Pulse – An Animated Short About Whaling, Tradition and Change

Traditions change.  This is transparently obvious as otherwise we’d still all be sitting around campfires telling stories. Wait, bad example.  We do, though, often take for granted that while our traditions may change, others are simply not questions by those who adhere to them.  So, the annual culling of whales, for example, had to be stopped by external forces rather than from decisions made within a community.  Perhaps that is the modern way of doing things, but I would have to question that acceptance of cultural calcification.  It often takes a single person to take a step in another direction for things to begin to change.

Perhaps that might be the case in Pulse, an animated short beautifully created by students at Rubika in Valenciennes, France.  It tells the story of Jonas (and perhaps this would have been too blithely titled, had it been called Jonas and the Whale), who discovers the carcass of a whale on a beach.  Shaken by the experience, he feels the terror that the dead creature must have felt and his empathy for the whale creates a schism between how he now perceives his village’s tradition and the slaughter that it (read we) leave in our wake.  Directed by Sarah Forest, Cécile Floucat, Pauline Javelot, Thibaut Wambre, Juliette Gales, and Kevin De Garidel with music by Kévin Bardin, watch Pulse below.

Renoir: The Impressionist Who Painted Happiness, Love and Paris

Renoir was once accused by his art teacher of only painting for his own enjoyment.  Renoir replied that is he didn’t enjoy it, then he wouldn’t do it.  I think that is fair enough.  This video by the National Gallery in London was created to coincide with their exhibition of many of Renoir’s works created between 1860 and 1880 – in other words when he was experimenting with them and style and becoming one of the Innovators of Impressionism.  It tells the story of both Renoir and his adopted home city, Paris, which was itself undergoing a transformation at the time Renoir created some of the most important paintings of the 19^th  century.

Yet he never really engaged with what was going on around him in the way, say, Dickens did in literature.  His paintings are full of friends, family, lovers – and nothing of the gritty reality of urban life finds its way into his art.  This has sometimes led to finger pointing – that his need to paint happy pictures somehow makes him more frivolous than some of his contemporaries.  That may well be so, but perhaps his vision was more profound – he was fascinated by love and the way that we socialise with each other – and he wanted to capture that in his work.  He was also fascinated by food, or rather the way with which we create culture from what we eat, how we eat and with whom.  Many of his most famous works feature meals, almost all of which are over (perhaps he felt the need to fill his belly before he put paint to canvas?).  I am now blathering on – take a look at this insightful video created by the National Gallery.  It includes a section on the incomparable exquisiteness of what I think is his masterpiece of masterpieces – Dance at the Moulin de la Galette.

Holder's Farm: Where You Can Pay to Scream Your Head Off - Argh!

Do you sometimes want to rush out of a room and find somewhere to just scream your head off until it isn’t a metaphor anymore?  The problem is, of course, that wherever you turn (if you live in a town or city), there are too many people around – and they all have a certain look on their face which implies that they, too, are looking for somewhere to try and set the record for the highest number of decibels to be expelled from the human larynx.  If that is you, then look  no further. Down at Holder’s Farm, they have given up on alternative crops and have opened up their fields to a new… revenue stream.

For a small fee, you can position yourself in one of the fields on Holder’s Farm and scream and scream and scream!  Well, if this isn’t real life, it certainly should be!  Argh! Is an award-winning British comedy short that stars Tom Crowley as the rather hapless Mr Adlerbrook, one of Holder’s Farm’s frequent visitors – almost a one-man revenue stream for the farmers, who are quite happy to divest him of his (no doubt hard-earned) money.  Written by James Bugg and directed by Toryn Westcott, Aegh! may be fiction, but I can see no reason why this kind of set-up shouldn’t exist in real life!

What is the Oldest Pub in England? This One!

Pubs (from Public Houses) evolved over centuries in England and, if you really need to know, can be separated into three categories – these are inns, taverns and ale houses.  Each had a slightly different purpose, which the video below by Historic England explains really well.  However, if you go to any town or city in the UK that has been around for a thousand years or more (and there are many of those!), then you will often find this pub or that pub being mooted as the oldest in the land.  Sometimes, the reasons for the claim are stretched beyond the credulity of even the sympathetic of tourists, but we at last have an answer for which is the oldest pub in the UK.

