Surreal Saturday: Sweating to the Surreal

I’m in a hurry again and feeling challenged to find something surreal for today.  Frankly I thought RichardsBeard tweeting me was surreal enough, but maybe that’s just me.  Aha, I found something really… interesting.  Well, maybe that’s too positive a word.  It’s a … fitness video.  I think.  Says the blurb:

“Mariko Takahashi’s Fitness Video for Being Appraised as an “Ex-fat Girl” (often referred to as Doggy Fitness or Poodle Fitness) is a short film by renowned art director and commercial film director Nagi Noda who has created spots for Nike and Coca Cola and starring Takahashi Mariko, a Japanese 2005 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships gymnast and jazz musician.. The film was created for Panasonic’s Ten Short Movies — Capture the Motion series for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The film is a typical work out video except for the fact that the video’s instructor is dressed in a body suit giving her the appearance of having muscles shaped like the fur of a groomed poodle dog. Also, exercising with her in the video are six actors dressed in dog costumes with actual live dogs’ heads superimposed over their real heads. Nagi Noda, in her artist’s statement, explained that she arrived at the poodle concept after noticing that the dogs’ hair cuts resembled muscles. She believed that this concept would help her video appeal to people of all ages.”

Ohhhh!  It’s meant to be surreal for it’s own sake.   Perfectly understandable now.

Take a look.

 

 

Surreal Saturday: Endless Battle!

…As if the blog hasn’t been surreal enough this week.   Our wonderful Fitzg counseled me to keep writing, and I did.  Hence, the unprecedented burst of creativity.  The only problem is topping that, but no worries.  I envision another tour walking by and maybe… maybe… we might check in on The Man.  It was sad to see him that way.  I felt sorry for him myself by the time the story ended.  Is that what writers mean when they speak of characters taking on a life of their own?  Who knew?

To kickstart Surreal Saturday again, I’ve pondered all day what to do.  It’s pretty hard to top Killer Barbie but I’m still searching.   So I decided to returned to my old standby – DeStorm.   It looks like he’s coming up in the world and is producing slicker videos.  The following caught my eye.

Enjoy.

 

 

Surreal Saturday: Not Even Your Barbie [NSFW or the Kiddies]

Blame Didion.  She started this on her website.   I’ve been searching high and low for something truly surreal, and she gets it in one.  Just *had* to Google this.  It turns out to be inspired by artist Mariel Clayton.  When she photographs Barbie and family, she envisions something a bit…er… different.  (Click all the links in all the articles to see the catalog. Some aren’t even gory or kinky.)

This is so macabre and delightfully twisted, I just had to share.  I’m having a great time dreaming up theories for the evil deeds.

"Play nice with daddy!"

 

"Evian, not Perrier, mommy!"

Thanks Didion.

 

 

 

 

Surreal Saturday – Farting Elves 12 Day of Christmas

As you know dear reader, I like to keep this blog to a certain standard.  However when the holiday season rolls around, that high falutin’ stuff goes right out the window.  What better way to start Surreal Saturday today than with something utterly juvenile and tasteless.  There’s no better purveyor of trash than JibJab which prides itself on leaving no rock unturned.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_wDVKOTjI&feature=related

 

Surreal Saturday: Not Your Mother’s Flight of the Bumble Bee

Here is something surreal.  Because I love strings, I trolled YouTube and fell across this incredible performance by violin virtuoso David Garrett.  Garrett is an international German/American violinist who started as a four year old prodigy.  He’s the best looking musician I’ve ever seen and understandable a young heartthrob.  Garrett determined to set a new Guinness Book World Record by playing Flight of the Bumblebee, already a fast piece, in 1 minute 6.56 seconds, an astonishing 13 notes per second.

This amazing exhibition starts at the 5.35 mark.