Our dear friend and ally, Gary Coleman has passed away from a brain hemorrhage at the age of 42. Gary struggled with fame more than most child stars. And unlike most child stars, he really didn't deserve a lot of the abuse the tabloids threw at him regularly.
His forever boy-like features were a public display of our communal inner child, the accumulated wrinkles on his face reflecting even more so the horrors and tragedies of time's passage that so inevitably taint our former innocence.
In honor of Gary and in homage to the RIP Keith Ledger video, I present to you a short montage.
Here's the link to the original RIP Keith Ledger video. The song for this one has since been removed due to copyright. The original song was "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.
If you play the Powter video from 1:53 and turn off the volume on the RIP Keith video, you've got the original copyright-violating version. It is way more funny with the original song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZrpiEFXIgc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH476CxJxfg
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, October 2, 2009
An Uncommon Mirage: The Psychiatric Bedevilment of Susan Q
Sixteen months ago, I received a strange request from a Professor Hans Urfel, former head of the psychology department at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and current operating Director of an elite institution for studying the mentally ill. Due to the nature of doctor-patient confidentiality, I was unable to publish any part of my involvement in the study until just recently hearing of the untimely death of the patient. As for the patient’s name, I was never truly informed and all documents I received in regards to this matter stated the name as “Susan Q”. This is, of course, a false name given to me since my role in this endeavor was that of a technical contractor and academic consultant.
See below a copy of the original letter sent to me by Dr. Urfel.
I replied to Dr. Urfel quite promptly, because he was quite right. I was in no position to refuse work. While the retainer was adequate, I felt I would need to push for a bit more money. He had approached me with an assumption of my cooperation. And while that assumption was correct, I disliked its implication of dominance.
My reply to Hans Urfel:
Dr. Urfel ended up accepting my wage increase request and I set to work making the audio and video for the hallucination of Susan Q. The images in her vision were this: images of a strange river where boys washed clothes, wordless images of men yelling silently, threatening images of bears and flames with some reference to the “Bear” sub-culture of homosexual men. Although these references were brief and subtle, according to Susan they were represented as textual images, as if reading from a book. Other parts of the sequence include stage circus acts featuring “Victor the Bear” and his trainers in one section, and an elephant routine involving a woman held in the mouth of the great beast while it stood on a stool.
It was these two animal performances that I recognized while reading the accounts recorded by the psychiatric staff at the institution. They were from the Ed Sullivan show and were in vivid Technicolor. The Ed Sullivan Show ran from 1948 to 1965 in black and white. After making the mandatory switch to color in 1965, the show only lasted six more years and was canceled after the 70-71 season. This rapid decline had much to do with the changing times. But for me, it was a deeper shift in the way we access memory. The defined and rigid entertainment of black and white depended upon the writing talent bred from the radio age, but color needed no ally. Color TV exploded into our communal consciousness and slashed wide, permanent marks in our memory. Black and white images became synonymous with nostalgia. But I digress from the story of Susan Q.
Susan Q’s hallucination had an intricate audio soundscape consisting of some hip-hop elements most likely lifted from that night at the pub. It also features some dissonant melodies that she was able to hum under hypnosis, which I have represented with electric guitar. Several bits of poetry also infiltrate the scene. The transcriptions for these pieces can be found following the video.
Unfortunately for all involved, my contribution did little to help the severely removed Susan Q.
Dr. Urfel’s attempt at confronting her with her hallucination had a distinctly opposite effect. If she were not allowed to spend an hour a day watching the remake of her hallucination, Susan Q refused to eat and would steer herself into the corners of rooms, spending all day with her face to the wall. Her condition worsened to the point of hospitalization whereupon she withered and passed, ultimately dying from complications of pneumonia.
Since her death releases me from my restrictions in publishing anything about my involvement in this matter, I now present to you the very short film I created for Dr. Hans Urfel. Interpretations may vary.
The Voices that Susan heard:
Overheard voice: “Last night, I had the strangest dream. It wasn’t until it was over that I realized my eyes were open the whole time.”
