Everyone is nervous, at least to some extent, on their first
day at a new job. Yet spare a thought
for young Pierre (as I have called him).
He is the only human living in a world of animals and even his recent couture
diploma isn’t going to get him very far when it comes to competing with his
colleague, whose eight legs put her at a distinct advantage to him when it
comes to completing new dresses on time. So, his first day is going to be challenging, to say the least. Regardless, plucky Pierre decides to give it his best job, even if it
comes to some unfortunate improvisation…
This charming animated short was directed by Léa Cousty,
Chloé Astier, Hugo Bourriez, Victoire Le Dourner, Raphaël Guez, and Mélanie
Fourgeaud during their studies at Rubika in Valenciennes, France. Music is by Valentin Lafort and sound design
by Henri Petitprez. The French title Sur Mesure means Custom Made in English (I hope no one minds me using the translation as the title to this post!). This is an
incredibly accomplished animation for a group of students (however
talented). It features a simple but very
well-told plot, and is a visual treat for the eyes. I was particularly struck
both by the character and background design.
Bravo to all involved.
A casino once announced itself with chandeliers, carpets, marble, and a door that felt slightly too important for a normal Tuesday. Online, the doorway is quieter. A player taps a screen, opens a wallet, waits for a balance, and expects the magic to behave. That is where a crypto casino provider becomes part architect, part mechanic, and part stagehand.
The Lobby Is No Longer A Room
The old casino lobby had one job before anything else happened: make people feel they had entered a designed world. The digital lobby has the same job, but its bricks are menus, wallet flows, game thumbnails, bonus prompts, and loading states. If one of those pieces feels uncertain, the spell breaks before the first game opens.
That is why crypto support should not sit in a lonely payment corner. It touches registration, limits, player records, fraud review, withdrawals, and support conversations. The player sees a simple deposit. The operator sees a wallet ledger, exchange-rate handling, transaction confirmations, risk flags, and a support ticket when something looks slower than expected.
Walking through Brockley in South East London this morning,
my eyes were drawn to the rubbish that was collecting - but not being collected - near the station. However, this wasn’t what grabbed my
attention – it was the street art (graffiti, vandalism –
what you will) that adorned the remnants of a piece of shelving that had been
unceremoniously bound and dumped by the bins. It
must have looked so forlorn that a would-be Banksy took (no more than a few seconds,
in my judgement) the time to spray a pithy little message in the words of
the abandoned shelf itself. The message?
“I identify as a surfboard”.
Now it was early in the morning, but I was struck by the
sheer pathos of this plaintive proclamation.What also hit me was the
angsty anthropomorphism of the face painted atop of the message.The existential distress bore all the
hallmarks of Munchian despair. What hopes had been dashed? What dreams of sun
and sea-spray had been denied?Here was a humble shelving unit, condemned by society to a life holding tins
of baked beans and chopped tomatoes, finally finding the courage to articulate
its authentic self in its last gasps of existence before its inevitable
appointment with the crusher at the recycling plant.
"I identify as a surfboard" it declared, with a spartacan
(have I just invented a new adjective?) confidence that reality stubbornly
refused to endorse. As commuters hurried past towards the station, I wondered
how many had paused to consider the shelf's predicament. Had any offered words
of encouragement? Had anyone suggested Brighton or Bognor or even Bondi? Or was
this yet another example of modern society's inability to listen to the voices
of the marginalised supermarket shelving community?
Eventually I moved on, leaving the shelf to contemplate its
fate alone. Yet its message lingered with me all day – perhaps because I had
nothing better to do… But perhaps we are all, in our own way, shelves
identifying as surfboards: yearning for adventure while being fundamentally
designed for storage. Or, maybe, I should try harder to stop overthinking in the mornings.
When you look for art history coffee table books, people
generally look for home library books that offer museum-quality reproductions
alongside clear introductions to major art movements. Actually, the
market for printed art books remains remarkably durable, and it continues to
play an important role in museum retail and art publishing. For example, the
book marketreached a record €24.9 billion in turnover in
2024, according to the Federation of European Publishers. Despite the growth of
digital media, print books continue to account for the majority of book sales.
Physical books also
offer a tangible experience that many readers value when engaging with visual
culture. Some readers look for coffee table books
that combine visual appeal with historical context. Therefore, to help you
choose, we reviewed frequently recommended art history titles from museum
publishers and major book retailers. We also compared digital learning apps
that offer summaries of foundational educational texts when reading a detailedBookey
app review, and reviewed books that appear
repeatedly in trusted art history recommendations!
Hidden in the forests of north-western Ukraine lies a place
that seems less like a real location and more like a setting from a fairy tale (at least at first sight).
