Shark Side of the Moon: Remixing Shark Week

by Jordan Yerman | August 6, 2009 at 11:05 am

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I love Shark Week, I'm not gonna lie to you. Even though the science is sketchy at best, and even though each special crams people's life-or-death struggles with mother nature's ultimate "strong, silent type", I still really like the footage. I find sharks to be compelling because they're beautiful, mysterious, and can seriously mess you up, either killing you or leaving you with a seriously badass scar.

So what do we do? Boycott Shark Week because the science just isn't presented properly? But we love the footage!

Film our own shark docos, and become citizen shark experts? I highly recommend against it.

What we can do, though, is hack and remix Shark Week until we get the best of both worlds. I use the Natal Sharks Board as a resource for the real need-to-know stuff (they do public shark autopsies, if you're ever near Durban), and turn to the Discovery Channel for the awesome Great White breaching footage.

To this end, I attempted a Shark Week remix entitled Shark Side of the Moon. You've already figured out what comes next... that's right, I left Day of the Shark II on mute while playing Pink Floyd's timeless classic Dark Side of the Moon at wake-the-neighbors levels. The result was stunning. Some of the footage matched up brilliantly; the trick is to pause the album during commercial breaks.

I posted a sample on my blog, but you can give it a try, too. Next I think I'll use a Bjork album.

You can try this at home. I encourage you to try other albums, too. How would Shark After Dark mix with, say, classic Bowie? Or Jane's Addiction? Or Mozart? You tell me.
Because hey: if Discovery Channel can make sharks growl, then we can make them rock.

So while Discovery Channel is broadcasting a single program, meant to be consumed in a uniform manner, viewers 'round the globe can actually be doing a million different things with it at once. A strange mix between television broadcast, live performance, listening party, and shark.