METABLAST
March 9, 2004 3:10 PM   Subscribe

METABLAST: Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries vs. MetaFilter.
posted by hama7 (53 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
That's the best thing ever.

Who knew text here could come alive?
posted by mathowie at 3:21 PM on March 9, 2004 [3 favorites]


Bizarre -slash- annoying
posted by Witty at 3:22 PM on March 9, 2004


I agree with Witty.

*shoots self*
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:25 PM on March 9, 2004


*performs mouth-to-mouth*
posted by Witty at 3:30 PM on March 9, 2004


No wait...
posted by Witty at 3:30 PM on March 9, 2004


oh, to have contributed to that thread, to only have contributed to that thread!

darn. that guy's work is awesome. all else that i know of: http://www.yhchang.com/

i think he works with drums and jazz music just amazingly
posted by Peter H at 3:31 PM on March 9, 2004


NSFE
(not safe for eyes)
posted by y6y6y6 at 3:31 PM on March 9, 2004


Now if only someone would set this to flash.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 3:32 PM on March 9, 2004


Excellent.

If a tiny bit overwrought.
posted by stonerose at 3:36 PM on March 9, 2004


Well worth having my eyes place a hit on me.
posted by kickingtheground at 3:38 PM on March 9, 2004


She's a she, dude.

brrrrrrrr.....bing!
posted by roboto at 3:47 PM on March 9, 2004


jeesh, that was like 23 minutes...
posted by bobo123 at 3:50 PM on March 9, 2004


I'm seeing, in my minds eye, a web app.. a flash app.. that reads the Mefi RSS feed and choreographs the words to music... it should surely be not that hard. If I weren't so busy (read as: lazy) I would write it myself.
posted by chrid at 3:54 PM on March 9, 2004


What's with adamgreenfield's creepy Asian fetish??
posted by dhoyt at 3:56 PM on March 9, 2004


That was great. Thanks hama7, and thanks Young-Hae Chang!
posted by homunculus at 3:58 PM on March 9, 2004


So that's what it sounds like.
posted by carter at 4:00 PM on March 9, 2004


Um, I totally don't get it. What's going on here?
posted by Mars Saxman at 4:05 PM on March 9, 2004


And it reminded me about this great article on anger which alicesshoe quoted.
posted by homunculus at 4:08 PM on March 9, 2004


hahah. That was interesting. I normally hate her work, I hated the work that inspired the comments that inspired this piece. But this is interesting. (plus it was intresting to see my critisisms of her rendered in her style)

The comments of a bunch of people on some internet site, so blasé about death and destruction, off in their own little worlds. Ignoring the potential for vast death and destruction.

I wonder if she's hot.
posted by delmoi at 4:16 PM on March 9, 2004


Ha! That was rad. And it is fun to watch the progression of the thread from comments on the actual original flash animation into two guys fighting, played out through time.
posted by kavasa at 4:31 PM on March 9, 2004


Saying that Young-Hae Chang's work is just text set to music is like saying that Rene Magritte was just a fruit fetishist who didn't like to paint people's faces. Lots of artists have distinctive styles, but good artists find a way to express themselves in a unique, compelling way.

In the event that Young-Hae Chang tries her hand at another such piece, I just want to say that I wish all of you, your relatives, and all of your friends firey death from above. Thank you.
posted by insomnia_lj at 4:39 PM on March 9, 2004


I didn't quite make it through the whole thing, but still....Sweeeeeet!
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:06 PM on March 9, 2004


In the event that Young-Hae Chang tries her hand at another such piece

soundofsuburbia is the coolest guy in the universe!

Nah, excellent link.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 5:08 PM on March 9, 2004


Holy crap that was cool.
posted by mrbula at 5:23 PM on March 9, 2004


Very cool to see it... there, in a nutshell and set to music, is the reason why MeFi is simultaneously a great venue for discussion and a regrettable mess.
posted by vorfeed at 5:25 PM on March 9, 2004


wait so she's a she!? and can we have every post/thread scripty-scrolled flashified into jazzified remixes? :D
posted by kliuless at 5:31 PM on March 9, 2004


annoying. pretentious.
posted by SpaceCadet at 5:34 PM on March 9, 2004


Fun, interesting, engrossing. For those of us who have a rather difficult midterm tomorrow on 19th century American literature, an unfortunate way to devour nearly thirty minutes.
posted by mmcg at 5:37 PM on March 9, 2004


::wow says jmgorman as he lapses into an epileptic fit::
posted by jmgorman at 5:41 PM on March 9, 2004


*Yawns*
posted by Stynxno at 6:07 PM on March 9, 2004


That was amazing. Thanks for the experience (and the memories), hama7.

(And I'm proud to have become a part of a work of art!)
posted by languagehat at 6:13 PM on March 9, 2004


Me likee.
posted by adampsyche at 6:15 PM on March 9, 2004


I love the idea that this piece is some Metafilter reader's first encounter with the Heavy Industries. It's so indulgent!

My favourite part of the piece is the way the poster's nyms jump out. HAMA7 FUNKYCHICKEN J0SHWHITEH0USE STAVR0S-THEW0NDERCHICKEN

MetaFilter: a tiny bit overwrought.
posted by Nelson at 6:32 PM on March 9, 2004 [1 favorite]


Genius on so many levels. I am in awe. Definitely one for the MeFi archives.

