1900 – 2000

Everyone has to eat, even if they are from the year 2000.  Time travellers Georges and Madeleine audition for a show but the theater manager is less than impressed with what they have to show… Can they come up with something truly spectacular? This animated short by a very talented group of young animators is hugely enjoyable –and explains a little history (sort of) along the way.

¡MONSTRO!

Somewhere up the Amazon a ramshackle team searches for a legendary creature, possible a distant relative of one once found in a black lagoon.  They are closer than they think but when it appears, mostro turns out to be Amazonian in more ways than one.  Directed by Chris Romano, the monster movies of the 1950s now have an absolutely fabulous contemporary stablemate!

Spelling Rules for the Zombie Apocalypse

In my other life I am a college lecturer, teaching 16-19 year olds, many of whom do not have English as their first language.  In order to help them engage with the language I try to make the (potential) tedium of learning a little more visually stimulating (at least when I have the time!).  This is one such attempt.  A large number of my students are currently obsessed with The Walking Dead so I thought I would attempt something along similar lines but with a little learning thrown in for good measure (other than that which we learn from the show itself).

Spelling rules for the zombie apocalypse? Yes, I know – good spelling is the last thing one would probably consider during this sort of extinction level event (the nonsense of it appealed to me).  I suspect that I had more fun making it than my students will have working through it!

As frequent readers of Kuriositas will know, I love animation but my own skills are somewhat lacking, so please forgive the amateur nature of the video above!

Dragonfly Delight - Amazing Macrophotography

The sight of a dragonfly is one of the more remarkable that nature has to offer. The Ark In Space, with the help of some astounding macrophotography, takes a look at the life cycle of the dragonfly as well as its remarkable and unusual physiology.

Image Credit MrClean1982

Richard Wagner's Parzival interpreted as a Lush Fashion Video

The stories say that the Holy Grail will only reveal itself to a pure fool enlightened by compassion.  Shot at Chateau de Pierrefonds and Abbaye d'Ourscamps, this gorgeous fashion short directed by by Julien Landais takes the prelude to Wagner’s Parzival and interprets the essence of the story in just over five minutes. It stars Sarah Marshall, Emily Caillon and Thibault Theodore Babin.

A Message from the Year 10191

Mons is the European Capital of Culture 2015 so to get the year underway the Belgian city unleashed CLOE on an unsuspecting audience.  Created by Dirty Monitor this is a Video mapping performance at 360° featuring a vision of the future transmitted to the past.  The courtyard of Mons’ Carré des Arts (the city’s Graduate School of Art Federation) was transformed as all four sides became the surface for 20 video projectors covering 4400 square meters. Amazing work.

Watch the Tardis Take Off and Land Like You Have Never Seen Before

Don’t you just love it when new life is breathed in to something that you already adore? The Tardis, that time and space machine which has carried a certain Doctor around for over fifty of our earth years, is always seen dematerializing (and re-materializing) in the same manner. And who would have it any other way?

Yet – just yet – YouTube Timelord John Smith has created this amazing sequence which shows how take-off and landing might seem from the perspective of the Tardis herself.  It’s so I decided that the screenshot to the left would have to be of the Tardis just before dematerialises so as not to spoil any of it (or was it just the whole thing moves too damn quickly?) Whatever the case, I love it!

Pandemonio

This amazing animation by Valerio Spinelli (aka Pixelpongo) features a kaleidoscope of cultural icons, monsters and other bizarre creatures brought to life by a process of overlapping felt circles – yet fuzzy felt this ain’t.  In an act of respect to the marvel of geometry, no shape was stretched or shaped out of its circular perfection.  The result is a menagerie of the extraordinary brought to life through unexpected means.

Valentine’s Day a Disaster? This May Make You Feel Better

No cards or chocolates or roses or anything remotely valentiney? Never mind! Romance isn’t always everything that it’s cracked up to be.  Sometimes (to misquote the Pet Shop Boys) love might come quickly and you can’t stop falling. In Cupid by 23½ (filmmaker Daniel Harding's production company) two strangers inexplicably catch each other’s eye. However. sometimes, compatibility isn’t always guaranteed when cupid has a hand…

Ballet Dancer Sergei Polunin interprets Hozier’s Take Me to Church

There are still many people who would never classify ballet as cool – not that their opinion matters much to those who know otherwise.  Yet if any of you still need convincing take a look at this.  Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin (the Royal Ballet’s youngest ever principal) takes Take Me to Church by Hozier and simply dazzles throughout.  The video was directed by David LaChapelle with choreography by Jade Hale-Christofi.

Watch the Potter’s Wheel from the Perspective of the Vase

If you have ever seen Ghost (the 1990 movie starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore) then you will be aware of how the potter’s wheel can be manipulated on film to become something quite, well, suggestive.  Not to anthropomorphize ceramics, of course, but one can only wonder how the poor vase felt. 

