Review of American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art

American Artifact: The Rise of American Rock Poster Art is an excellent, highly DIY doc. In it, Merle Becker (who has a YouTube channel devoted do DIY video production) follows her passion around the country, interviewing rock poster artists active from the 60s through the early 2000s. It about 90 minutes long, and has three fairly distinct chapters: late 60s (largely psychedelic), 1980s (mostly punks), and the indie period from the 90s through early 00s.

Produced in 2009, it was new to me. Rock poster art, while a form of applied art/commercial art, emerged from a kind of vernacular and outsider source, distinctly different from what would have been similar-ish, such as magazine ads. It’s an art form definitely worth celebrating and studying, as these artifacts were created to advertise local shows, often at small clubs, and their less costly, ephemeral nature means they very much speak to the zeitgeist within which they were created.

I was quite taken with the degree of passion and commitment that went into producing these things that would get torn down from telephone poles. I loved the part where folks shared how they learned the idiosyncrasies of the photocopiers around them, and would run their flyers through different ones to get the effects they wanted. This is a level of dedication not typically associated with punks.

The episodic nature of the doc also makes it conducive to watching in ~30 minute chunks. My only complaint is that I think this has only ever been produced for DVD, so the picture quality isn’t HD, which means you lose some of the majesty of the art.

YouTube 2022 Reflections, Part 4: Stuff I watched with my 11yo daughter

[I watch a lot of YouTube. It’s the first thing I select when I turn on the TV, seeing what new material has been added. YouTube may feel overwhelming considering how much is there (and how much is just sooooo bad). So, I thought I’d share the Good Stuff I found this past year, posted in 4 parts.]

Most evenings after dinner, my daughter (D) joins me on the sofa, and we watch YouTube together (and, occasionally, classic Looney Tunes on hbomax). These selections tend towards cute animals, arts and crafts, and family-friendly selections you might find on The Kid Should See This (an excellent resource for any parent). Some highlights from this past year include:

Out of Sight was placed on YouTube in 2010, but I only just discovered it in the past month, when The Algorithm served it up and I clicked out of idle curiosity. A gentle Miyazaki-esque animation with a light surprise, it quickly became a personal favorite, which I then immediately shared with D. You won’t spend a better 5:27 on YouTube today.

David M. Bird’s series of “Becorns,” tiny people-like made from acorns that ‘interact’ with birds and other critters. A clever combination of vision, craft, silliness, nature, patience, and photography.

My daughter likes to draw, and we watch a variety of YouTube illustrators who ‘show their process.’ My favorite is angrymikko, due both to his whimsical aesthetic, and his patient and affirmative teaching/explanation style. I chose this video, though it’s from 2020, because my daughter liked it so much, we bought a print of the illustration!

Joseph’s Machines, a video channel with Rube Goldberg-ian delights, this year featured perhaps his most complex, and, somehow, wittiest machine, a mechanism for passing the wine across a table.

I started watching Girl With The Dogs, a dog-grooming channel, because of it’s relaxing ASMR qualities—clippers, shedding combs, blow dryers—a welcome post-work break I found quite soothing during trying pandemic times. We watch pretty much every video posted (they’re usually just a few minutes long), and a favorite of mine are the huskies, who can be counted on to serenade throughout the experience.

YouTube 2022 Reflections, Part 3: Video essays and explainers

As resort travel isn’t really my thing, I doubt I’ll ever visit Cancun. That didn’t stop me digging this 6-minute video which explained why and how Cancun became a tourist destination. It involved math.

This was the year I discovered Johnny Harris, a video essayist with a geographic and cultural bent. He wields ProTools (or whatever he uses to produce and edit his work) expertly, as shown in this 16 minute exploration on… bread. And why it’s so terrible throughout much of the U.S. (though, thankfully, not where I live in Oakland/Berkeley, within walking distance of many fine bakeries).

I never watched a minute of the Disney Channel. Yet I was still engrossed by this video which uncovers the composer of the Disney Channel’s identifying music, in particular a four-note theme that, I guess, is iconic for a generation of television viewer. Defunctland is, for me, what YouTube (and the internet) is all about: an obsessive’s view, in this case rendered through excellent video craft. Don’t be scared by its 90-minute runtime… It’s easy to pick up and put down. This video hit me emotionally in a way that I didn’t expect.

YouTube 2022 Reflections, Part 2: Media Analysis

As a general rule, I am not a fan of Fleetwood Mac. 70s-era AOR leaves me limp (see: Steely Dan). An exception is “The Chain,” which somehow fucking rules. I can’t recall where I heard it specifically this past year (it may have been in Our Flag Means Death), but I wanted to learn more, and this 10-minute explanation of how it got made scratched that itch.

A lot has been said about Everyone Everywhere All at Once, but this video, exploring the non-toxic masculinity of Waymond, provided a fresh take I hadn’t heard elsewhere.

Another worthwhile re-framing of masculinity comes from Like Stories of Old.

“The Bear” was among my favorite television shows of the past year. This video is the first in a series by a professional chef explaining how it compares with his experiences, providing an eye-opening appreciation of what it takes to run a restaurant.

Tim Rogers creates and criticizes video games with an unmatched level of depth, rigor, and, well, poetry. And length. This year’s entry, about a Japanese game from the mid-90s that was never released in English, and centers on a boy’s month in the countryside, clocks in at over 6 hours. But! It’s consumable in chunks, and you’ll be rewarded by Tim’s insight. Of personal interest are dissections of game design choices. If you’re into such dissections, I even more strongly recommend Tim’s exegesis of Tokimeki Memorial, a high school simulator that is a marvel of game, narrative, and interaction design.

In our household, we were fans of the TV show “My Name is Earl.” Somehow, the algorithm showcased this recent conversation with Jason Lee, and clicking in, I dug his affability, charm, and ease.