Star Wars Snowflakes

Stormtrooper Dance NYC

Take one toy Star Wars stormtrooper, some skill in stop-motion animation and New York City as a backdrop, mix them up together and you have the ingredients for a gloriously silly piece of film.  Typically, as I watched I kept asking myself how long it all took to make and how the creators of this majestic little movie ensured that the throngs of New York City didn’t get in the way! Stormtrooper Dance NYC was created by Nomeros/Primos.

The Force Moves in Mysterious Ways

Image Credit Flickr User czar

Where is it Fun to Stay?

Image Credit Flickr User JD Hancock

Mine!

Image Credit Flickr User czsar

The Windmill Farmer

Sometimes things seem to conspire against you, no matter what you do.  If that is the case then perhaps you can take some heart from this charming animated short film by Joaquin Baldwin.  It is the story of a windmill farmer who carefully prepares his land, plants the seeds and nurtures his new crop.  Yet nature has a sly trick up her sleeve for the farmer.

The short movie was created at the UCLA Animation Workshop. The music (and I am sure you are wondering) is by Nick Fevola.  Like many great ideas, it grew from a small seed.  Baldwin was travelling back from Palm Springs when his partner mentioned that it must have taken them a great deal of time to plant and grow so many windmills.  Something said with ironic humor led to first the title of the piece which was then developed twelve years later in to a storyline and character.

Overall the film took sixteen weeks to put together from primary boards to the final mix.  It comes together beautifully as a heartwarming piece of animation which chooses to tell a simply story simply.  I particularly like the use of silhouette which suits the mood and story very nicely. 

You can see more animated short by Joaquin Baldwin on his Vimeo page or his website.

Attack of the Morris Dancing Storm Troopers

Image Credit Flickr User David Owen

Star Wars fans did a double take (or perhaps even a triple take) in London recently. Through the city, storm troopers seemed to have arrived, looking menacing, their weapons loaded, intent on... well, Morris dancing.

Image Credit Flickr User ian_fromblighty

Image Credit Flickr User Normko

The storm troopers are the result of an off the cuff comment by the organiser of the London 2012 London Olympics, Lord Sebastian Coe. He said that perhaps the games should open with five thousand morris dancers – showing the world that English traditional dance can still punch some weight in the world of show stopping extravaganzas. The EFDSS you see referred to in the propaganda poster by David Owen is the cenury plus old English Folk Dance and Song Society. It is actively recruiting new members to get to the five thousand mark by 2012.

Image Credit Flickr User Normko

Artist David Owen took Lord Coe at his word and started to arrange a weekend of dance but fell short of the number. So, he decided to enlist the help of the Star Wars Storm troopers. As cut outs they are not quite be the real thing but they certainly look the part - with the traditional headband of flowers, a silk sash across the chest and little bells adorning their shins.

Image Credit Flickr User Simon Crubellier

Image Credit Flickr User Spiritquest

All in all there were one thousand storm troopers dotted around the English capital city. As part of Owen’s aim to rehabilitate the image of morris dancing in the UK they most certainly did the trick. We can’t say, however, if they did anything to improve the reputation of the Empire’s storm troopers but we suspect we know the answer already.

Image Credit Flickr User spiritquest

If you are not sure what traditional morris dancers should look like, here is a shot below.  Use the force!

Image Credit Flickr User MrsMinnifig

Kuriositas would like to thank Flickr Users David Owen, ian_fromblighty, normko, Simon Crubellier and spiritquest for their kind permission to use their pictures.  Please visit their photostreams at Flickr.

Dalek Vs Imperial Stormtroopers

Although we all know full well it is never going to happen there is a time (or many times) in a fan person's life when the imagination goes awry and various science fiction universes get, well, mixed up.  It is always fun to wonder who would win - would the Klingons win out over the Predator?  Would the Goa'uld get on with the Trill? What would win the day, the Cylon or the Cybermen?

Well, when it comes to one particular inter-franchise fracas, we already knew the result, didn't we?  When it came to a battle between the Daleks and Imperial Stormtroopers there was only ever going to be one winner.  Sons of Skaro 1, Clones Disunited 0.

Image Credit Pasukaro76