“Klik!” is a sexy, bodacious babosity by the Dutch filmmaker rapscallions Bobby de Groot, Sven Neve and Arjan van Meerten from Amsterdam’s House of Secrets. The trippy one-minute stereoscopic 3-D animated short film was created for the opening of the 2009 Klik animation festival in Amsterdam.
This piece includes a number of colorful illustrations, as well as the audaciously cheeky animated short, “Klik!”
Please visit my website to view these illustrations, and to relish this joyfully bodacious animated short:
Rihanna surely knows to promote her stuff.Barbadian singer poses on what looks like a zebra in this show for her upcoming music video for “Rude Boy”.Haha, that catsuit on the back of the zebra looks amaaaazing. The video was directed by Melina Matsoukas, who also directed the video for ‘Hard’ ,and scheduled to be premiered this coming Thursday, February 11. http://fashionmag.us/celebrity/rihanna-%E2%80%9Crude-boy%E2%80%9D-promo-pictures.htmlRihanna surely knows to promote her stuff.Barbadian singer poses on what looks like a... more
“Zombeer” is a dark and shocking horror short film by the Dutch director Rob van der Velden, whose previous short horror film won a Dutch Quentin Tarantino Competition. A drunken brew master has embarrassed the town brewery for the last time and has been exiled to the lonely late-night shift. But he hasn’t let this setback interrupt his drinking, and he ends up falling head-first into a boiling vat of churning hops. Now we all know that this would turn any drunk into a raging zombie, right? And that the now-tainted beer will turn everyone else who drinks this hops-with-a-bite into bloodthirsty zombies also, right? So now we have an entire town of drunken, bloody-minded zombies. That’s the plot. Done.
This piece includes a number of appalling, ghastly color photographs, as well as the dreadfully savage short film, “Zombeer.”
Please visit my website to view these gruesome photographs, and to watch this terrifying short film:
“Le Coeur est un Métronome” (The Heart is a Metronome) is a wonderfully moving four-minute animated short film by the young French filmmaker Jean-Charles Mbotti-Malolo. What happens when children really grow up and become young men, when they no longer necessarily accept admonishment from their fathers for their misdeeds. What happens when both adults throw a tantrum and storm out of the house? Do they fall out of love with each other?
In this touching film, dancing is the high point of the exchanges between the two characters, because it is their only means of communication. And it is the street dance routines that entertain and mark this movie out as so special, slick, rhythmic movements, quite perfectly animated and indeed choreographed, as father and son perform together almost despite themselves.
While watching this inspiring film, I could not help but reminisce about the legendary Gregory Hines-Sammy Davis Jr. Tap Challenge in the movie “Tap.”
This piece includes a number of colorful illustrations from the film, as well as the marvelous animated short.
Please visit my website to view these illustrations, and to watch this touching animated short film:
A new PLoS-ONE paper describes the identification of several DNA sequence variants in the myostatin gene, and a genetic association study indicating that these sequence variants may be useful for predicting the best race distance for flat racing Thoroughbred horsesA new PLoS-ONE paper describes the identification of several DNA sequence variants in... more
These very well could be the first pictures of the iPhone 4G or they could be completely fake. Either way, it looks like the 4G might be taller than its predecessors.These very well could be the first pictures of the iPhone 4G or they could be... more
Photographer Len Steckler is just now releasing photographs that he took of Marilyn Monroe during a 1961 visit with Pulitzer-prize winning poet Carl Sandburg. Steckler is selling them as a limited edition series called “Marilyn Monroe: The Visit.”
This piece presents a number of vintage photographs from that series, as well as two videos about these photographs.
Please visit my website to view these photographs, and to watch the videos about "The Visit" series of photographs:
Well, I ended up missing most of the Super Bowl, as well as almost all of the ads that went along with the Big Game. But I did catch the Google ad and it’s a knockout, a real triumph of story over the technical wizardry that’s usually showcased in Super Bowl ads!