Unfortunately, an RSS/Atom mefi feed to Flash generator type toy would lack the subtle nuances that make her work so compelling.
posted by shoepal at 6:54 PM on March 9, 2004


Sucks.
posted by Stan Chin at 7:03 PM on March 9, 2004


Golly, that thread was fun and weird, and the repurposing is indeed cool. What I'd like to see now is a picture-in-picture scroller of this thread, inside Young-hae's flash piece already linked. Then we could link that, and talk about that, and she could put a picture-in-picture-in-picture of the resultant thread. Then a singularity would form, and we'd all be sucked up our own bottoms!

YH Chang, I kiss you, all the way from down here in Gwangyang. (But perhaps I'm a tiny bit overwrought.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:06 PM on March 9, 2004


Awesome. Apart from the headache and the spots before my eyes, that is. Did I say awesome? I can't see very well right now. I think I need to lie down. Very very cool, but is it art?
posted by dg at 7:17 PM on March 9, 2004


The comments of a bunch of people on some internet site, so blasé about death and destruction, off in their own little worlds. Ignoring the potential for vast death and destruction.

Er, well, I lived in Seoul, about 50km from the DMZ when that piece was linked and the thread ensued. Now I'm about 550km away, and a little less anxious, perhaps. I was (and still am) very very far from blasé about the potential for war. I remember thinking very hard over the few weeks that followed my first viewing of YHCHI's new Korean war piece about survival strategies for my wife and I should the artillery start falling. It had a great effect on me, which is what art should do.

is it art?

I dunno much about no art, but I knows what I likes, by gum.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:23 PM on March 9, 2004


Wow. I went on as long as I could.
posted by vito90 at 7:31 PM on March 9, 2004


Also : 'All posts are © their original authors.'

I'm suing*!





*no I'm not, really.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:33 PM on March 9, 2004


... survival strategies for my wife and I should the artillery start falling.
I am not in South Korea, but that piece had quite an effect on me as well - mainly the "man, I am so lucky to be living so far away from there" kind of effect, but an effect nonetheless.
posted by dg at 7:57 PM on March 9, 2004


"I really hate that so-called 'art' by Picasso. It's just paint set to canvas, and garish and nauseating."

To each his own, they say.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:09 PM PST on April 19


I like it. And I think that if it isn't art, it certainly is arty, which means that it's art. You go, Y-H Chang!!
posted by ashbury at 9:42 PM on March 9, 2004


That rocked.

At the very end, it gets to the bottom of the page, and

ETC.
ETC.
ETC.
ETC.
ETC.

flashes over and over again...

Thereby removing the need for doing this to any more threads!

More seriously, I like the way the piece frames the initial discussion about international conflict - using the speed of the text to inject even more tension into the words - and then segways that into the interpersonal conflict between joshwhite-house and cup. There's a parallel there. And the big difference between the two conflicts is that, here on MeFi, we just kiss and make up. Less so in the US-DRPK conflict.

The Hippugeek joke was awesome (sorry hama7) set in this context, as was the aliceshoe comment concerning nukes and dinosaurs.

rock on.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:20 PM on March 9, 2004


STAVROS
THE
WONDER
CHICKEN
posted by kevspace at 10:21 PM on March 9, 2004


That was wonderfully painful. Yes, this is the first I've seen of Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, and I'm enthralled.

Fantastic. Quite overwrought. Nigh-impossible to read properly at speed, which is intentful. But it made me think, and it made me think hard and fast. Almost to the point of fight or flight response

And that's the point really.

Tension. Angst. Mis-communication. The consequences of errant words.

My head is still spinning, unraveling layer upon layer of meta-discussion and meaning. Meanings within meanings within meanings. Indulgent, even.

The best part for me was the thread wrapping up with apologies, seeking middle ground and resolving conflict, which gives me much needed hope.

For those of you that don't get it:

Detournement.
posted by loquacious at 2:14 AM on March 10, 2004


It was a bit wordy. And really, really, really, really, really long. Still, I liked it.
posted by moonbiter at 5:00 AM on March 10, 2004


I thought it was very nice. There is a potential for great discussion on the meaning of the piece.

Maybe the lesson we should have learned from the Dialogues was poison them before they poison us - dialogue is not a midwife to understanding.
posted by ewkpates at 6:36 AM on March 10, 2004


MetaFilter: a bit wordy. And really, really, really, really, really long.
posted by languagehat at 8:32 AM on March 10, 2004 [1 favorite]


Has anyone really watched one of these things all the way through? kaibutsu claims to spoil the ending, but how could we tell?

I suspect that only Young-Hae Chang knows for sure how it ends, and she could well have just left the last fifteen minutes of this blank without significantly reducing the attention she would receive.
posted by kindall at 8:59 AM on March 10, 2004


I could only take about 10 seconds... I'd rather not have a seizure today.
posted by LoopSouth at 10:56 AM on March 10, 2004


As in all art, some get it, some will not. Chang's been doing this for years and has been acknowledged by some heavy folks in that time. Flash has always been the devil's work to many at MeFi I've long noticed.

But if we're sharing opinions (and there is no right or wrong opinion, hence this is not a dig at anyone), I have to say Young-Hae has once again created art, and art that goes well beyond many a head.
posted by bluedaniel at 10:48 PM on March 10, 2004


In the event that Young-Hae Chang tries her hand at another such piece, I just want to say that I wish all of you, your relatives, and all of your friends firey death from above.

Insomnia, that is the first thing to get an audible laugh out of me on MeFi in a very, very long time.

Chang's work is extraordinary.
posted by Ynoxas at 8:16 PM on March 11, 2004


You'd think Insomnia would be in favor of exhausting artistic experiences.

Go figure.

Why doesn't anybody want to talk about the meaning of the piece? You all didn't watch the whole thing, huh?

Chicken?
posted by ewkpates at 4:21 AM on March 12, 2004


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