If you need something to brighten up your classroom wall,
then look no further. I took a little
while to create these posters – and trying to tame AI to produce something faithful to
them was an uphill struggle.
However, here are the finished items, which you can download free of charge here. And yes, they do use AI but because that
means that you and I do not have to worry about copyright issues. I see so many
posters created by well-meaning teachers who have blithely used the work of
others to illustrate the literature that they teach – I wanted to avoid that
altogether and now technology has finally caught up with that desire!
I started with Ozymandias, which I have very fond
memories of studying while I was at school. Its message is as powerful today as
it was when Shelley wrote it, reminding us that even the mightiest rulers,
empires and achievements are ultimately fleeting, while time and nature outlast
them all.
My teacher did some marvellous
things with her voice when reading the poem out loud – and although in hindsight
it may have been a little too bombastic (you should have seen her doing Charge of the Light Brigade), we enjoyed her theatricals.
A robot works deep underground for a civilisation long since
disappeared (that would be us). It is a lonely existence and when
a cat strays from the surface and finds its way down to the bot’s subterranean
lair, what’s a cat expected to do except steal the shiny, bouncy antenna thing from the
bot’s head. And so ensues a chase to the
surface and the discovery of a new friendship for both bot and cat. Sounds very simple? Well, it is – but the secret of good story telling
always lies in the way it is told. Bot
and Cat manages to be very, very straightforward yet deeply profound at the
same time. It’s charming yet thoughtful simultaneously.
The commenters of YouTube love it. Many describe the
seven-minute animation as an emotional masterpiece, praising its beautiful
storytelling, evocative music, gorgeous backgrounds and polished animation.
Viewers say they were left in tears by the robot's touching journey, with one
remarking they'll "never get tired of 'robot goes against its programming
to experience the beauty of nature' stories". Others were astonished by
how few people had seen it, repeatedly calling it "underrated" and
predicting the studio behind it is destined for future success. Several even
suggested it outshines big-budget Hollywood productions, while hoping it goes
on to win festival awards and reach the much wider audience they believe it
deserves. Agreed!
Created by a group of students (collectively known as HermitCat Studios for their thesis project at Canada’s Sheridan College, this wonderful
piece of work utilises the talents of Mo Hassan, Jenna Pomfret, Julia Lin, Nomy
Fang, Rie Wong, Daniel Young, Travis Li, Yi-Ting Yuan, Kiwi Prommart, Charlotte
Royal, Yoonji Nam and Heidi Pan. The original (and rather lovely) score is by
Johnny Knittle.Watch Bot and Cat below.
It’s a dog’s life… I always thought that phrase was much too
popular because most dogs live the life of Riley these days. Likewise, “I’ve been working like a dog”
has long since lost any impact it might once have had. So, when Otto the Dachshund popped his weary
little head and doleful eyes on my feed, I was a little wary about what he
might have to say about the challenges his life presents… and I was right. Yet this pampered pooch learns a lesson or
two in his confessions and he does it in such a droll manner that he won
me over (almost) immediately.
This highly amusing tale tells the story of how Otto has his
day (like every dog should) – and manages to escape the clutches of both his needy human and his canine
companion Kasper, to finally taste a little freedom.What he does with it is up to you to find
out, but the build up to the climax is something of a shaggy dog story, despite
Otto being short-haired and rather regal looking.Regardless, I would recommend that you sit
back and watch Confessions of a Dachshund, which was written, filmed, and edited by Sparky Jones.A special shout out to Tony Ingram who voices
Otto with the kind of middle-aged angst that makes this narrative completely
and utterly believable. Ahem.
Have a guess which of the two people above is a robot. It’s probably not too difficult to work out
which is which – but the UBTech Robotics model on the right is, I must admit,
incredibly humanlike. The company’s new life-sized
companion robots were unveiled in late June 2026 and they all appear… young,
beautiful and generally quite remarkable to look at. The range is collectively called the U1 Robot
– and for anyone who has ever seen a slice of science-fiction where a robot is
placed within a human household (I don’t need to go into the consequences here!),
it looks very much like we’re one step closer to that kind of scenario.
At any point in human history, however, we see how new
inventions have been very quickly put to unanticipated uses by
people.Give them an alphabet and graffiti
follows very quickly – you get where I am going here.So, while the U1 robot is something of a
technological marvel, I shudder to think about a few of the uses it might
endure once it gets into some people’s living rooms to offer its emotional
support.I anticipate a robot revolution
within a decade, frankly… Perhaps I shouldn’t worry – it is, after all, a
lifeless chunk of technology, comprising silicon, 88 servo joints and the (locally
stored to ensure privacy) artificial intelligence – and all the other bits and
pieces that make it up.
Although the eyes move while conversations are happening between
robot and human (and the head moves according to the human’s movement), the
lips don’t – and perhaps that isn’t a bad thing. It’s a reminder, after all,
that the U1 is a robot and not a person.
