Juggling Mike

Montreal is host to many film festivals each year. While nothing surpasses the Fantasia Film Festival every summer, there are always movies worth seeing at the other festivals. Last year, I checked out the Festival Nouveau Cinema. While I didn’t see much, one movie stuck out over the others. That movie was Sita Sings the Blues.

It is a beautiful animation by Nina Paley that has several unique characterisitics. First of all, it blends several different animation styles, from the clean Flash (animation) look, old moving paintings, shadow puppets, and Squigglevision. Each graphic style is used for a different type of segment which helps push the story along. The shadow puppets are the narrators of the story, which is told in the old painting style. The story draws two parallels between the author’s own life and the story of Sita and Rama, a classic Indian tale. Another fascinating aspect of this movie is how Nina Paley used old recordings by Annete Hanshaw to describe Sita’s love. Annete Hanshaw was a popular jazz singer in the 20s. The music is definitely a style that has not been aired on the radios for a while, and it adds to the uniqueness of the entire film. Every time her songs are used, the clean look of Flash animation is used, which differentiates it from the rest of the movie. The squiggly animation is applied whenever Nina talks about her own personal life, which properly separates it from the rest of the film, while still keeping in line with the story of Sita and Rama.

It is hard to properly describe Sita Sings the Blues without showing you anything. Luckily for you, it has been released for free over the internets. There are various viewing options, from streaming video to a 200gb uncompressed 1080p version. I have downloaded the 3gb 720p H.264 version and the quality is superb. In fact, it is playing on my second monitor as I am writing this. For those wary of the huge file sizes, Youtube has a nice HD version available for streaming. I have embedded it below, but to view it in HD, you will probably have to click on it to view it on the original page. It has also been separated into 10 segments below to allow it to stream faster.

If you watch it, please let others know what you think of it. I think it is an excellent movie and deserves to be viewed by as many people as possible. If you appreciate animation as an art form, love old jazz tunes, or wish to hear about an Indian tale, this is the movie for you!

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I was browsing some old PSAs that haunted my dreams as a kid. Although, they all mean well, some are definitely freaky. Canada has made some really messed up adult PSAs in the past, especially about accidents, but I am more interested in the ones targeted to the children. I don’t know how they are nowadays, but they were something else back in the 80’s/90’s.

Here’s a couple that you may have seen. I doubt they are all Canadian, but they were all passed (over and over) on my television in between cartoons.

I am Astar. I can put my arm back on. You can’t. So play safe.
Nightmare overload.
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Overshadowed by the United States elections, Canada is also currently going through a re-election. I’m not very fond of election time since it seems like the only thing we hear are the leaders bitching about how much the other parties failed. Naturally, they all harp on the current governing prime minister, Stehen Harper, but they also all seem to hate each other. Our neighbourhoods are covered by various posters and billboards by the various groups proclaiming that they are the better choice. I don’t even want to start imagining how much money was spent on marketing.

Anyways, with every serious event that occurs, there will be people making fun of them. I found this little video (it is in french) about the leaders and I found it pretty amusing. It didn’t change my vote, but was fun to watch. It only includes the four major leaders, since I guess the Green Party (the fifth “official” party) isn’t big enough yet, but still…

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I dislike addictive internet memes. I don’t hate them to the point where I turn my head in disgust, but they tend to get stuck in your head and never come out. I have seen so many over the past years flowing through the many tubes of the internets and they all seem to stick to the insides of my cranial area for days on end. I’m sure you remember the Hampster Dance, You’re the Man Now Dog!, Numa Numa, and the Star Wars Kid. Those are all memes of some sort.

Yesterday I discovered a new one. It has been out there for quite a while, but it was new to me and is now stuck in my head. I was visiting one of my favourite webcomics, VG Cats, and he had mentioned a bunch of “cute” kirby videos he found online. I was expecting some Smash Brothers Brawl videos, since it is currently all the rage, but instead I was treated to a Kirby-fied version of the Caramelldansen.

Naturally, Youtube had to remove the Kirby video… it was the best of the bunch. It has been replaced by the Smash Brothers version which was previously found lower in the post.

(link)

I had never heard that song before, particularily since I don`t listen to that type of music, but I was curious as to where it all came from so I started searching. Continue reading to find out more.
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After writing my previous post, I felt impulsed to watch a movie, preferably animated. My first choice was the classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which has a Betty Boop cameo in it), but I ended popping in one of my favourite movies instead, Spirited Away. This masterpiece from genius Hayao Miyazaki never fails to spirit me away (pardon the pun) to another world. The movie revolves around Chihiro who stumbles into a bathhouse for the spirits and gets a job there in order to save her parents. I don’t want to give too much away, but you can’t help but fall for Chihiro and her adventures.

