Half the Meppers now officially work with undergraduates and Russ works on the Internet, so everyone should be aware of the insane viral hit “Friday” by Rebecca Black. What you might not realize is that the song is actually a work of genius that was just sung wrong in the original and salvaged in this cover version:
Here’s an amazing conceptual piece by video artist, Keiichi Matsuda. In it, he depicts the fusion of computer interface with actual reality. Continuing with the trend of human reliance on machines, Matsuda’s futuristic first-person protagonist doesn’t know how to make a cup of tea on his own without looking up the recipe. Eerily prescient.
Is it possible that Charlie Sheen has plunged so far into the depths of celebripravity that there isn’t enough crazy mojo left out in the ether for Mike Tyson anymore? This is a potentially transformative time for Iron Mike.
I’m not entirely sure why Star Trek: The Next Generation has stuck in the minds of so many mashup artists. Most likely it has to do with the timing of the show, arriving in the early 1990s just in time to conquer the brain-spaces of kids who grew up to be today’s internet meme-creators. Admittedly, Captain Picard’s face is a very comforting one. His deeply concerned reaction to the ravings of an aphasia-stricken television reporter is priceless.
Last night, I went to the EchoPlex for a mashup-type show, starring a bunch of vaguely familiar-looking internet people. As we moved through the crowd, we came across one in particular. He was a burly-ish Australian with a handlebar mustache who was bare-chested except for two star-shaped nipple pasties.
As he stopped to survey the dancers on stage (many of whom were male and semi-clad), he commented to my girlfriend “Man, they’re so smoking hot!” As she turned to ponder why he was talking to her, he remarked, totally deadpan, “Hey! You’re not my mom!” And sauntered off. It took me a few hours, but I put the mental pieces together and realized where I had seen him before:
Russian viral videos always seem to exploit some clever aspect of science or engineering. Even these bathtub idiots have a better grounding in reality than 99% of American viral fare.