Richard Dawkins on his children’s book The Magic of Reality
Magic takes many forms. Supernatural magic is what our ancestors used in order to explain the world before they developed the scientific method. The ancient Egyptians explained the night by suggesting the goddess Nut swallowed the sun. The Vikings believed a rainbow was the gods’ bridge to earth. The Japanese used to explain earthquakes by conjuring a gigantic catfish that carried the world on its back—earthquakes occurred each time it flipped its tail. These are magical, extraordinary tales. But there is another kind of magic, and it lies in the exhilaration of discovering the real answers to these questions. It is the magic of reality—science.
Saturday morning cartoons: “Little Boat”
California Institute of the Arts student animator, Nelson Boles, created the short animated film, Little Boat, which follows the quiet but touching journey of a small red boat.
Halo Master Chief motion art with salt
Watch salt artist Bashir Sultani create Master Chief out of a whole lot of NaCl and talent.
Time lapse of a stop motion Tchaikovsky puppet
Yes, stop motion animation is already time lapse, but cameraman Joe Clark caught animator Barry JC Purves on film as he was manipulating a Tchaikovsky puppet for a Russian TV show, giving the whole process an added depth.
Steampunk mechanical octopus burns up Burning Man
One of the highlights from Burning Man 2011, Duane Flatmo’s mechanical cephalapod shoots flames from its 8 tentacles, and fear into the hearts of anyone who dare to cross its path.
Stop motion Krazy Kat is krazy awesome
Does it seem like I’ve been posting a lot of stop motion animation stuff lately? I’ve been trying to hold on to some of it for Saturdays, but there’s just been a flood of great animation lately, the latest being this wonderful Krazy Kat animation. I’d love to see a modern Krazy Kat cartoon, but I’m going to also get a little snobbish and say that it would be really difficult for anyone to capture the incredible wit and razor sharp subtle anti-establishment humor of George Herriman.
Short film of the day: “Worship”
IHCer Lionbomb just recently completed this short film for his master’s thesis and wanted it to share it. It’s a cool and thoughtful animation about humanity’s growing intimate relationship with the internet, with a visual style somewhat reminiscent of Archer.
Saturday morning cartoons: “Mortys”
In the French animation Mortys, death is a working mother. Business is disrupted when her child schemes to get more of her time.
Author George RR Martin interviewed @Google
From July 28, 2011, an hour long interview at Google with George Martin. (His least favorite scene in the tv series was Baratheon’s hunting expedition - - flawed on account of budget.)
Saturday Morning Cartoons: “Little Nemo” by Winsor McCay from 1911
Winsor McCay was one of the pioneers of animation, and one of his first cartoons from 1911 was “Little Nemo”. From the very first days of cartoons, live action and animation lived side-by-side. McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” from 1914 is often cited as the first cartoon in which animation was used to convey a distinct personality.