Near the small town of Klevan, in Rivne Oblast, a leafy green corridor
stretches into the distance, its walls and ceiling formed entirely by living
trees. It is known simply as the Tunnel of Love - "Тунель кохання"
(Tunel Kokhannia).Ask anyone in Kievan
for The Green Mile Tunnel as it is sometimes referred to on the internet,
and they will look at you blankly.Ask for The Tunnel of Love and a local will immediately know where you want
to go.They might even give you a
knowing wink if you are with your loved one. Image
At first glance, you can see exactly why the place acquired
the name. The word кохання (kokhannia) means romantic love,
rather than the broader word for affection or liking. So, the name carries a
distinctly amorous meaning, and you might assume the tunnel was deliberately
designed as a place for lovers. If I was a filmmaker, I would want to shoot my
happy ending here.
As you may know, we feature a lot of timelapses (and
sometimes even hyperlapses) here on Kuriositas.
They all have one thing in common – they are all earthbound, very much
the representation of people and places under the Earth’s atmosphere. Plus, of
course, they represent a certain time – quite recent! This timelapse is slightly different –
it covers the entire history of the universe from its big bang beginnings 13
billion years ago, right up to the present day.
So, obviously, this is a peculiar hobby of a particular Timelord
– one who found Gallifrey a little boring and decided that instead of fighting
monsters (on a weekly basis) that they would simply record what happened in
time and space.Ah, well not quite.This is the work of Melodysheep, ala John D.
Boswell, a Washington State based musician and filmmaker.I suppose he could still be a Timelord in
disguise, but unfortunately, he admits that his own timelapse of the
universe was created by his imagination (and some software).It is narrated by his friend Toby, aka
EpicSpaceMan
Every second in this video represents 23 million years and so
I am not exaggerating when I say that the scale is epic. In the first minute, you’re watching the
first stars being born (great to see them twinkle into existence), and before
you know it we’re watching proto-galaxies form and then spectacularly collide
with each other. All of that happens in the first two minutes. So, although you may feel you have enough
time to put the kettle on and have a cuppa in the middle of the ten minutes
below, you will have missed so much of the universe’s history in that time,
that it would be difficult to pick it all up again. At least there’s a timeline at the bottom of
the screen so you can see how much you have missed. However, go and make that coffee, tea or other
hot beverage now, sit down and enjoy the timelapse of the universe which, in its
last nanosecond includes the history of you, me and everyone else ever born on
Earth.
From supermassive black holes to supernovas, everything
about this video is… super.It’s no
wonder that it is soon to become a planetarium show.
When pre-twentieth century Africa is studied in schools it is the slave trade, its awful consequences and the later colonial Scramble for Africa of the nineteenth century which tend to attract the focus of both teachers and students.
Often overlooked is the only country which successfully resisted European incursion and retained its own sovereignty: perhaps its late twentieth century tragedies of famine and attendant local and civil wars do little to persuade the casual historian to look further in to its past.
If you like an extended visual metaphor, then you will love The
Nymph, written and directed by Vanessa Stachel at Filmakademie
Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of the internationally most acclaimed film and media
schools.Together with a team of
producers, editors, VFX creators – basically a whole film crew made up of
fellow students, she has created a branded short for Greenpeace Germany – and a
tale of love and woe it is indeed.
The story is deceptively simple.A young knight, defeated and injured, flees
the battlefield.Nicholas (played with
equal charm and menace by Jacob Haw-Wells) finds himself by a beautiful pool in
secluded woodland.There he encounters the
nymph Ilo (played subtly by Peter Todd, who also narrates the story) who heals
his wounds.Yet this healing comes at a
price – part of the natural world around them dies with this act of
generosity.Sir Nicholas can rejoin the
fight and claim victory. Yet he returns to his healer and a friendship, then a
romance blossoms.
Combining animation and live action is always something of a
risk, but this short film segues beautifully between the two.The direction is absolutely spot on throughout
and the leads are both compelling and charming (well, one is remarkably like a
Disney prince!). The fact that this is, essentially, a student film is astonishing - this is very high-quality film-making.
