The Painted Monasteries of Romania

You would reasonably expect a monastery to have frescoes - inside.  Yet a number of monasteries in the Romanian region of Moldavia have centuries old frescoes on the exterior of their katholikon (main church) which have, incredibly, survived the years and the elements.  Perhaps the most famous, which you can see here, is the Voronet Monastery with its bright azurite background – known to Romanians as Voronet blue - but it is not alone in this remarkable tradition.

Image Creditt Flickr User Waqas Ahmed

Who are the Outstanding Ballet Power Couple Duos of Modern Times?

Now, there’s a question and although many will agree on some included on the list that Christina of Facethe Barre has compiled, it may be down to your own particular tastes when you draw up your own!  Christina used to dance for the Estonian National Ballet, so she certainly knows her dancers (and she pronounces their names beautifully and authentically) – she will have studied their moves since she was a child.  So, I think her list is excellent (although she includes just four ballet power couples!).  I would probably included Giorgi Potskhishvili, with his most high-profile stage partnership at the Dutch National Ballet being Anna Tsygankova, but I am a bit of a Giorgi fan.

The four couples that Christina focuses on are Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov.  I particularly like the way that she describes the partnerships, really showing her in-depth understanding and knowledge of why these partnerships are obsessed over by so  many.  Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova are my favorite choice of hers (we featured Ivan on Kuriositas back in 2011).  Once engaged in real life, their on-stage chemistry was always palpable, especially in their supreme performances in Romeo and Juliet.  Their infamous decision to leave the Bolshoi is also something which Christina covers here.

As for the other couples – so many of these names are well-known outside of ballet circles and if you were asked on the street to name some amazing partnerships in the ballet world, I would expect you to come up with one or two of these!    Take a look at her video below – I must say that I haven’t seen many ballet videos on YouTube that are presented by someone with such an extensive knowledge of the form as Christina.

King's Return Michael Jackson Medley: 34 Hits in a Stunning A Cappella Tribute

There are 34 Michael Jackson hits featured in this medley of his hits by the King's Return a capella group of singers. So, the chances are that your favorite Michael Jackson songs are in here somewhere!  It starts off gently with Human Nature, and transitions from there into so many different Michael Jackson hits that you might have difficulty keeping up with them all as they speed by.  The transitions are pretty amazing – and I would  not like to imagine how long it must have taken to first of all put this together (hats off to whoever did it) not to mention rehearsal time to come up with this pitch-perfect rendition of so many of Jackson’s hits.  The harmonies are incredible.

So, who are King’s Return? They’re a Dallas-based a cappella quartet whose sound feels far bigger than four voices ought to allow. First gaining attention through viral stairwell performances, they’ve built a reputation for rich, soothing harmonies that blend R&B, gospel, jazz and classical influences into something seamless and distinctive. Formed in 2016 and finalised in 2020, the group - Vaughn Faison, Gabe Kunda, JE McKissic and Jamall Williams - quickly found a global audience. Their debut work and viral videos brought critical acclaim, even Grammy recognition, but it’s their warmth, versatility and understated virtuosity that make them truly compelling.  King’s Return created this video in honor of the upcoming Michael Jackson movie starring Jaafar Jackson (Michael’s real-life nephew).

Take it away, gentlemen!

Britain’s Lost Rainforests: How the UK Once Had Lush Forests – and the Plan to Restore Them

When I was a kid, I thought that rainforests were only located in more exotic parts of the world (I grew up in the UK, which can be called many things, but exotic isn’t one of them!).  I associated rainforests with places like Africa, India and even Australia – with huge trees and ferns, and animals like tigers and elephants living in them. It wasn’t till much later that I learned that the UK itself had rainforests – but temperate ones – and that, unfortunately, where they once spread across the land, especially the east coast of the UK (even on the Isle of Man), what was left were just fragments of the grandeur that was, before we came along and pretty much ruined it!

Of course, this degradation panned out over a couple of thousand years, speeding up once the Industrial Revolution too hold of the UK (which may not even have been called that at the time) and it is going to take a hundred years to renew them.  Where once extended rainforests flourished, land was cleared for growing populations and for the food which was needed to sustain them.  This was done methodically but without any particular care and forethought – it was done in response to demand and without any real conservation laws in place, it was open season.  Just look at the wildlands of Scotland – their bareness is so embedded within the Scottish and British psyches that we can easily believe that was how they have always been.  But the Roman name for Scotland was Caledonia, derived from Celtic origins and thought to mean “land of the hard woods”.

