Daily Blague

¶ Sometime this weekend, find fifteen minutes and a mug of good coffee, and, as quietly as possible, tune into Fast Film, an incredible production that Jason Kottke pointed to a few days ago. Open up your viewer as much as you can and pay attention. Consider watching it twice; it's fairly difficult to follow the first time through.

Virgil Wildrich has taken frames from some three hundred American movies, many of them instantly recognizable, and cut, pasted, and folded them in perfectly spellbinding ways. There is some terrific sly humor, but the feel of Fast Film is dark, with more than a touch of Eraserhead (although none of that classic's glacial pacing - quite the reverse). Hollywood clichés are simultaneously paraded and mocked, and unearthing the significance of many of the movie's collaged scenes will doubtless drive a doctoral thesis or two some day.

Fast Film is more than your ordinary fun Internet video. It's a loving work of art. So: no multitasking while you watch it.

Note: although there are no even remotely indecent scenes, children will probably find Fast Film upsetting.

¶ As you know, Tom Cruise is a man of faith. He believes in - vitamins. Bachem Macuno, the creator of a brand-new blog, serves up a parody interview with the actor, who is made to say

What about vitamin F? Vitamin G? We’ve got the whole rest of the alphabet of undiscovered vitamins that nobody is pursuing. It’s so obvious, it boggles the mind.

Many chuckles.

Note: Bachem Macuno's site is a little off-color.