So, you can probably see where this is going in terms of the visual
metaphor - it's about the environment, conservation and sustainability.As the relationship between
human and nymph (well, nature effectively) develops, Sir Nicholas begins to demand more and
ore from Ilo (the name means joy in both Finnish and Igbo!).Before long the natural world is laid waste
as Nicholas’ demands stretch Ilo to his very limits.Can Nicholas see sense before his Ilo and his
world are destroyed forever?You will
have to watch this short film to find out, but as a fitting end to this
particular fairy tale, there is a message directed at us saying “Nature
deserves a happily ever after. It’s up to us.”Of course, Nicholas has been us from the very beginning, taking what we
want when we want from the natural world – and Ilo represents nature.The message – unless we work together,
disaster is inevitable.And although there is some optimism at the end
of this remarkable short film, what a price tag it has come with…
I probably don’t keep up with things properly, but the last
thing I expected to see today was a new single by Queen’s Roger Taylor. And featured on Come On Summer (It’s Party
Time) is none other than the Ndlovu Youth Choir from South Africa who did
such a brilliant job on their cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, which we featured on
Kuriositas last August. This song is
not as complex (by something of a margin) but restricts itself to simple lyrics
yet gloriously summery rhythms.
There is something of a contrast to the performances on Come
On Summer, too.While the youth
choir seem intent on celebrating the warmth of the sun as it beats down on them,
Roger Taylor seems to be stuck in a rainy field somewhere in the UK, muttering Come
On Summer under his breath every now and again.It’s quite a neat juxtaposition – and I do
hope it was purposeful because otherwise I’m getting the wrong end of
completely the wrong stick.
Regardless, this song is a wonderful preview of what Taylor
has in store for us when his new album, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World,
comes out on September 18th, just ahead of Taylor’s UK tour which kicks off
three days later.In the meantime, I
imagine that this song will do very well on the radio – we only have a lyric
video at the moment (even thought it’s gorgeous – a lot of time and pennies
have been spent on it) – its very upbeat mood is infectious – and I have
already caught myself singing bits of it a few times.So, come on, summer, do your best or your worst – we don’t care.We have the track of the season anyway!
Ask anyone and they will tell you that two things that are
featured heavily on Kuriositas are science fiction and dance – and never the
twain shall meet. However, it is with
unspeakable joy that I can feature a combination of the two. World-renowned tap dancer Demi Remick in
cahoots with Postmodern Jukebox have created this wonderful dance feature where
we can watch Remick go through her paces to the tune of ten of our favorite
sci-fi themes – all to a jazzy swing beat. Starting with Spielberg’s Close
Encounters, we move quickly on to Doctor
Who and next to Battlestar Galactica.
Next to The X-Files (and Demi knows the truth is out there
somewhere).
Did I mention that she does this all in a shiny space suit
tap dancing outfit? I have now.We then
get to Star Wars, with the (now not so menacing) Imperial March,swifty
followed by the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey.The dance climaxes with a section dedicated to – what else – Star Trek.Both the Original Series and The Next
Generation are represented here – I a wonderful medley that may well have you
tapping your feet to the beat.All the
way through Demi looks like she’s having the time of your life – and I must say
this is some performance is fantastic. Sshe doesn’t look even vaguely out of breath at the end and
this attempting this would kill a few people, including me.
It’s the sci-fi tap-dance video we didn’t know we wanted
until it was put before our eyes.Go on,
dance along!
We have all had them – those interminably dull, incredibly
long and impossibly tedious days at the office.And so has the hero of this animated short – Shibuya Meltdown.However, he has an imagination – at first a creature
he draws on his notepad comes to life.However,
his boss soon presents him with enough work to keep his imagination at
bay.Yet eventually the working day
comes to an end and as he plods home, crushed after what seems like the
millionth day in a row at the office, he is drawn to a magical food stand, and
soon he sets his mind – and everything in it – free, to roam the city in ways
he only ever dreamed.If he is having a
meltdown, it’s my kind of meltdown!
Shibuya Meltdown is a wonderful animated short – heartfelt and
joyful at its core. It is so lovely to see a graduation project that isn’t full
of blood and guts (of course, as you know, they have their place on Kuriositas!)
but instead opts for something so vibrantly optimistic (even though it may be
an extended metaphor for a complete nervous breakdown). I hope its creators
never experience the boredom that their young protagonist did.It was created by the master’s students in
Animation Cinema at ECV Lille as their final-year graduation project. The film
was directed by Marine Dufosse, Manon Casmarec, Marius Faraci and Victor Paris.
Romeo, Juliet and Ginger? Somehow it doesn’t have the
same ring to it, but theatre-goers in Turkey were offered the chance to witness
a quick feline rewrite of possibly the most famous death scene of all time.
Romeo and Juliet may be the tale of star-crossed lovers, but on this
occasion the stars were eclipsed by a four-legged scene-stealer - perhaps we could even call him Shakespurr. Regardless, there is
Romeo, prone on the floor, having killed himself believing that Juliet was
already dead. Juliet, too, is in position - seemingly dead but soon to awake. Then a ginger cat wanders
on to the stage and decides that he (most likely, most ginger cats are) is
going to change Shakespeare’s most famous play to suit himself. To paraphrase
the Bard, “Though this be madness, yet there is meowthod in’t.”
