Little Lithuania – A Time-lapse Tilt-shift Journey

 
Lithuania, if you don’t already know, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is also beautiful.  Filmmaker Jorg Daiber combines drone footage, tilt shift photography and timelapes expertise to show the country off in a very different way.  Some of the older Lithuanian architecture already looks a little “toy town” (not an insult, it’s very visually striking) so the techniques employed here make it look almost unreal in its beauty.  This is part of Daiber’s Little Big World series – if you enjoy these, check out his others on YouTube.

This particular video travels from the amazing Trakai Island Castle (known as the watercastle) to the famous hill of crosses (featuredpreviously on Kuriositas).  You also get the opportunity to check out the gorgeous beaches and sand dunes of the Curonian Spit, then stroll though cities like Klaipėda, Kaunas and the busy capital Vilnius (where we also get a glimpse of modern architecture, too!). All of this in only 4 breathtaking minutes – simply wonderful.

Goodbye, My World

You won’t be surprised to learn, after watching this, that Goodbye, My World (original French title Au Revoir Mon Monde) garnered a number of international awards, including the Gold Medal in Animation at the 2024 Student Academy Awards.  Karim’s world is about to end, but unfortunately he is miles away from his girlfriend. To make matters worse, Karim works as a mascot for a sushi restaurant – and he can’t get his costume off!

Can Karim make it to his beloved before the asteroids crashing down on Earth wipe out all life on the planet?  You can probably guess the answer (but there are plenty of twists along the way).  This is a short, but epic adventure - you know how we love apocalyptical visions here at Kuriositas!

This short was directed by Astrid Novais, Florian Maurice, Quentin Devred, Maxime Foltzer, Estelle Bonnardel, Baptiste Duchamps – all students at the MoPA Animation Film School. Music is provided by Titouan Gramain and the sound designer is Benjamin Martin.  Thanks to these wonderfully talented young creatives who have made something really quite special here.

If You Have Never Wanted to Visit the Dolomites, You Will After You Watch This

The Dolomites are one of those places that once seen are never forgotten.   Located in northeastern Italy, they form a part of the Southern Limestone Alps and they were recently visited by filmmaker Michael Shainblum.  The aerial shots are by shot by Andrew Studer.  Together these very talented men perfectly capture the changing weather conditions around these most mystical, enigmatic of mountains.

Is Nuclear the Answer?

Difficult question of the day #283 – in order to reduce carbon emissions, should we go down the nuclear path, at least for a while?  That and a number of associated questions are answered in this video made for the Science Museum in the UK by tinmouse.  The knee-jerk reaction might be a “no” – of course there are dangers involved.  However, when weighed up against the alternatives, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…

Take a look at the video below.  It make help you make up your mind about where you stand!

Dare to be Fabulous

Alessandro is a gangster’s son – and as such he has an awful lot to live up to.  He desperately want to prove himself to his father, but despite being forbidden to do so, decides to rob a new night club in order to show that he can live up to what he believes are the family’s expectations of him.  However, when he and his accomplice get to the club, they discover that robbing its denizens might prove a more challenging prospect than they anticipated.  And Alessandro is for one great big surprise into the bargain.

There are tropes at work here - the desperate son seeking a father’s approval, the heist gone wrong, the double life - but they’re handled with such panache and confidence that the story feels fresh and full of heart. In fact, it plays with gender performance and expectation in ways that evoke Victor/Victoria, but with a contemporary pulse and cinematic finish that belies its student origins. It's sharply paced, beautifully designed, and emotionally satisfying. So, congratulations to all involved — especially the directors João Buosi, Yangjia Chen, Adam Meziane Philipps, Carla Sampaio da Silva, Xinxin Qin, and Zhen Zhou, student filmmakers from the renowned Gobelins school of visual communication and animation in Paris.

Watch Dare to be Fabulous below.

Hidden Treasures: The Socio-political Cartoons of Winsor McCay

Winsor McCay, cartoonist and animator died in 1934 but he set the standard in animated movie making that others, including Walt Disney, were duty bound to follow.

He was also well known for his newspaper comic strips, Gertie the Dinosaur and Little Nemo in Slumberland. However, his socio-political cartoons have been somewhat overlooked, perhaps because of the success of his strips and animations.

