There are two things we've seen plenty of news about over the last few months when it comes to plastics in the public eye: The resurgence of vinyl records, and the United Kingdom's new plastic 5 pound note, aka the plastic fiver.
So of course, someone brought those two hot topics together.
It seems that someone discovered that the crisp, clean edges of that polymer bank note are just the perfect size to replace a phonograph needle.
The someone in this case apparently being a multimedia artist from England named Michael Northridge, who was both clever enough to post a video on YouTube of the Fiver being used on a vinyl record — and even more clever to use Abba's “Money, Money, Money” as the song he'd use in the video.
I know, the quality isn't that great, although it does improve slightly as he gets a feel for the pressure needed to make it work. (Click over here if you need to remind yourself of what the original sounds like for comparison.)
So I guess this raises a question. Since we've already seen that the resurgence of vinyl records has prompted the production of new vinyl presses for the record industry — check out Bill Bregar's stories on production in Germany and Canada — does this mean there's potential business for film makers to replace the standard stylus needle?
I'd say probably not, but then I never would've expected vinyl records to come back either. And I wouldn't be surprised in the wake of the fiver/vinyl videos someone at a film company is doing research on just that possibility now.