But how do we recover our British rainforests?  Over a long period of time is the answer.  Over at least a century.   We can’t just plant trees and walk away – it’s much more complex than this.  So, step forward the Wildlife Trusts, with their ambitious plan to join up many of the remnants of the rainforest on the east coast of the UK (Wales gets a great mention!).  It isn’t going to be ready by next summer, unfortunately, but as smaller programmes that have already started have shown, this kind of venture starts generating jobs and visitors much more quickly than you might imagine - because recovery itself can surprise us all with its speed if it is properly planned and managed.  This beautifully animated video explains the rainforests, how they came to shrink and what is proposed to do about restoring them (or perhaps renewing them) to at least some of their former glory. It’s ambitious – and it’s going to take a century.  Watch the video below.

It doesn't say which animation house created this, but hats off to them - gorgeous work!

Hope-65 – a Chimp Explores the Stars to Find a New Planet for Humanity

In the not too distant future, we reach out beyond our own solar system in search of a new home. To do this, space ships are launched, “manned”  by our closest relative – chimpanzees.  Specially trained, they must ascertain whether or not our exodus may begin, giving us a new home full of natural resources to claim as our own.  One of these chimpanzee explorers is Hope-65, one of a long line of her kind to go into space on our behalf.  She eventually arrives at a planet which fulfils all the necessary criteria to sustain us into the future.  It’s time to let us know, so we can journey to our new home…

This beautifully made animated short was created as a graduation project over a two-year period by students at Ecole Brassart, a French school of the creative professions.  The character animation of Hope-65 herself is expert, belying the fact that this is a student made film.  The new planet is gorgeous - realised with great care and attention - I think anyone might wish to live there!  Although one does have to suspend disbelief around a chimp being allowed to make such a final final decision, that's not too much to ask!

Hope-65 was created by Eliott Curaba, Louis Grand, Nolan Vercasson, Alicia Serra, Mathilde Peis, Evan Mastropietro, Tonin Molina and Léo Soler with music and sound design by Görkem Agar, Eliott Manche-Gentelet, Hugo Bressaud and Ayden Heurtevent.  I think this is probably the first time we have featured something by Brassart students on Kuriositas, and from the quality of this, I very much doubt it will be the last.  A huge congratulations to all the students (and their teachers) involved in this animated short – it really is something to be proud of.

Zas Dance Platform - Nemesis by Benjamin Clementine

You may remember the irrepressible dance film of Stromae’s “Mauvaise Journée” by Zas Dance Platform, featured on Kuriositas last August.  Well, they have delivered another blinder.  This time, it’s an interpretation of Nemesis by Benjamin Clementine.  Directed by Zaslavskyi Yevhenii and Bazela Oleksii (who also dances), the 2014 track, from Clementine’s debut album At Least for Now, is a great choice and complements the ZAS dancers’ elegant urgency perfectly.

Nemesis is one of Benjamin Clementine’s best-known tracks and is emotionally very intense and as such, the backdrop here is dark, the movements exploring the themes of consequence and karma.  The song tells the story of a relationship where the betrayers becomes the betrayed and the Zas trademark jerky movements and a hundred emotions expressed in a few seconds reflects the message of the song – that if we don’t treat people with fairness and integrity, there will always be consequences.  You know what karma is, after all…

A little about ZAS Dance Platform – it is a creative initiative showcasing innovative contemporary dance from emerging and established choreographers. The platform provides a space for artists to experiment, collaborate, and bring new perspectives to the stage, highlighting both technical skill and artistic expression. Through this performance, Bazela and his fellow dancers explore movement and storytelling in a dynamic and engaging way.  As ever, the dancers are also quite pleasing to the eye…

Watch Zas Dance Platform’s interpretation of Nemesis by Benjamin Clementine below.

Yallah! - Animated Short Film

Yallah! is an Arabic term and can mean anything from “Let’s go!” or “Come on!” or “Hurry up!”.  I guess it could be any of the three in the context of this animated short from students at Rubika.  Set in the middle of the Lebanon war of 1982, we meet Nicolas, a man about to flee his virtually destroyed city, Beirut.  However, before too long he encounters Naji, a teenager who lands abruptly on the bonnet of his car. Despite the chaos and destruction of war (or perhaps because of it), he has become determined to go swimming – and the pool is only a few blocks away.  Ignoring Nicolas’ warnings and protestations, Naji is determined to swim – and Nicolas feels the need to try and somehow protect him as he makes his way there.

This is a beautifully made film, and you may find yourself disbelieving that it is a student film, such is its exceptionally high standard of animation. Exploring identity and movement through powerful visual storytelling,  It has a certain lyrical quality to it, despite the backdrop and is much more fun than you might expect, given the time and place in which it is set. Yallah! was directed by Nayla Nassar, Edouard Pitula, Renaud De Saint Albin, Cécile Adant, Anaïs Sassatelli, and Candice Behague. This animated short won "Best Student Project" at SIGGRAPH 2022 (prestigious because it showcases world-leading innovation in computer graphics, judged by experts, and launches careers in film, gaming, and technology). It has only just become available to stream and I’m really pleased to be able to share it with you on Kuriositas.

