Tag: song

Strumphosentanz!

I just learned about the “Strumphosentanz” (panty hose dance) through a neat, brief article by Robert Gonzalez on i09, and after being mesmerized by the video, learned that this optical illusion dance is relatively common. A YouTube search reveals numerous performances, but I like the fact that the one sampled above is also SHOT in… Continue reading Strumphosentanz!

MUTTERVERSE: Mutter Museum Poems and Other Halloween Delights

Throughout #Halloween day I will tweet new poems inspired by my recent trip to @muttermuseum #MutterMuseum with hashtag #MUTTERVERSE — Michael Arnzen (@MikeArnzen) October 31, 2012 Happy Halloween! More tricks and treats over on the gorelets.com blog! If you like horror poetry, please check out my latest book, The Gorelets Omnibus.

A Choreography of Cameras: “Hibi No Neiro”

I discovered the “cover song” web podcast site, Coverville, earlier today, and was musing over the way in which one band’s version of another band’s overly familiar song can chime the chords of the uncanny. But then I saw this video for Sour’s “Hibi No Neiro” — which I don’t think is a cover song… Continue reading A Choreography of Cameras: “Hibi No Neiro”

Late Night with Wax Figures in the Men’s Room

There was a particularly uncanny moment last night on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.  Wait for it: The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien – Wax Figures, Redux: Creepy Wax Tom Cruise Stalks Wax Fonzie In The Bathroom (removed from Vimeo) The wax/flesh boundaries are blurred in unexpected ways in that video that leave even… Continue reading Late Night with Wax Figures in the Men’s Room

Andrew Huang’s Uncanny Videos

I thank my colleagues at Seton Hill University, Laura Patterson and Maureen Vissat, for recently passing along a YouTube link to “Doll Face” by Andrew Huang. It’s a brilliant treatment of the relationship between media technology and gender identity, using uncanny structures like automatism and the compulsion to repeat to deliver its message. The video… Continue reading Andrew Huang’s Uncanny Videos

Mock Band: The Simulation of Artistic Processes

Rob Horning‘s recent essay in PopMatters — called “Doomed to Dilettantism” — performs an alarming and fantastic excoriation of the trend toward substituting “professionalism” in the arts with “amateurism” by consumers. Ingeniously, Horning connects the proliferation of faux-artisan strip mall stores like Michael’s (the chain craft store “Where Creativity Happens”) to the consumerist propensity for… Continue reading Mock Band: The Simulation of Artistic Processes

Uncanny Media 2008 Reflections

Conference reports and reflections from the Uncanny Media conference in Utrecht, Netherlands (2008) are starting to pop up online. Since it relates to my work on The Popular Uncanny, I was very interested in attending this event, but was unable to, so I’m seeking as many discussions and reports from the conference as possible online… Continue reading Uncanny Media 2008 Reflections

Pop Song as Product Placement: Doublemint “Forever”

If you watch the latest Doublemint gum TV commercial — featuring Chris Brown dancing in the dark with the product’s new “slim” package — you might be wondering:  gee, that song and dance is nice but what happened to the infamously kitschy jingle and the wholesome set of twins?  The ad itself is a twin: … Continue reading Pop Song as Product Placement: Doublemint “Forever”

Enjoy Uncertainty: Randomization and the Uncanny iPod

Although the iPod shuffle is now an mp3 player that is the size of a postage stamp, the advertising campaign for the device — back in 2006 when it was the size of a stick of gum — asked consumers to “Enjoy Uncertainty.” I can think of no better mascot for the popular uncanny.  Typically, uncertainty… Continue reading Enjoy Uncertainty: Randomization and the Uncanny iPod