ATEEZ (에이티즈) Turn Being 'BAD' into an Art Form

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".

Watch BAD below:

Raye - Click Clack Symphony featuring Hans Zimmer is a Must-Watch Delight

Well, isn’t this just fabulous? Raye’s Click Clack Symphony, taken from her upcoming album This Music May Contain Hope is quite the number.  It’s an ode (well, a symphony) to those around us who make life better.  In this case it’s Raye’s buddies, who, when they hear her call, march around to her house and get her out of it (the home and her downer).  I love the metaphor of the click click click clack symphony echoing the sound of their heels as they come to her rescue!  They are definitely going to heel her (OK, very bad joke).

The video to accompany the song is hugely imaginative; the animated RKO-style intro (well, you know me and animation) gives us the odds of being born on this planet at 1 in 400 trillion (no idea where Raye got this statistic, but quite happy to go with it).  It then quickly jumps to Raye’s house where she is awaiting the arrival of her friends (and when you don’t have enough wine in the fridge to get yourself going, you need a few mates), then to their escape into the street and beyond.  The video accompanies Raye’s (really clever) lyrics perfectly – it’s something of a tour de force, frankly.

The message is certainly unambiguous – you should never settle for depression on a Friday night!  Life is (as always) too short, so get your friends and click click click clack a symphony of your own – not only on a Friday but any day of the week. Like Raye, you could “believe for the first time that she would again feel the sun”.  As layered as this song may be (and it has many but the monologue at the end takes it to another level), I think the message is that bad times must always come to an end, but patience and faith “in the seeds that are planted beneath the snow” are also vital in getting you through and back into that sunshine.  What a fabulous song.  

Best British singer-songwriter since Kate Bush? I reckon so.

Thunderbirds Vintage Adverts are FAB (but some might make you cringe)

If, like me, you spent your childhood coveting a Thunderbirds Tracy Island playset, then you are probably aware that the minds behind the globally adored TV show for kids (and discerning adults) were not averse to turning the popularity of the characters and settings intro products. The main idea was to drive kids like me into a consumer frenzy (especially around Christmas) and it worked.

What I had forgotten, though, until I watched the video below, is that Thunderbirds were also used to advertise things which weren’t wholly connected to the show.  So, here from the Gerry Anderson channel is a selection of the adverts that you might remember from your childhood.  Although most are aimed at kids – like the Tracy Island playset or the iced lollies, some take full of the intergenerational appeal of the show. So, with tongue firmly in cheek, there are car insurance adverts, not to mention Exchange & Mart if you happened to be looking for a new, used car. Thyere are also riffs on familiar advertising tropes, such as the one for a popular chocolate biscuit brand.

What hits home more than anything is the pretty rampant sexism going on in the ads. Girls are targeted with the first ice lolly made specially for girls (named FAB) because who knew their taste buds were different.  Then there is Lady Penelope taking her pink Rolls Royce out for a spin on Parker’s day off – and needing a little rescue from her insurance company at the end of the day. It’s unlikely these particular adverts (and some of the products) would be made these days unless intended to provoke some kind of furore, but they do shine a certain spotlight onto how things have changed over the years.

Brains doing a breakdance to flog mineral water is now seared onto my brain. 

Gorillaz Climb Higher: The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God

Eight minutes. That’s all it takes for Gorillaz to remind the world why they remain one of the most inventive acts of the 21st century. The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God is not just a music video - it’s a miniature animated epic that feels like a long-lost feature film distilled into a single, breathless sitting.  

You only need to read the comments below the video on YouTube. So many people had the same reaction: how did eight minutes pass so quickly?  I am pretty sure that many people will watch this three-pronged tail more than just once.

If “On Melancholy Hill” once captured a certain wistful magic, this feels like its older, wiser sibling. Fans have joked that we’ve graduated from a melancholy hill to a melancholy mountain – and that description is pretty accurate.  The scale is grander, the tone more reflective, The emotional stakes higher (oh boy, are they higher). Plus Murdoc gets to have an off-screen love affair - you can't really beat that kiss goodbye, can you?

