Overheard / Illustrated / Filmed

I encountered this meme several years ago, back when Overheard.it was still up, and prefacing tweets with “OH:” was just starting out. Now there are blogs and discussion groups as location-specific as can be.

Narinig ko sa UP is one of the more recent incarnations, and it’s a hit. Such that Jesie Castro made comic strips of the best ones. Revelry Films also shot short films, which in turn reminds me of the Shit [People] Say meme, including @ShitMyDadSays, which got turned into a network television show (with Will Shatner, no less).

“Sparks” comic by Jesie Castro
“Sparks”: The funny thing is that while the word is already familiar to us as a connotation of romantic chemistry, any mention of it inside the group will now also allude to this specific experience.

“Sparks”: yes, it’s so popular it was the first short film that got made.

On some level it makes me long for the days of Peyups.com and Alipungang Kamote, though this time the community’s taken it to a new level. The feedback is not a comment, but an illustration or a film.

“Tangina” comic by Jesie Castro
“Tangina”: As seen from the POV in the strip, the guy who shared the story is the one who failed the exam.

“Batingaw”: It’s lovelier when you read this first.

I won’t be surprised if a Socio, Anthro, or Lit student eventually does a paper on this. There’s something about the combination of sharing a true story—often your own vulnerability and mishap (unlike the stereotyping of Shit [People] Say, this zeroes in on what actually happened)—for entertainment and catharsis, then its embellishment and translation into a new medium by a 3rd party, and its sharing right back into the community stream to be experienced anew, that’s worth studying.

“Delayed”: a snappy pun deserves a snappy scene.

“Pakasaya ka na” comic by Jesie Castro
“Pakasaya ka na”: artistic license and paneling gives the punchline maximum impact.

Or if you don’t care for any over-analyzing that will bring: isn’t technology so awesomesauce for giving people the space and equipment to tell tales, tales that inspire other people to make remixes, remixes that transform into their own works of art?

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Design × Code × Words for a better Web,
made in the Philippines by Sophia Lucero.