Visions of Epic Awesomeness

June 12, 2007 3:52 AM

GMod meets Jackass, meets MTV, meets Nintendo, meets celebrity gossip, meets LOTR.
(single-link, youtube, loud music, flashing graphics, 8minutes 30, epic awesomeness), [via b3ta]
posted by NinjaTadpole (37 comments total)

I lasted about two minutes. I could find no awesomeness.
posted by malaprohibita at 4:29 AM on June 12, 2007

Strangely, this is now the official promo video for the London Olympics.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:32 AM on June 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

I like gmod as much as the next guy, but I fail to see anything spectacular about the video.

Where do I put in for a refund of the 8 minutes of my life?
posted by Remy at 4:41 AM on June 12, 2007

I thought this blew... my mind! No seriously, it blew.
posted by phaedon at 4:47 AM on June 12, 2007

I never realized that "epic" meant "non-existent."

(And I usually love titanically insane things.)
posted by dios at 4:58 AM on June 12, 2007

Can I put it upon myself to save this thread. How about an epically awesome episode of Cheaters. I like to call this one, "That can't feel good when you see that."
posted by phaedon at 5:05 AM on June 12, 2007

Needs "not at all oversold in any way if anything we understated the awesomeness" tag.
posted by DU at 5:09 AM on June 12, 2007

Okay, a differing viewpoint here: I thought it went above and beyond the call of most machinima stuff. It had art to it. It had comedy. I enjoyed it.

You guys suck the life out of everything.
posted by fungible at 5:25 AM on June 12, 2007

The "break-dancing" Combine and the cop show parody were the best segments. Everything else felt like a demo reel for an internship at Williams Street Productions.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:25 AM on June 12, 2007

Meh.
posted by Billegible at 5:41 AM on June 12, 2007

I usually don't like this sort of thing but this one was pretty good. That whole Paris Hilton lament had some interesting scenes in it.
posted by effwerd at 5:42 AM on June 12, 2007

I thought it was nicely done. Would like to see more from them.
posted by empath at 6:05 AM on June 12, 2007

Another Dutty Wine thread already?
posted by public at 6:08 AM on June 12, 2007

Shit Sandwich.
posted by dbiedny at 6:23 AM on June 12, 2007 [2 favorites]

Sorry to the folks who weren't as delighted as I was. One minute in and I was squeezing out little tears of happiness and wanted to share.

Smart Dalek, now that I know who Williams Street are, I see your point. Not that I see why it would be a bad thing.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 6:29 AM on June 12, 2007

I liked it, though I am by no means a connoisseur of these things. Falling, exploding rock = You Can't Do That On GMod?

though I may have been influenced by the Beasties
posted by dreamsign at 6:38 AM on June 12, 2007

Machinima as Internet Hee-haw? Brilliant.
posted by lubujackson at 6:52 AM on June 12, 2007

Of course, then I tried to watch it again, and the sheer grating quality of minute number five caused me to switch to the Starburst "berries and cream" advert.

Then I felt better.
posted by dreamsign at 6:58 AM on June 12, 2007

Metafilter: You guys suck the life out of everything.
posted by craniac at 7:07 AM on June 12, 2007

Life: You guys suck the metafilter out of everything
posted by spicynuts at 7:15 AM on June 12, 2007 [3 favorites]

first two minutes could've been done without.
police model has some fly moves, but that's about it.
from then on, there's some good stuff.

hoorah for gmod.
I've not made anything this good on it, to date.
posted by Busithoth at 7:31 AM on June 12, 2007

I liked it, up until the whole trip sequence at the end. Reminded me a little Bill Plympton cartoons, in spots.
posted by Dave Faris at 7:32 AM on June 12, 2007

I guess I don't appreciate how hard it was to do this stuff. I assumed it was rather easy to create the movies using this mod. Thus, I really judged it narratively and aurally. I found those to aspect severely lacking in enjoyability and epic awesomeness.
posted by dios at 7:36 AM on June 12, 2007

