#internet lost media

[silversapphire5691]

my personal cases of lost media

so i adore lost media, mostly because a lot of internet media i grew up with is now lost. i wanted to compile my own personal cases of lost media here in the hopes that someone else remembers them. maybe some of them could be found who knows :0

prepare yourselves for a loooooong post: hoops and yoyo/hallmark ecards

ive discussed this one a lot, but a lot of hoops and yoyo media and ecards from hallmark are lost. a lot of the interactive ones are missing because hallmark took them down sometime in the early 2010s. ive gone on the wayback machine and took note of old ecards i remember watching, but i cannot access the videos. some are available on a flash player, i think the blue maximus flash player?, so some have been found. but there's still a lot missing.

pokemon figure adventures videos

back in the day, i loved watching plush/figure videos, most of which were just kids goofing around with a camera and their toys. when i first got into pokemon, i remember watching a channel featuring "episodes" of a kid playing with his pokemon figures. some of the episodes i remember included one pokemon hypnotizing another and another video where togepi goes wandering into the woods and meets a charizard (or another big pokemon). pokemon that were used often included abra, gligar, sandshrew, and aipom. i remember the beginning of the hypnotizing video starting with the pokemon talking to himself before turning to the camera and saying something along the lines of "greetings pokemon fans."

this one very well could be buried under hundreds of other similar videos but i honestly think it may have been deleted long ago.

beanie babies movie part 1 of 6

another toy video (and there will be more) was a beanie baby "movie" that was split into 6 parts. i don't remember the plot of the movie, only the first part and the first scene. it involved a goose beanie at a milk bar drunk on milk i believe. the bartender says "sir you're going to have to pay your tab now." the goose refuses and asks for another glass, to which the dog bartender says something about the goose being lactose intolerant. that's all i remember from it unfortunately.

missing strawberry516 videos

strawberry516 was a pretty big webkinz youtuber back in the day, or at least i thought so. she uploaded a video called "webkinz go to the doctor" which got over 1 million views. i actually remember it being one of the top search results for webkinz videos. she has since deleted her channel and with it dozens of videos.

monkeybartv

switching away from youtube, this is a lost hasbro website i remember visiting back in the day. if i remember correctly, hasbro's more popular brands (littlest pet shops, my little pony, etc) had their own websites, so i think this was for the less popular brands. i remember idog and maybe gi joe had games and videos? i remember one game was some sort of sound maker maybe? i distinctly remember something involving mustard with that game, but i don't remember what brand it was for. i barely see anyone talk about this, so if anyone else remembers it, let me know!

ill probably make a part 2 to this, because this only scratches the surface! let me know if you remember any of these or if you know where to find some of these!

#lost media #internet lost media #personal lost media

[bunny-heels]

trying to find an old internet short film about a girl with a petty roommate and a crush on a boy in a band

so i made this post on reddit 3 months ago and even though apparently 400+ people saw it no one commented on it and i didnt even get a message about it so im trying on here. this is copy pasted from the reddit post:

"It was an animated short film about a girl who worked at an office job, with a petty girl roommate who had a big ego, and she had a crush on a boy who I believe was the lead singer of a small band.

The events I can remember them in is this.

The girl is at her office job when her crush comes in asking her if she could print out flyers for his band that are going to be preforming soon. She agrees and does so at her job, but she gets distracted(?) and flyers start copying at rapid speed and I think spreading all over town. The crush is grateful that she did it, so he gives her a free ticket to a concert they'll be doing at a bar.

She holds onto the ticket throughout a few scenes before there is a gust of wind and the ticket goes flying out of her hand, and there is a whole chase scene that happens, where in one part she gets stuck on a hand from a big city clock (not Big Ben, this is an American film).

This next part I just unlocked in my brain recently, although I don't know if this is a false memory. I think she was able to sneak into the bar where they were playing, but then either she got drunk and threw up on her crush, or there was a bar fight that lead to her having to go home. I'm leaning more towards her throwing up and going home out of embarrassment.

The film ends with her in bed sad (maybe also crying and/or hungover?) until she gets a message on her answering machine from her crush, where he's clearly drunk, still at the bar, talking to her about what's happening, and it ends with her smiling and sighing out of love.

There were two scenes I could remember with the roommate that I don't know where exactly they placed in the film, but I remember the order of when they appeared. The first scene being the main girl and her roommate arguing about laundry, and the next scene being the main girl trying to get into her apartment building as it's about to rain, but the roommate locks the building door behind her on purpose, and the main girl ends up melting into a puddle because it was acid rain.

