Thing a Week 14 - Flickr
This is Super Special Video Edition of Thing a Week. Some of you will no doubt be watching this on the new video iPod you got for Christmas - the rest of you, maybe you shouldn’t have married a cheapskate. I won’t explain too much about it here, except to say that it’s an example of what Creative Commons licensing makes possible. I was able to do this without calling any lawyers or receiving any cease and desist letters, because all these photos were published on Flickr with CC licenses that let me know it was OK to use them this way. No doubt you’ve finished your Christmas shopping already, but if you forgot to get something for The World, maybe you should take a moment to CC license something you created and release it into the wild…
Enough! Here it is: Flickr
December 22nd, 2005 at 9:00 pm
Good times - you really should get some better software for rendering the credits at the end if you plan on doing more of this thing. It shows why the thing a week is REALLY called Flickr.
December 22nd, 2005 at 9:50 pm
You’ve really achieved something approaching greatness here. Keep it up and you’ll be on a level with the “boy in the bubble” in that Paul Simon song. Kidding aside-nice piece of work.
December 22nd, 2005 at 11:18 pm
Flickr is a prize winner. A great Christmas Card.
Jonathan, I do believe you could set the New York City phone book to music and make it sound awesome!
Merry Christmas from Barrington, Rhode Island
December 23rd, 2005 at 2:33 am
This is probably the most important thing I have seen all year. Thanks for getting it in under the wire.
But dude: what’s up with those credits?
December 23rd, 2005 at 3:12 am
Jonathan - You never cease to amaze me with your creativity! A living legend is you!
JH - the credits are the URLs where Jonathan found all his ’source material’, which is all Creative Commons licenced
All the photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenerat/72141791
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acme7/68340581
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meghanbanfield/72120627
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ynr/73864088
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fasteddie42/73508926
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriggi/23806939
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mig/5966153
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boris/1115371
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zen/39879334
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladouseur/39303745
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91018475@N00/10009274
http://www.flickr.com/photos/santinobroadcast/59375754
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asparagirl/11925783
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shipwreck/74648687
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k9/70375939
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75384641@N00/62882025
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nao-cha/68661168
http://www.flickr.com/photos/k9/70375939
http://www.flickr.com/photos/progoddess/60990378
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maunzy/74842290
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daclownfish/45014654
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgbalancesrocks/70755723
http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephrobertson/27614128
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginable/74556271
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedepartment/68988335
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phlash/13664748
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andken/29100758
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krotzebojer/65536332
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caterina/126192
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ze1/9629068
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirandala/24732894
http://www.flickr.com/photos/horatio3k/57907517
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simulation/3572415
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iambigred/47058420
December 23rd, 2005 at 6:01 am
Totally amazing. Thanks for making a Chirstmas miracle come true for me.
December 23rd, 2005 at 7:15 am
Beautiful genius. This touched me and made me laugh, a rare achievement for a music video. Thanks.
December 23rd, 2005 at 9:39 am
This was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen; and I’ve seen many, many wonderful things. This video song is better than puppy dogs and rainbows and slurpies (not coincidentaly, things actually seen in the video).
WTF? It was chuckle worthy in a few places. I like JC enough to pop in once a week for a listen. I find most of his work to be creative, or witty, or at least interesting. But sheesh, must his commenters ravenously lick his balls for each “thing” he releases. Per-spec-tive.
December 23rd, 2005 at 9:53 am
haha! That was perfect!
Can I download the soundtrack to this movie?
December 23rd, 2005 at 10:14 am
That was beautiful. I wept.
December 23rd, 2005 at 1:45 pm
Consider your balls ravenously licked. Awesome.
December 23rd, 2005 at 3:53 pm
That is fantastic! The soundtrack was brilliant too - I loved the bit about matching ties.
December 23rd, 2005 at 4:05 pm
AWESOME!
Brian
htp://candyaddict.com
December 23rd, 2005 at 5:35 pm
When that finished, I was sad because I wanted more. Great!
December 23rd, 2005 at 7:02 pm
John, Got the link for this on bOINGbOING, and I can honestly say nothing, ever, has made me feel better about being a member of the human race. This video should be put on the next extrasolar space probe so that extraterrestrials will have some small idea of what’s it really like to be a human being. My only disappointment was in not finding one of my OWN Creative Commons licensed Flickr photos in there somewhere. And screw anybody who thinks you garner too much praise for your work - I don’t think it’s possible to give someone too much praise for something this good.
