Erik, twenty-something, played by Charles Neilson, the librarian
may be somewhat bi-polar, lost in literary brain fog, or both. He is
in love with the patron who forever is trying to retrieve her car keys
she left behind. The main reference librarian and the man who is going
calmly insane trying to study for the GRE in dysfunctional library
chaos mainly produced by Erik comprise the cast.
Slick and smart: Brent Forrester’s series is referred to as
"Erik The Librarian Mysteries" ... The "mystery"
is why it is called a "mystery" (nothing in the episodes
clarified), and whether "Erik the Librarian" was entitled
with rhyme and meter of "Conan the Barbarian".
And, in the center we have Erik. Just as Robin Williams expressly
acknowledged his master Jonathan Winters; just as Johnny Carson
acknowledged his master Jack Benny; similarly with Jim Carey and Jerry
Lewis, Erik is doing a hyper-geek Wallace Shawn. And it is beautiful.
The supporting cast is/are exquisite.
The series appears on 60frames: take me to lunch, and I’ll go
into the subject of the site as a whole. For present purposes: hurray
for 60frames! In addition to Erik, there are other other series or
anthology episodes that really lead the original online entertainment
Parade today at 60frames. (Even the adjacent Google ads are ironically
funny.)
About 60frames, I say, "God bless ‘em ..." About
"Erik the Librarian Mysteries", I say, "Give us
more!!!"
~~~
Surfing the Creative Web Wave: The Raw The Naked The Vulnerable
... At The [Turning] Point
Cold, Wet, Dawn ... in the ocean at a fine point break in So Cal.
Among surfers, this is "Dawn Patrol".
1972.
One other in the water with me. He paddles to me, asks, "Hey,
Man, how old are you?"
"Twenty," I reply.
"Gaawd ... that’s old," he says.
Next month, Burning Shorts turns two, and I think, "Gaawd ...
that’s old." Current "Web2.0" Era, that
is old. Ah, and currently too, I am still in the ocean daily at a fine
point break, and I ride waves that are both fresh, universal and
eternally renewed.
Riding waves is creative expression.
And ... Burning Shorts must be the point break for the Digital Arts
Dawn Patrol. Like the surfer, the artist is raw, naked, and vulnerable
in a vast ocean, and needs a glassy, clean point break where artist
can inspire us to feel the fresh, the universal and eternally renewed.
So ... this is to declare that Burning Shorts hereby
expands beyond online video to all online
creative expression ...
Original video, site-as-art, song lyrics, best of
the blogosphere, forms yet to be invented ... all online
creativity passionately sought and supremely welcome.
ISSUE
17 - MARCH 2008 OUR
FINGERS IN OUR NOSTRILS
"A Bunny Situation" and Editorial on
the State of Online Video: Our Fingers In Our Nostrils
As
promised today to and for JT, here is digital animation reported by
our one of our Visionary Editors as done by a single person ...
We
enjoyed the HanDonks especially the Oogum Boogum performance poem of
their landing page! www.handsomedonkey.com.
So we were excited when we learned that www.abc.com
was to launch the HanDonks' new series "Squeegees".
So,
episodes 1 through 5 of "Squeegees" ... um ... has
"potential"? "Potential" to grow into a
character-driven irreverent verbal and physical comedy ... you know,
like those Marx Brothers ... they were pretty good?
Or
... is www.meetthesqueegees.com
from whom our illustration above is borrowed unintentionally a great
deal more funny?
Like our visual
commentator above: we keep our nose plugged and hope for the best.
~~~
Welcome
back, Brother Jim!
ISSUE
16 - FEBRUARY 2008 GRAND
CENTRAL DECLARATION
The
brilliant ImprovEverywhere* used only human cooperation: humbling and
inspirational!
We are inspired by this
glorious video to see and to declare: Our Mission is to bring
online works to smart humans.
