I just heard a rumor that one of the people who developed and built the Rube Goldberg device seen in the March, 2010, music video “This Too Shall Pass” by OK Gos, was formerly a member of a Unitarian Universalist youth group for which I was a youth advisor. Parents, be warned: the Unitarian Universalist values we impart to your children may affirm that creating geeky-artsy-coolness is an acceptable thing to do with one’s life.
By the way, an article in the February, 2011, issue of Fast Company magazine asserts that it took 85 takes to make the Rube Goldberg machine work in time to the music in a single shot. That’s 85 televisions destroyed. That makes it all worth while, if you ask me.
4 comments recovered.
Jean says:
January 20, 2011 at 4:43 am
Awesome video, truly awesome. You just made my Thursday morning happy!
Amy says:
January 20, 2011 at 9:01 am
the Unitarian Universalist values we impart to your children may affirm that creating geeky-artsy-coolness is an acceptable thing to do with one’s life.
Absolutely! IMHO, we ought to take an RE field trip to the Maker Faire every year. It’s a little expensive, I know.
Loved the video. Loved the 85 dead televisions (does that make OK Go 85 times better than Elvis?). Not so sure about the ~85 dead pianos. Maybe only 30-40 dead pianos, since that one looked like it had been dropped a couple of times already, but still, pianos!
Dan says:
January 21, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Amy @ 2 — You write: “but still, pianos!”
We can only hope that they found pianos that really were worthless — in which case we can blame the people who neglected the pianos for so long that they were no longer worth anything.
Jean says:
January 21, 2011 at 4:44 pm
I bet it was a really old and battered piano that they dropped 85 times, and then put back together again.
And maybe it really wasn’t 85 TVs either. I mean you *can* edit videos so no one really notices a glitch and it all looks like one smooth take.