lovehatethings

This really cool and stylistic short animation is perhaps the best two-minute smile you're going to get today. I love the simplicity of the concept and the innovative determination to convey a very basic belief into narrative.

A surreal reflection on every story you've ever heard about a car running into a deer in the middle of the night. Violent, graphic, and a whole heaping load impactful. Give 4.5 minutes to this experience and see if you cringe, cheer or get left awestruck.

I'm glad that I watched the short animated film JAM as I thought it was really cool. I'm extremely glad it was under three minutes long as I felt like I was under the effect of some strong hallucinogens after the first minute or so.

The opening 20 seconds kind of reminds me of Larry Marder's Beanworld Chow. I don't know that this is for everyone, but if you want to test your faculties, it's certainly fun.

If you are a fan of Gerald Scarfe's animation work in The Wall by Pink Floyd, you'll probably find The Music Scene very appealing. Certainly not the same level of drama to the soundtrack as one would find with Floyd, but a stirring visual metaphor that leads you on a five minute journey of an omnipresent medium pushing it's will on the world before collapsing under its own intent.

Very cool visuals that would be enhanced by any hallucinogenics you may wish to consume... perhaps, however, the medium is quite the hallucinogenic in itself.

A very fine take on politics, ambition, and power. Reminds me of a Churchill quote: “Their insatiable lust for power is only equaled by their incurable impotence in exercising it.” An enjoyable three minutes of your day, made better by some public domain classical music.

I certainly could never have anticipated, upon reading the title of this short Vimeo submission, that three and half minutes could be so simple, engrossing and disturbing at the same time. At once a seemingly upbeat soundtrack yet searing indictment of the treatment of the working-class.

I was pleasantly surprised at the execution of the animation and at having to endure a sense of pathos at the end. Who says poignant messages can't be wrapped in an animated film the length of a pop song?

In what may be the coolest and most surreal superhero short story of your life, Salesman Pete is yet another effort found through the amazing community at Vimeo. I somehow don't feel I've done my job if I haven't provided an animated timesuck for your workday blahs at least once a week.

Truly bizarre, engrossing and entertaining. From the Vimeo website:

"Pete is a nice and clumsy salesman. But he's also a deadly super secret agent with a microprocessor implanted into his brain by some mad scientists from the governement ! He has to secretly stop a bunch of badguys who stole a magic stone that can change anything into seafood!"

Great action, style and attention to detail. Definitely worth half a coffee break.

With my podcast yesterday about the Canadian government trying to throttle the sharing of the Ministry of Natural Resources scientists, what follows is another short gem from the National Film Board. Since the Harper government doesn't want us to find out about a 13,000 year old post-ice age flood, perhaps we can interest them in a Canadian scheme to drill through the earth.

From the www.nfb.ca website:

"Everyone has wondered what it would be like to dig right through to the other side of the Earth. This animated short takes that notion one step further. Here, the probe is accomplished by an ingenious machine dubbed Old Chucknose, which with the help of amazing gadgetry, bores through every layer of the Earth’s crust and centre."

A little bit longer, at 14 minutes, than what I usually post, but surely you have to have a 15 minute break some time during the day.

I'm convinced that the love I garnered for tragicomedy and existential storytelling while doing English and Dramatic Arts degrees has been reborn via animation on Vimeo. Not a week goes by that I don't find simple, yet incredibly effective pieces of bizarre, surreal, and often touching pieces of storytelling that extend far beyond most feature length films.

Umbra is yet another example on Vimeo where even the simplest concept, when shaped to a spiral, is genuine and thought-provoking. Thanks to Malcolm Sutherland and team for a unique 5 minute slice of Lemmings for Godot.

I like sharing some of the great work I find at Vimeo.com, especially when I find something short that I know you can't get fired for watching at work. Here's another animated gem called "dilla" about an armadillo who is hounded until receiving poetic justice in under 3 minutes.

Yet another great reason to check out Vimeo yourself, or, if you like waiting for my picks, that's cool too.