Overheard poem:
“I wonder could I bother you for a spot of marmalade
just shove it in me brain holes
‘til me vision starts to fade”
The rhymes in the dance beat sequence:
“Brothers spit with liquid fist
Crush memories with time
Imitate the hypnotist
And rule your tiny mind
Blister quick, my wicked tick
I push my ‘barrow slow
I’ve been toiling with the wind
Now it follows me where I go
I can cut it up in pills
I can bend it to my wills
I can make it simplified
Universally bona fide
Won’t you look into the eye?
My sign is rising..."
Original musical composition and vocal samples are created by me. Audio samples freely contributed from these freesound.org musicians: Zajo, Simon_Lacelle, dobroide, LS, nicStage, FreqMan, mrbubble110, sleep, walkerbelm, fathead74, alexbird, Andrew_Duke, sagetyrtle, BristolStories, djgriffin, Jace, propthis, and Matanael.
See below a copy of the original letter sent to me by Dr. Urfel.
I replied to Dr. Urfel quite promptly, because he was quite right. I was in no position to refuse work. While the retainer was adequate, I felt I would need to push for a bit more money. He had approached me with an assumption of my cooperation. And while that assumption was correct, I disliked its implication of dominance.
My reply to Hans Urfel:
Dr. Urfel ended up accepting my wage increase request and I set to work making the audio and video for the hallucination of Susan Q. The images in her vision were this: images of a strange river where boys washed clothes, wordless images of men yelling silently, threatening images of bears and flames with some reference to the “Bear” sub-culture of homosexual men. Although these references were brief and subtle, according to Susan they were represented as textual images, as if reading from a book. Other parts of the sequence include stage circus acts featuring “Victor the Bear” and his trainers in one section, and an elephant routine involving a woman held in the mouth of the great beast while it stood on a stool.
It was these two animal performances that I recognized while reading the accounts recorded by the psychiatric staff at the institution. They were from the Ed Sullivan show and were in vivid Technicolor. The Ed Sullivan Show ran from 1948 to 1965 in black and white. After making the mandatory switch to color in 1965, the show only lasted six more years and was canceled after the 70-71 season. This rapid decline had much to do with the changing times. But for me, it was a deeper shift in the way we access memory. The defined and rigid entertainment of black and white depended upon the writing talent bred from the radio age, but color needed no ally. Color TV exploded into our communal consciousness and slashed wide, permanent marks in our memory. Black and white images became synonymous with nostalgia. But I digress from the story of Susan Q.
Susan Q’s hallucination had an intricate audio soundscape consisting of some hip-hop elements most likely lifted from that night at the pub. It also features some dissonant melodies that she was able to hum under hypnosis, which I have represented with electric guitar. Several bits of poetry also infiltrate the scene. The transcriptions for these pieces can be found following the video.
Unfortunately for all involved, my contribution did little to help the severely removed Susan Q.
Dr. Urfel’s attempt at confronting her with her hallucination had a distinctly opposite effect. If she were not allowed to spend an hour a day watching the remake of her hallucination, Susan Q refused to eat and would steer herself into the corners of rooms, spending all day with her face to the wall. Her condition worsened to the point of hospitalization whereupon she withered and passed, ultimately dying from complications of pneumonia.
Since her death releases me from my restrictions in publishing anything about my involvement in this matter, I now present to you the very short film I created for Dr. Hans Urfel. Interpretations may vary.
The Voices that Susan heard:
Overheard voice: “Last night, I had the strangest dream. It wasn’t until it was over that I realized my eyes were open the whole time.”
Overheard poem:
“I wonder could I bother you for a spot of marmalade
just shove it in me brain holes
‘til me vision starts to fade”
The rhymes in the dance beat sequence:
“Brothers spit with liquid fist
Crush memories with time
Imitate the hypnotist
And rule your tiny mind
Blister quick, my wicked tick
I push my ‘barrow slow
I’ve been toiling with the wind
Now it follows me where I go
I can cut it up in pills
I can bend it to my wills
I can make it simplified
Universally bona fide
Won’t you look into the eye?
