Three Little Cats

Be warned.  This is sad. Heartbreakingly sad.  A happy cat family is left in mourning when the mother dies.  However, that is just the beginning of a run of misfortune which, in the end, leaves a single survivor.

Trois Petits Chats (as it is known in French!) was co-directed by four students:Benoît Delaunay, Albane Hertault Lacoste, Maïwenn le Borgne and Alexia Provoost who created it as part of their degree studies at Supinfocom.  It won Best Student Short Film - Effets Stars - in France as well as appearing at a number of other festivals.

The Men who Walked on the Moon

Do you know how many men walked on the moon without reference? If you do, then go to the top of the class. If not, like me, you probably made a ball park guess which was almost but not quite right. There have been, in fact, twelve men (so far) who walked on the moon. But what on earth (literally) do you do afterwards? Let’s take a look at these twelve extraordinary men and find out what became of them on earth-fall.

London – An Animated Interpretation of the William Blake Poem

Would William Blake recognize the London of 2021? London was published in 1794 by Blake in his Songs of Experience collection.  It was a time of great upheaval – the French Revolution had just happened and London was feeling its repercussions. There was much social unrest, due mostly to the social inequalities of the time. It seemed that the rich were just getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

So, yes – it is quite likely that Blake would be able to identify the city and its themes – not only from the landmarks that still persist from his time but because so little has changed. This animation by Alex Robinson seamlessly transposes the poem over visions of an imagined present day London. As the city (or those in charge of it) attempts to fool the world that this is a city of shiny, happy people on shiny, happy streets in the build up to the London Olympics, this comes as a welcome relief. The city, as in Blake’s day, still has very much an underbelly.

Merfolk

In a (slightly) alternative timeline the seas have become unable to sustain life for our closest living relatives – the merfolk.  Fortunately the British Prime Minister offers the refugees safe haven but even as they attempt to settle in to their new, land-locked existence, prejudice and bigotry work against them. 

Merfolk was created by Rory Waudby-Tolley as his third year major project at National Centre for Computer Animation, Bournemouth University. Humorous and thought-provoking, Merfolk won Best Animation at Purbeck Film Festival 2012.

7 Best ROM Sites 2021

The gaming industry in Canada contributes more than $31 billion in Gross output and $14 billion in purchased gaming products and services. Online gambling is growing faster, and thousands of websites claim to offer bonuses, spins, and jackpots in their casino. Canadians experience a variety of websites such as jackpot casinos to choose from.

However, players need to choose safer ROM sites that offer games such as Nintendo. It is vital to download games from safe ROM sites free from viruses and ads that can harm your PC. Kevin Cochran (check profile) presents a list of seven Best ROM sites in 2021 that every player can enjoy playing mission after mission and satisfy their gaming urge.

Retrostic

It is a site that delivers quality archived games in ROM and ISO forms. The website contains emulators that gamers use in running ROM and ISO game files smoothly. The main goal of the site is to provide access links that are ads and virus-free. The site has over 70000 games, 51 consoles, and 414 emulators. In addition, the site is easy to cut across and allows online gamers to download their favorite retro games for free.

Romspedia

It is a great site that offers substantial updated ROMs ranging from 10000 titles. The platform is easy to navigate, equipped with a powerful; l search engine and emulators for all consoles. There is a contact page that aids gamers in requesting new or missing games. A blog section entailing gaming news and articles keeps gamers updated with knowledge in the gaming industry. Romspedia offers BIOS files that combine with emulators to assist whenever there is an issue emulating a game.

Romania

Romania is an epic site with an extensive database of all old fashion game consoles and their cartridges. All games in Romania are free and safe to download with no ads and viruses. Some prefer downloading and playing offline, while others prefer an online experience. Whatever the preference, this ROM site will deliver the best results.

Gamulator

The homepage is designed to allow users to navigate easily. It simply shows favorite emulators, most downloaded games, and the most commendable consoles at a glance. The homepage is appealing, with fewer sidebar ads that hardly irritate the eyes. However, it's among the best ROM sites because it's safer to download retro games and free from viruses.

ROM Hustler

It is said to be the safest ROM site due to accessible download links and an enormous list of games that many have not had a chance to play. It has a primary interface that has text and minimal images. However, it has fewer ads that hardly bother visitors. The website is easy to access, and players access a search bar to get ROM, console, or emulator. Casual visitors can enjoy the convenience of accessing the site archived ROMs without a membership account.

Cool ROM

CoolRom adds to our safest and working sites that offer downloads and approved ROMs. It is an excellent site that offers step-by-step tutorials that serve newbies struggling to get what they desire. CoolROM offers ROMs and emulators compatible with mobile devices such as android, iOS, and Windows to add more ice to the cake.