Here is a selection of those cartoons from the years 1929 and 1930 – in some ways very similar to our own. 80 years may separate the days the cartoons were drawn but has so much really changed? Image Credit Flickr User Anna Jumped

Image Credit Alan Light

The debate still rages today (both at home and abroad) about US interventionist policies in other countries.  At the end of the 20s isolationism - almost the opposite - took a significant hold on both the people and the politicians.  The crash of '29 made the country more inward looking and determined to fix its own problems rather than interfere with those overseas.  For McKay, who spent the last eight years of his life at The American newspaper creating editorial cartoons for Arthur Brisbane, his flair for cartoons put him in the right place at the right time. His job was to engage the reader’s eye and so persuade them to read the editorial. As such he was to tackle many of the social issues of the day, including the economy, prohibition and human nature in general.

What do You Have to do to Get a Drink Around Here?

Image Credit Flickr User Wildxplorer

From the largest mammal to the tiniest insect we all have to drink. If we don’t we die. Over at the Ark in Space they are focusing on the little guys, the ones which you can hardly imagine need much water. Indeed, sometimes they can be in danger of being carried away in their enthusiasm to sate their thirst. Thanks to some wonderfully macrophotography we get to see this most vital of functions being carried out – with some gusto – by a host of insects. Drink up!

The Spirits of Yakushima

This is something truly atmospheric.  Last year, director Steve Atkins took a hike through a Japanese forest.  The result?  Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, plus the (easily believable) idea that Yakushima’s forest are inhabited by spirits, this remarkable piece of film shows us the island moss-covered wooded landscapes with ancient cedars in abundance.  It doesn’t just look like a mythical world – it is one.

Hats off, too, to  Rob Martland for the haunting soundtrack.

Living The Dream

We’re a little late to this particular party, but give us a break.  We were only introduced to the animation work of Ben Meinhardt  recently, when he released the deliriously adorable “We’re Kinda Different” a few week ago.  Please check that out, too, if you have a moment.  However, this song is for all of you us who find things in common with the hero.

It is very short – but it delivers its message and once you have done that, why hang around? Emily Dickinson once said “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tune without the words - and never stops - at all."  Well, this particular ditty does have words (which will probably implant themselves in your head and keep coming back, probably in an ironic way).  Meinhardt himself optimistically announces this animation with – “Another in my I Hope This Doesn't Age Well Series”.  See, it springs eternal, it really does.

The Remarkable Teamwork of Weaver Ants

Over at our sibling site, arkinspace, there is a feature on the remarkable weaver ant.  When they need to make themselves a new home (and the way that they do it is hinted at in their name!) then a little teamwork goes a long way.  It may seem impossible, but slowly but surely they work together to make themselves (and their offspring) a new home.  Learn more about this fascinating species at arkinspace.

Yakka - Award Winning Australian Short Film

The devil, so they say, will make work for idle hands.  So it is with brothers Luke and Riley, the dual protagonists of  Yakka.  You can tell from the outset that, if they were in some suburban area with alternative company, that they would probably not have the time of day for each other – chalk and cheese.  However, they’re stuck in the middle of a secluded Australian estuary and they are, effectively, the only company that they have.

Their father is neglectful – and the film more than hints that their relationship with him is one of fear and violence.  There is no mother to be seen (no doubt she scarpered a long time ago) and the boys seem borderline feral, bruised, unkempt and unhappy.  This makes Yakka sound like a gloom fest, but it really isn’t – not that you’re going to see any pole-dancing unicorns here either, that’s for sure.  What it does do, really well, is paint a picture of the strained relationship between two very different brothers who, without proper parental care, have learned how to  fend for themselves (with all the resultant consequences of their choices).

Starring real-life brothers, Jiya and Javi Vander Straaten (above, with Grant Lyndon, who puts in a brief but assured appearance as their father), Yakka was written and directed by award-winning Australian filmmaker JackShepherd. The film has won a number of award, including Best Film at Port Shorts Film Festival 2024, Best Director at Canberra Short Film Festival 2024, Best Live Action Film at Sydney Lift Off Festival 2024, Best Cinematography at Sydney Lift Off Festival 2024 and Best Cinematography at Global (UK) Lift Off Festival 2025.

Watch Yakka below.

