What really happened when the Death Star blew up…

Via When Gravity Fails, the Solaris Books editors' blog...

Love it :)

April 5, 2007 | Filed Under Animation, Humour | Leave a Comment

Take a look: Jasper Morello

Charley Parker's Lines and Colors is one of my favourite blogs (one of only six in my 'read every day' list, as it happens). Recently it featured a rather stunning piece of animated film called The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello.

Directed by Anthony Lucas and written by Mark Shirrefs, it's a series of rather superb silhouette animation pieces that tells the story of one Jasper Morello, an airship navigator from the city of Gothia.

Charley sums it up nicely in his blog post on the piece: "The films are set in a somewhat dystopian world with a decidedly steampunk look and feel. It's in the graphical representation of that world, full of arcane Victorian machinery, elaborate airships, cranes, gantries, gears and attendant intricate objects that the silhouette format becomes a brilliant choice."

The Gothia Gazette is the official website for the series, and has details of a DVD release, which unfortunately is only available in the Antipodes at the moment.

Here's the first trailer, and you can find other sections on Wired.com. Quite lovely stuff, do take a look.

February 12, 2007 | Filed Under Animation, Art | 2 Comments

YouTube oddness IV - Web 2.0

It's Friday afternoon and I'm on a tea-break, so here's another short stop-motion live action filmlet for your general amusement and edification:

And here's a funny sent through by the missus, specially for all my UK / US readers and pals (Scots gourmand Joe Gordon and Northern Irish beer monster Ed Ashby both spring to mind for some reason...)

The Final Word on Nutrition

After an exhaustive review of the research literature, here's the final word on nutrition and health.:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
5. The Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

February 9, 2007 | Filed Under Humour | 2 Comments