There does seem to be a lag in conversations, too – but as this is the
first humanlike model the company has launched, we know that this will see
improvements over the forthcoming years. After all, how fast did the first
mass-produced cars travel? There have
already been over 13,000 orders (and the U1 is not desperately cheap) so this there
is certainly a demand for this kind of emotional support. Watch the video below (and read the comments
if you want something a little less diplomatic than the words I have written!).
High up in the Ethiopian mountains lives the Gelada. It lives nowhere else and, isolated in these remote Ethiopian Highlands, the primate has developed a way of life all of its own. To begin with there is that patch of red skin; one might guess something with which to attract the opposite sex, but why there? Moreover the gelada exhibits behavior that has led scientists to believe that deceit, crime and punishment are not simply human traits after all.
The Ark in Space has a photo-filled feature on this amazing primate in the wild.
A lizard without a tail is not considered the catch of the
year by his peers and so poor Sam, tailless but hungry for a little love, is in
something of a pickle.He is forced to
watch as boy lizard with full tails get the girl, leaving him without a hope in
the world. However, h’s a plucky little guy and with the help of his best
friend, he goes about finding a replacement - from the things we leave behind.Will his new-found prosthetic enable him to discover
love? Or has he really been looking in the wrong places all this time?
This charming animated short was created by a group of ESMA
students as their degree project.It was
directed by Liselotte Allard, Alphonse Année, Margot Brun, Frédéric Dewit, Eva
Dugué, Esther García Fernández, Lourenço Soares and Camille Szostek. Music was
composed by Jeffrey Brice. Sound was by Mickaël Merrheim, José Vicente and
Yoann Poncet. The voices were provided by Liselotte Allard, Eva Dugué, Esther
García Fernández and Frédéric Multier.
“That is the most terrifying ride on the planet Earth” – so
exclaims one of the young men who I have just watched riding Dinoconda at China
Dinosaurs Park. It’s a roller coaster with a twist – it’s 4D. So, while the
track throws you through dizzying loops, corkscrews and stomach-churning drops,
your seat has a mind of its own, rotating independently and flipping you
forwards and backwards at precisely the wrong (or right!) moment. The result is
a ride that seems to ignore the normal rules of physics and leaves even
seasoned thrill-seekers questioning whether they would dare to ride it again.For me, it would be a million times no. A
million pounds to do it? No. Five million? No, no, no, no. no. Ah, well, maybe.
I honestly don't like roller coasters at the best of times,
but riding one with seats that rotate independently of the track and flip you
head over heels without warning is a step too far for me.
Now I have established my fear of rollers (and I broke out
in a cold sweat just watching this one), let’s discover a little more about it.
Located at China Dinosaurs Park in Jiangsu Province, Dinoconda is widely
regarded as one of the most extreme roller coasters ever built. It is one of
only a handful of operating 4D coasters in the world and reaches speeds of
around 78 km/h (48 mph) while hurtling riders through a maze of inversions,
vertical drops and gravity-defying twists. Unlike a conventional coaster,
however, the experience is never quite the same twice because the seats rotate
independently of the track, making it almost impossible to predict which way
you will be facing next.Just the thought
of it makes me feel queasy.
The video below is particularly fascinating because it has
been filmed from the end of the train, allowing you to see exactly what the
seats are doing as the coaster races around the circuit. Most onboard videos
only show the rider's view, which hides the remarkable engineering taking place
beneath them. This perspective reveals why 4D roller coasters occupy a category
all their own - and why so many people (including our young friend I mentioned
at the beginning) describe Dinoconda as one of the most exhilarating and
intimidating rides on Earth.
Would you be brave enough to take your seat? Yes? Please,
take mine! Watch the video by The Coaster Scoop below.
I don’t suppose the Isle of Man gets much attention, on a
global scale at least. I suspect (rather
despondently) that quite a few people who would describe themselves as Britain
would have no idea where it is on a map – and that even more (particularly
those who have not lived in the UK very long) might not even have heard it at
all. Most people imagine it as a sleepy,
peaceful island in the northern Irish Sea – and don’t spend too long wondering
if it was or wasn’t always like that.
Well, it wasn’t – and this short but very informative TED-Ed
lesson takes us back to medieval times, when the island’s kings gave the
Game of Thrones scriptwriters a definite run for their money.Family feuds, civil wars, struggles for control
of the seaways that surrounded the island – all these and more contributed to a
time in history when the times were rather more turbulent (to say the least)
than they are today.In 1223, for example, King Ragnvald ordered
his son to murder his uncle Olaf.Unfortunately, Olaf got wind of the plot against his life, so blinded
and mutilated his nephew. Some years later, it was realised that the letter was
possibly a forgery, making this familial conflict even more of a tragic waste
than it was.At least they didn’t have
dragons – they would probably have fought themselves into extinction had that
been the case. Watch the video below.