Jodhpur - India's Blue City

Image Credit Flickr User Johntrathome

Travellers journeying through the desolate landscape of the unforgiving Thar desert in the Indian state of Rajasthan would know when they had reached their destination.  The sky would fall to the ground and everything would become a single color – blue.  Jodhpur would lie before them, opening up like a blue treasure in the desert.

Image Credit Flickr User ciamabue

Why Greenwich Became the Prime Meridian: The Story of Longitude and the Royal Observatory

The historic observatory at Greenwich is now a museum, but how did it get to be the historic Prime Meridian (the zero longitude line that divides the Earth into eastern and western hemispheres for navigation) of the world?  Why a relatively obscure place in South London?  This animated short, created by the Royal Observatory, delves into its history and explains these and other questions getting a little existential – why does it even exist at all? It all boils down to longitude – the measurement of position east or west of the Prime Meridian, used to locate places on Earth accurately - and the need to calculate it using the moon and the stars.  There was a very good reason for this - accurate navigation at sea and preventing ships from getting lost, not to mention speeding up journey time. This depended on knowing precise longitude for safe global trade and travel.

As a quick aside, many people assume that the Royal Observatory in Greenwich is still an active astronomical research site, but this isn’t the case. The Observatory stopped being a working research facility in Greenwich in the mid-20th century, when its scientific work was moved elsewhere in the UK, including to Herstmonceux in Sussex and later into institutions connected with Cambridge. Today, the Greenwich site mainly serves as a museum and public attraction.

Modern UK-based observational astronomy often makes use of large international observatories in places such as the Canary Islands, where conditions are much better for stargazing, but these facilities are not a continuation of the Royal Observatory itself.  Aside over (not as quick as I anticipated), watch the fascinating video below.

Disney Princesses do the Cell Block Tango while the Princes are Fed Up!

Sometimes, weird synchronicity happens.  So, today, I came across this very funny pastiche of Cell Block Tango, starring six of your favorite Disney Princesses.  I suppose it answers any questions I might have once had about what happens to a Disney Princess (or at least these six) after the credits roll and she settles down with her Prince.  Frankly, each one of them did not get the happy ever after that they envisioned – and I must admit that - if the princesses are telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth - one or two of the princes might have got what they deserved (best line: “some guys just can’t hold their pufferfish…”). Yet, to put the Beast down simply because he stomps all over the palace… is that fair? After all, it is his palace.  

Regardless of where I stand on the fates of these princes, this very clever and funny parody is brought to us by the super-talented Just Josie.  Take a look at the video below and ask yourself – did he really have it coming? Did he only have himself to blame?

Wait… now we really must hear from the Disney Princes.  Right? Right!

As luck would have it, the very same day my YouTube feed presented me with Charming (starring Jordan Litz who is probably best known for performing in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and featuring Steven Moeslein and Justin Beard).  Also a delight, this (original) musical number has Prince Charming bemoaning his name (he compares it to a perfume), his habit of losing girls at balls and life in general.  No one bothers to ask him about the war, or taxes - they just want to see him grin and twirl girls around the dancefloor. 

Then add Prince Philip and Prince Florian (best line: "you find a princess that you love and then, you find out there are seven other men") into the mix. They are also pretty cheesed off with the roles that they have in their respective fairy tale stories and you end up with a trio of heirs to the throne who are really quite fed up.  This fantastic musical number was created by Pattycake Productions.  Watch and enjoy below.

So, members of the jury, now all you have to do is choose your side.  Who do you really sympathise with here? Most importantly, who do you believe?  The stories  of infidelity and fishing that the princesses are telling are radically different to the princes' plaintive cries for more of a say in their lives... Or all they all just a bunch of self-entitled whingers?  

Answers on a postcard, but before that a word or two of gratitude to the makers of both videos.  What perverse algorithm led to them both being in my feed,  I know and care not; I am eternally grateful to it.  Both videos were an absolute joy to watch - playful, inventive, and lyrically very, very clever - they had me chuckling from start to finish.  I did end up wondering why it was just the princesses who became homicidal - call me old-fashioned - the guys want to be more than just a charming prince for a girl but they end up as the murder victims of those very (naughty) girls. Yes, they did bad things, yes they cheated. But maybe they just wanted to drive the plot for once? 