It’s gorgeous too – just dripping with history that would make a location scout for a costume drama swoon with that adrenaline rush that comes when you have found something that would fit almost any occasion.  The George Inn (in Norton St Philip, Somerset) fits that exactly – built in the 14^th century for the monks of Hinton Charterhouse, it served to give merchants attending the monastery’s markets and fairs a place to stay and get drunk after a hard day of merchandising.  Lots of features have been added over the course of the centuries – all to enhance the original and extract more profit.  That makes me wonder – how much money has The George Inn made over the six centuries it has been in existence? Now I’m beginning to swoon.  Watch the video about the pub below. 

The Amazing Hummingbird Hawk Moth

It hovers, it hums – but it is not a hummingbird. Take a look at one of, if not the most amazing, certainly the coolest insects on the planet - The Hummingbird Hawk Moth.  The Ark in Space has a great feature on this very unusual species, an example of what is known as convergent evolution.  When you see the full screen pictures this little guy will take your breath away.

Image Credit Flickr User ComputerHotline

Why Are the Giant Trees of the Tropics Dying? And Why Is One Species Thriving?

When the Panama Canal was created, so was an island.  The island of Barro Colorado sprang into being when the surrounding mountainous terrain was turned into a lake thanks to the canal.  Since then, the island has become on of the most studied on the planet, because its isolation allows scientists to see what is happening to our flora and fauna when they are not still being impacted by constant human intervention. And, oh dear, we do have a problem.  Many of the islands giant trees seem to be dying – and this is a pattern being repeated around the tropics.

This will have a massive impact on the environment as these giant trees are responsible for holding so much carbon and releasing it back due to premature death is not exactly what we want. And we don’t understand what is happening either.  Yet among the trees on the island of Barro Colorado, one giant is doing something unexpected.  Dipteryx Oleifera is thriving, not dying. Hosted by Joe Hanson, this video (which using stunning drone footage to reveal the forest on the island) explains what is happening – and what, perhaps, could be the solution.

Pixar’s Fruit & Nut: A Wild Ride Through the Dark Underbelly of the Snack World

When it comes to bonkers animated shorts, Pixar’s Fruit & Nut must come somewhere near the top of the list.  It tells the story of a peanut, down on his luck and desperate for the love of a good strawberry.  Things don’t seem to be going his way until one day, he picks up a hitchhiker and the connection is immediate.  Unfortunately for him, his new fruity girlfriend is intent on leading him astray in the pursuit of bread – and soon they become the Bonnie and Clyde of the snack world.  With a great ending that I didn’t see coming at all (stick around for it – it gives you one of those “aha” moments), Fruit & Nut is a great showcase for the talents of the Pixar animators who created it.

The short was written and directed by Rej Bourdages and Tony Maki and shows what can happen when animators are allowed to throw off their constraints for approximately seven minutes.  It is a joy to watch, and I am sure that all the team involved will continue to have thriving careers, whether at Pixar or elsewhere.  Watch Fruit & Nut below.

The Bicheno Blowhole: Geology at its Most Playful

Nature may often be cruel but from time to time it can also be almost sublimely daft.  Close to the small town of Bicheno on the east coast of the Australian island of Tasmania, a rare geological feature known as a blowhole provides endless hours of fun for visitors. Each time the blowhole ‘erupts’ you never quite know what you are going to get in terms of the shape and size of the water.  One thing is for sure, though: you are going to get wet.
Image Credit Flickr User  ScottWeatherson

A blowhole is a sea cave which grows inwards and up, resulting in a perpendicular shaft open at the surface. They occur when there is a weak joint in the rock and as the waves pound and erode the rock just above the waterline a cave is slowly but surely formed.

This can get to quite a length but if, as it develops, it hits a vertical weakness in the rock then it will head upwards – until it breaks the surface and hits daylight.