There are few things I dislike more than crippling nostalgia for eras gone by, the good times of which were always somewhat of a dream. Nowadays, remix culture has us neck-deep in some sort of rut.But when you resign yourself to the harsh truth that everything--literally everything we know and everything we are, everything there has ever been and everything there ever will be--is trapped in one giant feedback loop, suddenly you're freed up to appreciate, say, something like Memorex for what it is--an epic, grueling ad recontextualization and meditation on hyper-consumerism fit for "an entire generation who grew up with only a TV and a VCR for a babysitter."According to Smash TV, who produced the 50-minute tour de force, 'Memorex' was sourced from nearly two days' worth of '80s television commercials ripped off old videotapes. The end product is the nightmarish, glowing detritus of the dead dreams of the middle class. This is the sheen off sleek Nissan Sentras and beach party babes, dually shot in slow motion; this is warped, sugary charm of cereal jingles, long-forgotten station identifications, and fledgling computer graphics. This is "the ultimate VHS tape," as Smash put it. "The advertising industry's collective wet dream."Give in.
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