Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Datarock: Exonerating the Internet One Tracksuit at a Time

YouTube is either the thing for which I am most indebted to the Creator or a colossal waste of time. It might be both. Whatever the case, I find myself frequently watching videos and thinking, “I wish everyone in the world could watch this.” Admittedly, most of those times also involve Justin Timberlake and the co-occurring thought, “Lord, I hope nobody finds out I’m watching this. And that I’m not wearing a shirt.”

Whether or not YouTube has redeeming social value—and whether or not anyone should wear clothing, ever—is a discussion for another time. More pressing is the video you are about to see (assuming you copy/paste the URL; I can’t figure out how to include links in the text). It’s the music video for Datarock’s “Computer Camp Love.” Datarock, you may or may not remember, was the red-tracksuit-wearing, hipster-pleasing band I saw in Brooklyn with Robusto and JackO a little while back. JackO sent me the link for this video, which is noteworthy for a few reasons:

1-The tracksuits are in full bloom.
2-The song is about falling in love at computer camp.
3-Said love is seen to occur over a computer keyboard. Or, as I like to call it, “qwerty flirty.” You heard it here first.
4-Yes, that’s exactly what all of their songs sound like.
5-You’d have to be inhuman to not think the song/video are stirringly magnificent.

Check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eHTjEPjR3oE&mode=related&search

If I had my druthers (and no, “my druthers” is not an STD), I’d blog once a week about YouTube, post about 20 or 30 links to different types of media, and include a condescending comment or two about each one, as in, “This video is great—if you love WALNUTS.” Unfortunately, I don’t have my druthers, or, rather, I won’t allow myself my druthers, since I’ve read many a blog saturated with YouTube re-navigation, and it’s not exactly readable. You, the reader, find yourself constantly clicking out of the blog, forgetting which link you meant to click, and inevitably terminating the entire project by forgetting to “open link in new window.”

So enjoy Datarock. Try to think about the kind of posh suburban childhood that leads one to play music like this. Think to yourself, “If one of them is Jewish, then the Jews have come a long way from Egyptian slavery.” Ponder aloud, “Hey, what shade of red are those tracksuits?” Ruminate with a friend over the timeless query, “Why is Datarock one word? Shouldn’t it be two?”

Perhaps it should. But power lies in the question, not in the answer. That, if nothing else, is what YouTube has taught me.


Stay Sultry, Computer Camp
DJ Datarock

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