The story unfolds with deceptive simplicity. The band members live separate lives before converging at the mountain. From there, they journey back towards the lake. Some fans interpret the structure as cyclical - a reincarnation loop where endings are beginnings and loss is folded into renewal. Whether intentional or not, the symbolism feels deliberate. Water, mountains, caves - these are ancient metaphors, and Gorillaz wield them with quiet confidence.

One moment, in particular, left me (and audiences) reeling. For most of the short, not a word is spoken. Then Noodle mouths three simple words: I love you. No sound. No fanfare. Just a fleeting movement of lips before she jumps.

Stylistically, the short is a triumph. The hand-drawn 2D animation has been widely praised as a love letter to traditional craft. In an era of hyper-polished digital gloss, there’s something refreshing perhaps even rebellious about visible linework and painterly texture.  A huge thank you to all involved in the creation of this superlative piece of art.

A mountain, a lake, three unspoken words, and suddenly eight minutes feels like magic.

Twenty One Pilots - Drag Path

Drag Path started as an exclusive bonus track on the Twenty One Pilots 2025 album Breach (Digital Remains edition) and that meant that only the fans who bought the special edition could hear it – at least at first.  However, the song went viral on TikTok and so now, in a slightly edited form, the band responded to fan demand and released it as their new single.  This is only right – the song has become a cultural moment, grabbing hold of the zeitgeist with both hands and giving it a good shake.

The song is about the emotional traces that we leave in life, whether they be memories, scars or reminders of people or events that shape us – as well as connection and being found in hard times. The video to accompany the song is something special, and reflects the lyrics in certain ways. It tells the story of a young rabbit, who joins his elders at dinner where they share their memories of their past lives (and some of the pictures they share foreshadow what comes later).  Unfortunately, they are not alone – a mysterious and frightening beast approaches their idyllic moment with evil intent…

I'm not going to include any spoilers - watch it yourself and see how it ends. Made in detailed stop‑motion with a beautifully circular structure, the visuals feel hand‑crafted and expressive, matching the song’s emotional depth.  The end is something of a deus ex machina, but one which cannot fail to satisfy the legions of fans who have campaigned for this song to be released as a single for quite some time now. Written and directed by Tobias Gundorff Boesen and made at The Animation Workshop, this video is really something quite special.

I am scratching my head a little as to how this came to be a Twenty One Pilots video, as it originally accompanied Slow Show by The National (we covered it back in 2012). I guess the answer is who cares?  It's great to see the animatrion (filmed in the forests surrounding Viborg in Denmark) have a renaissance and it fits the song perfectly. 

The Fayum Mummy Portrait that Looks So Familiar

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.

Watch this fascinating video below:

Goodbye 2025 – The Ultimate Multifandom Edit of the Year

How many of the characters from TV shows and movies do you recognise from the picture above?  Well, they represent just ten of the multitude included in this fabulous video, edited to perfection by whoislena, who has been creating multifandom mashups for a number of years (at least since 2015).  A decade of editing will probably teach you a lot and this latest edit, I think, is as close to perfect as one can get.  It is bewilderingly fast-moving at times and you will probably struggle (as I did) to pinpoint each character within their own universe. I think one of the commenters on YouTube (@chasingstars-py2zt) sums it up beautifully – “This is the most insane editing I have seen in my life oh my god. idk what else to say”.

Here’s a list of all the films and TV shows that were included in this edit.  Do we still say mashup? I don’t know.  Regardless, here they are! I must say, it majorly increased my interest in watching some of the ones I missed last year.  Surely, 2025 must be one of the best years for visual entertainment in history. Watch the Ultimate 2025 Multifandom Edit below.

