Friday Undead Link

Jesse Walker | May 27, 2005

If they gave out a Nebula Award for Best Power-Point Presentation, then this dry leftist satire would deserve the prize.

Comments

|5.27.05 @ 1:41PM|#

will someone tell me if this is worth installing (and then of course uninstalling) Flash?

|5.27.05 @ 1:50PM|#

I haven't watched it yet, but why would you bother uninstalling Flash? It's occasionally useful and certainly isn't harmful.

|5.27.05 @ 2:03PM|#

If you're using Firefox or Mozilla, the FlashBlock extension goes a long way towards making Flash decent again - it puts a little button up for every flash and you have to click on it before it starts playing

|5.27.05 @ 2:33PM|#

That's weird, my work's "Adult Content" filter is blocking it. Must be a discourse on tax regulations or something.

|5.27.05 @ 2:34PM|#

I've watched the first 5 minutes and find it quite funny, although I've been told I have an odd sense of humor. Very dry.

|5.27.05 @ 2:40PM|#

Watched the whole thing and forwarded the link to my good friend, a virus researcher, to see if the jargon and concept passes his muster. If it saps the productivity of his professional network next week, I would guess yes. I found it very funny, and kept thinking of the opening montage to the modern Dawn of the Dead.

I wouldn't say it's leftist per se, but certainly anti-corporate/anti Big Pharma as the deserving target of the satire.

|5.27.05 @ 3:04PM|#

Just finished it - one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. I love the slogans at the bottom of the charts. Brilliant.

Warren|5.27.05 @ 3:56PM|#

Watched the whole thing. I'd say it was amusing at best. Would have been better at half the length. As for the jargon, it does only a moderate job of aping true science but keep a sharp eye out for literary allusions.

TWC|5.27.05 @ 6:39PM|#

Dry? That bit makes Puenta Penasco's two inch annual rainfall look like a Costa Rican rain forest by comparison.

Moderately amusing but there's lots of potential there for good laughs. Couldn't finish it though.

Rob. Flash is good. You don't need to uninstall it. But if you're just installing to see the link. Don't bother.

|5.28.05 @ 3:26AM|#

I loved it, and as a gamer-geek, saw a great opportunity for a low-chrome sort of horror/cyberpunk RPG setting.

Leftist? A tad, but so much interesting stuff can be mined for games and fiction from things you don't believe in: certain politics, certain religious view, or various bits of psuedoscientific crackpottery.

|5.28.05 @ 3:22PM|#

I found it so "smart" that it wasn't funny. I mean, I think it is great as art more than as a joke. The plodding place is part of why it works as art for me. Slow development implies the presenter has truly thought through all the angles and consequences.

It uses an anti-corporate meme {insert foghorn sound for my pompous jargon}, but really seems to attack an arrogance of "we think we know and control". Righties could find it funny if the Texas-criminal aspect was toned down and the scientist-playing-god aspect was further emphasized.