(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Kitchen Table Kibitzing 4/25/2023: Balenciaga [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-25 For reasons that are obscure to us (my guess: the name is fun to say), a YouTuber called demonflyingfox, who works with AI animation, seized on Balenciaga and created a new class of AI-based video meme. It takes the characters from some movie or TV show and re-imagines them as a series of scowling, hollow-cheeked runway models advertising Balenciaga clothes. It uses both MidJourney, the drawing AI, for the images, and ChatGPT for the speech, which consists of famous lines and catchphrases from the original, modified to mention Balenciaga. This is funnier than it sounds, because explaining jokes is a bad idea but sometimes necessary. The original ‘Balenciaga’ video was Harry Potter. Like all of these, it’s pretty short, but please feel absolutely free to skip around in this diary or just ignore the whole thing and go talk about the weather in the comments. I realize not everyone will be entertained. (I’ll link some extra ones. For instance, Harry Potter Part 2 features Dobby the House Elf being freed by being presented with Balenciaga.) [0:55] The rest of these videos are by a wide array of YouTube creators who picked the meme up and ran with it, and they vary in style. Some, like this Star Wars one, go for the general appearance of the original actors rather than trying to be more exact. I like how they’ve handled the non-humanoid characters, and the opening two seconds are :chef’s kiss:. (Here’s a link to The Mandalorian — I preferred this one to it overall, but “baby Yoda” looks adorable in Balenciaga.) [1:15] If Star Wars, then can Star Trek be far behind? This one is ST:The Next Generation; original series here. [2:01] I have to add Deep Space Nine, though. They really captured Captain Sisko. [1:06] While we’re in scifi, here’s Dune. I love the couture sandworms. (Note that there are a lot of videos with duplicate subjects by different creators. I’ve chosen either the one I liked best or the one I happened to see.) [0:59] Marvel Avengers: I really like the Hulk’s ensemble. Avengers have a particularly complete collection of other designers as well: Versace — Armani — Louis Vuitton. (At about the 2:00 mark of the Armani video, we’re reminded of that Vox “Why AI Art Struggles with Hands” video from a couple of weeks ago, when Tony Stark holds his hands up and we notice there are six fingers on each.) [0:57] Ghostbusters: The ghosts are particularly chic. For some odd reason, the AI has chosen to depict all the other actors as they were in the movie, but Bill Murray as he is now. He must have pissed it off somehow. [0:49] Pulp Fiction. [0:50] The Godfather: “Leave the guns; take the Balenciaga.” [1:04] On to TV! The Office. [1:06] In the case of The Big Bang Theory, the Gucci video is better than the Balenciaga, so here it is. [1:46] This is interesting — fast-food mascots. [0:57] And video games! Super Mario Brothers: The hats are a little baffling to the AI, but the depiction of Toad the mushroom guy as a human model is pretty funny. [1:02] The thing about “Legendary [rock] Musicians” is that they are often dressed flamboyantly in real life, so it’s harder for this video to make its point. Obviously, Bowie looks completely normal in this setting and they could basically have just used real pictures of him. [1:45] “Famous Scientists” is kind of fun. I wish the AI had gotten a little closer to their real appearances, and it is extremely jarring to hear “Feynman” speak without his characteristic accent, but, as that old SNL character used to say, he looks mahvelous. [2:06] Honestly, there are a lot of NATO leaders that I could not pick out of a lineup (they are identified here), but the ones I can are pretty amusing. Hit ‘play’ for Joe, stay for Zelenskyy. [2:01] [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/25/2165488/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-4-25-2023-Balenciaga Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/