Walking nonchalantly from the wings, he headed straight
towards Romeo. Perhaps there was something in Romeo’s hair that fascinated him,
but the cat settled to play with Romeo’s mop as if he had discovered a new toy.
It was a case of paws before cause, and the feline seemed determined that all
the world’s a stage - and all the men and women merely cat toys. Juliet felt
obliged to intervene, but each time Romeo was moved, the cat duly followed.
Like a furry Mercutio, he refused to exit, proving that discretion is not
always the better part of valour.
How the actor playing Romeo kept a straight face, I do not
know, let alone stay “dead” on the floor of the Capulet tomb. One can only
imagine him thinking, “To purr, or not to purr, that is the question.”
Meanwhile, Ginger appeared convinced that “a plague o’ both your cathouses” was
less important than investigating a particularly interesting hairstyle. Had
Shakespeare foreseen such a moment, perhaps he would have written, “Parting is
such sweet sorrow - but not as sweet as chasing a dangling lock of hair.”
At least they saw the funny side of it all - the cat was
carried on to the stage afterwards to greet his audience. He received a warmer
reception than many leading actors, proving that some are born great, some
achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust a-paw them. I do not know the
exact whereabouts in Turkey of this particular performance, but I suspect it
was Istanbul. The city has so many cats that live on the streets that it is
sometimes called Catstanbul. Perhaps Ginger heard that there was going to be
fish for supper. Or perhaps, like Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
he simply wanted a larger role. Either way, while Romeo and Juliet may have
been doomed by fate, this particular performance was delightfully interrupted
by a cat who clearly believed that brevity is the soul of wit - and that every
tragedy deserves a little comic relief. After all, what's in a meow? That which
we call a cat would steal the show by any other name. I'm really sorry for all the poor cat puns. Watch below.
It must have seemed like a good idea at the time… In 1945, the
Icelandic Forest Service took seeds of the Nootka Lupine (Lupinus
nootkatensis) from its Alaskan home and introduced it to the island’s most
eroded areas in the hope it would help to replenish the soil. Seen as a bridging tool to hold back erosion
until trees could be re-established, the lupine had other ideas. It quickly spread, and is now classified by
Iceland’s environment agency as an invasive species. Soon, it could cover up to
ten percent of the country. On the
upside, it is very, very pretty. Image Credit
This story began over a thousand years ago. Iceland was
first permanently settled in 874 AD and for many centuries, life was hard for its
inhabitants.Dense birchwood forest
covered about a quarter of the island – and being stuck on the North-Atlantic
Ridge, the settlers did the obvious thing – they cut the forest down. It was
cleared to graze sheep, to build houses, to warm the growing population through.After three
centuries of human activity, the island was bare, the forest cover effectively gone
except in a few isolated places. 95% of
its forests had vanished.Perhaps the settlers
can be forgiven for their lack of foresight – how were they to know that Iceland’s
soil takes longer to form but erodes much more quickly than European soil?
After her death in 1935, Einstein wrote that Emmy Noether (left) was
"the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since
the higher education of women began."
This delightful animated short tells the story of a train journey she
took, usually told as a moment when she suddenly realised the connection
between symmetries and conservation laws while travelling, even though - alas - historians have
found little contemporary evidence for the story.
Like the tales of Newton and
the apple or Archimedes and the bath, it may contain a some truth but has
probably been embellished over time. Or
perhaps not - maybe it really happened as we see in the animation below. Let’s just say that the story is not as firmly established as her actual
mathematical achievements. What is definitely true is that her theorem
had enormous consequences for modern physics.
Emmy Noether discovered a hidden rule of the universe:
whenever nature treats different situations as equivalent, something must be
conserved. If the laws of physics don't change over time, energy cannot simply
disappear. If they don't change from place to place, momentum is preserved. Her
insight revealed that the universe's most important conservation laws are not
arbitrary rules - they are consequences of symmetry.
The film was created by Laura Carpentier, Emma Bouchon,
Soline Augris and Mila Mersch as a Pivaut School graduation film – and thank
you very much for creating this. The story is skillfully told - I particularly enjoyed the moments when we saw Emmy work out her theorem - such a wonderful visual metaphor for her discovery. I honestly never thought I would be writing
about an animated Emmy Noether film on Kuriositas! Yet, in a nod to
Noether herself - while some things appear to be conserved, my ability to be
pleasantly surprised remains intact.
