{"id":388,"date":"2012-04-12T17:58:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T23:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2012-08-14T23:17:22","modified_gmt":"2012-08-15T05:17:22","slug":"quite-unusual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/?p=388","title":{"rendered":"Quite Unusual"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.front242.com\/site\/content\/news.asp\" target=\"_blank\">Front 242<\/a> as Prototype Hackers<\/p>\n<p>From their appearance and joy of exploring their art, to the themes in their music and videos, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.front242.com\/site\/content\/news.asp\" target=\"_blank\">Front 242<\/a>\u2019s early 1980s line-up is a prototype of hacker and cyberpunk.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/front-242-Front-By-Front-front.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>An example of this is the video for the song \u201cQuite Unusual\u201d.  The song\u2019s lyrics are an interesting take on 1980s apocalypse music.  The lyrics seem to be written from the point of view of a survivor of a nuclear attack, describing the scene using metaphors from the natural world.  <\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.front242.com\/site\/images\/band\/242_2007_BAND_13.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The video however presents a number of archetypical hacker concepts and ethos.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube_sc  fluid widescreen\"><div class=\"inner block\"><noscript><style type=\"text\/css\">.youtube_sc iframe.yp{display:none;}<\/style><object width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" title=\"YouTube video player\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/urd8tG0xvoM?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\"><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/urd8tG0xvoM?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\"><span style=\"display:block;margin-top:15px;\">The Adobe Flash Player is required for video playback.<br><a href=\"http:\/\/get.adobe.com\/flashplayer\/\" title=\"Install from Adobe\">Get the latest Flash Player<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=urd8tG0xvoM\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Watch on YouTube\">Watch this video on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/object><\/noscript><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/urd8tG0xvoM?version=3&amp;wmode=transparent\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The band members\u2019 appearance sets the stage for the hacker\/cyberpunk look through-out the remainder of the century, including the Matrix film franchise.  Their dress includes leather, combat style boots, sunglasses, and a general dark appearance.  One member has a Mohawk haircut.  Technology acts as accessories to their look, with members wearing communications headsets.  <\/p>\n<p>We first see the band climbing across a roof top in an apparently run-down industrial area, invoking urban exploration and physical space hacking.  From the exterior shot we move to the interior of an old industrial building, and we find our heroes chained to columns in the building, imprisoned by a nemesis that uses technology to torment and monitor them.  This nemesis imposes his control over the heroes with a remote controlled helicopter.<\/p>\n<p>The heroes break their bonds; not to escape technology but to escape the use of technology as a means of control.  In their freedom they escape the scene in a helicopter, showing it\u2019s not the technology itself, but rather the application of the technology that matters.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube_sc  fluid widescreen\"><div class=\"inner block\"><noscript><style type=\"text\/css\">.youtube_sc iframe.yp{display:none;}<\/style><object width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" title=\"YouTube video player\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/K-TdvqIZ27A?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\"><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/K-TdvqIZ27A?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\"><span style=\"display:block;margin-top:15px;\">The Adobe Flash Player is required for video playback.<br><a href=\"http:\/\/get.adobe.com\/flashplayer\/\" title=\"Install from Adobe\">Get the latest Flash Player<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K-TdvqIZ27A\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Watch on YouTube\">Watch this video on YouTube<\/a>.<\/span><\/object><\/noscript><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K-TdvqIZ27A?version=3&amp;wmode=transparent\" width=\"560\" height=\"340\" class=\"yp\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Front 242 as Prototype Hackers From their appearance and joy of exploring their art, to the themes in their music and videos, Front 242\u2019s early 1980s line-up is a prototype of hacker and cyberpunk. An example of this is the video for the song \u201cQuite Unusual\u201d. The song\u2019s lyrics are an interesting take on 1980s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[36,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":561,"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firmwarez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}