Animation, Art, and Other Shiny Things
Everyone pilfers the occasional office supply – even in alternate universes.
Luminaris is the story of a man living in a world controlled by light. Each morning, the inhabitants of that world are woken up and pulled to their jobs by the sunlight, as if by a magnetic force. Our protagonist works in a factory making electric light bulbs, but has larger ambitions of his own. The setting of the film is a classic Buenos Aires, revisited from a fantastic point of view. The film uses a collage of styles, combining art deco, tango, surrealism, and neorealism.
via Short Film
It’s Spring and the woodland animals are getting active, including the ubiquitous Robin. If you’ve ever looked out into the yard and asked yourself “I wonder what it would be like to be a Robin on an acid trip?” then this imaginative short will answer that for you.
From Belgian animator Kristof Luyckx (et al)
(i must warn you, there is some animated suggestive unicorn-on-unicorn action later in the video. i wouldn’t mention it but if i didn’t then someone would be sure to have a hissy fit. i really hate hissy fits that aren’t my own)
In the spirit of She Who Measures, The Wonder Hospital questions whether our actions and desires are based on false perceptions that we, ourselves, create.
In a mysterious hospital, modification of physical beauty is not what you would expect.
A girl’s desire for superficial beauty leads her to chase after the luring ‘After’ images on a path of advertisements throughout the hospital. But in the end she finds something unimaginable and irreversible.
via shimbe.com
Film by Beomsik Shimbe Shim
When poking around learning about the Metamorphosis video on Buck‘s site I came across this little gem. While the movie Psycho made taking a shower scary, Shiny Suds evokes a bit different feeling…
Gotoku-ji Cemetary watercolor by Mister Kha
The legends surrounding Maneki Neko are many and varied. The bones of the old narratives appear placeable in history, but much that wraps them have their roots in Japanese folklore and tradition. (as well as occasional, simple, voracity)
The legend I prefer takes place during a dark and stormy night at a monastery near Edo, Japan (now Tokyo) in the year 1615.
Gotoku-ji temple was very poor. The monk had barely enough food for himself and a cat he had taken in, Tama, but he made do, tending the monastery and following his path as best he could.
Ii Naotaka
After splitting a particularly meager meal, the monk said to Tama, “Your companionship means much to me, but I can not assure you a good meal. You should not starve with me, but find yourself a home worthy of your company.” The cat, of course, did not reply, but went to sit in a window of the temple as cats are wont to do.
Outside in the rain, Ii Naotaka, second son of Ii Naomasa, hereditary owner of Hikone Castle, was returning from the Battle of Tennōji. With the storm worsening, Ii Naotaka and his men took refuge beneath a tree. Looking around he saw the cat in the monastery window. It’s paw raised, the cat seemed to be beckoning the Daimyo to take shelter in the small temple. As he approached the monastery, lightening stabbed down and split the tree that he had just been standing beside. He surely would have been killed had he remained by the tree.
The urn purported to contain the ashes of Tama (Gotoku-ji Temple)
Welcomed in, Ii Naotaka found the old priest to be wise and kind and devoted to his path and his companion Tama. To repay the cat and priest for saving his life he became Gotoku-ji temple’s patron. When Tama died, the cat was given a place of honor in the temple cemetery, where many important members of the Ii family are also buried, and the first Maneki Neko statue was created in his memory.
Today, Gotoku-ji temple is still open for worship and attracts visitors from all over the world.
But the story of Maneki Neko is far from over. Read more of this post
Sometimes you just gotta move…
Sweat by U.S.U.R.A.
h/t Liquid TV
(and an extra happy dance for finally finishing a long-form post that will go up tomorrow!)
Passe Vite is an appealingly (a-peelingly?) idiosyncratic stop-motion animation from Belgians Bert Dombrecht, Korneel Detailleur, and Ben Verschooris.
via Future Shorts
The mixture of live and animation is striking and well done. It’s also some excellent electronica. Video by Emil Goodman
This bizarre, subversive, and visually arresting little flick is the work of Croatian director Veljko Popović and animator Marin Kovačić.
Are we truly free? Are our desires our own or just a construct of the society we were born in or there is a chance to escape after all?
More at Lemonade3D.
I love me my electronica and this track from Posthuman is some serious and heavy acid techno. The video, by JimJam Graphics, is as slick and crisp as the beats.
(yes, this is an extra post. it’s saturday and weekends need some massive gravity)
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The Ruffled Crow 