A tale of regret and revenge – two great staples of a pirate
adventure.So, Sea of Leaves is not
unusual in that respect.What does make
it different, however, is the setting.The pirate ship, with the remnants of its crew = the captain Viktor and
his first-mate Bill, glides through the air towards a huge, forested area – in which
lurks their destiny.For they have been
there before and the captain, wracked with guilt because his avarice cost so
many lives, is determined to get his revenge on the one thing he blames.What that is and whether Victor gets his
revenge is up to you to discover…
This hugely enjoyable animated short was created by students
at ESMA in France as their graduation project. It was directed by Vincent
Bohnert, Margaux Bontron, Anaë Duquenne, Juliette Gilles-Payart, Veronika
Nikulina, Romain Paillet, Yoann Paquet, Quentin Thisse and Maxime Verclytte.
The music was composed by Matei Pouzet, while the sound design was created by
Mickaël Merrheim, José Vicente and Yoann Poncet. The voice cast features Mark
Kaczmarek, Robert Laborde, Vincent Bohnert and Quentin Thisse.Bravo to everyone involved in the making of
this beautifully crafted short.
Stalkers are never fun – but they are nothing new,
either.Even Queen Victoria was stalked
a number of times during her long reign, most notably by Edward Jones – who became
known in the nineteenth century media as The Boy Jones.And he has something of a strange story, to
say the least.
Jones became infamous (much to his family’s chagrin) for
breaking into Buckingham Palace when he was just 14 years old.That was in 1838 and despite being discovered
with various stolen items on him, he was acquitted at trial.He decided to do it again in1840, just ten
days after the queen had given birth to Princess Vicoria.This time, he was given to months hard labour
but never one to allow a punishment to act as a deterrent, he broke in once
more, two weeks after his release from prison.This time he was found in the larders of the palace, stealing food.He was given a further three months for that. On all occasions, he would not give away his route into the palace. Here's a contemporary cartoon (Old Harry is a common Victorian nickname used in humor or caricature.
Now, three strikes and you’re out didn’t exist back in
Victorian times, and these punishments were lenient for the time. In a desperate attempt to ensure he wouldn’t break
into Buckingham Palace again, the authorities persuaded him to become a sailor,
and he made a journey to Brazil – and back. Although he never again bothered
the queen, he deserted the navy twice and was arrested for burglary in Lewisham
(now a borough in South East London). He
was transported to Australia in 1849, came back to the UK in 1855 to rob a few
more houses, and then went back to Australia (apparently of his own
accord). He died there at some point between
1893 and 1896 – records are sketchy. Below, he is pictured as a sailor - taken from an edition of Punch.
Although we would probably not consider him a stalker in the
modern sense, his Victorian exploits ensured his infamy at the time, with
numerous reports of his exploits reported in the press. Not only that, songs,
ballads, poems and cartoons were created celebrating his exploits. So he
was, I suppose, generally looked upon a harmless nuisance, although there are
reports that his parents were at their wit’s end with his exploits. Even in modern times, his infamy ensured a
fictionalised appearance in the TV series Victoria played with great
charm by Tommy Roger.
Below you can find another fictionalised account of his life
– this time animated – created by Haimeric Pays at Ecole Emile Cohl. It does
get the year wrong by about fifty years, but my guess is the animator wished to
show Queen Victoria as most people think of her – short, old and very, very
plump.Jones almost certainly never
formally (or informally over a cake or two) met Queen Victoria, but he got
alarmingly close to her private apartments and may have caught glimpses of her
during his palace intrusions. Regardless, this is a very well done graduation
project and as such the historical liberties it takes can be forgiven!
This is not a sunbathing dragonfly. In fact, it's quite the opposite. This is obelisking - otherwise known as the obelisk position - and is something that dragonflies and damselflies do for thermoregulation. Our sibling site, the Ark in Space has a new article about this behavior, with some great photos as well. I won't go much into the whys and wherefores of this here, because the article on the Ark is not long - but it's just another reminder that the animal kingdom is simply amazing! By the way, the picture above is of the Halloween pennant dragonfly, a species of which I was blissfully unaware of until today - but now it's in my Top Ten Insect Names list for sure! The picture shows it Obeliskmaxxing - which is a very new term coined in the last ten minutes...
As his follow-up to his collaboration with Yung Lean on
Storm, French musician and producer Benoit Heitz (as GENER8ION - aka Surkin and collaborating with filmmaker Romain Gavras) brings us something completely different. Love & Tears, the title track from GENER8ION’s
new album features Yannis Phillipakis (Greek-born
English singer, songwriter and guitarist and lead singer of the band Foals). It
stars veryfamous movie actor Charlize Theron in her first music video
since “Crossfire” by Brandon Flowers back in 2010 when she played a dramatic
action-role character who rescues him in a stylised, film-like sequence). That’s certainly not what she’s doing here…
I was lucky enough to be free to watch the premiere on
YouTube (a great animated countdown!) where the song and video garnered a
multitude of instant reactions.One
commenter said: “a song with Foals legend Yannis – I couldn’t be happier”, while
another simply stated “love” in praise of the video. Another early reviewer said: "One of the most captivating videos. We have the Artist's
face as our canvas and the emotions and expressions changing while the music
flows. An incredible performance and marriage of sound, light and edit. Unique
video". indeed.