December 23rd, 2005 at 7:09 pm
[...] Feeling a bit depressed this holiday season? Then cruise over to Jonathan Coulton’s web site and click the link to view his incredible original song ‘Flickr’. The video is nothing but a bunch of photos from Flickr, and the song is just a little ditty describing them all. But nothing I’ve seen has made me feel happier to be a human being. All of the photos are licensed under Creative Commons, which means anyone can use them for free to create a new creative work. This song - this video - is one of the very best examples I’ve seen of just what that means. [...]
December 23rd, 2005 at 8:25 pm
Thanks all you ball-lickers! The credits are a little flickery because I compressed it so as not to dump a 60 file on everyone. I do have a full quality version if anyone wants it for weddings or festivals. I also could theoretically post the song by itself I guess, but what a weird song it would be without any images.
December 23rd, 2005 at 9:50 pm
don’t listen to mister sour grumpus up there, who begrudges you fans.
dude (mr. grumpy) commenters are self selecting. the ones who found the video unremarkable (or never found it) aren’t represented here. you have to imagine them. feel better, mr. lonely?
jc, please keep it up. a week without a thing is like a bicycle without a crab.
December 23rd, 2005 at 10:01 pm
JC,
You never cease to amaze me. I’d been having a pretty crappy holiday season. This video made me laugh, and cry, and smile, and just appreciate the hell out of you and your talent.
Thank you so much for making your talent and genius accessible to the rest of us.
Rock on.
December 23rd, 2005 at 10:02 pm
That was me… didn’t take the name. Rock on. - DB
December 23rd, 2005 at 11:03 pm
Creative Commons Works!
Boing Boing recently pointed out a music video created by Jonathan Coulton. Mr. Coulton went to Flickr and found a bunch of images with Creative Common licenses. He then created a touching music video based on those images. This is the sort of thin…
December 24th, 2005 at 3:46 am
thank you
December 24th, 2005 at 10:27 am
Good times. I know I’m on a few free-to-use photo sites, and now I’ll have to give Flickr a try.
December 24th, 2005 at 11:08 am
hi! very nice. I just thought I’d let you know I uploaded this to my young torrent tracker, http://thadeous.no-ip.org:6868/
December 24th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Genius. Pure, friggin’ genius. Thanks again for the constant entertainment and joy.
Evo
December 25th, 2005 at 6:49 pm
I absolutely love it. It’s a freaking riot. Where do you come up with this stuff.
December 26th, 2005 at 7:55 am
Made me smile! By the way, is that an ocarina are you playing?
December 26th, 2005 at 8:17 am
Paul: It’s actually a penny whistle in one ear and some kind of ocarina-like thing that I can’t remember the name of right now in the other. It’s black plastic, kind of like a squat fat recorder.
December 26th, 2005 at 2:52 pm
Thumbs up for JC!
December 27th, 2005 at 8:16 am
This made our Christmas, me and the dog with glasses.
WE LOVE IT! And all the Flickr team too. Bravo!!
December 27th, 2005 at 10:17 am
Excellent! My brain just received another little ping that tells it new and exciting things are happening…very good to know. I came here by way of the flickr blog but I’ll bookmark you to visit you every so often and see what else you’re up to.
December 27th, 2005 at 11:12 am
How on earth did you find that mix of photos and manage to make a song that wrapped them all together? As Picasso once said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” This video should serve as a great motivator for other CC mixers.
December 27th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
Flickr and CC…
For those of you who are interested in things like Creative Commons (like I am)—or, even if you’re not—then you’ll get a big kick out of this ingenious music video, created by Jonathan Coulton. The video incorpo…
December 27th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
Jonathan Coultaon, Flickr, and creativity
Great video from Jonathan Coulton, using images from Flickr (external link):
…
December 27th, 2005 at 8:52 pm
It actually was a pretty great party!
December 28th, 2005 at 3:12 am
Pure greatness
December 28th, 2005 at 5:58 am
Amazing! But I am having problems getting it to play on my iPod, can anybody help me? Thanks.
December 28th, 2005 at 7:21 am
Hey Jon, are you the guy with the tin foil hat in that photo? Because that guy is obviously having the most fun.
December 28th, 2005 at 11:50 am
Awesome video!! *claps*
December 28th, 2005 at 12:46 pm
Trackback Excerpt: “Folksinger Jonathan Coulton extolls the altruistic virtues of Creative Commons licensing and propagates the art of giving one step further by composing a song inspired by and set to a series of random Flickr photos that are themselves licensed for non-commercial sharing.”
