Endicott Redux

The Monday Video

Our Monday Video this week is "Maybe Sparrow" by Neko Case, with animation by Julie and Paul Morstad. The song comes from Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, an album recorded at the Wave Lab Studio in Tucson. You can hear more of her music on her website.

Julie Morstad is a Vancouver artist whose work I just love. Go to her website to see more of her art -- and also check out her terrific new artbook, Milk Teeth, from the Canadian art & comics press Drawn & Quarterly.

   

Dreaming Methods: Writing Infused with New Media

I am always attracted to experimental flash animation in combination with fiction. I think it is one of the most interesting new art forms -- allowing for a richly textured and interactive experiment with fiction. Dreaming Methods is a website that offers quite a few of these experiments -- combining art, flash animation, and narrative together in complex and adventurous ways. There are many ongoing projects -- so it's a terrific site to come back and visit regularly to see what's new. You will need flash and a fast connection to view and participate fully in these projects. And do subscribe (it's free) as it will give you access to more projects and an interesting look at resource materials associated with each project.

One of the projects I found really amazing was the The Sketch Book of Annie Sykes, a fascinating collage of text, imagery, sound (which is best turned up), and video. "Turning" each page presents a kind of "living" journal.

I also find this work really interesting because I think it is perfectly tuned to mythic fiction and art despite its technical demands. It creates a version of oral story telling, allows for a mythic interpretation of the tale through art, music, and flash animation, and also allows the audience to connect to the tale though interactive play. I am looking forward myself to having an opportunity to do a project in flash. For another great example of this new frontier in mythic arts, have a look at the recent work of Connie Toebe and Lisa Stock (Through The Cobweb Forest). And for poetry, have a look a Born Magazine. 

Zune Arts

Zune Arts is a terrific website that features collaborations between musicians and artists in short animated films. There are many wonderful little films here -- and a host of talented musicians and artists to get to know. Below is "Swap Meet," a collaboration between againstallodds studio, founded by Derek Picken and Josh Thorne, and the L.A. band, Deadly Syndrome. (thanks to Laura Sweet of If it's Hip, It's Here)

8, The Endless Forest, and The Path: Interactive Games from Tale of Tales Studio

Over the last two years I have been following the work of a very talented pair, Michael Samyn and Aurie Harvey, of Tale of Tales, a Belgian studio producing interactive online computer games based on fairy tales. Currently they have three projects in various stages of development: "8," "The Endless Forest," and more recently a new game called The Path, a spooky (and very punk-looking) version of Little Red Riding Hood.

Their first experiment, 8, is an exploration of different versions of Sleeping Beauty which takes the player through some beautifully designed locations. Here's a description of the plot: "A young girl gets trapped in a luxurious palace surrounded by a thick forest. Everyone in the palace is asleep. They should have woken up by now. The Prince should have come by now. But the Princess is in no condition to meet him. Assisted by a Wicked Fairy out for revenge, eight unworthy princes have penetrated the forest and disrupted the magic that once protected the sleeping court. The power of the spell is fading. The forest branches are growing. The palace walls are crumbling." The project is still in its developmental stages, but the website lets one wander through the fascinating landscapes and have a peek at the conceptual art created by Lina Kusaite, Martin Michl and Gorik Lindemans.

In The Endless Forest, a multi-player online game, one enters the game in the form of deer (the various avatars are wonderful!) to explore an enchanted landscape and interact with other deer and with this magical world. From the description: "Although not goal-oriented, there are several activities that you can engage in. Nothing very demanding or violent. Just fun things to do in a nice environment. Once every so often, the forest deities will appear, either in person or through their divine powers. Beware of falling rocks and sudden showers!" There's lots of fun to be had here -- one can change other players' horns or pelts, or even shapeshift them into squirrels, bats, frogs, or birds through spells collected from eating mushrooms, from pinecones, or from mushroom "fairy circles." (With more fabulous concept art from Lina Kusaite.)

The most recent project is The Path, the team's first commercial single player game (available 2009), based on a very dark interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood. Here's the introduction: "There is something wrong with the forest. No matter how bright the sun shines, it remains dark and foggy. It smells like something died. Strange noises fill the rusty air. Squeaks and screeches. The dull thump of someone chopping trees. The wind playing eerie melodies on ghostlike flutes. Shivers run down her spine. She just left the city. Cars can't drive here anymore. Mother told her to go visit grandmother. The old lady lives all alone at the other side of the forest. Quite a walk from here. It's probably best if she stays on the path." As before, there is no set goal for this game, rather an invitation to journey through the dark forest and decide whether to adhere to the path, or to wander....