A Teenager Brings a Pop Star to Tears by Covering His Song on Live TV

This is great. In one of the most emotional moments ever broadcast on France’s The Voice Kids, 14-year-old Louis D stunned the nation - and the show’s judges - when he sang Si j’avais su ("If I Had Known"), a heartbreakingly personal ballad by French singer Claudio Capéo. We don’t normally cover this kind of show on Kuriositas because you have probably have seen it on your own devices before, but most of you reading this are English speakers (if I am to believe the stats!) and may well not have had the opportunity to watch this before.

What made the performance so extraordinary wasn’t just Louis’s vocal ability or maturity. It was the fact that Claudio Capéo himself was sitting just a few metres away - serving as one of the show’s coaches. And the song Louis chose was written by Capéo in memory of his late grandmother.  It’s a song filled with pain – if I had known being the chorus trigger…

“If I had known… I would have told you all the things that I had never told you… that your skin smells like roses… that your wrinkles resemble the waves where children swim.”
“If I had known… that time doesn’t wait… that it would be the first time I saw you for the last time… I would have hugged you tight… I would have said goodbye a bit better.”

You get it. As Louis sang the raw, grief-filled lyrics (now popular at French funerals), Capéo’s face told the story: a mixture of disbelief, pride, and visible emotion. By the final note, he was overcome. All four coaches turned their chairs - a rare unanimous endorsement - and Capéo, visibly moved, rushed to embrace the young singer. “You turned my heart inside out,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve lived something like this.”

Louis went on to become a finalist in the 2024 season of The Voice Kids France, ultimately placing third. But many will remember him not for the trophy he didn’t win—but for the one-of-a-kind moment he created.

The song, Si j’avais su, is a melancholic reflection on lost chances and unsaid goodbyes. For Louis to interpret it so powerfully at such a young age - and in front of its creator - felt like something more than a talent show moment. It was a shared human experience, captured live.

Even if you’ve never heard of either singer, this short clip might just stop you in your tracks.

Watch Base Jumping in Norway’s Fjords (and Feel Your Stomach do the Flips)

Base Jumping. No.  A thousand times no.  A million times no.  I can think of a trillion other things that I would volunteer to do before I jumped off the side of a mountain wearing nothing but a flying squirrel outfit (sorry, wing suit).  Hyperbole aside, even watching it gives my stomach the turns.  But you know something?  There is definitely a certain exhilaration watching people base jump from the safety of one’s PC, laptop or phone.  It is still going to make your stomach do the flips, though. This enthralling film by PordoiFilms of a team base jumpers doing what they love in Norway’s Fjords is particularly spectacular.

What particularly got my attention here – in that kind of deer in front of the headlights kind of way – was when one of the jumpers was attached to another by what seemed like a very thin cord and then proceeded to glide underneath her base-jumping partner through the fjords.  Well, underneath at one point, around at another – then on top and finally through some kind of space-time portal into another dimension (OK not that last bit). I spilt my coffee at this point (and I'm not even going to start on bodily fluids).

Interwoven between the breath-taking base jumping are short “talking heads” of the base-jumpers themselves.  Honestly, despite massive evidence to the contrary, they all seem quite sane.  

A big thank you to all involved for creating this – although I would never, ever, ever (x100) consider doing it myself, this certainly shows me why base-jumpers feel the need!  It must be the sensation of a lifetime.  Just not my lifetime...

Beyond the Dust

This animated short directed by students at ESMA tells the story of two distinctly different robots who have the unenviable job of cleaning and maintaining an abandoned home.  As the dust piles up, they both begin to be aware of the possibility of a life beyond it, but any attempt to leave the mundanity of their existence is quickly halted by their all-seeing supervisor.  It comes to a head when the smaller of the two robots accidentally turns on the TV and watches a nature documentary. Will they ever get to experience what lies beyond the dust?

This very touching science-fiction animated short is nothing short of brilliant.  I’ve said this time and time again about ESMA graduation work – it is so very difficult to distinguish their work from the professionally created shorts that one can only imagine a very rewarding future ahead of  them in the animation industry.  The characters of our two protagonists come across very well through their actions right from the start – and this is what really makes the short work (and is very difficult to pull off in something without dialogue even when your characters are human, let alone animated robots).