This is all I can remember about the film. I don't remember who animated it or what it was called. All I can remember was that it must've been uploaded somewhere online between 2005 to 2009-2010. Here's an old drawing I did a couple years ago of what I remember the characters and art style to look like."

this is the drawing

i like, literally have nowhere else to go about this other than here. if someone knows anything about internet short film history or something like that or if anyone else remembers this short film, please please PLEASE say something.

reblogs are really appreciated for this

#the bun talks #help me find #lost media #internet lost media #short film #animated short film #2d animated short film #2000s internet #2000s media #2000s web

[lambergeier]

truly can’t believe the entire internet used to be about playing little games. it was about having adobe flash and playing little games on nick.com

#spent just a few hours trying to find the old wild thornberrys wildlife rescue game tonight #turns out that game is officially 'lost media' #which sure is a weird term for something i so vividly remember playing for hour after hour in the evenings in 5th grade! #truly sometimes the ephemerality of internet media is not only bad but profoundly disorienting #there used to be so many WEBSITES on the internet

[bucketofcursedbooks]

I love you lost media I love you video essays I love you iceberg chart videos I love you archive sites I love you old web I love you media leaks I love you reference book section I love you obscure and strange history I love you Wikipedia

#lost media #old web #oldweb #video essays #iceberg chart #internet archive #book love #big brain time #history #Wikipedia #wendigoon #nexpo #i love you

[cryptixotic]

Check it in - Check it out Is it really you ? ✹

#most mysterious song on the internet #liminal horror #lost media #graphic design #monochrome #cat #poster #Italo disco #80s nostalgia #working on illustrator to build my vector illustration skills #i'm making posters out of 80s songs i enjoy - thought it would be fun to post these !

[747rabbit]

somewhere lost in time

#creepypasta #2000s nostalgia #liminal #weirdcore #nostalgiacore #childhood #dreamcore #00s nostalgia #lost media #the backrooms #smile dog #ben drowned #horror #horror aesthetic #old internet #alt aesthetic #geocities #emo #old web

[abscondminded]

Hello to spy vs spy fandom

(edit: put the higher quality pics of the comic under the cut)

#myart #fanart #spy vs spy #black spy #white spy #downloaded the 400 page casebook of comics off internet archive and read all of it #and watched all the shorts from madtv and the Cartoon Network show #and also the colored shorts from the animated mad special from like the 80s?? or was it 90s #the one with the mousetrap #but it’s colored— #and watched that lost media one where they’re at the airport #thanks to the person that posted that on tumblr LOL #anyways super normal about these goons

[let-them-fight]

why does every lost song fucking. BANG HARD

#lost media #the most mysterious song on the Internet #everyone knows that #ulterior motives #dance for hours a day #dancefloor was his name #la cancion de alicia #under the stars #<- if that song in particular ever is found in full btw. it’s going in slot 1 of a playlist instantly #tumblr #internet mysteries #lostwave

[10bendog]

Happy 25th Anniversary, Powerpuff Girls!!!

💙❤️💚

#cartoon network #powerpuff girls #ppg #ppg fanart #blossom utonium #bubbles utonium #buttercup utonium #ppgz #powerpuff girls z #powerpuff girls 2016 #my art #fan art #was gonna put up a recording of the YouTube livestream CN was doing for this anniversary but I found that my old stream reuploads are gone #damn copyright strikes I hate them #my whole-ass Internet Archive account is suspended too fml #I just didn't want the CN livestreams to become lost media #especially not the channel's 30th Anni one

[trainwreckgenerator]

hey do you guys remember razias shadow? cause i just did

#context: it was a 2008 high fantasy concept musical that got internet cult popular #the original (it was a puppet show?) is functionally lost media but the album is still in all the usual streaming places #and was very niche beloved for a while. the lyrics are not well written at all and are unrelentingly awkward #but it's very well composed and the melodies stick with you for a long time #and the overarching narrative is compelling even if its brazenly and bold facedly just doing an abridgment of the silmarillion #actually maybe i like it BECAUSE its just the silmarillion. as a weird charmingly awkward cult operatic musical #if you want to check it out but arent sure if youll like it start with the track 'holy the sea' #its the best music the album has to offer and it also gives you an accurate first impression of the overall feel to the musical #if you like it then start back at the beginning and listen through. if you dont like it then you wont like the rest #anyway #hi these are my designs that ive had for like 5 years. i think they should be little guys #razia's shadow #my art #also. brendon urie jumpscare warning. and also. oldschool high fantasy type misogyny

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

#The Internet Sucks Now #Lost Media #Fuck David Zaslav #Media Preservation #Physical Media #Pirate everything while you still can

[antlersthroughthewall]

Isn't it lovely, all alone

#dreamcore #liminal photography #weirdcore #liminal places #oddcore #the backrooms #emptycore #clowncore #kidcore #liminalcore #dead malls #clown art #old internet #film photography #lost media

[arconinternet]

Virtual Nightclub: A Game About Time (Windows, Thumb Candy, 1997)

An ambitious sci-fi adventure game which became lost media until 2016. You can download it, pre-configured to run on modern versions of WIndows, here, including a comprehensive guide and a very different unfinished beta version.

