Monday, May 07, 2007

Two videos - "TempBot" (dir Neill Blomkamp) and "The Country" (Billy Collins)

Two things recently sent to me without much or any explanation.

Jon from MS sent me a link to this video, completely sans comment (unless you count "cool short video", which I don't). It turned out to be called "TempBot", and to follow the travails of a robot temp in an office environment; I can't decide whether it's deceptively straightforward or deceptively subtle, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

And a few days later, Charlie, one from my open diary days (a long, long time ago), sent around this - an 'action poem' called "The Country" (subject line and entire content of accompanying message: Billy Collins is GOD. (Also: I'm not dead, just thought you all should know.)). It's a poem, set to animation; it begins "I wondered about you when you told me never to leave a box of wooden, strike-anywhere matches just lying around the house because the mice might get into them and start a fire..." and then turns into a sweet, curiously profound-feeling parable of sorts. It's too lovely for words, and makes me feel warm and happy and somehow uplifted.