On Saturday, it rained nonstop. From the minute I woke up until I finally pretended to go to bed, it was raining. As a result, the backyard looks like a swamp right now and I imagine it will probably be a few days before everything dries out. The creek at the end of the street is overflowing with water so we’ll probably have a lot of confused ducks in the neighborhood tomorrow. That’s what the rain usually seems to bring around here.
Anyway, all of that rain put me in the proper mood for this video. It’s kind of a mood piece. It involves a lot of water.
Seriously, I love Blanck Mass. Blanck Mass is responsible for some of my favorite writing music. (And, by that, I mean that I often have Chernobyl playing in the background whenever I’m writing.) Songs like this are all about creating and capturing a mood. And really, I guess how you react to or interpret the song will probably depend on what’s going on in your life when you listen to it. Right now, I’m giving a lot of thought to the circle of life so, when I hear this song, I think about the inevitably of death.
And then I watch this video, where is pretty much permeated with doom. Everything is going to die, even the plants. That’s just the cycle of life. New things will ride to replace the old. Sometimes, those new things aren’t going to be good things but, fortunately, they’ll eventually become old things and then die. And they’ll be replaced by something else. And I guess that’ll keep happening until the sun goes supernova or the Earth gets sucked into black hole or whatever it is that all the fatalists are predicting this week. Myself, I think the world will end someday but it won’t be for at least a century or two so I’m not too worried about it.
(Of course, what would suck would be to discover that reincarnation is a real thing and, as a result, we’re all destined to continually be reborn until we all experience the end of the world firsthand. That would be a really cruel joke on the part of the universe. However, I do not believe in reincarnation. I mean, I know at least half a dozen people who all claim that they were Cleopatra in a past life so they can’t all be right. Can they? If I did believe in reincarnation, I would say that I was probably once Edie Sedgwick. Or maybe Clara Bow.)
Anyway, it’s all about cycle of life. Don’t start singing that Lion King song at me, either. I’m just stating a fact.
(Actually, it could just as well be taking a dig at the infamous David Icke. At least, I hope it’s taking a dig. If Benjamin Power is a follower of David Icke’s, I’m going to be depressed.)
I’ve actually had several dreams that are just like this music video.
Now, I’m sure that someone out there is probably saying, “CUE THE BIRD? Is that really the director’s name?” Well, actually, CUE THE BIRD is the name use by the creative duo of JP Stiles and Harrison Mack. According to their bio over on Vimeo, “CTB specializes in creating and curating content for the short attention generation.” That may be one reason why I like this video because, as any regular reader of this site should know by now, I’ve only got a four-minute attention span.
Well, to be honest, I love trains in Europe. One of my fondest memories of Italy was riding the train to Venice. And, when Jeff and I were in the UK last year, I discovered that I absolutely loved the London underground. Everyone told me that I wouldn’t but I did. Of course, I also usually took a Dramamine or two before boarding so I was often kind of out of it.
Outside of the DART train in Dallas, I’ve never really spent any time on any trains in the United States. To be honest, I’m always a little bit shocked to discover that Amtrak is actually a thing. A few years ago, I read an article where someone was complaining that people in the South and the Midwest don’t ever use Amtrak and, as a result, we don’t ever elect politicians who understand the importance of funding the trains. To be honest, down here, we really don’t care about Amtrak. We all own cars and we know where the highways are so we don’t need the trains.
As for this video, Michel Gondry put it together from footage that he shot while riding ten different trains across France. Gondry carefully edited the footage so that, while appearing like a seamless journey, the landscape changes in time to the music. It creates a wonderfully dream-lie and surreal atmosphere, one that reminds me of Gondry’s later work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
This is another music video that suggests to me that the world is about to end so we should enjoy it while we can. Swim. Look at the trees. Run down the road. Do it all, while you can. I know that may sound like a somewhat morbid interpretation of this video but, in my defense, I’m currently running a fever and I’m also currently doing some research on films about the end of the world for a future review series.
(Interestingly enough, people have always been obsessed with the idea of the world ending. Since the start of time, people have been saying, “The world will end in 10 or 12 years.” For whatever reason, everyone always seems to assume that we’ve only got a decade left. I think that’s because 10 years sounds close enough to cause a panic but, at the same time, it’s also distant enough that people will have forgotten about the prediction by the time that it doesn’t come true.)
Anyway, this video really isn’t about the end of the world, despite what my overactive imagination might claim. Instead, the video is more about joy and living life to its fullest. This is good music to drive to, as long as you can afford to pay for any speeding tickets that you may get. You honestly can’t drive slowly while listening to good music. Good music encourages you to make use of the accelerator.
The sight of the passing trees reminds me of when I was growing up and we’d drive through Oklahoma and Arkansas and North Texas to visit family or, as was often the case, to move to a new town. Because I tend to get car sick, I would always end up resting my head against the window and watching the trees past by.
Way back in 2009, this music video premiered during my favorite episode of Flight of the Conchords,The Tough Brets. That’s the episode where Bret performs a controversial rap, in which he attacks several other rappers. (“Snoop Dogg is not very good. Ice Cube in not very good….”) When Murray suggests that Bret may have hurt the feelings of the rappers that he called out, Bret forms a gang for protection.
Or, at very least, Bret tries to form a gang. It doesn’t go particularly well, though character actor Seymour Cassel does join up at the one point.)
However, before forming the gang, Bret and Jermaine perform an entire song about hurt feelings. This song is also known as Tears of a Rapper and there’s actually several different versions of it floating around. For instance, in a more recent version, the Maid in Manhattan reference is replaced with a joke about how much Bret loves Zac Efron. One thing that always remains the same is that Jermaine’s family forgot to wish him a happy birthday. Poor Jermaine!
Anyway, I like this music video. I like the fact that when Bret sees that his friends have gone to see Maid in Manhattan without him, Jermaine just happens to be there, trying to hide his face. For the record, Maid in Manhattan is actually a perfect reference because it’s the type of bland film that you would be embarrassed to discover someone had specifically gone out of their way not to see with you. It’s the one where Jennifer Lopez plays a maid and Ralph Fiennes plays a politician. At one point, Jennifer Lopez nearly sits down on a magazine that’s got a picture of Ralph Fiennes on the cover and she tells him, “Whoops, I nearly sat on your face.”
Add to that, everyone’s had hurt feelings at some point in their life and therefore, everyone can relate to this song. For instance, I’ve recently been making an effort to obey all posted traffic laws. Would it kill someone to say, “Wow, Lisa, you actually stopped for that red light! We’re proud of you!?”
Through the Shattered Lens 