A battle rages on a distant planet, yet it is not at all
like our own.It is an organic world
where white blood cells and viruses have evolved into humanoids and as they
have evolved, so too have their methods of warfare.Amidst the carnage, a white blood cell soldier
takes his viral enemy captive.Yet the prisoner
of war and his captor develop a bond, one which could mean the end of conflict.
I won’t pretend to understand the real biology behind
this very entertaining animated short, made by ESMA students in France.It works for me, though!Directing credits go to Jonah Montier, Simon
Brejoux, Gibril Siline, Carla Kaddam, Tess Benedetti, Justin Phillipps, Nolwenn
Queval, Claire Alberny and Lucie Gonzalez with music provided by Adèle Chavy.Sound is by Tristan Le Bozec, Sébastien
Fournier, and José Vicente, with voices by Nesrine Tkitek and Jonah Montier.As usual, the visual feast that is an ESMA
production far surpasses my expectations – it is, after all, a student
film.Yet this can stand up and be
counted among professional productions, such is its production quality and
visual storytelling.
Talk about Kaylon’s Got Talent… This is dazzling stuff - a host of humanoid robots performing martial arts with youthful human partners.Yet these performers are not from Isaac’s homeworld: this is China. When people remark that this is going to be the
“Chinese Century”, it’s difficult to disbelieve them when you watch a
show like this.This year’s
Spring Festival Gala from Beijing (broadcast by the China Global Television Network)saw humanoid robots join forces with Young Fu
artists to deliver a jaw-dropping martial arts performance (see below). It has, naturally, very quickly gone viral
since the gala aired on 16 February.
These robots, child-size and so perfectly matched against
their pre-teen opponents, moved in perfect synchronisation with the performers (with only the occasional slight wobble). They executed precise martial arts routines that blended centuries-old traditions
with cutting-edge robotics. Plus, the kids seem to be having a lot of fun, too (and no Kaylon-style revolution either, although that might have been interesting to watch).
Yes, this
might count as a form of soft propaganda, but flipping heck, I love it. The robots were developed by Unitree Robotics, based in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province (and not owned by the Chinese government, as it happens). As technology becomes embedded into national
celebrations like these, I wonder what we in the West can come up with to compete with
this (or perhaps we don't have to?). Answers on a postcard, please...
Now you have seen the illusion, as it were, take a look at the bigger picture. The video belows goes into the details behind the Unitree Robotics spectcacular performance. I have to admit to a nagging worry about these robots being weaponized, but perhaps I have been watching The Orville (and other movies and shows) too much. Yet my blood did run ever so slightly cold when the taller robot came out towards the end of the performance, jian sword in hand. Time will tell, but I am quite happy that my last name isn't Connor right now. Sorry for mixing my sci-fi metaphors.
You have quite likely never heard of Hampi. Yet in the year
1500, it was the second-largest city in the world, surpassed only by Beijing.
Situated in the Vijayanagara district of the Indian state of Karnataka, Hampi
was the epicentre of the medieval Karnata Kingdom, part of the Vijayanagara
Empire. Founded in the 1330s, this Hindu empire ruled over most of South India.
A symbol of royal power and military might, its rulers maintained vast numbers
of war elephants, both as a display of authority and for use to stunning and
brutal effect in military campaigns. They were, quite literally, the tanks of
their day.
We do not know precisely which ruler ordered the
construction of the magnificent stables to house his most valuable elephants,
but it was most likely Krishna Deva Raya, who ruled from 1509 to 1529 at the
height of the empire’s power. The elephant stables remain the world’s only
surviving example of this type of architecture. It stands as a rare reminder of
how architecture, power, and animals were once bound together in the making of
empire. Above you can see part of the interior; the mahout entrance has been
mysteriously bricked up, probably to discourage after-hours visitors.
This short film is bloody wonderful. Erm. I suppose I could have described it a little
less appropriately – let’s just say that it brought out my inner Ron Weasley
for a second. As far as Jane Austen
adaptations go, this may not be quite what you were expecting – but it does at
least have all the right ingredients. In
fact, the Jane Austen references are everywhere. And so they should be.