You can read the Lost Media Wiki article about it here, and read the guide's writer's thoughts on the game here.

#internet archive #game #games #video games #videogame #videogames #computer game #computer games #adventure game #adventure games #cd rom #cd rom games #multimedia #mini games #obscure game #obscure games #lost media #lost media wiki #herbie hancock #redman #neal stephenson #1997 #1990s #90s

[not-mary-sue]

Media companies: Hey this isn't making enough money so we're getting rid of it.

Internet Archivists: Lol the fuck you are.

Like are they dumb? If they stopped making new content but kept old stuff up with ads, they'd still make some income. Try to remove it and we'll protect it for free.

#lost media #media #media preservation #internet archive #rooster teeth #rt #warner bros #watcher #watcher entertainment

[vocaloidfactoftheday]

Have You Seen This Lost GUMI Anime Pilot?

This is a bit of an unusual post for this blog, but I think I may have come across a case of lost media involving an anime pilot starring GUMI. It's possible that it exists on the Internet, and I hesitate to declare this as "lost media," but I cannot find it anywhere, and I figured that a post on this blog was the best way to see if anyone has any leads or extra info.

The anime is titled "Koisuru Dessan Ningyo," with an English title of "Do Drawing Dolls Dream of Love?" I don't know the runtime of the pilot, but I think it was most likely around 5-7 minutes. I believe this could have been the first instance of a Vocaloid being cast in a main voice acting role (perhaps, the first one cast in any voice acting role). I'm not completely sure if they actually used the Megpoid voicebank, or had Megumi Nakajima voice act as GUMI, but the way AnimeAnime (Japanese anime news site) describes it, it seems like it may have been the former. In either case, the character that GUMI portrays in the anime is a character that is clearly made to resemble her.

(These are the only screenshots I could find that come from the pilot, but more may exist.)

The main character is a doll (who I'm not sure is named), who models for a girl's drawings before eventually falling in love with her. I don't believe GUMI's character has a name, but she plays a main role as the girl the doll falls in love with.

Where It Was Seen

The pilot aired on NHK TV on January 9, 2014, during late night (possibly just after midnight?). It aired alongside another pilot as part of the program Aoyama 1seg Kaihatsu. This was a sort of tournament, where two pilots were broadcast once a month for three months, and viewers would vote for which pilot they liked best. Then, the three winners would go against each other in a final round, where the pilot with the most votes would get picked up to become a series. (I think they held this tournament once a year from 2010 to 2014 or 2015, though I don't know if it was the exact same every time.) The broadcast was 25 minutes long for each of the first three rounds, with the first half dedicated to showing both pilots and the second half dedicated to presentations about each pilot. (This is why I think this pilot was around 5-7 minutes, though I'm not sure exactly how much time commercial breaks would take up.) For a few years, including 2014, the program was hosted by the now-disbanded Japanese girl group E-girls (no relation to what you and I know as "e-girls." in their case the E stands for "exile.")

According to the official Tumblr account, karappo-heart, this pilot won the first round of the competition! It probably didn't make it out of the finals, though, since it didn't get picked up for a series. It's also possible that it did win, but some other issues prevented its production. In any case, the Tumblr account hasn't been updated since the first round ended. While this contest was going on, three shorts were apparently available to watch on NHK's website, but they have since been removed. I think at least one of the shorts was web-exclusive. I haven't been able to find info on who actually won the finals, or even what GUMI's short won against.

People Involved

The doll is portrayed by a masked dancer refererred to as Hitori de Dekiru Mon. I can't find much info about him online, but I think his real name is Takemura Ryohei. (I'm not sure because that part on his Japanese Wikipedia article has a "citation needed" label.) AnimeAnime specifically refers to his role as being the doll's "human form," though it's possible he provided voice acting too. AnimeAnime points out the unusual nature of having a human portray a doll, and having a Vocaloid portray a human.

Masanori Okamoto (who also wrote the screenplay and produced the pilot) animated the pilot with the pixilation technique, using time-lapse pictures to show movement of objects and people (this may have included live-action photos of the doll's actor portraying a "human form" of the doll). It seems like it may have blended stop motion/puppetry and live action stills with traditional animation? This is an example of Okamoto's work from around the same time, which seems like it might have been made in a similar style:

The third known person to have worked on this is none other than Vocaloid producer sasakure.UK. He composed the theme song, which of course features GUMI, and a few other songs to be used in potential future episodes. If you're a big fan of his, the anime title may sound familiar to you, as he released 3 of these songs (though both news sites I looked at, AnimeAnime and Anime News Network, say he made 4 total) plus their instrumentals as an EP under the same title. You can listen to the whole thing on YouTube!

