Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
It is mid May in Edmonton, the days are longer, the light is more confident, and that makes it the perfect time to watch hockey on television. And to think about slow motion. This evening, I am struck by how quickly technology that is good shows its age. Bam, you're old! For as long as I can remember, this has been the speed of video dissection. It is from tonight's Memorial Cup game between the Oil Kings and the London Knights: It's very good. Instructive. Cool. Dramatic. Until it's not so much any of those. Until it's up against a bigger, stronger, slower opponent. This is from tonight's Stanley Cup semi-final match between the Coyotes and the Kings: The same game becomes a different game when viewed and shared differently. The nature of the moving image allows this kind of division. He wasn't talking about hockey at the time, but Ong (1982, p. 31) makes the point that unlike sound a moving picture camera can stop (or, in our cas...