Blog discoveries for January

Game Developers

In the Games of Madness
» "How Gameplay and Narrative kill Meaning in 'Games'"

Game Industry

New York Gamedev
» "A new year, a new decade, and a new blog!"

Drink

Art and Tea
» "Saturday Morning Tea"

Tales in pen and ink

Kunio Kato, a member of the ROBOT Character and Animation team, is a Japanese animator whose quietly surreal films portray a curious world of fantasy and whimsy. This year, his short Tsumiki no Ie ("La maison en petit cubes" or "House of Blocks") won the Annecy Cristal prize at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Market.

In the highly surreal short The Apple Incident (2001), giant apples begin falling from the sky onto a bemused city. Winner of the Best Prize in the 2001 Laputa International Animation Festival.





Dreamy and dreamlike, Aru Tabibito no Nikki ("The Diary of Tortov Roddle" or "A Traveler's Diary") (2003) is a series of unconnected episodes of strange and whimsical happenings in the life of the eponymous hero, a tall traveler in a top hat who wanders the world astride his curiously long-legged pig companion. The film comprises Episodes 1-6. Selected for the 2004 Annecy festival, it was the winner of the Best Prize in the Laputa Animation Festival in 2003 and the Grand Prix in the Hida International Animation Festival of Folktales and Fables.

An excellent review of the film can be found at the Nishikata Film Review.





The adventures of Tortov Roddle continue in the bonus Episode 7, The Red Berry, in which the traveler encounters a garden of hallucinogenic red fruits.





Fantasy Story (2003) is another collection of vignettes illustrating various flights of fancy. It was a selection in the the 8th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF) and the Ottawa 04 International Animation Festival.





Michaël Dudok de Wit is a Holland-born animator living in London whose charming, spare, Japanese-influenced cartoon animations have won numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and the Annecy Grand Prix for his 2000 film Father and Daughter.

The Aroma of Tea (2006) is Dudok de Wit's latest film. It is drawn entirely in washes of tea.





Father and Daughter (2000) is a quiet, moving tale about a young girl awating the return of her lost father.





In the ancient tradition of cat-and-mouse cartoons comes Le Moine et Le Poisson ("The Monk and the Fish") (1994), a delightful, minimalist short about a monk's obsessive attempts to catch the fish he spies in the monastery pond.





Tom Sweep (1992) is a humorous little cartoon about the travails of a beleaguered street janitor.

Coziness in a cup

In need of a good place for a cup of tea and a think? Look no further.

There's something about this blog I really like. It's just a collection of pictures and brief commentary about a series of pubs and cafes -- the decor, the atmosphere, the patrons, and, of course, the tea. There's nothing fancy about them, just a bunch of simple, cosy establishments. The tone is thoroughly cheerful, contented, and as British as the Queen.

How many millions of happy cups of tea must these little pots have served. Warm and worn.

All the sandwiches present and correct. Cheese. Ham. Cheese and ham. But look at that tempting cakery. Must have some of those.

White mug. Brown tea. Yellow table. All is right with the world.

Cleaning out

In no particular order...

Land+Living highlights DDD (Detroit. Demolition. Disneyland.), an anonymous Detroit group that calls attention to distressed and decaying areas, making them visible by covering building façades in bright orange spray paint. It's a striking commentary on the city's condition -- not to mention a very interesting visual effect.
Via Tropolism.




Zhoen of One Word waxes nostalgic about tea. At least, she did a while ago...I'm not too punctual with these things. But it's a good excuse to link to her.

Did you like the discovery of Kiwa hirsuta? Now it's a plushie. You can make your own!




Sentient Developments has a too-short post about bald women in science fiction. Interesting stuff, although there's much more that could be said. And he forgot about Zhaan.




Sci-fi is a particularly powerful genre in that it can afford to be more experimental in its treatment of virtually any aspect that appears on screen. In science fiction, the weirder the better. And it only makes sense. When you’re trying to portray the future or otherworldliness, it helps to cross traditional boundaries.

In sci-fi films, bald women have conveyed a number of things in addition to desexualization, including masculinity, sexual ambiguity, dehumanization, youthfulness, and innocence. And paradoxically, bald women have also been used to portray an enhanced sense of sexuality and control.

Via A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance.

Brilliant cartoonist Dylan Meconis (aka quirkybird) has done a series of clever portraits of Battlestar Galactica characters in the Simpsons style.
Via Drawn!.