There are tropes at work, to be sure, but that is very nearly always the case in very nearly all works of science fiction these days.  I have to say that this would fit right in as an episode in the LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS series on Netflix (I think it’s superior to some of the works shown there, I have to say).  So, congratulations to all involved, especially the directors Alexia Ameline, , Marin Benitez, Lucien-Paul Bigey, Marine DuPot, Benjamin Hack, Matteo Michel, Salomé Quillien and Juliette Vignollet.

The Svanetian Towers of Georgia

Encircled by peaks of up to 5,000 meters, Svaneti is the highest area in the Caucasus mountain system which people have settled.  In a land dominated by mountains divided by deep gorges, the Svan people settled this historic Georgian province almost two millennia ago and here they flourished.

Yet towards the end of the European Dark Ages, at around the end of the ninth century, the Svan found themselves in conflict with the northern Caucasian tribes on the other side of the mountains and with the Ossetians to the east.  Their solution to tribal raids has endured the centuries.

Image Credit Richard

The Panopticon – Jeremy Bentham’s Idea for a Perfect Prison

Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher and social theorist, never quite got over the rejection of his ideas for “the perfect prison”.  In fact, he was so disgruntled that he came up with the idea of sinister interest –the vested interests of the powerful that then conspire against a wider public interest.  That rings bells…

Regardless, his ideas were not original – there had been round prisons before – but he did live to see his own idea incorporated into a National Penitentiary (otherwise known as Millbank Prison) in the UK, which opened in 1821.  He wasn’t happy with that either.  After his death, the idea of radial prisons did take off – which most say owe a debt to Bentham’s Panopticon idea.

I won’t explain how the Pantopticon was meant to work – the video below (created by the very talented Myles Zhang) does a really good job of that.  The name hails from the Greek for “all seeing” – panoptes – and not from an old Tom Baker Doctor Who story (The Deadly Assassin if you’re interested).  It has become somewhat embedded in popular culture, a similar Panopticon appeared in one of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, too.

Back to Earth, perhaps it was pre-revolutionary Cuba that got the closest to Bentham’s original ideas when it built the Presidio Modelo in the 1920s.  However idealistic the plan, they soon went wrong.  When a young Fidel Castro found himself imprisoned there decades later, what was designed to be a space to hold 5,000 inmates at capacity was now “home” to over 6,000 with no running water and almost overflowing with the detritus of everyday life.  I guess the idea of “who watches the watcher” was as important then as Bentham thought it originally, but as the idea of the Panopticon only works in the authorities ensure that the watchers are watched, perhaps the idea was flawed from the get-go, in its assumption that human nature gives a damn.  If only he could see the future and the all-pervasive cameras that cover every inch of our cities. I wonder what he would make of them?

Perhaps he would resort to something he had already said - and one of my favourite quotes about the human condition to boot. That is “Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.”  Put kindly, we’re all a little too obsessed with progress to realise that what we currently have, after all, is not so bad.

Watch the video about the Panopticon below.

Warsaw Hyperlapse – On a Bike

If Warsaw is on your bucket list or you are visiting Poland in the near future, take a look at this remarkable hyperlapse.  Youtube creator MrTiuro got on his bike and, well, the rest is here for you to see.  He starts in the Old Town district, journeys through it and then ends up in the new commercial hub in Warsaw’s Wola district.

You can’t really get a more honest  view of a city than driving (or in this case, cycling) through it.  Warsaw truly has a dual identity.  First, the old town charms with its cobblestone streets and oozes history.  It is difficult to believe that most of it was painstakingly rebuilt after World War II. Then, we reach the skyscrapers of the modern city – impressive.  However, Warsaw did get its first true skyscraper in 1955 with the completion of the Palace of Culture and Science (Pałac Kultury i Nauki), a towering building that remains one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks – and you will see that too in the video below.

I don’t want you to divert your eyes from the buildings, but when I ran through the video a second time, there was one thing that really struck me (I live in London, which looks filthy by comparison).  That is, the streets are spotless.  Absolutely spotless.  I couldn’t spot that many bins for public use (although I did see some in the video), so I have to assume one of two things – or maybe it's both of them!  Either the Poles are a fastidiously tidy people who highly disapprove of littering or the City Cleaning Authority (Zarząd Oczyszczania Miasta, ZOM) is one of the best in the world.  Or both.  Regardless, enjoy this whirlwind tour through the streets of the city of Warsaw. Who knows, maybe in a short time, you will be ambling through them yourself.