My sign is rising..."
Original musical composition and vocal samples are created by me. Audio samples freely contributed from these freesound.org musicians: Zajo, Simon_Lacelle, dobroide, LS, nicStage, FreqMan, mrbubble110, sleep, walkerbelm, fathead74, alexbird, Andrew_Duke, sagetyrtle, BristolStories, djgriffin, Jace, propthis, and Matanael.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Invasion 1963
Did you know JFK was replaced by an alien from outerspace sometime in 1963? Part of an ill-fated exchange program with Venus, the alien-JFK impersonated our 35th President with great skill. It was this alien that suffered the murderous assassin's bullet that fateful afternoon in Dallas. With our young Catholic president seemingly deceased, the REAL John F Kennedy lives even today in exile on the sandy shores of Venus. His return to Earth would reveal the existence of extra-terrestrials. If this knowledge had been made public in '63, it would have unfortunately destroyed the Great Work that the Kennedy's and the Venutians had been building together for two decades.
Here, on this very video, you can hear the tale of the false-JFK's interstellar travel to earth and the aftermath that resulted from the assassination of the Venutian Ambassador. From the lips of alien-JFK's only living hybrid offspring, Ralph Kennedy, the tragic journey of Ralph's grandfather is told here for the first time.
I made this movie. The words and voice are mine. Any footage used here has the direct cultural purpose of subversion in that the images are meant to narrate visually an intent that is both similar yet distinct from the intent of the poem recited. That is to say, that the original intent of the footage has not been reproduced nor would the resulting montage ever have cause to replace demand for the original works that help compose my video.
Fair Use is at play.
Many thanks and credit is due to freesound.org musicians and audio adepts: james.brody for his bean belt shaker, ultratone for his circus-like mashed drum sample, suonho (thanks again) for his basscapes samples, Cyril_Laurier provided wind, jakeharries provided water sound, pryght and marvman for their bass lines, sagetyrtle and st4ngs for their laughter audio, and Andrew Duke for his roll effect.
Spoken word piece by me entitled
"In Southerly Places"
low in the tawny tendrilous grass does grow
a speckled mother of pearlescent shadow
upon the tilted dolled-up dreamcoat
on the river-worn weakened shore
where the ferrymen bedraggled and weathered
refuse to touch a clay orange hand
the shadowy man shakes a shadowy hand
if you be seeing me again
there won't be any wound to mend
and none that sparkles in the east
can lead these men across the plains
the sandy wind to catch in sails
holding mouths wide open to suck the bravado born breeze
to swiftly speed the journey dead
in southerly places,
they speak in codes
Did you know that JFK was replaced with an alien in 1963?
I did. That's why they shot him. Although the world was kept in the dark, he was an alien worth mourning. The public killing made it impossible for JFK to return to Earth, leaving him to spend the remainder of his days on the planet Venus....
A picture of Kennedy's kept woman; a Venutian/Human hybrid called "Claire"
Here, on this very video, you can hear the tale of the false-JFK's interstellar travel to earth and the aftermath that resulted from the assassination of the Venutian Ambassador. From the lips of alien-JFK's only living hybrid offspring, Ralph Kennedy, the tragic journey of Ralph's grandfather is told here for the first time.
I made this movie. The words and voice are mine. Any footage used here has the direct cultural purpose of subversion in that the images are meant to narrate visually an intent that is both similar yet distinct from the intent of the poem recited. That is to say, that the original intent of the footage has not been reproduced nor would the resulting montage ever have cause to replace demand for the original works that help compose my video.
Fair Use is at play.
Many thanks and credit is due to freesound.org musicians and audio adepts: james.brody for his bean belt shaker, ultratone for his circus-like mashed drum sample, suonho (thanks again) for his basscapes samples, Cyril_Laurier provided wind, jakeharries provided water sound, pryght and marvman for their bass lines, sagetyrtle and st4ngs for their laughter audio, and Andrew Duke for his roll effect.