The Dance of the Armenian Queens

This is elegance incarnate. Led by Artistic Director Karen Gevorgyan, the Berd Dance Company of Armenia have come up with the dance production Armenian Queens to highlight the pivotal role by three women (who just happened to be queens) to Armenian culture and history.  The dance communicates themes of elegance, authority, and unity, using costume, symmetry, and restrained movement to create a powerful visual impact.  Almost a thousand years separates these queens – the most recent being from the 1200s.  However, what unites them is the endurance and continuity of Armenian culture.

On the right hand side in purple we have Queen Parandzem from the 4^th century.  To Armenians she embodies strength and devotion and defended the country against invading Persians till her gruesome death at their hands. On the left in green we have Katranide I from the 9^th century, symbolizing spiritual, Christian values.  Then in the middle in Burgundy we have Zabel from the 13^th century who symbolizes statehood and dynastic continuity. She opened hospitals, shelters for the needy, and supported the education of young people .  I hope I have got them in the right order!

 Watch the Dance of the Armenian Queens below.

Red Moon

Two girls meet in their youth and become inseparable, even though there are obstacles. This short summary doesn’t do Red Moon justice.  It tells a coming-of-age story about two girls who move through life side by side, sharing its highs and lows as they grow, change, and learn what it means to step into womanhood together. Red Moon is an animated poem (metaphorically) to female friendship and the bond between women and girls that cannot be broken.  It’s a quietly crafted film, which doesn’t preach and doesn’t give answers – it just presents things as they are, as they should be – and it does this with subtlety.

As well as the story – so brief but with such depth – I was particularly drawn to the way that the characters have been drawn and also the backgrounds (particularly towards the end) which are just beautiful.  Red Moon was directed and animated by Katherine Yuan during her time at  RMIT.  The fact that this is an undergraduate film makes it all the more impressive, demonstrating a level of creativity, emotional depth, and technical skill that feels far beyond what one might expect at this stage of study.  Watch Red Moon below:

Miranda Priestly Meets Anna Wintour in Elevator: The Devil Wears Prada 2 Teaser Video Revealed

What would happen if Miranda Priestly met Anna Wintour? At first glance from this video, not very much at all. There is no explosion, no visible drama, no theatrical collapse beneath the weight of mutual frostiness.  But there is Dancing Queen by Abba playing in the elevator that they share (a lovely nod to another of Meryl Streep’s roles).  Miranda Priestly is, of course, a fictional character. Anna Wintour is the woman that said fictional character is based on.  So, it’s all getting a little meta in the elevator, frankly - and quite cleverly the short film is called Do We Know Each Other?

Why now? You may have been blissfully unaware, but The Devil Wears Prada 2 is officially on its way and in a stroke of marketing genius, the people at Vogue managed to get Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour to collaborate on this short, chance meeting between the two icons of fashion.  And if you still read magazine printed on paper, you will soon notice that the May 2026 issue of Vogue features the editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, with Meryl Streep on the cover...  Whoever did the marketing for this deserves a medal.

Nearly twenty years after the original first snapped its fingers at an unsuspecting world, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is set to arrive in cinemas on 1 May 2026, with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci all returning, alongside director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna. In other words, this is not some flimsy, bargain-bin resurrection, but a properly assembled return to the polished battlefield of fashion, publishing and exquisitely delivered contempt.

But I expect you really want to know what they’re wearing… and, naturally, this super-short film doesn’t disappoint. Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep) is dressed in a sharply tailored Givenchy suit, finished with sunglasses, shoes and a bag by Prada, while Anna Wintour (played by, erm, Anna Wintour) appears in a Chanel dress pretty much hidden an Alexander McQueen coat, accessorised with Manolo Blahnik boots and jewellery by S.J. Phillips - a line-up so extravagantly curated it practically announces itself before either woman says a word.

Watch the video below:

China Breaks World Record with 22,580 Drones in Spectacular Sky Show

The Guinness World Records people have recently announced on their YouTube channel that the record for the most drones simultaneously airborne has been broken again – inevitably by a Chinese company.  On 3 February, the Guangdong EHang Egret Media Technology Co., Ltd (couldn’t they have come up with a shorter name) set aloft 22,580 drones in the city of Hefei (the capital of China’s Anhui province).  If I caught it properly, about 25 failed to set sail into the sky.  It beats the previous record by something of a margin – 15,847 had been the previous record (which was only set a few months ago – it’s getting difficult to keep up with this particular record).

The sight is beautiful – with lots of Chinese cultural motifs coming to life in the night sky.  There are lanterns, cityscapes and beautiful patterns, filmed by some of the drones themselves (I don’t know if they participated as well as filmed), so you get some interesting camera angles, both from below and above the display.  What I found fascinating, too, was seeing all of the drones lined up and being checked before the event began.  The only downside to this video is that the narration is mostly AI-driven, which could be argued as appropriate for this kind of technological achievement, I guess.  Regardless, I will stop droning on and allow you to enjoy the spectacle.  Enjoy!

