Like a City

November 3, 2008 2:39 PM

Television technology explained. By Bjork.
posted by davebush (100 comments total)

Is this the October Surprise video?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:42 PM on November 3, 2008

my god, what her school teachers must have gone through...
posted by shmegegge at 2:45 PM on November 3, 2008 [4 favorites]

I know a girl like that. She's a character and a half.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:50 PM on November 3, 2008

"And here are these wires . . . ZOT!"

(arcade video game technician in the 80s)
posted by troy at 2:50 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

...the Scientifical Truth. You shouldn't let poets lie to you.

And you shouldn't let pop stars show you how to poke your fingers around inside a TV.
Jesus, that's a dumb thing to do. I was expecting a gigantic flash, and baked Bjork.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 2:51 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

An oldie but goody.
posted by donpedro at 2:52 PM on November 3, 2008 [9 favorites]

Oh my god, she is so adorable! I'm back in love with her all over again. Awesome video, thank you.
posted by Auden at 2:52 PM on November 3, 2008

This is just to say
You shouldn't let poets
Lie to you

I never ate your fucking plums
I threw them out
Because you would have loved them
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:53 PM on November 3, 2008 [17 favorites]

That Ecstacy is quite a drug....

Or maybe she's just like that. Was actually kind of interesting, in a head scratching, "what in the world goes through that woman's head" kind of way. She was damn cute though.
posted by elendil71 at 2:56 PM on November 3, 2008

Man, she really is from another planet.

I find her quirkiness both irresistibly charming and annoying as hell at the same time.
posted by greenie2600 at 3:03 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Bjork will eventually become the President of Iceland. Mark my words.

Also, the majority of Bjork's spacier clips from the early to mid 90s can be attributed to her still nascent grasp of the English language. She's become much more articulate (and adorable) over the years. She is also one of the most talented artists of our generation, and I want to have her babies. Her lava babies.

I LOVE BJORK!!!!!!!1
posted by bjork24 at 3:09 PM on November 3, 2008 [6 favorites]

I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to watch Bjork explain atomic structure to a wanna-be thug.

"I give you a word -- Swahili word. It is Tron. It means, like a dude."
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:14 PM on November 3, 2008 [5 favorites]

Seriously people, do not mess around with a CRT, even if it's unplugged. They are high voltage and have huge capacitors that can hold a charge for quite some time.
posted by king walnut at 3:15 PM on November 3, 2008

Why have her, Werner Herzog and Michel Gondry not done anything yet? Give them some construction paper and scissors, let them loose for a few hours.
posted by geoff. at 3:17 PM on November 3, 2008 [4 favorites]

Well, that was about a hundred times better than listening to her sing.
posted by rocket88 at 3:18 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I can't decide whether I like Bjork or not. She's cute, but I'm not sure I'd want to date her. I can picture the two of us making love, and she'd leap off the bed in mid-coitus, before anyone finished anything, announcing "SANDWICH." Then she'd return from the kitchen with a duck.

I don;t know if I'd want to date that.
posted by Pastabagel at 3:19 PM on November 3, 2008 [14 favorites]

Why haven't ... errr
posted by geoff. at 3:19 PM on November 3, 2008

Why have her, Werner Herzog and Michel Gondry not done anything yet?

Well, Michel Gondry has done five of her videos or so.
posted by smackfu at 3:21 PM on November 3, 2008

bjork24: I LOVE BJORK!!!!!!!1

Ooooooh....

Bjork, Bjork, were you brought by the stork?
Or were you created from butter and cork?
I love you so much that I act like a dork,
Oh Bjork, oh Bjork, oh Bjork!
posted by JHarris at 3:21 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

Is this the October Surprise video?

"You shouldn't let poets lie to you."
Yep, it's true. Bjork is a McCain supporter.

Or maybe a Platonist?
posted by mr.grum at 3:22 PM on November 3, 2008

"She's become much more articulate (and adorable) over the years. She is also one of the most talented artists of our generation, and I want to have her babies. Her lava babies."

Lava babies, huh? OK, first: throw Matthew Barney into the, er, volcano. The weird Vaseline and beewax encrusted volcano which is there for no discernible reason. And is annoying.

(Then I'm OK with you having her lava babies)
posted by Auden at 3:22 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

The problem with that poem is that when pronounced correctly, Bjork's name rhymes with lurk, not cork.