Includes photographs, as well as the wonderful Google Super Bowl ad, “Parisian Love.”
Please visit my website to watch this great Google ad:
“Embrace Life” is a one-minute public service announcement directed by the English filmmaker Daniel Cox. The spot uses no violent images, no blood and no gore; however, it still provokes a strong emotional response in the viewer.
This piece includes a number of color photographs, as well as the one-minute PSA, “Embrace Life.”
Please visit my website to view the photographs, and to watch this evocative PSA:
This is a photographic tribute to the great Chicago photographer Victor Skrebneski. The piece includes a number of high resolution B&W photographs, a wonderful slide show and the HQ short film, “Skrebneski: The First Fifty Years.”
Please visit my website to view these wonderful photographs, the slide show and the short film:
"What is more frustrating is their handling of the Iraq war. There are two covers chosen to tell the story of Iraq. First, there's the Tales of the Tyrant cover from the Atlantic Monthly. You ought to have an easy time divining which tyrant is on display. Next is Time's "We got him!" cover. It's Saddam Hussein again, fresh from his hole. The story of the Iraq war, it would seem, is a simple one: There was a tyrant and we got him."
Just one of the items Conor Knighton looks at in his weekly roundup of the
world of media. Also includes: Miss America, 'Lost' returns, Joe Biden's
knowledge of 'Avatar,' the Pro Bowl, 'Solitary' and Oprah's ass, and naked
financial news.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, Bryan Safi and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://infomaniafacebook.com.Just one of the items Conor Knighton looks at in his weekly roundup of the
world of... more
“The Lady and The Reaper” is an acclaimed, very funny animated short film by the Spanish director Javier Recio Gracia, which was just named a 2010 Oscar Nominee for Best Animated Short Film. The film tells the tale of a sweet old widow who is living alone on her farm, waiting for the arrival of death so she can be with her beloved husband once again. One night, while asleep, the lady’s life fades out and she’s invited by the grim reaper to cross death’s door. But just when she is about to do so, the old lady wakes up inside a hospital ward and discovers that, unfortunately, she’s been saved from death’s door by an arrogant doctor. The doctor then wages what he thinks is a heroic battle against the grim reaper, attempting to recover the old lady’s life at any cost.
This piece includes a number of colorful illustrations from the film, as well as the award-winning animated short.
Please visit my website to view these illustrations, and to watch this acclaimed animated short film:
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” is an acclaimed, hilarious animated short directed by Nicky Phelan, which is a 2010 Oscar Nominee for Best Animated Short Film. “Granny O’Grimm” turns the age-old traditions of bedtime stories and fairy tales topsy-turvey. Cleverly crafted as a mixture between a conventional fairy tale and a horror story, this animated short is a wickedly wonky re-telling of a tale that makes us laugh at the same time that its sense of bitterness makes us reconsider the cost of marginalizing our elderly in a world that’s obsessed with youth and beauty. It’s both amusing and terribly sad that Granny’s best attempts to be a gentle loving grandmother telling a bedtime story go so very far astray as she gets caught up in her own angry bitterness.
This piece includes a number of colorful illustrations and the award-winning animated short film, “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty.”
Please visit my website to view these pictures, and to watch this wonderful animated short:
“Nuit Blanche” is an amazing 4-minute HD short film directed by the Canadian filmmaker Arev Manoukian, which has just been named the $100,000 Grand Prize Winner of LG Life’s 2010 Good FilmFest. “Nuit Blanche” explores an experience many of us have lived before, a fleeting yet powerful connection with a perfect stranger. Set on a dark cobblestone street in the 1950’s, a man catches the gaze of a woman in a cafe across the street. This split-second moment becomes suspended in time, as the two gravitate towards each other in a hyper-real fantasy where nothing can hold them back.
This piece includes a number of high-resolution B&W photographs, and the beautiful, acclaimed HD short film, “Nuit Blanche.”
