Sunday, June 14, 2009

This Video



FUCK SHIT UP!

RATING: 81%

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

This should have a "fucking assholes" tag. Or "fucking juvenile delinquents" tag.

Evan J Peterson said...

This is disgusting.

DCP said...

I know, it makes you feel awful. But there's just something about the power of the video and music I just can't shake.

laurie said...

The power of the music to be fucking irritating. I can't believe you gave this 81%. Hell, I can't believe you gave it any %.

DCP said...

You just don't like electronic music. Sorry everything can't be some guy inaudibly rasping about his love life to acoustic guitar, indie music.

laurie said...

I do like electronic music, just not THIS electronic music. So talk what you know, Canada boy.

Belabras said...

What a bunch of douchebag punks.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

that shit was bomb as heck

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

this is literally how my life is 24/7 irl

Anonymous said...

For a bunch of creative, interesting, educated people, your collective curt dismissal of the dramatized violence in this video shows very little curiosity. Many of you even claim to be artists! Shouldn't you be interested enough in your own "disgust" to be a bit self-critical? Is it the glamorization of violence that puts you off? Is it the realism? I think this video creates a fairly sophisticated, troubling premise and if you aren't sophisticated enough to engage in a dialogue with it, then you're not worth the celluloid it's printed on.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

O shit!

Belabras said...

@ Anonymous

I find glamorization of pointless teen violence and self destruction to be trite at best and disgusting at worst.

If it was the artist's intent to invoke that response, then mission accomplished. I'm pretty sure Blackboard Jungle beat them to the punch by a few years though.

Viking Andrew said...

@Anon

"I think this video creates a fairly sophisticated, troubling premise and if you aren't sophisticated enough to engage in a dialogue with it, then you're not worth the celluloid it's printed on...."

I'm confused. Help me out: how about you START the dialogue--if this video is so worth having one--and I'll jump in when I halfway give a shit. I mean, that might be more productive than, you know, criticizing people's responses to a fucking music video.

John said...

Vitriolic argument about matters of personal taste on R3? Impossible!

I also like this video, and would be interested to read Anon.'s exposition of its "sophisticated and troubling premise." However, I find the idea that my friends "aren't worth the celluloid it's printed on" to be both discourteous and stupid to the point of absurdity. Try to show a little fucking tact, Anon. R3 has its share of disagreements, debates, scraps and scuffles, but no one likes a straight up troll.

John said...

(I should know. As an ogre, I get mistaken for one all the time.)

Chris said...

I have to say that I agree with Anon when he/she says it has the opportunity to create an interesting dialogue about violence, because I think there's a place for violence in art.

However, I agree with Andrew that Anon should begin the dialogue if he/she disagrees with the consensus here. Whether it disgusts you or not has no relevance to creativity or artistry. And it's awful that a good point goes to waste when it's based on a flawed premise.

Personally, I like the video, and also find it somewhat disgusting.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

r3 rulz

Anonymous said...

For the record, Glenn, I'm his caseworker... just making sure he stays out of the CP

Robyn said...

I guess I've been watching too much of The Wire in my spare time. I'm desensitized to the violence!

I fucking love France, though. Dog shit, cheese, art, and terrorism...ahhhh I wanna go back!

DCP said...

Query: What's better, listening to a Fischerspooner album start to finish or using a ten foot strip of sandpaper on a compost hill as a Slip'n'Slide?

(Demonstrating rhetoric)

Belabras has no sense of humor said...

Reply: Dog Biscuits

(Demonstrating absurdism?)

John said...

I've never been to a slip 'n' slide event where someone under the age of 7 didn't bleed and/or shit all over the slide.

Fucking juvenile dinkents.

John said...

P.S. Irony? Symbolism? Depicting violent and ugly acts isn't always the same as encouraging them.

The reverse is also true, insofar as most Celine Dion albums encourage self-mutilation and suicide without actually depicting them.

Belabras has no sense of humor said...

@ Internet John

Imagine how much improved they would be if they did though.

LoCo said...

LOL, John! You're on fire.

I feel I should confess that I never watch imbedded videos on blogs... ADD or something.. & as that one is over six minutes long!!, i won't be watching it either. So I guess I should stop commenting. But I do wonder what's so different about this video than every single movie I watch that has a ton of upsetting violence. Guess I'll never know!

John said...

"What's so different about this video"

It's the music. When the human race is annihilated by nazi robots on ecstasy it will sound like this.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

yo i. jon you arent a skingead are you cause that shit is wack

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

i mean we cld still be buddies but it mite put a strain on yr relationship w/ glen b/c he's hecka ethnical

Chris said...

R Kelley tag you're right. Glenn can claim at least 4 different ethnicities.

laurie said...

@loco: To be honest, I couldn't get through it, either. I hated the music so much that I tried skipping through it, and then muting it, and then just not giving a crap and turning it off. But I saw/heard enough to know I didn't want to watch nearly 7 minutes of it.

DCP said...

@loco: It may interest you to know that a prominent sample used in the song is "Night On Disco Mountain."

I.J. said...

I like when the guy tries to change the radio station by kicking the radio. Also, when they smash the bongo and the acoustic guitar.

It strikes me as painful and sad, not glib, especially if you watch all the way to the end.

I.J. said...

I'm gonna steal this album, then a car. Nice pick, G.

shoppista said...

I feel like they tried to tack a social critique onto the end of the video to make the whole thing less sorta "urban male youths terrorizing innocent bystanders is awesome!111" but it didn't work all that well.

On the upside, a burning car looks pretty cool when filmed through a lens with a loogie on it, and I feel like given that, we have all now learned something about Art.

John said...

I didn't look at it as a social critique so much as a psychological and emotional statement. Look at the black kid's face through the loogie--it's the agonized expression of a child who wants his mother and father. All the facial close ups in the video are heartbreaking and deadly serious. At no point does the video say, "These kids are happy and this sort of violence is cool."

You can't change the station on a car radio by kicking it. You can't use force to get a girl to like you. You can't have a peaceful moment in a cafe if you're smashing it up with a retractable baton. So it's sour grapes in emotional hell instead.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

hey y dont you write a dissertation about it there theodore adornno

I.J. said...

You ever call me that again I'll cut your face.