Posts tagged 'Nature'

Birds

“A lighthearted essay on contextualized characters.
Reconstruction follows deconstruction.”

*Dusts off keyboard*

Whoa. Hey, what’s going in? It’s been a while.

The short story: I’ve been busy.

The long story:

I.

I’m a dad and my daughter is at the age where she notices (and gets upset) when I’ve got my face stuck in a phone or laptop whilst spending time with her. I was lucky enough to have parents who paid attention to me and know how important that shit is so, quite out of the blue, my not-at-work screen time is now at a premium.

II.

I’ve started open sourcing some of the software I’ve been writing over the last year and that’s been sucking up a lot of my time. “Sucking up” in a good way, in a “get lost in what you’re doing and end up feeling accomplished” sort of way. It’s really fun to hone in on, refine and document things I’ve been building with the express purpose of helping other people solve challenges similar to ones I’ve had to tackle. I learned how to program by using (and studying) code that was written by others and if those folks hadn’t open-sourced what they wrote I honestly wouldn’t have the skills necessary to do what I do for a living. I am seizing an opportunity to be useful to others; a state of being and action that, for me at least, yields the maximum about of bliss. If you’re curious:

     
  • django-versatileimagefield: A flexible, intuitive and easily-extensible interface for quickly creating new images from the one assigned to a field.
  •  
  • django-multilingualfield: Intuitively manage multiple translations of text-based content (including paths to files/images).

III.

I’ve been working on a project that I can’t talk a lot about right now but let me put it this way: if it happens I would post in on this web zone (even if I didn’t have a hand in making it).

Watching rad videos and talking about why I love them is one of my favorite things to do but sometimes even THAT has to take a backseat to other pursuits. Everything interesting on this website I found freely available to watch online and as compelling as it is to continually consume what others create, I also want to contribute my own drops to the internet’s vast ocean of interesting things.

All the above can be summed up with one of Ms. Tripatorium’s favorite phrases: “You can do anything but you can’t do everything.”

Over the past month or so I started to receive messages from many of you inquiring about the status of the site. Most of them included a little note of appreciation and none of them were mean or rude which was super-cool. To know that so many of you were missing these little posts I like to write in my spare time late at night or on the train to-and-from the city was tremendously gratifying.

Speaking of posts: attached above is a bizarre little treat Carl Burton introduced me to on twitter. It’s essentially improvisational animation; a minute-and-a-half riff on what gives birds their birdness. The ‘worm sequence’ is just mental and easily my favorite. Anyone have like $50,000 so we can hire ZEITGUISED (or, at least, lead animator Matt Frodsham) to make a whole bunch more of these?

Thanks, as always, for reading. Cheers!

P.S. If you haven’t seen Carl’s short Shelter I definitely recommend checking it out; it’s absolutely fantastic.

[ Birds ]

Don’t Give Up

“I was still surprised,
When I caught your eye after all this time.
And it took me back to the times we had.
Even though that we’re far apart,
We’ve come so close and it feels so right;
Don’t give up…”

Kate Moross‘s laid-back, nature-in-oversaturated-technicolor supercut and Washed Out‘s airy, mellow sound make for a potent twosome of chill. Sub Pop forever.

A big thanks is due to William Doran for sending this one our way. Cheers!

[ Washed Out - Don't Give Up [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO] ]

Macro Timelapse

Today’s allotment of mellow vibes comes courtesy of Daniel Csobot (visuals) and Daniel Gautreau (tunes). ENJOY!

If you enjoyed the attached and would like to see more videos like it, I’d suggesting visiting our time lapse feed next.

[ Macro Timelapse ]

Elk Grass

“But there’s that sweet grass, it’s dancing in the high bluffs and the sea breeze;
It’s where the elk sleep, dreaming simple dreams of luscious green grass and peace.”

Loving this gorgeous, atmospheric-and-mellow music video Awesome and Modest directed/animated for Pete Van Leeuwen. The tune sounds like it could have been on Beck’s Sea Change – my go-to album for the drive home after a long, hot day at the beach – and the complimentary connected-with-nature visuals further amplify its already laid-back, lazy vibe.

Enjoy!

