Mildred and the Copycat: The Brilliant Kids’ Story About Art, Credit and Creativity

This is for kids, but I am going to feature it quite unashamedly as it tells such a cool story!  Based on the children’s book Mildred and the Copycat by Jono Ganz (and published by Tate in the UK), it tells the story of a cat called Mildred (you guessed it).  She isn’t seen much in the day as she spends her time napping, but at night, when the gallery in which she lives closes, she comes to artistic life.  The gallery (and its visitors) witness a new masterpiece each day.  However, one day a dog called Barksy inadvertently gets given the credit for these works of art and… just goes with the flow, really.

A furious Mildred becomes determined to expose the copycat.  How will she go about doing this?  Well, you will have to watch the animated short below to find out.  It is narrated by David Rintoul, who you might know from his TV role of Aerys II Targaryen (The Mad King) in Game of Thrones or perhaps from the RuneScape video game as Zaros.  The original author, Jono Gonz, created the script and directed the short, while animation is by Wolf Horn (great name, whether that’s a studio but particularly if it’s a person).  This is Mildred's second adventure and both books are published by Tate and available at its shop.

Tate Kids does some great videos about art, and this one is no exception.  This animation also has one of the best one-liners I have come across for a while – delivered by a middle-class lady as she exits the gallery (I can’t give the game away, it’s too good).  Watch Mildred and the Copycat below and see whether Mildred manages to reclaim credit for her art.

Valonia ventricosa: The Giant Single-Celled Organism (Also Known as The Sailor’s Eyeball)

Have you ever seen something that has immediately made you do a double take?  Valonia ventricosa is one of those things – and that is even before you discover how truly strange this organism is.  At first glance, it looks like a green bubble, perhaps a glass bead that has found its way into the sea or onto the beach.  However, that double take (and a little investigation) would soon tell you that you have come across something considerably stranger than a glass bead.  This is one enormous single-celled organism. Image

Image Credit

Found in tropical and subtropical areas, Valonia ventricosa is a species of green alga.  It is mostly discovered around coral reefs and rocky shores.  It has several other names – the best by far of which is the sailor’s eyeball – and it is easy to see why it attracted that particular nomenclature.  The rounded translucent spheres can be easily converted into a visual metaphor for the sole remains of some unfortunate mariner.  Remarkably, they can grow up to several centimetres across (in other words, the size of an eye), not bad for something that is biologically a single cell.

The Strange Sarcophagi of the Chachapoya

By the time the Spanish arrived in Peru at the beginning of the 16th Century the Chachapoya people had already been subsumed in to the great Inca Empire.  Although they had resisted the Incas fiercely, the lands of these Warriors of the Clouds as they were known had been annexed and had been forced to adopt the customs and culture of their conquerors. Yet they left one thing behind – the strange sarcophagi in which they would bury their dead.

Image Credit Flickr User Sophs74

A Tiny Tale – Charming Animated Short About a Secret World of Toys in the Garden

I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I dig up parts of the garden, I come across the remnants of toys long ago abandoned.  They’re the tiny ones – toy soldiers, pieces of Lego – you get the idea.  This charming animation – A Tiny Tale -  by students at Rubika takes the idea of toys left to their own devices in a garden and runs with it.  We have, more or less, a micro-version of our own society, complete with abandoned dogs, a spaceship-mad boy and a cyclist who really just wants to beat her own records.  But toys sometimes break...

How they come together is up to you to find out – but this inventive and beautifully made animated short is a joy to watch.

It was directed by Chloé Bourdic, Théophile Coursimault, Sylvain Cuvillier, Noémie Halberstam, Maÿlis Mosny and Zijing Ye, with music by Romain Camiolo, performed by Louise Gagnac on flute and Aryane Roy on vocals, and sound design by Théophile Coursimault.

The Odyssey – Pub Edition: Munya Chawawa’s Hilarious Modern Take on Homer’s Epic

Why might a modern-day Odysseus be late home?  This sketch, written and directed by Munya Chawawa, gives us a very British reason for his tardiness – and there’s no surprise when Penelope is a little bit miffed.  His excuses aren’t terribly good, either! This particular Odysseus has been out with his mates to the pub (if you’re not aware of what that means, it’s short for Public House, which in its own turn means a bar).  Here, Odysseus and his drinking buddies (Onthelashius, Chuggamemnon and Session) face a number of perils, including a bouncer who just happens to be a cyclops (which provokes possible the best one liner of the sketch) and a trip in a Troyota Prius – not to mention… well, watch it and find out.