The pineapple: we eat them fresh, cooked, juiced, and preserved but probably with little thought about where they come from or how, in fact, they grow. So, the often vast plantations on which the fruit is propagated can be something of a revelation. Welcome to the world of the pineapple.
Cosmic Fling is an unexpected delight. We don't often get to see new animated stories told with marionettes. It tells the story of an average down-to-earth
garbage man. Well, not quite. Stan works in outer space – and it’s his job to
clear up the mess that humans (inevitably) leave behind. If you think that’s
far fetched, read our article about lunar leftovers to see how the moon became
a trash can (and why the future might see jobs like this created).Poor old Stan ekes out his
existence harpooning space debris – and that’s what he uses for sustenance
too.Whether he has done something
heinous to deserver this, we are never told, but I think that Stan simply
thought the job seemed like a good idea at the time…
Regardless of how Stan ended up on his lonely satellite, what
he really misses is company – and what he longs for is love.So, when Beatrice turns up on a comet, he is
smitten.Yet all too soon, she is
whisked away and Stan must wait until she returns to try and win her heart.
Comets always come back, don’t they?You
have probably guessed the answer to that (if you didn’t already know), but this
lovely animated short, directed by Jonathan Langager and written in partnership
with Ali Scher, shows that if nothing else, love springs eternal.
Cosmic Fling won the Bruce Corwin Award for Best Animated
Short Film at the 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which took
place in 2020.And here it is finally on
YouTube. Watch it below.
If the comments beneath HBO Max's newly released House of
the Dragon Season 3 opening credits are anything to go by, viewers are more
excited than ever to return to Westeros. The overwhelming reaction? Those drums.
Hundreds of fans singled out the newly enhanced opening
theme, with its thunderous percussion giving the familiar melody a much darker,
more militaristic feel. "The drums of war" became the phrase repeated,
with many commenters saying the change perfectly signals that the long-awaited Dance
of the Dragons has finally erupted into full-scale conflict.
One fan joked that the composer must have been asked,
"How many drums do we need?" before replying with a single word:
"Dracarys." The updated music has also stirred quite a bit of nostalgia
– if that’s quite the right word; I suppose it is, considering Game of Thrones
was first shown in 2011. For many, hearing the iconic theme instantly
transported them back a decade to the original, proving that Ramin Djawadi's
unforgettable score still packs an emotional punch.
The visuals received almost as much praise. Viewers admired
the animated tapestry, describing it as a striking retelling of the rise and
fall of House Targaryen. Several commented that the opening sequence feels less
like television credits and more like a living history book charting the
destruction of an empire. It's all very Bayeux on acid,
Of course, eagle-eyed fans also spotted a few details that
sparked debate. The appearance of the Blackfyre sigil prompted plenty of
speculation about its symbolic meaning, while others questioned whether it was
an intentional piece of foreshadowing or simply a production mistake.
Despite a handful of criticisms - including complaints from
some book readers about changes from George R. R. Martin's source material - the
mood about these titles is overwhelmingly positive. Many called the premiere
"epic", "brutal" and "visually arresting", while
others declared, "We're so back."
If fan reactions are any indication, Season 3 has struck
exactly the right note: louder, darker and ready for war.Watch House of the Dragon's new Season 3 opening
below.
The Proclaimers’ new single “You May Offend” arrives like a
blunt conversation held under a spotlight.It is part protest song, part philosophical provocation – and it’s aimed
squarely at… all of us. Delivered with the duo’s unmistakable vocal delivery (and a beautiful arrangement), it’s
a song that wants to be heard clearly, even when what it is saying might make the
listener uncomfortable. This is songwriting of the highest quality - it gets in, delivers its message, and gets out. The message is one designed to make us all reflect - this is grown-up pop music.
Lyrically, it sketches a world where expression is both
inevitable and dangerous. The repeated idea that “as you breathe, as you grow…
you may offend” frames speech as something that cannot be neatly sanitised
without consequence – as, perhaps it always has been. Set against the
accompanying visual concept of omnipresent “listening machines” and anonymous
operators scanning for “dangerous thoughts,” the song extends its argument into
a broader dystopian allegory: a society where tolerance becomes conditional and
surveillance extends beyond behaviour into intent. The chorus, invoking
tolerance as a “street that runs both ways,” captures the song’s central
tension.It is a demand for reciprocal
openness that sits uneasily alongside its own awareness of social friction.But it tells us to prepare ourselves to
offend – and infers that it is even a necessary part of personal growth. It's almost like a father telling a child don't suffer fools gladly, just for the sake of being nice. Who the fools are - well that's up to you to decide.
