As your film suggests, web Technology is not unlike Marlow’s journey to the ‘Heart of Darkness’. In this vast tech wilderness, a select few undergo the journey, a ship of fools, out to reach the ‘kernel’, the inner station, the truth, where rumours speak of the next tech guru. And then you finally reach them, the Zuckerbergs, Calacanisis, Arringtons, but it’s not genius, sanctity or a hero you find, it’s an anti-climax. The guru is just as human as you are, same pain and emotions, same delusions of grandeur, and yes they too feed off the echoes of the jungle.
Puppets, masks, and other performative ‘prosthetics’ are tools in the aresenal of disguise. They allow for immediate transformation, paradigms to a world beyond common morality. A place where taboos can be addressed, injustices and oppression subverted. For many, I suspect the mixture of tech and puppets is baffling, for me it makes perfect sense.
12 Responses to “Shel Israel Interviews Colonel Kurtz”
ROTFL!
By Dave Winer on Mar 25, 2008
Hahaha…. The fun continues.
By Aaron Brazell on Mar 25, 2008
The horror… the horror…
By Skawt on Mar 25, 2008
Damn… I wanted to say “the horror, the horror.”
Funny.
By Vince Williams on Mar 25, 2008
stop. i’m busting a gut laughing.
bravo
By Charles Cooper on Mar 25, 2008
Too funny. I am so waiting for the Sesame Street Count to go “Todays show is brought to you by the letter S, and the number 3 baaahawahaa!”
By Micah Baldwin on Mar 25, 2008
Well anticipated and well performed.
As your film suggests, web Technology is not unlike Marlow’s journey to the ‘Heart of Darkness’. In this vast tech wilderness, a select few undergo the journey, a ship of fools, out to reach the ‘kernel’, the inner station, the truth, where rumours speak of the next tech guru. And then you finally reach them, the Zuckerbergs, Calacanisis, Arringtons, but it’s not genius, sanctity or a hero you find, it’s an anti-climax. The guru is just as human as you are, same pain and emotions, same delusions of grandeur, and yes they too feed off the echoes of the jungle.
Puppets, masks, and other performative ‘prosthetics’ are tools in the aresenal of disguise. They allow for immediate transformation, paradigms to a world beyond common morality. A place where taboos can be addressed, injustices and oppression subverted. For many, I suspect the mixture of tech and puppets is baffling, for me it makes perfect sense.
By AndrewE on Mar 26, 2008
AndrewE - Thats because you are a theater dude. Most layman just think Im fucking nuts.
By Loren Feldman on Mar 26, 2008
Actually anybody who puts a two paragraphs of theatrical analysis into a two minute puppet skit is the one who comes off as nuts.
We humans say: “It’s funny.”
You’re in the clear on this one, Loren.
By Art Lindsey III on Mar 26, 2008
great stuff loren!
i’m looking forward to a shel and julia allison show… especially if she “knots his sock” during the interview
By Tiga Beck on Mar 26, 2008
@ “For many, I suspect the mixture of tech and puppets is baffling, for me it makes perfect sense.”
I thought it was a Punch and Judy show, and Loren was the Professor.
By Vince Williams on Mar 26, 2008
@Art Lindsey III: lol
By AndrewE on Mar 26, 2008