Haven’t Been There or Done That

For decades the U.S. has always taken a chiding on how far behind its education programs are in comparison to the rest of the world. Until today I have come to our defense with the argument that there is only a need for so many doctors and lawyers, but there will always be a need for the less formally trained creative entrepreneurs. There have been many a great American success stories that have started with a penniless high school drop out, and those stories have fueled the hopes of many across the globe. However after reading a somewhat disturbing article about an Austrian man and the length of his creativity I fear that we Yanks have become complacent. Being behind in math and science is one thing, but when we can’t even compete creatively with somewhere as humdrum as Austria we are headed for a major disaster. The economy is in shambles, the housing market is in the pooper, no one is buying our bus sized fossil fuel guzzling cars any more, and I am beginning to believe it is due in some part to a nation wide creative slump. All we mass produce anymore is remakes of all the crap we mass produced decades ago and, as consumers, we continue to accept it. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Star Wars Episodes I, II and III are just a sampling of the rehashed fodder that the typical consumer is force feeding their children in hopes of reliving a bit of their own upbringing through them. Remember way back in 1999 when the Wachowski brothers introduced us to a new concept in the science fiction genre with a little film called The Matrix? People were blown away not only with the cutting edge special effects, but with a story line that truly felt original (yeah, yeah I know Plato thought of it first, but he didn’t make movies). What happened next was a truly sad story of consumer whoredom…the public demanded more. The Brothers W were more than compliant with the concept of producing sequels. Unfortunately “Joe Popcorn” settled into his seat expecting to see Neo kick some machine ass again in a bigger badder retelling of the first movie and was instead treated to a plot line that pulled the rug out from under his feet…”Joe” was despondent. By the end of the third movie a large portion of those who chose to stick the trilogy out just for the sake of closure couldn’t wrap their heads around the death of the hero (a theme quite common in eastern storytelling…the primary source of inspiration for The Matrix Trilogy). I myself remember feeling betrayed, but like most great stories (life included); I slowly realized the brilliance of a tale is not in its ending, but in the entire journey…the Wachowski Brothers knew this too. I proudly own all three movies, and still watch them to this day when I want to be reminded of that fact (or when I want to see shit blow up in super slow motion). I guess I don’t expect the stereotypical American to change their mindset about accepting what is handed them, but instead I hope that there are more than a few non-stereotypical American minds out there willing to take a new stab at what ever they pursue in life. Then maybe we won’t fall so far behind the Austrians of this world.

Oh yeah, I realize that I never told you what this Austrian fellow did that was so darn creative. I turns out he made his very own flame-thrower for the simple purpose of killing his in-laws…Now that is what I call original.

You would think that after a week off I would have found a plethora of videos, but I think that the WTF gnomes come and clear up the mess as soon as possible, so here are just a few treats for you.

This one is a bit long and boy howdy is it messed up, but it has a disarmingly simple title: Rabbit



This one is a bit short and boy howdy is it messed up, but you have to admire the extremely smooth stop frame animation.


via videosift.com

Finally here is a picture that our beloved and well missed Andy sent out last week. If you were not cool enough to make the email list here it is for your enjoyment.