Since we talk about remix culture so much on this blog, I felt the need to point out Gizmodo’s article, “IRONY: Warner Bros. Sued for Pirating Anti-Pirating Technology.” Really.
I think this is the stuff that would make Brett Gaylor, the director of RiP: A Remix Manifesto, giddy in its hilarity. I think we all can appreciate the irony, though.
By this point, I think most of us are familiar with the mashup. The most notable mashups that come up usually involve music or film.
i.e. Girl Talk:
i.e. Kate’s last post about Buffy and Twilight or, one of my favorites, “40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes:”
But! Check this out. Now, people are mashing together different kinds of video games. Seriously, go play Tuper Tario Tros. This flash game combines Mario Bros. and Tetris (both personal nostalgic favorites) into one game, where it is necessary to switch back and forth between the two in order to win the game. I find this particularly interesting, because instead of the mashup living in the traditional static manner, this forces the consumer to interact with the mashup and to decide when to switch from one to the other. It’s a new era of mashup.
Other video games like DJ Hero have similar vibes, but a player cannot independently decide when to switch over. The challenge there is to follow what is already constructed. Plus, it’s still jazzing off the the same music mash idea, but Tuper Tario Tros doesn’t and it’s totally up to the player to decide when to switch over. If the player thinks that they can get Mario to make a jump, then they can stay in Mario Bros. mode, but if they’d like the extra help of some blocks, then they can switch over to Tetris mode to build up a bridge or something. It gives the player choice.
If we want to analyze this youngerish generation as being a remix culture, then this creation of choice is crazy pertinent. Doesn’t this indicate that in this progressing remix culture, it’s not only important to be able to bring our multiple resources together, but to choose when we do so and to choose how we interact with it. Ooooo, I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.
(Tuper Tario Tros link via facebook.)
Nothing I like more than a little analysis in a hard candy coating and, well, I feel like sharing.
Is He Bona Fide?
Is He Bona Fide? from Daniel Anderson on Vimeo.
“This video essay explores the theme of sincerity in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The essay is composed in video form, using clips from the film as quotations and layering analysis over the clips through narration.”
Remix Culture II
Remix Culture II from Ricardo on Vimeo.
“My second mashup for the
Total Recut Video Remix Challenge 2008
“What is Remix Culture?”Here’s a list of all the entries in the competition:
http://www.totalrecut.com/contest-videos.php”
Watchmen Video Essay/Review
Watchmen Video Essay/Review from Adam Schoales on Vimeo.
“Here we go kids, after hours of writing, editing, shooting, cutting, and recutting my review… err… video essay for “Watchmen” is complete.
I’m going to work on creating a more concise version thats more along the lines of an actual review, but this should whet your appetite.
(and yes, I’m reading from a teleprompter. you try doing a 20 minute review from memory and smoothly…)”
The World is Flat 3.0
This is more of a lecture, but still mighty thought provoking. I especially like starting at the 29:30 minute mark when Thomas Friedman says that being able to use “imaginative thinking” and connecting dots, in the way liberal arts does, is essential. Then again, I’m a bit biased.
Bringing liberal arts into the equation is more important than ever, because we’re in a world now where imagination and mashups–the ability to mash things together through really imaginative, I think, thinking–is going to be such a huge advantage. . . I think inspiration, innovation comes from having two or more specialties and applying the framework of one specialty to the framework of another. And so, it is great, it is critical, it is essential. We have people who are experts at dots, but we also need, as individuals and collectives, to be encouraging the connecting of those dots and the mashing of them together.