Creepy flash films? These top them all.

[Guest]

http://www.fat-pie.com/flash.htm

brrrr. I love the Salad Finger series, Spoilsbury Toastboy, and Socks.

[...has left the building.]

http://www.katytowell.com/animation/lg.htm

I really like this one.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Odd, disturbing, nihilistic stuff there.

I've noticed a big difference philosophically between my generation (tail end of the baby boom) and those of even seven to ten years younger (I'm 43).

I think most of us (late 'boomer) want to believe the best about life and people; to maximize it as a precious gift every day, every breath.  Maybe inherently a little 'blissninny' like.

Even amongst those who share my Christian faith within the younger age group, there's a whole different paradigm, a different starting place to build on, if you will...
"life sucks, nobody gets out alive..." and those who embrace a faith add "...but God is still real and cares for you..."

Pursuing things like goodness and beauty and truth (as nebulous as these may sound) don't seem to be in the forefront of consciousness of the younger generation...

If you'll allow me to psychoanalyze further, it's as if, by surrounding oneself with the things feared most, there's a comfort in making it known...
I remember when Silence of the Lambs first came out, it affected me on a primal, visceral level, that even an author or filmmaker could conceive of such evil, twisted character/story.
I wound up seeing it like, 14 times -- in the theater-- in order to try and understand how someone in the same species as me could do such things...even just to think them up to write them into a movie.  (there's the blissninny in me again)

Sorry to get so analytical.
I guess my life experience, while including all points on the spectrum from ecstasy to horror (even as a combat medic in the army), still doesn't leave me able to identify with the..."bleakness of soul"...that some of that stuff (as admittedly creative and interesting as they are) has to spring from.

[...has left the building.]

Fig,

I think you're correct in your assumptions. I for one, can completely identify with many of the lyrics from the Alkaline Trio's album, Crimson. Here is a good example of the mentality that you're talking about:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alkalinetrio/stainedinsatin.html

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Daniel,
That's dead-on with what I was talking about...

but there is comfort in a world
where darkness is the only thing we see
and cold is all we have to breathe

[Justin]

As long as we're all posting links to disconcerting art, I may as well give a pointer to the painter Luke Chueh

This one is probably my favorite.

[Guest]

I've noticed a big difference philosophically between my generation (tail end of the baby boom) and those of even seven to ten years younger (I'm 43).

Its real obvious if you take a look at the popular music of the time as well. We go straight from rock and roll about girls, drugs and parties, to Seattle rock about killing your parents.

[...has left the building.]

As long as we're all posting links to disconcerting art, I may as well give a pointer to the painter Luke ChuehThis one is probably my favorite.

That artist is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[...has left the building.]

I've noticed a big difference philosophically between my generation (tail end of the baby boom) and those of even seven to ten years younger (I'm 43).

Its real obvious if you take a look at the popular music of the time as well. We go straight from rock and roll about girls, drugs and parties, to Seattle rock about killing your parents.

Yeah like the Doors and Pink Floyd were so wholesome and fun-loving...

[...has left the building.]

Fig,

The more I think about it, I think the reason for all of the angst of my generation (early/mid 20's to early 30's) can be summed up in Fight Club:

Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy *expletive deleted*it we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

This statement is completely true. We're raised from the beginning to believe that we completely have it made and that if you keep upright and graduate from college, that everything will be daisies and apple pie. We spend anywhere from $20K-50K on school and have certain job/salary expectations that are rarely met. I feel very fortunate that I have landed into an excellent position but that still doesn't mean I've forgotten my angst. I've heard some very wise people call my generation the "Entitlement Generation", where we believe we are entitled to have all the things that someone who has worked hard and made the right decisions for 30 years in the work force will have. We're raised this way, it isn't a function of our innate attitudes. Popular culture only tells us tales of success and none of perserverance. In popular culture, character means nothing and "achievements" mean everything.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Daniel,

Wow...you just educated me big-time.