/bjork_dork

PS - that tag doesn't rhyme either
posted by bjork24 at 3:24 PM on November 3, 2008

How old is she in this video?
posted by Manhasset at 3:30 PM on November 3, 2008

This is at least 15 years old, right? She looks so young...
posted by mr_roboto at 3:32 PM on November 3, 2008

She looks to be in her Sugarcubes phase, so that would be somewhere between 1986 and 92. Judging by the television set, video quality, and her English, I'd wager early 90s. In short, she's 26 in this video.
posted by bjork24 at 3:33 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

I don;t know if I'd want to date that.

Oh come on you know you would.
posted by longsleeves at 3:36 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

bjork24, is not a poem. Is not written by me either. It's an internet-famous MP3 created by MeFi's (and Wired's and Slumbering Lungfish's and Bad Gods' and Book of Ratings' and Brunching Shuttlecocks') own Lore Sjoberg.

It's been stuck in my head for seven years now.
posted by JHarris at 3:39 PM on November 3, 2008 [3 favorites]

Bjork will eventually become the President of Iceland. Mark my words.

That's a pretty good read. Probably even FPP-worthy.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:40 PM on November 3, 2008

The Björk Song.
posted by greenie2600 at 3:41 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I am not going to stop letting poets lie to me any time soon. I might even pay them to do it.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 3:45 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

That was...odd. Would she have made more sense in her native language?
posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:46 PM on November 3, 2008

bjork24 wagers that Bjork is 26 in the video. And I coin the term, 'presqueponysterical.'
posted by borborygmi at 3:51 PM on November 3, 2008 [6 favorites]

"Here are all the wires. These wires. They really take care of all the electrons when they come through here."

I love it!
posted by chimaera at 3:52 PM on November 3, 2008

presqueponysterical

Does not compute.
posted by bjork24 at 3:54 PM on November 3, 2008

I love Bjork, and I love this video, and I cannot say that enough times. I have yet to hear her say anything that I consider crazy in the least. Would that we were all so 'crazy'.

I might just have to sit here and watch that on repeat until Obama is declared President-elect. I think it might just cure this little high blood pressure, teeth grinding, fingernail biting, headachy thing that I've got going on and have had for the last couple of weeks of obsessing over the polls...
posted by jokeefe at 4:02 PM on November 3, 2008

presqueponysterical - - - like the annunciations of the Swedish Chef; Bjork Bjork Bjork Bjork!
posted by isopraxis at 4:05 PM on November 3, 2008

Preque is French for 'almost' -- it comes up in at least one term, presque vu, and I associate it with that feeling of being really close to something awesome, but not quite there.

The wikipedia entry on presque vu is kind of interesting.
posted by borborygmi at 4:08 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

From bjork24's link: "I live happily in the land of music-making." - it's like we're neighbors! I'm from the land of music-listening! I bridge the gap between the two with humming and some singing along, but I usually am happy to just reside near-by.

As far as her potential as a president, there have been plenty of other odd musician/politicians. Did you know Shirley Temple had a varied political history (and she's still alive? I don't wish her dead, but I was just surprised to realize she's only 80 years old). If she can get 10% of the country to see her play live, she could probably get voted in under Iceland's coalition government. (that's probably not the right term, and my knowledge of Iceland's government consists of 10 minutes of wiki-searching)
posted by filthy light thief at 4:08 PM on November 3, 2008

this is taken from a sugarcubes video that i used to own. it had live footage and segments with the various band members. there's another clip with someone in the supermarket showing different icelandic food like sheep head.
posted by snofoam at 4:15 PM on November 3, 2008

I think she is 100% right. Suck it haters.
posted by found missing at 4:16 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's called Live Zabor and I guess it was later made in DVD format as well.
posted by snofoam at 4:18 PM on November 3, 2008

Yep, she sure is Queen Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:20 PM on November 3, 2008 [3 favorites]

(Shirley Temple is still alive? That's incredible)
posted by Auden at 4:29 PM on November 3, 2008

I loved that. And need to post my favorite Bjork joke:

MATTHEW BARNEY AND BJÖRK PLACE AN IKEA PHONE ORDER
posted by lumpenprole at 4:30 PM on November 3, 2008 [6 favorites]

I LOVE BJORK!!!!!!!1
posted by bjork24 at 3:09 PM on November 3

Yeah, but I'm guessing there's 23 people at Metafilter alone who love her more.

