UNHINGED (formerly in the skinner box): May 2009

May 26, 2009

old songs with new images... techno-hybrids, mash-ups?

Watch... comments? can you name any of the movies used?

Music video featuring "In The Year 2525", by Zager and Evans.

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, or say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to do
Nobody's gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs not nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long black tube

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then
Maybe he'll look around himself and say
Guess it's time for the Judgement day

In the year 8510
God's gonna shake his mighty head
He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wondering if man's gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing

Now it's been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through the eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find . . . .

May 22, 2009

a touch of class, a touch of dementia? didn't I spot her in the Library last week?

HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEKEND!!! Check out a movie! I hear her mother was a librarian!

http://www.filmsite.org/suns.html

Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a classic black comedy/drama, and perhaps the most acclaimed, but darkest film-noir story about "behind the scenes" Hollywood, self-deceit, spiritual and spatial emptiness, and the price of fame, greed, narcissism, and ambition. The mood of the film is immediately established as decadent and decaying by the posthumous narrator - a dead man floating face-down in a swimming pool in Beverly Hills.

the best scene:

the entire movie:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AAD7EA5E6993661B&search_query=sunset+1%2F+boulevard

didn't I spot her in the library last week?

can you find waldo desmond?

happy holiday weekend

May 18, 2009

Alex Rybak, not quite a teen Suan Boyle, but fun to listen to.

Not quite Susan Boyle ( http://jbeckhamlat.blogspot.com/2009/04/exclusive-susan-boyles-first-ever-song.html ), but fun and light and summery (is that a word?)

The song, "Fairytale", is sung by the Belarus-born Alexander Rybak and features a distinctly Eastern European sounding jaunty rhythm and even Cossack-style dancing.
(APF 12May09, Proud Russia hosts Eurovision extravaganza)

RYBAK: FAIRYTALE

&

backstory:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1899117,00.html

How the West Won: Norway Takes the Crown at Eurovision
By William Lee Adams Monday, May. 18, 2009

Critics deride the Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural Chernobyl, an ostentatious talent show in which gaudiness and sex appeal have more currency than musical ability. During the May 16 final, watched by more than 100 million people worldwide, contestants once again called upon their decidedly nonmusical charms: the Greek entry ripped his shirt to expose a waxed chest, while the Albanian entry wore a pink tutu and stood on a wind machine. But in the end, Alexander Rybak, a boyish fiddle player from Norway, stormed to victory because he had the best song — and he didn't even have to flash anyone.

"I won because I had a story to tell," Rybak, 23, told reporters after setting an event record with 387 points, which put Norway well ahead of second-place finisher Iceland, which scored 218. In "Fairtyale," Rybak mixed stellar vocals with Scandinavian kitsch. He sang about his obsession with a lost love while a folk troop performed a centuries-old Norwegian mountain dance consisting of backflips and exaggerated push-ups. "In Russia, they like nostalgia and melancholy," he said, explaining why he thinks his wistful tune appealed to millions of voters in Russia and former Soviet states. That his folksy ditty channeled the sounds of Vladivostok more than Oslo probably didn't hurt.

In recent years, East European nations have dominated Eurovision — Russia won last year, Serbia the year before, and Ukraine finished second both times. It may seem like sour grapes, but commentators from losing countries (the U.K. finished last in 2008) have consistently complained that the public phone vote used to determine the winner has ensured that historical ties always trump song quality. An entry from Greece, for example, could still earn top points from Cyprus, even if the song is painful to listen to. (See a TIME package on loving Eurovision.)

Last night, under new rules designed to stop this type of bloc voting, 50% of the points were awarded by the traditional public phone-in and 50% by a panel of music producers in each country. Advocates of the new jury system will be quick to say it helped Norway transcend borders — with a mix of fans and more objective industry experts voting, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia all awarded Norway the maximum 12 points, thereby snubbing one another. But since Eurovision has no plans to reveal which national juries voted for which countries, its actual effect is difficult to determine. In any event, it's likely the East would have voted for Rybak anyway; he was born in Minsk and speaks fluent Russian, and in recent weeks he has become a media darling in the Russian-speaking world.