Recalling
our birth in Issue 1 way, way back (nearly two years ago!) and
squinting ahead into the Global Brain Fog that obscures the Future, we
see we strove, strive, and aspire to the Mission we can now
express ... declare!
Those who have been
with us know that we have grown, and it is a joy to behold Frozen
Grand Central unfreeze our ability to express that which
has motivated us until now and that which forever will remain our aim.
So, we embrace this opportunity to honor hippie
heroes and true creative visionaries: Timothy Leary, Hunter S.
Thompson, Ken Kesey, and Jerry Garcia with Kesey, all as today's
internet can only make possible.
Indeed, there is such a wealth of content that what
follows is a mere taste. Humble thanks to Web2.0 for providing us with
such wealth.
In a recent Flaming Arrow, we mentioned our
encounters personally with Leary, as he was an early, passionate,
digital media evangelist: "Turn on, tune in, boot up ..." as
he said.
The recipients wanted more: You got
it! We spent a weekend with Hunter S. Thompson; we interviewed Kesey;
and we had a most memorable conversation with Garcia. That was a while
ago.
Yet, time only illuminates more brightly just how
swashbuckling these creative visionaries were and, as inspirational
figures, important to our current mission: to commit heart and soul to
advance the Human Adventure unfolding in digital media.
It is therefore a personal pleasure to bring you the
following homage:
Timothy Leary: Psychedelics as sacraments;
coat and tie era for Tim; black and white television clip; 42 seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HclVTYUQV-M
. Then, Tim circa 1980 and ambushed by television interviewer. Behold
Tim's commitment to gentleness and remaining open and non-defensive.
10 minutes 18 seconds and worth it. And he tells the interviewer to go
"back to Iran"! Close to a hundred K views on this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT31oB2vspw&feature=related
Nearing death in 1995, Tim provides advice for all of us:
""You have to go out of your mind to use your head."
Part of a series of length, captivating interviews by Paul Krassner.
E.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-KAmpXsdUE
Ken Kesey [and the Merry Pranksters]: Seeking
to visit Leary (they were all connected with each other ... just not
on this day, but see Garcia and Kesey below). Look for the
"Further" sign on the front of Kesey's bus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcstOdT1Pe0
Jerry Garcia with Ken Kesey: Interviewed by
the strangest of all, the late Tom Snyder ... captured herein (Live,
NBC Studios, New York City, May 7th, 1981) is a trace of the
infectious joy and silliness that fueled the era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ilnADvT2s
Please know and remember that the visitor controls the velocity at
which one moves as well as the angular direction: Fast and straight is
spectacular and even more so is slow with angular exploration.
Standing still is also fascinating: what a tribute to an
interactive digital artwork.
This is a work, a Journey, of glorious kinetic, visual richness,
and it is recursive in that the visitor-guided Journey moves through
phases which repeat. Yes, the refrain from a song or, more accurately,
the variations on a melodic theme in a symphonic movement repeat;
however beautiful such musical repetitions or recursions may be, the
listener remains passive. In Zune Journey, the visitor fully shapes
navigationally all variations of each thematic return, and all occur
seamlessly.
Zune Journey’s music, specifically, is a series of linear songs
which are diverse yet supportive of the visual, self-propelled
adventure, both in brisk forward mode and in thematic visual
variations.
In design, there is an early ancestor of Zune Journey by Cyan
called The Manhole.
I had the privilege to represent Cyan during its most celebrated
years circa 1993-1997, the period of Myst and Riven, the hauntingly
beautiful, completely innovative, and exquisitely shaped works of
interactive fiction for the personal computer. During its era, Myst
was the best-selling computer game in history.
The Manhole was a very early work, and yet its innovative
creativity alerted the player to the Cyan brilliant imagination which
bloomed fully in Myst and Riven.
It is, therefore, both a personal and editorial pleasure to
recommend Zune Journey, this native online work (hence available free
and worldwide, though unobtrusively in service of a commercial
product), which is uniquely beautiful.