DO NOT tell me about a crappy trend when I'm sick, Internet!
February 26, 2009
I'm sick. I'm not quite sure what I've got, but I think it's like a mega-cold or something. I'm also really pissed off. This I can blame very specifically on the rising popularity of datamoshing.
First, I hate that name.
Second, the "effect":
- is incredibly easy to recreate
- is incredibly hard to control
- looks like a video compression error
- IS a video compression error
- makes me think about numerous messed up downloaded video files that I REALLY wanted to watch
- makes me think about numerous messed up video editing projects on my less-than-data-reliable computer from a few years ago
- has not been used well yet (except for maybe a few uses by Takeshi Murata)
- has already been used to death in Chairlift's Evident Utensil video
- has already been used to death in Kanye's Welcome To Heartbreak video (Really, do any trends survive Kanye's golden touch/kiss of death?)
Now don't get me wrong... I will admit that the effect has potential (or perhaps had potential, since I'm declaring that it's now been killed). I'm a huge fan of glitchiness of all kinds. I've participated in some glitchy electronic music scenes. I've watched satellite TV during thunder storms for hours just for the glitches. I love light leaks in photography. But this.... this datamoshing... I can't get into. Something just seems totally wrong about it.
I guess some of my anger might also come from fear... Fear that I'm becoming an old man... Fear that kids these days have such completely different ideas of aesthetics from me...
Then again, it truly is a shit effect. Even bad chroma-keying would be better!
BTW#1: I was originally going to complain about Kanye more in this piece, but I decided that I have more than enough on Kanye for a separate post. Maybe a whole series of posts. We'll see.
BTW#2: Sorry for the previous diary-like post. As I said, I'm ill.
Posts
February 26, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Joe, you are an old man, but that doesn't preclude these images from being ugly.