Amazingly, it's only been about a couple of weeks since I saw Fight Club for the first time.  It immediately became a "must-have" DVD, and went to the top of the list.
And while I only partially caught that quote the first time through as a part of the larger impact the movie had on me, it really explains alot.

I really share the feeling of the culture having shifted and left us behind in a way.
I graduated from college in '85 with a degree in Journalism/PR, and yeah, University Admin and the placement office all gave us the "you are the leaders of the future" kiss and a promise...

Subsequently, I spent a dozen years flailing around in relatively low-paying sales, marketing, and customer service type jobs before ever really getting any traction in a career (if you can call it that)...and that career happened by me stumbling in to IT through the back door.

I guess I never found a target to blame for my seeming lack of success other than myself.
Being in/around sales, I spent literally thousands of dollars with Franklin-Covey,  Nightingale-Conant, PMA (positive mental attitude) motivational teaching tapes and seminars, thinking that if I was just a little more efficient, effective, productive and positive, the heavens would open up and I would be on the cover of one of the magazines I subscribed to: Inc, Success, Entrepreneur, Forbes, etc.

Post WWII, a college degree was almost a guarantee of a higher standard of success, and a ticket to an address on a street in Pleasantville.  

In '85 (pre-Microsoft and WWW), we still wanted to believe that.  Some of us...SOME...may have made it to some level of that success.

By '95, people with master's degrees were tending bar and serving my food at Applebee's.

By '05, You just about gotta have a Bachelor's to even work in the warehouse.

The landscape has certainly changed.  

Sea Level (headed by musical visionary Chuck Leavell, who's been a member of The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton's band, and is now touring as the Rolling Stone's keyboardist) once had a song called "That's Your Secret", and the lyrics included a line that said "I'm costantly amazed by the cards I'm dealt"...

For a hell of a long time as an adult, that line ran through my head, with me asking "what am I missing? am I not working hard enough? am I not praying hard enough? am I not ruthless enough? WTF!?!?!?"

And I guess when I finally learned to slow down and enjoy the journey instead of dying for the destination (a favorite quote: "life is not a race, it's more like a slow dance...the goal is to enjoy the moment, not for it to be over."), I was too doggone tired and spent to be angry & P.O'd, AND still get up and fight the fight day after day on behalf of my growing family.

"So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say."

Guess maybe I OUGHT to be a little more depressed and P.O.'d!
Quick-- somebody get me a Nirvana CD!

[VARifleman]

I'm more of a fan of Kunstbar as a trippy flash.  The 2nd and 3rd Sock episodes were ok, but the rest I saw weren't all that creepy and entertaining.

[...has left the building.]

Fig,

Great post. So you can definitely relate to my generation's angst. You have experienced the same thing that nearly everyone of my generation experiences. If you make any attempt to live the "simple life", many people my age consider that a cop-out.

VARifleman,

That was interesting! Thanks!

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

In popular culture, character means nothing and "achievements" mean everything.

It's 'style' vs. 'substance'.

I wish we could write across the Goodyear blimp:
Attention, people of earth: Pop culture mass marketing has LIED to all of us! Kill your TV.  Destroy advertising.  It's a LIE!

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.


Some are born able to handle that.
Others of us (Grey Tribesmen) are BORN for that one crisis, that one place & time where, despite all the odds, we can rise to the occasion, overcome the giant sucking hole of Pop Culture lies and ATTACK the guys with the boxcutters, even if it means our lives.

Lots of folks don't have the cojones for that--they're just fine for 30 years sitting in a cubicle.

Those of your generation, Daniel, who are Pissed Off and Not Going to Take It Anymore, have those seeds of greatness.  They may have NEVER had anyone affirm that, and THAT's where that deep, deep wound comes from--and why so many are so f'ing PISSED...

...I'm going to leave it at that.

That's far enough on the WWW.


fignozzle at yahoo dot com.
http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000129.html

[Matthew Carberry]

Ah, but the rub is, where is our great crusade?  No more colonization, not PC.  War is always bad, even if morally defensible.  If, that is we had a right in our normative world to "interfere" in others evils or travails.  Violate one of a thousand "zero tolerance" standards in your own society and your life is ruined by those who cannot or will not understand your reality.

