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Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

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Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#41
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus Christ, nothing makes me reminisce about college quite as much as homestar runner. That site was the beginning of my love affair with all things weird and esoteric on the internet. I got scroll buttons as the day is long.

what H*R quotes do you find yourself unconsciously quoting to this day? for me it's "dag, yo" and, whenever I see "Ontario": "On-tah-REE-oh, CAH-nah-da—ooh, a little south of the border flavor"

I believe I remember "dorito" being used in the context of "deleting something" so I always say to dorito something. If I have misplaced my hat, "where my hat is at?"

Perhaps more because H*R is a brainworm which refuses to leave :)

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#42

Outside of YouTube, the dawn of "weird web" for me is Homestar Runner [0], and Don Hertzfeldt's Rejected [1]. 0: https://homestarrunner.com/main 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSb-nV8l2QY

I was at UCSB when Don did Rejected and the idea of it having much of anything to do with the Internet is mind-contorting... he didn't use any computers to film it and I see it premiered in person at ComicCon. But like, AFAIK, we had all gotten to see it in the theatre, as part of some campus-level film showing; though I think he later got to be on our Arts and Lectures circuit, and I feel like it was shown at the cartoon festival he co-ran soon thereafter (just to get people hyped up).

How did you watch it online, before it was (much later) put on YouTube? I feel like he didn't have a website at the time, but maybe it was that obvious? Were people sharing a video of it on file-sharing networks? (Honestly, I do feel like we knew it too well to not be watching it on loop, but I simply don't remember how we did it... all of my memories of Don's work--and honestly some of the short interstitials he did for the film festival are some of my favorites! "the illuuuussion of mooovement" ;P--are in a theatre.)

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#44
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what H*R quotes do you find yourself unconsciously quoting to this day? for me it's "dag, yo" and, whenever I see "Ontario": "On-tah-REE-oh, CAH-nah-da—ooh, a little south of the border flavor"

“First draw an S, okay now a more different S”

"I'll improve on your technique!"

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#45
post #30

Important to note that the paper the article is referencing [1] is titled: "Salad Fingers: Pre-YouTube digital uncanny and the ‘weird’ future of animation" So, the actual data is about PRE-Youtube weird internet. Baffling why they chose to focus on YouTube instead of Newgrounds like the original paper does I think I'm reacting like this because I'm actually unaware of anything that originated on Youtube that fits int…

I believe YouTube poop originated in YouTube. But maybe it was available from things like YTMND.

Yeah YTP is what I think of when I think of YouTube-originated art form. It's sort of like a visual version of the "Paul's Boutique" crazy sampling to make new art.

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#46
post #42

Outside of YouTube, the dawn of "weird web" for me is Homestar Runner [0], and Don Hertzfeldt's Rejected [1]. 0: https://homestarrunner.com/main 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSb-nV8l2QY

I was at UCSB when Don did Rejected and the idea of it having much of anything to do with the Internet is mind-contorting... he didn't use any computers to film it and I see it premiered in person at ComicCon. But like, AFAIK, we had all gotten to see it in the theatre, as part of some campus-level film showing; though I think he later got to be on our Arts and Lectures circuit, and I feel like it was shown at the ca…

It was super popular on web forums like SomethingAwful's and was shared as big ol' hosted video files, probably in xvid format and usually direct-linked off someone's web provider's meager hosting space.

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#47
post #30

Important to note that the paper the article is referencing [1] is titled: "Salad Fingers: Pre-YouTube digital uncanny and the ‘weird’ future of animation" So, the actual data is about PRE-Youtube weird internet. Baffling why they chose to focus on YouTube instead of Newgrounds like the original paper does I think I'm reacting like this because I'm actually unaware of anything that originated on Youtube that fits int…

I believe YouTube poop originated in YouTube. But maybe it was available from things like YTMND.

I've always thought people simply copied the style of “Robot Chicken”, “12 oz. Mouse” and other shows of that era because it was considered “HiLaRiOuS!!!!” by some crowd, and did not require complex work in the video editor.

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#48
post #24

> While it looks and feels like a children’s show, Salad Fingers does not conform to the norms of children’s television. What part of Salad Fingers could the author possibly be referring to that "looks and feels like a children's show"? Every part of it - colors, character designs, animation, voices, music, story subject matter, everything - is designed to be extremely discomforting.

> What part of Salad Fingers could the author possibly be referring to that "looks and feels like a children's show"?

Between the Hays Code (1968) and the Simpsons (1989), most Americans had no exposure to adult animation. So even in 2004, for a subsantial number of adults, animation meant children's television.

Also, a lot of 90s kids' television played with the boundaries of what is and isn't disturbing.

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#49
post #42

Outside of YouTube, the dawn of "weird web" for me is Homestar Runner [0], and Don Hertzfeldt's Rejected [1]. 0: https://homestarrunner.com/main 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSb-nV8l2QY

I was at UCSB when Don did Rejected and the idea of it having much of anything to do with the Internet is mind-contorting... he didn't use any computers to film it and I see it premiered in person at ComicCon. But like, AFAIK, we had all gotten to see it in the theatre, as part of some campus-level film showing; though I think he later got to be on our Arts and Lectures circuit, and I feel like it was shown at the ca…

[deleted]

Re: Salad Fingers and the dawn of ‘weird YouTube’

#50
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus Christ, nothing makes me reminisce about college quite as much as homestar runner. That site was the beginning of my love affair with all things weird and esoteric on the internet. I got scroll buttons as the day is long.

what H*R quotes do you find yourself unconsciously quoting to this day? for me it's "dag, yo" and, whenever I see "Ontario": "On-tah-REE-oh, CAH-nah-da—ooh, a little south of the border flavor"

“Burninatin”… and telling my toddler off for throwing a light switch rave.
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