Please visit my website to view these wonderful photographs, and to watch this award-winning HD short film:
A new meme is just starting to make waves in the blogosphere. Selleck Waterfall Sandwich is here, it’s weird, and it doesn’t care. This tumblr account is exactly what you’d expect from the title: A pastiche of Tom Selleck, a waterfall, and a sandwich, photoshopped to create strange masterpieces.
It is common for memes to have surreal aspects (a cat playing the keyboard or a wolf giving advice.) Though most memes in the pantheon of virality, have an aspect of sense to them. The audience understands that Keyboard Cat identifies FAILs, or that Wolves give bad advice. We can laugh at these memes because we understand what they meme.
This meme on the other hand, may be an example of the first truly surreal meme. As nothing seems to correspond with reality. Selleck Waterfall Sandwich sounds more like a Dadaist parlor game.
I can imagine André Breton, Marcel Duchamp and Henry Miller sitting around a smoky Parisian bar coming up with this meme in an absinthe-induced haze.
Granted this Exquisite Corpse does have elements of sanity.
The protagonist of this meme, Tom Selleck has had kitsch popularity for years. His facial hair has been fodder for viral videos, Twitter accounts, and competitions.
Sandwiches too are wildly popular on and off the internet.
Waterfalls however, don’t make any sense, and provide the x-factor in this surrealist comb.
It’ll be hard to gauge how powerful this meme gets, but I suspect it’ll have reached its prime when Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel invite Tom Selleck on to their television shows to stand in front of a greenscreen waterfall while eating a Subway Sandwich. Now that’s what I call integrated marketing.
In the meme time, watch SuperNews! Memetasia.
http://su.pr/2nuH6MA new meme is just starting to make waves in the blogosphere. Selleck Waterfall... more
The Sundance Film Festival has announced its 2010 Jury Prizes, and James Blagden’s “Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No” was awarded an Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking. Blagden created an animated short film that tells a hilarious, meandering story about the former major league pitcher Dock Ellis, which leads him to one of his greatest moments in the sport. It provides a magical narration of his infamous no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the San Diego Padres in 1970 while he was “high as a Georgia pie,” or specifically under the influence of LSD. After retiring, he later worked as a drug counselor before passing away last December.
This piece includes a number of colorful illustrations, a video presenting Dock Ellis's first-person account of his infamous no-hitter and the award-winning animated short film.
Please visit my website to view the high-res. color illustrations, and to watch the two amazing videos:
“Bric à Brac” is an engaging 4-minute animated short film by the French filmmakers Emeline Degand and Maud Bourotte, who are two students at the EESA (now École Georges Méliès). The cardboard, stop-motion animation tells the bittersweet story of two little robot-like thingees, who are made out of spare parts (as is everything around them). The rhythms and poppy facial expression changes are awesome, and the two scrap-metal automatons really seem to enjoy experimenting with the musical capabilities of their bodies. But very sadly, one ends up turning into an ecstatic Whirling Dervish, tragically getting much too carried away!
This piece includes a number of colorful, high-resolution illustrations from the film, as well as the animated tragicomedy short, “Bric à Brac.”
Please visit my website to view the colorful pictures, and to watch this wickedly engaging animated short:
Two days after delivering his 2010 State of the Union Address, President Obama and Congressional Republicans sparred over a range of policy disagreements Friday in a lively Q&A session that highlighted the void between both parties. Accepting the invitation to speak at the House GOP retreat may have turned out to be the smartest decision the White House has made in months. The Republicans learned the hard way that debating a former University of Chicago law professor is pretty darn foolish! Many of the Republicans asked good and probing questions, but they sat in astonishment watching their arguments simply demolished by the president. It was an amazing slam dunk after slam dunk after slam dunk!
This piece includes a number of color high-resolution photographs, as well as the videos of President Obama's State of the Union Address and his GOP Question and Answer Session.
Please visit my website to view these photographs, and to watch the videos of President Obama's two addresses: