This video is exactly as advertised, an impressive array of contraptions that are so carefully balanced that one marvels at the patience required to assemble it all. Things do not merely fall on top of each other, they spin, roll uphill, and dissolve obstacles in their path. The interactions I found most impressive were the purely mechanical ones. Putting a bottle rocket on a cart is fun but anyone can think of that. The more creative elements were things like an array of tires that worked its way up a ladder using only properly placed weights and gravity. Such examples of objects moving in response to disturbed equilibrium could serve as fun illustrations for classes covering mechanics. In addition, the artists have made some interesting objects. Two that stick out in my mind are a wooden spool with loose elliptical ends seeming to limp as it rolls and a set of "Hero" steam engines turning one after the other. One last thing that struck me about the video is that things move slowly. This is not a sudden, noisy collapse of pile of junk, it is the gradual decay of a carefully constructed pile of junk.
While the film is fun to watch, it does have some problems. The lighting is poor and the camera angles are not always ideal which leaves you wondering what is going on at times, especially when the sudsy fluids are flowing. Still, the flow of the action can be followed most of the time and these issues did not annoy me too much. Since the video is only 30 minutes long, it does not require a large investment of time and so is worth a look when you have a little time available.
-Lyle Ford
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Lyle Ford
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Department of Physics and Astronomy
(715)836-5046
Last Updated: December 23, 2003