my new 9/11 lamp
bought a new lamp today after having spotted it yesterday night on the way back from the theatre. it is a cheap (ok, actually they charged me €20 for it, so it is not cheap) plastic lamp that emits a cold, ugly blue neon light and makes a cracking sound once in a while. tres plastic baroque! and while it was not really misplaced in the cheap late night grocery/liqour store window i got it from, i actually have no clue where to keep it in the apartment.
the lamp contains two rotating films inside its clear plastic encasing. the inner one depicts the pre 9/11 skyline of the southern tip of manhattan, nyc complete with the statue of liberty and the twin towers. the faster moving outer film has images of hot-air balloons, sailboats, helicopters, para-gliders and a passenger jet on a transparent background. when lit, this creates the impression of the crafts on the outer film moving in front of the skyline in the back.
as the two films move with different speeds the relative position between the individual crafts and buildings changes all the time. every two minutes or so the lamp displays an eerie little re-enactment of 9/11 as the passenger jet seems to crash into the top section of the south tower of the world trade tower:
more pictures in this flickr set. there is also a short movie of the lamp in action.
update: a google search for the supplier reveals that it is produced by Zhejiang Ninghai Shengfa Electrical Appliance Co. Ltd. As they have the lamp listed in their new products section one can more or less assume that the lamp was designed post 9-11 and that the macabre connotation was somehow lost on its makers, who chose to market it by the name of ‘Seabed Lamp’
Technorati Tags: airtravel, berlin, lamp, new york, nineeleven, popularculture, security
February 19th, 2006 at 21.55
I saw this in Chinatown in NYC a few weeks and couldn’t believe it even existed:(
February 19th, 2006 at 21.57
i actually have no clue where to keep it in the apartment.
How about in the trash?
Mombo
February 19th, 2006 at 22.07
Yes, I saw this at the Pizzeria across the street form my house in Brooklyn. I thought it was really weird and in crummy taste, but my three old daughter loves it and calls it “TV”. Don’t argue with a three year old. Cheers.
February 19th, 2006 at 22.18
After looking at the movie and the munufacture’s website, I think it may just be a horrible mistake. There are so many other things in the air – bi-planes, hang-gliders, etc – I’m wondering if the manufacture thought it was just making a “Fun day in an around New York” lamp.
I agree, though, it’s in horrible taste even if the intent was innocent.
February 19th, 2006 at 22.23
I came here expecting the world’s most tastleless product, but I really don’t see much offensive content in it. The planes fly in front of the Twin Towers, passing by as if they were unimportant.
I guess every time someone uses ‘plane’ and ‘Twin Towers’ in the same paragraph it’s considered poor taste.
February 19th, 2006 at 22.23
Umm folks – I don’t mean to be funny but I think your all being ridiculous. The plane doesnt actually fly into the towers or re-enact 9/11 now does it? Surely its just flying in front of it??
February 19th, 2006 at 22.37
What a waste of human effort making this thing. And to think they couldn’t even get the plane right (pictured is an L-1011, I think).
But seriously, why 1) buy it (encouraging the production of MORE) and 2) why put it in your apartment, seeing as it is the depiction of the murder of almost 3,000 people?
You should also ask your friendly neighborhood convenience store person why they are stocking such a thing.
Whatever — i guess this is the fruit of relativism and cynicism as a personal philosophy.
Dan
February 19th, 2006 at 22.39
I just watched the video (why was it orange; i though it was blue?). Isn’t it a bit of a stretch to say it’s “a re-enactment of 9/11″? The WTC was the tallest building in that shot. There’s a dozen other types of vehicles represented, half of which fly past the building too. In the video, I saw the hot-air balloons fly into the torch held by the Statue of Liberty. When did that particular act of terrorism occur? :D
Seriously though, there are plenty of odd post-9/11 trinkets and even toys which definitely show some sort of overseas amusement at our expense. This doesn’t look like one of them, to me. The fact that it takes two minutes for the reels to line up just right in order to get “the re-enactment” should be a tip off. ;)
Nice TV, though.
February 19th, 2006 at 23.23
BURN IT! NOW!
February 19th, 2006 at 23.28
I think I see Jesus’ face on a building in the bottom right!
February 19th, 2006 at 23.32
It obviously has nothing to do with the events of 9/11. That’s a huge stretch. There is no need to get bent out of shape of this. I worry when I see people get so ultra-sensitive about things like this. That does not reflect well on us as a nation.
If John Wayne had been killed by a horse, would we ban the thousands of images with him near a horse?
February 19th, 2006 at 23.42
[...] Paul Keller hat dieses seltsame Exemplar einer schlechten Kitschlampe heute für 20 Euro erworben (via) – normalerweise sind auf derlei Plastikerzeugnissen ewig fließende Wasserfälle zu sehen -, und in der Tat mag man einen Moment lang versucht sein, darin einen schlechten, gar bösen Scherz zu sehen. Flugzeuge auf Hochhäuser, das geht ja gar nicht. Whatever — i guess this is the fruit of relativism and cynicism as a personal philosophy. (Kommentar von Dan) [...]
