Back in February I posted a gorgeous video by the Japanese art team Rinpa Eshidan . Today TAN posted their video called “Puzzle” so I just had to share:

This film was recently featured on You Tube’s homepage and was the winner of the 2007 Oscar for best short subjects animation. It was created by Torill Kove, narrated by Liv Ullmann and distributed by the National Film Board of Canada. For more click here.

Can we trace the chain of events that leads to our own birth? Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter? The narrator of The Danish Poet considers these questions as we follow Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer, Sigrid Undset. As Kasper’s quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in the big scheme of things after all.

And if you haven’t read Sigrid Undset’s epic novel Kristin Lavransdatter, you MUST.

A charming spot from French children’s video site Tiji:

Thanks to Megsie S. for the tip!

A wonderful little profile of Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden from WNYC radio’s Street Shots video series. As Gilden searches for characters walking down the streets of Manhattan, he doesn’t hesitate to put his camera in a stranger’s face and snap a flash photo. Don’t bother yelling at him because he’ll come right back at you with some Brooklyn attitude. And for god’s sake, don’t smile! Visit WNYC’s Street Shots website for more videos and a chance to share your own Street photographs.

And for those of you who still listen to the good old radio, I highly recommend another WNYC offering: Radiolab.

Check out this amazing animation by the artist BLU which is painted exclusively on public walls. See his other videos here (one my favorites is Loop which he did on the Tate Modern in London).

Found-object assemblage artist and clinical psychologist Jacqueline Roig offers a glimpse into her world.

These days book authors are turning more and more to web video and social-networking to promote their work. The result is often a hit-or-miss encounter between “old” and “new” media but sometimes this collaboration creates wonderful new art. Take for example this little gem of a video inspired by the new book I Was Told There’d Be Cake, a collection of essays written by Sloane Crosley. While brainstorming for engaging ways to promote her book, Crosley decided to create dioramas centered around three of her essays and teamed up with Milk Products Media to make it come alive.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley from Book Videos on Vimeo.

Here’s the first in a series of three companion videos that make up “Diary of a Diorama”, a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating the film (with narration by Crosley):

Diary of a Diorama: Smell This from Book Videos on Vimeo.

I’m a big fan of the MediaRights e-newsletter created by New York-based Arts Engine and these days I’m particularly excited about their Media That Matters Film Festival which will be coming out with a new batch of short films this June. Until then, you can view last year’s winners on their YouTube site which is ranked the #8 all-time most viewed non-profit channel.

To get you started, check out the winner of the 2007 media literacy award, “POPaganda: The Art and Subversion of Ron English” about an artist who challenges capitalist messages by posting alternative billboards:

There’s always been something fascinating about Björk, that not-quite-comprehensible Icelandic queen of electronica music.

For starters, she’s got an umlaut in her name. (How hot is that?) Secondly, she’s got some of the most psychedelic songs and music videos in the industry.

And still, Björk managed to raise the bar with the online release of her newest video, “Wanderlust,” which features an abstract storyline involving yaks and river gods. Oh yeah, and it’s also in 3-D.

Wired.com unveiled the video’s 3-D version yesterday as part of an exclusive release, complete with instructions on how to make your own 3-D glasses, and a substantial set of behind-the-scenes pics and videos.

For the 98 percent of us who don’t want to make 3-D glasses, there’s an equally stunning 2-D version of the video. Otherwise, if you have Quicktime, you have to watch the original version here.

Believe it or not, the only computer-generated footage is the river flow; according to Wired, everything else was filmed in front of a green screen using puppets and basic post-production.

It all reminds me of Spike Jonze’s film adaptation of “Where The Wild Things Are,” which is supposed to hit theaters in October 2009. Check out this leaked test footage to compare.

I think that’s enough abstract stuff for one day.

Getting your video featured on YouTube’s homepage is a lot like winning the lottery but first time animator animuser has done just that. Her video “Dreaming Commuter”, which was posted a week ago, has already garnered 239,355 views. That’s an unusual number for any video, let alone someone’s first post. It just goes to show that despite all the junk popping up on video-sharing sites, sometimes the right people get noticed.
Check it out:

Animuser posted this short follow-up around the same time: