That is an absurdly neat use of a segway. I'm pretty sure I've had nightmares like that though. posted by Stunt at 7:12 PM on June 17 [1 favorite has favorites]
Concept and technical design by Ulik (the mechanical clown).
For some reason I have a very strong memory of (robot?) monks in black robes gliding silently around, possibly even with fire on their heads. Canticle for Liebowitz? posted by DU at 7:14 PM on June 17
And you said Segways were just ostentatious toys for the lazy rich. posted by dirty lies at 7:14 PM on June 17
It is trombones that are ostentatious toys for people who blow. posted by dirty lies at 7:15 PM on June 17
Also, if this turns out to be viral marketing for some mobile phone company, I will be super pissed. posted by snofoam at 7:19 PM on June 17
I'm uncultured. Are other Glass compositions like this? What is this style of music called? Where can I find more? posted by SemiSophos at 7:19 PM on June 17
Philip Glass on Sesame Street, Geometry of Colors.
Holy crap. No wonder so many of my generation grew up to enjoy listening to repetitive music on hallucinogenic drugs. posted by DecemberBoy at 7:34 PM on June 17
Never really thought of Glass as something you could adapt to a marching band, but if you're going to you might as well set it on fire while you're at it. That was amazing. posted by doctor_negative at 7:43 PM on June 17 [2 favorites has favorites]
Those aren't real monks. I can tell. Real monks play Akhnaten. posted by netbros at 7:50 PM on June 17
Doesn't seem right... maybe if it were shot time lapse over the course of a few days. posted by phrontist at 8:02 PM on June 17
Damn this is just so awesome. Thank you so much for posting this. Are other Glass compositions like this? Different instrumentation, no funky percussion, but yeah. The style is called "minimalism", though no one, least of all glass, self-identifies with this genre. posted by phrontist at 8:05 PM on June 17
This gives me hope. posted by Xoebe at 8:06 PM on June 17
The beat is a little slow, but I'm going to go ahead and give them a 9 1/2 for use of banjo. posted by Dr. Zira at 8:11 PM on June 17 [2 favorites has favorites]
As advertised. Speaking of Segways, did you hear about the guy in Brooklyn who impersonated his dead mother and collected more than $100,000 in benefits over a six year period? posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:20 PM on June 17 [8 favorites has favorites]
SemiSophos, you might check out the movie Mishima, which had a score by Philip Glass. The entire movie has a strange, hallucinogenic quality—and the score certainly contributes to its feeling. posted by sonic meat machine at 8:33 PM on June 17 [1 favorite has favorites]
That made my night. (I was eating ice cream while watching it, too.) If there had been a Swedish airline hostess here serving grilled cheese I think my spirit would have left my body. posted by maxwelton at 9:03 PM on June 17 [2 favorites has favorites]
I'm going to go ahead and give them a 9 1/2 for use of banjo.
I'm going to go ahead and give them several hundred million billion googleplex points out of 10. posted by spiderskull at 9:24 PM on June 17
What if the fire coming from their heads was their souls aether flaring off like so much natural gas from an oilstrike and the Segways were in fact connected by huge rods to the center of the earth where a thousand armed creature was manipulating the rods, and the robes covered black and brown and yellow vortices through which different aspects of reality could be perceived, but we weren't ready to See Them so they had to remain robed and the instruments were powered by the puffing not of the monks but of the vaccum generated by the soul gas emenation and the small exhalations of the thousandarmed creature with her multiple mouths? posted by lalochezia at 9:29 PM on June 17 [10 favorites has favorites]
Thus concludes this chapter of the internet. Take five, everybody. We'll start storyboarding the next chapter tomorrow. posted by shadytrees at 9:50 PM on June 17 [6 favorites has favorites]
This is awesome. Every marching/rolling band should have banjos and crazy brass instruments.
There's no better prescription to cure the symptoms of existential ennui than seeing something like that right there. As you catch your breath, you realize that, no, you haven't quite seen all this little planetful of people has to show you, yet. Not by a long shot. posted by darkstar at 11:15 PM on June 17 [4 favorites has favorites]
How are they steering the Segways without using their arms? posted by memebake at 12:57 AM on June 18
Start the Sesame Street clip and then open the Beastmaster clip in a window in front of it with the sound off. I don't think you'll be disappointed. posted by undecided at 1:16 AM on June 18
Glad to see this, since Segways usually just make me sad.
Once, I almost had a job in the Segway industry. This was after college, when I had a brand spanking new English degree and an clean, empty resume. I was living at home with my parents. Desperate for work, I responded to a listing in Craigslist for a company offering Segway tours of the downtown area. Better yet, the company was two blocks away from my parent's house, so I could walk to work.
