I first saw A.I. at the movies in the summer of 2001. I distinctly remember enjoying it. I haven’t watched the film since but in the past 10 years I’ve heard people talk about how they didn’t really like it. Not that it was bad, mind you, but just that it didn’t knock their socks off; overall just not especially memorable, you know?
I’m trying to remember the plot points now and, honestly, am having a difficult time. There’s that kid from Sixth Sense and he’s a robot but he’s unhappy, right? Does he want to be a ‘real boy’ or something? I feel like there’s definitely some Pinocchio similarities or some shit.
Anyways, what I do remember are the visuals. I was always into watching stuff from a young age but 2001 was towards the beginning of when I started to set aside time to appreciate culture. When I realized art isn’t just Vivaldi or Rembrandt (though they both most certainly are); that it’s anything people create that inspires them; that the things I love – movies, music videos, electronic music, video games etc. – are worth admiring and paying attention to.
Oh right, about that: the visuals! Just rich, colorful and all ‘glow-y’. Great costumes, make-up and set design too. Spielberg is a wizard at atmosphere. Speaking of which, that’s why I’m diggin’ hard on this, the latest from our good pal Pogo. He leverages all the little visually-rich moments that stand out, mining them of their audio and then reassembling it back together again, creating an entirely unique experience. It’s all mood and feeling and I fucking love it. So much so that I’m going to give the movie another go in the coming weeks and then starting disseminating my thoughts in 140-character increments over on Twitter. Do you have an account there? Wanna talk about movies or something?
Oh and just wait til 2:01 when the Jude Law melody kicks in. Nice.
Lights down, volume up and enjoy!
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 04, 2012 in Videos | tags: a.i. artificial intelligence, ambient, chill, colorful, electronic music, future, moody, nick bertke, pogo, remix, robots, science fiction, steven spielberg, technology
The first rave I ever went to was in Harrisburg Pennsylvania circa 1999. It was a memorable evening overall but a single moment stands out: at one point I overheard someone say that a particular song ‘blissed them out.” I dunno, just a nice play on words. Anyways, whenever I hear Nick Bertke (a.k.a. Pogo’s) movie remixes I ‘bliss out’. They’re so nice.
We had posted ‘Alice’ before – which is great – but this one, constructed entirely with samples from Snow White, is a bit special in that it utilizes high-def rips from digital rescans of the original film. It’s gorgeous; there’s loads of warm, hand drawn detail in those cells which we’ve never had an opportunity to see in such fidelity before. Bonus.
As always, Nick’s music is available for name-your-price. Remember: when you support stuff you love, more stuff that you love gets made. Cheers!
[ Wishery (Snow White Remix) ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 27, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, disney, electronic music, hd, pogo, remix, snow white, trippy
This video by Pogo, a.k.a. Nick Bertke, was composed entirely of chords and vocal samples taken directly from Disney’s 1951 animated classic Alice in Wonderland. After posting it up on the ‘tubes Nick garned a fair amount of attention which lead to loads of cool work for high-profile clients like Pixar. It’s good times all around so grab those headphones and bliss out for a while…
Thanks for sending this in, Jani Saarelainen! It should also be mentioned that Pogo’s entire music catalog is available via a name-your-price storefront. He’s even cool enough to accept ‘$0.00’ but if you’ve got a couple of bucks why not send it his way? This is the type of behavior we should be encourage, wouldn’t you agree?
posted by respondcreate on May. 02, 2011 in Videos | tags: alice in wonderland, animation, chill, disney, electronic music, pogo, remix, trippy
