Happy in the Sun

A very sweet 2004 video by Spike Jonze for Weezer,just because I'm in a very good mood!

The Shrine

Thanks to my daughter and music connoisseur Michelle for sharing with me 

this beautiful and haunting video for The Shrine/An Argument by Fleet Foxes. 

Directed by the very talented Sean Pecknold, who is also brother of Ryan, 

the band's frontman.

VIctorian Monsters

Many thanks to Animalarium's reader Rebecca for this great Steampunk addendum to the recent Octomaids parade!

A wild ride directed and animated by Tom Werber, featuring the altered engravings of Dan Hillier 

and a touch of inspiration from Monthy Python.

About Fun

Psapp, About Fun, from the 2004 album Tiger, My Friend,

illustrated by band member Galia Durant and animated by Hanke Hilberg

Sweet Fang

More Big Bad Wolves, this time in Candy Colors!

After watching so much Al Jazeera, 

I really craved a light moment with happy sounds...

Animated by Bonzom at Passion Pictures.

A Wolf at the Door

More about the dark side of wolves...

but of course, only humans can be that cruel!

Ok Doggies

This popular music video was featured in a number of best of 2010 lists, 

but in case you've missed it before, have some fun with OK Go's White Knuckles.

This band has done awesome one-take choreographed videos before, 

like the famous Here It Goes Again, but this one was particularly tricky: 

"We had 12 trainers, two furniture movers, 12 dogs, one goat, 38 buckets, 

and a bunch of furniture, all of which needed to move around and be 

in the right place at the right time without anyone stepping in front of camera. 

We ended up with stuffed animals, spreadsheets, flow-charts, and recorded 

audio instructions, and for many hours we tried various configurations until 

we finally found one that worked. And then we practiced and practiced."

Read the rest of the production story at Gizmodo.

I love how the guys look, so focused, but pretty frazzled towards the end...

If you buy the video, the net proceeds will go to ASPCA 

to support rural, volunteer-run animal shelters in America.

Thanks for the lead to my oldest daughter Michelle, who is a Dj, 

and also sings with her group Walking the Cow. 

Seasons

More exquisite animation from Russia...

A gorgeous ride through the woods and the days with

Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Yuri Norstein and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Fly with a fly

Two very different animated rides featuring flies.

Realistic and melancholy or surreal and sardonic?
Or maybe both, you decide.

This unique rendering of a fly's point of view by Hungarian director Ferenc Rofusz 

won the 1981 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

This music video was directed by Russian painter, animator, film director, designer,

teacher (and so on) Andrey Zakirzyanov for the seven piece band The Artems in 2004.

Split Personalities

The genetic mixing and matching continues to the beat of The Chap

in this fun, fast-paced music video by the outstanding graphic design studio Non-Format.

No Turning Back!

This video was animated and directed by Celeste Potter for Sarah Blasko's song from her latest album As Day

 Follows Night. Celeste is a talented young illustrator and animator from Melbourne, Australia. She mostly works

 in the music industry, designing posters, covers and merchandise for various bands, and has recently started 

directing music videos. The album cover below is an example of her work, go to her website-blog to see more! 

Candyfish and Scissorbirds

Harrie Geelen is a Dutch illustrator, animator, writer and poet who was nominated this year for the Astrid Lindgren award and the Hans Christian Andersen award. He recently created this sweetly surreal music video for free for the Dutch band Cloudmachine. I find the nostalgic nocturnal atmosphere of this work fascinating, and knowing it's a labour of love makes it even more special. The music is actually nice too... Thanks again to Ian Lumsden for sharing this and many other beautiful films on his Animation blog.

Adventures of a Teddy Bear

A big thank you to Jim Le Fevre for sharing this delightful preview of the upcoming Czech movie Kooky's return. Can't wait to see the whole thing! This combined puppet and live action feature was directed by Academy Award winner Jan Svěrák with production design by Jakub Dvorsky from Amanita Design, an animation and game development studio doing beautiful work, for example this videogame and this music video.

Safari inside my head

A fun homemade video by Giovanni Rabuffetti aka orestory for Italian singer Jovanotti's song Safari.

You Morning Dove

I have been listening to Joanna Newsom's magnificent latest triple album opus, 

Have one on me, and feel very grateful for such a poetic, soulful, 

magical soundtrack to the blossoming beauty of these days.

Soft as chalk

So, so long ago, and so far away 

When time was just a line 

That you fed me when you wanted to stay 

We'd talk as soft as chalk 

Till morning came, 

Pale as a pearl 

No time, no time 

Now I have got all the time in the world 

Say, honey did you belong to me? 

Tell me, honey, was your heart at rest 

When, darlin all the morning doves were howling out 

Their song of love, oh godawful lawlessness? 

Lawlessness. 

Say honey, did you belong to me? 

Tell me, darlin, did I pass the test? 

I lay as still as death until the dawn 

Whereupon I rested from your godawful lawlessness. 

Lawlessness! 