My father helped me with the interview prep. I prepared a list of strategic questions about the industry - where do you see it in a few years? Is there room for personal growth? I then dressed up in an oversized suit and tie and walked to the house of the company's owner.
Turns out it was a joint venture between him and his wife, who had recently left him. I would be taking the place of his wife, working in his basement as a coordinator of Segway tours. I asked him: "Where do you see the industry going in a few years?" and his answer, immediately, was "To be honest, this is just a fad, and will probably dry up by next summer." I looked around the room at all the posters of smiling tourists on Segways, next to all the pictures of his wife and daughter (both moved out) that crawled along the walls of his living room.
After that I decided against the position and got a temp job changing slurry codes for Andy Capp's cheddar fries. Now I can't even look at a Slim Jim and every time I see a Segway I am reminded of broken dreams and broken homes. posted by mammary16 at 3:27 AM on June 18 [11 favorites has favorites]
I really think this may be the finest performance of its kind that I have ever seen. posted by Phanx at 3:47 AM on June 18 [1 favorite has favorites]
15 months? Really, internet? posted by acro at 4:49 AM on June 18
Their performance almost sounds more like Mr. Bungle than Philip Glass.
That makes it even more awesome, somehow. posted by Jon-o at 4:50 AM on June 18 [1 favorite has favorites]
i can't access youtube at work, but this will be the first thing i do when i boot up at home this afternoon. rolling banjo bands of burning monks? playing phillip glass? maybe i'll go home for lunch. posted by msconduct at 5:19 AM on June 18 [1 favorite has favorites]
Monks? Cool.
On Segways? Interesting.
With fire on the top of their heads? Awesome.
Playing the works of Philip Glass? MetaFilter. posted by Spatch at 5:21 AM on June 18 [3 favorites has favorites]
I understand monks playing Philip Glass. They have hobbies too. I can see the use of fire for them to see where they are going. They places are normally very spartan and don't have electricity. I can see the use of segways. It is an excellent way to jet around. BUT to add them altogether in a 5 minute youtube link is why Al Gore made the internet. posted by Mastercheddaar at 5:56 AM on June 18
Steering a Segway hands-free between two trails of fire ought to count as some kind of absurdly slow-motion extreme sport. posted by nebulawindphone at 6:24 AM on June 18 [2 favorites has favorites]
As soon as I can figure out how they laid down those fiery tracks, I am definitely setting fire to the streets around town on my bike. posted by orme at 6:54 AM on June 18
Screw the internet, this is why monks were invented. And segways, probably.
You had me at "Monks on Segways". The "with fire on the top of their heads" was the icing on the cake (which then melted due to the intense heat of the fire, but still, it was a damn good cake). posted by educatedslacker at 7:29 AM on June 18
There are downsides to my usual method of reading mefi posts first and then clicking the link if the comments indicate it's worth doing so. Because I read the first couple of comments and then decided to click, and the video somehow wasn't at all what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be more active, somehow, more in your face. It took me a while to get into it, and I admit that for the first minute I was going "60 favorites, really?" But then it was like my brain let go of those preconceptions and I could enjoy it for what it was - subtle, melancholy, whimsical. And it is great. posted by marginaliana at 7:45 AM on June 18 [1 favorite has favorites]
It took me a while to get into it, and I admit that for the first minute I was going "60 favorites, really?"
Cartman: No, see, this is the fundamental flaw with the check, check-plus, check-minus system! posted by educatedslacker at 8:12 AM on June 18
I was waiting to see those robes burst into flames à la Andre the Giant in Princess Bride. Still pretty cool, though. posted by scottatdrake at 9:19 AM on June 18 [1 favorite has favorites]
Was anybody else disappointed at first because they read the FPP as MONKEYS on Segways... Because I was.
But the disappointment was short-lived, because it was still kick-ass. posted by nushustu at 9:42 AM on June 18
mazola: am I going to need a facebook account in order to see that link? Because I really don't want one, but I am interested in finding out more about the artist. posted by idiopath at 10:42 AM on June 18
mazola: am I going to need a facebook account in order to see that link? Because I really don't want one, but I am interested in finding out more about the artist.
i must admit, i fed the cats before i hit the link, but hit the link i did. beautiful concept, excellent execution, and i'm thinking i need to find me a bunch of segways for mardi gras next years. now i just need to learn to play the banjo. posted by msconduct at 3:54 PM on June 18
This is so much better than cops on Segways at O'Hare.
For some reason I have a very strong memory of (robot?) monks in black robes gliding silently around, possibly even with fire on their heads.
:-) (Not exactly black robes and not exactly with their heads on fire, but try 2:30 or 4:50, and of course the whole thing is worth watching.) posted by lorenzlm at 2:13 PM on June 21
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