As well as Munya Chawawa, the sketch features a brilliant mix of comedians, presenters and performers, including Romesh Ranganathan, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Axel Blake, Joe Marler, Hayley Morris, Theo Shakes and Sam Cornforth. Highlights include Munya’s trademark character comedy, Romesh’s dry delivery, Amelia’s deadpan style and Joe Marler’s chaotic energy, all brought together to give the ancient Odyssey a very modern and ridiculous twist. The mix of well-known comedy personalities and newer performers is what makes the sketch particularly fun.

Magic in You – Cody Fry & The Blue Devils Bring Joy to the Screen

Back in 2023, Cody Fry first teamed up with the Blue Devils for his track Caves in their Drum Corps International competitive field show. If a collaboration works, then it’s worth revisiting, and so today we have the pleasure of seeing and hearing Magic in You. If you need a little cheering up today, this video may just do the trick. Its enormous joie de vivre is something to behold.

The high-energy track combines Cody Fry’s signature orchestral pop style with the world-class brass and percussion power of the Blue Devils, who have won the DCI World Championship a remarkable 21 times. Not only is the song great, but the video is a celebration of music – as well as marching, of course. There is something wonderfully infectious about watching so many musicians performing with such precision while simultaneously throwing themselves into the sheer joy of the music.  It's great to see Cody (whose Unlikely Mariner we featured back in May) give his supporting performers the spotlight so often.

And that’s perhaps what makes Magic in You so effective. It doesn’t feel like a showcase of technical ability for its own sake; instead, the musicianship, choreography and sheer scale of the performance all serve to create an overwhelming sense of optimism.There's even a few Busby Berkely-style moments tucked away in there. It’s difficult not to smile watching it.  See if you can resist the temptation by watching Cody and the Blue Devils perform the song below.

Andy – What Happens When an Android Carer Becomes Self-Aware?

Although the subject of robots becoming self-aware is something that we are all a little overused to right now (especially with Ann Droid, courtesy of the BBC), having watched Andy, I felt I had to share it for several reasons.  Created by Black Elk Productions, It tells the story of Anne Malone.  Elderly, with a husband in a care home and a son, Nick, who is too busy to be around much, Anne has recently had an accident.  Nick provides her with a carer who turns out, much to Anne’s surprise, to be an android.  Hastily named Andy, the two form something of a bond but things quickly go awry and events quickly spiral out of the control of both human and android.  To say much more would provide you with too many spoilers, so watch the short and discover what happens.

What is quite remarkable about this is that Anne is played by Jane Merrow, who also wrote the screenplay.  I have to say here that it felt like there was a feature-length project crying to get out of this short, as sometimes there seem to be not so much gaps but sleight of hand going on, plot wise.  Anne’s neighbour, Pamela (played by Beverly Hills) is criminally underused, but does manage to get both quirkiness and friskiness across in the short time she is on screen.  I would have liked to have seen more of her, perhaps an attempt to seduce Andy would have made for great comedic relief.   Plus, Andy’s first foray to the farmer’s market with Anne is a little baffling – that such an advanced AI robot could malfunction so badly in terms of interacting with humans!

Regardless, this short does come across as a complete whole and it is very firmly down to the two leads who are both fantastic in their roles.  I thought the name Jane Merrow was familiar, and a little research quickly allowed me to discover more about the actress who has been professionally active since the sixties.  It might be easier to list what she hasn’t been in, but UK productions she appeared in that you have probably heard of (!) include Danger Man, The Saint, The Prisoner, The Avengers, and UFO.  During her time living in America, Merrow also appeared in Alias Smith and Jones, Cannon, Police Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hart to Hart, Magnum PI, Airwolf and MacGyver. Phew!  And that’s only part of her CV.

Gaming Psychology: Why Fast-Paced Games Hold Our Attention

If there is one thing that will capture and hold the attention of most people, it’s a fast-paced game.  It might be a video game, played competitively between family members or friends.  It could be an intense esports match or even one of the crash-style casino games out there.  Whatever the game, there are close connections to gaming psychology – that is the exploration if how game design works in terms of the rewards and challenges it presents to its players.  That, of course, includes emotions which have a massive impact on the way that individual players think and behave.  If you understand a few of the psychological principles behind gaming psychology, it can really help explain why some games really do feel impossible to put down – whether it’s for food, study or sleep!

The Power of Immediate Feedback

You may have guessed, but it’s all about feedback.  It’s constant – each and every time a player makes a decision, they see the result immediately.  Then it’s very much up to them to decide what they are going to do next.  Decisions, decisions!  This rapid cycle of action and response demands one thing – that the brain is focused entirely on the “here and now”.

Of course, in slower games there are often extended periods of time between a decision and an outcome – the action, reaction.  However, fast-paced games reduce that gap, usually providing an instant reward.  Mistakes usually provoke a stream of information giving feedback about what to change at the next attempt.  This continuous sense of momentum makes each moment feel meaningful to the player – and that’s one of the reasons games sometimes get in the way of “real life”!