But yeah, she was friggin' gorgeous in that clip, and utterly adorable in her loopiness. And even though I'm not a "fan"- I own none of her albums, but have always enjoyed when she comes on someone else's stereo- her music is quite lush. So suck it haters.
posted by hincandenza at 4:30 PM on November 3, 2008

Einar Örn Benediktsson, we need you now more than ever.
posted by not_on_display at 4:31 PM on November 3, 2008

Make fun of Björk as you will, but it's not like she's being completely crazy here. I think the weirdness is kind of the point.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:38 PM on November 3, 2008

P Diddy calls bjork
posted by Freen at 4:39 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

i love her so much, im making this comment from my shitty non-iphone cellular telephone while i should be cleaning floors. if i could, i would post a link to a picture of bjork that is so hott it will turn your software into hardware... but i cant do it on this phone. it has taken me 38 minutes to write this.

:D
posted by bjork24 at 4:41 PM on November 3, 2008

Random Bjork/Metafilter trivia: Mefite Thin Lizzy built the yak in this video.

She should come into this thread and tell the story.
posted by Bookhouse at 4:51 PM on November 3, 2008

Fake Bjork Song
posted by NemesisVex at 4:54 PM on November 3, 2008

JHarris: Me too. (On the 7 years)

Also, Bjork is the only think that makes me go "Squee!" in a totally serious and non-ironic way.
posted by rusty at 4:58 PM on November 3, 2008

Come on Bjork24! That's some 4chan shit! PLOX
posted by cmoj at 5:06 PM on November 3, 2008

Katie Couric + Bjork = 459 combined elf years + 0 hair care
posted by DU at 5:27 PM on November 3, 2008

I'll admit it: I favorited this before actually watching the video.

I haven't changed my mind. There is something about the fecundity of her imagination that is really charming to me. Yes, she's batty in a way that is all cute and stuff, but she is also a phenomenally creative performer AND producer.

But, yes, 90% of my pleasure in watching this is that she's adorably quirky.
posted by LMGM at 5:32 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think she is a really talented musician, but I wouldn't want to ride in a car with her. I am sure it would be terrifying.
posted by Mr_Zero at 5:36 PM on November 3, 2008

Einar Örn Benediktsson, we need you now more than ever.

Man, that dude sucked. SHUT UP AND LET BJORK SING, YOU MUMBLING ASSHOLE! In fact, one of my favorite metaphors, which I probably stole from somewhere: "That would be like Bjork going back to work with Einar again.", used to mean "to take a huge, pointless step backwards". You can even modify it to taste or for the intended audience, e.g. "That would be like Ice Cube going back to work with Arabian Prince again." Try it at home!

Oh, and this video was awesome. I totally agree that the impression people get of Bjork as weird and spacey is simply because she couldn't speak English very well when she was at the height of her popularity in the US. She's actually a brilliant woman and one of the most important artists of the last 20 years.
posted by DecemberBoy at 5:36 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Genius. Sheer genius. Never let poets lie to you is my new motto.
posted by signal at 5:42 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

Bjork rocks! lol!
posted by jeffburdges at 5:43 PM on November 3, 2008

Also, I'm glad she wasn't a non celebrity and I met her backpacking somewhere and hooked up briefly, as I would have fallen, hard, and she would've just given me a pixiesh grin and flittered off and I'd be left there in Romania or something all heartbroken spending my money on bad tourist food and beer.
Lucky to have dodged that bullet.
posted by signal at 5:45 PM on November 3, 2008 [4 favorites]

Man, if Matthew Barney had a portal a la Being John Malkovich, I would so totally get in there and hit that shit.
posted by brevator at 5:45 PM on November 3, 2008

If Bjork has Werner Herzog's baby, I will either adopt it or sacrifice it to Ba'al.

Their pick.
posted by malocchio at 5:47 PM on November 3, 2008

Needs more shotgun mic.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:56 PM on November 3, 2008 [5 favorites]

Ok, I want to say something on behalf of the poet she thinks lied to her. He probably read Jerry Mander's book, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, in which it talks about the brainwashing impact of television, which was funded by the same corporations bringing you the Iraq War.

"Scientists who study brain-wave activity found that the longer one watches television, the more likely the brain will slip into “alpha” level: a slow, steady brain-wave pattern in which the mind is in its most receptive mode. It is a noncognitive mode: i.e., information can be placed into the mind directly, without viewer participation. "

Quite possibly Bjork's marvelous charm, creativity, imagination and naturally eccentric approach to life is because she did not watch TV. If you go to countries where kids haven't seen TV, or little TV, they are always more imaginative, communicate in a more original way. They haven't been taught what is cool, funded and determined by either their government or multi-national corporations, ATT, General Electric, Time/Warner, pharmaceutical companies, Exxon, tobacco companies, Disney, etc.

