8/29/2009

Portrait Of A White-Bread Suburban Chicago High School, ca. 1990...

This morning I was watching the second season of This American Life. If you haven't checked this series out yet, I highly recommend it (HERE is Season One. Both are available for instant viewing.). One of the segments I watched was on high school yearbook pictures. At one point there was a rapid succession of portraits with each student in the same basic pose and with the same basic expression. I love seeing sped-up stuff like that. I started to wonder what my high school class would look like, so I got out my yearbook, scanned my entire class, and began the tedious process of snipping each individual photo. Assembling the slideshow is really easy. I just drag and drop all the photos into the Movie Maker program and it's done. It seemed like the perfect kind of mindless project for a rainy afternoon. I know there are some who will accuse me of having too much time on my hands, and in this case, I plead guilty.

As you will see from the video, there were not many black people in my class (1 out of 477). There were, however, an abundance of mullets. You'll also notice many of the girls were not yet ready to surrender their gigantic '80s hairdos. In fact, it's fun to watch the video and just focus on the hair. Bonus points for those who identify at what point I make my appearance.

The sountrack is Slim Gaillard doing Soony Roony (Song Of Yxabat).

10 comments:

Sans Pantaloons said...

It's very difficult to decide, but I think this is you.
You were very beautiful...

Some Guy said...

Hahaha! Sans wins!

Actually, the guy's face you used was a good friend of mine.

Sans Pantaloons said...

Sorry for the mis-identification. I'll revise my submission and say you are wearing a black jacket with what looks like a paisley pattern tie and no smile.

It's amazing how many of those faces I recognise from my own schooldays. So much hope and enthusiasm looking forward to the future.

Distributorcap said...

you scanned all 400+ pics! can i send you my HS yearbook (which was pre-digital anything) and scan all 800+ (with 2 black students)

that was hysterical

Distributorcap said...

i am so stealing this idea
sue me!

S3XinthePantry said...

The sound effects were great. I hope no one from my HS gets ideas from watching this...they're already FBing tons of old photos (better left forgotten)

westchesterdead said...

That was brilliant! I found that if I relaxed my gaze, each face would start to morph into the next face in the strangest way. Very cool! Thanks for having too much time on your hands.

Awesome cut to back up the images, too. All in all, I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

lulu said...

that is a whole lotta big hair.

Lostinspace said...

That was great, perfect soundtrack.

katrocket said...

That must have taken you forever, but you did such an amazing job. I forgot how hair ruled our lives back them.