I have an idea of what I want to do for my mash-up assignment, so hopefully I’ll get started on that soon and not put it off until the last minute. I want to work with video and combine two movies into a fictional trailer that I think will be funny, but I guess might not be, as many things I think are funny end up not being funny to other people. Whatever. As long as I can find the clips I want, putting it together shouldn’t be too difficult.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a couple of mash-ups I enjoy. I already posted audio mash-ups/remixes in my post about the readings and I think we’re all pretty familiar with video mash-ups, so these are more visual/writing.

I saw this first one last week on some blogs I read. They all linked it to this blog as the source, but it’s in Spanish, so I have no idea if this is the blog of the creator or what.

Combining “Ghost World” and “Scooby Doo” is so random. but the execution was flawless and it’s really amusing. One of the things I like most about mash-ups, as I’ve begun to explore them more, is how they really are just creativity for creativity’s sake. I guess the same could be said about most forms of art, but when you’re creating an “original” work, you’re usually doing so to make a statement, possibly improve your skills, and, in some cases, to make money. To me, when someone combines two pre-existing ideas, that didn’t necessarily need any sort of improvement or re-imagining, into their own, new idea, I see a person who was inspired by something in the world around them and just had to create it, even if it doesn’t make some sweeping statement or generate any sort of income for the artist.

Now, I’m not sure if this next one actually counts as a mash-up, but I wanted to try to include something having to do with writing and this was the closest I could find. This is more of a game than anything else, but it uses elements of mash-ups and produces hilarious results. On the blog Videogum, there are frequently posts called “Best New Party Game” where the site’s author, Gabe, invites readers to change titles of popular movies so they fit into whatever the theme of the game is. This is also something I’ve seen done on Twitter and the category is a hashtag that often ends up as a trending topic. In fact, I think some of the ones that have gotten pretty popular on Twitter started at Videogum.

Here’s an example of a past Best New Party Game. This one is from February and there are more recent/possibly funnier ones that have been posted since, but this one seemed the most mash-up-y. It’s called RomHorrorComs. Here’s the description and some examples Gabe provided (I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that I don’t actually know Gabe–though he did tweet back at me once–and I don’t work for Videogum–though I did just apply for a job there. I’m just a creep who reads the blog so much that I have delusions of hanging out with Gabe and his dog Birdie and snarking on the antics of celebrities all day. I just wanna be a part of something big; something bigger than myself):

Basically, make the name of a romantic comedy scary, or make the name of a horror movie more romantic. For examples:

• Lifeless in Seattle
• Date Night of the Living Dead
• Four Funerals and a Wedding
• When Scary Met Sally
• Must Love Saws
• Nightmarry on Elm Street

This is from the “Boring Movies” game, where you just make existing movie titles boring:

• Hurt Bill, Vol. 1
• Edward Normalhands
• One Of Tens Of Thousands Of Starfighters
• Dream On Elm Street
• You Can’t Count On Me
• Hurt Bill, Vol. 2

So, yeah, not sure if this is a “true” mash-up, but I also don’t know what a “true” mash-up would be, so there’s that. These games are really fun to play. Maybe we should start our own: #ds106 Movies? Anyone?

• Jim Groom’s Empire Strikes Back
  
• Daily Shoot ‘Em Up
• Don’t Tell Jim EDUPUNK is Dead
• Pulp Fan-Fiction
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Okay. It’s the weekend. Let’s play a party game.