[FRIAM] A video my 18 year-old grandson made

[Steven A Smith]

Frank -

I see from the credits that this was John's (?) production as well as
the Max Headroom-style character. 

The production quality was amazing, but I assume becoming more typical
of a generation raised entirely within the era of digital media.   I
also found the concept and story arc very well written and most of the
acting/delivery of high quality.  Just entering college, he must be
among the first cohort born post millennium and even post 9/11.   

Somehow I couldn't help but transpose (in my mind) YOUR face on the
screen as Travis.  I probably won't be able to face my own  

I was not deep enough in Internet Culture when the Rick Astley "Rick
Roll" meme emerged to notice (or care?) but as I started hearing more
and more references to it and followed up, I was underwhelmed by the
concept.... until it happened to me... *twice*.  Context really DOES
matter.  

- Steve

<TL;DR> My experience with Rickrolling...

At the unveiling of the first 4k planetarium system during the Imersa
conference in Denver (unveiling held a the planetarium in Boulder), 
Each of the 6 HD projector patches came up one at a time with test
patterns and other distracting/interesting/cacophonous bits that were
"convincing" enough and then they each rolled into a RickRoll of Rick
Astley in his now (in)famous performance of "Never Gonna Give you Up"
which then flipped from 5 "rhomboidal" and one pentagonal patches to a
single seamless 4Kx4K stream filling the entire visual field above
us...    I suddenly "got" the humor of this brand of unexpected tangent.

At my daughters wedding 2 years ago (held at my house), the presiding
official, a friend of theirs, and her colleague in Molecular Biology in
his early 40's (to her lat 30's), who got his Doctor of Divinity
credentials over the Internet (Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?),
did the traditional "reading of vows".   About 3 vows in, he broke over to:

    Never gonna give you up
    Never gonna let you down
    Never gonna run around and desert you
    Never gonna make you cry
    Never gonna say goodbye
    Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

They apparently knew he was going to go "off script from the vows they
wrote, but didn't know the specifics... nor did the rest of us.   It was
downright hilarious to watch the two of them recite these lines in their
formal gear, trying to keep a straight face.    The age distribution of
the group was highly bimodal with only about 10 being their friends
traveling from Portland and in the 35-45 range and the rest (excepting 4
under-10 year olds and a Dog) being my age or older (into their 70s).  
There was a general bewilderment among *most* of the latter group and a
buzz after the ceremony of the "youth" trying to explain it to the
"aged".   Had I not been "Rickrolled" at the Planetarium several years
before, I might have been equally puzzled by the "to do".



On 6/2/18 9:58 AM, Frank Wimberly wrote:
> He's starting college this fall.  He plays the role of Travis.
>
> https://youtu.be/sR-ike2yPKw
>
>
> ----
> Frank Wimberly
>
> www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly
> <http://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly>
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