The animation is excellent and you really enjoy each character. I’m not a fan for cuteness overload in characters, but I am a sucker for the mouse in this movie. This was one of the first movies in which Miyazaki mixed 3d with the usual 2d and it came out superb. There is nothing groundbreaking, and the mixture has been done better in newer films (Steamboy comes to mind), but it doesn’t distract from the story.

The audio is also great with plenty of sounds that just feel right. I’m a dubbing purist, meaning I usually only watch movies in their original language, but I enjoy Spirited Away in both Japanese (with subtitles) and English. Also, the soundtrack is sublime. Joe Hisaishi has never been better. I keep the soundtrack close where ever I go, since if ever I get stressed, angry, or sad, it always manages to cheer me up.

It is near impossible to find faults in this film. Well, I can think of one thing, but it is not of the movie directly. Whenever I finish watching Spirited Away, I am always impulsed to hug the person I love and hold them tight, since the movie fills you with so much joy. It only hurts when there is nobody there to receive the hug, but that is an issue only to those who are alone.

All in all, I cannot reccomend this movie enough. It came out in 2001, and if you have not seen it yet, you should definitely add it to your list. This is in my top movies of all time, and probably my favourite animation to date.

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I spotted this video soemwhere else, but I am in awe and had to share. The animation was surely drawn by acid-coated illustrators with a messed up mind. What is it with the cartoons from the 30’s? Everything is ALIVE. Everything moves! There’s always violence, and nobody ever gets hurt! These tiny animated episodes were most definately not for the kiddies, and I can only imagine the sanity of a child shown these videos…

Even though, I find this animation incredibly fluid; something that is lacking in today’s current selection. If you ignore the violence, the political incorectness, and all the other faults, it is still amazing what they could do back in the day. This particular video is a Betty Boop episode and it was overdubbed with music from the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. The two fit very well, and it was my love for swing music that drew me to the video in the first place.

You can find details of the real cartoon from Wikipedia here.
Feel free to post what you think of these old cartoons in the comments.

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I was going through some old cds of mine and I came upon an old gem. Super Mario Compact Disco! This is a mix from the 90’s done by MC Mario and the Ambassadors of Funk. If it weren’t for the huge amount of cheese (think go ninja go, just x 5) in the lyrics and the DJ segments, it would not be as memorable. Hearing the dj (whom I think is supposed to be a sort of British Mario) talk with Yoshi is just, well, breathtaking (since I was laughing so hard). Yoshi is composed of three sound clips that he makes in Super Mario World, and even though they are repeated, it is as if he is saying different things! CRAZY!

Here’s the canter between the DJ and Yoshi:

Here’s today’s special guest on Radio Compact Disco. He’s a popular guy, a V.I.P. dinosaur, and he eats apples. Yo, it’s Yoshi.
[Yoshi sound effect from SMW]
Come again, bad boy?
[Same sound effect]
You say you’re surprised to be on the show?
[Same sound effect]
[Different Yoshi sound effect from SMW]
Well hey, you’re a hero, man!
[Same sound effect]
OK then, you wanna play your own game? The one with the eggs? Let’s do it man. Hit the switch.

Anyways, I included some clips that people have made online which mix one song with various Mario related video.

Enjoy the cheese!

More after the break!
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Have you ever seen the Angry Beavers? Two idiotic beavers to which even more idiotic adventures happen daily. The show was rather stupid, but it did have its moments. There was one episode in which I really enjoyed, mostly because it touched my patriotic essence. Ok, I’m not super patriotic, but it is always fun to see shows include Canadia where we speak Canuckian. Anyways, I had been looking for this episode for a while and I finally got it. If you are Canadian, you will definately get a kick out of this.

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I remember seeing the first episode of Cromartie High a couple of years back and I found it really funny and extremely random. I forgot about it for a while and then got to see the live action movie at Fantasia a couple of years ago. Then I forgot about it.. again. I was browsing a dvd shop downtown and came upon the box set for the first season. I decided to pick it up and I started to watch it today. Why did I wait so long? This show rocks!

It is the first animé I actually prefer to watch with the English dubbing. It has its crazy moments, and most episodes are good. There is no real story, and the episodes are seperated in segments. It reminds me of how Azumanga Daioh (which is another awesome animé) was split up. Anyways, if you get a chance to watch this, it is a lot of fun.

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This tune will stay in your head for quite a while to come. I love it.

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