[ Elk Grass ]

Magma

I’m not quite sure I understand the credits for this one. It was made by Barcelona-based Dvein forThe Vein’ but the client was Adobe? Maybe you can make better sense of it...

The Who’s and What’s don’t really matter though cause the visuals in the attached are off-the-chain great and super-trippy; if you’re a regular visitor here I’m confident you’ll love it. My only gripe is that it’s far too short, I can watch stuff like this for hours.

P.S. If you’re interested in process then definitely give the ‘making of’ a watch, too.

[ The Vein / Magma ]

Hinode

Tetsuka Niiyama dropped a note in the suggestion bin with a link to some animation he created, “that depicts saltation and growth of life in the sea using jewelry as the motif for illustrating the theme ‘Jewels of Sea’”. It’s expertly done and über-chill...ENJOY!

[ HINODE ]

Endless Climb

Endless Climb (found here: http://imgur.com/a/Ewfb9?gallery#8OQoJK7)

Moar.

[ Perfectly Looping .gifs ]

Yellow Bridges

Happy Holidaze everyone! First, might I interest you in a bit of nature-centric, fractal animation from cyriak set to a contemplative, driving instrumental by El Ten Eleven?

Secondly, considering that today is a bit of a special occasion for those who tend to frequent this little corner of the internet, I thought it’d be fun to celebrate by compiling a playlist of what are, in my opinion, the best ten videos posted to the site during this past year. Without further ado, I present…

The Tripatorium™ Top Ten 4/20/2012 - 4/20/2013

10. Little Boat by Nelson Boles: “It, like all great animated shorts, appears to be a snapshot taken from within a fully-realized unique world, wholly separate from our own.”

9. LAMENTO by Joshua Catalano for John Talabot: “About ten seconds in I started smiling, immediately caught off-guard – in the most pleasing of ways – by this Joshua Catalano-created journey through a hard-lined, cell-shaded, abstract geometric landscape. The slightly muted palette compliments the loopy, minimal tech-throbs of John Talabot rather well – so much so that I’ve re-watched it a dozen times already.”

8. GOLEM by Patrick McCue and Tobias Wiesner: “My first thought after watching the attached was, ‘this could have easily been in The Animatrix,’ so prep yourself for some late-night, cerebral, sci-fi shit.”

7. Hide by Mathieu Bétard for Kris Menace: “A delicate mix of mirrored-and-repeating geometric ‘morphables’, rotoscoped figures and bizarre transitional touches where everything besides line, form and movement is swept aside. Just absolutely gorgeous stuff.”

6. Crossover by Fabian Grodde: “I’ll leave the flowery prose to a minimum; it’d be a crime to spoil the surprise….”

5. The Ancestor by Crazy Lake Pictures for Darlingside: “An emotional cocktail of gorgeous visuals and poignant tunes; this one’s a winner, folks.”

4. I, pet goat II by Heliofant: “Oh shit. Do yourself a favor and prime your environment for an optimal viewing experience – lights down, full-screen and volume up – this gem deserves your undivided attention.”

3. Bye Bye Macadam by Dimitri Stankowicz for Rone: “The visuals in the attached sync up beautifully (both in timing and spirit) with Rone‘s deep, synth-driven, spaced-out sound. The net-effect is pure, distilled atmosphere…”

2. Shelter by Carl Burton: “My first viewing was late last night and the instant sense of ‘cozy’ I felt at 5:00 was palpable; it was as if I was there, temporarily shielded from the rain.”

1. Evoking Spirits by Ori Toor for Kingdom Crumbs: ”[Ori’s] latest veers into new territory and I’m absolutely loving how he’s mixed in some representational imagery to compliment the usual assortment of evolving, fluid structures.”

[ El Ten Eleven "Yellow Bridges" music video ]

Caldera

“In states of delusion, my father has danced on the rings of Saturn, spoken with angels, and fled from his demons. He has lived both a fantastical and haunting life, but one that’s invisible to the most of us. In our differing understanding of reality, we blindly mandate his medication, assimilate him to our marginalizing culture, and entirely misinterpret him for all he is worth. CALDERA aims to not only venerate my father, but all brilliant minds forged in the haunted depths of psychosis.”