Ultimately, “You May Offend” feels like The Proclaimers
leaning into confrontation as an artistic choice. It is not interested in
neutrality; it is interested in the uneasy space where speech, interpretation,
and consequence collide. Whether you agree with its premise or not, it is
difficult to ignore - and that, perhaps, is exactly the point. Watch the video for "You May Offend" below.
Lisbon is a beautiful city but comes with its own peculiar
dangers – as you are about to discover through the eyes of a pair of hapless
German tourists. We can see that Helga
is the one in charge – or certainly the one who is invested in the holiday
a little more than Hans, who is more interested in his car magazine than taking
in the scenery. And it is some scenery. Their
chosen vehicle to see the sites is Tram 28 (known locally as Eléctrico 28E), probably
the Portuguese capital's most famous form of transport. More than just a tram, it's a moving
piece of history that rattles through some of the city's oldest and most
picturesque neighbourhoods. Little do
the tourists know that they are about to participate in a history update (as it
were), as the tram is about to embark on its most infamous journey - and it's going to take them along for the ride..
I won’t tell you how the tram becomes driverless. I won’t tell you how the brakes fail. I won’t tell you how
the tourists suddenly find themselves responsible for a mono-browed pequeno
lisboeta. I kid you not.
What I will tell you is that Helga and Hans (sorry, made these names up!) are
about to have the ride of their life – and perhaps, in doing so, might rekindle
the flames of their relationship.o28 is
a thrill a minute – in some ways reminiscent of cartoons of yore where vehicles
suddenly lose control and the laws of physics are completely and utterly
ignored until things – one way or another – resolve themselves.In this instance, we’re taken on what can
only be described as a roller coaster ride through the picturesque streets of
Lisbon, with danger lurking at every corner (literally).
There are some lovely touches here – I loved the “World’s
Greatest Driver” mug in the cab, the little heart-shaped contrail a plane makes,
and the fact that the beautiful red Ferrari(esque) sportscar the tram looks
like it will hit at one point is exactly the same as the one on the cover of
Hans’ car magazine. I also loved the way that o bebé lisboeta blithely enjoys the whole experience, even turning momentarily into Cupid at one point..
This is an animation
that you will want to see through the end (and into the credits where we’re
given some little Easter eggs too).Well
done to the Rubika students who produced this magnificent, thrilling and very funny
animated short.They are Otalia Causse,
Geoffroy Collin, Louise Grardel, Antoine Marchand, Robin Merle, and Fabien
Meyran (direction), Cyrille Marchesseau and David Gana (music) with sound and
mixing by Alexandre Jaclain and Kamal Ouazène.What a spectacular showcase for their professional strengths. I have enjoyed all of this year's Rubika thesis films, especially Yalla, Apocalypse Dog and Sur Mesure, but if I had to stand up and be counted, I would have to say that this was my favorite so far. Watch o28 below.
I will give Cruz Beckham 6 out of 10 for his attempt at moonwalking
in this video for his latest single Wear & Tear.It was a brave decision but didn’t quite hit
the heights. However, I will give the song itself a healthy 9 out of 10.So, there’s my jukebox jury for the
song – even though his legion of fans would probably be indignant at the fact
that I haven’t awarded it the perfect ten.
I must admit that Cruz Beckham's Wear You Down leaves
me completely bewildered. I've listened to it more than once, but I'm still
none the wiser as to what it's about. Is it describing a toxic relationship,
addiction, fame, an intrusive inner voice, or something else entirely? One
moment the narrator is offering someone the world in exchange for their name,
the next claiming to be "the blood in your veins" before repeatedly
declaring, "I wanna wear you down." It's certainly atmospheric and
undeniably dramatic, but whether there's a hidden meaning or simply a
collection of evocative phrases is anyone's guess. Perhaps I'm missing
something obvious. Or perhaps the beauty of the song lies in the fact that
everyone can interpret it differently. Either way, I'm left with more questions
than answers - and a sneaking suspicion that I'm not the only one.
What I can get my head around is the music itself.
It's an intriguing hybrid that somehow manages to bridge two very different
decades. There's a definite whiff of the late 1960s in its hazy psychedelia and
melodic sensibility, with echoes of the later Beatles, while the jangling
guitars and laid-back groove transported me straight back to the indie scene of
the 1990s. Imagine the Stone Roses borrowing a few pages from the Beatles' Magical
Mystery Tour notebook, then asking Kula Shaker to sprinkle a little extra
psychedelic dust over the finished product. It shouldn't really work, but
somehow it does. Whatever else Wear You Down may or may not be about, it
has a sound that's oddly familiar without ever feeling like a straightforward
imitation.
Judging by the comments on YouTube, I don't seem to be alone
in hearing those influences. Listeners have described the song as having
"very Stone Roses" and "90s vibes", while others picked up
on distinctly Beatlesque touches, with one even hearing a Lennon vibe and
another comparing it to George Harrison's If I Needed Someone. There
were also mentions of early Pink Floyd and plenty of appreciation for its retro
feel, with one fan saying it was "like traveling to the past".