What if Blondie Had Recorded Parallel Lines in the 1950s?

Parallel Lines is considered by many to be Blondie’s seminal work – and there is very little then and now that can beat it. Yet what if it had been recorded and released in the 1950s, rather than in 1978?  You might say that’s a question that doesn’t need an answer but that hasn’t stopped Argentinian content creator marceve76 from rising to the challenge.

Scroll down and press play while you read this.  It’s audio only – apart from the very cool new version of the iconic album sleeve above.

The result is a total re-imagining of the album.  The band, too, get a slight name change to The Blondies (adding “The” to any band name is what marceve76 does to give them a more 50s vibe). Ironically enough, this is how they were referred to collectively by those involved in the production of the album in 1978.  Producer Mike Chapman said of them in an interview for Sound magazine: “The Blondies were tough in the studio, real tough. None of them liked each other, except Chris and Debbie, and there was so much animosity.”  Perhaps that is the main reason why they finished the album in an astonishing six weeks, rather than the six months they had been given by their label.  Little did they know that this album would propel them to global fame and fortune.

Regardless, these stylised 1950s versions are very good. Whether they are a heartfelt homage to the band or simply a playful retro experiment, they’re executed with flair and imagination. Like any Blondie fan, I went straight to my favorite tracks from the original, to see how they had been interpreted.  "Fade Away and Radiate" is now a walk through a magic plastic land of 1950s suburban angst, replete with tupperware and trembling smiles, pastel kitchens and bottled-up despair. It’s a dreamy distortion - equal parts nostalgia and nightmare - where atomic-age optimism flickers beneath the hum of television static.  The line “Dusty frames that still arrive, die in 1955” is an indicator that this must have been recorded in the latter part of the decade(!).  It did make me wonder why Lana Del Rey didn’t record a version of this track, because this song would have suited her.

The Blondies (the real deal) admitted that the girl bands of the 1950s were an inspiration to them, lyrically at least.  And Picture This sounds very much like a girl group, in this incarnation.  The lyrics have not been changed, which makes you realise how times had, in fact, changed between the 1950s and 1970s.  The line: “I will give you my finest hour, the one I spent watching you shower” on Picture This would certainly have ensured the song’s ban from any airplay in the 1950s!

Naturally, the album’s biggest hit – “Heart of Glass”, their first US Billboard Hot 100 Number 1 – makes an appearance, revivified as a rockabilly romp with twangy strings and a wink to the jukebox era. You can imagine it crackling from a dusty diner radio while someone in a powder-blue Cadillac drums the steering wheel, caught somewhere between heartbreak and a milkshake.

So, yes, a big thumbs up to this. Is it as good or better than the original? It’s only human nature to make comparisons. However, this version isn’t trying to replace the original – it’s offering a new lens, a playful shift in tone and texture that pays homage while confidently doing its own thing. And that, in itself, is worth celebrating.  One can only wonder what Debbie Harry will make of this!  As for me, it has definitely made me want to return to the original band, too, for another listen to their greatest hits.

If you haven’t already pressed “play”, then do it now!

Neverland – a Brutal Retelling of the Hook Origin Story

Before Wendy and her brothers, before the Lost Boys, there was Jim.  How Jim came to Neverland, we are not told (I like to imagine that he was rescued from a shipwreck by Neverland’s immortal inhabitant).  Speaking of which, the Peter Pan you will see here is hardly recognizable from his usual media representations.  Cute? Yes.  Psychotic? Absolutely. Here, his overriding desire is to rid the world of any adults that cross his path.

Unfortunately, time does not stand still and Jim has come to realize that instead of helping his friend hunt down grown-ups, he  is just about to become the hunted.  I will leave the rest to you to watch, but this is a hugely entertaining animated short, with action right from the very start, which only lets up for some brief moments of exposition. In other words, fantastic.

When Jim realizes that Peter's homicidal tendencies are about to be directed towards him, he knows that he must get away from his former friend as soon as possible.

You might have a certain ennui around Peter Pan and Captain Hook origin stories - they have been done - and done very well - by others.  However. this animation joins that pantheon of entertaining Pan multiverse retellings admirably.  It's short, punchy and will leave you breathless by the end - and longing for episode 2!

