In the Labyrinth

Jamie Caliri Animation Test For Kavalier and Clay

Oh my stars! I am so excited by this gorgeous short test video produced by Jamie Calieri for what I hope will be the HBO series of Michael Chabon's terrific novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend it. I used to teach it years ago and can imagine my former students will be silently thanking me once this series comes out.

 

Benjamin Lacombe and The Interactive Fairy Book

Oh my goodness -- it's enough to make me want an ipad. This gorgeous book of flower fairies from French illustrator Benjamin Lacombe and author Sebastian Perez would be enough to sway my heart -- but the tablet ebook version is phenomenal --opening up and moving -- all interactive. Check out the extraordinary video!

 

Raymond Carver: This Morning

Here is a beautiful video and reading of Raymond Carver's somber poem "This Morning." The poem is read by Alessio Morglia and illustrated and animated by Alessandro Ferraro.

"All the things / I hoped would go away this morning. / The stuff I live with every day. What / I've trampled on in order to stay alive."

     

The Pacifist Warrior: West Side Luigi And No Kill Gaming

Recently I was asked to be the guest editor for The Wily Writers -- an online journal that publishes new stories based on different themes every month. The theme I have selected is Warriors. Now...before you conjure up the usual images of swords and crossbows, breastplates and helmets -- let me add that I wanted to broaden the concept to include all kinds of warriors -- including Spiritual Warriors who look for peace when there is war. So I was fascinated to read "No Kill Gaming," in the WSJ about a gamer "West Side Luigi" who specifically engages in violent video games but as a pacifist. His character "Felix the Peaceful Monk" has been known to succeed in the games not by hacking his opponents to death, but by more subtle techniques that involve calming, diffusing, and healing. Clearly, we live in a world that needs both kinds of warriors and we should celebrate them both.

Best part too may be that the concept of the Peaceful Warrior is catching on: "Videogames have long been assailed for their violent themes and gruesome imagery. But a small slice of players has embraced a new strategy: not killing. They are imparting real-world morals on their virtual-world characters and completing entire games on a "pacifist run"—the term for beating a blood-and-guts adventure without drawing any blood."

Amazing...to win the games by subduing violence with peace.

The Mambo King and the Queen of Sheba

I am quite taken with this astonishing music video by ThorstenCoo Productions of "El Rey del Mambo y la Reina de Saba" from the Spanish band, Klaus and Kinski. Thorsten Coo Productions specialize in unique music videos (which have earned them award recognition) that "mix techinques such as puppets, collage, ink, illustration, rotoscopy and animate it all with stop motion and Flash." Beautiful and sensual -- and with a bite. I especially love the gracefulness of the wolf in the pasadobles.

John Turturro And Italo Calvino: Italian Folktales On The Stage And On Film

Actor John Turturro has acquired the rights to create a filmed version of Italo Calvino's Italian Folktales (perhaps my all time favorite fairy tale collection). Last year, Turturro tested the waters so to speak with a new play "Fiable italiano" adapted from Calvino's collection. It was performed before sold out audiences in Turin, Naples and Milan and included layers of languages from English to a variety of Italian dialects. (The play also included one of my favorites stories -- about a donkey that appears to defecate gold and a fool who makes sure it happens). The prospect of a film really, really excites me.

In the meantime, you can read more about the film project here...and watch this short animated film of Calvino's  "The False Grandmother" (illustrated by Kevin Ruelle), a really creepy and scary variant of "Little Red Riding Hood" read by Turturro.

 

And if you are hungry for a little more Calvino, check out this recording of British author Jeanette Winterson reading Calvino's "The Night" online at the Guardian. (Via Open Culture)

Emerging Talent: Lindsey Olivares

 

I love seeing new work like this short animated film, "Anchored" from Lindsey Olivares. It was her senior thesis animation at Ringling College of Art and Design.

You can see more of her animated films on her website, including a short autobiographical film which is hilarious.

 

Friday Film: The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan

 

I haven't had a chance yet to see the entire 15 minute film, "The Lost Thing," from a children's story by Shaun Tan, but I am mad with curiosity after seeing this trailer and have added to my list of must see films this year. Tan won the Oscar 2011 for best short animated film and from the looks of it, it was well deserved.

And here is an interesting short video interview with Shaun Tan talking about the process of making the film -- from writing it on the kitchen table to developing it into an award winning animated film.

 

The Silence Beneath the Bark And Pastries That Sing Opera

Friday Film day features above this stunning little animated film "The Silence Beneath the Bark / Le Silence Sous L'Ecorce" by French filmmaker Joanna Lurie -- a winter film for this hot summer's weekend. Two creatures leave the shelter of their winter nest to be dazzled by a landscape of frosted trees and swirling snow. And below, a fabulous and appetizing little claymation film produced by Quaroble that features pastries singing "Choeurs des Bohémiens" from the Verdi Opera, "La Traviata." Yummy.

Verdi - Traviata - Choeur Bohémiens by Quarouble

Friday Films: Feed Your Art Appetite

 

Two of my favorite films this week that make me wish I could write like these artists paint:

Above: French street-artist team of Supakitch & Koralie have filmed in time-lapse the entire process in the creation of one of their maginificent murals. (DO adjust the screen to full size just so you can see the entire mural close up in the final scene.) Originally the pair met when a bar owner hired both of them (without telling either of them) to paint a mural on his bar -- they both turned up and decided to share the job. In so doing they discovered they discovered they were perfectly matched as artists. There are quite a few videos of the pair working, as well as this charming interview with them.

Below: Another form of street-artists, this time an experimental urban projection in Sao Paolo, Brazil by vjsuave.This is a fantastic romp through the city of San Paolo, our guide a comic flying and swimming figure. It's fast and furious and wonderful. Go here to see how it was created.

 

(via Emiliano -- who has been posting some fascinating short films on Mexican art well worth checking out.)