by Rebecca Austin
Tuesdays aren’t known for being very entertaining compared to how much praise the weekend gets. For those brave souls that venture out into the darkness after 9 pm on a weekday, some get to experience the nightlife that Jacksonville has been slowly letting back into the city. The Found Footage Festival, an event that Jacksonville hasn’t had before, brought many adventure seeking individuals. Going to the Found Footage Festival, I honestly had no idea what I was going to watch that night at the Sun Ray Theatre. With about 50-60 other eccentric souls, we took a chance on viewing things that may not be always appropriate for every audience. This may seem odd as I write about my experience at the theatre, for it was my first time. The claims to fame show made its presence in a graceful manner though some of videos did hit home for both sexes. Films that hadn’t been seen since their debut in the 70’s to early 90’s they were not particular to any generation. My personal favorite was “Dancing with Frank” which to some may have seemed odd to be as funny as it was seeing that Frank was just a man dancing for a group of senior citizens rubbing food items all over himself. The poor peanut butter, to have to be subjected to being the footwear of this crazy masked man in view of these senior citizens was a disgrace to the peanuts in which the butter was made from.
The audience was warned at the beginning of the show that the videos were all collected without prejudice or ethical restriction. Without much calm before the storm, we viewed a live birth in the back of a car, which was a training video of situations that may arise for a police officer. With horrible acting in the video, the police officer was less convincing than someone off the street offering his or her services.
I believe the crowd’s favorite was possibly the “Magic Rainbow
Sponge” that brought us all back to childhood. The infomercial used a charismatic and eccentric lady whose excitement about the Magic Rainbow Sponge came through the screen. It was hard not to love her energy about making art pieces with a sponge or as she called them “wiggles”. But hearing the word “wiggles” over 30 times in a 90 second period can get a bit taxing. The overall show was an accumulation of naughty yet nice, all packaged as a brilliant piece of comedy. For those who were unable to make the Festival I’m sure the reality garbage on television was sufficient enough for you. I almost forgot to mention the wonderful and very talented Yo-Yo-ist that was everything but a Yo Yo-ist. The films were of him playing with his Yo-Yo on national television broadcasts and seeing how he had no skill what so ever, I suppose being a horrible Yo Yo-ist can be entertaining.
Though the Found Footage Festival was only in town for one night, the duo dream team Nick Prueher (of the Colbert Report) and Joe Picket (of the Onion) said that the show would be back in town after the new collections of oddly, funny and entertaining videos were found. The Found Footage Festival has made a name for itself as a bear all and tell all in the name of comedy at the expense of other’s lost or forgotten home videos. I’m sure to some; they would prefer that these lost “treasures” remain buried. In all honesty what is lost can always be found, even if maybe it was not supposed to be…
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