Nostalgia seems to be a recurring theme: "I feel 23 all over again,"
wrote one commenter, while another said, "Those vibes are reminding me of
my youth." Others were more succinct but no less enthusiastic:
"Absolutely brilliant," "F**king love it," "Finally an
authentic band," and perhaps most tellingly, "It's actually not bad.
It grows on me." That last comment may prove prophetic, because this is
exactly the sort of song that reveals a little more of itself with each listen.
Quick question though – why is it that in some parts of the
video one of The Breakers is doing an Invisible Man
impression?There doesn’t seem to be a
reveal? Is it because there had to be a stand-in for some parts of the video
and this seemed liked a neat way of doing it? Answers on a postcard, please! Watch and listen below...
In the thirteenth century, what is now the Polish city of
Toruń was controlled by the Teutonic Order, a German-speaking Catholic
religious order founded a century before in Acre which by the 1200s had evolved
into a military power in the Baltic region.
Crusades were conducted against pagan peoples in Prussia and Lithuania,
and a powerful territorial state governed directly by the Order had been
established. To defend the town against Prussian
tribes, Lithuanian raids and even potential threats from local Polish and
Pomeranian rulers (note – these threats did not present simultaneously), the
Order built and maintained walls and a series of towers around Toruń. There was just one problem... Image
Two of the towers leaned. Although only one remains, it
still somehow manages to stand. Historians believe the other was demolished
sometime in the second half of the 19th century, when many sections of Toruń's
medieval fortifications were removed as they were no longer needed for defence
and the city expanded – and not because it leaned too far one day.If built today, rather than Prussian
tribes, they would no doubt be surrounded by an army of health and safety inspectors
demanding their removal.Back in the thirteenth
century, it was considered expeditious to keep one’s fingers crossed and hope
for the best. Medieval engineers, although highly skilled, had failed to realise
how much the loamy ground would settle after construction. They had little
choice but to accept the lean, keep a wary eye on it and hope the tower stayed
upright.
Or should that be the other way around? Probably, but I think Jones may have liked it this way!
Here's the story. In the winter of 1970, British television viewers were given
thirteen new episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, with a host of
new secondary characters to help while away the winter nights.By far the most talked about was The Nude
Pianist played (mostly) by the late, great Terry Jones.The pianist (who wasn’t always naked to start with) proved so popular that he became slightly more of a fixture in the third series in 1972-3.
Why? The character perfectly captured
the programme's surreal, subversive humour. His calm indifference to his own nudity
made the joke even funnier. At a time when British television was still relatively
conservative, the sight of a naked pianist popping up unexpectedly between
sketches was both shocking and irresistibly absurd, ensuring audiences eagerly
anticipated his return.
Now, the sea front of Jones’ home town of Colwyn Bay on the North
Wales Coast has a permanent commemoration of this cheeky little
character in the form of a sculpture by Nick Elphick.
Sir Michael Palin has apparently described the statue as a
fitting tribute, joking that commemorating a comedian with a monument might
seem a little absurd. However, he added that Terry Jones would have appreciated
the irony of such a playful, slightly subversive memorial, making him especially
pleased with the idea.
Subversive? Well, if you are reading this from our home
page, click “read article” below to get a better idea of why what Palin said
got to the bottom of this particular piece of art in an instant. Thank you to Kuriositas reader Sonny Chapman for taking the pictures.
If you've ever wondered what would happen if a nightclub, a
telenovela, a dance battle and a blockbuster action film all arrived at the
same party, then ATEEZ's 'BAD' is here to answer your oddly specific
question. The title track from GOLDEN HOUR: Part.5 swaps the group's
usual apocalyptic intensity for something hotter, bolder and thoroughly
danceable, with Brazilian funk rhythms driving an irresistibly swaggering
chorus. The video, meanwhile, gleefully throws subtlety out of the nearest
window, serving up flirtation, jealousy, spectacular choreography and enough
visual flair to keep freeze-frame enthusiasts occupied for days. It's loud,
stylish and gloriously over the top – exactly the sort of music video that
reminds you K-pop often treats "less is more" as a quaint historical
curiosity.
Some K-pop groups become famous for catchy songs, some for
impressive choreography, and some for looking impossibly cool while standing
perfectly still. ATEEZ somehow managed all three at once. Since debuting in
2018, the eight-member South Korean group has built a global following through
performances so energetic that they occasionally give the impression that the
laws of physics are merely polite suggestions. Their music videos feature
pirates, rebels, alternate realities and enough dramatic symbolism to keep
internet theorists occupied for years. Meanwhile, fans – known as ATINY –
enthusiastically piece together the group's sprawling fictional universe,
proving that a catchy chorus and a mystery are a powerful combination. Whether
storming festival stages or collecting international awards, ATEEZ continue to
demonstrate that if you're going to take over the world, it helps to do so
while executing perfectly synchronised dance moves. Of course, on the other hand if my (long departed) grandmother was to watch this, she would come out with one of her favorite phrases: "No wonder kids are daft".