The Story of Argus, Faithful Dog of Odysseus– as Painted by Briton Rivière

Painted by Briton Rivière, this oil painting (usually dated as created in 1885) shows the reunion between Ulysses (also known as Ulysses), finally returned to Ithaca after twenty years (Troy!) and his faithful dog Ulysses.  This video by Inspiraggio calls it “one of the saddest paintings ever made” and although there is a hint of hyperbole in that description, it is certainly one that is emotionally very charged, especially for dog lovers.

Odysseus had owned Argus before he went to the Trojan war and had trained him as a puppy.  By the time he returned, to reclaim wife and kingdom from would-be usurpers who wished to declare him dead and marry Penelope, the dog was over twenty years old and unable to stand.  Yet despite the fact that Odysseus was heavily disguised as an old beggar, Argus still recognised him.  Yet there is a tragedy behind this reunion.  Odysseus could not pet his faithful dog, or wish him a final goodbye with a few strokes to the dog’s ancient head.  Instead, they locked eyes and Argis was able to die happily, knowing that his master had finally returned.  It must have been agony for Odysseus– knowing that the dog had steadfastly waited for his return, but unable to thank him through touch lest it gave the game away.

This painting was painted at the height of Riviere’s fame.  He had full Royal Academy Status, granted in 1881 – the highest honour for a British painter at this time.  He was also revered by his contemporaries as the foremost painter of animals in the land.  I won’t go on, as all of this and more is covered in the wonderful video below.

When Institutions Keep Records: How Hidden Histories Eventually Surface

In Michigan, history is rarely held in one place. It sits in city archives in Detroit, parish memories in Grand Rapids, courthouse files in Lansing, small-town stories across the Thumb, and diocesan records from Marquette to Kalamazoo. The state’s religious history is shaped by distance as much as doctrine. A church in the Upper Peninsula may have served a close-knit town, while a parish in metro Detroit may have been part of a large urban network.

That geography matters when hidden histories begin to surface. Records tied to clergy abuse allegations are connected to schools, parishes, families, and communities that may have carried unanswered questions for years. Once those records are released, arranged, or investigated, they can change how a community understands its past.

Michigan offers a useful example because its Catholic history is spread across several dioceses, each with its own files, leadership decisions, parish assignments, and local memories. Information once held inside an institution can eventually become part of a public record, giving people a clearer view of events that were once scattered, private, or difficult to trace.

Coin Operated: A Heartwarming Animated Short About Dreams, Life and Going to the Moon

Always allow your dreams to last you your lifetime.  I guess that’s the message behind this very sweet animated short, written and directed by Nicholas Arioli.  A young boy wants to be an astronaut, as makes sure that he wears his space helmet wherever he goes, just in case he gets the chance to reach his destination – the moon.  Then one day he comes across a coin operated ride which is – of course – a rocket ship.  At five cents a go, it’s a must – so his mum leaves him to it while she goes inside the store to do her shopping.  The ride isn’t quite what he expected – but he figures that is five cents gets him a few bumpy seconds, what would a whole heap of five cents pieces get him?

There are a lot of theories on the YouTube comments below this animated short debating what the story is really about.  The ambiguous ending and the symbolic storytelling have assured that.  Does the old man die at the end? What happened to him mother? And why did he spend his own life selling lemonade?  There are countless interpretations – and I for one like to see this animated short as something of a meditation on the pursuit of dreams – and that even if they take a lifetime to achieve, they are still there for the getting.  Have a watch and see what you think!

The Babson Boulders of Dogtown

Roger Babson had a problem. His family thought he was crazy or felonious or both.  He had started to carve mottoes in to the boulders which lay in the fields near the long abandoned settlement of Dogtown close to his home in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Image Credit Flickr User aaronknox

Babson was later to write in his autobiography: My family says that I am defacing the boulders and disgracing the family with these inscriptions, but the work gives me a lot of satisfaction, fresh air, exercise and sunshine. I am really trying to write a simple book with words carved in stone instead of printed paper. Besides, when on Dogtown common, I revert to a boyhood which I once enjoyed when driving cows there many years ago.

Little Shrew: Kate Bush’s Haunting Animation for ‘Snowflake’

I had no idea that this existed until recently.  Back in 2024, Kate Bush released a short animated music video called Little Shrew (Snowflake) – the word in brackets being the name of the track from her 2011 album 50 Words for Snow that is used as the soundtrack for this startling and poignant anti-war story.  Apparently, the image of the destroyed block of flats that you see in the video is based on a real photograph that Bush saw – an image of the war in Ukraine.  Yet the video doesn’t focus on graphic violence, rather its impact on the young and timid shrew – although the bleak monochrome of the animation certainly drives it message home.

