#Memory Tapes

[tolkiens]

"Working with them was such a breeze, that it showed me how collaboration should work. You're genuinely liking what the other person is doing, you're feeding off each other. They're a pretty funny pair. There's Thomas who is technical oriented, getting excited, turning knobs and all that stuff. And then there's Guy-man whose more of the French, brooding, kind of dude...he's got really good taste. Infinity Repeating is an appropriate song to end Daft Punk on forever."

Daft Punk - Memory Tapes - Episode 1 - Julian Casablancas, directed by WARREN FU

[infinit8ion]

Started watching The Prisoner and it's as Infinity Train-esque as they say.

[mxdwn]

Daft Punk Shares “Memory Tapes Episode 2” With 10th Anniversary of “Random Access Memories”

[archivyrep]

Libraries, records, and Kore: Archives on Mount Olympus [Part 2]

Continued from part 1

While the library doesn't reappear later in the series, records appear in many episodes to follow. There are mentions of records that only have short-term [1] value like a driver's license, which Kore admits she doesn't have in episode 52 ("Going Down") but still knows how to drive (fancy that), and a photograph which will go on her photo ID as noted in episode 61 ("Itty"). At the same time, Kore's mother, Demeter, agrees to falsify records in episode 63 ("Hush Hush"), and Minthe, the on-again-off-again girlfriend of Hades, says she wants dirt on Kore in episode 60 ("That Nymph Over There"), which obviously involves records.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on Nov. 28, 2020.

In terms of Kore, she is described by Thanatos as "working in the library" in episode 55 ("The Tour (Part 2)"), again falsely equating libraries and archives as the same thing. Without a doubt, she may have trouble with her job, as where she works is a "labyrinth," at least that's how she describes it to Hades in episode 53 ("The Tour"), with the official title of "Shade Coordinator," as a business card in episode 56 ("A New Point of View") makes clear.

Shades recording the lives of mortals in a "library" as shown in "Distance"

In episode 72 ("Dear Hectate"), we get a hint of the second archivy mention noted by Cross in her post on the topic. Apart from Hades getting a letter from Kore, handed to him by Hectate, which he puts aside, Hecate tells Hades to get a tape of the memory from "The Fates" who can "fill in the blanks." Good luck with that! We then get to episode 75 ("Fate"). Based on the advice Hectate gave him in an earlier episode, Hades asks for a memory from the records department, which comes in the form of 1980s tapes (of course they do). He meets three women, who are sisters named Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos, dressed in 80s styles outfits are shown with the records. According to Smythe, the design of the three women are based on the Chipettes, which Wikipedia describes on a badly sourced page, as a group of three female (and anthropomorphic) chipmunk singers named Jeannette, Brittany, and Eleanor, who first appeared in the 1983-1990 animated series titled Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Anyway, in this episode, the women joke with him about the memory, saying he was drunk and it involves a young woman. At one point, Lachesis asks him for paperwork, including signed consent from Kore, and Hades asks to go around it. Clotho says that they can give him an exception. Despite the original opposition from Lachesis, they both agree on the condition that he give them some wine. Hades then says he wants the records at once, but Lachesis tells him to not push his luck.

We also see, in this episode, Clotho, rolling up the memory tape by herself, which I liked. After Hades leaves, and at the end of the episode, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos end up watching the episode together, with Clotho saying is natural for Hades to be "curious about his future Queen." Perhaps this is foreshadowing forward to a future point in the Hades-Kore relationship. Who knows!

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] These records also have temporary, transitory, and ephemeral value.

[coffeeandtoastforbreakfast]

It’s all going up into flames…bright, white flames…

[nostalgia-folder]

Let’s all take a moment to appreciate blank VHS packaging design trends

[artful-peculiarities]

I’ve just had this really specific vision of post canon Doug Eiffel being a mechanic. Maybe even though his memories were drained from him, the movements of repair are still familiar, and I think it would also add something to his characterization once he’s back in earth with the others. I’m gonna think about this some more and come back to this post in a bit

[goobersplat]

Shelley Duvalls’s Besdtime Stories Set of Eight VHS Tapes

I know Shelley Duvall passed away recently, which made me think back to “Bedtime Stories” which I absolutely loved as a kid. I remember all of these!

My favorite was “Elizabeth and Larry” which to this day touches my heart and makes me cry. It’s about an older lady in Florida who finds a baby alligator in her box of oranges and they become best friends :) “Bill and Pete” (the other story on the tape) is also extremely charming.

I also highly recommend “Blumpoe the Grumpoe meets Arnold the Cat” which is about a man whose dog passes away and he becomes bitter regarding animals. He stays at a cat hotel and starts to soften when he meets a shy cat named Arnold. It’s also narrated by John Candy and he does a great job reading the story.

If you’re interested here’s links to both tapes I mentioned. They’re really charming and cute and I highly recommend. Rest in peace Shelly Duvall <3

[authenticcadence18]

I am CRUING LAUGHING AT THIS

[kidcore-nostalgia]

[shiftythrifting]

Boyfriend found a cassette tape at the dump that looked cool. It's actually a completely different tape inside, and one just as weird.

Thrift adjacent.

[cuntylestat]

“I am in my Buick, staring in the rearview mirror at my daughter in the car seat, an hour after I gave Derek, a guy I don’t know, the last thirty bucks I had. My editor reminds me, it’s seven years before car seats are mandatory. My ex-wife reminds me I never owned a Buick. This is the odyssey of recollection.” 

The tapes are an admitted performance. This is the premise of our interview. Half a century later, allow me my odyssey.

[visuac]

maggot groan

[1five1two]

[dr-reids-fidget-toy]

Interesting… I wonder what the significance of this is

please please please tell me your thoughts

[zaddyazula]

obviously i love strangelove’s character but she wasn’t written well… as a woman or as a lesbian…