The attached runs over ten minutes in length, easily double (if not triple) most animated shorts I post here. As you probably gathered from the quote above, it tackles to pretty heavy subject matter and the extra time is used to full effect; CALDERA naturally blooms empathy as it steadily draws you in. It’s won a slew of awards and rightly so, each exquistely rendered moment – as directed/animated by Evan Viera and co-produced by bit films and Flicker Dreams Productions – is overflowing with visual touches that demand an immediate rewatch. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous stuff…ENJOY!

[ Caldera (2012) ]

Premier Automne

WHOOOOAAAA HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD!

Premier Automne was created by a dream-team of French filmmakers/animators from Je Regarde, Melting Productions and InEfecto and is so out-of-this-world wonderful that, beyond mentioning my über-affection for the final sequence that runs from 8:34-9:01, I don’t want to say anything else as it might ruin the magic of watching this gem for the first time in a dark room with with a nice pair headphones strapped to your ears.

If you’re interested in process than the ‘Making of’ is can’t-miss – as is Do I Have Power?, a music video we posted a couple of Halloweens back by Carlos De Carvalho, one of the co-directors of the attached. Enjoy!

[ Premier Automne (2013) ]

Etam Cru: Betz & Sainer

'Bastard' by Sainer (http://www.etamcru.com/sainer/bastard)
'Bastard' by Sainer (http://www.etamcru.com/sainer/bastard)'Bang' by Etam Cru (http://www.etamcru.com/etam/bang)'Removal' by Etam Cru (http://www.etamcru.com/etam/removal)'Fishing With The Death' by Betz (http://www.etamcru.com/bezt/fishing-with-the-death)'Mind Trip' by Etam Cru (http://www.etamcru.com/etam/mind-trip)'The Journey' by Etam Cru (http://www.etamcru.com/etam/the-journey)

Betz & Sainer are two Polish artists (from Łódź and Turek, respectively) who collaborate under the ETAM Cru moniker and are just as comfortable creating screen prints and canvases as they are painting huge-ass murals. The attached images are just a small sampling of their work so, if you want to see more, hit up their individual blogs (Betz / Sainer) or the official ETAM site. Enjoy!

P.S. If you like what you see here, be sure to check out Aryz’s work, too.

[ ETAM Cru ]

Doomed

“A set of strange creatures whose instincts instead of focusing on survival seem doomed them to an absurd and comic extinction, in the presence of the astonished gaze of the narrator.”

File under: LOLWAT

I had been (im)patiently waiting for El Señor Studio to finally post this, their peculiar ‘nature’ documentary spoof, after first seeing its trailer back in the summer of 2011. Prepare yourself for an unexpected, bizarre treat…ENJOY!

P.S. If you enjoyed the attached, definitely give this a watch next.

[ Doomed: a biological cartoon! ]

The Flow

“The Flow looks at the supervening layers of reality that we can observe, from quarks to nucleons to atoms and beyond. The deeper we go into the foundations of reality the more it loses its form, eventually becoming a pure mathematical conception. Layer upon layer the flow builds new codes that create new codes, each version computing a new, more complex state based on the previous one.”

The attached was created by MRK, a London-based artist who helps scientists and researchers visualize their collected data. If you’re interested in knowing which units of matter are represented in each ‘segment’ definitely give the annotated version of The Flow a watch next.

A big thanks is due to hrcho for sending this one our way...cheers, mate!

[ The Flow ]

infime

Dan Charbit (and the talented folks at Cut And Cook Studio) bring the WHOA.

Go watch Loom next.

[ infime ]

Mutual Core

“I shuffle around the tectonic plates in my chest.
You know I gave it all, try to match our continents;
To change seasonal shift, to form a mutual core.”

You guys remember SOLIPSIST, right? (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, drop what you’re doing and go watch it immediately.) It’s easily in the top five of my ‘Favorite Pieces of Internet’ list for 2012 so I was SUPER-PUMPED to discover (via Sam Lillard) that its creator, Andrew Huang, directed Björk‘s latest music video.

The two are a natural fit: His craft-material-as-biology approach pairs well with both her nature-as-allegory lyrical tendencies and always-out-there visual style so it’s no surprise that this collaboration thrums with a primal, living energy.