Personally, I felt… knocked out. It's intriguing, mysterious, complex - and Theron is wonderful to watch.
We’re enigmatically told it’s Mumbai 2034 (the same year as Yung Lean’s
school graduation in Storm, so something of a dual narrative emerging?) and
then given a shot of some kind of contraption - a kinetic mechanical sculpture or a robotics test rig.
The rest of the video is entirely and simply Theron’s head and shoulders
as she reacts to something off screen which we cannot see. It’s disturbing watching her go through the
gamut of emotions – especially because at one moment she is full of joy but
then gradually – like a dawning realisation of something terrible, her face changes
to one of increasing horror and bewilderment. It’s quite the performance given
that all we see is her head and shoulders – what is happening is (currently) at
least left to our imagination. The lyrics explore themes of longing and emotional
intensity, with recurring motifs of "looking down from the wall" and
"heat".
My own take is that she is perhaps a robot realising the nature of her being... yeah, maybe not.
With a beautifully languid beat and lyrics superbly delivered
by Phillipakis, this haunting video is not just a great follow up to Storm
but, I hope the continuation of some kind of emerging story. Will this thread continue? I do hope
so!*Watch Love & Tears below:
*In fact – and apologies for being slow on the uptake – 180
Studios in London has just opened an audiovisual exhibition called Visions
of 2034, it is a collaboration
between filmmaker Roman Gavras (who directed Love & Tears) and Gener8ion. On display are ten multimedia works exploring
what 2034 might bring. 180 Studios (based
in the heart of London, in the United Kingdom) have underground spaces
that have been turned into this alternative world and there ae seven new short
films included in the exhibition, as well as a sound installation. You can read more about it at the 180 Studios’website. So, now we know!
We have featured the amazing gymnastic twins, the Bilak Brothers, on Kuriositas before, but this new video of theirs tempted me to
include the Ukrainian performers Andrii and Misha again.In it, they cosplay as Nintendo's Super Mario
Bros and take to their local park to astonish and entertain.It takes a while to get the attention of
their audience apparently – this looks
like it was done completely unannounced – they simply turned up and did their
thing.Some of their moves are pretty
astonishing, something that fans have grown to expect from these remarkably
talented acrobat/gymnasts. As they have performed together for over ten years, perhaps it's unsurprising that this kind of planned spontaneity seems so effortless.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Bilak Brothers video without them
shedding a few clothes before long and flexing their very toned muscles (something that their fans hate, I’m
sure).I have a Shazam style theory about
Andrii and Misha.I suspect that they
are only 14 years old and with the help of a magical word they transform into
their stage personas… this is the only way I can explain the gleeful gusto that
they exhibit each time they go through a routine – it’s like they have just
discovered their superhero powers for the first time each time.As entertaining as ever, watch Mario and
Luigi – sorry, Andrii and Misha, perfectly performing in the park.Super Mario will never be the same again…
I can’t quite remember when supermarkets and other shops
started charging for their plastic bags, for the rather scurrilous reason that they
were helping to save the planet and demanding payment for their bags would
encourage people to bring their own.Well, I can only speak for myself – it has.I must add, of course, that sometimes I
forget to take my “bag for life” with me in the morning and so I do end up
acquiring a new one.Yet I resent that –
because I know that the markup on my new carrier bag is huge and that the place
I am buying it from is making more than a tidy profit from my forgetfulness.So, the situation is far from perfect from
this consumer’s perspective.
Not that I would stoop to this extreme. In this scene from
the BBC’s sitcom Mister Winner, Leslie Winner (Spencer Jones) – who always
finds himself in disastrous situations – finds it impossible to part with 15
pence (about 20 US cents) for a plastic bag for his groceries and so decides to
use his various pockets (and other articles of clothing) to carry his shopping home.This doesn’t impress anyone, particularly the
shop assistant at the till who remains poker faced throughout (I imagine that
there were a few outtakes during the filming of this scene!).If only Leslie had thought of an obvious
solution. In the UK, there are so many self-service checkouts that most people
feel obliged to use them (the till lady is a dying breed).According to a straw poll I conducted at
work, when customers use them and need a new bag, they will rarely scan it.
