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Sunday, April 24, 2011

Radiolab Presents 'Symmetry'

Radiolab, a public radio show that is heard on approximately 300 stations nationwide, has released their latest "visual poem", entitled 'Symmetry'.  I have been a fan of their visual poems for a while, now.  But, before I show you the video, I need to give you an idea as to how it works.

'Symmetry' has virtually no words in the video.  It is up to your mind to form the words of the poem.  You'll see a split screen with two images on it, and you'll catch yourself saying something like "peanut butter and jelly", or "cops and robbers".  It may take you a few seconds to get used to the concept of the video.

I promise you, it will be worth your time to watch it.  It's thought provoking, powerful, touching, and at times, utterly heartbreaking.  This is 'Symmetry'.



If you would like to see more of Radiolab's "visual poems", they can be seen at everynone.com.  One of my favorite poems of theirs is called 'Words'.  I enjoyed it the first time through, but really got into it the second time around, when I was able to fully grasp what they were getting at.  Very clever.



They say "a picture is worth a thousand words".  When a group of artists take video at 30 frames per second, and paint a picture to have your mind fill in the blanks, it can speak an opus of dialougue in a matter of three minutes.  At that point, it becomes a work of art.

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