The First Annual MySpace Stupid Haircut Awards: in which poorly coiffed MySpace members are matched with their Marvel Superhero Alter-Egos, and then mercilessly mocked. The resemblances are quite uncanny. I can't wait for next year's event.
Via A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance.




Think bottled water is pricey and pretentious? How about bottled water that's been sung to?

Since the beginning of time, water has and always will be our most precious resource. The seas and the deep waters of the Earth carry with them the primordial rhythms of life, and water is considered to be the life giving blood of the Universe. As powerful as water is, it is mutable, receptive and sensitive. Water registers and faithfully transmits any frequency it is exposed to. In fact, scientific studies have proven that water is directly effected by the words, sounds and thoughts it is exposed to.

Water exposed to loving words and music showed brilliant, and complex crystallized patterns under the microscope at near freezing temperatures. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts and words, formed incomplete, asymmetrical patterns. * Over seventy five percent of the human body is made of water, and the Earth is made up of over seventy percent water. The implications of such scientific findings are extraordinary.

Inspired by these studies, H2Om, water with intention was created. The first ever, crystal clear natural spring water infused with the power of intention through the frequencies of words, symbols, music and thought. We gratefully offer you an interactive invitation to drink in and resonate with the vibrational frequencies of Love and Perfect Health.

It appears to be for real. Heaven help us!
Via Foodgoat.

If you'd like to take a trip back to the past, here's a fun CBC news report about a fascinating new phenomenon called "In-ter-net". Two remarks: 1) throughout the segment they call it just "Internet" rather than "the Internet", which is curiously jarring. 2) There's an interesting little dig at America at the end, where the anchor suggests that despite new attempts at regulation, at least north of the border information will remain forever free...
Thanks, Adam!

NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com reports on a city made entirely of biscuits. Mmm.
Via A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance, who's had a lot of great stuff lately.

A post that is actually about tea

Bibi's box has a lovely post all about tea, with some great links:

George Orwell's essay A Nice Cup of Tea about his rules for brewing perfect tea;

the BBC article "How to make a perfect cuppa", which critiques his rules with input from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and offers a challenging tea-themed quiz;

the h2g2 entry on Tea, which discusses brewing methods, including a convincing argument (with cute flash animation!) for pouring the milk first;

and Wikipedia's as-always very comprehensive article on all things Tea.

So of course I have to throw in some links of my own.

In my sidebar, in the new "Tea" category (formerly under "Specialty"), I have two very nice tea-themed blogs:

ANiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown is a charming blog that discusses tea varieties, biscuit brands, favorite spoons, electric kettles, tea tours, and other aspects of the tea-lover's daily life with cheery enthusiasm. Fun features like "Biscuit of the Week" and their own themed merchandise.

Cup of Tea and a Blog is the personal blog of a tea afficianado, and features brewing tips, photos, notes on tea shops, reviews of teas, and links. Lots of very nice stuff.

Another worthwhile blog, not in my sidebar but bookmarked, is Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea, which celebrates hot caffeinated beverages of all (or at least two) kinds with recipes, news items, links, art, reviews, and more. In fact, scratch that...I don't know why this blog isn't in my sidebar, I'm going to add it now.

So after reading all the above hints and tips on how to brew tea, I decided to try it their way. I generally brew my tea straight in the mug, using a tea bag -- I would love to switch to loose leaf tea, finances permitting. I pour the milk in afterwards. Before these articles, I'd never heard of another way. But I decided to change a few things, and see if I could notice a difference.

So I dusted off my white teapot and tried a few new tricks. I filled the pot a quarter of the way with water and microwaved it, to preheat the pot. I was uncertain if the pot was microwave safe. I'm still a little unsure, since the water tends to heat slowly but one little spot at the bottom of the spot gets alarmingly hot very fast. I really hope the thing doesn't break. I made sure to keep the water for the tea boiling as hot and long as possible, and not cool down when I took it off the heat -- I knew the water had to be hot, but I didn't realize that it should be boiling when poured. I tried to respect the 3-5 minute brewing time, since I'm apt to just leave the bag in for twenty minutes. I don't mind strong, but I decided to give the short brewing time a try for taste. I realize that strength depends on the amount of tea, not the brewing time. And finally, I poured the milk in the cup first, and added the tea. As I feared, I used too much milk, and furthermore the tea was rather weak from brewing for such a short time. The tea was nice, but too weak and milky for my tastes. A second attempt with a little less milk and a little more brewing time produced a similar result. I think next time I'll use even less milk, and try two bags. I do use a large mug. I'll get it right. I think it will make a difference.