September 2nd, 2005

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Movies
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Two Unusual Videos on Katrina

Rocketboom is a popular vlog (or video blog), that usually features a quirky and charming Amanda Congdon running down the latest news stories whirring around the IntarWeb. Today, though, we get something strikingly different.

For want of a better term, Amanda does a heartfelt monologue intercut with images from New Orleans. At first I had a conflicted reaction to the piece–was it satire or was it genuine? Eventually, though, Amanda won me over with her intensity. This is the power of performance: to shock us, particularly when it comes unexpectedly like this piece does. I really applaud Rocketboom for their willingness and bravery in this sort of experimentation.

Like all good art, the reactions on Rocketboom’s site are both mixed and heated. This reminds me of a frustratingly common complaint I hear about narrative art (movies, plays and books): “It wasn’t what I expected”. Surely that’s not the art’s fault, is it?

On a more mainstream but still entertaining note, Stephen Taylor has posted a clip from CNN. It’s an interview between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Louisiana Senator Landrieu. Landrieu spends the first part of the piece on talking points, congratulating her fellow politicians for a job well done. Cooper could be more articulate, but he does a great job of calling the senator our out on her government’s shoddy response to this disaster.

Comments: 5 Responses so far

Caligari
September 2nd, 2005
10:40 am

Just a note you have a syntactical error on the last sentence:

“Cooper could be more articulate, but he does a great job of calling the senator our on her government’s shoddy response to this disaster.”

Looks like the word needs to be “out” rather than “our”.

Darren
September 2nd, 2005
11:29 am

Fixed. Thanks for that.

Jarrod
September 2nd, 2005
1:03 pm

Incidentally, why do you often correct errors in your posts with a strikethrough? I agree it’s useful if you want to draw readers’ attention to the error for some reason, but a spelling mistake doesn’t seem to warrant it :)

Darren
September 2nd, 2005
1:15 pm

I do it because then I fear the previous commenter will look silly. Caligari says I’m used ‘our’ instead of ‘out’, but once I changed it, there’s no indication if he (he?) was correct. I know it’s a pretty obvious logical leap to make that I fixed it, but I rather be pedantically transparent.

I only use the strikethrough when somebody publically notes it–if I detect a spelling or grammar error myself, I usually fix it without indicating I’ve done so.

Norlinda
September 2nd, 2005
1:37 pm

I’ve always wondered about the use of strikethroughs. I had always assumed that people use it either to express cynicism, or to alert people that the post has been edited in case their RSS feed re-posts it again (do they?)

Anyway, gotta love Gunmetal Grey!