It’s amazing that this is a student film, from ESMA in France.  The artwork and animation is seamless and as well as the character animation I particularly liked the design of Hook’s ship, the Jolly Roger (see below). The story certainly explains Hook’s abiding hatred for Pan – an our sympathy is now unambiguously with him – up to a point. Although the victim, originally, it’s a shame that his adult response is one of revenge. However, if it wasn’t then there probably wouldn’t be much of a story here! 

Neverland was directed by Hortense Mba, Jean-Baptiste Ealet, Lola Raimbaud, Louis Xillo, Lucas Payet, Mario Latcher, and Thomas Godechot. The wonderful music is provided by Nicolas Jubert with voices by Juliette Cayette and Lily Mulheran.  Great work from the sound artists, too - José Vicente, Guilhem Favard, Tristan Le Bozec, Mickaël Merrheim, Yoann Poncet.  I can envisage long and successful careers in the animation industry for all of them.

Watch Neverland below…

Dinosaurs and the Vietnam War? Primitive War Trailer Unleashes Prehistoric Terror

Primitive War is a film that I will probably have to see based on the trailer alone. It looks like a combination of Apocalypse Now and Jurassic Park, frankly, with possible a little bit of Predator (original) thrown in for good measure.  For me that’s a win-win and although it could end in disappointment, it seems that fans of the original novel by Ethan Pettus are also drooling in anticipation.  Published in 2017 it (and its sequels) have become hugely popular. 68% of over 1,000 reviews of the novel on Amazon give it a five-star rating, and it has a 4.5-star rating overall.  The reviews there are full of praise and apparently the body count is through the roof (which it should be – it’s dinosaurs).  It doesn't have any characters in it played by kids, either (just saying).

The trailer looks like we’re in for something of a roller-coaster ride, and although one or two of the reviews of the trailers have pointed out some differences from the book already, most of the reviewers are not shy of admitting that they are, nevertheless, “pumped” (seems to appear a lot).  The film is set in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War.  A recon unit (who go under the name of Vulture Squad) are commanded to find out what has happened to a platoon of Green Berets that has gone missing under mysterious circumstances.  The mystery of their disappearance is soon sorted (dinos), leaving Vulture Squad to try and get out of the terrifying situation.

The film stars Ryan Kwanten (who you will know from HBO’s vampire drama, True Blood) and Tricia Helfer (she played Number Six in the science fiction series Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009).   Add in support from Nick Wechsler (from both Roswell and Revenge) and Aaron Glenane from the Snowpiercer series and you have a cast who are already immersed in the science fiction genre from the  neck up.  Take a look at the trailers below and see what you think!

When will Primitive War be released? It hits theaters on August 21, 2025.

People of 1925: A Year Through the Lives of Those We Never Knew

A century ago, the world danced precariously between wars, flappers twirled to new, modern dances, and telephones still had cords. But the people of 1925 laughed, worried, posed for photos, and waited for things to change - just like us. In this snapshot of time, let’s take a look at the faces, fashions, and fragments of ordinary lives from 1925 - and where possible, what happened to them afterwards.

Note

I used Flickr’s The Commons and Wikimedia Commons for this project.  The first obstacle I came across was unexpected but on reflection it shouldn’t have been – human nature! Many photos from this era are not marked with exact dates or even years and so unless they were associated with a specific event, then the curators had to be vague (between 1920 and 1925 and so on).  Fair enough. Before I started using a phone and the date stamp that goes with digital photography, I didn't take the time to scrawl dates on the back of my snapshots – leaving me to guess about the exact year from my own history, let alone that of complete strangers. So, if I had not recorded dates myself, how could I expect others to do so?  Yet because I wanted to try and feature people as ordinary and everyday as possible, much more than politicians and actors, this precluded so many great photographs that I soon lost count. 

The second issue is the Eurocentricity of most photographs included. This was not a choice but due to the available sources. Most accessible historical photographic archives come from Europe and North America, where photography was adopted earlier and preservation institutions were established, resulting in better-documented collections.

When I have included people who were well known or even celebrated in 1925, it is in more informal settings wherever possible. A few photographs that have been recorded as circa 1925 have been included, simply because they were irresistible, so please forgive me for that. There were other issues that I came across as I went along, too (more of those later). However, the decision to select photographs with verifiable dates was a good one. 