The animation was written and directed by Kate Bush, with the help of animation company Inkubis and production company Tomato Twist.  If you don’t know Snowflake well, you might think Hey! That’s not Kate! for about half of the song.  That’s because she shared the song with her son Bertie (Albert McIntosh).  In fact, the guitar work on the track is by Dan McIntosh, so father makes three. I like it when people keep it in the family! The animation was created to help support the charity War Child.   It is – as you might expect – a work of art.

Valencia Hyperlapse: Exploring the City of Arts and Sciences and Historic Old Town

Valencia is a remarkable city.  On one hand you have the City of Arts and Sciences, which looks like it could be set from a science fiction movie (several have been filmed there).  On the other you have the Old Town, with its sweeping historic squares, not to mention the cathedral and city hall.  It’s like past and present come together in one seamless motion, particularly if you watch this hyperlapse by Kirill Neiezhmakov.  It’s a masterclass in how timelapses are evolving into an art form – thanks to great photography and some equally impressive technology.  Although we have featured Valencia before on Kuriositas, I have never seen it look so beautiful as in this  video.

Neiezhmakov always carries a folding bike with him, on which to move between locations.  Valencia’s network of cycle paths enabled him to do this with ease and to chase what he calls “the perfect light”.   Amazingly, there were no drones involved in the making of this short film – but I for one certainly wouldn’t blame you if you thought that there were.  Instead, the creation of this hyperlapse involved painstaking work, with each shot created by moving the camera and tripod manually.    Watch the resulting magic below.

Star Trek Bohemian Rhapsody 2026

Manny Patel made the first version of this over thirty years ago when he was a high school student.  Now he has returned to his Star Trek Bohemian Rhapsody media mix as a celebration of the show’s 60^th anniversary (and Queen’s song is 50, so a double celebration).  The footage has been upscaled to 4K, giving the original mashup a makeover.  It is certainly a labor of love – each two or three second clip exactly matches a line in the song.  I’ve been a bit cheeky and put the lyrics in the picture above to give readers an idea of what they are in for (the video itself doesn’t have any “singalong” subtitles… now there’s an idea!

What we do have is Dr Crusher and Kira Neris getting swept away with anywhere the wind blows and Odo playing the piano in perfect time to the song.  We have most (if not all) of the mothers of Legacy Trek featured here as the song mentions “mama” so often, so why not? You might want to guess whose death is featured for the line Too late, my time has come, but I reckon you will get that right, no problem.  All told, this is a joy to watch, to proceed below.

Wings: A Heartwarming Animated Short About a Mouse and an Injured Bird

A little mouse, foraging for food, comes across and injured bird. It has been trapped by the wing and the mouse makes the decision, on the spot, to help the bird, release it and share its home with it until it is fully recovered and can fly again. That’s it – a very simple tale, but so beautifully animated and with great (wordless) character development that it’s simply (see what I did there?) a joy to watch.  This was Casey McDonald’s (aka gothfrog) final film from the School of Visual arts. She directed, background painted, animated, and did about half of the cleanup and coloring herself! The rest was handled by her team (credited at the end).

I do love an animated short that tells a very simple story – young animators often make the mistake of writing plots that are way too complex for five minutes or so, and when things get complicated, people turn off.  Yes, this is a very simple story and told in a way that very young kids can get it, but adults can appreciate it for the extended visual metaphor it really is.  Kindness is its own reward, but sometimes, something done with no obvious incentive can be the best thing you can ever do.

This is not a new animated short – but there are so many out there that I didn’t show on Kuriositas when they first came out, mostly because I didn’t spot them, that I thought I would take the opportunity to showcase some.  So, put this another way – I may be late to the party, but at least I got there in the end! At the time of writing Wings has attracted almost 12 million views on YouTube – quite a feat for a student film.  Watch it and discover why it is so well-loved.

The Shanghai Lightshow for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2026

The skyline of modern Shanghai is something of a wonder – it’s like a mix of Bladerunner, Ghost in the Shell and The Fifth Element combined, even though that fairly lazy simile doesn’t do it justice (I shouldn’t really imagine the present using yesterday’s science fiction – it’s there in front of me).  Yet although this is one of the most striking cityscapes on the planet by day, when the sun sets the city comes to iridescent life, with lights reflecting across the Huangpu river.