February 19th, 2006 at 23.44
I think it looks pretty innocent, I mean it’s not there’s a red flash when the plane passes the tower, it looks just like a plane passing a really big building. Although it’s painful to think of the towers after that terrible day, it was a marvel of engineering and we shouldn’t the accomplishment of the towers, wiping it from our collective memory seems wrong to me.
February 20th, 2006 at 00.00
Hmm, excuse me, but I heard (too low) a voice in this movie which seems to me German, isn´t it? Poor idea and product. Now (…please, it´s just a thought, send me no stones), do you think it has any connections with the Muslim cartoon crisis? One possible answer: no, it´s just bad taste, exploring a tragedy to sell lamps.
February 20th, 2006 at 00.00
Oh, come on. That’s a neat little coincidence, but it’s a bit disingenuous to not show the other planes in the air and the boats on the ground. The way you set up the pictures above make it seem like for sure this was some sick joke and not just a coincidence.
February 20th, 2006 at 00.01
innocent. How many times did people notice a plane pass the twin towers before then? living in a civilized country not only means to live where you can thrive but are also obstructed to how you are viewed outside of the bubble.
ps. we’re fucked.
February 20th, 2006 at 00.01
“I guess every time someone uses ‘plane’ and ‘Twin Towers’ in the same paragraph it’s considered poor taste.”
or breaking news.
February 20th, 2006 at 00.05
I had a friend who had a framed KoolAid packet from Jonestown. This seems pretty tame compared to that. And is it really any worse than Civil War memorabilia? That was the biggest mass extermination in US history and it was perpetrated by friends, neighbors and relatives on each other.
February 20th, 2006 at 00.06
Umm, people, the plane flies by the former twin towers, not into them.
February 20th, 2006 at 02.25
They have a dozen or more of these sitting several windows of a a few Chinese import places on West 27 Street here in NY selling wholesale souvenir crap for resale.
I know people who experienced 9/11 first hand, as well as myself, and we just look at it like it’s a typical cultural insensitivity issue, not 9/11 related. Who knows, we probably pissed on some picture of a chinese number one golden lucky palace cat or something. Who pays THAT close attention to other cultures finer open wounds? It’s just a rotating city-scape with planes that pass by.
So I guess I wont buy one.
Still, I find it less offensive than making 9/11 into the movie of the week, or not having a fucking brick laid in 4 years. Focus.
February 20th, 2006 at 02.58
Even it’s not directly crashing and blatantly mocking the incident of 911, paint me disgusted.
February 20th, 2006 at 03.24
I notice you still bought the damn thing….
February 20th, 2006 at 04.15
I can’t believe I wasted my time looking at this. The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
February 20th, 2006 at 06.05
Umm…I’ve seen these in and around NYC before 9/11, and it has nothing to do with 9/11… One of these has been in my Brooklyn neighborhood pizzeria since 1999. So, unless the manufacturer had some sick premonition of the fact, it’s just coincidence.. sorry to burst your bubble, but POP!
February 20th, 2006 at 06.21
[...] my new 9/11 lamp “every two minutes or so the lamp displays an eerie little re-enactment of 9/11 as the passenger jet seems to crash into the top section of the south tower of the world trade tower” (tags: creepy as_hell nyc terrorism) [...]
February 20th, 2006 at 06.42
I am with the others that said burn it. Lets take the most extreme approach we can. I mean this can’t simpy be some cheap ass toy that is picturing the bay view of NY that just so happens (however poorly) to have what some may interput as a ‘9-11′ re-enactment. This is an ENTIRE country mocking us at 19.95 at a time.
February 20th, 2006 at 08.03
Hilarious! Thank you. Tragedy schmagedy, it’s a lamp. Look at all the Titanic crap-o-la on the market. Face it, after a period of time, inevitably, horror becomes benign history. And this story is still undecided as to who is to blame.
BTW, I have t-shirt of NYC with the Twin Towers, an original, and it makes me happy to wear. I loved the Twin Towers. They were “okay by me.”
As for the people who died, well, like I said, jury is still out on that one. Good luck to everyone who feels bad. That’s a life choice rather than an obligation. I feel everything always works out for everyone and everything, even (especially) contrary to appearances.
February 20th, 2006 at 10.54
Just like some said, wasn’t this lamp already made prior to 9/11? It certainly looks 70’s/80’s. And just because of the event this lamp got a new life.
As a matter of fact the creator of the lamp was behind the 9/11 attacks just to boost sales from his otherwise disappointing creation….
February 20th, 2006 at 11.27
Can I get one with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in it? And can the poms have one with Big Ben in it? And can the New Zealanders have on with……(um, bugger, no research. What can the Kiwis have in theirs?).
February 20th, 2006 at 11.57
Hi Paul,
Where in Berlin did you find that lamp? And have you been to White Trash (between U Senefelder Pl. & U Rosa Luxemberg Str.)? If you like kitschy stuff you might like it.
Henry
February 20th, 2006 at 16.59
[...] [...]