To begin with, there are three sisters, much along the lines of
Sense and Sensibility.They are around
the same age as Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret Dashwood but here instead we
have Miss Estrogenia “Essy” Talbot (Julia Aks), Miss Labinia Talbot (Samantha
Smart) and Miss Vagianna Talbot (Nicole Alyse Nelson).And yes, if you hadn’t guessed this is a comedy,
then you just have. I hope.You have also probably guessed what constitutes the period drama too. Let other keyboards dwell on guilt and misery, though; this is just for fun.
The Janeite world-building is thorough, although it might make a few uber-purists run for the smelling salts (or dash to the gin cabinet). We have the father who retreats to his study whenever
things get a little uncomfortable (shades of Mr Bennett in Pride and Prejudice),
and the even more uncomfortable fact that all his daughters are as yet
unmarried. Of course, in those days it was a truth universally acknowledged,
that a single woman in possession of no great fortune, must be in want of a
husband. And it looks like Essy is about to be the first of the Talbot girls to get hitched. She has managed to attract the attention of
the handsome, brooding, slighly dim Mr James Dickley, played by Ta’imua (great chemistry
between the two leads, by the way).
However, the drama of the title comes into play very quickly. Could this
be the end of the Talbot-Dickley union, before it has even fully started?
You can watch and find out, the film is below. What involvement Emma Thompson had in the project I cannot tell you,
but she is listed as Executive Menstrual Advisor. Shame there was no Thompson style weeping in
the film… but it is a comedy after all. What I can tell you, though, is that it was written by Julia Acks
(Essy in the film) and Steve Pinder. The talented duo also directed the
film. What I enjoyed about it most
of all is the script, which is very sharp, knowing, contemporary and extremely funny – a gift to
any actor who can keep a straight face long enough. I imagine there were one or few bloopers made while filming.
Not only is it all of the above, it is stylistically so in keeping with the way
period dramas are made in terms of the way the whole thing looks – perfect,
really.Plus the casting of the sisters
is spot on – you can create an Austenesque backstory for each of them the
moment they utter their first words.Having watched this, I was hardly surprised to see that this has been Oscar
nominated for Best Live Action Short Film.Fingers crossed that this beats the opposition into bloody (ah, did it
again) submission and comes out on top.
This is Clathrus archeri. Looking every inch the result of a GM experiment gone wrong, it resembles a strange cross between a toadstool and an octopus.
Yet this is not the result of some subterranean gene-splicing enterprise to bring the world a spore-bearing cellaphod (for whatever reason that might be). This is exactly how nature intended the Octopus Stinkhorn. The shape and form you see here is an integral but short-lived part of its life-cycle.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on AI, don’t they? Even my
octogenarian mother referred to it recently as “slop” – and I have no clue
where she got that term from because she doesn’t exactly doomscroll, but she
still managed to catch the zeitgeist with the word of the day. In fact she doesn’t
exactly go on the internet; she’s quite proud of that fact, in fact. I imagine
she picked up the term from one of her more tech savvy friends – they regularly
meet for horrific amounts of caffeine and to put the world to rights (I refer
to them collectively as The Coven – and that’s a term of endearment). In this short comedy video, their US male
counterparts are, I imagine, doing a similar sort of thing.
A couple of old fellahs are chewing the cud and taking in the
world when they spot an athletic young man doing gymnastic flips in the park. Very impressive flips. Too impressive flips. One of them
immediately declares “That’s AI” as he has seen things like that on his Instagram(and here they are really beginning to sound like the aforementioned coven). Before long they are surrounded by a large
group of people, all of whom have their own herd opinion about whether or not that’s
AI in front of them.
This funny comedy short was written and directed by
Sebastian Lopez. It stars James Stallworth as Zee and Claudius Pratt as John. The
flipper is Mads Egerlund and let’s not forget Trumpet Guy who is played
by Karim Theilgaard. A short note here – go and try and find anything about
Mads Egerlund (who plays the flipper).Apart
from references to this short, you won’t.And that can only mean…
Spare a thought for The Breakers. I don’t know if they are just Cruz Beckham’s
band (in a Cliff Richard and The Shadows kind of way) or just hired musicians
who have come in for this single. Yet they don’t even get a name check until
part way through the video and even then, they don’t get one on the YouTube
title for this video. Regardless, I’m
happy to remain blissfully unaware of their true connections with the third child
of David and Victoria Beckham (who I think made their money selling used cars,
or on Love Island or, well, something like that).
