paper animation

The Eagleman Stag - Trailer from Michael Please on Vimeo.

check this trailer out! It starts a little wiseass semi filosphical but soon starts looking VERY interesting. Nice atmosphere, would like to see the whole thing. I think the guy wants to upload it after it has been around on the festivals. Patience!

The Battle of Pearl Harbour

Another Friday, another Python. People often say that young Eric Idle looked especially good in drag, but I think young Terry Gilliam (in the dark blue dress) wasn't half bad either. He's got sort of a Clea DuVall thing going there.

Museum of Soviet Synths

If I had the cash, I would hunt down these old beasts and build myself a wonderful retro-russian electronic music studio. Visit the Museum of Soviet Synths.

for the composers among us:

Puccini and me!

I like it already...

Arthur 'Two Sheds' Jackson

Friday. Python. This week, my heart goes out to a fellow composer.

Harry Clarke

Irish illustrator and stained glass artist Harry Clarke (1889-1931) has fascinated me ever since I first happened upon his work in a beautiful edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination". He's like an Aubrey Beardsley with ten times the craft, displaying almost inhuman skills for detail and composition.

You'll find lots of high-quality scans of his work HERE. Personally, I like his monochrome works the best. It's one thing to look at the image as a whole, but when you zoom in and start going over the details, you can get lost for hours and hours. Simply amazing.

The Mrs. explodes

Friday, Python.

This might be interesting for musicians and visual artists alike. I came acros this abstract animation for an improvised musical session by two leaders of the avant-guarde jazz movement, Paul Plimley (piano) and Barry Guy (bass). (Whatch it here)I really enjoyed it and wondered at the same time what I would do for such a music piece. I realized I automatically think in a figurative way, faces, people, recognisable forms. Tilted, skewed and distorted maybe, but not complete abstract. But as it turns out, this guy, Michel Gagné can do both.

My Brain Hurts

Friday means Python. This clip was one of my favourites when I was a kid. Still is.

Craft: Brandt Brauer Frick

I totally stumbled upon this amazing video of the German trio Brandt Brauer Frick. Paul Frick (the gentleman with the moustache and spectacles) is not only a house/electronica artist, but also a composer of contemporary classical music. He has, for instance, written an amazing piece for harp, percussion and slide projector, which can be heard (and seen) here. It is because of his composition work that I stumbled upon this Brandt Brauer Frick clip.

What really baffles me about this video is that this -- if I understand it correctly -- is totally indie, totally underground. And should be totally low budget. But the craft and technique displayed in this video -- apparently (co-)directed by one of the members of the music trio itself -- is so unbelievably well done that I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's unbelievable. Is this the result of an enormously huge budget and a big top notch crew, or the result of the democratization of cheap HD-technology in the hands of a couple of extremely talented and savvy individuals? I just don't know!

Check it out in HD, if your computer specs allow you to.