The most overlooked YouTube meme that I had never seen. Until yesterday:

Colin's Bear Animation

Be sure to check out the video responses.

Expect to see a Colin's Bear Animation tribute by yours truly in the upcoming future. I'm thinking this is exactly what the bear hat was made for all along.

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Taiko No Tatsujin Clay Anime 01 - The Birth of Don and Katsu

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Hipsters Included!

Amidst my rather chaotic and thesis heavy second semester senior year, I somehow managed to get involved with a certain school sponsored underage drinking animation project. While I don't typically get off on making PSAs for the likes of wide-eyed incoming freshmen, my mentor and great friend El Guary (who I originally worked with on animations for the ERBC project) needed someone to direct the artwork. Because it was El Guary, I couldn't say no.

With the assistance of my saucesome team of graphic designers (super props to my main man Aaron) we managed to pull off the following 10-minute animation in a scope of about a month. While I would have liked to spend more time on the visual flow of the animation, I think it turned out pretty well.

So here it is! The various scenes are supposed to captivate Vassar specific social situations and refer to some well known characters on campus, but it's all in good fun anyway :).

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Louis Vuitton "Superflat Monogram" Japanese Cartoon

The following short is an animated ad campaign by Mamoru Hosoda advertising Takashi Murakami and Marc Jacob's line of Luis Vuitton products.  While I have to say that I am not a fan of Luis Vuitton (it has nothing to do with handbags, its about the company) I am a Takashi Murakami Superflat lover.  I'm a little dissapointed that such a gem of a short is plastered with LV signature symbols...but its pretty and precious none the less.

The real question is, why didn't I see earlier! >.< grr.
(thx2u analog.p)

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I mean, nasty as in nasty.

white board animation

white board animated music video for a swedish band
who certainly know a thing or two about creating awesome animations

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Downey in A Scanner Darkly

Tonight I saw the much anticipated fim A Scanner Darkly.  I think I need to see it again to truly rationalize my final decision, but I'll give it a 6.8/10 for the time being.  Unfortunately as one would expect, Keanu Reeves' acting is as one dimensional as the flat colors that align to form his face in his animated form.  The story is interesting both as a science fiction tale and as a metaphor for the domestic effect of experimental drug use, however I rarely felt like I was firmly on the same page with the characters or the plot.  Perhaps this was the overarching intention, but in that case it didn't translate as clear as I would have wanted.

The animation however is pretty fantastic for the first hour or so.  One becomes a little adjusted to the style á la Waking Life after a period of time, but I think they did a fantastic job taking advantage of the animated style, truly evoking a wonderfully disorienting mediated world.  Robert Downey Jr. plays his part almost too well.  He was wildly entertaining, and his performance was the only thing that really kept me on my feet.  Officially, his character, Baris, is my new favorite substance-d-drug-addict-of-the-near-future to date!

Edit: I saw it again yesterday evening and while Keanu Reeves still fails to perform, the movie in general was more enjoyable.  Maybe it was because I wasn't being so critical while I was watching the second time around, but I also tried to take it in at its face value and became more captivated, particularly by the conversation scenes between the men.  So, while I personally don't think it's an entirely stellar movie all together, it is a good watch.  Just don't expect anything profound (as one may have encountered in Waking Life)

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