Shonzilla, a pattern-seeking animal

This is how I (fore)see the decade that has just begun.

No, it’s not about (Mandelbrot) fractals or Inception (or Matrix).
It’s about relaxed awesomeness!

NOTE: If you want to view this full-screen, you can do it here. If you want to enjoy the full-beauty in HD, then you should go to Vimeo and hit the full-screen.

…

That was cool, wasn’t it? 

If you’re wondering about the background of this video clip, here’s some info I managed to dig out:

Music: Astroblast by Musicians with Guns (Alexandre Lehmann’s side project; @zzzzra), from the “Using the Iaxian key” album which is to be released in 2011 Q1 on Entropy Records.
Animation: Ricardo Montalban (couldn’t find much about him apart that he seems to be tweeting @zzzzra; obviously he’s not the deceased Mexican actor)
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5 (!) with Adobe Pixel Bender plugin and 3D Mandelbulb (background, download the ray tracer)

The Unsettling Truth About Life

Actually, it’s more about society but you’ll get the point.

[via hmans]

Logorama

This is the most awesome animated short movie I’ve seen recently and you will too. It’s called Logorama and all characters in it, buildings and additional props are entirely comprised out of company logos.

The movie uses logos as metaphors to succinctly communicate a number of obvious or subliminal messages (YMMV). I don’t know about you, but I’ve always looked behind Ronald McDonald’s fake smile (well, all clowns have those) and considered him evil as much as the company he’s representing. Further on you’ll see an earthquake (financial crisis) bringing down a number of buildings (financial institutions Ronald is calling “losers”, since McDonald’s wasn’t too affected by the crisis). My take on choosing Michelin men to represent cops (one good, one bad, of course) is that it reflects pretty nicely the common perception/prejudice of cops being donut-munching fatsos. After seeing many other interesting usages of logos, you may think that the movie foresaw some events like BP Oil Spill.

The authors are a French animation collective called H5 who have also created a number of animated music spots for the likes of Röyksopp, Super Fury Animals, Alex Gopher, Massive Attack, and many more. The movie also won a bunch of highly acclaimed awards including Academy award for Best Animated Short Film (at 82nd Academy Awards 2010, the Kodak Prix at Critics’ Week at Cannes Film Festival 2009 and many more.

Authors’ commentary on the message of the movie is also worth reading: ”Logorama presents us with an over-marketed world built only from logos and real trademarks that are destroyed by a series of natural disasters (beginning with a hurricane, cyclone, tidal wave…). logotypes are used to describe an alarming universe (similar to the one that we are living in) with all the graphic signs that accompany us everyday in our lives. this over-organized universe is violently transformed by the cataclysm becoming fantastic and absurd. it shows the victory of the creative against the rational, where nature and human fantasy triumph.”

Thanks to Christopher for the link!

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. If you’re curious about ideas behind this wonderful animated presentation, you may be interested in another Dan’s presentation.

Thanks to Philip for finding this.

Excellent short movie by Patrick Jean.

Thanks to my love @Jazilla for the tip.

The essence of rock’n’roll.

This is the video from the band called The Dead Pirates for the song “Wood”. The video is the work of two Frenchmen, illustrator McBess and designer Simon Landrein, both of whom are in this band and working for The Mill, which produced the video. Pretty stunning work, dare I say.

Thanks to Sholama for the video link.

Cool animation for 2010 Winter Olympics from BBC Sport.

[via tvlivesite]

Watch and listen to this intro packing real-time rendered animation filled with fractals and music into (hold your pants) - 1kB! Yes, that’s 1024 bytes! That’s less memory that any computer you ever owned had inside.

This is just one of intros showcased this year at one of the most popular demoscene parties - Breakpoint organized in Germany.

Demo group that made this wonder is called TBC while the intro is called Untraceable

I’m amazed every time I see anything remotely advanced like this fitting in anything below 64kB… this is simply beyond my comprehension. Hm… I wonder if these guys ever get laid while trying to cram yet more fractals, fps and animation.

In the Twittersphere* the Fail Whale is your greatest enemy.

You don’t understand what I’m talking about? Watch this hilarious video about Twitter and Twitter addiction - Twouble with Twitters.

* - Twittersphere - The body of Twitter users or community, similar to “blogosphere”.
also: Twitterworld, Twittertopia, Twitterviille, Twitteropolis, Twittersphere
[source: Twictionary]