I wasn’t even going to press play, but I did, and was
pleasantly surprised – so much in fact that I thought I would let you make your
own minds up too.I think if Blur and
Oasis had a secret love child with Kula Shaker and Deep Purple, then the child
might grow (metaphorically) to be something like Cruz Beckham (and The Breakers,
don’t forget The Breakers).This is Cruz’
third single (apparently) after Optics and the very unappealingly titled Lick
the Toad (I am not curious).It does
rock in a gentle kind of rocky manner and Mr Beckham has a pretty good voice. That sounds like I'm damning with faint praise but I genuinely did enjoy this. But, am I the only one to think Cruz is vaguely
reminiscent (looks-wise) of a youngish David Bowie?Not sure about the moustache, though. Really
not sure about the moustache.
Anyway, the video has a cute little intro and outro, which
adds well to the overall effect.But
best of all is that this is a good tune, a bit of a toe tapper, a three minute poptastic popgasm. So, yes, we like it. Watch For Your Love below.
The Big Push are a UK band who first became known for their
powerful street performances in Bristol and Brighton, blending rock, reggae,
hip-hop, soul, and folk into something completely their own. They’re known for
raw musicianship, fearless reworking of well-known songs, and performances that
feel immediate, energetic, and alive. If
that sounds like something that might appeal to you, hang around. You’re about to watch a bravura performance
of a Depeche Mode classic. Or a Johnny Cash classic. Or a Marilyn Manson
classic. It has been covered by many artists
and The Big Push have now joined that particular pantheon.
This is their take on “Personal Jesus”, stripped back,
intense, and full of attitude, showing exactly why their live videos have
captured such a huge audience. It was
shot last summer on Ship Street in Brighton.
The locals seem to love it to! Watch the video below and see if you agree with me - that The Big Push are probably the best buskers in the world.
Family outings can go awry, especially when they are intergenerational. In The Duke of Wentworth we have doddery old
grandad (played wonderfully by the late, great Timothy West), his daughter and
her hubby, plus the most recent addition to the family – a little baby
girl. Things don’t quite go to plan when
baby needs changing, leaving grandad to his own devices for a while amidst the
splendour of the stately home. Then – of
course – a group of American tourists mistake him for their tour guide…
You may remember Timothy West in major British dramas that
reached global audiences, such as his portrayal of Winston Churchill in The
Gathering Storm, the acclaimed BBC/HBO production, or as Sir Leicester
Dedlock in Bleak House, broadcast on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre.
More recently, he appeared as Jeremy Listerin Gentleman Jack, a
BBC–HBO series that gained a strong following in the United States, reinforcing
his reputation as a commanding presence in historical and literary drama.
This short film was created to showcase Wentworth Woodhouse
Country House in the English county of Yorkshire - and it looks resplendent. Yet West is the true star - absolutely in his element as he proceeds to lead the
(highlygullible) American visitors
around the house, confidently feeding them increasingly absurd nonsense about
its history.Watch it and have ten
minutes of fun below.
Take a whistle stop tour of some of the most spectacular radio telescopes in the world and find out about what actually goes on there. On almost all of the continents these giants command the landscape as they survey the skies.
Radio telescopes can be found the world over. They are used in radio astronomy, the science of studying, at radio frequencies, celestial objects such as galaxies and stars as well as more difficult to understand phenomena such as Masers and Pulsars. They also collect and track data from space probes and satellites that we have shot up in to the atmosphere and space. Here are some of the more significant and – in terms of design – beautiful radio telescopes in the world.
I remember discovering the Fayum mummy portraits (as a
reader, rather than the Jesuit priest who did uncover some of them back in 1615) and
have returned to them time and time again.It is fascinating that realistic images of the faces of people who died
so long ago can still be seen by us today. Dating from around the 1st to the
3rd centuries AD, roughly c. 30 BC to AD 300, they were produced in the Fayum
area of Roman Egypt, mainly during the early Roman Imperial period, and were
attached to mummies as realistic painted likenesses of the deceased.
