Yea, IF you can call it a video... The concept of The Wilderness Downtown is simply amazing. The short, interactive film by Chris Milk, written as an example of the power of HTML5 and a Google Chrome experiment, lets you plug in your address, or any other (I used 1600 Pennsylvania Ave) and take part in the elements unfolding around you. (It's better on a huge monitor)

Opening and closing, inter-related browser windows give vision to the story of "We Used to Wait" in a way that a traditionally-flat 2D composition cannot do.  The idea is genius, if not entirely new, but the execution (on Google's Chrome browser) is close to the top, although you will need a moderately robust machine for the piece to flow properly. The film is basically an interactive bit of a person running, presumably downtown, and eventually fills the area you plugged in with trees. The film relies heavily on Google technologies such as StreetView and the Google Maps API, so the concept won't be complete if you happen to enter an address with no Maps coverage.

Arcade Fire's Interactive, new-media video "experience" might not be one for the record books, but the immersion is one that gives a personalized meaning to the song by entering your address and seeing your home center-stage in the film. But it doesn't stop there, The Wilderness Downtown, actually gives you the opportunity to write that letter and sign your name to the one you love and at the end of the short film, your presented with an opportunity to send your letter out on the wires, to the one you love.

And that's not all.... The postcard you write could end up as background visuals on Arcade Fire's tour, printed on the Wilderness Machine or sent to another Wilderness Downtown user at random. So it might be a good idea to keep it set on "general love,"  err, maybe not - it all depends on how expressive you are.

You can also download a copy of your letter/postcard and you are given a special link to bookmark and check for replies. You can also send replies to others, if you know their special code.

Reports of planting the postcard and it growing into a tree are as of yet, unconfirmed. But let us know if you get one and it works out.

There is a complicated mess of technical details on just how this interactive short was made over yonder.

View the interactive short at www.thewildernessdowntown.com - (Google Chrome Browser for PC or Mac, required or the film just won't work correctly.)

Arcade Fire - "We Used to Wait" - Live - Video

Arcade Fire - "We Used to Wait" - Lyrics

I used to write,
I used to write letters I used to sign my name
I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain
But by the time we met
By the time we met the times had already changed
So I never wrote a letter
I never took my true heart I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out
I was left standing in the wilderness downtown
Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last
It seems strange
How we used to wait for letters to arrive
But what's stranger still
Is how something so small can keep you alive
We used to wait
We used to waste hours just walking around
We used to wait
All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown
oooo we used to wait
oooo we used to wait
oooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
(oooo we used to wait)
Sometimes it never came
(oooo we used to wait)
Still moving through the pain
(oooooo)
I'm gonna write a letter to my true love
I'm gonna sign my name
Like a patient on a table
I wanna walk again gonna move through the pain
Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last
oooo we used to wait
oooo we used to wait
oooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
(oooo we used to wait)
Sometimes it never came
(oooo we used to wait)
Still moving through the pain
(oooooo) 
we used to wait (x3) 
We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming sing the chorus again
We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming sing the chorus again
I used to wait for it
I used to wait for it
Hear my voice screaming sing the chorus again
Wait for it (x3)