The Greater Glider – Is This the Cutest Wild Animal in the World?

Meanwhile, our sibling site, the Ark in Space, has a new feature on the above – possibly the cutest, most adorable looking wild animal on the planet.  It is called the Greater Glider, and as a marsupial you would not be wrong if you guessed that its home was Australia.  A nocturnal animal, the greater glider was thought to be just one species,  but all of that changed a few years ago, and now we get three for the price of one.  Read much more about this fascinating – and super cute – animal over at the Ark in Space, which also has an extensive gallery of beautiful pictures of this irredeemably adorable creature.  And yes, you will also get to see the greater glider glide! Image

The Golden Hour: Magical Photography

Have you ever taken a photograph that seems to have a magical quality to it, because of the way in which the light has been captured in the shot?  The chances are that you took the picture during the two times of day that photographers know as the golden hour.

Image Credit Flickr User Martin Sojka

Image Credit Flickr User Alessandra S Alba

The first hour of sunlight of the day makes the first golden hour.  As the sun rises the light is softer than later in the day when the full and harsh rays of the sun shine down upon us.  Likewise at the end of the day in the hour before sunset, the sun is close to the horizon again.  As in the morning, the light travel in an oblique manner and so, instead of hitting objects straight down, hits them at an angle.

The History of the Paris Catacombs: From City Cemeteries to Underground Ossuary

Despite numerous visits to the French capital over the years, there is one place I have never really wished to visit – the famous catacombs of Paris - even though it's in the dead centre of town.  It’s not so much an aversion to deathly things, but, OK, definitely an aversion to the quantity on display.  So, fortunately, this TED lesson comes along, enabling me to take a quick tour of the Paris catacombs and discover, thanks to some animated grisliness, how the people of Paris took action in the 18^th century.  I wonder if they realised that what they were creating would become a tourist attraction a few hundred years down the line.

It could all have been avoided, of course, had the good people of the 9^th century not thought it a great idea to bury their dead in the grounds of Les Innocents – and then carry on doing it for 800 years.  A little bit of town planning may not have gone amiss!  Just as well there was an abandoned network of quarries underneath the city, which themselves were causing the city a problem or two.  The solution must have been obvious!

The lesson is by Stephanie H. Smith, directed by Laura Jayne Hodkin and narrated by Adrian Dannatt. Watch it below.

Love & Gold – Student Emmy Winner for Best Animation 2026

I’ve been waiting for this to be unleashed…  and here it is. The 2026 winner of the Best Animation at the National Student Emmys is Love & Gold, written and directed by Connor VanDyke and produced by Jaysen Duckworth.  Representing BYU, it’s the university’s fifth consecutive win in this category and has now been released in full on YouTube.  Watching it in full for the first time today, this animated short certainly does have winner written all over it – from start to finish.

Before I take a look at the film, I would like to add a note of praise and thanks to the host of talent BYU pulled together to create this film. This was the university’s Center for Animation’s short film project for 2025 and from the credits, it looked like the whole department worked “in the trenches” for this short.  What better way to learn one’s craft than to be involved in a project of this size and ambition?  Little wonder that BYU’s graduates almost inevitably turn up in the credits for major animation projects.  So, hat’s off to this splendid team – too many to mention here, but thank you.

The plot is quite straightforward – the audience rocks up at the end of two separate quests for the same thing: the treasure left behind by a king and queen hundreds, perhaps thousands of years before.  So, tension is immediately created because the young explorer/adventurers (OK, thieves) have no intention of sharing the booty (they are both seeking a huge gem).  Yet they soon discover that the old king and queen had no intention of allowing someone with purely selfish motives to claim their treasure and that teamwork will be necessary if they are to survive their ordeals inside the castle.

You might be thinking “so far so tropey” and you would be right.  I don’t often spot in-movie references to other movies, but I think writer VanDyke may have watched the Indiana Jones series on repeat when he was a kid! Yet, take into consideration that people have been recycling basic plot patterns for thousands of years, picking over the skeletons of old stories and revivifying them for contemporary times and audiences.  Of course stories – truly successful stories – are more than simply plots. 

Much more important is who it happens to and how it’s told, as well as what the audience now understands that older audiences didn’t (and there are a few gleefully placed anachronisms in this dungeons and drangons-esque setting).  The references to the undying love of the previous king and queen, and how it impacts on the dual quest presented in this story are subtly and quickly disclosed to the audience.  The nature of the characters, likewise, are revealed through the narrative, which bops along at quite a speed (but not too fast to confuse the audience – it’s all there for us).  The writing is deft and tight, the structure almost perfect. So, certainly, all the right boxes are ticked for how it’s told.