This year's event was the most expensive in Eurovision's history, with Russia forking over an estimated $35 million to stage it. In return, locals were privy to some camptastic performances. In a delightful English-as-a-second-language moment, Romania's Elena Gheorghe, the daughter of a priest, sang that her "hips are ready to glow, this record is so hot and I have so much to show." American burlesque star Dita von Teese stripped down to a black bustier to play the title role of Germany's entry, "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang"; she had originally hoped to go further, but officials warned her to respect "cultural differences." And the Ukraine's Svetlana Loboda, singing "Be My Valentine," did the splits on a ladder set inside an oversize wheel (which she paid for by mortgaging her house). The blogosphere has since labeled her a "stripper in a hamster wheel."

But not even a spectacle like that could blind viewers to the controversies, which at times seemed louder than the songs. In March, Eurovision officials formally disinvited Georgia from participating because its entry, "We Don't Want to Put In," seemed to mock Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the wake of the conflict in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. On May 15, the chief of the Russian jury withdrew after he was spotted enjoying a caviar lunch with eventual winner Rybak in Moscow, potentially compromising his impartiality. (Read "Eurovision in Russia: Politics and Pop Music.")

And just hours ahead of the final, Moscow's riot police squashed a gay-pride rally, hauling away about 40 demonstrators. Critics said that clamping down on gay activists at Eurovision seemed decidedly out of tune with the show's mission to promote peace and harmony among the competing countries. As Rybak said himself, "Why did [the police] spend all their energy stopping gays in Moscow when the biggest gay parade was here tonight?"

See a TIME package on Eurovision's memorable moments.

==================
more?
http://www.youtube.com/user/alexanderrybak1

end

Sunday Drive

it looked like this! I did not carry a camera, made for easier observing. Next time. So I found one:

We took an early morning drive -7:30ish, first through the neighborhood up and down, round and round. Then a stop at Walgreens. THEN down a road towards what has been described as pastoral. 10 or 15 miles and we were near the Metro park. We have trees, but that is absurd! Further and further.

Suddenly a red-winged blackbird flew past us. First one I have seen in years. Made the excursion worth the few dollars in gas.

Next week the hunt will continue!

May 14, 2009

Political Remix Video (PRV)

http://www.politicalremixvideo.com/

This website showcases and promotes some of the best, most innovative and inspiring examples of Political Remix Video. These remixes use and transform appropriated footage (and audio) from popular culture to create new fair-use video works. For us the word “political” refers to works that are critical of not only of political institutions and government policy, but also social and cultural issues like gender, race, sexuality and environment. This blog is managed and edited by two remix artists and media activists.

About Political Remix Video

Political Remix Video (PRV) is a genre of transformative guerilla media production whereby creators critique power structures, deconstruct social myths and challenge dominate media messages through re-cutting and re-framing fragments of mainstream media and the popular culture.

These remix works have their roots in the tradition détournement where artists twist and subvert mass media, re-purposing it to present alternative messages and narratives. Although PRVs vary widely in form, topic and message, they share are a few common aspects.

First, PRVs present political messages. The word “political” in this context refers to works that are critical of not only of political institutions and government policy, but also social and cultural issues like gender, race, sexuality and environment.

Second, PRVs are guerrilla works as they use the appropriation of corporate intellectual property without the permission of the copyright holder. In addition, these remixes are often highly critical of the source media, making the work particularly vulnerable to DMCA takedown notices.

Third, PRV works utilize and embrace dominant media forms as the structure of their alternative messages. These include short news segments, TV ads, speech excerpts, movie trailers and music videos. Unlike most contemporary “video art”, remixers are not critiquing sound bite-driven forms of mainstream media through the construction of a non-narrative. Instead, PRVs attempt to form an argument and convey a message in a familiar structure, using the framework as a vehicle to deliver subversive political messages. This makes PRVs accessible to the general public, not just the art world or academics. This accessibility of both form and message is one of the core aspects to the works in this remix genre.

PRVs are an increasingly popular and relevant form of remix that can, at best, challenge dominant power systems and institutions while questioning media driven myths in our society, our culture and ourselves. These works “should” be classified as a fair use of the original work in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.

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In détournement, an artist reuses elements of well-known media to create a new work with a different message, often one opposed to the original. The term "détournement", borrowed from the French, originated with the Situationist International; a similar term more familiar to English speakers would be "turnabout" or "derailment". Détournement is similar to satirical parody, but employs more direct reuse or faithful mimicry of the original works rather than constructing a new work which merely alludes strongly to the original. It may be contrasted with recuperation, in which originally subversive works and ideas are themselves appropriated by mainstream media.

May 10, 2009

Size of name indicates how many by that author, more like a fonted list, cannot figure out CLOUD CODE

BUT the links do not work in google...

UNHINGED (formerly in the skinner box)