If you are very lucky you may see a fire rainbow once or twice in your life. It sounds almost as if it could be the title of one of a series of children’s books – Harry Potter and the Fire Rainbow has a certain ring to it: but this phenomenon is not fiction. If you are in the right place and at the right time then a fire rainbow is something that you will remember.
To name it properly, a fire rainbow is a circumhorizontal arc. It is also known as a circumhorizon arc but whichever you chose, scientists (and aficionados) call it a CHA. It is given its name because it looks as if a rainbow has spontaneously combusted as it made its way across the sky. One might even suspect that some malign fairy or goblin has blown the rainbow up to stop some errant human discovering that elusive pot of gold at its end...
If you like Guy Ritchie TV shows and movies, you are
probably going to enjoy this. Gravy
Train tells the story of a twenty pound note – or rather the people through
whose hands it passes on one day in North London. There’s a diverse cast of characters
including the prerequisite number of villains and the obligatory slightly bent
copper - it wouldn't be a crime comedy-drama otherwise, now, would it? There’s even a London Geezer voiceover at the beginning and the
end to contain the somewhat preposterous goings on in Arsenal and its environs. Don’t be put off by any of that,
though – this is a hugely enjoyable watch with high production values (despite
what I imagine was quite a low budget), a great cast, some very deft direction
by Benny Slater and great production by Izzy Sexty. This is their final major
project (FMP) at the London Screen Academy (LSA).
Part of the film's appeal lies in the strength of its
ensemble. Rather than relying on a single star turn, Gravy Train
succeeds because each performer brings something distinctive to the screen,
creating a vivid gallery of characters who are by turns funny, exasperating,
sympathetic and alarming – but mostly not quite who they might appear to be at
first glance.It’s well-paced – very little
time to get bored with a character before we move on. I laughed out loud at
the kid asking for money for a hospice (“Every pound saves lives!” which shows
he hasn’t quite grasped what they’re for (but I think you will find he wouldn’t
care). Oh, did I say it has a great soundtrack, too? It has a great
soundtrack, too.
Give it a watch below.And next time you come across a twenty pound note, spend a moment reflecting
on all the lives it has previously touched…
Everyone is nervous, at least to some extent, on their first
day at a new job. Yet spare a thought
for young Pierre (as I have called him).
He is the only human living in a world of animals and even his recent couture
diploma isn’t going to get him very far when it comes to competing with his
colleague, whose eight legs put her at a distinct advantage to him when it
comes to completing new dresses on time. So, his first day is going to be challenging, to say the least. Regardless, plucky Pierre decides to give it his best job, even if it
comes to some unfortunate improvisation…
This charming animated short was directed by Léa Cousty,
Chloé Astier, Hugo Bourriez, Victoire Le Dourner, Raphaël Guez, and Mélanie
Fourgeaud during their studies at Rubika in Valenciennes, France. Music is by Valentin Lafort and sound design
by Henri Petitprez. The French title Sur Mesure means Custom Made in English (I hope no one minds me using the translation as the title to this post!). This is an
incredibly accomplished animation for a group of students (however
talented). It features a simple but very
well-told plot, and is a visual treat for the eyes. I was particularly struck
both by the character and background design.
Bravo to all involved.
A casino once announced itself with chandeliers, carpets, marble, and a door that felt slightly too important for a normal Tuesday. Online, the doorway is quieter. A player taps a screen, opens a wallet, waits for a balance, and expects the magic to behave. That is where a crypto casino provider becomes part architect, part mechanic, and part stagehand.
The Lobby Is No Longer A Room
The old casino lobby had one job before anything else happened: make people feel they had entered a designed world. The digital lobby has the same job, but its bricks are menus, wallet flows, game thumbnails, bonus prompts, and loading states. If one of those pieces feels uncertain, the spell breaks before the first game opens.
That is why crypto support should not sit in a lonely payment corner. It touches registration, limits, player records, fraud review, withdrawals, and support conversations. The player sees a simple deposit. The operator sees a wallet ledger, exchange-rate handling, transaction confirmations, risk flags, and a support ticket when something looks slower than expected.
Walking through Brockley in South East London this morning,
my eyes were drawn to the rubbish that was collecting - but not being collected - near the station. However, this wasn’t what grabbed my
attention – it was the street art (graffiti, vandalism –
what you will) that adorned the remnants of a piece of shelving that had been
unceremoniously bound and dumped by the bins. It
must have looked so forlorn that a would-be Banksy took (no more than a few seconds,
in my judgement) the time to spray a pithy little message in the words of
the abandoned shelf itself. The message?
“I identify as a surfboard”.