So, on to who it happens to. Although the characters are not named during the film, I discovered in the credits that they are Rayden and Robin (voiced by Parley Lambert and Darci Ramirez – not that they say an awful lot!).  So, that’s how I will refer to them from now on.  The characters are particularly well-formed, something vital in such a short film.  Rayden seems like the kind of young man who has, perhaps, walked somewhat effortlessly through life, a sort of cross between Phoebus in Hunchback and Kristoff in Frozen.  Yet there’s no swagger – he’s quite a sweetheart which makes him immensely likable. 

Robin is more difficult to pin down.  She is the most complex but least trusting of the pair – and at the same time the least trustworthy too – her selfish acts put the couple into danger more than once. Perhaps she has been betrayed in the past? Yet like every good character arc, hers is offered the chance of redemption. I won’t reveal any spoilers, here – it’s up to you to watch the film and find out for yourself whether she gives in to avarice or not.  Hang around for the end credits sequence, too – it reveals what might be in store for Rayden and Robin in the future.

Once again, thank you students (and staff) of BYU for bringing Love & Gold to the world.  Some of the commenters on YouTube have said, this would make a great feature-length movie.  It’s pretty much perfect as it is – so, maybe, a sequel? Please?

Watch Love & Gold below:

 

I’ll Start Tomorrow... If You Are a Procrastinating Student, Stop What You're (Not) Doing and Watch This

Have you ever given up on an assignment simply out of fear of getting a low grade? As an educator (in my real-world job), I see this all the time – in fact often it’s worse.  Assignments are one thing – but whole qualifications? I have seen some of my students give up revising for resit exams because they are so afraid of putting in the work and still not passing that they would rather not try at all - and fail again. (it seems to be, emotionally, the outcome with the least risk). I'll Start Tomorrow could have been written and produced by any number of my own students!

What makes it all the more tragic is that most of the students I see exhibiting this kind of behavior are perfectly capable of passing the qualification I teach (which is exam only with no coursework).  However, they choose to fail it – and although I have been able to get through to them beforehand, some still slip through the metaphorical net.  

There must be some serious psychology behind this – and perhaps the video above should give me some insight into this – even though it depicts a student “doing” an assignment, rather than preparing for an exam.  From the comments below the video on YouTube, it certainly looks like a similar train of thought.  First, there is time – so much time before the assignment is due that procrastination invariably takes hold.

One commenter admitted that “this animation was like so beautifully relatable it hurt” and another said “literally my whole entire life described without using words right here.”  I could go on – there are so many different permutations and combinations of the same thoughts and feelings that it would be an act of procrastination in itself to carry on reading them or, indeed, adding more here.

I wonder what advice I would give to this student. It would have to be different from that which I give in classes when students focus more on their conversations than the work they are supposed to be doing.  That is always “work now, chat later” and that often works in a classroom situation because they know that if they do the work I am far more relaxed about them having a chat with each other once it is done.  This is different.  I guess I could also say try to study a subject that you are interested in enough to look forward to doing the assignments – but my own experience at university (where I studied English Literature) didn’t really reflect that either – I love literature, discussing it, reading it, embracing it – but it was very different when it came to writing about it critically. 

I suppose this is something I can think about another day (see what I did there?).  I have to say this animation does seem to have hit a huge nerve with the viewers.  Technically, it is pretty flawless – I love the design of both the protagonist and the backgrounds.  The story is cleverly told, with a number of flash-forwards about the consequences of procrastination (and the end of the world would probably put a stop to it, that’s for sure).  Some of the visual metaphors are, surely, taken from real dreams. Yet what it captures very well is the state of panicus pensi (fear of the assignment and yes, I just made that up) which goes with the whole student malarkey and a condition that usually goes hand in hand with rigor pavoris (stiffness of fear). Yup, made that up too.

This very clever, very entertaining and very true animated short was directed by Skye Wei. It was produced by Shi Hao and Ling Chen with additional animation by Dou Yang and Xixi Hu.  Originally created for Bilibili’s (basically China’s version of YouTube crossed with Twitch and anime fandom culture) 2026 Bainianji, a special produced annually by the platform to celebrate Chinese New Year. This is the English language version and hats off to Skye for releasing this fantastic work for those of us who don’t speak Mandarin.

So, is the student in this animation able to overcome their procrastination and commit to work without deviation until submission?  You will have to watch it and find out – but if you are a student reading this, you may find the ending a little bittersweet to say the least!

Why Are Ancient Ruins Always Buried Underground?

