Responding to current events with art

December 4, 2017 8:27 PM

The last year-plus has been a tumultuous time in the world. As announced last week, we're changing the norms of the USPolitics megathreads, and that includes less space for parody songs and similar stuff. Instead, folks can put that stuff here. Have you made some art, music, etc. (silly or serious), inspired by current events (from anywhere in the world, not just the US)? Show us!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 8:27 PM (7 comments total)

A few years ago, when we here in Toronto had a super-shitty, bigoted, lying, crack-addict mayor who cops were surveilling (tailing him to parks in the middle of the night and finding empty bottles of vodka and juice boxes after he left), I wrote a 60 second song that was sort of cryptic about the general insanity of the whole mess. A bad time for our city, strangely parallel to current USA shit, but with an exhale of relief that he was thankfully harmless (unless you were someone who sold him crack or smoked crack with him or filmed him smoking crack and tried to sell the video or someone on the road while he was drunk driving or the 6-year-old kid he gave the finger to while he was texting-and-driving.)

A more recent, decidedly less ha ha song reflects my current state of pretty much constant despair about everything these days.
posted by chococat at 9:35 PM on December 4, 2017

This is just to say

They have taken
the lyrics
that were in
the politics

and which
you were probably
posting
this morning

Forgive them
they were original
so smart
and so long
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:36 AM on December 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

I am not musically talented but I keep thinking about this very slightly altered version of "Abraham, Martin, and John" I made up and feeling sad (I loved this song as a kid and I did not really expect to understand it so clearly as an adult). If someone would like to record this they are welcome to do so, please just let me know so I can listen:

Anybody here seen my old friend Sandra,
Can you tell me where she's gone?
She freed a lot of people, but it seems the good they die young
You know I just looked around and she's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Philando,
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people, but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Heather,
Can you tell me where she's gone?
She freed a lot of people, but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and she's gone.

Didn't you love the things they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free,
Someday soon it's gonna be one day.

Anybody here seen my old friend Tamir,
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill
With Sandra, Heather, and Philando
And Michael
And Trayvon
And Charleena
And Eric
And Kendra
And Alton
And John
And Freddie
And Yvette
And
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:45 AM on December 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

I have been playing around with a Raspberry Pi and a 32x32 RGB LEG matrix to make holiday displays. First for US Thanksgiving I started with a turkey drop animation by MeFi's own scruss but then I went to the Pi for more power for animated GIFs and stuff (not certain I needed it TBH but I'm not really a programmer and I found some code I could adopt).

Anyway among the animated Christmas GIFs brightly shining out of the front window of our house in DC I have this.
posted by exogenous at 12:49 PM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

I called Donnie a "stupid carny barking motherfucker" on twitter today. It's a 2017 kind of weird, the degree to which that's become part of my daily routine: wake up, insult the President; have a drink, insult the President; take a shit, prime time for insulting the President.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:42 PM on December 5, 2017

I wrote this thing called Dame Kraft
posted by Annika Cicada at 6:12 PM on December 5, 2017

I made this quick sketch of 45 and have used it on various occasions by changing the face layer to be angry or sad or .. well that's about it I suppose. If anyone would find it useful I can provide a .psd file with layers.
posted by mikepop at 10:27 AM on December 7, 2017