Now it was early in the morning, but I was struck by the
sheer pathos of this plaintive proclamation.What also hit me was the
angsty anthropomorphism of the face painted atop of the message.The existential distress bore all the
hallmarks of Munchian despair. What hopes had been dashed? What dreams of sun
and sea-spray had been denied?Here was a humble shelving unit, condemned by society to a life holding tins
of baked beans and chopped tomatoes, finally finding the courage to articulate
its authentic self in its last gasps of existence before its inevitable
appointment with the crusher at the recycling plant.
"I identify as a surfboard" it declared, with a spartacan
(have I just invented a new adjective?) confidence that reality stubbornly
refused to endorse. As commuters hurried past towards the station, I wondered
how many had paused to consider the shelf's predicament. Had any offered words
of encouragement? Had anyone suggested Brighton or Bognor or even Bondi? Or was
this yet another example of modern society's inability to listen to the voices
of the marginalised supermarket shelving community?
Eventually I moved on, leaving the shelf to contemplate its
fate alone. Yet its message lingered with me all day – perhaps because I had
nothing better to do… But perhaps we are all, in our own way, shelves
identifying as surfboards: yearning for adventure while being fundamentally
designed for storage. Or, maybe, I should try harder to stop overthinking in the mornings.
When you look for art history coffee table books, people
generally look for home library books that offer museum-quality reproductions
alongside clear introductions to major art movements. Actually, the
market for printed art books remains remarkably durable, and it continues to
play an important role in museum retail and art publishing. For example, the
book marketreached a record €24.9 billion in turnover in
2024, according to the Federation of European Publishers. Despite the growth of
digital media, print books continue to account for the majority of book sales.
Physical books also
offer a tangible experience that many readers value when engaging with visual
culture. Some readers look for coffee table books
that combine visual appeal with historical context. Therefore, to help you
choose, we reviewed frequently recommended art history titles from museum
publishers and major book retailers. We also compared digital learning apps
that offer summaries of foundational educational texts when reading a detailedBookey
app review, and reviewed books that appear
repeatedly in trusted art history recommendations!
Hidden in the forests of north-western Ukraine lies a place
that seems less like a real location and more like a setting from a fairy tale (at least at first sight).
Near the small town of Klevan, in Rivne Oblast, a leafy green corridor
stretches into the distance, its walls and ceiling formed entirely by living
trees. It is known simply as the Tunnel of Love - "Тунель кохання"
(Tunel Kokhannia).Ask anyone in Kievan
for The Green Mile Tunnel as it is sometimes referred to on the internet,
and they will look at you blankly.Ask for The Tunnel of Love and a local will immediately know where you want
to go.They might even give you a
knowing wink if you are with your loved one. Image
At first glance, you can see exactly why the place acquired
the name. The word кохання (kokhannia) means romantic love,
rather than the broader word for affection or liking. So, the name carries a
distinctly amorous meaning, and you might assume the tunnel was deliberately
designed as a place for lovers. If I was a filmmaker, I would want to shoot my
happy ending here.
As you may know, we feature a lot of timelapses (and
sometimes even hyperlapses) here on Kuriositas.
They all have one thing in common – they are all earthbound, very much
the representation of people and places under the Earth’s atmosphere. Plus, of
course, they represent a certain time – quite recent! This timelapse is slightly different –
it covers the entire history of the universe from its big bang beginnings 13
billion years ago, right up to the present day.
So, obviously, this is a peculiar hobby of a particular Timelord
– one who found Gallifrey a little boring and decided that instead of fighting
monsters (on a weekly basis) that they would simply record what happened in
time and space.Ah, well not quite.This is the work of Melodysheep, ala John D.
Boswell, a Washington State based musician and filmmaker.I suppose he could still be a Timelord in
disguise, but unfortunately, he admits that his own timelapse of the
universe was created by his imagination (and some software).It is narrated by his friend Toby, aka
EpicSpaceMan
Every second in this video represents 23 million years and so
I am not exaggerating when I say that the scale is epic. In the first minute, you’re watching the
first stars being born (great to see them twinkle into existence), and before
you know it we’re watching proto-galaxies form and then spectacularly collide
with each other. All of that happens in the first two minutes. So, although you may feel you have enough
time to put the kettle on and have a cuppa in the middle of the ten minutes
below, you will have missed so much of the universe’s history in that time,
that it would be difficult to pick it all up again. At least there’s a timeline at the bottom of
the screen so you can see how much you have missed. However, go and make that coffee, tea or other
hot beverage now, sit down and enjoy the timelapse of the universe which, in its
last nanosecond includes the history of you, me and everyone else ever born on
Earth.
From supermassive black holes to supernovas, everything
about this video is… super.It’s no
wonder that it is soon to become a planetarium show.
When pre-twentieth century Africa is studied in schools it is the slave trade, its awful consequences and the later colonial Scramble for Africa of the nineteenth century which tend to attract the focus of both teachers and students.
