Brain Food: 7 Creative Ideas That Reimagine Real Life
For better or for worse, this week’s Brain Food selection takes real life scenarios and bends them into something extraordinary. Imperial Forces stage a Star Wars-esque coup at Frankfurt Airport, Facebook gets a taste of its own medicine with a Chrome plug-in that lets you manipulate your posts by choosing your own mood, Miley Cyrus and Flaming Lips enlist Moby for one of the most bonkers short films we’ve seen this year, and an irritated commuter vents his anger on the train company CEO’s face.
1. Blonde SuperFreak Steals the Magic Brain
Has this video collaboration between Miley Cyrus and the Flaming Lips surpassed the current creative frontier or is it just a bit, well, crap? I’ll let you decide that for yourself, but in the meantime - because I still have no idea myself - here's Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne to explain what on Earth is going on:
"The video story is something like this: Moby is an evil, power-hungry cult leader. He wants the world's most valuable (according to our story) psychedelic supernatural possession … John F Kennedy's brain … the brain contains the original formula for the drug LSD!!!
Miley Cyrus has the magic brain!!! And Moby enlists a nympho Manson girl-type blonde superfreak to go steel the brain from Cyrus.
She steals the brain from Cyrus while Cyrus is still in bed in a drug-induced coma. Cyrus finally wakes up and is mega-pissed that her BRAIN has been stolen. She enlists a burned-faced Santa and a lesbian Bigfoot (that are hovering in a nearby spaceship) to hunt down the blond superfreak that stole her brain. They have a relentless pursuit, all the while Cyrus laments the loss of her magic brain and Moby gains powerful rainbows from hell. In the end, the blond superfreak kills Santa and Bigfoot and a baby mole ends up with the brain …"
Oh yeah. And the Flaming Lips are disguised as rainbows, mushrooms and flowers watching from the sky room where a giant diamond explosion happens."
According to Rolling Stone magazine, the film was shot earlier this year when Miley was recovering from an adverse reaction to antibiotics, and it was intended to accompany a song that has a reference to the LSD.
2. Star Wars' Frankfurt Takeover
Ok it's obviously not real and it's kind of cruddy. But it's also kind of awesome. YouTube user Frank Wunderlich uploaded this 'leaked' footage of the new Star Wars film, claiming that he took the pictures on a flight back to Frankfurt from the U.S. Yeah, right. There has been talk, however, about the film being a possible piece of viral marketing for the film, but CEO of VFX company Jellyfish Pictures, Philip Dobree, quashed those claims on The Guardian: "It definitely wouldn't have been leaked by the makers of the film. It's not good enough – there's no reason for Disney to put out something of that quality. I'm guessing this is a fan who has just been playing around. It is someone who is into visual effects who has got hold of various models of Star Wars vehicles. It's just a fan mucking about." For me, it's that subpar quality Dobree talks about that makes this clip so enjoyable. Buses mingling with Imperial Walkers and fighter planes taking off past the Death Star somewhat like a Boeing 777 to JFK really tickled me.
3. Third-Person Oculus Rift
Polish design group mepi has developed this wonderful Oculus Rift experiment that gives the user a third-person perspective of life, allowing you to see yourself as well as your surroundings. Essentially it's like playing Grand Theft Auto in real life. Minus the guns and hookers, obviously.
4. Everyday Football Fouls
Now I love football, but by Jove it's a ridiculous sport at times. Can you imagine if in real life you fell to the floor and rolled around clutching your face each time someone nudged you on the shoulder? Walking through London would be a nightmare. This video from Fourgrounds Films imagines life just like that. And it's as ridiculous as you imagined.
5. FB Mood Manipulator
Facebook's recent social experiment on its users has been well documented - and not so well received. The social media platform reportedly manipulated how users felt by strategically omitting words from posts. In response, programmer and artist Lauren McCarthy has developed a Google Chrome extension, entitled FB Mood Manipulator, that Facebook users can use to set how they're feeling, thus tricking the site and filtering content accordingly. Download it out here.
6. Motivational Post-It Notes on Trains
Artist October Jones has been geeing up grumpy commuters with these cute and motivational post-it notes that he's hiding behind train chair tables. Check out a bigger selection here.
7. Tim’s Faces
Here's some more commuter-based creativity. Tumblr user ‘Oli’ was so exasperated with First Capital Connect's shoddy service that he has taken to mutilating the face of the British train operator's CEO, Tim O’Toole, every time a train he’s travelling on arrives late. Oli says in the 'Why am I doing this?' section of the blog: “I’m aware that this is not normal behaviour. I have to hide my screen from other commuters while I’m doing ‘my work’”. Well as a fellow overpaying commuter, I feel your pain Oli – this is silly, but totally justified behaviour. Take a look at the full selection here.