In this video, Alexandra Olsman, one of Sotheby’s specialists
in ancient sculpture and works of art takes a look at one in particular (and I
guess it’s up for sale, this video being by an art broker). Unlike many of the portraits,
this particular chap is obviously middle-aged (the majority are of young adults
and children).It’s an honest “warts and
all” picture but what Olsman does is answer a question that has intrigued
many.Were these portraits drawn before
or after the death of the “sitter”?The
answer is a little more complex than you might expect – and, of course, based
on a certain amount of guess work as we do not know who these people were, let
alone how or when they died.
Generation gaps often express themselves in viewpoints, perspectives
and attitudes – and often those of the older generation can become to seem a
little extreme to others. Kept within the family, they can be, well, swept
under the carpet.However, sometimes
help has to be called and in Tom’s case he has turned to the services of a pair
of very different nurses, Gloria and Helen to help look after his ailing nonagarian grandfather.
The carers, played by Lolly Adefope (Ghosts - UK version) and Ellie White
(The Windsors) sit down for a chat with Tom (Jack Whitehall) and he soon
discovers things he never knew about his "grandpa", including the titular luger which he
finds in a biscuit tin. Whitehall is well known for his previous stirling comedic turns in Bad Education and Fresh Meat. This short film,
directed by Freddie Waters (Peacock) and written by Freddy Syborn (Bad
Education) stands out because it is so character driven (it mostly takes place
in a single room), rather than depending on a big budget or flashy setting to
interest the viewer.Each character is beautifully
written and acted and we get a real feel for the personalities involved in this
“situation” comedy.
Forevergreen tells the story of an orphaned bear cub,
rescued from almost certain death by a benign spirit of the forest – which in
this case comes in the shape of an old and wise evergreen tree. The tree teaches the young cub how to survive
and a parent-child bond is created between the two. That is, until the cub reaches those
difficult teenage years and is accidentally introduced to the allure of fast
food left behind by humans. A chain of
events is set in motion in which desperate decisions must be made…
This charming animated short, written and directed by Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears was created by a team of over 200 people who all
donated their free time to create what is a beautiful piece of visual
storytelling.As you can imagine, as it
was an after hours project, it took some time to make – over five years in fact.On a simple level it works as an extended metaphor
– don’t give your kids junk food.Flippancy
aside, Forevergreen tells a simple yet profound tale of sacrifice and parenthood
and how this can spread out, like the leaves of a tree, over generations.
Frankfurt in Germany has been around for at least 1200
years, so it has amassed a certain amount of history in those years. Much of it
was destroyed during the Second World War and reconstructed later but today the
city hosts a myriad of gleaming new tower blocks in the banking district, too. Kirill Neiezhmakov has been making
timelapse and hyperlapse films for years and I am not sure whether this is the
first time he has captured Frankfurt on film, but the results are compelling to
say the least. In this hyperlapse, he experiments with
seamless AI morphing transitions to go from one place in the city to another
and I must say that they work a treat.
Kirill approached the shoot knowing time and conditions were against him. Heavy rain, dark skies and the loss of his folding bike limited his mobility, reducing a planned three-day shoot to barely a day and a half. Despite this, he captured 20 hyperlapse sequences, selecting 17 for the final film. The dramatic weather became an asset, with dense, rolling clouds contrasting sharply against Frankfurt’s steel-and-glass skyline. Kirill also continued his AI morphing experiments, seamlessly transforming old and new architecture. Each hyperlapse was created manually, moving the tripod frame by frame to achieve a natural, organic flow.
I love a visual, extended metaphor in the morning. This animated short by students from the École des
Nouvelles Images in France has the tagline “Wind carries away
destinies.” However, I think it is truer
to say that this particular wind drives people to them. The story is very simple, but beautifully
told. In a park we meet the various
people enjoying their time there – a young couple with their child, and even
younger couple discovering love for the first time, an old man with his dog and
the harassed businessman trying to do a little work while having his
lunch. All are destined to meet the wind
– but what will become of them?
This charming animation was directed by Martin Chailloux, Ai
Kim Crespin, Élise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, and Camille Truding, with
an original score by Camille Riey (MAAAV). It was produced by Julien Deparis,
and the sound mix was created by Pierre-François Renouf.
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