So I encourage her not to put all the focus on how the device of the television works but to study the impact of TV on the mind.
posted by nickyskye at 6:04 PM on November 3, 2008 [3 favorites]

Don't touch the capacitor... don't touch the capacitor...
posted by fungible at 6:05 PM on November 3, 2008 [4 favorites]

OK, that was freaking awesome. It was like a folk tale. And the fact that the story and a moral at the end made it a modern fable. She's officially awesome in my book.
posted by Eekacat at 6:05 PM on November 3, 2008

Oh my god, she is so adorable! I'm back in love with her all over again. Awesome video, thank you.

I agree.
posted by Jikido at 6:11 PM on November 3, 2008

"Man, if Matthew Barney had a portal a la Being John Malkovich, I would so totally get in there and hit that shit."

No, no you would not. Look: Do NOT climb into the hole into Matthew Barney's head. If you did, the last thing (Vasoline puddle) you would (beeswax) want to do (creepy operatic singing) would be (dripping goo) to make sweet (apron of flesh) love to Bjork (woman copulating behind curtains made of honeycomb).
posted by Auden at 6:16 PM on November 3, 2008

I did like the adorable little city with the street inside the tv and the elevator to the wires that take care of all those electrons. She was born Nov 21 (my birthday too) 1965. That would make her 43? Could that be possible? She looks 23 in that video.
posted by nickyskye at 6:22 PM on November 3, 2008

PS, apparently that was filmed around the time she was with The Sugarcubes, circa 1986 to 1992, so she was in her 20's then.
posted by nickyskye at 6:32 PM on November 3, 2008

Does she age? I can't remember if they do or not. Anyways, that would explain a lot.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 6:43 PM on November 3, 2008

This is the single greatest YouTube video ever.
posted by eamondaly at 6:46 PM on November 3, 2008

Don't touch the capacitor... don't touch the capacitor...

Totally. I was anticipating something like "It's like a little city... here are the little houses, and the streets, and BZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHH!" Never open a CRT-type TV or computer monitor, kids.
posted by DecemberBoy at 6:49 PM on November 3, 2008

If I had a time machine I would do the same days over and over again like in ground hogs day. And instead of Andie McDowell I would be after Bjork from circa this video. And Sherilyn Fenn from twin peaks. I think if I had sex with Sherilyn Fenn and Bjork at the same time the universe would probably implode due to awesomeness overload. The fact that you are reading this means that either time travel isn't real or my ice sculpting chops never got up to snuff.
posted by I Foody at 6:56 PM on November 3, 2008

I should explain. I'm not just talking about a threesome. No I'm talking about more than one me in more than one place with multiple extratemporal crushes. I want to be clear about that. A regular threesome would not make the world end. I'm pretty sure. Unless MIA was there. Then it would. The Mayan calendar stops at 2012. So watch out ladies/universe.
posted by I Foody at 7:05 PM on November 3, 2008

She is Maria a young woman with a very bad hair day who prays to God for he saves her hairdo.

need i say more?
posted by NikitaNikita at 7:07 PM on November 3, 2008

er, ok, that was a lie, it seems, but there's more
posted by NikitaNikita at 7:12 PM on November 3, 2008

This will probably be bjlasphemy in this thread, bjut I find Bjork, though very cute in that video, kinda bjoring. I find Bjeck bjoring too. I'm not bjeing mean, just honest. If I had to choose though, I would listen to Bjork over Bjeck.
posted by vronsky at 7:18 PM on November 3, 2008

I'm touched.
posted by Tube at 7:27 PM on November 3, 2008

Oh my sweet god in heaven! She killed it!
posted by nola at 7:54 PM on November 3, 2008

Bjork wears a swan dress in front of people who live to mock others.

No! Bjork! No!

Bjork demands that an autocratic society change its ways and that they free a subjugated group of people, even though such thought is beyond the pale on the soil of that country.

No! Bjork! No!

Bjork plays inside a CRT Television set, randomly touching whatever wires she pleases.

No! Bjork! No!
posted by sleslie at 8:01 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Here's a sexy Bjork tidbit for you: the highly abstract line segments from "Pagan Poetry" are clearly pornographic (that's obvious at first glance), but what you might not know is that the two people having sex are none other than Bjork and Matthew Barney! She filmed everything herself, before having it rendered indiscernible by some lucky video engineer. The only segment that exists from Bjork's authentic sex tape is the brief scene of her on her back grimacing in pain/pleasure. The video leads you to believe she's being pierced at that moment, when really she's most likely having her muttons chopped.

