Classification of Niche Media

Classifying niche media is no easy task, especially since the term “niche” is entirely subjective, but I have attempted to break down my classification process into four categories through which I will review and discuss the niche media selections.

The four categories are as follows:

Intent- What did the creator intend when he/she created this piece?

                I will do my best to research and use context to develop an educated guess as to what the artist had intended when creating the piece. While highly dependent on the type of piece selected, the intent can help to show whether a piece was made to be consumed as art or made just to simply be made.

Oddness- What separates this piece from other types of media?

                When evaluating the oddness of a piece I will attempt to look into what makes the piece undeniably different from most other types of media. Oddness will vary greatly from selection to selection.

Findability- How far do you have to stray from “the center” to find this media?

                Now, in the age of the internet, nothing is truly ever “hard to find” so instead of trying to measure how challenging a piece is to locate, I will evaluate how far I had to stray from my normal internet routine to find the piece. I will also provide links to download the selection (if available).  

Satisfaction- How much do I think you’ll enjoy this piece?

                I will discuss and rate how much I enjoyed the piece and will also discuss how much I think y’all readers will enjoy it. The satisfaction section will almost always be presented in the form of a full review, meaning I will also be considering the previously listed categories and discussing the piece as a whole.

So there it is. That’s how I will review and classify selections of niche media. I do reserve the right to update and improve this process as time goes on. All reviews and recommendations will discuss these 4 categories.

Until the next time, enjoy this Frank Zappa song about receiving oral sex from a homosexual robot.

http://bit.ly/KxXtSi

And since Frank Zappa can never truly be niche media (even though he does get pretty weird), here is a link to a scene from the film Funky Forest: First Contact. It is probably NSFW.

http://bit.ly/16SgBg8

Thanks for reading,
Alex

Welcomes and Introductions

Welcome to The Boring Tree, a film and music blog that centers around pieces of media that are a little left of center.

The Boring Tree is run by me, Alex Behrns, an Augsburg College student. I am currently in my senior year of studying Film and Creative Writing; I spend my free time attempting to consume as much film and music as I possibly can, but I have a special interest in a specific type of media: the indescribable, odd, and just tough to find, aka “the niche”. After many years of wading through all types of media I realized I had a deep desire for a website that sought out these tough to find oddities of media and shared them, so I made one.

The Boring Tree is a blog committed to finding, compiling, reviewing and recommending  “niche” film and music. Now, I’m sure many of you readers are thinking, “but Alex, how will you decide what is niche and what isn’t?” That’s a good question. Good thinking, Tex.

“Niche” media is a film or piece of music that is unnecessarily odd (either in premise or practice), tough to find (tough for on the internet, at least) and inexplicably satisfying (in an emotional or artistic sense).  Stay tuned for more information on classifying “niche” media as there will shortly be a new post dedicated to the subject.

Until then, enjoy some of Mort Garson's Plantasia, an album that contains "warm earth music for plants, and the people who love them."

Thanks and Enjoy!

         Alex