Funky Forest: The First Contact...with the utterly bizarre.

Hello All,
I've seen the strangest thing. A film that made no sense and complete sense at the exact same time. One of the funniest, most outright strange films I've seen in recent memory. The film is called Funky Forest: The First Contact. Watch the original Japanese trailer here, the eerily vague English trailer here, and my favorite excerpt from the film here.

A "still" from "Funky Forest"

Funky Forest: The First Contact is a film composed of many different short vignettes that follow a group of multiple established characters. None of these characters interact outside their own short vignettes (with the exception of one so called "singles picnic") and each vignette is an entirely self contained story...of sorts.  There is no real story involved in any bit of Funky Forest and anything resembling a narrative structure is minimal and basic, but this does not hurt Funky Forest in any way, in fact, the inclusion of a set narrative structure would destroy what the film is entirely. Funky Forest needs no story to achieve its goals, because it utilizes motif instead; throughout the film vignettes are repeated and the only way we, as an audience, are to understand what is going on is to recognize that these situations are repeating and getting more ridiculous. For example, the film opens with two men dressed in white on and entirely white stage, they trade banter like some Japanese Moon version of Abbot & Costello for a short period, they start to move and act more emotionally until, mid-sentence, the screen cuts to black. Then it cuts back in, they are still fighting, then back to black. Then back in. This repeats for a bit before a new skit is introduced, and throughout the film these two gentlemen are continuously shown randomly throughout the film. for the rest of the film scenes cut to black and back into an entirely different sketch at random; there is no telling when a skit will end and a new on will begin, it just happens whenever which gives the film an unseen type of disarming, confusing, random and unhinged humor.

Intent- The lead director of Funky Forest, Katsuhito Ishii, is a fairly prolific director and writer who has established through his other film that he is a competent auteur. He knows what he's doing behind the camera. Nothing in Funky Forest is there accidentally and it is by no means a piece that was created for the sole purpose of being weird; there is some clear artistic intent, but I cannot begin to interpret what it is. Perhaps many of the underlying themes are lost in the American-Japanese culture divide. The creators of this film have proven through multiple past films that they can create a well put together film, so clearly Funky Forest must be a conscious departure from this style into something completely original.

Oddness- Funky Forest is undeniably strange; there are humanoid tentacle monsters, a hidden alien subplot, unwarranted random dance scenes, a deranged version of Abbot & Costello, and some pretty disgusting sex imagery throughout. The entire film is almost indescribable as it follows almost no plot other than following characters in this strange universe. If you want a mind numbingly bizarre film, you will find it in Funky Forest.

Findability- Funky Forest is available for a completely free full viewing on YouTube along with multiple download sources, and clips/images hidden in forums throughout the internet. Funky Forest is very easy to get your hands on online; the real challenge comes in finding an audience that actually wants to view a film like this.

Satisfaction- Funky Forest gives its audience a new film viewing experience as they sit and stare at the TV understanding almost none of what is going but laughing to tears anyway; there is no room left within the insanity to do anything else but giggle at how confused you are. If you want to watch an odd movie that breaks conceptual boundaries in seconds, repeatedly, then Funky Forest will give you exactly what you want in ways you never thought you wanted.

I highly recommend it. Highly.

Thanks for reading,
Alex

People Like Us and the Sounds of Irritation

Hello Readers!

I've recently discovered a musician that exemplifies what The Boring Tree is all about.

People Like Us employs many musical techniques in a new way that creates a final product that is utterly unique.

Listen to the People Like Us album "Abridged Too Far" here.

Also, listen to a short audio story on People Like Us with interviews from musicians Mike Fetting and Joe Macintosh. The player should be at the bottom.

Now hopefully you just listened to links and have some idea of what People Like Us is.

People Like Us is a pseudonym for DJ artist Vicki Bennett. People Like Us is a sample artist, meaning she takes multiple clips from other music and mizes them together to create an entirely new song. Sampling is not nearly a new art form and there have been many many artist trying to push the boundaries of sampling but none produce a final product quite like People Like Us. Why is that?

One of the largest contributors to People Like Us' sound is the concept of "irritainment" that Vicki Bennett created with People Like Us. "Irritainment" is a sampling concept that refuses to allow the listener to get comfortable with any one sample; when a sample is being played it switches just before you can really enjoy the sample.

People Like Us also uses hard cutting and digital feedback to transition between samples. This idea while not completely original, is certainly not a mass movement in media. There are many moments in Abridged Too Far where the music cuts to an entirely new line of musical "thought" which requires the audience to make a (sometimes) large cognitive jump; the audience has to adjust to a new beat immediately or be lost for the rest of the song.

How does People Like Us fit into the Classifications of Niche Media?

Intent- With People Like Us, Vicki Bennett clearly set out to make many pieces of music that are to be viewed as art forms. On her home webpage, Vicki Bennett is listed as an avant garde artist; this shows that she knows what she intended to do with music when creating for People Like Us, not just creating music for the sake thereof. There is a clear thesis and authorship behind the distinct People Like Us sound.

Oddness- People Like Us certainly exhibits an odd musical style through its use of the concept of "Irritainment", hard music/beat/sample shifts and an intense use of digital noise as transition. These concepts, while not entirely ridiculous when separate, when used together they create a uniquely strange style.

Findability- While not entirely that challenging to find most of the People Like Us albums are only available for purchase from Vicki Bennett's home page or for download online. Attempting to find any video or media on People Like Us that has not been published by Vicki Bennett is certainly a challenge. Its findable, but you need to be seeking it out.

Satisfaction- People Like Us is highly satisfying (to me); much of the noise and odd sample cuts generally build off each other to create an uniquely beautiful crescendo of battling sounds. Many times it works some times it doesn't, but I think it satisfying and I think you will too!

Check it out!

Thanks for reading,
Alex.