One question  which always bothered me as a kid who was interested in archaeology was why was it that ancient ruins were always found underground? Was the world getting bigger, in some way, that these ruins were being buried by the ever increasing size of the Earth? While you can probably get my youthful logic, this isn’t the case.  One of the main reasons is that cities are simply built on top of each other, with each successive wave of construction simply building on top of the rubble underneath (for the sake of expedience – clearing is hugely expensive and time-consuming).   So, if a building was rebuilt, it meant that it would be higher than the surrounding streets.  The obvious solution there was to raise the streets too.  That means that in some places, buildings are 18 meters higher than they were in the 1^st Century AD.

When it comes to archaeology, building one layer on top of another isn’t the only reason why so much archaeology lies underground. The cities of Shanghai and Seattle, for example, are gently sinking into the ground because of the weight of the buildings on top, not to mention the extraction of drinking water from below. 

Still a little discombobulated by it all? Then watch this video from Primal Space, which explains it very clearly and with great computer-generated animations to match.

But this still leaves another puzzle: what about places like Roman villas, farmsteads or temples that weren’t built over by later generations, but simply abandoned? Why are they buried too? The answer is that ruins often begin by burying themselves. Roofs collapse, walls tumble, plaster crumbles and timber rots away, creating a mound of debris. Over the centuries, wind-blown dust, flood silt, leaf mould and soil gradually build up around and over the remains, while roots, weather and farming slowly break them down further. In other words, even when nobody builds on top of them, time and nature usually do the job anyway.

Amen – These Porkers aren’t Ready for the Pot

There comes a time in a young pig’s life when human eyes notice his increasing dimensions and decide enough is enough – this porker is ready for the pot. So it is with the young pig featured in Amen, a graduate thesis film by students at École des Nouvelles Images.  Although he almost gets the chop, his ingenuity – not to mention a somewhat revelatory experience in the monastery’s church – will save him and his friends from sizzling.  Or will it? You had better watch the animated short below to find out!

I have no idea if this film was inspired by pig escapes, such as the famous Tamworth Two, but as our porcine pals have a habit of getting away from their human overlords, this could have been inspired by any number of tales of daring escape in the real world.

Amen has enjoyed an impressive festival run, picking up awards at the Tirana International Film Festival 2025 in Albania, VIEW Conference 2025 in Italy, the Internationales Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart in Germany, Cyber Sousa – Xiamen International Animation Festival in China, The Great Canadian Horror Film Festival, Curtas Vila do Conde – Festival Internacional de Cinema in Portugal, and La Guarimba Film Festival in Italy, among many others. The film was directed by Orphée Coutier, Bettina Demarty, Kimie Maingonnat, Laurène Perego, Louise Poulain, and Avril Zundel, with an original score by Nicolas Cornil (MAAAV). Production was overseen by Julien Deparis for École des Nouvelles Images, with sound mixing by Pierre-François Renouf.

If You Said This Was London’s Oldest Outdoor Statue, You’d Be Half Right

Tucked away in London’s Trinity Church Square stands a tall statue.  Larger than life, it stands 8.5 feet high (2.6 metres), depicting a wise old king. Who that king is, no one is completely sure but it is widely believed to be a representation of King Alfred the Great, who ruled in the 9^th century. The statue was once thought to have been made at some point in the 1300s as it reflects the statuary style then prevalent. Simply put, no one ever knew its true provenance although debate raged off and on (no doubt in a very polite British way). Image

Image Credit

What is known with certainty is that it has been in the square since 1831 – getting on for two hundred years. Rather annoyingly and contrary to the often meticulous record-keeping habits of Victorian Londoners, the name of who gifted it to the square is not recorded. So, for all that time, no one knew much about it at all or could offer anything more than educated guesswork. But the statue held a secret or two.

Bio Dad - A Comedy Song by Riki Lindhome featuring Hunter Doohan

Sometimes, you can put off being a parent for a while.  That while can sometimes become a little too long and you might find yourself without the prerequisite other half with whom to share the moment.  When this happens, there are options – and Riki Lindhorne’s new song Bio Dad, shows a woman asking a male friend to make a little donation in order to fulfil her desire to be a mother. This is funny -  but also heartfelt – and not only makes a great comedy-drama sketch, it feels more like a song from a musical than anything else – I would like to see the whole thing (as it were!).

However, the video does go through the whole story we need to see – including the compulsory visit to the clinic where the unfortunate donor has to perform.  One of the commenters on YouTube said about this part: “as a man who's used those plastic cups in IVF clinics, let me say that section of the song (thin doors, weird reactions from the woman at the desk, etc.) was SPOT ON”.  Another commenter added: “As always a welcome and unexpected pleasure”, which I have to say is pretty much how I feel about this song.

