I must admit that ever since I found out about Consumer Reports' crash test videos, I've been morbidly addicted to scrolling through the videos for different makes and models in order to see how they perform. In particular, I have viewed the video for my own car, a Hyundai Elantra, at least 5 - 6 times. There's something about watching car crashes that's fascinating. This quote by Vaughn, one of the characters in J. G. Ballard's novel, "Crash" and uttered in Cronenberg's movie version might be instructive:
"The car crash is a fertilizing rather than a destructive event."I am also reminded of a conversation that I had with a former lecturer of mine who teaches Digital Media & Art in Kuala Lumpur. I was asking him how his teaching was going and he started telling me about working with one particular student just before the deadline for a final project. He described the experience as such:
"It's like watching a car crash in slow motion. The dummy in the car knows that it's going to hit the wall. But neither the dummy, nor the viewer, can do anything to avert the impending catastrophe."With those choice quotes in mind, I hope you enjoy the crash test videos in new light :)
2 comments:
Wow, thanks for the pointer for the crash test videos! My favorite thus far is the Dodge SRT-4, with the crash dummy reaching through the demolished door... I love everything about this country, except for the cars that it produces ;P
Hehehe, thought that you might enjoy the videos Stan :) BTW, thanks for the homebrew Thoreau t-shirt. Much appreciated. Let me see if I can homebrew something back for you ;)
Post a Comment