Google makes me shed a tear

Sniff, sniff.

Procrastination

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.


... is a beautiful, inspiring, thought-provoking & expertly-created graduation film from artist Johnny Kelly.


Found via BrainPickings.org

The Magical Pop-Up Paper Theatre

Amazing stuff found via FastCodeDesign. I'm sure there are lessons to be learned about this, technique-wise, but for the moment, just sit back and marvel at how a papercraft theater and a projector can bring you to a magical world for a minute or two.


The Ice Book (HD) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.


Read this link to see how they did it.

RPG Metanoia : A Must Watch Movie

Just came from the movies with my 8 year old daughter and I must say that RPG Metanoia is quite possibly one of the best Pinoy animated films ever made. (That's an exaggeration, I know.)

Plot-wise, it's your classic "kids saving the world" story. But the way it's put together is quite fun. Since I don't want to spoil it for you, you'll need to watch it to see what actually happens.

What I'll do share is how I enjoyed seeing Pinoy life captured on film and immortalized for this generation's kids who need to see things such as the protagonist doing his household chores (seriously, how many kids nowadays still have these?) and Pinoy games like patintero, sipa, tumbang preso, piko, taguan, agawan base (do YOU remember them?). An aside: it was also amusing to see the hero ride a tricycle and to have daing na bangus for dinner! Oh, and I almost forgot, his weapon of choice is a -- get this -- a yoyo (which depending on who you believe, is an ancient Filipino weapon.)

The animation is quite good -- which is to be expected since a lot of foreign companies actually outsource their animation to the Philippines and have been doing so since the 80's. What I didn't expect is the sheer number of scenes in the movie -- that was a lot to animate, and they didn't scrimp or cheat their way out of it. (They took four years to do it, incidentally.)

So having said that, my point is: watch RPG Metanoia with your kids. Buy the merchandise when it comes out. These kinds of efforts have to be supported.  (If you need more convincing, read this review   and this one as well.)

With a film of this level and quality coming from Ambient Media and Thaumatrope Animation, it's safe to say that I wait with bated breath for their next outing. Hopefully, it doesn't have to take another four years.

2010's top 25 songs, mashed up into 5 minutes

DJ Earworm continues his tradition of creating an audio retrospective of the year that was. This year's included songs are:
Ke$ha - Tik Tok
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now
Train - Hey, Soul Sister
Katy Perry Featuring Snoop Dogg - California Gurls
Usher Featuring will.i.am - OMG
B.O.B. Featuring Hayley Williams - Airplanes
Eminem Featuring Rihanna - Love the Way You Lie
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
Taio Cruz - Dynamite
Taio Cruz Featuring Ludacris - Break Your Heart
B.O.B. Featuring Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You
Enrique Iglesias Featuring Pitbull - I Like It
Young Money Featuring Lloyd - Bedrock
Jason Derulo - In My Head
Rihanna - Rude Boy
Lady Gaga Featuring Beyonce - Telephone
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are
Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me
The Black Eyed Peas - Imma Be
Jay-Z + Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind
Usher Featuring Pitbull - DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love
Travie McCoy Featuring Bruno Mars - Billionaire
Eminem - Not Afraid
Iyaz - Replay

Thankfully, there's not much Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas (hey, I love them as much as the next person but you can only take that much, you know?) and absolutely zero Justin Bieber (sorry, but haven't we all had enough of 'Baby Baby' by now?)

This mash up is pretty good but I think I enjoyed the 2009 edition better.

What diving lemmings would look like

This is freaky strange and yet beautifully hypnotic.

Why they did this, for what product or reason, I don't know.

This looks like something Uniqlo would do but I have no info either way.

2010 in review

Goodbye 2010 -- you were a crazy, hectic, terrifying, gratifying year. To see what I mean, check out this video courtesy of the folks at Google.



Here's hoping that 2011 will have less of the drama and more of the love.

Happy New Year everybody!

A Life on Facebook

A person's life, told through Facebook.

3 Star Wars movies in 2D and under 2 minutes

Let Jeremy Messersmith's hauntingly beautiful Tatooine and Eric Power's 2D construction paper animation show you the story of the original Star Wars trilogy in under two minutes.

Here are the lyrics (in case you were curious):

Twin suns of Tatooine
Taught me everything I know
Twin suns of Tatooine
Taught me everything I know

There's room up there for second chances
Singles are fine but doubles are fantastic
I'd like to think that there's a star for me and you
Spinning round, falling for one another

Twin suns of Tatooine
Taught me everything I know
Twin suns of Tatooine
Taught me everything I know

Solos are fine but duets are romantic
A pair is grand but a trio'd be disastrous
I'd like to think that there's a star for me and you
Spinning round, falling for one another

Have wheelchair, will double backflip

Meet Aaron Fotheringham, the creator of the Bible Flip : a double backflip on a wheelchair, named so because "it takes a lot of faith to throw a double".

As you can see from the video, it's not about having the legs (Aaron was born with spina bifida - a spinal defect that means his legs don't work), it's about having the guts and the heart to keep on trying no matter how many times you fall.

Amazing guy, amazing tricks, inspiring story.

Terminator 2: The Opera

I bet you didn't know how much anguish Arnold Schwarzenegger's character had to go through in Terminator 2. Finally, with Terminator 2: The Opera, he can finally let it all out.

What do babies dream about? (Oh the Cuteness!)

Baby Mila's mom shows us.

Get more baby cuteness at Mila's Daydreams.

The most beautifully drawn cartoon you haven't seen in a while

This is the trailer from "The Illusionist"



Beautiful work, especially since we've been seeing nothing but computer-aided animation for the last few years.

This is bound to be a classic.

More about the movie here.

Snoop Dogg now wooing Sookie

Snoop Dogg sure gets around.

Last we saw him he was in a cantina in a galaxy far, far away.



Now he's in Bon Temps, Louisiana trying to steal Snookie Stackhouse from Bill.

What a guy!

The Crayola Monologues

Here's an interesting way of talking about race (and gender) issues, without actually referring to them directly.

Plus, get some trivia on how issues like these actually changed the names of the crayon colors themselves.

Interesting, in a nerdy kind of way.

Found via Holy Kaw!

Solo Reenactment: Hitler's Downfall

You've all seen one version or another of the Hitler Parodies -- each one with the words being replaced while the video from the original movie was retained.

This one's different: one guy singlehandedly acts out all the parts and uses the real script.

Finally, now you'll see what that whole scene really was about.

Brilliantly done.

Happy Valentine's Day

The Leno-Conan-NBC Debacle Explained via CGI

If you didn't understand how it all came to be, this video will explain it for you.

Animation c/o NMA News -- the same folks who did the Tiger Woods animation.

This link has been brought to you via Boing-Boing.

Happy New Year!

May the New Year bring you all the blessings and graces that you deserve and have been praying for.

15 babes in bikinis + high-tech circuitry + DJ = nerdtastic

You can call this body-paint-circuitry stuff high-tech or maybe even tech-meets-art or whatever you want... I think it's really a nerd's excuse to gather a bevy of scantily-clad women and have a reason to touch them.

Brilliant.