Here is a list of all the films and TV shows included in the edit.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Stranger Things, Andor, Warfare, The Running Man, The Legend of Ochi, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Jurassic World: Rebirth, Alien: Earth, Mickey 17, Peacemaker, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Superman (2025), Wicked: For Good, How to Train Your Dragon (Live Action), Predator: Killer of Killers, Squid Game, Expedition 33, Daredevil: Born Again, The Minecraft Movie, Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc, Your Friends & Neighbors, One Battle After Another, The Thursday Murder Club, The Studio, The Residence, KPop Demon Hunters, Only Murders in the Building, War of the Worlds (2025), Heated Rivalry, Gen V, Severance, The Pitt, Win or Lose, Rental Family, Naked Gun, The Phoenician Scheme, Pluribus, The Thunderbolts, Wednesday, The Life of Chuck, Wake Up Dead Man, Welcome to Derry, Sinners, Wayward, Weapons, Frankenstein (2025), Bring Her Back, Bugonia, 28 Years Later, Eddington, Together, Solo Leveling, The Summer Hikaru Died, Paradise, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Bear, The Long Walk, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Last of Us, When Life Gives You Tangerines, Takopi’s Original Sin, We Were Liars, The White Lotus.

Take On Me : A-ha (Bardcore Medieval Style cover)

I have no idea how authentically medieval this is, but frankly I don’t really care.  Take three young nice looking young French fellas, throw in a beat and take on Aha’s Take on Me.  I can’t see Courseval's version being used in any movie which aims for historical accuracy but the simple joie de vivre of the trio’s performance wins the day.

If you are, like me, intrigued by the location used for this video, then have a read of our feature article, The Lucky Old Mill of Vernonand its Less Fortunate Bridges.  Situated just 75 kilometres from Paris, the mill is a great survivor – unlike the bridge that originally was built there, then destroyed, then rebuilt then destroyed (and so on)!

Watch the video below...

Slow Derek

After watching this animation by Dan Ojari I am not sure I will ever read one of those little information cards that you get in cereal packets again. Ever.  This animation tells the story of Slow Derek who, as the name suggest, like to take things at an easy pace.  However, one morning he reads an interesting planetary fact – on one of those infocards – and Derek learns how quickly the earth rotates.  Things are never the same again for Derek, poor soul, who can’t quite compute his new knowledge.

Who can blame him for getting in to something of a tizzy?  After all, at the equator, the circumference of the Earth is 40,070 kilometers, and the day is 24 hours long so the speed is 1670 kilometers/hour ( 1070 miles/hr). This decreases by the cosine of your latitude so that at a latitude of 45 degrees, cos(45) = .707 and the speed is .707 x 1670 = 1180 kilometers/hr.  This formula can be used to find the speed of rotation at any latitude.  I think I will go and sit down for a while.

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

The Dolomites are one of those places that once seen are never forgotten.   Located in northeastern Italy, they form a part of the Southern Limestone Alps and they were recently visited by filmmaker Michael Shainblum.  The aerial shots are by shot by Andrew Studer.  Together these very talented men perfectly capture the changing weather conditions around these most mystical, enigmatic of mountains.

The Panopticon – Jeremy Bentham’s Idea for a Perfect Prison

Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher and social theorist, never quite got over the rejection of his ideas for “the perfect prison”.  In fact, he was so disgruntled that he came up with the idea of sinister interest –the vested interests of the powerful that then conspire against a wider public interest.  That rings bells…

Regardless, his ideas were not original – there had been round prisons before – but he did live to see his own idea incorporated into a National Penitentiary (otherwise known as Millbank Prison) in the UK, which opened in 1821.  He wasn’t happy with that either.  After his death, the idea of radial prisons did take off – which most say owe a debt to Bentham’s Panopticon idea.

