The Ultimate Bad Day Slideshow

Welcome to Fruitpunch Creative Media.   This month we feature the work of Kim Jong Syrj.  On May 15, 2007 he released what he called The Ultimate Bad Day Slideshow, a project which had its genesis in Newton, Massachusetts.

The artist known as Kim Jong Syrj lived on California Street in Newton from 1998 to 2006, in two different houses, and watched thousands of people walk by his house on their way to and from Ablemarle Field every July 4.  These crowds shut down his neighborhood heading to and from the City of Newton's fireworks, which were always visible from lawns on California Street.

The entertainment that Kim Jong Syrj and his drunk friends offered to passers-by increased in complexity year by year.  Some years it included off-the-cuff songs like Point Oh Eight, a song about drunk driving laws.  Other years it was kazoo performances of Stars and Stripes. 

By 2006 Kim Jong Syrj was creating full blown, song-accompanied slide shows and projecting them on large sheets on his front lawn.  These presentations were complete with liberal social commentary, Martin Luther King speech excerpts, and humerous interludes.   Crowds of hundreds gathered on the street to celebrate America in its truest spirit.

On July 4 2006, Kim Jong Syrj projected The Ultimate Bad Day Slideshow, a collection of mishap and accident images carefully timed to fit the lyrics of the famous Daniel Powter song.  He spent the next nine months perfecting the timing, choosing better photographs, and fine tuning the sound mix to create a unique and compelling slideshow.