Palindrome of a Lost Generation

Posted on 24. Jan, 2010 by Tammy Camp in Food for Thought, Kicks and Giggles

A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite. This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant. Make sure you read as well as listen…forward and backward.

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old. The contest was titled “u @ 50″ by AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

Which segment defines your point of view? Part 1 or part 2?

  • Stumbleupon
  • Delicious

Tags: ,

  • Grayshine
    ... All you people saying it's not a palindrome... So did the author of this article:
    "A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the **exact opposite** backwards as forward."

    Did... did you even read the intro line before scrolling down to gripe?
  • Wow.. If you wrote that, kudos to you. If not, still, kudos to you for a good find.
  • kdude
    not a pallindrome.
  • Dyson
    This is not a palindrome! I reel at the shocking inaccuracy that the title of this page presents! Down with internet mislabeling! Still, though, very cool video.
  • Billy
    Shit,
    this video sucked so much.

    This video sucked so much
    shit.
  • Jeff
    I thought the entire thing would be an actual palindrome... it's nowhere near as epic when you watch the video
  • Chris
    Inspirational? Yes, maybe. Palindromic? No, definitely.
  • Dxr
    Quite cool, but it isn't a palindrome - a palindrome is a word or set of words which read exactly regardless of the order you read the letters (i.e. left to right or right to left)
  • dxr
    typo: exactly *the same*
  • zerosober1
    Very creative and insightful.... fun to watch!
  • kaptendiesel
    That was quite a paradox :O what an original video :D
  • dwinkle
    Also, it's very easy to write something like this. You simply make the third sentence the setup for the second sentence once read in reverse, and so on. Emotional babble like this is exactly the reason people don't get off it and actually do anything about the world.
  • timeneffort
    Dwinkle, you are what wrong with this world!
  • dwinkle
    This is not brilliant. This is cheesy and trite. Also, it is obviously not a palindrome.
  • nilloc
    I can't be the only one that wants to see the video that won first place.
  • Cynthia
    http://blog.aarp.org/shaarpsession/2008/03/u50_...
    I warn you though the first place video is disappointing and can't even hold a candle to the 2nd place Video shown here.
  • Wow, so true Cynthia...it is disappointing. How did that win first place over this video?
  • Jay
    Ah, I love the internet. A beautiful piece of heartfelt artistry is put up, and the best most people can do is argue whether it is actually a palindrome or not. (Technically it is not; an example of a palindrome would be "Was it Tim's mitt I saw?". Removing the punctuation and spacing becomes "wasittimsmittisaw". Note that the ordering of the letters is the same whether read forwards or back. That is a palindrome.) But, regardless, it is a very fine poem, and I give the author applause.
  • dxr
    and yet aren't you doing the exact same thing? ^_^

    but yes, you have a point
  • most excellent!
  • Chris
    I agree with Jonathan, partially. This is not a palindrome, so it should not be called one. It is not a cheap trick though, it's pretty cool and certainly not easy to do.
  • Wiki definition of "palindrome'

    A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction (the adjustment of punctuation and spaces between words is generally permitted).

    Although not a phrase, I defiantly think this is conceptually a palindrome. It is a sequence of units, no?
  • Dyson
    Yes, this is in fact conceptually the exact opposite of a palindrome. That being said, though, it is very cool.
  • Christian
    "read the same way in either direction "...the sentence in the video does not fit this criteria.

    it is not a palindrome, however it is incredibly creative and inspirational
  • Jonathan
    Please stop calling this a palindrome. You're spreading misinformation. This is not a palindrome, not by definition or concept. This is reading sentences in reverse order. This is a cheap cloying trick.
  • Mido
    AMAZING! What a great work!!!! That was great!
  • I think it quite amazing as well Mido. Inspiring and creative.
  • Nikki
    awesome!
blog comments powered by Disqus