material to work with. The "Mini Mall Rap" even works as an acoustic slow jam.

Someone should tell the Clinton campaign.

UPDATE! The Spouse sent me yet another example of Hillary's "supporters" "helping" the campaign. I think at this point even Hillary wishes that someone please make it stop!

File this one under Media , Technology , Visuality
Posted by Richard at 4:29 PM | Comments (0)