Photography in 1925 was affordable enough for many ordinary families to participate but still a small luxury, especially when compared to how easy and cheap digital photos are today. Each shot counted, and people often took photos to capture special moments rather than daily life.  So, many of these photos will seem arranged, organized and posed for a good reason: they were!

I hope you enjoy this gallery of the people of 1925.

Source

Let’s start with something quite silly. The National Archives of the Netherlands has this great picture of a group of young swimmers with bike tyres tied around their bodies as a swimming aid. Taken in Germany, 1925.  It must have seemed like a clever idea at the time, but from the look of the smirks on some of the faces we can see here, I doubt whether this idea was ever taken seriously.   These young people all look as fit as the veritable butcher’s dog and it’s highly unlikely that they would have needed any support to help them swim!

Dublin’s Molly Malone Statue is Being Rubbed Up the Wrong Way

Poor old Molly Malone.  When Kuriositas first reported on her (in our 2013 article Statues of Dublin and their Notorious Nicknames), the photos we were able to source at the time showed her untouched and unsullied. Apparently, shortly after, a tourist guide was “inspired” to tell people that rubbing her breasts would bring good luck.  As her more than ample bosom is well within groping distance, the sticky paws of countless tourists rubbed and rubbed and rubbed away at the carbonate patina which had given her an added aesthetic beauty and the sense of age (even though the statue only dates from 1988).  Now, instead of saying “look at the breasts on that statue”, people are much more likely to say “look at the statue on those breasts”.

Joking aside, Dublin City Council are now considering moving the statue if tourists do not desist from putting their grubby mitts on Molly’s tits. Sorryfor the informal language, I couldn’t resist that little rhyme – but you could imagine the real Molly paraphrasing those words as a retort if she was still around.  I’m fairly sure she wouldn’t have any unwanted hands on her mammary glands.  On a serious note, the patina on bronze statues, as well as adding to the overall aesthetic, can also help protect the metal underneath from further corrosion.  In fact if you look closely, you can see that the erosion is becoming a problem.

Repeated rubbing can permanently stain or alter bronze, especially in outdoor conditions. It's a mix of chemical staining and mechanical wear.  It isn’t a case of just leaving it for a patina to occur naturally again – the statue will need extensive and expensive (just can’t stop rhyming today) restoration work in order for Molly’s bits to once again resemble the rest of the piece.

Perhaps Dublin City Council should just accept that this is going to happen, and it happens to statues across the globe.  Poor old VictorNoir, interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris has had close to 150 years of people rubbing his trouser bulge. Below is the report on the Molly Malone statue by the Irish public service broadcaster RTE.

The Ruins of Bannerman's Island

Quite how unlucky can one building be? Abandoned, neglected and decaying, at first sight you may think that Bannerman’s Castle is located in Europe, perhaps a Scottish remnant from the days of the lairds or a site in Ireland forsaken by retreating British aristocrats. Yet the Castle, sitting blithely upon Pollepel Island is only 50 miles north of New York City, on the Hudson River. Its history is a long and strange catalogue of disaster. Image Credit Flickr User gsz

Image Credit Flickr User kilgub

Image Credit Flickr User dbfoto

Bizarrely, it isn’t even a castle. What you can see here are the remains of an abandoned military surplus warehouse.

The fact that it was built in the style of a castle says much for the eccentricities, not to mention wealth, of its builder, Francis Bannerman VI (seen left).

Yet from the moment it was built the castle was, so many maintained, doomed.

What was designed to be a testament to and record of the wealth and power of a single interview was to befall no less than four disasters. In little more than a century it would fall in to complete ruin.

The Wraparound Spider – Now You See Me…

Say what you will about Australia’s wraparound spider – it isn’t out to get you.  At least, that’s what this article tells us. Unlike (apparently) most of Australia’s animal population, this little guy (and it is little) just wants to be left alone.  In order to ensure that, it has evolved a way of wrapping its body around a twig or small branch, pressing itself down, so that it is indistinguishable from the twig, making it very difficult for its predator (the local bird population) to see it during daylight hours.  Our sibling site, the Ark in Space, has the lowdown on this fascinating spider species, as well as a fantastic picture gallery to go with it.

