Adventures in Timewasteology

(or....Ramblings about Questionable Art)

I don't think there's an Internet invention yet that has cost more in lost worktime productivity, or has wasted more bandwidth than the invention of Flash Animation.

Flash is clunky, a hi-tech way to create lo-tech movies (or is it the other way around?) The animation is usually poor by the standards of other media. The quality is jerky. But, if it's done with irreverance and just a dash of style...the end result can be art.

Here are my top three humor Flash:

1) Gonads and Strife -- one meme I've seen all over LJ (but I first saw it in sanssouci's journal.)
2) OddTodd -- A day in the life of an unemployed ex-dot-com-er (found on lianna's journal)
3) Tales for the l33t - Romeo + Juliet R&J in d00dspeak (also seen in sanssouci's journal.)

Part of the reason I find these so funny is that most of the humor is almost unintended. To say they're amateur productions is an understatement. However, there is something almost subtle in background irreverance that just plain works for me. The jokes themselves aren't as funny as the ideas behind them. Most of these sites have other Flash by the same "artists", but I don't think they've surpassed the (perhaps) accidental quality of these animations.

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Now let's jack things up a bit. Let's move away from humor, from stick figure interpretations of the Bard and singing squirrels on speed. Let's move into quality, into thoughtfulness, and into production values that stretch the Flash envelope to the breaking point.

15 stories so far, some almost 20 minutes long. We're talking almost three hours of animation. Part anime. Part graphic novel. Part epic verse.

Flash doesn't do this justice -- things are a bit grainy, a bit jerky. It's too lo-tech for what this art may deserve. The story, too, is a bit slow to get started. At times, it's a bit too aware of its own depth, and so falters just slightly.

But, overall, it works. And, above anything else, it's original, and maybe the glimpse of what may soon be a new genre.

Try this out: Broken Saints (meme-jacked from pjammer)

(Disclaimer: You need broadband, or a lot of time on your hands. The interface is tricky: skip the intro, then go to "stories". Each chapter is a number on the clock.)

Take care with young hearts
they tend to love more boldly
fire burns in their veins
-- Broken Hearts haiku