Of course, one of the (many) things that Riki Lindhome is known for is playing Dr. Valerie Kinbott on the Addams Family Netflix show Wednesday.  So, of course it is only natural that she should as a good-looking member of a show she has appeared in to feature as the potential bio-dad.  Step forward Hunter Doohan, who played opposite her in Wednesday as Tyler Galpin, the sheriff’s son who turns out to be a Hyde.  One commenter said: “I know your song is what every woman thinks about when she sees Hunter Doohan, but I cant prove it...“.  Regardless, if Tyler Galpin and Dr. Valerie Kinbott ever had a baby, it would probably come out already in therapy and somehow covered in suspicious claw marks – but they are playing different characters here so let’s just scrub that and watch the video.

Not Sophie’s Choice – Short Film Starring Katherine Tate and Alex Macqueen

Sometimes, children discover things about their parents that perhaps they shouldn’t have. As Oscar Wilde once said: 'Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.'  In Sophie’s case, that might be quite unlikely as she has developed the unfortunate tendency of coming across her parents at some fairly unforgivable moments .

Of course, the best thing to do is to sit Sophie down and to explain what has happened in terms that a child can understand and – of course – outline what happens next, underlining at many moments through the conversation just how much they love her.  And that’s exactly what these parents do.  Katherine Tate and Alex Macqueen shine here as the parents, full or remorse and guilt for what their daughter has been through – and Skye Lucia Degruttola is excellent as their daughter - it must have been hard for her to keep a straight face watching these two pillars of British comedy go through their motions.  This may have to be filed under “peculiarly British comedy” as I am unsure whether other cultures may fully “get” this or even whey we might find it amusing.  Not Sophie's Choice gave me a chuckle, though – and I think that’s what it sets out to do. Job done.

Another Day: Compare Your Birthday to Historical Events and Feel Very Old (Possibly)

I don’t need to be told that I’m getting on – my friends, family, colleagues and the mirror will all tell me (to varying degrees of truthfulness).  However, there’s nothing quite like a computer programme to really stick the dagger when it comes to brutal honesty.  So it is with Another Day, which asks you to enter your age so you can discover which historical events, going backwards historically from your birthday, are now closer to it chronologically than today. 

As you can see from the above, my grey hairs are definitely more than implied when I am told that the sinking of the Titanic is now closer to my birth date than the day today! If there is any real evidence that lying about your age is a good idea (if you want to escape the gasps that sharing this site will provoke when you type in your birth date), then this is it.

Here's another based on my birthday...

There’s more.  You can share this on social media, so not only can you share a plum fact about your own age, you can freely ridicule your aging (or already aged) friends by doing the same thing for them and gleefully pointing out the cold hard fact Another Day will come up with.

So, were my mother (who has yet to slip of her mortal coil despite in her own words feeling positively ancient) on social media, I could definitely annoy her by posting this…

Key & Peele’s Substitute Teacher – in LEGO

Of course we’re huge fans of Key & Peel’s famous Substitute Teacher sketch - and their follow ups.  But a remake in Lego? We didn’t quite see that one coming. Mr Garvey has long been a hero in educational circles and it is good to see him recreated in one of the most intuitively instructive toys ever designed.  Of course, we have the rest of the cast too - Dee-Nice, Jakequaline, Balakey, Ay-Ay- Ron are all in the classroom, as is  Tim-o-thee.  I have to say that NL Films have really done a great job on both the set and the characters – it is almost like watching the original sketch again. Except it’s in Lego.

As a (lazy) aside, I wonder if the young actors who make up Mr Garvey’s unwilling students saw any major impact on their careers after appearing in this sketch. Did it help or hinder their professional progress? Do they see it now as a great opportunity that led to type-casting in the extreme or a great opportunity that led to even greater opportunities. I put lazy in brackets because, of course, I could do some research and find out, but I’ve always resisted those “Cast of Substitute Teacher – Where are they now?” kind of features at Kuriositas.

So, take it away Lego Mr Garvey!

The Adiyogi Shiva – the Largest Bust Sculpture in the World

In the beautiful foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, an immense head and shoulders seems to burst from the ground, dominating the surrounding landscape.  This jaw-dropping spectacle – a male, eyes closed in contemplation, with lustrously dark features, full lips and flowing locks of hair epitomising an ideal of both male beauty and masculine voluptuousness - is Shiva, the Adiyogi (the First Yogi). Little wonder that people flock from all over India and beyond to see this sculpture, listed in the Guinness World Records as the largest bust sculpture on the planet. Image

Image Credit

The sculpture looks like it is made from black granite, but it was built using thousands of kilograms of steel plates and pipes.  In fact, it weighs in at approximately 500 tonnes.  In order to give the bust its rich, deep appearance it is coated with dark matte finish paint – a job which one can only imagine as never ending to maintain the exquisite exterior.