Update: Sita Sings the Blues, including link to clip!

Cool Stuff

Laura Since my earlier post about the distribution woes of Nina Paley’s animated marvel Sita Sings the Blues, a New York Times article outlines the newest developments.

Movie still of Sita crying a river

The rights fees for the music have been negotiated down to a somewhat more manageable $50,000 (versus the $200,000+ reported earlier.) Even so, Paley still intends to release the movie as public domain via the internet, and let the public become her distributor. (In her blog, Paley is looking for people willing to donate server space—about 10GB of data—to host the movie for public download. She also wishes to have an uncompressed, theatre-quality version available somewhere, but that would require up to 600GB server space, so she’s still looking.)

As well, because of an exception in US copyright laws, PBS is allowed to broadcast music without having to clear individual licences, so the New York PBS station WNET is showing Sita on March 7. After this date the movie will be available on the station’s website.

In the meantime, here’s an 11-minute clip of the movie (via Cartoon Brew), which makes me terrifically excited to see the whole thing!

Lemon Squares

Family Life, Jon

Jon I made lemon squares by using icing sugar, regular sugar, baking powder, eggs, corn meal, flower, solt and lemons. We used lemon juice and lemon zest. After the lemon squares were put in the oven Mommy made me freshed squeezed lemonade. The freshed squeezed lemonade was really good.

Jon

(Jon’s favourite dessert, as already blogged here and here.—L)

Tantrum defined

Cool Stuff, Family Life

PeterWe’ve been getting a fair number of tantrums from Jon lately. This time around (they come in waves, months apart, gradually fuelled more each time by teenage hormones), they are based on frustration with difficulties in a Wii game (which is why we have strict time limits on certain games) and homework, since this year’s curriculum is at a much more challenging level than that of the previous years, in content, approach, and activities.

On occasion during his fireworks, Jon will belligerently yell that he wants us to “make a movie of the tantrum!”. I usually refuse on the grounds that no one would ever want to watch that particular video of that.

But maybe I’m wrong…here, from Norway, is a very young man known as the PlayStation 3 Kid.

There is a critical difference in tantrum style between the two young gentlemen. The PS3 Kid seems to be fuelled more by addiction: he seems emotionally-detached at points, and is trying a variety of acting methods to motivate his parents. By contrast, Laura points out, Jon’s tantrums are like the bears you see in the movies. If they are going to roar and be ferocious on film, their trainer has to work them into true anger. Like them, Jon is a method actor.

Elegant animation

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Laura “Her Morning Elegance”, a video by Oren Lavie has been kicking around the interwebs for a few weeks now (and the album, The Opposite Side of the Sea has been around since 2007), but it’s a wonderful piece of stop-motion animation (and a lovely song to boot).

The Trip

Jon

Jon Today I went to the National Film Board. I made a mouse out of clay. I hung the mouse on a hook and then I watched it go up and down. The mouse was filmed. Then I watched a film on DVD. After that I had lunch. For lunch I had a grilled cheese sandwitch, a banana, an apple, and a cookie. Then I went on the elevator. There was a buzzing noise when the elevator door was closing. I saw a movie in the movie theatre about a cat.

Jon

Speaking of Jack…

Cool Stuff

You don't Know Jack bald head logo

Peter A blast from the past the other day, when I decided to look up whatever happened to that slightly saucy computer game show from the mid-to-late 90’s You Don’t Know Jack.

It turns out that it continues on in some form. First a very short-lived TV show earlier this decade, then they relaunched it a couple of years ago on the web. Woohoo!

Sadly, production of episodes ended last year, but they posted 100 of them all told, and they are still up for you to play.

Now, it won’t tickle everyone’s fancy, and it can’t match the mischievous tricks of the CD-based versions. For instance, I seem to remember random occasions at the opening (when players enter their names) that I, despite having typed my name in as per usual, watched the letters come up to spell “AAAAAAAA” or “Klingon” or such, just so that the game’s host could make a sarcastic remarks about my skills to come. Silly, sometimes sarcastic, fun.

Ah, well. It’s nice to hear Cookie (snarky host), and relive a little bit of the old experience of a comically snarky virtual friend.

Jack FM

Jon

Jon I listened to Jack FM on the bus. Jack FM plays rock music. Every morning they announce the seat number to fly to Dublin Ireland to see AC/DC. I like the music the station plays.

(Jon’s bus driver Ann introduced Jon to 92.5 Jack FM. Right now they’re having a contest involving daily seat numbers to win a trip to a concert in Dublin, which Jon—ever the lover of order—loves listening for.—L)