nothing is new under the sun?

I Need Nothing - a nearly useless odyssey from Cãoceito on Vimeo.

I came across this music video through the blog Yes and Yes the other day. Visually, the video is stunning and I especially loved the thought that went behind in producing the mock record albums. As the video played its course, however, I had a nagging feeling that I had seen something like this before. After going to the Vimeo page of Cãoceito + Burdman, I could see clearer the idea behind their project:


      " Repositories of stories and its enriching emotions, the covers, that accomodate the existing panoply of musical genres, are the motto for this exibition. The focus is made on album covers that often conquer our memory even when music slightly reached our ears." 


I think that Cãoceito + Burdman presented their idea beautifully but the execution, again, was eerily similar to... Bob Dylan's* video of Subterranean Homesick Blues! See here:

Of course, perhaps the similiarity was on purpose - that images (whether still on a record cover or moving in a music video) stick with us, even when it becomes difficult to place them. And also, of course, this doesn't mean that these guys (Cãoceito + Burdman) are copycats, because in fact their idea is still authentic! This connection I made pleased me because it almost proves a theory by Jim Jarmusch that "Nothing is original... Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent." He, of course, within his quote steals a line from Jean-Luc Godard, "It's not where you take things from - it's where you take them to." Frankly, that's what my blog is about. I am merely a vehicle of expressing things I see, hear, and read around me and sharing them on my blog. 

*Also - when watching Cãoceito + Burdman's "I Need Nothing Video," Dylan is there. The mock album says the lyrics "I'm Not" and is a re-imagining of the poster for the biographical film based on Bob Dylan's life, "I'm Not There." Clever, clever.