(*Thanks to Carisa Swenson for reminding me about this wonderful studio.)

Sita Sings the Blues: Nina Paley

A while back, I posted a link to comic book artist Nina Paley's website, where she was turning her art into animation with a wonderful, off-beat film of The Ramayana, India's mythic tale of the goddess Sita and her turbulent relationship with the god Rama. All through her troubles and woes, the curvaceous Sita sings in the soulful voice of 1920's jazz singer Annette Hanshaw such classic songs as "Mean to Me" which seem perfectly at home (and wildly funny) in the ancient setting.

Nina Paley continued work on the shorter, episodic films and has now completed what looks to be a visually gorgeous, multilayered full length feature. Here's a press release description of the new 82 minute film, due out in Spring of 2008: "Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

You can check out the trailer of the new film below, purchase prints made from the still (these are terrific!), or see a sneak preview at Oddball Films in San Francisco Dec. 1, 2007.

Cat Man Do

It's becoming something of a habit to post a video on Monday mornings to kick off the week. This time it's "Cat Man Do," a charming little piece by Simon Tofield from the London-based animation company Tandem Films. It was recommended to us by Canadian artist/musician/editor MaryAnn Harris. (Thanks, MaryAnn!)

Read it, Watch It, Hear It: Internet Pleasures

Read It:
Day Two of the Winter Blog Blast Tour of interviews continues and it promises to be another fabulous round of interviews. There are just so many great writers talking with knowledgeable interviewers who ask great questions. Even if you don't know the author on the list -- stop by and have a look. I guarantee you will be intrigued.

Tuesday:
Lisa Ann Sandell at Chasing Ray
Perry Moore at Interactive Reader
Christopher Barzak at Shaken & Stirred
Autumn Cornwell at The Ya Ya Yas
Jon Scieszka at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Gabrielle Zevin at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Judy Blume at Not Your Mother's Book Club
Erik P. Kraft at Bookshelves of Doom
Clare Dunkle at Miss Erin

Watch It:
Connie Toebe and Lisa Stock have completed the tenth and final episode of their gorgeous flash animated story, Through the Cobweb Forest (on its one year anniversary). Following a call, Helena disembarks from her ship in a strange harbor and enters a mysterious forest in search of her lost husband. Told in letters and journal entries, the story records Helena's adventures (and dangers) of the forest. Now that the tale is complete, Connie mentioned to me they have decided to create a stop animation version of the story as well -- and perhaps, more stories of the adventurous Helena.

Hear It:
Catherynne Valente has two kicking interviews on the net as well: one at Fantasy Magazine and another even more comprehensive interview at Fantasy Book Critic. But fans of the Orphan's Tales books will want to hear the  mp3 of S. J. Tucker reading (and singing) an excerpt from the new novel. What a great voice.

"Instructions" and more...

Midori has been valiantly covering this blog solo while I've been down with a truly nasty flu -- and as I'm still shaking the last of a rattling cough out of my lungs, my posting may be a bit sporadic over the next week or so.

This post is to let y'all know that there is now an "Endicott Studio Channel" on YouTube, where we'll be putting videos that we think will be of interest to fans of mythic arts -- such as the Mythic Journeys documentary from the good folks at the Mythic Imaginations Institute, Ben Okri discussing his approach to writing, an A&E biography of J.K. Rowling, a little film on artist Paula Rego, the great June Tabor singing Child Ballad #191: "Hughie Graeme,"  and more. (f you come across other good videos on YouTube, send us a note and let us know.)

The video above is of Neil Gaiman reading his fairy tale poem "Instructions" at Cody's Books in Berkeley, California. Considering his voluminous output of work over the last several years, Ellen Datlow and I will forgive him for forgetting that he actually wrote the poem at our request for our children's fairy tale anthology A Wolf at the Door, where it was first published in 2000. It's my favorite of all his poems, and a real treat to hear him read it.

(While you're on YouTube, if you're a martial arts fan, check out this little video that Howard Gayton made of a tournament/demonstration of our Kung Fu teacher's school, The Dragon Temple, in our village hall in rural Devon.)

"Hairy Tale" by Kazuto Nakazawa

There are elements of the Rapunzel fairy tale in the magical Japanese shampoo commercial above. (With thanks to writer and Goblin Fruit editor Jessica Wick for the link.)

Blanca Nieves y el tao tao

Crank up the sound...it's worth it.

From the work of Zorro69 on YouTube. (Via Taiko)