The Too Groovy Crew of Video Era Excess Aficionados and Entertainers EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE! Unearth an Unbelievably Weird World of Homemade SOV Madness and Share it with MEMORY HOLE!
The EIT! logo with some junk food for thought. Heavy, man. Dig it.
LM: You guys also run EIT. For the uninitiated, tell us a little bit about what you guys do. How did EIT all start? CG: Everything Is Terrible! (or EIT! to the diehards) began 7 years ago as blog where we shared daily re-edits/cut-downs of VHS tapes that we found mostly at thrift stores. We aimed to transform the original footage into a new piece of psychedelic comedy. The website grew in popularity and we transformed into more of an ever-evolving art and entertainment collective. We’ve made 6 movies out of this clips, done around 400 live shows with large scale puppets and costumes, put on a festival five years running at LA’s Cinefamily, and produced original content for Adult Swim, MTV, and more. We like to think of EIT! as more of a cultural movement now. It can turn into anything it wants now and in the process bring in new creators to help mold the future of the beast.
An exemplary image yanked from the EIT! Facebook page. There's lots more. Go check it out.
Dig that, man. So, your newest project MEMORY HOLE is devoted to the weirdest SOV home video material in the world. How did you guys come across all of this material, and what was it like when you uncovered all this analog era gold? Just how many tapes do you have to go through? The truth about how we got a hold of all the amazing home video footage that makes up MEMORY HOLE is a little bit of a secret. I will tell you enough so that you can figure it out yourself, though. We didn’t find any of this footage, rather it was sent in by the creators/star with the hopes of having it shown on television. I think they were also trying to win $10,000! And instead, they ended up in MEMORY HOLE.
A still from one of the MEMORY HOLE videos now available. This one involves action figures, sweet songwriting and a Father teaching his son to direct with finesse.
Sounds like you cracked some specific analog archives, indeed! What’s the process like when picking clips? I imagine it has to be pretty brain-melting at times… Yeah, it doesn’t make you feel good about humanity. This footage is a creepy window into our true selves and what we as a culture think is important. It is terrifying! I can’t shake the image of a beautiful snake with its head stuck in a tall boy can of Coors Light while a bunch of jerks giggle madly. That summarizes the process of watching hundreds of home videos back to back.
Grandpa gets funky faced for the camera in this MEMORY HOLE messterpiece.
Yeah, man, Coors Light is like water! Have you found ultra-weird stuff that you can’t share on MEMORY HOLE? Like, I imagine you have to come across like homemade pornos and other analog unmentionables… Nothing yet… “Yet” is the key word there, right? What’s your attraction to all of this esoteric home video? Why share it out? I guess it is the Truth that this footage holds that draws me in. I think it is very important to be introspective as a person and as a culture. I know that EIT! does that with our society’s media output, but MEMORY HOLE does it on a more personal level I feel. I think it opens us all up to self reflection about how we spend our short stint on earth.
Here's one that's just creepy, really. Not much else. Just look at it. This exists. Think about that. Cool.
I feel that, man. EXPRESS YOURSELF! You guys just launched this project, but what do you think you’ll do when someone comes to you and is like, “Hey, that’s my home video! Where’d you get that?!” ? Oh, they’ll know how we got it. They gave it away for the purpose of sharing their moment with a wider audience. We’re granting the next stage of their wish.
This guy's in a devil costume acting like a vacuum cleaner. It's weird. It's uncomfortable. It's unforgettable.
So you guys are like Analog Genies. I can dig it. You guys have been doing this for a while now. What are your thoughts on all the appreciation and celebration for the video format that’s come up in the past few years? I think that is important only because it is what we came up with and know, and now a younger generation is interested because that is how things work. Much like how in the 90’s we were very obsessed with the late 60’s and early 70’s. I love the look and feel of VHS, but I know that it is fleeting. I don’t cry when a video store goes out of business. I go and buy all their tapes for a nickel. I know some of our people don’t like that kind of talk, but you have to let go of the past. I think letting go of your attachments to your culture and to yourself is one of the big goals of EIT as a project. I’m not sure if we’re getting that across. Are we? Speaking of attachment, what do you think of the guy who’s collecting all the Speed tapes. Did you feel like he was biting off your style and shit, since you guys are the leading Jerry tape collectors? HA! No, we’re not upset with the Speed guy. We feel kinda sorry for him, actually. It is not easy collecting and moving over 8,000 totally useless VHS tapes. It was a little bit of a bummer that the press got so excited about a collection of 500. I wish that they had done their research before writing, but that is how it goes. I have noticed that he has started calling his project an ‘’accidental homage’’ to our Jerry collection. It is all way too stupid to be upset about.
The trippy-dippy poster for the EIT! and Cinefamily event EVERYTHING IS FESTIVAL! Peep the deets HURR.
Will you do tours for MEMORY HOLE like EIT? Or will it be a part of the live show now, like with its own section? Oh my god, we have so many plans for MEMORY HOLE! We want to make movies, TV shows, live shows, art installations! We are doing a show and a large scale, immersive art installation at this year’s Everything Is Festival in LA at the end of August. I have a feeling that this project will become all this and more! Stay tuned.
Probably my personal favorite video from the MEMORY HOLE archives, really because these two dudes just went out and bought some Beetlejuice Toys and talked for a little while. It's awesome.
Is there anything you guys are looking for that you can’t seem to find? I mean, you guys have a ton of weird stuff, but there has to be something that’s evaded your analog grasp? Na, we’re all good. We have more than enough garbage for our lifetimes. We could use a few more copies of Jerry Maguire, though. Could always use more of those, right?! Anything else you’d like to shout out to all the peeps eyeballin’ this analog-obsessed blog? Honestly, we really appreciate how nice everyone has been for the last 7 years. It has been insane! Thanks 4 it!Thank YOU for diggin’ ultra-deep and keepin’ us Videovores supplied with an avalanche of orphaned, abandoned and totally insane analog entertainment! EIT!, we VHSalute you, indeed! Be sure to tune in to the Official EIT! Website, their Facebook and, of course, their brand-spankin’ new video era appreciation entity MEMORY HOLE for an ample dose of mind-melting, home-recorded magnetic magic. As was posited above by Commodore Gilgamesh, this footage, no matter how weird, bad or totally unpalatable it may be, is still a reflection of ourselves and our society. So chew on it a bit, taste the flavors of an SOV home-recorded smorgasbord, and get your fill of otherwise unseen home video excess re-animated at MEMORY HOLE, Tapeheads. You’ll be glad ya did.
Groove and Groove and Don’t Forget to Take Off the Lens Cap.
Josh Schafer