I roamed around the tidy grounds 

Of my dapple sanatorium 

Coat-less I sit, among the moles adrift 

And I dote upon my pinesap gum. 

And the light through the pines in brassy tines 

Lays over me, dim as rum 

Thick as molasses, and so time passes 

And so my heart, tomorrow comes 

And I see you leaning out back with the crickets 

Loyal heart marking the soon-ness, darkness tonight. 

Still the morning doves will summon us their song of love 

Never dulling lawlessness. Lawlessness! 

Well over and over we're up and down, around, 

Trying to sound out or guess the reasons. 

I sleep like a soldier without breath 

But there's no treason where there is only lawlessness. 

Lawlessness! 

In the last week of the last year, I was aware. 

Took a blind shot across the creek at the black bear. 

When he roused me in the night 

And left me cowering with my light, calling out... 

Who is there? Who's there? Who IS there? 

Well I watched you sleep, repeating my prayers. 

You give love a little shove and it becomes... terror. 

And now I am calling in sadness, beyond anger and beyond fear 

Who is there? Who's there? And who IS there??? 

I glare and nod like the character, God, 

Bearing down upon our houses and lawns. 

I knew a little bit, and darling you were it, 

And, darling, now it is long gone. 

Sweetheart, you your clean bright start, 

Back there behind the hill and the dell. 

In the state line of twelve I'll be thinking on you, 

Yes I'll be thinking and be wishing you well. 

We land, I stand, but I wait for the sound of the bell. 

I have to catch a cab and my bags are at the carousel. 

And then, I'll just spend time alone, one lonely tale.... 

You morning dove!

The Thieving Magpie

The suite from Rossini's opera was turned into a very special animated short by Emanuele (Lele) Luzzati and Giulio Gianini. After fighting with each other for a hundred years, three powerful kings decide to make a pact and instead launch a war against birds. Not a good idea! A very feisty magpie is going to punish them and save the day. This innovative cut-out animation was nominated for an Oscar in 1964.

The Russian Ark of Yuri Vasnetsov

Keeping with the theme of Russian folklore, I am very glad to share another great illustrator of the Soviet era.

 Yuri Vasnetsov was born in Vyatka in 1900. In 1921 he moved to Petrograd, where he studied at the Higher 

Art Technical Studios (Vhuteina) and later perfected his skills at the State Institute of Artisic Culture (Ginhuke)

under Kasimir Malevich. His paintings of the 1920's–early 30's combine elements of Suprematism and Primitivism.

Still life with chessboard, 1926-28

While still a student, he began to cooperate with the state publishing house Gosizdat

 headed by Vladimir Lebedev. With Charushin, Pachomov and Kurdov, he was part of the group 

of young artists who Lebedev most favored and had high expectations on. 

For this reason, he was often harshly critical of their works, and they in turn were quite afraid 

of showing him their sketches. Vasnetsov started to develop his own peculiar style, 

less stylized than his colleagues and deeply influenced by traditional Russian popular art. 

The resulting artworks are both sweet and bold, popular and refined, traditional and eccentric.

Wax-crayon illustration for Boloto (The bog) by Vitaly Bianki, 1930

The drawings in this book were the result of Vasnetsov's long research into the life of bog inhabitants.

Page from Putanica (Disorder) by Korney Chukovsky, 1934

Cover of Tri medvedja (The three Bears) by Lev Tolstoj, 1935

Illustration from The little humpbacked horse by Piotr Yershov, 1935

Page from Pjat'desjat porosjat (Fifty pigs) by Korney Chukovsky, 1936

Page from Kradenoe solnce (The stolen sun) by Korney Chukovskij, 1936

These early books brought him a reputation as one of Russia's leading artists of children's books. 

In this period he also created lithographies using the same fairy tale themes as the illustrations. 

Due to the war, in 1941 Vasnetsov was evacuated to Perm, where he worked in the puppet theater, 

then in 1943-45 he moved to Zagorsk where he became chief designer at the Institute of toys.

Cover of Russian fairy tales

In the postwar years Vasnetsov continued to be very active as a book illustrator, 

working on children's stories, fairy tales and folklore collections. Among his most famous late works 

are the illustrations for the books Ladushki and Rainbow arc. Vasnetsov was also a painter all his life, 

although he did not show publicly his works for fear of being accused of "formalism". He died in 1973, 

and in 1979 the State Russian Museum held a retrospective exhibition of his art.

Cover of Animal friendships, 1989 edition

Cover of Russian tales, 1974 edition

Two iIllustrations from Ladushki, Russian rhymes and tales for little ones, 1964,

thanks to Flamenconut's amazing flickr collection,

where you can see more artworks from this lovely book.

Cover and illustration from Rainbow arc. Russian folk songs, tales, nursery rhymes, 1969

You can check out Animalarium's other posts on Soviet children's books illustrators

Vera Ermolayeva, Vladimir Lebedev, Yevgeny Charushin and Nikolai Tyrsa.