December 28th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
JC, this is seriously genious stuff. Keep it up.
December 28th, 2005 at 11:41 pm
Who says if your receiving your not gay?
December 29th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
Great idea, Jonathan. I love the song.
Just a suggestion for the moves and crossfades … this may have been intentional, but I reckon you should continue the move on each photograph through the crossfade. It’ll look a whole lot smoother. Like I say, just a suggestion though. Great work.
December 29th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
Jonathan you never cease to amaze me. Keep up the great work.
December 30th, 2005 at 11:35 am
Aw, that was good. Sweet even.
Although I must comment that “if you are only receiving” is an old gay boy’s trick to fool drunken marines into complicity. Kinda like what the veteran sailors use on the rookies on their first shipping out: “It ain’t gay once you’re under way”. And more — the accompanying photo doesn’t prove the point because even if you are just receiving, it still is bestiality, even if stoned.
But at least it, whatever it was and we won’t discuss that on this family blog, was from a bear and not a stupid tree. GO BEARS! BEAT STANFORD!
January 1st, 2006 at 8:41 am
I enjoyed the hell out of that! Very well done!
January 1st, 2006 at 9:31 am
Despite never having looked at a mismatched flickr slideshow, I found this song funny and well done. I’ll have to listen to more Coulton (pointed to this one video from boingboing.net).
January 1st, 2006 at 10:16 am
musically boing boinged
All links courtesy of Boing Boing.
This is the best song I have listened to all year. And it’s not just because “all year” entails less than 3 hours, but because it is that good. I don’t mean to be judgemental, but if you d…
January 1st, 2006 at 3:26 pm
hope i’m not breaking any law but i thought since i liked the music, maybe othre people would do also. so i uploaded the mp3 here (about 3 meg):
http://rapidshare.de/files/10225959/flickr.mp3.html
great work by the way
January 1st, 2006 at 3:42 pm
watched this on new years day and it made me cry. Beautiful!
January 2nd, 2006 at 3:46 pm
[...] Jonathan Coulton’s Flickr video has been making the blog rounds. It’s a music video made up of CC-licensed Flickr images, whose tags match the lyrics. [...]
January 3rd, 2006 at 7:09 am
[...] As we start 2006 in earnest, I must proclaim as the man of the moment Jonathan Coulton. He has been rightly lauded, by me and by many others, for his creative flickr video. He also claimed the number two spot on the Coverville countdown. This places him between William Shatner and Johnny Cash. I’d place him closer to They Might Be Giants than to anyone else, though, were I trying to describe his music. [...]
January 3rd, 2006 at 4:14 pm
hey, you used my pies here shot!
January 3rd, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Hey there pie lover, thanks for making your photo CC. You know, it’s kind of fun - so far a few people whose photos were used have written comments here or elsewhere. It’s good to know they know this thing exists. A place to get some pie, a dog with glasses, this party’s better than it seems and there’s a small town in the mountains are the ones that I know about, but could be there are more. I’m waiting for the angry person, who is bound to show up any day now…
January 3rd, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Hey ! that was my lunch in your weirdeo.
ha ha
nice cute song.
I am glad to be part of it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/santinobroadcast/59375754
January 3rd, 2006 at 11:52 pm
That is an instant classic. I’ll be watching it over and over.
January 4th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Hey! Soup with noodles!
January 6th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
This is a digital version of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. (http://www.slideshowplayers.com) Not the music but the idea of using other’s photos/slide collections to build the lyrics of a song. Very cool. Now all John needs is a 10 yr old drummer and you could be on TV. Or, maybe… you should just keep doing what you’re doing. Thanks.
January 8th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
[...] Foto-Armbänder • Foto-Ring • Flickr-Song • retrievr • 1D-Tetris • Popword • Schweine stapeln [...]
January 9th, 2006 at 9:13 am
[...] Ist es ein Blog, ist es ein Vlog, ist es Internet-TV? Mir doch wurscht. Ehrensenf ist die etwas andere Nachrichtensendung, die auf sehr charmante Art Neues, Kurioses und Witziges aus dem an Neuem, Kuriosem und Witzigem nicht gerade armen Internet präsentiert. Und ab heute gibt es nach einer Weihnachtspause wieder von Montag bis Freitag täglich eine Ehrensenf-Sendung. Diesmal u.a. mit einem Ausschnitt aus dem schönen Musikvideo zu Jonathan Coultons “Flickr”-Song, der natürlich komplett mit Flickr-Photos bebildert wurde. Pflicht-Bookmark für alle, die einen Breitbandanschluss haben. Abgelegt unter: geklickt [...]