I won’t explain how the Pantopticon was meant to work – the video below (created by the very talented Myles Zhang) does a really good job of that.  The name hails from the Greek for “all seeing” – panoptes – and not from an old Tom Baker Doctor Who story (The Deadly Assassin if you’re interested).  It has become somewhat embedded in popular culture, a similar Panopticon appeared in one of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, too.

Back to Earth, perhaps it was pre-revolutionary Cuba that got the closest to Bentham’s original ideas when it built the Presidio Modelo in the 1920s.  However idealistic the plan, they soon went wrong.  When a young Fidel Castro found himself imprisoned there decades later, what was designed to be a space to hold 5,000 inmates at capacity was now “home” to over 6,000 with no running water and almost overflowing with the detritus of everyday life.  I guess the idea of “who watches the watcher” was as important then as Bentham thought it originally, but as the idea of the Panopticon only works in the authorities ensure that the watchers are watched, perhaps the idea was flawed from the get-go, in its assumption that human nature gives a damn.  If only he could see the future and the all-pervasive cameras that cover every inch of our cities. I wonder what he would make of them?

Perhaps he would resort to something he had already said - and one of my favourite quotes about the human condition to boot. That is “Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.”  Put kindly, we’re all a little too obsessed with progress to realise that what we currently have, after all, is not so bad.

Watch the video about the Panopticon below.

David Archuleta - Crème Brulée

There is a certain sweet douleur to Crème Brulée by David Archuleta.  On the surface this song is pure bubble-gum (just the way great pop should be) but underneath it there is a kind of sensual sadness running through it and something much sharper than its “sugary and caramelized” exterior.  The speaker (we can’t automatically assume it’s David) is well aware of their allure but also that their ethnicity has been eroticised – and we're preety sure it’s not the first time either.  After all, when you package yourself as a dessert, you’ve probably been objectified more than once.

This song absolutely captures that sweet douleur - the pleasure of desire tangled with the ache of knowing it won’t last.  It’s layered though – the “speaker” might seem somewhat heartless but there’s also something melancholic in how quickly the passion fades — from “singing my praises” to being discarded just as easily as clothes on the floor. It’s exhilarating, yes, but also a little sad - like the sweetness of crème brûlée that’s gone too soon.  Talking of which – the song’s protagonist is really the opposite of that popular dessert – he’s harder on the inside than the outside.  Yet there is no victim here.  This is a knowing protagonist who is fully aware of his attractions and takes them all on board with a cheekily opportunistic pragmatism (is there even a hint of self-satisfaction?). 

Or maybe I’m just reading too much into this!

No, I’m not. The song is knowing, socially political and wistful all at the same time.  The lyricists (David Archuleta, Robyn Dell’Unto, Ryan Nealon) are a clever bunch as this song does something that not many do – it goes beyond words.  Hats off, too, to choreographers the JA Collective who with great panache really show how to fluidly interpret a song.

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

Did you know that the name Armenia is derived from Aram, who in the Old Testament of the Bible is the son of Shem, himself the son on Noah? Yes, that Noah. 

You won’t be surprised to discover, then, that the country itself is literally dripping with history.  Some of the old churches – in various states – are simply awesome to ponder in terms of their sheer solidity. These places of worship were meant to last and must have been staggering features of engineering and architecture at the time they were built as they still have the ability to stagger even now. 

In this wonderful video, there are glimpses of the people and the capital city of Yerevan.  The country looks unspoiled by tourism – and perhaps that is the way that the Armenians would prefer it to stay.  I think this might go on my bucket list and an unobtrusive visit worked out!  In Armenia is a film by Silvio Sbrana.

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

There will be times, as you watch Morocco Arise, that you wonder how exactly the shots were done (or at the very least edited) but things move on so quickly that you have little time to reflect on the technical feats on display here.  Created by filmmaker and global nomad Brandon Li, this is more than just a love letter to the country, its landscapes, people, architecture and cuisine – it’s a declaration of undying adoration. 

