watch the american housing market spiral out of control
April 22, 2009 12:41 PM   Subscribe

subprime. Beautiful animation about the US housing market.
posted by uncle harold (29 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I expected it to end with the pigs coming by and blowing the last house down.
posted by gman at 12:51 PM on April 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


Money for nothin' and your chicks for free.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 12:52 PM on April 22, 2009 [7 favorites]


Cute, but this doesn't really say anything meaningful about subprime or the housing market.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:53 PM on April 22, 2009 [14 favorites]


I fact, yes. I think the artistic quality alone warrants a view, though.
posted by uncle harold at 12:53 PM on April 22, 2009


Yeah, other than being about, y'know, houses, it's unclear to me how this is supposed to represent (or correlate to in some way?) the "American housing market spiral[ing] out of control."

That said, I did enjoy the animation, but I'd like to take this opportunity to write an open letter rant to all CG animators and motion graphics artists:

JESUS FUCK WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS USE THE SHITTIEST ELECTRONIC MUSIC YOU CAN FIND TO SCORE YOUR SHORT FILMS? JUST BECAUSE YOUR VIDEO IS COMPUTER-GENERATED DOESN'T MEAN YOUR AUDIO ALSO HAS TO BE! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
posted by dersins at 12:56 PM on April 22, 2009


Did you see the intro to that Scarygirl video game posted the other day?
posted by ND¢ at 12:56 PM on April 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


I agree...it doesn't really tell a story. It just seems like "Attract Mode" opening to a Sims game. Something that I would hit the Start button to skip.
posted by GavinR at 12:57 PM on April 22, 2009


It just seems like "Attract Mode" opening to a Sims game

I had to fight the urge to use my scroll wheel to pan the camera out.

Visually interesting? Sure. But the only message it conveys is that houses have evolved from wood shacks. The "For Sale" sign at the end doesn't even make sense if you consider that that all of the homes in the animation would have been up for sale at one time or another.
posted by eyeballkid at 1:17 PM on April 22, 2009


For Sale: Mountaineer's shack, great views, tolerable smell!
posted by jellywerker at 1:28 PM on April 22, 2009


It tells a story, I'll give it a shot. Throughout American history there have been booms and busts leading to creative destruction and renewal. The story of capitalism as seen through housing. The ominous For Sale sign at the end is a political statement that the free market has not been allowed to bust and so we are stuck unable to renew to the next generation.
posted by stbalbach at 1:42 PM on April 22, 2009


I couldn't beat the shack level.
posted by box at 1:44 PM on April 22, 2009 [5 favorites]


You kids with your square art. In my day, shit had curves.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 1:49 PM on April 22, 2009


LOLSUBPRIME
posted by klanawa at 1:50 PM on April 22, 2009



You kids with your square art. In my day, shit had curves.

You wait 'till 128 bit processors, then we'll show you curves.
posted by mattoxic at 1:57 PM on April 22, 2009


I really liked the animation style--it reminded me of a blend of Viva Pinata and The Sims... but prettier. Nearly non-existent subtext aside, he should look into a career as a art director or graphic designer for a game. I'd play it.
posted by disillusioned at 2:07 PM on April 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


Ugh. The spinning. My stomache.
posted by debbie_ann at 2:13 PM on April 22, 2009


I would like the little legosim to move into his car at the end.
posted by aetg at 3:14 PM on April 22, 2009


I was expecting a return to the shack.
posted by mazola at 3:51 PM on April 22, 2009


Isn't Sims 3 soon? This seems to be that.
posted by rokusan at 4:43 PM on April 22, 2009


I think everyone is misinterpreting the story here. What I saw wasn't a historical overview, it was the *same guy* acquiring bigger and bigger and bigger houses until he got one he couldn't afford.

I think people have missed this because --

1) This being a lefty-leaning site, most people here automatically tend to think (as I do) that the subprime crisis is more the fault of the lenders than the buyers, and this video focuses on a buyer-end problem -- the desire for "too much house" -- which makes the subprime reference more obscure.

2) Poor storytelling choices make it look like a historical overview rather than a tale of one person -- seriously, who lives in a log cabin now?

3) Although the guy looks identical in every scene, the crappy video game style animation would make everyone look identical anyway (seriously, people liked the animation?), so it was hard to tell it was supposed to be one person.

Or, I could be wrong, in which case I have no idea what this was supposed to be about.
posted by kyrademon at 5:31 PM on April 22, 2009


watch the american housing market spiral out of control

The Crisis of Credit Visualized. Beautiful animation about the US housing market.

(this is the animation I expected to see when I clicked.)
posted by tapesonthefloor at 6:10 PM on April 22, 2009 [2 favorites]


dersins wrote: JESUS FUCK WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS USE THE SHITTIEST ELECTRONIC MUSIC YOU CAN FIND TO SCORE YOUR SHORT FILMS? JUST BECAUSE YOUR VIDEO IS COMPUTER-GENERATED DOESN'T MEAN YOUR AUDIO ALSO HAS TO BE! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.

Unusually, for this sort of thing, I actually liked the music. Odd, being a person who is generally into actual instruments rather than beeps and boops.

So to use a tired meme, your fail is strong, Luke.
posted by wierdo at 6:49 PM on April 22, 2009


Yea! Another Sims 3 preview!

on preview - what rokusan said!
posted by jeoc at 6:53 PM on April 22, 2009


See, I thought the point was all the small houses kept falling down (and the log cabin crushed the dude inside even!) This shows that poor people don't keep up their houses, and that's why they deserve to have them fall down (or lose them to foreclosure).

But then the rich person, with the fancy house and the fancy car, his house is fine. And he happens to be a real estate agent, so he puts his house on the market so he can take all the money he made flipping crappy houses to poor people, and move somewhere else.
posted by inigo2 at 7:09 PM on April 22, 2009


There's a neat video that I can't find of US housing prices since about 1900 visualized as the height of a track train. I believe it is a Railroad Tycoon machinima.
posted by neuron at 9:29 PM on April 22, 2009


neuron, could it be this one?
posted by fingerbang at 10:53 PM on April 22, 2009


Unusually, for this sort of thing, I actually liked the music.

Aye.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:59 PM on April 22, 2009


It seemed just like an RPG's progression. You start out in the poor shanty town and gradually make your way to more and more built up areas.
posted by Eideteker at 7:59 AM on April 23, 2009


meh.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:36 AM on April 23, 2009


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