For visitors to this year’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), the nightly light show that the city offers to inhabitants and visitors alike was given a further boost with a sequence of dazzling synchronised projections and animations which were designed to celebrate and showcase innovation and technology.  So, there is an extra layer of spectacle on top of what is already seen each evening.  The phrase that kept coming into my mind as I watched this film of the lightshow by LaLin Photography was effortlessly elegant.  Take a look below – it’s quite dazzling on film – it must have been something special to have been there.

The Threads of Time (時の糸)

There are several films and shows that have phones boxes with connections to time travel.  There is of course, Doctor Who – and who could forget the Bill and Ted movies? So, here’s another one to add to the list – in a way.  Threads of Time was created by Kohei Yamashita in Tokyo, and it follows the trials and tribulations of a young man (played by Kazuma Ozaki).  Perhaps he is a university graduate beginning the shūkatsu (就活) job-hunting process, but he isn’t having much luck.  The first thing that we witness is him being turned down for a position.

After he puts the phone down, he notices that someone has left behind a notepad and a pen, and so writes a message (more of a statement of his current feelings).  The next time he visits, he finds that there are responses in the notebook.  Who wrote them? Well, that’s up to you to discover by watching the short film below! The film is short  but beautifully made. It’s only a few minutes long, and if you need your spirits lifting a little, it may be just what you are looking for!

Summer Fun on Days Long Gone

Have you ever felt that dread when, on their return from some far flung place, your friend threatens to show you their summer holiday photos? You may have to sit through that particular agony.  In the meantime, here is a collection of photographs spanning the first seven decades of the twentieth century which show summer in all its glory.  Times and social mores may have changed, but these may still be the type of pictures you wish your friend had taken.

Image Credit Florida Memory
A group of young women make fun of a sign demanding that they wear full bathing costumes while on Florida’s Miami beach.  Come on, this is 1934, after all!  Sure enough, there were a number of women arrested that year for wearing two piece bathing suits.

Image Credit Florida Memory

You can be fairly certain the young women above didn't stay here.

The Big Leap (Le Grand Saut): An Award-Winning Animated Short About a First Crush at the Beach

This is precious.   Le Grand Saut is the French title, so that translates as The Big Leap and I think it’s a great name for this animated short, given that the girl protagonist takes one literally and metaphorically. It doesn’t tell a big story, but for our young protagonist, it’s something of a coming of age.  A simple day at the beach.  There’s the sun, the sand – and, of course, the completely annoying toddler brother that you have to look at (no doubt while the parents go an have an extended lunch at a local bar!).  Perhaps that last bit is reading too much in to it, but there is another thing – the awakening of attraction.  When our young heroine sees a cool young boy on the beach, it’s pretty much love at first sight – but how do you get him to notice you?

There are number of outstanding features to this animated short.  First and foremost, it was created without dialogue (so overcoming any possible language barrier to help achieve a bigger audience), but the animation is so subtly done that you know exactly what is going through the girl’s mind at any given time – and the body language is also expertly conveyed.  Both of these things are difficult to do with animation, so hats off to the students who created this.  The other stand out for me was how the colours so wonderfully expressed the tone and feel of a day at the beach – vibrant and saturated with the sun in charge of how everyone sees the day’s events.  It really does give this animation a lovely, almost nostalgic texture.

The award-winning animated film was directed by Martina Doll, Anaïs Dos, Coline Reverbel, Kenzo Talma, Edgard Vernier, and Lisa Vlaine during their time at École des Nouvelles Images. It received the School Jury Award at the Catch the Moon – Festival Internazionale di Cinema d'Animazione, the Jury Prize (Prix du Jury) at the Big Cartoon Festival, and the Best Animated Film Award (Prix du Meilleur Film d'Animation) at the Kristiansand International Children's Film Festival. The original score was composed by Aloïs Benoit (MAAAV), with production by Julien Deparis and sound mixing by Pierre-François Renouf.

The Doll’s Eyes Plant – The Woods Have Eyes Too

Have you ever taken a stroll through a wood and felt that you were being watched? Yet when you turn around, no-one is there. You carry on with your walk but that feeling of disquiet lingers. Perhaps you were being watched by something almost as disquieting as that galloping, mad axe murderer you were dreading. The Doll’s Eyes Plant could be eyeing you up as you innocently ramble. In North America, not just the hill have eyes.

Image Credit Flickr User Soul Motor

Wuthering Heights Day 2026: Kate Bush Fans Recreate Iconic Dance in Whitstable – Complete with Drone Footage

These days, most people know Kate Bush for Running Up That Hill, which was iconically featured on Stranger Things.  However, outside of the US, ask people of a certain age and they will immediately cite Wuthering Heights, her 1978 hit, as her most popular song.  In fact, inspired by the music video that went with it, each year women get together in community events all over the giff-gaff to recreate the famous dance from the video.  They also try their best to reproduce the flowing dress Bush wore in it, and many don a wig to complete the ensemble.  While you don’t have to be (ever so gently) bonkers mad to join in a group event like this, I suspect it helps...