They just pile the shopping in, and whistle nonchalantly as they leave the store
with their (paid for) groceries in their new (stolen) bag. Sorted.
There's something quietly remarkable about a five-minute animated film that makes a grown adult cry on a Tuesday afternoon. Features have bigger budgets, longer runtimes, and entire studios behind them — yet a single short can land harder than ninety minutes of carefully orchestrated spectacle. The question worth asking is why.
The answer has less to do with craft quality than with structure and intention. Short films operate under conditions that naturally push their makers toward emotional directness. When you have almost no time, you can't afford detours.
The Constraint That Forces Emotional Honesty
Feature films carry a certain institutional pressure. Studios, investors, and market research all pull narratives toward the broadly palatable, smoothing out edges that might alienate segments of a paying audience. Short films largely escape that system. A solo animator with a ten-minute concept and access to free software isn't pitching to a committee — they're making something because they need to make it.
This changes the emotional temperature of the work considerably. Brevity demands a kind of ruthless precision. Every scene has to carry real weight because there are no filler sequences, no establishing subplots, no room for the story to breathe its way toward meaning. The emotional core gets placed front and center almost immediately, which means viewers are dropped straight into feeling before they've had time to intellectualize what they're watching.
How Solo Animators Shape Distinct Visual Voices
Independent animators working alone or in tiny teams develop visual languages that feel genuinely idiosyncratic. When one person controls every design decision — character proportions, color palettes, movement style — the result reflects a coherent sensibility rather than a committee consensus. Audiences sense that coherence intuitively, even without knowing anything about the production process. It reads as personality.
This same principle explains why specialist curation tends to outperform generic aggregation across almost every content category.
In digital industries such as e‑commerce, streaming services, fintech apps, and gaming and iGaming platforms—including the best crypto casinos—tailor‑made animation and design consistently attract more users by creating immersive, differentiated experiences. Custom visuals also drive engagement in crypto trading dashboards, educational tech platforms, and entertainment hubs, where personalized design elements make complex interactions feel intuitive and appealing.
According to a 2026 Deloitte media report, 33% of US consumers now feel a stronger personal connection to social media creators than to TV personalities — a shift that reflects audiences increasingly rewarding directness and specificity over polished scale.
Where Short Films Find Their Unexpected Audiences
Short animated films have historically struggled with visibility — not because audiences don't want them, but because the distribution infrastructure was built around features. That's been shifting steadily. Festival touring programs, online curation platforms, and awards-qualifying theatrical runs have created new pipelines that didn't exist twenty years ago.
The Sundance Institute's short film ecosystem is a clear example. As the Sundance short film program describes, shorts are explicitly positioned as a significant and popular way artists connect directly with audiences — limited only by runtime, not ambition. That framing matters. It signals to audiences that they're watching something made with the same intentionality as any prestige feature, just compressed. The compact format also creates what might be called a complete emotional event — no long-term commitment required, but a full arc delivered.
The Formats Keeping Short Animation Alive
The continued health of short animation isn't accidental. Dedicated touring programs bring Oscar-qualifying shorts into theaters, giving them cultural visibility that purely online distribution wouldn't achieve on its own. The awards circuit plays a meaningful role here too — the 2026 Academy Awards continued to spotlight animated and live-action shorts, keeping the form legible to mainstream audiences who might otherwise overlook it entirely.
Research also suggests the form has real communicative power beyond entertainment. A study published in Nature on animated storytelling found that short animated films are effective for emotionally resonant communication precisely because they can cross language and cultural barriers while distilling a message into something simple and immediate. That quality — the ability to land a feeling without requiring extensive shared context — is arguably what makes short animation feel personal rather than universal in a diluted sense. Personal and universal aren't opposites here. A short film made by one person, from one specific experience, often turns out to be the thing that speaks most directly to strangers who thought their experience was entirely their own.
Sometimes the final page of one’s book turns unexpectedly
and it’s… the end.Such a fate
befalls the hero of Too Good, who finds himself outside the pearly gates
with hardly a by your leave.No problem,
though – he’s lived a good life and God seems a fair kind of deity… or does
she?
Starring Jean Smart as God and Lil Rel Howery as the hapless
mortal whose life has been rather surprisingly curtailed, Too Good is a
five minute slice of heavenly fun.As it
is so short, too much chat about what happens would only provide you with spoilers,
so just sit back and enjoy this.It was
written and directed by Meron Alon and produced by Arjun Yadav.If you are wondering where you have seen God
before (that sounds like a truly metaphysical question, but I am talking about
the actor!), Jean Smart has been around for a while. Quite a while (though not
as long as the celestial being she plays with great relish).
