William Tom Frank

So a hollow voice murmured in my ear the other morning suggesting that I take a look at the video embedded above, a strange combination of drama, cultural criticism and experimental photography called Swap Thing. And all I can say as I take it in is…

W…

T…

F?

I’ve watched it a dozen times and I can’t decide if this video has come to us a) From our future b) From an alternate universe or c) From some random guys just trying to scare me. Of course, that’s not to discount possibility d) That it was made by some random guys in the future of an alternate universe or a few other combinatorial likelihoods.

Whatever its origins, man is it ever creepy. Oh, not in a “you are likely to be eaten” way or an “every breath you take way” or a “how many legs does that thing actually have” way, but in that it plays on some very real worries I’ve been unable to stop entertaining as I watch matters progress in the fields entertainment and law.

I think the moment that really gets me is when the blond guy, the one who looks wholesome and upright but whose behavior seems the shadiest (while the British one natters on about Toy Story 3, he nips off to drop a dime on the scruffy guy in the goggles, who looks shady but behaves innocently), names, of all things, patent theft as the worst crime of all. Hold the phone – patent theft is the worst crime? Patent theft? Patent theft is worse than murder, extortion, vandalism? Really?

What kind of world is that guy living in?

Have a look for yourself.