The sleepy English seaside town of Whitstable holds it own version - Whittering Heights (get it?) and this year the global event was branded as The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever.  Apparently, when women (some men have been known to join in, too) get together in this manner, it is known as a Mass Wuther, and the one in Penistone Hill, close to the famous Brontë parsonage in Haworth, is probably the most famous. However, the Whitstable organisers this year employed a drone to capture the full majesty of this particular Mass Wuther.  This Community of Cathies (I counted 33) have been getting together once a month since February to rehearse the dance – but I am pretty sure that there has been a lot of bedroom mirror work going on as well.  This is a Mass Wuther par excellence.  A captivating community of Cathies.

Whoever thought of filming it with a drone (not to mention organising that) deserves a Blue Peter badge for this genius move which allows us to really take in the full spectacle.  Hats off, too, to the Cathies in this video.  I love the way that each has adapted the famous red dress and black sash to their own taste, with some versions going down to the ankle while at least one has gone for a mini version (perhaps Babooshka Day for you next year?).  Hopefully, that means that these dresses get more than an annual outing.  What the original article (as it were) has to say about Wuthering Heights Day has not been recorded.  Kate Bush is famously reluctant to appear or talk in public and gives interviews once a millennium, but I hope that if she sees this video it puts a smile on her face as big as mine is right now!

OK, here's the original just for comparison.  Oddly, there were two videos for the song.  The first featured Kate in a white dress.  The one below (known to fans as Version 2) was created for the American market and as you can see, every expense was spared.  Still, decades later, it continues to inspire our communities of Cathies to go forth and Wuther.  Wuthering Heights peaked at No. 8 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, which is essentially the chart just below the main Hot 100.  It took Kate a while to crack the States.

Spider-Plant Man Starring Rowan Atkinson – Comedy Sketch for Comic Relief

It was a long time coming, but the Comic Relief people have finally released Spider-Plant Man on their YouTube channel.  It was originally created for Red Nose Day (when people buy a red nose to wear to support charity) in the UK (back in 2006 so makes this sketch – astonishingly – 20 years old already).  It quickly picked up something of a cult following as it very accurately takes the rise out of superhero films in general.  Starring Atkinson as Peter Piper, this origin story shows our unlikely hero visiting Very Safe Labs Incorporated and being bitten in a delicate place by a genetically engineered spider plant.

Cue a transformation that pleases the reporter no end, especially when an opportunity (very quickly) arises for him to save his school sweetheart, Jane-Mary, who is being mugged very slowly by a masked assailant.  Of course, no sooner is she out of peril than she is in peril again, thanks to a rather bedraggled Batman.  Atkinson was not the only British comedian to lend his talents to this sketch for Comic Relief.  You can see Rachel Stevens, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Mackenzie Crook, Jim Broadbent and Atkinson’s Blackadder chum Tony Robinson in the sketch too.  I am not too sure who wrote it but if I had to guess I would say it had Simon Pegg's paw prints all over it! It still stands up very well, despite being 20 years old, and is probably one of the best Comic Relief sketches ever made.  Watch it below.

Inpatient – End of the World: Ren and Chris Webby's Brilliantly Chaotic New Collaboration

End of the World, is a track from the first album (Asylum) by Inpatient, and the video is a blast (well, it is the end of the world…).  It’s lyrically dense – and very funny (love the line about the Vatican, allegedly, but there are too many standout lines to mention here). The song seems to be a (tongue in cheek) shrug of the shoulders at the world in general.  Let’s self-medicate and get on with it, because we’re all f**ked anyway.  Yet when I finished the watching the video, which is hugely creative and a perfect accompaniment to the song, I was left thinking that this is more like a call to arms – to make the most of it too. Even if it isn’t, listening to a song about how screwed we all are cheered me up no end.

Plus, anything with a kazoo interlude gets my vote.

So, who are Inpatient? I went to Bangor University in North Wales from 1983-1986 and had a fabulous time with some fabulous people, thank you very much.  I loved the (very small) city and its people – and it’s great to see that Bangor is still producing brilliance.  Ren, a musician, rapper, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and storyteller, was born there in 1990. Of course, as he is Welsh, you could say some of those things I just listed were most likely in his blood from birth.  There is something Dylanthomasy in some of these lyrics - but there is fatalism rather than rage (perhaps the message is drink, drink [or insert substance of choice] against the dying of the light - Thomas would no doubt have approved of that).