Spoken word piece by me entitled
"In Southerly Places"
low in the tawny tendrilous grass does grow
a speckled mother of pearlescent shadow
upon the tilted dolled-up dreamcoat
on the river-worn weakened shore
where the ferrymen bedraggled and weathered
refuse to touch a clay orange hand
the shadowy man shakes a shadowy hand
if you be seeing me again
there won't be any wound to mend
and none that sparkles in the east
can lead these men across the plains
the sandy wind to catch in sails
holding mouths wide open to suck the bravado born breeze
to swiftly speed the journey dead
in southerly places,
they speak in codes
Did you know that JFK was replaced with an alien in 1963?
I did. That's why they shot him. Although the world was kept in the dark, he was an alien worth mourning. The public killing made it impossible for JFK to return to Earth, leaving him to spend the remainder of his days on the planet Venus....
A picture of Kennedy's kept woman; a Venutian/Human hybrid called "Claire"
Thursday, September 3, 2009
An Introduction to Poetry
Enclosed herein: a short tutorial for aspiring poets with sample metaphors and instructional tips
I made this movie. The words and voice are mine. Any footage used here has the direct cultural purpose of subversion in that the images are meant to narrate visually an intent that is both similar yet distinct from the intent of the poem recited. That is to say, that the original intent of the footage has not been reproduced nor would the resulting montage ever have cause to replace demand for the original works that help compose my video.
Fair Use is at play.
The audio samples used were created by freesound.org users: suonho (memory moon blaster effect), sleep (weird loop), patchen (drowning 83 drum loop). Thanks for making your work available. Aspiring hip hop artists and subversion novices should check out http://www.freesound.org/ and http://creativecommons.org/
Text version of An Introduction to Poetry:
alabaster
words like alligator
connected by sound to poetic image
let's be blunt about it
it's just like mom's homemade apple pie
to an orphan, the foreign flavor it is
of never had, yet lost, pleasure
re-experienced in a deja vu first impression
long lasting taste
the most confusing memory
the longer the grasping moment of disconnect
it is just reminiscent
it is only liquid tension
held in stasis by rubber band fences
remember
remember what to forget
the remembering to forget, yes yes
how salivating, the desire to suddenly punch
i'll give you now what will be memory
hidden obscurely, traveling where i cannot see
beneath skull and between ears
that absorb and contain selectively impressed notions
push it out your mouth now
bring it back
bite it into segments with your shiny, relevant teeth
i will eat it like a baby bird
you regurgitate my intent
i consume your interpretation.
I made this movie. The words and voice are mine. Any footage used here has the direct cultural purpose of subversion in that the images are meant to narrate visually an intent that is both similar yet distinct from the intent of the poem recited. That is to say, that the original intent of the footage has not been reproduced nor would the resulting montage ever have cause to replace demand for the original works that help compose my video.
Fair Use is at play.
The audio samples used were created by freesound.org users: suonho (memory moon blaster effect), sleep (weird loop), patchen (drowning 83 drum loop). Thanks for making your work available. Aspiring hip hop artists and subversion novices should check out http://www.freesound.org/ and http://creativecommons.org/
Text version of An Introduction to Poetry:
alabaster
words like alligator
connected by sound to poetic image
let's be blunt about it
it's just like mom's homemade apple pie
to an orphan, the foreign flavor it is
of never had, yet lost, pleasure
re-experienced in a deja vu first impression
long lasting taste
the most confusing memory
the longer the grasping moment of disconnect
it is just reminiscent
it is only liquid tension
held in stasis by rubber band fences
remember
remember what to forget
the remembering to forget, yes yes
how salivating, the desire to suddenly punch
i'll give you now what will be memory
hidden obscurely, traveling where i cannot see
beneath skull and between ears
that absorb and contain selectively impressed notions
push it out your mouth now
bring it back
bite it into segments with your shiny, relevant teeth
i will eat it like a baby bird
you regurgitate my intent
i consume your interpretation.
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