"I didn't know you could do that!"

[mrpenguinismyhomeboy]

Has there ever been anything, music, pictures, books, etc., that changed your knowledge of what was possible with the medium? Something made you go "holy crap, I didn't know you could make [insert medium here] like that!"

For me it was with music, and it was the Animal Collective album Strawberry Jam. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before and I had no idea people could make stuff like it. It had also happened (before I had heard of Animal Collective) with Aphex Twin.

 

[Kialee]

Actually, I did have a moment like that a few months ago, when I heard my first dubstep song.
I wasn't aware music could sound so...dirty.

 

[tippy2k2]

The storytelling/twist of Memento. I went into it thinking it was just going to be garbage. How the hell could a movie going backwards work and how do I fix it to so that it goes forward?

Good God what an awesome movie and hey, why can't you be my John Doe?

 

[unoleian]

Maybe I'm just new to this style of jam....

...and I might be annoying some people by now with how often I mention it, but, damn, Pretty Lights. A whole new concept of music for me. (This is like the 20th time I've mentioned them since Wednesday, I think...)

And, dammit, I swear I'm not advertising! It was seriously just that big of a "holy shit, how did I miss this?!" for me. I've been jamming it non-stop since I found their albums. (All albums FREE on their website, btw, what have you got to lose?!)

"Oooh, Pretty Lights, great name for yet another spacey trancey Sasha did it years ago blah blah" stuff...but then, I finally checked it out. What finally kicked it for me was the amount of friends in Facebook raving about it and "liking" it all over the place. Finally cracked.
Holy crap. From a "meh" to top 10 in less than 48 hours. Fucking amazing! And this isn't some "MySpace" group. Those don't tend to sell out venues like Red Rocks and the Tabernacle, let alone get an opportunity to play there...
Okay, I'll go away now...

but, no, seriously. Biggest "Holy shit" for me since Dark Side of the Moon.

 

[Wait...What]

The storytelling/twist of Memento. I went into it thinking it was just going to be garbage. How the hell could a movie going backwards work and how do I fix it to so that it goes forward?

Good God what an awesome movie and hey, why can't you be my John Doe?

I literally just finished watching that movie like less than 30 seconds ago and watched The Prestige earlier in the day (thats how much i liked inception made me hunt down some more Christopher Nolan films) I agree with you as well it was amazing and all of the films ive seen by Christopher Nolan (apart from the Batman films which are pretty linear) have made me see what can be done with movies.
Also to give my own answer both Quinten Tarantino and Kevin Smith made me look at Dialogue in Movies differently its so simple, its how everyone talks in real life but it works so well.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

The first time I heard the song "Through the Fire and the Flames" by Dragonforce was one of those moments.

I had heard pretty fast paced metal before, but DAMN that song sounded sick by comparison, and that without cutting back on melodic content to boot. I suspected it was some sort of digital computer stunt at first, but I I checked it out and found that it wasn't.