It doesn't get much sexier than that, folks.

And you get to see her boobies too.
posted by bjork24 at 8:18 PM on November 3, 2008

Am I the only person who's wondered if eeryone form Iceland is like that?
posted by Aversion Therapy at 8:23 PM on November 3, 2008

> Don't touch the capacitor... don't touch the capacitor...

She did during rehearsal; that's how her hair got that way.
posted by sdodd at 9:04 PM on November 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

Oh Bork. (1:30)
People are just trees made of skin.
posted by rmless at 9:11 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Love Bjork's music. Wonderful voice.
That was a perfectly great explanation of watching TV and it's effects. I agree it doesn't engage the mind.
I'll allow poets lying to me, politicians OTOH, no. She's brilliant. Love her creative genius. Those that don't understand her train of thought make a mockery of it.

Enjoyed her tour of her house and town and the ocean. Speaking with a British accent. Features her own music in the background — the walkabout certainly shows me her musical influence, comes from the landscape.

A recent what she's listening to: Santogold, MIA, Knife...too short a clip.

If you want to eat toast and jam, all week, do it.

Bjork for President [an excellent FPP indeed], I have to agree with her environmental stance. Lead singer of that Australian band Midnighjt Oil is a member of Parliament. And what of the Czech Republic' writer turned leader, Havel?
posted by alicesshoe at 10:00 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

...I wouldn't want to ride in a car with her. I am sure it would be terrifying.

Yes, indeed...but my goodness, she's utterly charming.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 10:28 PM on November 3, 2008

Beatlejuice hair
posted by johannahdeschanel at 10:39 PM on November 3, 2008

"because there are many many little screens, your head is very busy all the time"
posted by exlotuseater at 10:53 PM on November 3, 2008

I will be saying that to myself for many many days.
posted by exlotuseater at 10:54 PM on November 3, 2008

She is most beautiful human. Seriously the range of facial expression is inconceivable.
posted by kaspen at 2:17 AM on November 4, 2008

"Millions and millions of little... screens..."

Yes, exactly 414,720 tri-colour dots for a PAL TV.

OTOH, I remember that my first thought when my father, an electrician, exposed a circuit board was - hey, little cities with houses and roads and lights...
posted by Laotic at 3:36 AM on November 4, 2008

And you get to see her boobies too.

I've seen 'em. In person.

(I've probably trotted out this story a zillion times, but when I lived in Iceland, I went swimming quite a lot. So did everyone else in the country. Well, my neighborhood pool happened to also be Björk's neighborhood pool. So, upon entering the communal showers - because this is Europe, where everyone is required to run around naked in public - I notice a woman with a pretty rockin' tattoo. Actually, first I notice her adorable little girl splashing about in a pink swimming suit complete with attached tutu - then I notice the woman with the tattoo. And then she turns in my general direction and I catch a glimpse of her face and I realize OMIG-D, IT'S BJÖRK!

I had to bite my tongue not to be that obnoxious American who shouted "DUDE! YOU'RE BJÖRK!" in the shower and totally ruin her day. Everyone else there was totally ignoring her - they know who she is, but Icelanders don't grok just HOW famous she is in the outside world.

Anyhow, so I've seen Björk naked, and she is totally ripped. She could kick my ass. Conversely, Björk has seen me naked. I doubt she was impressed. C'est la vie.)

Also: this video was totally awesome.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:12 AM on November 4, 2008 [3 favorites]

I'll admit that I'm biased for Björk. I used to joke that I was gay because I was "saving myself for Björk." If she knocked on my door today and said, "Hello, yes, let's make love and possibly maybe balloons!" I would have to say yes.

(This is also true for Nigella Lawson, but replace "balloons" with "roast lamb on black rice and mint with pomegranate seeds")
posted by LMGM at 4:37 AM on November 4, 2008

Aw, Bjork...
posted by Artw at 6:59 AM on November 4, 2008

she's most likely having her muttons chopped.

It doesn't get much sexier than that, folks.

Well, not referencing sheep might have taken it that extra mile.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:15 AM on November 4, 2008

My most favorite Björk thing ever that doesn't have real Björk in it: oh god yes, how this makes me laugh. Björk meets Charles Barkley.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 12:02 PM on November 4, 2008

It's been stuck in my head for seven years now.

Yeah, is there some sort of support group for this?
posted by fidelity at 7:59 PM on November 4, 2008

Two watches...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:17 AM on November 5, 2008

I'm with her on Santjogold though. That is a hot track.
posted by vronsky at 7:18 PM on November 7, 2008