January 9th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Great! Just great! Thank you!
Did you write a song matching to the pics or search pics matching the song?
Would be glad to see the HQ-Version you talked about. Could you perhaps publish it via Filesharing or something if it is to big for normal Webspace?
January 9th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Carsten: I wrote in all directions at once - there were some photos I found that I just had to use. Then it was a question of matching it with a rhyme. Sometimes I’d come up with a rhyme that was funny, and then try to find a picture that would work, other times I’d find another great picture and figure out a way to describe it that rhymed.
I’ll see if I can get the full version uploaded to ourmedia.org and then post a link if you’re interested…
January 9th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
I couldn’t get the video from your side - BUT - that’s the beauty of the net - I found that someone has put it on Prodigem and I bittorentet there:
http://www.prodigem.com/torrents/torrent_1145.html
Thank you Jonathan - I loved your Podsafe Christmas Song but this one - frell yeah!
Ad Astra
January 10th, 2006 at 7:39 am
This is oddly touching and beautiful. The music makes it happen really. You are a wonderful song writer and do an excellent job evoking emotion through your music and vocals. I mean, your voice is inspiring! This sounds kind of fruity coming from another man, not being typical man-speak, but yours is the kind of voice I enjoy hearing. When I’m not listing to angry anti-government styled metal, I like to relax to folk music, and your songs qualify in that genre. There is heart in this song, unlike Resolutions. I hate to be critical of your talents, but your Things lately have felt only half-hearted. It has to be tough cranking out a new song every freakin’ week. Thanks for giving me something to look forward to on Fridays besides the weekend.
January 10th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Sure! That would be nice. I don’t know ourmedia.org yet but I’m definitely interested in the full version.
January 11th, 2006 at 2:57 am
[...] Und wo wir schon bei Bildern von Flickr sind, hier noch ein Musikvideo das mit Hilfe der Tag in der Bilderdantenbank gefunden wurde. [...]
January 13th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
This is a constant favorite at the studios here! Giggles abound. Dwyer and Thumbs Up For Slurpees are phrases constantly repeated between takes! Muchas Gracias. - The Adventures Of Dr. Floyd crew!
January 18th, 2006 at 11:32 am
[...] Etwas spät, aber ich möchte euch das hier nicht vorenthalten. Eine wirklich sehr gute Idee und die Seite des Künstlers bietet noch eine Menge Lieder zum runterladen. [...]
January 19th, 2006 at 2:22 am
along with all the other possitive comments, i would like to add that i get happy when those great background vocals kick in! they are so perfectly smooth and “shiny” at the same time. How did you do that?!
my little 3 year old girl loves it too. “papa! let’s play the ‘broken finger’ song!”
January 20th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Great Song. Reminds me of the work of the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players http://slideshowplayers.com/. Check them out if you get a chance.
January 25th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
The whole thing is awesome, but the dog with glasses made it special. He (she?) looks a lot like a Corgi I just lost before the holidays. Bittersweet memories seeing this one. There’s something about this sort of compilation that is very powerful - I suspect everyone can relate to at least ONE photo in here.
January 31st, 2006 at 11:22 pm
i’m confused.. you like the CC licenses that flickr users put on their photos, and then you reuse them that way, but your sight says this whole blog including the video is under full copyright, not share and share alike.
my understanding about the CC licenses is that you have to pass the share and share alike status through, so therefore all of your video is actually shareable. but why not make that clear upfront?
February 1st, 2006 at 5:37 am
Amy: CC licenses are not meant to replace copyright, they actually work together to allow ou to create a middle ground between “all rights reserved” and “no rights reserved.” So all the stuff I do is still copyrighted, but the CC license allows me to explicitly allow some uses that copyright alone doesn’t allow. CC says you can reuse my stuff under the share and share alike rules, but copyright says you can’t just put my song in a commercial for cheese without licensing it from me. I think you’re right though - I could probably change the site to make this a little more clear. I did put the CC license text in at the end of the video.
March 17th, 2006 at 9:53 am
Is there anywhere I can find the lyrics written out?
March 17th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Elec: lyrics are here.