Now Ren has joined up with Chris Webby, an American rapper and songwriter from Norwalk, Connecticut known for fast, technically sharp rapping, punchlines, pop-culture references, and an independent approach to his music.  Mix in production and some of the song-writing from JP On Da Track and you have this collaborative project (band?) called Inpatient.  This is one of my favourite songs of the year already.

The comments on YouTube are massively positive, with fans describing the song as a brilliant soundtrack to what feels like the end of humanity, while somehow remaining incredibly fun. One listener summed it up perfectly: “I've been talking with friends for several years now about how we have a front row seat to the end of humanity. You guys just brilliantly put it to music.” Another wrote, “Only Ren and Webby can make a song about the end of life as we know it but make it so fun that me and my wife can't stop singing to it.” Others called the pair “a gift to the world,” thanked them for the music (not in an Abba way), and declared it their new favourite, with one fan simply calling Asylum the  “album of the year” which is praise indeed. 

The excitement around the collaboration is clear, with comments describing Ren and Webby as their “two fave artists” and praising them for “smashing it again.” There is a real sense that listeners aren't just enjoying the song but embracing its strange, darkly comic message: if we're going to have a front-row seat to the end of the world, we might as well have Ren and Webby providing the soundtrack.

The video manages to look both home-made and very expensive at the same time, which is quite a feat. Have a watch...

Young Faces of the American Civil War

Somehow we expect their faces to be different, not so staggeringly modern looking.  Place them in contemporary clothing and all of these young men would not look out of place in a mall or a high school yearbook. Yet these extraordinary ambrotype and tintype photographs were taken during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Over 160 years separates their lives from our own yet their youthful faces retain a powerful resonance and an immediacy which brings that dreadful conflict feel strikingly close to us..

Who were these young men? What sort of lives did they live during and (one hopes) after the Civil War? The names of many of the young men pictured here are unknown; their fates a mystery. Yet despite the century and a half gap between their careful posing for the camera, some can still be identified. Astonishingly, names can still be discovered, as well as insight in to their character and personality.

Christopher Nolan Got the Trojan Horse Wrong – This Comedy Sketch Shows How It Really Happened

So, now you have watched Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, you think you know how the Trojan Horse was used to defeat the ancient city? Pah! Nolan knows nothing!  Despite his movie being an extended homage to Old Hollywood in so many ways, what we really needed was a touch of The Python.  And not one to disappoint, Ben Naumann’s new comedy short is something I could easily imagine young Cleese, Palin, Chapman, Gilliam, Jones and Idle doing.  Wait, I almost forgot; they did the Trojan Rabbit scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Arthur and his knights build a huge wooden rabbit to sneak into the French castle. The plan goes wrong when they forget to hide inside it before the French take it into the castle!

In this sketch, the Greeks have not forgotten to climb inside – but they are faced with some unexpected issues… Will it go right for them, despite one of them suffering from the intense agony of a repressed fart. It’s about as historically inaccurate as it should be – I wouldn’t demand anything less from a comedy sketch by Americans, who only have approximately a day and a half of history between the lot of them. I would have bitterly complained if we hadn’t been given warrior girls and the like. But it is funny.  The sketch features Brian Beckerle, Graham McClanahan, Phoebe Black-Toby, Eddie Tarr, Will Tully, and Harkness Granger. Not a single Greek name among them. Pfft!

The Lost Forest of Mount Lico: The Scientists Who Explored a Hidden World

It’s difficult to ascertain the damage that climate change has caused simply because there are so few places on the planet where we are not found.  Human intervention creates artificial change, so in order to work out the real impact of climate change, you need to find somewhere pristine, somewhere we have never been.  That’s quite difficult, considering the billions of us that have spread like a virus over the surface of the Earth! However, Mount Lico was identified by Julian Bayliss (Oxford Brookes University) as a place of special scientific interest by using Google Earth of all things. Image

He recognised Mount Lico as an inselberg – an isolated small mountain that rises, as if by magic, from a virtually level plain.  Think Uluru in Australia, probably the most famous example of this kind of geographical formation.  He spotted that the land round the mountain was heavily agriculturalized but atop its sheer rock walls of up to 700 metres, was a pristine forest covering about 30 hectares (74 acres).  In a scientific version of Let’s put on a show he gathered a group of unpaid scientists to go with him to Mozambique to study Mount Lico’s landforms and vegetation.

