spectacular attacks
July 15, 2003 8:13 AM   Subscribe

spectacular attacks [note: flash]
posted by crunchland (32 comments total)
 
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posted by Outlawyr at 8:25 AM on July 15, 2003


Fantastic - sobering and beautiful. Thanks, crunchland.
posted by stonerose at 8:26 AM on July 15, 2003


You must have been pretty loaded if that was "sobering."
posted by Pollomacho at 8:37 AM on July 15, 2003


Amazing illustration and presentation through I'm too dense to quite make out everything that was going on.
posted by mathowie at 8:53 AM on July 15, 2003


I don't know, it just didn't reach me. I thought it had the intellectual depth and illustrative skill of a Jack Chick tract, except not quite as original.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:58 AM on July 15, 2003


well, I'm sure the poet who wrote it, and the artist who animated it would cringe, but my take on it is that it describes how Martha Stewart probably feels. But carry on with the shitting on it, pollo.
posted by crunchland at 9:04 AM on July 15, 2003


Terrible poetry presented quite interestingly.

I'm not even entirely sure that this is best called "poetry".

Consider, we call poems set to music "songs".

I think work like this deserves a different moniker. Just my opinion.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:14 AM on July 15, 2003


Seems to be a comment on the American (World?) desire for celebrity and how that inevitably eats its young in the end.

It's interesting to see people experimenting with how to present poetry with motion and images on the web. I'm not sure they've quite got it here though. The images distracted me from the words, and the words distracted me from the images. Of course, I can't concentrate on anything anymore anyway, but here it just didn't come together very well for some reason.

Thanks for the link though crunchland. I wish there was more like this here.
posted by willnot at 9:18 AM on July 15, 2003


What the fuck. I guess I'm just not postmodern enough to get it.
posted by insomnyuk at 9:20 AM on July 15, 2003


Last year, as a struggling digtal art student without any inherent artistic genes, Born Mag was one of my primary sources for optical nourishment. Yeah, the poetry and prose can get campy, but the graphic art is great visual inspiration, and I think it's some of the best linear Flash work on the web.
posted by brownpau at 9:21 AM on July 15, 2003


Oh, now, I'm grateful you posted it, I just didn't particularly care about or for it. I found the "moral" tired and done (great 15 minutes of fame means 15 minutes, I got the same idea from the Suzanne Sommers character on the Three's Company Story made-for-TV movie) and the illustration akin to Mad magazine cartoons, sorry, it just didn't talk to me, but hey, I'm quite sure there's plenty out there I like that others would have a fine time finding fault with, it's just my opinion, nothing more.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:26 AM on July 15, 2003


Actually, I thought it looked a lot like Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, which made it even weirder.
posted by insomnyuk at 9:29 AM on July 15, 2003


Seems to be a comment on the American (World?) desire for celebrity and how that inevitably eats its young in the end.

Interesting, I wondered if it was more about the language of war ("spectacular attacks"/"shock and awe") vs. the reality of dying ("the heat the building yields").

I like that it's opaque; it made me want to watch/read it more than once.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:31 AM on July 15, 2003


Great illustrations!
Truthfully, I was somewhat less smitten by the poem, but I applaud experiments with using the web as a new medium for poetry, using a visual component. I agree with much of what willnot said in this case - I found some of the words difficult to read and was more intent at looking at the images. Although I love the illustrations, I found them perhaps too light or fanciful for the topic. When music videos first came out, they bugged me - supplying images that then supplanted my own imagination and inner visualizations. They can be a neat art form in and of themselves - sometimes they add to the weight of a song for me, but often they detract.

Young-Hae Chang is still my gold standard for web-based poetry delivery, but I am always interested in seeing others so thanks.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:32 AM on July 15, 2003


Self link alert--I helped on a few "e-poems" awhile back written by Thom Swiss that are similar. It's a pretty nice way to help resuscitate poetry by bringing in images.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Thanks for the link, crunch.
posted by dhoyt at 9:34 AM on July 15, 2003


I share Armitage Shanks' interpretation. Some of the drawings even brought Picasso's Guernica to my mind.
posted by stonerose at 9:56 AM on July 15, 2003


What the fuck. I guess I'm just not postmodern enough to get it.

I spy a new MeFi tagline!
posted by wackybrit at 9:57 AM on July 15, 2003


Not quite my thing. Still appreciate the link, though - it was at the very least interesting and non-Bush related. Well, unless you get all meta-meta about it.
posted by widdershins at 9:58 AM on July 15, 2003


The illustrations are by Kevin Cornell, who did this fabulous sketchbook. Just keep clicking on "switch pages".
posted by iconomy at 10:00 AM on July 15, 2003


27, they are waiting for you.
posted by quonsar at 10:03 AM on July 15, 2003


Alone, the poem would not have grabbed me, but the music and imagery turned it into something fascinating and hellish.

I stuck on the idea of the first section -- explosions in night-vision -- and experienced it all as a take on modern war: The heat the building yields = the aftermath; a familiar production = we've seen this before; bear pedals short = danger subsides; cloth clown climbs a wire to defuse = scaling & destruction of statues; volatile formula = war & reconstruction; nourishment bad & good for you = postwar freedom & chaos.

I didn't make a celebrity/15 minutes connection that some others did.

Interesting link!
posted by Tubes at 10:07 AM on July 15, 2003


I prefer and enjoy more clickable goodies in a flash presentation. Disappointed.
posted by Witty at 10:29 AM on July 15, 2003


ok, witty. here's one for you, then. (nsfw)
posted by crunchland at 10:35 AM on July 15, 2003


here's one for you, then

Elitists and rubes both served in one thread. Excellent.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 10:40 AM on July 15, 2003


It looked like a Goth version of the Logan's Run Renewal scene, imo
posted by stifford at 11:15 AM on July 15, 2003


Keep 'em coming crunch.
posted by johnny7 at 11:35 AM on July 15, 2003


No I read that too Tubes, I think we got that impression from the video images.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:06 PM on July 15, 2003


I spy a new MeFi tagline!

Well, if it holds up that would be my second tagline so far.
posted by insomnyuk at 2:32 PM on July 15, 2003


Wow.
posted by FormlessOne at 4:36 PM on July 15, 2003


I agree with mathowie. Did garner some weird looks from the missus as she walked past, though, so it wasn't a complete waste.
posted by Samizdata at 5:43 PM on July 15, 2003


ditto on the young-hae chang. What an iconic style. It's hard to imagine a simpler way to deliver poetry over the web in a dynamic way.
posted by nasim at 10:38 PM on July 15, 2003


The poetry is insignificant. The music carries the whole thing. Illustratively, its the bastard progeny of Jack Davis and Marshall Arisman.
posted by Faze at 7:28 AM on July 16, 2003


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