Fight the system and be burned alive.

There is a lack of vision.  All the great dreams have been destroyed or made illegal.  Sure you can muddle through just doing your own thing under the radar, at least then you can maintain your dignity and autonomy, but that still lacks the "spark" that humans need to really excel.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Daniel--

If you make any attempt to live the "simple life", many people my age consider that a cop-out.

Can you elaborate on that? How would the 'people your age' define that?  Second, why would that be a cop-out?

carebear-- good post.  

Ah, but the rub is, where is our great crusade?

Your life is not yet over.  Reread that 100 times, and prepare.

There is a lack of vision.

Amen, bro! +1 bigtime.
You'd be surprised what this WASP republican with libertarian leanings has seriously considered, researched, and/or pursued to overcome that...under the radar.  
'nuff said.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

I love you guys.

Dude--you owe me a keyboard.  LMAO...spew!!!! Bwahahahahaa

[brimic]

DF after I read this thread last night and saw FF's post about a nihilistic generation, I think I was on the same wavelength with you. The movie "Fight Club' came to mind pretty quickly- its one of the most popular films of my generation for plenty of good reasons as already described.

Generations ago, there were goals in life, even if they seemed simple enough: having more than 1/2 of your kids survive childhood, having a good crop of wheat or corn this year, or maybe being able to have the money or time to build a simple house or barn with the help of the neighbors. Some of the loftier goals were to put a man on the moon, find a cure to polio and small pox, or stop the spread of communism/facism.   Today, such things are taken for granted, a standard of living is taken for granted. The only thing left is to consume- build a faster computer so we can buy it, build a better home entertainment system so we can buy it, build a neater looking car so that people will be willing to put 3 cars in their driveway instead of just 2. Even the struggles of our time are hopeless- fighting terrorism and drugs- there's no end in sight, no difinitive boundaries or front lines. Our president has pushed for putting a man on Mars, and our generation along with others has been underwhelmed and even critical of such a lofty goal that might have been in the dreams of earlier generations.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

In order to return this thread to its original topic...

http://www.aooa.co.uk/#

[...has left the building.]

Fig- I can tell you that with early 20 somethings, we tend to be extremely ambitious. Many of my peers at this point in their lives think "settling down" and being modest are things worth NOT pursuing.  Things that are worth pursuing are higher degrees, higher income, and higher levels of artistic/social consciousness. Maybe it is just the circle I run with and other people's expectations are different in the same age group. But certainly no one can deny that my generation was raised on materialism and ambition without having a real direction. That flash you posted was cool BTW.

carebear- "All the great dreams have been destroyed or made illegal." That statement is dead on.

brimic- All that you say is very true. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is right at the top of the pyramid for first world people my age...which is exciting and sad at the same time.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Ahhh, I see, Daniel.
Not so much YOUR group of 20's, but 20 year olds of any generation are still dreaming big dreams, taking big chances, and it WOULD be strange (or, it certainly would have for ME) NOT to be a young turk, a risk taker at that point.

I guess what I see is that as I have passed into my 30's and now my 40's, the fire has gone from a blowtorch to an oil lamp.  

The musical score to life has progressed from a soaring Hendrix solo through a smoldering Bob Marley reggae groove and into Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra smooth jazz cover of Hendrix' "Little Wing".

'nother one:
http://otnemem.com/launch_otn.html

[Guest]

http://happytreefriends.atomfilms.com/watch_episodes/index.html

They've got "Eye Candy" on the current playlist (it rotates).  It is physically painful to watch.  You have been warned.  All their stuff is just...yikes.

[cordex]

I like this one:
http://www.funfreepages.com/swf/remembertosmile.swf

I'll try to stay out of the underlying generational discussion.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

More of an 'exploration' flash than a 'spectator' thing...click around some...creeeeeeeeeepy

http://hospital.apoka.com/hospital.html

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

http://homepage.mac.com/jbrimm/Cat-With-Hands.mov