http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ (if you’re gonna watch it, I would close everything else you’re doing, it takes up TONS of space).
The Arcade Fire, along with google and some nifty tech folk, has created an interactive music video. You type in the address of your childhood home, and they googleEarth it into making what seems, at the start, to be a standard “faceless hero” moment into about you. (I mean YOU. Like the YOU that won Time’s Person of the Year). A series of windows pop up and down, merging footage for the music video with google earth pans of your childhood home address (note address; somewhere someone is plugging in the address for what used to be a cute little ranch house and finding a home depot there), even managing to integrate the two a little bit. It’s a really cool idea, and technically speaking, it’s quite impressive. While not being particularly the most up-to-date person on trends in technology or art (never mind technology in art), it seems like this could evolve into really interesting projects.
Even though, when I typed my address, I knew that this was essentially booting up a heartstring-puller (c’mon. Arcade Fire? Shots of your childhood home? Together? during BACK TO SCHOOL WEEK?), I was surprised by how effective it was. The address that I used was only my home till I was about 2 years old, while I remember some things about living there, nothing too traumatic happened. I’m pretty sure I slept through a lot of it. But, of course, that’s what the piece is designed to do, and it worked. It’s worth noting that one of the windows that pops up invites you to write a postcard to old you, something that is gag-me-with-a-spoon predictable, but I have to admit, it got me for a minute. (At the end you can “respond” to your advice if you wish).
As soon as it ended, I thought, wow, that was cool, and kind of sad, and gee, the Arcade Fire is one of the only bands big enough and small enough to get google to do this (an official “chrome experiment)… and then it hit me. No it isn’t.
It’s one of many bands big enough to get google to do this. Shit. Not that I care if they find a way to make it look like Justin Bieber is driving to YOUR house in some video, but if the Arcade Fire can make a video all about you, then so can Apple. Or Comcast. Or Ore-Ida. Or Pfizer.
Is this what’s next? The internet seems to be moving gradually towards several major sites (Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.) being able to completely integrate your tastes and as much of an individual’s online activity into categorizable, searchable, exploitable aspects of a personality makeup. Is this what facebook offering me weed-themed t-shirts because I like to read Hunter S. Thompson is going to end up as?
Because that scares me.
Advertising works, particularly when it makes you feel like the “voice” knows “you”, but that’s not the scary part. The scary part is when the “voice” is coming from inside “your” house. If you haven’t already, go plug in your home address and watch the video. Now imagine that instead of promoting a band, that video was promoting the shoes that faceless hero was wearing. Or the hoodie. How long until they can do something similar with your facebook photographs or videos that you’re tagged in? Because somewhere, right now, a modern Don Draper is figuring out how to make it do exactly that.
And iPhone people, god help you all. After that Futurama episode came out a few months ago, I found myself relieved that I was not an iPhone owner (though I’m as mesmerized by their capabilities as the next guy), but this spells even crazier shit for you all, because as it stands now, I have to go to a site and give them my address. So do you. But I bet soon there’ll be an app for that.
Okay, gang, less paranoid rambling about consumerism next time, I promise. I hope you are all well and excited to start a new school year/normal month. I miss you all.
P.S. Here’s my version: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/#346+Greenfield+Rd,+Deerfield,+MA+01342,+USA