Vimm’s Lair

Vimm’s Lair aims at keeping reminisce away from the mightiest consoles and games ever developed. With a plain and straightforward homepage, players enjoy all their desired ROM by searching the website content through the left-side navigation panel. The classic color combination gives a spine-chilling effect. The site has an emulation layer that aid in downloading several emulators. Access is guaranteed by the vault that entails details from 1997. Gamers can enjoy cutting across the site without interference from aggressive pop-up ads.

Online gaming is here to stay and is one of the ways to make money online. The business aims to work hard to provide a platform that suits its consumers. However, old is gold. Sometimes gamers may feel the necessity of reliving their sweet childhood memories through ROMs. 

The problem arises when they don’t know which is the safest ROM site. The good news is that you can find such ROMs on Jackpotcity Canada on top of the sites that we have listed above. With their growing numbers, some are likely to download malware that may harm devices. The best and safest ROM download sites are free from viruses and ads, making them easy to access and offering a non-stop gaming experience.  

Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

Naqsh-i Rustam - Incredible Reliefs of Persian Empires

Most people have heard of the ancient city of Persepolis in Iran.  Yet just north of the metropolis of antiquity is a sheer cliff, known as Naqsh-i Rustam. Here, in the second millennium BCE, work began on a quite staggering series of rock reliefs which – even today – have the ability to awe in terms of their size and the staggering amount of work which must have been involved in their creation.

Image Credit Flickr User Irwinb

Image Credit Flickr User Birdfarm

If You Have Never Wanted to Visit Norway, You Will After You Watch This

Architectural modelmaker Lasse Henning loves Norway – and you can tell that immediately from this engrossing time-lapse he created between August 2014 and October 2015 which he calls The Moods of Norway. The locations vary from Rjukan and Gaustadtoppen in the south to the Lofoten and Senja islands in the north.  If you have never wanted to visit Norway, surely after watching this you will have changed your mind?

Apollo: A Tribute

This short film is a tribute to the NASA Apollo Program space missions which successfully landed 12 men on the Moon. It was created entirely from still images from the Project Apollo Archive, which has bought together scans of all the original unprocessed images taken by the crews of the Apollo 10 to 17 space missions.

Created by Chris Coupland, the elements that make up each image were separated with Adobe Photoshop and then animated within After Effects to create movement and parallax between the layers in the image. Effects and textures have been added to create a sense of action and transition between the scenes.

Glass Half

Two amateur art critics meet in a gallery and argue passionately about the pieces they see, until finally they find a piece on which they can agree... All of the visuals of the film have been realized using free/open source software, the film itself and all the assets that make up for the film are being released open and free as Creative Commons CC-BY. Glass Half was directed by BeornLeonard.

The Kiss of Death

This astonishing sculpture forms part of Barcelona’s Poblenou Cemetery.  The Kiss of Death (El Petó de la Mort in Catalan and El beso de la muerte in Spanish) dates back to 1930. A winged skeleton bestows a kiss on the forehead of a handsome young man: is it ecstasy on his face or resignation? Little wonder the sculpture elicits strong and varying responses from whoever gazes upon it.

Image Credit Flickr User Rserrano

Compelling Reasons Why I Should Quit Smoking

About a week ago I decided that enough was enough – again. I set a date (Monday 12 July 2021) and decided that I would stop smoking on that day. The day came round and sure enough, after my last packet of cigarettes had been empty for around an hour my willpower collapsed. I toddled down to the local shop and guiltily built some more. Now it’s Tuesday morning and I’ve run out of cigarettes again.

Obviously, I’m more than just physically addicted – it’s psychological too (really, Mr Holmes?). So, I’m going to do something I haven’t tried before. Each day I’m going to write down a compelling reason why I should quit smoking (I used “quit” instead of the more British “give up” in the title because most of my readership are American). I don’t plan to post this on social media, however. I may be publicly shaming myself to Kuriositas’ regulars, but there’s no need for me to go out of the way to highlight my human frailties to the rest of the internet: my family are more than happy to point those out.  So, I’m happy for my ramblings about quitting smoking to stay in this quiet corner of the web…

What I do hope is that writing about my (probably failed) attempt to give up will provide a psychological spur to me, a daily reminder to help convince my hopelessly addicted brain that there are many, many very good reasons for giving up.

As I write, I keep on thinking about how a cigarette right now would be really, really, really good.

Compelling Reason #1 – Price

Tuesday 13 July 2021

I’m writing this in the UK where cigarettes are taxed to the point where “tailor-made” are unaffordable for a lot of people and “roll your own” is often the choice. I’m still on packets and my brand is about average price in the UK. My local supermarket sells them for £9.80 for twenty but local shops (aka convenience stores) often add a pound on to that because they can. In American, that’s $13.58 at today’s exchange rate.