I think this EP uses GUMI's VOCALOID3 voicebanks (the first sounds like either Native or Sweet, the second one sounds like Adult or Power (if it even is GUMI--it sounds more like IA to me, but sasakure.UK labeled it as a GUMI song so I kinda have to take his word for it) and the third sounds like Sweet). If that's the case, her V3 voicebanks would have probably been used for the voice acting, too.

Places I've Looked

After some Internet searches only garnered me a few screenshots, I decided to see if there was a way I could ask sasakure.UK himself about the short. I believe he has a contact form on his website, which I used to send a message in both Japanese and English (in case Google Translate was more helpful to him than my incoherent Japanese). This was back in May of this year and I never received a response. (Since I used a website contact form and not a direct email, I don't have the message I sent him anymore. I guess that's lost media now too.)

It occured to me while writing this post that I never contacted the animator himself, Masanori Okamoto. While his Vimeo and YouTube pages don't have the pilot, and his Twitter and Tumblr links haven't been updated in several years, he does have an email address listed. I sent him a message (in English because I was too sick and tired to try to write a coherent email in Japanese and I don't like waiting to do these things). I'm not sure he still checks his email since his social media that I've found has all been inactive for years, but I will post an update if he responds.

I know that this pilot is not on the NHK website, or, again, on the animator's YouTube or Vimeo pages. I also could not find it on the Internet Archive.

Now, I don't expect anyone reading this to have saved this on their computer and kept it there since 2014. But with this post, my goal is simply to make more people aware that this exists at all, and I'd also like to learn more about it myself (such as whether or not the pilot won in the finals after all, how much animation actually exists for it, if any more screenshots are out there, etc.)

Thank you for reading such a long post! Please feel free to correct any info I got wrong, or add on to this post with any knowledge you might have about this lost pilot!

(also sorry for any typos :()

#vocaloid #lost media #sasakure.uk #gumi #japanese vocaloid #vocaloid2 #vocaloid3 #internet co #lost content

[thunderlina]

LOST MEDIA: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach Web Games

I come to you tonight with one request: I want help in tracking down the Plastic Beach point-and-click adventure game from the Phase 3 (2010-2012) Gorillaz website.

In 2010, coinciding with the release of their third studio album, British virtual band Gorillaz gave their website a huge overhaul, including the release of several new flash games. The centerpiece was a point-and-click adventure game (untitled, usually just referred to as "Plastic Beach") in which the player was able to explore the island of Plastic Beach, similar to the games available on earlier websites where the player was able to explore Gorillaz HQ Kong Studios.

Along with this game were a few others: Escape to Plastic Beach, a three chapter long action/adventure game (the third chapter of which cost €1.50 to play, and was available both for PC and iPhones.) Just recently the developer, Matmi, hinted at trying to re-release these, but they went silent regarding it and nothing has come of it so far.

There were also two smaller Flash titles, Submatronic and Gorillaz Fishing. Not entirely sure what these two entailed but they were listed on the website and, like the adventure game and Escape are not playable via the Wayback Machine nor are they archived elsewhere.

From my research, it seems the website had some kind of DRM software that the older websites (which have been archived over at zombiehiphop.xyz) didn't, since the Plastic Beach game used full tracks from the album and EMI was worried about piracy. Before anyone suggests it like was done in other places where I've asked about this, no, the game was not released on a CD or DVD. Because of this, all four games unique to the Plastic Beach era website are lost. The iPhone port of Escape to Plastic Beach was also removed from the App Store years ago, and as such is also completely lost.

As of right now, all that still exists are low-quality videos of the adventure game in action, a few screenshots, and a handful of Flash files I've dug up from the Wayback Machine.

The loss of this game represents not just a loss for Flash preservation, but a huge loss for Gorillaz fans as it was an integral element of the story of the Plastic Beach era. Without it and much of the other content from the old website, the already incomplete story that Jamie Hewlett and the rest of the Zombie Flesh Eaters team were trying to tell lives on almost wholly through secondary accounts. While recordings exist, it is simply not the same as having access to the full experience.

I ask of you all to please consider my words and help me do something about this, instead of wallowing in hopelessness as it seems the community has been doing for oh so long now.

Thank You.

Footage of the adventure game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUnvkZFPu1Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmAo_POMRHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW6KHLLgBss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWIkwVDIJNQ

The handful of Flash files I dug up via the Wayback Machine: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RKpP9o-j-4jFkdQEDN54ye5LGZIrBd_7

#lost media #gorillaz #partially lost media #plastic beach #flashpoint #old internet #internet media #flash games #mysteries #nostalgia #gorillaz phase 3 #murdoc niccals #stuart 2d pot #russel hobbs #damon albarn #jamie hewlett #zombie flesh eaters #archival #media preservation #video games #lost games #internet mysteries