The film below was directed by Orlando von Einsiedel and tells the story of both the climb and the study.  It appears on the Nobel Prize YouTube channel. I am not going to do a spoiler alert - find out what they discovered by watching the short documentary.  I will say, though, that I was struck by how genial Julian Bayliss was, and I thought that, if this were ever made into a film, Martin Freeman would be brilliant as him!  I know, I know, I should be focusing on the content…

Samurai Frog Golf: The Brilliant Animated Short That Deserves a Series - サムライフロッグゴルフ

Here’s a plea – will someone who knows someone who sleeps with someone who works with someone who can fund an animated series, please put the relevant person or persons in front of Samurai Frog Golf.  I have no idea why this awesome piece of animation hasn’t garnered millions of hits, but I guess I would have to ask The Algorithm and it’s currently not speaking to me.  Regardless, this short by Marza Animation Planet deserves a much larger audience than it got a few years ago.  It tells the story of a grizzled old Samurai Frog, who after years of battle just wants to be left alone to enjoy his golf.  What drew me in was the gorgeous animation - such a great deal of time and effort has been put into making this short.

Fate, of course, would have otherwise – and he soon finds himself the protector of a baby turtle. There is nothing for him to do but to protect the innocent, but the only thing he could use as a weapon is his golf club… I will leave the rest to you to watch.  I thoroughly enjoyed this and I hope that Marza is still looking for coproduction partners to continue the story of Samurai Frog Golf in a series!  To give up on this brilliant idea would be such a shame…

Watch King Charles and Queen Camilla Take a Trip in the Tardis in a Doctor Who Themed Commonwealth Games Opening

When late to open the Commonwealth Games, King Charles and Queen Camilla had only one option – to requisition the Tardis to ensure that they arrived on time. That’s the amusing premise of this intro to the opening of the games (July 23).  Echoing his mother’s (the late Queen Elizabeth II) James Bond escapade for the opening of the London Olympics in 2012, another Great British Institution (that’s GBI for short) has been used to create a playful and unforgettable entrance to the Commonwealth Games 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland.

There's even something of a plot  – and while not the new material that fans might have been wishing for – it’s a typical Tardis tale, with a twist. It’s the Tardis that kick-starts the whole adventure.  Created by the BBC especially for the event, it opens with Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and comedian Greg McHugh walking past a seemingly innocuous police telephone box, only for its phone to ring.  On answering, they learn that their majesties are going to be late for the opening ceremony, but there is no Doctor to whisk them away - he is nowhere to be seen.  Never mind, the Tardis takes matters into its own (metaphorical) hands.

With a great little cameo from 82-year-old Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor), this really does push all the right buttons when it comes to providing an entrance for KC and QC at the Commonwealth Games.  And talking of buttons, Hoy and McHugh don’t really have a clue how to drive a Tardis... but it gives the BBC a great excuse to show off some pretty Scottish scenery. Watch the video below.

Is the Internet Broken? How Technology, Social Media and AI Changed Us

Is the internet broken?  What would your answer be?  My knee-jerk response, with little to no reflection, is “bloody hell, yes”.  Yet giving it a little more thought, I think my response is more likely to be “it’s as broken as you want it to be”.  Throughout history, we have had cultural revolution after cultural revolution – and whether our distant ancestors would like us (or vice versa) if we were to somehow meet, we’ll never know. My guess is that they would be bewildered by us, frankly.  Yet each new development presented different opportunities to different people.  Take literacy – after its development, some wrote poetry while others scribbled graffiti on walls (Pompeii is a great example, where it survived unlike the scrolls the poetry was written upon).  Then there was television.  The BBC (which made this video) set out to inform and educate the masses, while the commercial channels quickly got the upper hand (viewer wise) by bestowing us with gifts like the soap opera and the advertising break.

And then, of course, there is the internet.  On one hand, we have the likes of Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) who wish to disseminate and make available knowledge that in terms of its accessibility, our grandparents could only dream of.  Now we can settle arguments in a second, a few clicks and swipes…  but fifty years ago, if you were debating the name of the capital of Mongolia, and you didn’t happen to have an encyclopaedia to hand, the correct answer would take a while to ascertain.  You get my drift.  On the other hand, we have a host of companies trying to sell us their product at any cost, social media turning our children into slavering zombies and artificial intelligence, which isn’t always right and doesn’t care either way.  Add engagement algorithms into the mix and perhaps the tool had become the master…

There’s a clip in the video below about just that, really.  When asked about the internet by an interviewer “But it’s just a tool, isn’t it?”, David Bowie responds with: “No it’s not. It’s an alien life form”.  Perhaps he could have added “intent on world domination not by death and destruction but by stealth and seduction”.  The video features interviews with several people who know what they’re talking about, including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Hatelab director Matthew Williams, author (whose novels are free on Project Gutenberg so he puts his money, as it were, where his mouth is) and activist Cory Doctorow. There are also some students at the University of Cardiff, who seem equally as baffled and bewildered by both the past and the present, bless ‘em.

Let me stop babbling. Have a look at the video.