Must See >> What Motivates Us
Surprising material about what actually incentivizes us, particularly at work (hint: it’s not just money), animated in that addictively watchable style from the people at RSA Animate.
Zimoun’s Sound Sculptures
Above, 21 of artist Zimoun’s “sound sculptures,” which despite their mechanical mediums all seem to sound amazingly like different types of rain and wind, making them peaceful-sounding but faintly maniacal to watch. I felt like I was listening to a sleep-sound-machine while slowly going insane.
Still, check it out. My personal faves are at about 2:24 and 7:23… I just realized I incidentally picked the two least mechanical as my favorites. Ha.
“Zimoun’s sound sculptures and installations are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the «artificial» and the «organic».”
[Thanks Monica!]
A Teachable Moment >> JK Rowling’s Graduation Speech
J.K. Rowling’s address to the Harvard class of ’08, on the “fringe benefits of failure.”
This video is on the long side, but as is no surprise, it is very well-written and engaging, so if you have some time and want to feel inspired, refreshed, and entertained, give it a listen. It’s like the graduation speech you never had, and you also want her to become your adopted aunt.
I’d actually never really heard an interview or anything with her, I realized, so I was very interested to hear her speak, and the speech is personal and wonderful. After listening to this, I felt like a new grad all over again, inspired to head out into the world and make a difference.
Jay-Z’s "Hello Brooklyn"
Sometimes when I really like something straight away upon encountering it, all eloquence and diligently learned SAT vocab words suddenly seem far out of reach, and all I can think of are childish descriptors like “awesomeness.” I feel (hope) that if I thought about it longer, the analytical side of my brain would kick in and help me describe why I find something worthy of being called awesomeness, but for this Jay-Z video, I think awesomeness is just about right. So take my word for it and check out the awesomeness.
This video is not the official music video, but rather an independent “tribute” to Jay-Z, Brooklyn, and New York by Greg Solenstrom, which actually in a way makes it even cooler, knowing that this guy produced this video pretty much for fun (ok, and maybe self-promotion) without any direction from the Jay-Z team. Although I will say that before I knew it was independently done, and I thought it was Jay-Z’s idea, I was like, “Wow, Jay-Z is even cooler than I thought!” Alas.
Solenstrom uses the font Akzidenz Grotesk (the precursor to Helvetica), which, as the font on MTA subway map designed in the late 60′s (and still used today) by Massimo Vignelli, seems a perfect choice, along with tons of still images of Brooklyn treated with the Vanishing Point effect in Photoshop and After Effects to animate the video.
The above video is a non-traditional but fascinating “making of”– meaning it will not teach you how to create a video like this, but rather will boggle your mind and convince you that you could never learn how to do this. Still, despite the mind-boggling, it’s worth checking out for the appreciation of the video and this guy’s talent that it will give you. I really had no idea how much work it would take to create a video like this.
A Teachable Moment >> Are you past, present, or future-oriented?
Just discovered this organization, the RSA, self-described “cradle of enlightenment,” has this series called RSA Animate, where they illustrate and animate the talks they have sponsored. I feel like I could sit down and watch about twenty of these in a row… I’ve already watched three, and it was very hard to decide which one to share here (I’ll have to post more later).
This one is a very interesting 10 minute lecture + animation about how we perceive time. Apparently, there are six different types of people with regards to how we perceive time, and this affects our work, health, and well-being.
Did you know that the closer people live to the equator, the more present-oriented they are because the seasons don’t change very much throughout the year, so there is a continuing perception of sameness all the time? I can say as a non-local living in SB, I think that’s true!! People are never in a hurry and it’s sort of a joke how everyone comments on how nice life is here all the time.
Also, I was totally captivated by this guy’s drawings and the overall animation! I was totally sucked in by wanting to see how he would illustrate the lecturer’s message… watch it for one minute and I bet you’ll be hooked.
Easy as ABC
I don’t know why exactly, but I found this little video so charming. Watching the little boy trying to write letters, struggling with the forms and fitting them on the paper, while his dad, who clearly does this as his trade, masterfully writes beautiful letters is sort of inexplicably touching, and not just because I like handwriting. But maybe the combination of handwriting plus father/son stuff and the snapshot of a phase of childhood was just too much for me.
The little boy’s efforts are so wonderfully child-like, at that stage where imitating shapes is still so difficult, and he’s trying so hard, glancing at his dad’s paper but rarely able to get it right, and you know some day he’ll probably show the same talent as his father and dad will be so proud of the tradition and ability he passed on.
PS- the intro credits are long, but even those are entertaining, watching the dad write in two distinct fonts!
Revisiting >> Fantastic Mr. Fox
Finally saw Fantastic Mr. Fox! And it did not disappoint. Think of the brilliance and detail of Wes Anderson’s directing style mixed with the wit and nostalgia of Roald Dahl’s writing, plus the charm of stop-motion animation, and you can imagine what a wonderful film this results in.
So anyway, now that I’ve seen it, I went back and watched these making-of videos again. The one at top I’ve already posted once, but I think it’s worth watching again. I’m just amazed at the detail and intricacy of how all the sets, props, and characters were created, shot, and animated.
There’s no way you can watch these and not want to see the film.
Does this convince you Wes Anderson is a genius or what?
Stop-motion animation! Amazing! 24 stills for every second of film! Also, they way they recorded the voices is pretty impressive… usually for animation work, actors just sit in a studio and read the lines… not for a Wes Anderson film!
They photographed every piece of furniture in Dahl’s house and created a miniature of it!
Ok now I want to watch it all over again.
Must See >> Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop
Very curious to see Banksy’s documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”
If you’re unfamiliar with the mysterious/prankish street artist Banksy, who pulls stunts like replacing art in museusms with his own pieces and whose work sells for millions, or to read more about the premise of the documentary, check out this article in the NYT.
Since Banksy’s work regularly plays with irony and the idea of “the art world,” many people have questioned how “real” this documentary is. Of this issue, the Melena Ryzik says in the NYT article:
“Ultimately, wondering whether “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is real or not may be moot. It certainly asks real questions: about the value of authenticity, financially and aesthetically; about what it means to be a superstar in a subculture built on shunning the mainstream; about how sensibly that culture judges, and monetizes, talent.”
See more Banksy work here.
Brown paper packages tied up with string…
This weekend, on the weekend directly between Kyle’s birthday and mine, we are celebrating both and having an “A Few of Our Favorite Things” Weekend.
That’s pretty unrelated to this video, but watching this cute video of a brunette and a blonde (just like us!) made me excited about spending the weekend doing fun stuff with ma roomie.
How can you not love a stop-motion animation video of two girls with glasses, cupcakes, a dog, a typewriter, costumes, and Anthropolgie-ish styling?
Happy early birthday Kyle!
Broken Fingaz Street Art
Always love stop-motion animation. And when it meets street art, well, it’s pretty cool.
