2951 IMAGES, 12FPS

January 14, 2012 1:42 PM

Search by Image, Recursively, Transparent PNG, #1, a part of Sebastian Schmieg's ongoing Search By Image Series.
posted by griphus (17 comments total)

Go, go, Chennai Super Kings! Beat those Deccan Chargers!
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:01 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]

Awesome, could use some maniacal Philip Glass arpeggios.
Though probably only .005 of the images in the first link are NSFW, it might need a tag? (for those of us who work or hang out at the library on Saturdays..)
posted by obscurator at 2:11 PM on January 14 [3 favorites]

....I'm going to assassinate a public figure now, aren't I?
posted by The Whelk at 2:15 PM on January 14 [9 favorites]

The Whelk: ....I'm going to assassinate a public figure now, aren't I?

Oohhhhh, not necessarily. There are a lot of unknowns. Take a walk; see what happens.
posted by gilrain at 2:19 PM on January 14

Wow, beaten to the chennai super kings by the first comment.
posted by Pyry at 2:21 PM on January 14

This is just great.
posted by lazaruslong at 2:22 PM on January 14

Lovely. Great idea, great execution. Thanks.
posted by iotic at 2:24 PM on January 14

Hmm... I'm guessing if they keep a log of the images they've seen, and if it pops up again they'll move on to the next result, or use some other random algorithm. It's interesting to see how they get stuck in very common images, the koenigsegg (with a roof toop sky holder or whatever, apparently a lot of people like heading to the slopes in their koenigsegg), the EU flower, and Ironically screenshots of google search itself. It was interesting to see that one 'destabilize' over time and then suddenly dissappear.
posted by delmoi at 2:34 PM on January 14

"if the image has been used before, I choose the next-highest. otherwise it would indeed loop pretty quickly, or even end up bouncing back and forth between two images."

posted by muckster at 2:38 PM on January 14

Talking of an appropriate soundtrack, about half-way through this song started playing in the back of my mind.

muckster, do you have a direct link to the description of the algorithm? I didn't see it in any of the OP's links — though I sometimes miss things because of NoScript.
posted by benito.strauss at 3:42 PM on January 14

I felt like I was watching a film about the birth and death of the internet -- from the big bang to the rise of the memes (and I can't believe I actually LOL'd a few times at this too).

I laughed for some reason at the "lambo" (even though I think it was a Koenigsegg), as it was one of the first non-star things that stuck there for a while, and then it started popping open its doors and whatnot like a little show. It was so innocent. Just like those first few internet clips and jokes you saw, from the dancing baby to zombocom. But then it starts moving so fast. I screamed in horror at the site of the evil AutoDesk logo, rising up as a symbol of monopoly and greed. I cried during the long shot of the EU flower as it slowly withered away. Then Google's Les Paul logo takes over to play a long slow blues interlude.

And then I laughed through the tears as I swear "cereal dad's" spit was somehow animated as he explained to all the memes how it was all coming to an end....the wine runs dry, anonymous rises up, and then the laptops go black...we see that the polar ice caps have melted...and then the snakes slither out to wrap themselves tightly around the tree of knowledge once again.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 4:18 PM on January 14 [3 favorites]

Thanks, I enjoyed this.
posted by beerbajay at 5:34 PM on January 14

This was amazing. I loved how iphones turned into guns, and how shoe soles morphed into coats.
posted by not_on_display at 5:37 PM on January 14

Clicking the pause button on any of these makes it like a video slot machine. See what you land on.
posted by squalor at 7:59 PM on January 14

I think this is how dreams are formed ...
posted by crazy_yeti at 6:48 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]

I have a tattoo of one of those pictures. You'll never guess which one.
posted by bookish at 7:25 AM on January 15

I have a tattoo of one of those pictures. You'll never guess which one.

Chennai Super Kings?
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:47 AM on January 17