February 21st, 2006 at 15.09
It’s called a “seabed lamp” becuase it usually has a coral and marine fish scene in it. I have one.
February 21st, 2006 at 23.52
Oh noes. It’s a lamp that coincidentally looks a little bit like September 11th, except without the plane crashing into the building, just passing harmlessly past instead. Those evil deviant fiends, making such a thing!
Why I bet these are the same people who chose to name the second Lord of the Rings movie “The Two Towers”, which sounds a little bit like “The Twin Towers”, which is really, really, REALLY offensive.
Won’t somebody please think of teh children?
March 1st, 2006 at 05.45
Perhaps the lamps were made before 9/11. Surely, after that they would leave the plane out of the picture just to be politically correct. Probably just an innocent tasteless lamp.
March 16th, 2006 at 15.08
[...] [photoshop is your best friend if you are off-line waiting for the tv-screen to be taken away so you can finally leave the booth and escape the your crazy neigbours]. and yes it looks like i have a 9/11 obsession lately. further proof can be found here and here. [...]
August 2nd, 2006 at 04.41
Marissa…
That was a very nice post, I’m proud of you!…
September 10th, 2006 at 23.39
the person in that plane can suck my dick.
September 11th, 2006 at 15.45
I FEEL HORRIBLE. today is the anniversary of that horrible accedent! why us? why the north tower? why a plane? WTF were they on??????
September 12th, 2006 at 17.07
On April 12th 2000 I actually made my first trip to new york. I was on the topmost floor of the world trade centre. I thought to myself- wow……… what a wonderful picture of the whole world. i am on top of the world. i am actually standing on the tallest building in the world.”
One year and 4 months went by and i was horrified on the 11th september 2001
September 12th, 2006 at 23.31
this is really sad…i had always wanted to know what it was like to be at the very top…and now i will never get to see it.
September 14th, 2006 at 21.46
How about you all stop being so disrespectful! And think about all the people and the families that are now greaving because of this all!
September 17th, 2006 at 22.38
[...] maybe the most complete summary of the whole situation was made by ’sddd’ in the comments section of my blog post about my 9/11 lamp: the person in that plane can suck my dick. [...]
September 27th, 2006 at 10.06
r.i.p. every 1 p.s. were do you see jesus
October 18th, 2006 at 00.54
i’m melissa and i come from england (birmingham). i was in america (florida) when this happened and i was about 10 or 11 n i dnt think i can remember much but i remember waking up and my family were in the lounge and they told me and i didn’t want to go out of our appartment. i went to watch the world trade centre and now i realise how bad it must of been but thinking about it, it must of bin 1000 times worse then watchin the film. R.I.P to all of those people that died on that day xxxxxxxxxxxxx
November 7th, 2006 at 15.57
[...] looks as if quite alot of people do look for information on the 9/11 attacks around that date and that some of them do end up here. i would guess that this has to do with my 9/11 lamp, but who knows as there are lots of other terrorism related postings here as well. in any case the bars in the sites/visits row (orange and yellow that us) on the 9th do look like the WTC i remember from my childhood … [...]
November 26th, 2006 at 07.57
[...] have no clue what i have done to piss of the sheiks, but my guess would be that they also assume some kind of connection between me and 9/11 (see here for a more detailed explanation of their censorship policies) now in that case i would not let me into their country (which they did) and if i were them i would reconsider censoring the internet in the transit zone of an international airport (people who have access to this zone will be in a place without censorship the next time they connect anyway). of course they sheiks themselves like their internet uncensored, so the wireless network of the Emirates First Class Lounge (which leaks outside the lounge) does not block any pages (presumably so that the sheiks can download porn while waiting). [...]
March 18th, 2007 at 16.00
[...] Yes, Mister Strickland, I am! Posted in Uncategorized by deadseablogs on the February 26th, 2006 Wow, so much for weekly, eh? I just haven’t been finding as many interesting videos lately to post, quite honestly, so I’ll probably just update whenever that list gets long enough ;-/ (3.83mb, WMV) – inside a hard drive [via] (MPG 17.0mb) – touch screen technology [via] (4.0mb MOV) – Tetris demo on Nintendo DS [via] ( 5mb, AVI) – World record stone skipper (40x) [via] (5.02mb MOV) – Very strange post-9/11 lamp [via] (8mb MPG) – kids playing marimbas (Sabre Dance), quite good [via] (30.4mb MOV) – A Scanner Darkly trailer [via] [...]
April 28th, 2008 at 17.08
I really think that this particular piece of crapola is innocent but one of the secondary effects of terrorism iscreating fear,offence and an unstable current in al aspects of life after an attack like 9/11.I am from england and can only guess at the general feeling of fear and sadness experiened by americans on that day.I think we should pull together,grieve and remember the victims and not let tastless yet harmless things stir up more negativity.
September 27th, 2008 at 06.28
I’m sure I so this lamp in like 95, six years before that horrible day.
also if it was trying to be a “hint” at what happened the tower with the antenna was hit into first.
January 6th, 2009 at 17.05
What is bumburbia?