Aram Squalls

Moderately funny "Internet party" video ably anthropomorphizes foibles of Web 2.0 sites

Back when I was a dot-com guru-in-training a little over a decade ago, one of the analysts at my consultancy sent around an email to the entire office describing her vision of the Internet: it wasn't an information super-highway, or the world's largest library, or a virtual shopping mall -- it was a giant party, and when you walked in, what you needed most was someone to play host, introducing you to the people you'd most like to meet. That was the gist of it, anyway.

The analyst was promptly laughed out of her job, and five years later, veterans of the early days would still derisively reference the infamous "Internet party" email, in their best "gee whiz" voices. The tacit message was that anyone naive enough to think of the web as something as frivolous as a party (as opposed to a more functional metaphor) lacked the skepticism, savvy and intellectual rigor to offer valuable advice to our clientele. A party, indeed -- what was this, 1995?!?

Well, in the days of 4chan and lolcats, the metaphor seems a bit more apt. In fact, the enterprising yucksters at Cracked.com have put together a pretty funny little video in which a bunch of Web 2.0 sites stage an "intervention" party for MySpace, which doesn't realize it's become obsolete. Worth a viewing, if you follow this stuff at all -- if nothing else, I think it aptly catches the mood of contemporary social network migrants, weary of jumping from roost to roost (or maybe I'm just projecting -- I've got to move into a new apartment on Friday).

UPDATE: The video was set to play instantly when the page loaded, and I don't want to inflict that on my readers, so if you'd like to see it, the link is HERE.

Bill O'Reilly F-bomb remix

Mike Clancy over at the Village Voice's Runnin' Scared blog posted this great dance remix of Bill O'Reilly dropping the F-bomb. I particularly like the club-style appropriations of him dismissively saying "Go!".

Strangely, no Sue Simmons F-bomb remixes yet on GooTube.

UPDATE: Runnin' Scared posted another one. Good stuff.

Forget Marvel vs. Capcom -- how about Anyone vs. Anyone?

Ever want to see Ronald McDonald and Hitler go at it head-to-head? Or how about God vs. a killer whale? Back when I was a bored teen, we could only fantasize about our ideal deathmatches. These days, if you can think it, you can make it happen.

Chris, a student in my Videogames class at NYU, recently hipped us to M.U.G.E.N., a free platform for creating characters and boards to use in a 2D, 2-player fighter. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of MUGEN characters available for free download from sites like this and this. Or, if that's not enough for you, you can make your own (just start with this video tutorial).

Below: Morrigan from Darkstalkers vs. Ronald McDonald (fighting in a BK parking lot).

Wii commercial mash-up bursts family-friendly marketing with Manhunt 2 footage

I love this Wii commercial mash-up, puncturing the Wii's family-friendly marketing, rooted around antiseptic videos of happy families wielding their wiimotes, by intercutting it with live footage from the infamous Manhunt 2 for Wii. This is kind of like a tweak on the regenrification of movie trailers that was so big two years ago, but with more of an interventionist slant.

Sweet and sticky remix: Badu's "Honey" video

I'm hardly the first to blog about it, but the video for Erykah Badu's new single, Honey, is worth taking a look at if you haven't seen it. Badu has always worn her aesthetic influences on her sleeve, but in this video, the metaphor is stretched a bit -- she wears them on record sleeves.

The video filters R&B nostalgia through a configurable lens, featuring Badu lip synching to her song on a variety of classic album cover remakes from a broad range of artists -- De La Soul, Chaka Khan, The Beatles, and Nas, to name a few. I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect visual metaphor for her (compelling) schtick -- the sonic fusion of Afrodiasporic musics, old and new, into a forceful and fluid oral cultural history, aided and abetted by configurable technologies.

Lest I sound too much like an academic geek, let me also say that this is a dope track, with a bumpin' bass and a sweet, melismatic melody. Like much of her work, it's equally at home with on the dance floor or in the boudoir. I'm definitely going to be spending some time with this album.

If you're one to trace sources -- Which album cover was that one!?!? -- check out Soulbounce's side-by-side comparisons of the original album covers and the Honey mock-ups.

Also note that, counter to the spirit of creative reappropriation and homage that characterizes the song and video, Universal Music Group has (as usual) disabled embedding of their official YouTube release of the track. What that's supposed to achieve, other than pissing off bloggers, I'm not sure. It was very easy for me to find another version to embed, so they haven't thwarted my piratical intentions. Also, I'm gonna bet that UMG didn't get permission/pay fees to use all the LP artwork -- they'd probably argue (correctly) that it constitutes parody. (shakes head, murmuring 'tsk, tsk!')

Thanks for the link, Marissa!

Henry Jenkins: "I am an Obama boy" and more delicious DIY Summit video

Ulrike Reinhard just posted a bunch of video and MP3 of the DIY Media Festival from a few weeks back. Really good conversations and presentations, by a holy host of remix and participatory culture luminaries.

Maybe the best clip is Henry Jenkins proclaiming, "I am an Obama boy!"

Link: sevenload.com

Indian Thriller: Hooray for hybridization!

Biella sent me this link today -- a Bollywood appropriation of the Michael Jackson song/video Thriller. I don't know what's better -- the musical reinterpretation, or the choreographic one.

It's really interesting to me how Thriller has become such an important meme in networked culture. Its original release marked a defining moment in the transition of musical culture, from audio-only transmission (back) to a visual medium -- and therefore was an excellent agent of globalization. And the minor media nostalgia surrounding the 25th anniversary of its release no doubt has some impact on its current reemergence as well.

But I think there's got to be something more to it -- one could write an entire library on Michael Jackson's role as first the symbol of America's dream of post-civil rights raciocultural integration, and then as the symbol of our ugly awakening from that dream. Actually, I think David O. Russell said it best in Three Kings, which I'll post below, just for good measure.

Hilarious mod: GTA Hot Coffee + Mario (NSFW)

While doing a little research on the GTA: San Andreas "hot coffee" mod for the video games class I teach, I came across this gem: A mod of the mod, inserting Mario 64 into the role of CJ's girlfriend. I know, it's sophomoric, but dammit, it's funny!

McCain mash-up parody much more effective than earnest Obama vid

A few days ago, I blogged about how underwhelming the Will.I.Am remix of Obama's speech footage was. I mean, I'm for Obama, and I love remix video, but this was just, you know, eh.

From an aesthetic standpoint, and in terms of effective political communication, I much prefer the parody remixes that have been created for other candidates -- especially the McCain one, where the earnest Hollywood types singing snippets from his speeches start to get confused and freaked out when they have to repeat the line about staying in Iraq for "10,000 years" if necessary.

Definitely worth a look. It made me giggle.

milkshakes (spoiler alert -- kind of)

i've been really enjoying the groundswell of "i drink your milkshake" fan vids and remixes surrounding p.t. anderson's new kubrickesque film, "there will be blood." my current faves (below) are one which cleverly uses a laugh track to regenrify the film's climactic scene into a comedy -- without cutting, and one which not-so-cleverly, but still funnily, mashes the film and its soundtrack with kelis' 2003 hit "milkshake."

the best part is that not only does paramount seem to be wisely allowing this copyright violation to continue unchecked, they are actively incorporating milkshake fever into their own marketing campaigns for the film.

(thanks for the tip, henry!)