childhood

i find my childhood is often emotionally encapsulated by bizarre bits of media. take my purchase of a hall and oates song as proof thereof. last night, i came across a long lost piece of the nostalgia puzzle- an online video file for the ostentatious HBO identification bumper that ran before feature films in the mid 80's.

i'm a little relieved that i'm not the only one who missed this bumper's driving 70's orchestration, or HBO's unflappable awe of it's own logo. there's something about this bumper that feels almost scary- a giant logo explodes several times in the sky to pulsating trumpets and violent harp glissandos, and as it spins slowly around you get a look inside the O, and it's lasers! it's lasers! it's lasers! and just when you think the end of the world is nigh, brought about by a massive, spacefaring logo, the lasers finally stop, revealing the comforting phrase, "HBO Feature Presentation". oh, it's just a movie. phew!!

i'm not saying you actually think these things (though you might); rather i'm saying this is the rare and likely uninteded effect of music, animation and circumstance coliding violently and working out to a company's advantage. i've seriously been looking for this clip ever since they invented the internet. and now i have it. and so can you by clicking here and scrolling down about half-way. that site is a british page called tv-ark, and you can track down other relics of tv past and present from all over the world.