Image Credit

Back Soon… Well… Possibly - Maybe

Meanwhile, my local butcher put this sign up outside of his shop.  His summer break – well deserved – has arrived and he lets those of his customers who don’t already know (or, alas, have not planned ahead) into the fact that he will not be opening his doors for a while. He does it every year, so we have come to expect the humour in it.  However, I thought I would share it with you this year!

You can tell I live in the UK - an old red public telephone box has been caught in the window's reflection!

Crash Site - Starring Steven Yeun and Sam Richardson

If you were on a hiking trip and found something suspiciously extraterrestrial, you would take it home and try to find out more about it, wouldn’t you?  It’s perhaps a little bit of a trope, but it nevertheless forms the basis of this hugely enjoyable short film starring Steven Yeun and Sam Richardson.  Both of them put in excellent performances but – at the same time – looked a little younger than I remember them from their recent projects.

Crash Site was directed and edited by Jason Sperling and written by Miles Brandman.  I enjoyed the director’s note on YouTube which says tells us that no AI was used in the film but not for the reasons that you might imagine.  Also, that it was created back in 2013. That would at least explain why I thought both actors looked young in this!

Watch the full film below.

Terrible Lizards

 
This is awesome.  Throughout our history, our perception of dinosaurs – the “terrible lizards” of the title, has evolved according to our understanding of these prehistoric beasts.  This animation tells a single story, but the animation changes to show the various forms of dinosaur depictions that have come about throughout the few short centuries since they first siezed our collective imagination.

It was created by David James Armsby, a Scottish animator, artist and filmmaker.  Armsby is an autodidact when it comes to animation.  He started experimenting at the age of 16 and through a process of trial and error he learned how to create his own films.  I think I will end this short post with his own words, so you can then get on with watching this amazing short.

"Terrible Lizards is my own personal tribute to all things palaeontology, paleoart, and paleo-media throughout the past two centuries, and our ever-evolving understanding of these ancient and fascinating animals.”

Slow Light

Slow Light was written and directed by Kijek / Adamski - that’s Kasia Kijek and Przemek Adamski. Based in Poland, they design and direct animated films where technique and storytelling are inseparable and when you watch their work, you’ll notice how carefully those elements are interwoven.

Take Slow Light, for example, their latest stop-motion short. The animation itself feels alive with meaning. It tells the story of a man whose sight is delayed by seven years, so he experiences life out of sync with the present moment. The film is haunting, beautiful, and intricately crafted and like all their work, it blends visual ingenuity with emotional clarity.

Like all their projects, Slow Light was built from the ground up, with a focus on strong visual concepts, smart use of materials, and a clear narrative arc. From concept through to final render, they handle each stage of production themselves, ensuring every frame feels purposeful and every story lands just right.  I have to admit, on first viewing I found Slow Light a little perplexing but here's the thing: I couldn't stop watching it.  It's a melancholic story and if you're looking for a simplistic happy ending, don't bother (don't get me wrong, I love simplistic happy endings, but that is not what Slow Light is about at all).

At its core, Slow Light explores alienation, memory, and the passage of time - themes deeply rooted in the Polish cultural psyche. The protagonist’s delayed vision, where he only sees the present seven years after it occurs, creates a painful disconnection from the world. He witnesses joy, love, and tragedy long after the moment has passed. This narrative is quietly tragic, mirroring the longing and loss common in many traditional Polish tales.

If you haven't yet seen Slow Light, it’s well worth your time. You're not just watching an animation. You're witnessing how time, memory, and vision can be sculpted by hand. Watch it below.

Volcanoes in the Back Yard

Even when you know that the area in which you live is prone to earthquakes, perhaps the last thing you might expect is a volcano in the back yard. Yet these are not the volcanoes we see in Hollywood movies. Neither are they the mud volcanoes which occur near geysers. These are something quite different. These are sand volcanoes.

Image Credit Flickr User Mollivan Jon

A sand volcano usually occurs after an earthquake. It is formed when sand is thrown up to the surface from a central position. As the sand is ejected it builds up in to a cone, taking on the appearance of a volcano as the sand comes to rest on its sides. A crater forms which can range in size from the tiny, just a few milimeters, to one which can extend to several meters.