A French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist by the name of Jacques Lacan wrote extensively on the nature of self-awareness due to an integral stage of development he called the mirror stage; that time of an infant’s life when they recognize themselves in a mirror reflection. I am curious about this idea of ‘the mirror stage’ but can the same thing be said for wild animals in their natural habitat past infancy? Regardless of that psychoanalytic theory, the animals seen in the video below do seem to react rather curiously when face to face with their own reflection, as this charming video has captured:
Innovative French photographer Xavier Hubert Brierre travelled to Gabon with his wife and set up a mirror in several locations in order to capture animals walking by. The results are stunning…
Spent the better half of my weekend writing and binge watching a television show called “The Messengers“. I stumbled across it by accident, got curious, watched the first two episodes, had to finish the series. I like it. Finished episode seven and thought that was the end of the season, but I just discovered that this series is quite new and the next episode airs this coming Friday! It isn’t often that I engage with a new television series, unfortunately I also discovered, the CW Television Network responsible for the show decided to cancel season 2 after only three episodes were broadcast. Possibly due to low ratings. So yes, I am gutted I may not see how the story unfolds and concludes.
The story has me rooting for a seemingly extraneous cast of characters and their dysfunctional methods of tracking down and stopping the ones who are destined to descend into wickedness, thus becoming one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and bringing about the end of the world as we know it, should intervention fail. The premise centers on a few unique individuals who are in no way wholly religious, but have each been given a godly gift and task, as a preemptive measure to prove to God that people are capable of saving themselves and are worth salvation.
One geographical discrepancy within the world of the show, I think, is how come most of all of this is happening in and around Houston Texas? I would also like to see some stories where the messengers use their gifts to help people who aren’t cannon — more general helping people in the background. But other than that, I have been impressed by the execution of controversial subject matter, all the actors’ performances, casting in general really, the amount of real-world locations and the sparring use of special effects. “The Messengers” is what you would expect of a show subverting generalized ideas of good versus evil, but it is all well executed, high-concept entertainment and I say I like it, so yeah, I like to think I have good taste. …Sometimes. You trust me right?
A mysterious object crashes on earth and a group of unconnected strangers die from an energy pulse it emits, but then re-awaken to find out that they have been deemed responsible for preventing the impending Apocalypse.
I understand how the show may be seen as a slow burn for some (or not seen at all), but given how popularity of the superhero genre is dominating in theaters and television nowadays, this show should have been better received than it was. I mean they all had “gifts” (superpowers) for goodness sake. All of them. Fantasy, religion, interesting characters, a good story-line, and did I mention The Messengers’ holy-exceptional casting?! Great performances all round. RIP, show, you will be missed by this guy at least.
Series (13 episodes) Produced by: Trey Callaway, Eoghan O’Donnell / Production Companies: Thunder Road Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, CBS Television Studios / Distributors: AXN (2015) (Hungary) (TV) (AXN Black), The CW Television Network (The CW) (2014) (USA) (TV).
This is a semi-interactive music video from J-pop act NamieAmuro, and it is quite neat. It has little effect without your participation, so all you have to do is press your finger to the allocated position (best viewed on full screen mode) — enjoy:
The primary reason why I am looking forward to this is because Mamoru Hosoda is responsible for two of the more likable animes I have seen in the last decade — “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” and “Summer Wars” — which I felt were really progressive for the Japanese anime industry and for feature animated storytelling in general. Mamoru Hosoda understands the importance of story above all else (and by ‘else’ I mean fan-servicing otakus). “The Boy and The Beast” looks promising:
“The Boy and the Beast” centers on Kyuta, a boy living in Shibuya in modern-day Tokyo, who befriends and becomes the disciple of the lonesome beast Kumatetsu after he finds himself in a supernatural realm.
For anyone interested in getting into anime but is put off by graphic content and/or blatant fan-service, then you should definitely check out some of Mamoru Hosoda’s work — and just FYI, I have hated disliked all the trailers for his films so far, so don’t judge too harshly based on them alone; Mamoru Hosoda is very good.
A series of adventure-filled crowdfunded animations have been exciting the animation community online recently for their storytelling and the creator’s—Sun Creature Studio—gained reputation for delivering what they promise.
“The First Hero” (below) is the prologue to the one below it, “The Reward.” I watched them in that order but you don’t have to, it doesn’t matter really as they are stand alone stories in their own right. “The Reward” came out in 2013, a dialogue-free animated tale of two men who go on a heroic quest and become great friends in the process. Now the creators have released a longer prequel film and are raising funds for a webseries based on the world of bromance, romance, and monsters that they created.
“The First Hero” tells of a powerful warrior obsessed with fame and fortune:
I know people have made a big deal about her new femme fatal music video, but this right here is something Swift fans really should see — 49 animation students from ‘The Plasmatic Research Laboratory’ (animation lab of the Design department at the University of Newcastle) were each given 52 frames of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” music video, to rotoscope anyway they wanted. Together they produced 2,767 frames of lovingly hand-drawn surreal footage:
To promote the UK’s NationalSTEMCentre, science teacher Alom Shaha shows how to build a device which demonstrates the principles of wave physics using some duct tape, kebab sticks and JellyBabies:
The Wave Machine is a fun and useful tool for the science classroom as it can be used to demonstrate transverse wave motion and is a great way of demonstrating how light waves change when moving through different media such as glass and air. If you like this demonstration video please share your thoughts on the National STEM Centre webpage.
Neat. Plus, you know, it requires delicious jelly babies! The Doctor would be so proud:
In episode 11 of Community season six (“Modern Espionage”), the Dean out maneuvers a group of paintballers in an elevator all by himself. The scene is a nod to Captain America: The Winter Solider, which is quite clever, considering the directors of The Winter Soldier; brothers Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, have written and directed episodes for Community in the past. Here are the scenes for your viewing pleasure:
Abed’s (Danny Pudi) big movie cameo totally makes sense now.
For the charity fundraiser Red NoseDay, Coldplay assembled the cast of Game of Thrones to create a Broadway (or West End) musical. NBC cut many of the funny bits for time during broadcasting, so here is the full 12-minute version for your enjoyment:
That was good spirited. Not a fan of Coldplay however. Their music is too safe for my liking. Having said, I am willing to defend this one song of theirs in particular, always:
“And we live in a beautiful world (yeah we do yeah we do)
We live in a beautiful world.“
🎭 