Of Flesh and Piracy

Today I ripped my first video from YouTube. I know, people have been doing this for some time, but I was pointed to a video I thought Makal would really enjoy, yet that might be pulled from YouTube by the time he got home, due to "objectionable materials". You know how Google's been putting their foot down on that stuff lately. Anyway, I wanted to make sure he'd see it, and since I couldn't find the video anywhere on the creators' website, I went the way of the Pirate. ;)

First off, here's the video embedded via YouTube (for as long as it lasts). But, a preface: I'm not really one for politics. Count me in for most any "manly" pursuit of knowledge, save sports and politics. But something about this video kind of got to me, made me think and made me laugh. It also... bored me. I couldn't decide if it was good or bad, but because it made me think I'm going to go with "good". The first few minutes are also kind of boring, just strange music and artistic-but-potentially-NSFW images. Then stuff started happened, vectors came into play, and the end had me smirking greatly. Also, this film is French; don't let that dissuade you.



If you're having a hard time understanding just what was meant to be inferred from this artistic venture, try the "About" section on the film's official site, Flesh by Edouard Salier. It also contains this copy, which I thought was dandy:

The Empire unveils everything but sees nothing.
Its enemies idealize everything but tolerate nothing.
For some the earthly orgasm of virtual whores.
For others the eternal orgasm of 70 heavenly virgins.
What if it all came down to flesh?

Because of its length and topic, I didn't think it would be the best thing for Makal to be watching at work. And I'm sure after watching it you can see why I might fear it would be pulled from the video site. So, I set off to my trusty friend in how-to, Lifehacker, to show me how-to. I ended up using this tutorial on how to download videos, and followed its directions. I'd outline it, but what's the point? If you want to know how just click the link. It worked for me--well, I had to set the format to convert to as .avi since it wasn't the automatic choice, but nonetheless. It worked, Makal will get his chance to watch the film, and I am a pirate*. Yarr.

Btw, I really hate that I am so jaded about user-produced content and political commentary that I will encourage myself to do something "illegal" just to preserve it. I don't think that's quite right.

*This is nothing new, really.