Many real-life things to do in the next two days. Be back Thursday! In the meantime, enjoy this fantastic explanation of the brain:
Tag: video
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This time lapse video is a must see for any Mark Ryden fan. It documents the creation of one latest masterpiece: Incarnation.
I was transfixed and barely batted an eye through the whole video, though I would have loved to see how he got to the final highly refined painting. Perhaps it’s a secret process. It’s Mark Ryden…he’s allowed to perform secret heroics.
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I’ve already seen a nice array of online April Fools Day pranks today, but one of my all time favorites has to be the Spaghetti Tree Hoax of 1957.
The BBC current affairs program Panorama told a tale of a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the fictitious spaghetti tree, broadcast at a time when this Italian dish was not widely eaten in the UK and some Britons were unaware spaghetti is a pasta made from wheat flour and water. Hundreds of viewers phoned into the BBC, either to say the story was not true, or wondering about it, with some even asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees.
Here is the TV segment:
So, what food would you want to grow on trees?
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I received links to the I Am A Paleontologist video by TMBG at least three times when it first came out, due to my love of animation and science. When Steph suggested that I check out Sean McBride’s animation projects, I was unaware that I had already seen his work in that video.
I’m a big fan of Dreamscapes, a montage of animated narrations taken from the dreams of many different people. I’ve created many physical objects from dreams, but since I don’t have the skills to produce an animation I really adore this.
And since my delight in the imagination of children never ceases, I enjoyed Why Did Yoda Fight Count Duku? Here, he grants his five year old cousin’s wish to make a movie about Star Wars (using cousin’s art work, story and voice). Okay, so maybe it’s not about Star Wars, but really…does it have to be? (If you answered “yes,” you have no soul, by the way)
There is also a whole series of short animations featuring Sean and a character based on his best friend Tony. Great dry humor. A favorite:
Sean has so many other fun projects that I promptly got sucked into his website, clicking and clicking, until I had no idea where the time had gone. I look forward to seeing more by this talented guy.
Go check out more on his website, or Youtube channel.
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I have basically no chance of catching this performance, but it looks amazing. Chicago’s Redmoon Theater has brought back The Cabinet.
The Cabinet sets the story of the murderous Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist slave Cesare in an off-kilter world of puppetry and intricate machinery. Inspired by the 1919 German Expressionist silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Cabinet creates a wild, abstracted “cabinet of curiosities” in which five puppeteers manipulate and maneuver the characters and objects much as Caligari controls Cesare’s plight.
From the Coilhouse review:
The characters are played by exquisite glass-eyed puppets, manipulated by intricately costumed puppeteers…There’s a sense of charged symbiosis, with the performers moving in measured, clockwork rhythms, like antique automatons. They watch their puppets raptly, sometimes standing alongside them, sometimes hanging upside down, sometimes nearly out of sight. Gloved hands appear from around the edges of the stage; when a weapon appears, it is held out to the puppet with a long-handled silver hemostat. When there is a death, they unspool red ribbons of blood.
A short clip:
Anyone know of a way I could make an appeal for this production to come to NYC?
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I love old educational videos, particularly the low budget variety. In this cautionary tale, two puppets tell us how to avoid hosting parasites.
The main message (overtly stated multiple times) is essentially “Do not defecate in the dirt outside your house.”
Really. They can’t stress that enough.
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Today I had the pleasure of seeing a truly lovely claymation film: Mary and Max.
Based on a true story, Mary and Max chronicles the friendship of two unlikely pen pals; an eight year old Australian girl, and an old Jewish atheist with Asperger Syndrome.
The film was accompanied by a Q&A panel put together by the Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association.
Although showing this movie is a wonderful way to expand awareness, it is in no way didactic or clinical. The main character has Asperger Syndrome, but the condition integrates with pathos and humor while remaining delicately informative. The story achieves a balance of innocence and purity without naivety.
Mary and Max is, above all, a movie about being human, “warts and all.” The quirks, insecurities and foibles of the characters are common. It’s the story of a personal connection with all of its ups and downs as life goes on.
The cast of peripheral characters is small, but each has depth and dimension. From Mary’s father, a tea bag factory worker obsessed with taxidermy, to her “wobbly” mother who tells Mary countless lies about her shoplifting and alcohol habit, to the veteran amputee and pompadour-sporting neighbors…everyone has a story implied in a glance.
Mary and Max was done entirely by hand, beautifully designed, constructed and animated without any CGI. There is heart and soul in every scene, engaging the viewer from the first frames. I highly recommend this movie if you ever get a chance to see it. I rarely purchase DVDs (thanks to Netflix), but I will definitely buy a copy of this when it’s available.
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As I get my bearings after a busy few days, please enjoy a short video.
I credit Rifftrax for unearthing this vintage gem.
What could excite a child more than an anatomically awkward, lethargic animatronic dog with a questionable name, lumbering along in slow motion at the tug of a leash?
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I was beyond impressed by this submission to the AARP U@50 video contest. Absolutely brilliant (and the contestant is only 20 years old).
Isn’t it lovely to know such inspiring young minds exist?
Found here.
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I rarely talk about Mac products (sorry fanboys and girls), but this is pretty unique. The iVictrola iPod Amplifier evokes the classic record player design (actually, it’s more like the ghost of a Victrola rising from a block of wood).
What looks like an antique at the first sight can play your iPod without using batteries or an electrical plug or a solar panel for that matter, but the device runs on an acoustic amplification based on its simple and smart engineering.
SheWalksSoftly 