The bits are available in 1080p, too so don’t hesitate to load this thing on the biggest display available. ENJOY!

P.S. Our Bjӧrk feed is pretty rad.

[ OFFICIAL Bjӧrk - Mutual Core - Art + Music - MOCAtv ]

Nature selects from 1x.com

'Thirsty' by Risquillo (http://1x.com/photo/39149/category/nature/popular-ever/thirsty)
'Thirsty' by Risquillo (http://1x.com/photo/39149/category/nature/popular-ever/thirsty)'The Gateway to Iceland' by Skarphedinn Thrainsson (http://1x.com/photo/46607/category/nature/popular-ever/the-gateway-to-iceland)'Barn Owl' by Robert Adamec (http://1x.com/photo/50042/category/nature/latest-additions/barn-owl)'Halleluja' by mathieu irthum (http://1x.com/photo/43291/category/nature/popular-ever/halleluja)'Dessert' by Alexander Taranin (http://1x.com/photo/49663/category/nature/latest-additions/dessert)'Folding Lava' by Justin Reznick (http://1x.com/photo/41985/category/nature/popular-ever/folding-lava)

I spend the majority of my time staring at a screen which, honestly, has been my primary goal since adolescence; no complaints here. But, like with anything having to do with our in-built desires, balance is necessary and recently my life has sorely lacked it. I’m going away to the mountains this weekend for some much needed relaxation and the closer it gets the more I’m anxious to reconnect with nature – ergo this post. OK, so it’s still taking place via a computer but, whatever…baby steps, right?

Anywho, if you want get a dose of the great outdoors via assembled grids of red, blue and green pixels there’s no better place than 1x.com. All of the attached photos are from there.

One more thing: you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the suggestions; I still can’t believe how much cool shit gets sent to my inbox er’ryday. Keep ‘em coming. Cheers!

P.S. Click here for moar nature-goodness on The Tripatorium™.

P.P.S. If you haven’t seen Nature by Numbers yet you should probably get on that shit.

[ Nature on 1x.com ]

Ozo

A whimsical, super-fun and bizarre seven-minute treat. Cheers to Alex Vial, Martin Brunet, Leslie Martin and Matthieu Garcia (of Supinfocom) for the stellar visuals as well as Neal Williams and Julien Bégault who handled the music and sound design, respectively.

When you’re done watching the attached be sure to check out the other fantastic shorts created by Supinfocom students that we’ve posted to the site. Enjoy!

[ OZO ]

Oben

Gorgeous, haunting and dripping with atmosphere, this film by Thierno Bah, Noé Giuliani, Pierre Ledain and David Martins da Silva deserves your undivided attention. Stylistically it reminds me of both Fosters and Samurai Jack (high praise, for sure) but, in terms of thematic fare, this is a dish meant for adults, not kids.

The word ‘heavy’ comes to mind.

Don’t hesitate to dive in, bruh. Oh and grab your headphones, the sound design by Prince N’Gouda Ba is top-flight.

If you want to keep the contemplative train rolling I recommend checking out Between Bears next. Enjoy!

[ OBEN ]

Kagemono: The Shadow Folk

“The story of Beopup, a little fox who goes hunting in the woods and uncovers something rather unpleasant…”

Diggin’ this cute and whimsical (but a bit dark, too) animation by recent CalArts grad, Sabrina Cotugno. Enjoy!

A big thanks to Timo Cox for sending this one our way – cheers!

[ Kagemono: The Shadow Folk ]

Crossover

I found this little gem by Fabian Grodde while perusing the Vimeo Festival Awards picks for 2011. I’ll leave the flowery prose to a minimum; it’d be a crime to spoil the surprise. However, I should probably mention that you need to grab your headphones as the music/sound-design by Alexander Binder and Johann Niegl is top-flight. Enjoy!

P.S. Go vote! Below is a list of all the videos currently in the running that we’ve posted to the site, organized by the category they are nominated in. To show your support, click the link next to the category name and it’ll take you to the appropriate voting page…you should be able to figure it out from there.

Music Videos (vote link):

Animation (vote link):

Motion Graphics (vote link):

Lyrical (vote link):

[ Crossover ]