She has enjoyed one of the most versatile careers in
American acting. Smart first gained widespread recognition as Charlene Frazier
on the television sitcom Designing Women and then went on to earn
critical acclaim in dramatic roles in series such as 24, Watchmen,
Mare of Easttown, and Hacks, (multiple major awards along the
away). She has maintained a strong commitment to serious stage work, too, appearing
in Broadway and regional theatre productions including The Man Who Came to
Dinner and a revival of Piaf. Her career is notable for the range of
roles she has played, moving effortlessly between comedy, drama, and theatre
over more than four decades.
Lil Rel Howery you will probably remember from his
“breakout” role in the acclaimed horror film Get Out. Since then, he has
become a familiar face in both comedy and mainstream cinema, appearing in films
such as Free Guy and Judas and the Black Messiah while continuing
to build a successful career as a stand-up comedian and actor.So Too Good has a great combination of
acting talent (the kid and the nun are funny in their own way too) – enjoy!
For me, one of the standout young male dancers in Europe right
now (if not the standout) is Giorgi
Potskhishvili.He is exceptionally
strong technically (especially in classical roles like Swan Lake) and
considered a rising international star, still relatively early in his peak
career.These excerpts from the Dutch
National Ballet’s Don Quixote, performed
with Prima Ballerina Anna Tsygankova, show off his exemplary talents
perfectly.The first round of applause
is one of delighted spontaneity – and the rest is a series of explosive jumps,
precision, and stage energy that has been engaging audiences since he started
his professional career in around 2018 (if my memory served me well).
The young Georgian is widely praised for his outrageously
high-flying jumps, fast and precise turns, and an unusual sense of power and
attack in his movement that makes him stand out on stage. Critics often
highlight how he combines athletic virtuosity with control, so even his most
daring steps remain clean and secure rather than messy or overextended. This
could be in part down to his childhood - his early training in Georgian folk
dance seems to have given him a grounded, energetic quality and exceptional
stamina compared to many classically trained dancers. As a result, he is
especially effective in bravura classical roles that demand showmanship and
technical fireworks, where his strength, speed, and stage presence can really
come to the fore.
Take a look and prepare for your jaw to meet the floor.
There are a number of popular stories about pigs, most
notably Charlotte’s Web, The Tale of Pigling Bland and Babe (we
could throw in Animal Farm for good measure, but maybe that would spoil
the mood).There’s even the Three
Little Pigs, if you want to explore the murkier depths of your childhood.
So, here’s another one for your collection - Edmund the Magnificent.
This short film (rather gleefully narrated by Sir Ian
McKellan) stars David Bradley (Argus Filch in the Harry Potter, Walder
Frey in Game of Thrones not to mention The Doctor in Adventures
in Time and Space) as a farmer who wants to revitalise his failing farm.He buys a piglet from a local breeder (Mark
Bonnar - Doctor Who, Shetland, Line of Duty, Guilt)
and rears him to become the saviour of the farm – a new champion boar.
This pig gets spoiled in a way that Charlotte's Web's Wilbur could only dream of. When Edmund reaches maturity, he is introduced to a lady pig
but there is no Discovery Channel action between the two of them. Almost by chance, the farmer discovers that
Edmund is in fact a card-carrying member of the rainbow club. With no chance of piglets, the farmer falls
into despair and must not only confront his farm’s imminent closure, but events
from the past that ha has kept buried for years. If this all sounds a little
depressing, fear not. This story has a happy ending – but I will leave you to
discover how it resolves for yourself.
Needless to say, I hope it leaves you with a smile on your face.
We all have to learn about the Periodic Table of the Elements
at school, but have you ever wondered where they actually came from?I have to say, I wish that there had been
videos like this when I was younger, because although it may have been
explained, it certainly didn’t stay in my head between then and now. So,
courtesy of the Royal Observatory Greenwich we have a short, but perfectly formed.
To cut a long story short, 13.9 billion years ago the whole
universe was squashed into a space the size of your head – and it was unimaginably
hotter.Then, the universe began to rapidly expand in what we know as The Big
Bang. But we didn’t have elements, just yet.Particles came along – electrons being among
the first. Quarks also appeared, and soon they started binding together to form
protons and neutrons. Protons of course (!) are the basis of the smallest
element in the universe – hydrogen.I’m
going to leave the rest up to you to discover!
You have probably seen them, those cool dogs chilling with their sunglasses on. Over at our sibling site the Ark in Space there is a whole gallery of dogs in shades. Seeing is believing! I am not sure that I can ever remember seeing a dog in sunglasses before, but I have to say these pampered pooches seem very happy to have these vital accessories - perhaps they're all social media influencers trying to nab a juicy client? Whatever the reason, they certainly look very cool.
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