This short featuring Eric Landon of Tortus in Copenhagen goes some way to address that grave injustice. It follows the process of ceramic making from the perspective of the vase rather than the person, the creation rather than the creator (which sounds like something of a lesson for life).  Patrick and Demi may have been cute (and Eric is rather dashing too) but the real beauty can be found in the process of creation, dizzying though it may be at times. I would almost guarantee that you won’t be able to stop watching this until the process is complete. And then you might have to hold on to something for a while.

Paramotor Paradise

I must have lived a sheltered life as I had never heard of a paramotor before today (and neither has my spellchecker but that is neither here nor there).  Now I have I have this overwhelming urge to go and enlist in the closest paramotoring club and take to the skies using this elegant and very, very cool form of transport.

Essentially a paramotor is a powered paraglider and combines the ease of flying you get with the latter with the added bonus of powered flight.  Ed Lowder, who has flown helicopters and planes for three decades, explains in this video by Christopher of featherlightppg.com why he has never had more fun in the sky than when zipping along in his paramotor.

Valentine

This Valentine’s Day you might just realize that love has been lingering (rather like a bad smell) under your nose for some time.  Or perhaps not.  This one is for you if you are single, especially if you have a friend with boyfriend problems who simply will not shut up about it! However you spend the day, hopefully this short film by Kate Herron will brighten up your day a little.

Glow-in-the-dark Borrowers Arrive in San Francisco

Indoor miniature golf seems like enough of a draw for any restaurant but not for Urban Putt in San Francisco.  They commissioned artist, designer and technologist Dan Rosenfeld to create Sleepwalkers, an interactive installation which is so cool it will probably attract more diners than the golf course. These tiny luminous beings living in the walls of the restaurant really do put the miniature in to golf.  Someone put me on a plane to San Francisco. Now.

Cloudrise

When you suddenly see the rest of your life in front of you it can be a breath-taking experience. So it is for Miko and Tenku who have achieved their dream of a cloud ship of their own.  Yet when their dream becomes a nightmare they are faced with the greatest challenge of their lives – to get to live another day.  This thrilling animated short was directed and animated by Denver Jackson.

Parrot Away

When today’s fashion conscious pirates look to accessorize they go for vintage avian – basically a parrot on the shoulder. Yet when the prettiest pirate is stuck with the ugliest parrot, his attempts to cast the bird in his own image leads to… well, a series of unfortunate events! Made by students at the Animation Workshop in Denmark this is probably the funniest animation you will see in quite some time!

Skyborn

A few generations from ours, humanity has been reduced to living in a smog-bound stone age.  Yet the old man Gideon has dreams of flying above the polluted earth to escape the clouds and begin life anew.  Yet his son Blue doubts his father’s beliefs and decides that whether or not the sky exists, the time has come for his father to give up his foolish dreams.

Skyborn was written and directed by Jaime Stone and stars Bob Goody (The Borrowers, among many other film, TV and stage credits). It also stars Perry Millward who despite his youth has appeared in numerous TV shows including The Sarah Jane Adventures and the demanding role of Gavroche in Les Miserables on stage.

Moving Prague

This short film by Jevan Chowdhury observes the meeting of 58 dancers and the capital of the Czech Republic.  It’s quite a meeting.  It is part of the Moving Cities series of films and as such is an observation of cities as they are today, with a magical realist touch.  It certainly is something special yet I have to ask something, even if my tongue is firmly in my cheek.

Given Mr Chowdury’s tendency to position the dancers in the middle of the street one has to wonder how many accidents have been narrowly avoided over the course of the whole Moving Cities series!

If You Have Never Wanted to Visit Manhattan, You Will After Watching This

It is said that you either love or hate Manhattan.  If that is the case then many will opt for the former once they have taken in its sights, as recorded by Dominic Boudreault.  Window on Manhattan is a stunning montage of shots allowing you a window on Manhattan – and if you know the city then you may experience it in a way you have never done before.  There are some parts of this video where you simply have to sit back in awe at the place’s sheer scale.

Female Assassins and Their Victims

Female assassins are not a common breed – far from it.  Yet they old saying, hell hath no fury might have been written for the ten women featured in this list on Kuriositas.  Although not all were successful in their missions and, indeed, a number met a grisly fate themselves, there is a certain fascination around women killers which means that we invariably want to know more about their motives.  While the video above may whet your appetite, click here to get the full story of these 10 female assassins and their intended victims.

If the World Ended, What Question Would You Ask?

This interesting short by Lee Matthews poses, in its three minutes, a question.  What if the world was to end in the near future?  What would your answer be to the question asked here?  Lee Matthews is an award-winning freelance writer, director, camera operator, video editor and motion graphics designer.  It seems like all these talents are wrapped up in these three minutes, too!

Valentine

If you were a lucky child you will remember days like this.  The beach, the sun and other elements; the sense of the whole wide world in front of you and never ending sources of wonder.

This short animation by Cartobaleno, an animated studio based in Italy, evokes all of this.  Yet there is a twist in this short story of an idyllic childhood day.