Often overlooked is the only country which successfully resisted European incursion and retained its own sovereignty: perhaps its late twentieth century tragedies of famine and attendant local and civil wars do little to persuade the casual historian to look further in to its past.
If you like an extended visual metaphor, then you will love The
Nymph, written and directed by Vanessa Stachel at Filmakademie
Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of the internationally most acclaimed film and media
schools.Together with a team of
producers, editors, VFX creators – basically a whole film crew made up of
fellow students, she has created a branded short for Greenpeace Germany – and a
tale of love and woe it is indeed.
The story is deceptively simple.A young knight, defeated and injured, flees
the battlefield.Nicholas (played with
equal charm and menace by Jacob Haw-Wells) finds himself by a beautiful pool in
secluded woodland.There he encounters the
nymph Ilo (played subtly by Peter Todd, who also narrates the story) who heals
his wounds.Yet this healing comes at a
price – part of the natural world around them dies with this act of
generosity.Sir Nicholas can rejoin the
fight and claim victory. Yet he returns to his healer and a friendship, then a
romance blossoms.
Combining animation and live action is always something of a
risk, but this short film segues beautifully between the two.The direction is absolutely spot on throughout
and the leads are both compelling and charming (well, one is remarkably like a
Disney prince!). The fact that this is, essentially, a student film is astonishing - this is very high-quality film-making.
So, you can probably see where this is going in terms of the visual
metaphor - it's about the environment, conservation and sustainability.As the relationship between
human and nymph (well, nature effectively) develops, Sir Nicholas begins to demand more and
ore from Ilo (the name means joy in both Finnish and Igbo!).Before long the natural world is laid waste
as Nicholas’ demands stretch Ilo to his very limits.Can Nicholas see sense before his Ilo and his
world are destroyed forever?You will
have to watch this short film to find out, but as a fitting end to this
particular fairy tale, there is a message directed at us saying “Nature
deserves a happily ever after. It’s up to us.”Of course, Nicholas has been us from the very beginning, taking what we
want when we want from the natural world – and Ilo represents nature.The message – unless we work together,
disaster is inevitable.And although there is some optimism at the end
of this remarkable short film, what a price tag it has come with…
I probably don’t keep up with things properly, but the last
thing I expected to see today was a new single by Queen’s Roger Taylor. And featured on Come On Summer (It’s Party
Time) is none other than the Ndlovu Youth Choir from South Africa who did
such a brilliant job on their cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, which we featured on
Kuriositas last August. This song is
not as complex (by something of a margin) but restricts itself to simple lyrics
yet gloriously summery rhythms.
There is something of a contrast to the performances on Come
On Summer, too.While the youth
choir seem intent on celebrating the warmth of the sun as it beats down on them,
Roger Taylor seems to be stuck in a rainy field somewhere in the UK, muttering Come
On Summer under his breath every now and again.It’s quite a neat juxtaposition – and I do
hope it was purposeful because otherwise I’m getting the wrong end of
completely the wrong stick.
Regardless, this song is a wonderful preview of what Taylor
has in store for us when his new album, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World,
comes out on September 18th, just ahead of Taylor’s UK tour which kicks off
three days later.In the meantime, I
imagine that this song will do very well on the radio – we only have a lyric
video at the moment (even thought it’s gorgeous – a lot of time and pennies
have been spent on it) – its very upbeat mood is infectious – and I have
already caught myself singing bits of it a few times.So, come on, summer, do your best or your worst – we don’t care.We have the track of the season anyway!
Ask anyone and they will tell you that two things that are
featured heavily on Kuriositas are science fiction and dance – and never the
twain shall meet. However, it is with
unspeakable joy that I can feature a combination of the two. World-renowned tap dancer Demi Remick in
cahoots with Postmodern Jukebox have created this wonderful dance feature where
we can watch Remick go through her paces to the tune of ten of our favorite
sci-fi themes – all to a jazzy swing beat. Starting with Spielberg’s Close
Encounters, we move quickly on to Doctor
Who and next to Battlestar Galactica.
Next to The X-Files (and Demi knows the truth is out there
somewhere).
Did I mention that she does this all in a shiny space suit
tap dancing outfit? I have now.We then
get to Star Wars, with the (now not so menacing) Imperial March,swifty
followed by the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey.The dance climaxes with a section dedicated to – what else – Star Trek.Both the Original Series and The Next
Generation are represented here – I a wonderful medley that may well have you
tapping your feet to the beat.All the
way through Demi looks like she’s having the time of your life – and I must say
this is some performance is fantastic. Sshe doesn’t look even vaguely out of breath at the end and
this attempting this would kill a few people, including me.
It’s the sci-fi tap-dance video we didn’t know we wanted
until it was put before our eyes.Go on,
dance along!
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