Russ Tamblyn's Dance Moves still Astonish almost 70 Years Later

 

Sometimes, you just have to sit back, chin down and mouth open, while you watch somebody do something that the vast  majority of humanity could never do even if given a hundred years in which to try.  So it is with Russ Tamblyn's dancing.  Tamblyn's star rose in the 1950s with performances in blockbusters such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and West Side Story - although he has always seen himself as an actor who danced rather than the other way around.  True enough - I have vivid memories of watching him in The Long Ships  - one of Hollywood's many forays into viking myth - and loving his performance in that film.

This clip, however, shows Tamblyn's moves off to perfection.  It is from his 1956 movie The Fastest Gun in the West.  He does almost everything with them except use them as shovels!  His energy is seemingly unlimited, his joie de vivre contagious.  Little wonder that some people of a certain age say they don't make them like they used to!  That applies as equally to Tamblyn as to his dance moves. 

Rocketboy

This is an interesting animation which follows a boy’s obsession with rockets and rocketry from youth to adulthood.  I have to admit I may not have followed its every nuance but I found it a fascinating watch nonetheless and it has a good home on Kuriositas! Rocketboy was directed by Minhyuk Jang of 2GREY, a design and motion studio based in Seoul, Korea.

The Body Snatchers: Corpse and Effect

You probably know about the period of British history when medical students were in need of bodies to dissect which gave rise to the rash of macabre thefts known as body snatching.  Perhaps the most famous pair were the notorious were Burke and Hare who ironically did not raid cemeteries but murdered people to provide a local doctor with corpses to dismember.  Fortunately the Anatomy Act of 1832 stopped the ghastly business of stealing cadavers from their graces and allowed for the bodies of the recently deceased unclaimed poor to go under the knife of curious students of human composition.

Yet have you ever wondered where the bodies went after the dissections were over?  Fortunately we have Dr Piers Mitchell of Cambridge University (in the video above) to answer that for us. No need to watch this if you are squeamish but if you are interested in pursuing this then Dr Mitchell and colleagues have published Anatomical Dissection in Enlightenment England and Beyond: autopsy, pathology and display (2012) which is available on a number of websites including one which we won’t mention until they start paying more than 0.1% tax in the UK.

CocóNonó

CocóNonó are a band based in Bogota, Colombia. They were formed in 2012 and it's about time the rest of the world heard about them, frankly. Lovers of rock n 'roll, country, bluegrass and jazz, among others, the band members compose songs from these influences, with lyrics in English, French and Spanish mainly.

This deliriously energetic video for their eponymous song was created by Ana Maria Angel, an animator and illustrator from Colombia, currently living in Berlin.

I speak only a few words of Spanish, mostly involving alcohol, beaches and, ahem, the wild thing - so if the lyrics to this song are completely and utterly rude and not suitable for a family audience then I really can't say I told you so.

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

It’s rare when a few minutes of film footage manage to wholly capture a place, especially a place like Hong Kong which is full of so many contradictory elements.  Director, DP and editor Brandon Li pulls this off spectacularly with Hong Kong Strong.  This is a deep dive in to the many layers of this complex, enigmatic, impossible city.  This was shot in the days leading up to the Chinese New Year which only adds to the interest!

Firekites - Autumn Story

This is clever: a chalk board animation in the round.  Created for the Firekites (a band from Newcastle, Australia) this animation by Photoplay Films is possibly inspired by the South African animator William Kentridge but it stands up very well on its own.

I particularly liked the transition from one board to another, particularly the cat which grows larger as it does so.  I am not an expert in these things but that must have been very difficult to do.

The film is made up of approximately roughly 1900 frames with the frame rate varying between 12fps, 8fps and 6fps throughout. Considering the delicacy of the technique employed the drawings are incredibly (almost unfeasibly) stable.  The only thing missing really is the chalk animation coming off the board - now that would have been something (but even suggesting it seems a little churlish considering how beautifully this is done).