 
In a month of 30 days that’s £294 ($407). In a year of 12 months that’s £3528 ($4888). In ten years that would be… well that math is easy enough. Holy crab apple. If my employer gave me a 3.5k pay rise I would be so happy I would perform double summersaults down the street even though I would probably have to promise dark and unspeakable things in order to merit such an incredible increment. I seem to be unable to award myself one, however, simply by giving up the ciggies. So, this is the first compelling reason – an appeal to my natural avarice.

First Image Credit

The Eiffel Tower: Different Perspectives

It is one of the most well-known buildings in the world. It is, possibly for that reason, easy to take it for granted when seen from afar. After all, by 2010 over 250 million people had visited it. Yet up close it reveals another side to its character.  When seen from different perspectives, the Eiffel Tower regains the power to astonish.

Image Credit Flickr User David.NikonVsCanon

This Land Is Mine

It is a small strip of land but whether you call it or some of its respective parts Israel, Palestine, Canaan – or any other name (which no doubt would smell as sweet) then one thing is for sure – it has been fought over and for an awfully long time.  Here Nina Paley gives us a potted history all to the tune of This Land is Mine sung by Andy Williams.

We start at pre-history and early man.  From there we go from the arrival of the Canaanites quickly conquered by the Egyptians.  From there it is inexorably onwards, in quick order, to the Assyrians and then the Israelites.  In fact, I will stop there – this remarkable animation (for body count alone) takes us all the way to the modern day with Palestinians, the British, Zionists, the PLO and Hezbollah.  It is quite a ride and the last one standing will be? Paley doesn’t hold back on what she thinks the final historical outcome of all this fighting will be.

For a full list of the nations involved in this millennia old struggle, visit Nina Paley’s blog where all will become clear.

Timelapses from the Silk Road

Chris Northey, a freelance digital designer, shot these timelapses while traveling along the ancient Silk Road from China to Uzbekistan in mid-2012. They feature familiar places to many, Beijing and Xi'an in China, then moving on to lesser known Chinese cities, Turpan (left) and Kashgar.  Thence to Kyrgyzstan and we experience the sights of ash Rabat and Song Kol. Finally we end up in Uzbekistan, visiting Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand.

These short timelapses are woven together to create a whole and although we see the Silk Road through very modern eyes many of the sights are the same as people would have seen centuries ago.  The whole short is wrapped up with atmospheric music from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Brian Eno and David Byrne.  Sublime.

The Art of the Romanian Haystack

At this time of year the fields of the Romanian countryside are full of new haystacks.  Over the centuries this particular method of haystack building has become more refined to the point where the haystacks of Romania have their own unique characteristics. Haystacks like this are found nowhere else on earth.

Image Credit Flickr User Basil and Tracey

It is of absolute importance to get the haystack just right.  In the past, without the extra food supply to see them through the cold Romanian winter, vital farm animals would have perished.  If the haystack is compromised then disaster could strike.  Great care, then, has always been taken in the construction of these stacks, some of which tower over four meters in height.

The Shark and the Piano

A somewhat challenged shark finds it difficult to make friends in the underwater depths.  Things get worse when he realises its his teeth that are frightening away and potential companions. Then, one day, a piano arrives on the sea bed and things could be about to change.  This charming, multi-award winning animated short was written and Directed by Gabriele Pennacchioli and co-Directed by Alessandro Carloni both of Munich Animation (2001).

Domestic Policy

Margaret was an ambulance driver on the Western Front during the Great War. Now, however, it’s 1919: the war is over and she has gone back to her job as tea lady to government ministers.  It is while she performs her duties that she overhears the plans that the cabinet has for women now that their war-time services are no longer required.  Written and directed by Alicia MacDonald this short film may leave you wondering whether it is fact or fiction…

How to Design a Particle Accelerator

Have you ever wondered how to design a particle accelerator but were too afraid to ask? Well, now you don’t have to live in ignorance anymore.   Suzie Sheehy discusses how they work, what form they take, and what champagne means to an accelerator physicist.  This animation is part of an excellent series of science-based shorts by the Royal Institution which have really helped to make science more approachable to a lot of people.

Water Hunters

In 2034 there is a global water shortage and things are getting a little Darwinian to say the least.  People are constantly thirsty and many go to extremes to ensure their survival. A young man and woman, lonesome water scavengers are forced, through circumstance, to work together.  Yet is their coming together something more than pure accident?  This dystopic animated short was created by Italian animation studio IBRIDO, written and directed by Salvatore Centoducati and Massimo Ottoni.