I thought the Mario-skit at the beginning had a sort of quiet, melancholy poetry to it.
posted by slimepuppy at 7:59 AM on June 12, 2007

Combine break-dancer++
posted by zippy at 8:01 AM on June 12, 2007

paging notmydesk...
posted by zsazsa at 8:35 AM on June 12, 2007

I thought it was great, but then I come from an unique perspective. Near the beginning I heard the voice of Hal Robbins say "I'm in the middle of a critical test." For me, that always signals SubGeniusness in the offing. Granted, his voice is accompaniment to some video games now that the kiddies are enjoying. They've no clue what brash seeds of Cthulian evilness has been unleashed inside their puny little minds! Language is a Virus, and Robbins' voice entered into the brain pan is like a time bomb of fury waiting to be sparked by the most trivial of seemingly random triggers.

[insert maniacal laughter here, followed by a brief spurt of syncopated coughing]

"Visions of Epic Awesomeness" obviously doesn't believe it's own title. It's called humor, ladies and gentlemen: a style of humor that some find difficult to digest and others completely skim over dissmissively. Yet it's there. The armaggeddon will not be digitized.

The Paris Hilton sequence at the end reminded me of 2001's end in a way. Not that this is Kubrick by any stretch, but the artists behind this were stealing from the best, and making about as much sense. They also were stealing from Robot Chicken. And Mario Brothers, and countless other sources, while dancing just as fast as they can with the surreal and the silly. The armaggeddon will not be digitized.

Perhaps at best we're witness to a chic geek modder kid masterbating to his computer's capabilities. Or perhaps we're only seeing the greasespot he left behind in the wake of his "OMIGODTHISISSOCOOLICANMAKEITDOTHIS!" ishness. Perhaps we would wish this child clean up after himself instead of smearing it like monkey feces all over the tubes of the web. Perhaps it's just FUN. Those of you who can't find the fun in this self-styled epic awesomeness are perhaps taking yourselves too seriously.

However, make no mistake, the armaggeddon will not be digitized.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:27 AM on June 12, 2007

Doctor Breen's breakfast machine (youtube)
posted by zippy at 9:39 AM on June 12, 2007

That was AWESOME, zippy, thanks.
posted by Busithoth at 10:19 AM on June 12, 2007

Is this the kind of thing young people are into now, huh?
posted by humblepigeon at 10:50 AM on June 12, 2007

I liked it. But I didn't understand it. And admittedly when it got too weird for me I skipped ahead. But I laughed anyway.

And now I'm left with the linger sense that I'm old and the world is gonna get less and less familiar over time. This, I suspect, is what leads to dementia.
posted by tkchrist at 11:32 AM on June 12, 2007

I liked it, but then I'm a big fan of spastic fun, and this had it aplenty.

Does GMod still require CounterStrike in order to run? 'Cause I'd love to play with it but I have no interest in CS.
posted by lekvar at 1:56 PM on June 12, 2007

Add me to the list of people that want their eight minutes back.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:02 PM on June 12, 2007

I thought it was mostly awesome. I can see how the break-dancing bit at the beginning can turn people off right away, however.
posted by neckro23 at 3:40 PM on June 12, 2007

Someday, on my death bed, I'll look out at my loved ones and realize I'd give anything to spend just a few more minutes with them. Then I'll remember the time I spent watching this video, and I'll never forgive Metafilter for RAPING THOSE MOMENTS OF LIFE FORCE FROM MY STILL YOUNG BODY.

Just sayin'....
posted by Muddler at 6:52 PM on June 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

i thought the breakdancing stuff at the beginning was epic. awesomeness. reminds me of robert longo's work.
posted by lapolla at 7:43 PM on June 12, 2007

Lapolla: It's interesting that you mention Robert Longo, since I was just about to post that they should make a silent loop out of 0:46 - 1:35 and sell it to the Tate Modern.
posted by Ian A.T. at 12:36 AM on June 13, 2007