old news.

i didn't share arcade fire's new interactive internet music video for 'we used to wait' with you 2 weeks ago, because i coudlnt get it to work on my work computer. i finally remembered to try it at home over the weekend, and it really is as cool as everyone says. i mean seriously, no one on the internet will shut up about it.

in short, you enter the street address of your childhood home, and it incorporates images from google maps and streetview into the video, so it looks like it's happening in your neighborhood! so try it.

anyway, pitchfork interviewed the director, chris milk, jic you care to know more about the process:

Pitchfork: The video has this really powerful personal effect, using Google Street View and the viewer's childhood house. What gave you the idea to use peoples' actual specific childhood memories rather than trying to evoke generic childhood memories?

CM: As a filmmaker, you are constantly having the discussion with your team about whether something is "relatable". Is the story relatable? Is this character relatable? So I was curious. What if instead of seeing a neighborhood that reminds you of the place you grew up in, you see your actual neighborhood? The data exists. The technology exists. It's just a matter of sourcing it and processing it in a compelling fashion.

And I think there is a nice symmetry between the themes of this piece and many of the themes the band explores in their music. Waiting for something vs. instant gratification, nature vs. suburban sprawl, analog vs. digital, human emotion vs. a well-oiled machine, random growth of life vs. exacting mechanical precision, pen and parchment vs. 1s and 0s. The whole project is essentially human nostalgia produced by the most advanced technology available today. (via)