Endless tipping points, or what today’s music hipsters can learn from 80’s Swiss filmmakers.
You may have seen the new OK Go video, This Too Shall Pass, making the viral rounds this week.
And while we do love us some OK Go, we have to raise an eyebrow at all the collective gushing about how innovative the video’s approach is. Over the years we’ve seen our share of this domino-effect, object-based-chain-reaction creative execution — like this 2006 Honda commercial, or this 2007 Guinness spot from director Nicolai Fuglsig, or even Timo Arnall’s much-acclaimed Nearness project last year.
This object chain reaction is known as a Rube Goldberg machine. But where its use in visual storytelling really originated is a little-known Swiss film from 1987 by director duo Peter Fischli and David Weis, titled Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go). In it, an incredible chain reaction of common household objects — tea pots, tires, ladders, trash bags, shoes, soap — unfolds over 29 minutes and 45 seconds across 100 feet of meticulously arranged ramps, swings and surfaces.
The Way Things Go is available on DVD, which we highly recommend for experiencing this trend ancestor in its full glory and understanding its influence on a number of contemporary art trends, from urban prankstership to stop-frame animation.
And while we love seeing this historically-fueled cross-pollination of creative disciplines — film inspiring everything from physical interaction design to advertising to music videos — we also think it’s important to understand the roots and origins of things we laud as innovative today. Or else we end up with suspicious similarities.
Psst, we’ve launched a fancy weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays, offers the week’s articles, and features five more tasty bites of web-wide interestingness. Here’s an example. Like? Sign up.
Charting happiness, why you should tip your waiter, and how to tug at heartstrings right.
Last week, we spotlighted five of our ten favorite blog-turned-book success stories. Today, we’re back with the sequel.
INDEXED
It’s no secret we have an infoviz fetish, fueling our longtime love affair with the wonderful Indexed blog — Jessica Hagy’s absolutely charming graph-and-chart-driven visual exploration of, well, everything. With brevity and brilliance, Indexed has captured everything from the secret formula of James Cameron’s biggest hits to the challenges of proposing to a virgin.
So we have no words to describe just how much we’re loving Indexed, the book — a wonderfully curated selection from what’s already a treasure trove of gems.
WAITER RANT
Since 2004, one veteran New York waiter has been dishing out delightfully cynical musings about the inner workings of the restaurant world in Waiter Rant — a hilariously candid and unfiltered account of life in the restaurant service industry.
He’s been worshiped and reviled, but what do we really know about the man who “invented the friggin iPhone”? Thanks to The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, a lot. Yeah, yeah, he may be fake, but we bet he’s a ton more fun than the real one.
Some time ago, we interviewed Mary Tomer, who in 2008 launched Mrs-O.org — a blog chronicling Michelle Obama’s style.
That public fascination with the first lady’s fashion sense struck such a cultural chord that less than a year later, Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy hit the press. And it’s a must-read for anyone striving to understand the relationship between fashion, public persona, and popular taste.
1001 RULES FOR MY UNBORN SON
We have a strong aversion to cheesy heartstring-tuggers — cliche photos, contrived greeting cards, regurgitated quotes — of which the interwebs are full. But 1001 rules for my unborn son is positively the loveliest, most moving piece of universal-relevance-disguised-as-fatherly-advice. It combines precious nuggets of insight with just the right dose of quirk and randomness, producing powerful wisdom that doesn’t take itself too seriously — a priceless combination.
Psst, we’ve launched a fancy weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays, offers the week’s articles, and features five more tasty bites of web-wide interestingness. Here’s an example. Like? Sign up.
The Way Things Go is available on DVD, which we highly recommend for experiencing this trend ancestor in its full glory and understanding its influence on a number of contemporary art trends, from urban prankstership to stop-frame animation.
Psst, we’ve launched a fancy weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays, offers the week’s articles, and features five more tasty bites of web-wide interestingness. Here’s an example. Like? Sign up.
INDEXED
WAITER RANT
THE SECRET DIARY OF STEVE JOBS
MRS. O
1001 RULES FOR MY UNBORN SON
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