May 3rd, 2006 at 10:06 am
[...] Also of note is his “Flickr” song. If you have ever browsed Flickr (or any other photo hosting site) you will appreciate this song/video. [...]
May 21st, 2006 at 10:13 am
tctnxfkruw avdtzkmdc sdpnxxyw
May 30th, 2006 at 7:58 am
JC, probably your link is broken.
June 1st, 2006 at 8:15 pm
I wish I knew WHY this silly little video is so - satisfying. Thanks for making it.
June 21st, 2006 at 1:01 pm
No doubt you’ve finished your Christmas shopping already, but if you forgot to get something for The World
June 25th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
[...] Inspired by JC’s classic Flickr, and the recently launched JoCoPro, I present you - Future Flickr [quicktime]. [...]
August 11th, 2006 at 11:54 am
JC, I discovered you and your music only a week ago, and this particular gem of a song/video two days ago. And I think I know why, as Jerry pondered above, it’s so “satisfying.” To me, personally, it evokes the emotions that accompany those far too few moments in life which give us a true “moment of clarity” as to the simple, inexplicable wonder of it all. Even, or especially, amidst all the turmoil and uncertainty in the world today. Finding a box of old photo albums you’d thought had been lost years ago in a move. My daughter smiling at me for the first time, with her mouth *AND* her eyes. I could go on, but I hope you get the idea.
Now, get your butt down to Huntsville, AL sometime. We’re a big small melting pot of a town with a curious cross section of engineers, physicists, NASA-types, rocket scientists, and yes: rednecks too, but maybe more importantly, a nightlife crowd starved for someone new, original, talented, creative & intelligent. A touch of “whacked in the head” goes a long way too. If you can’t make it, I’ll be definitely looking for a Vienna show the next time I visit the in-laws in Fairfax.
Thanks for reading, thanks for the music, and all the best!
September 4th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
[...] I wasn’t going to blog anymore before Christmas but I was catching up on my downloaded podcasts and came across this which is simply brilliant. It’s a rather large download (about 17 megs) but worth it. This guy is a genius. He can write a song about anything, even random images. So…start the download, go watch a movie or exchange some gifts and then check this out. [...]
September 16th, 2006 at 3:26 am
I loved this video so much, it inspired me to create The Jonathan Coulton Project!
http://www.jocoVideo.com
September 27th, 2006 at 12:36 am
[...] Music Moment: JONATHAN COULTON [...]
November 5th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
[...] In the same spirit of creative exchange, Jonathan has done a song with a video entirely made up of CC licenced photographs from Flickr. [...]
November 16th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
[...] Check out his video: Flickr [...]
January 11th, 2007 at 7:32 am
I loved the video a while back, but when I went to show it to a friend today, the link didn’t work. I think you’ve got a broken link. I would love to see the video again.
February 24th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
[...] It’s a song set to pictures from Flickr. [...]
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I just bought the “Thing-a-Week Two” album with this song on it, ripped the CD to mp3s and stuck them on my mp3 player and have been listening to the songs all week. This song was in my top three favorites on the album, but I didn’t realize what the song was called. Only today did I notice the song’s name was “Flickr” and I realized, “Hey, I bet there are pictures to go with this song!”
So, JC, when you said, “I also could theoretically post the song by itself I guess, but what a weird song it would be without any images,” the song by itself is beautiful and was a favorite of mine even before I looked at any of the pictures. (I’m downloading the video right now.) Thanks for writing it and brightening so many people’s lives.
July 20th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
[...] to blog anymore before Christmas but I was catching up on my downloaded podcasts and came across this which is simply brilliant. It’s a rather large download (about 17 megs) but worth it. This [...]
September 16th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
“Dwyer’s rocking out” and “someone’s grandma” are both private pictures now.
Don’t they know that they’re stars?
September 17th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Also: I would very much like the high-quality version of the video.
December 13th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
I’ve been a fan now for almost a year (read about you in the NYTimes), have been to two shows in Chicago at Schubas, and always liked the “Flickr” song, as I am a big Flickr fan/user. Since Flickr just enabled stats use for pro users, I just noticed that one of my photos was linked by jonathancoulton.com. It’s a big thrill to see that one of my photos is actually referred to in the song! Thumbs up for Slurpees, indeed!
Thanks for the music.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I promise that ‘if your receiving your not gay’ will never be set to private. I love the video and the song. My roommate is the one that found this on line and told me about it. Good times.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Consider your balls ravenously licked. Awesome.
March 9th, 2008 at 8:55 am
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