Great jingle bell jazz, from Wynton Marsalis and the JLCO

December 30, 2015

Image from Avi Ofer's film,

Image from Avi Ofer’s film, “Jingle Bells,” with the JLCO. Image from Jazz Blog

Great animation, great orchestra, great arrangement, great song!

YouTube description and details:

Make the Yuletide swing with Jingle Bells from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis! Jingle Bells is featured on BIG BAND HOLIDAYS, their new album out now on Blue Engine Records.

Produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center and 1504
Animation by Avi Ofer

Buy BIG BAND HOLIDAYS: http://ow.ly/UlULZ

BIG BAND HOLIDAYS is the first holiday album ever released by DownBeat Readers Poll’s Best Big Band of 2013 & 2014, Big Band Holidays features original big band arrangements of timeless favorites including Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, We Three Kings, and White Christmas. Nine-time GRAMMY Award winner and Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis and the JLCO are joined by special guest vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant, Gregory Porter, and René Marie on what’s sure to become a holiday classic.

Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP108…

To learn more about Jazz at Lincoln Center, visit us at http://www.jazz.org

Especially with two or three FM stations in Dallas running Christmas music nonstop from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I grow weary of the same, hoary old arrangements. Nor can I live forever on the great choral stuff from the classical station.

Jazz at Christmas puts me at ease, and into the spirit.

So it is that every Christmas, after the actual holiday, I go shopping for deals on Christmas jazz. This new album from Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) is good enough, it may not be discounted. Marketers will hold it until next year. When we buy from Blue Engine Records, profits probably support Jazz at Lincoln Center.

But you can listen to it now, with the wonderful Avi Ofer animation above.

Or, listen to every song from the album performed live just a few weeks ago:


If the Moon were replaced by other planets, what would we see?

August 17, 2013

Odd and interesting idea for a video, from Yeti Animation:  What if the Moon disappeared, and were replaced by other planets in the solar system?  What would it look like?

I like the nonchalance with which the passing auto drivers and passengers treat these views.  Droll.

The ambitious filmmaker, YetPic1, describes the real science and non-science in the film:

Published on May 2, 2013

This is a visualization of what it might be like if the Moon was replaced with some of the other planets at the same distance as our moon. Planets Rendered in 4K resolution! On Change Quality click on “original” to view in 4k. You need a 4k Monitor to watch. otherwise just watch in 1080p or lower

SATURN!.. The super close moon is Dione, the one slightly further out is Tethys
Both are *tiny* but *very* close

In order show[n]:

Mars
Venus
Neptune
Uranus
Jupiter
Saturn

Mercury is intentionally left off as it isn’t Much bigger than our Moon (and hence is boring)

****************
on Jupiter, you might be able to make out the 4 big moons, They all have orbits larger than our moons orbit. but I stuck them on the far side of jupiter so that they could be seen so it looks as if they are closer (to Jupiter) than they really are.

***************
Video creation method
I created an Earth Moon system in 3dsmax, with accurate sizes and accurate orbital distances.. I than matched video of the real Moon with my video camera, against my model. I also researched the correct FOV of my video camera. I used both methods to verify my Virtual camera’s FOV (around 47 degrees). I next modeled up the rest of the planets in proper scale (Real values) set at the distance of the moon (center to center) (also real values), created the animation of them rotating around, and composited the whole bunch.
***************
Faq:

Scales used in Visualization:
Celestial Body Radius (in km)
Moon: 1738
Mars: 3397
Venus: 6052
Neptune: 25,269 (equatorial) 24,340 (polar)
Uranus: 25,559 (equatorial) 24,973 (polar)
Jupiter: 71,490 (equatorial) 66,854 (polar)
Saturn: 60,268 (equatorial) 54,360 (polar) (not including rings)

Distance to Moon 384,000km
Faq: (faq shrunk from other video for “reasons”)

1, We would not be engulfed by Jupiter or any other planet, Jupiter’s radius is 71,490 km and the distance to the Moon is 384,000km

2, We would suffer from really really horrible tides and earthquakes(and radiation)

3, I *did* model the Ring of debris around Uranus, I actually modeled 8 of them, but you can mostly just make out 3, This was actually the tipping point for me to render this out in 4k resolution

4, I love Pluto, and Mercury. They are left off because they are too small. Pluto is smaller than our Moon, and Mercury is not significantly larger than our Moon.

5, The “Sun” I used for lighting the planets is completely off from reality,

7 Orbiting! Yes! we would be a moon of Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. They are much more massive than the Earth. Venus is about the same size of the Earth and we would orbit around a center point between us

8 Rotation rates and axial tilts are not accurate to anything

9 Radius of the Sun is 695,500 km, and hence if it were where our Moon is, we would be engulfed by it

10 Scales are Accurate, Every few days someone says my scales are wrong, Or that someone says I’m presenting Saturn as being bigger than Jupiter. I’m going to go through some of the arguments I keep hearing (paraphrasing each)

a. “You’re showing Saturn larger than Jupiter”: I am not, Saturn is clearly smaller than Jupiter in the video, Saturn+ring system *IS* larger than Jupiter (in terms of radius) This is easy to look up.

b. “Jupiter is 300 times larger than Earth! therefore it’s wrong in your video (or 1000 times larger etc)” : There are many sayings about how much larger Jupiter is than earth. 300 is Probably referring to Mass… 1000.. is probably referring to Volume. Without actually specifying the Dimension the argument is pretty moot. I will say this Jupiter’s Radius is about 11 times that of Earths, which fits precisely with my video.

c. “I saw another video where Jupiter Filled the sky!, therefore you’re wrong”: I am very familiar with the video. I even Like the video. However the FOV (field of view) of his Ground does not match the FOV of the planets. In other words, he has a wide angle lens on the ground, and a zoomed lens on the planets. To his own credit he admits this in his own description. In my video My ground FOV and my planet FOV are the same, and hence graphically matched and very reasonably accurate.

d. The confidence I have for my scales being correct is exceptionally high. The dimensions used for the planets and rings has at one point been triple checked along with the earth moon distance. It’s interesting to see how a *few* people have gotten completely worked up over their misconceptions on scale. The size of the Moon is a bit of an illusion, I Think if you still have misconceptions you should hold a dime out to arms length , and hold it against the moon, Or even go out with your own camera,, Zoom out all the way.. and take a photo of the Moon. It really is Tiny against the sky. It’s only about half a degree in angular diameter.

Thanks to everyone for watching, I enjoy making these

Tip of the old scrub brush to Lady Rhian.

More:

Planets of the Solar System

Planets of the Solar System not to scale – Wikipedia image


Animated Maurice Sendak: How do you keep from being eaten and mauled by a monster?

June 17, 2013

Maurice Sendak, to his death, held on to some of his childhood concerns; and he worried about how we teach our children to deal with the world, and those scary things.

From Blank on Blank, PBS Digital Studios.

How do kids make it?  “They want to survive,” Sendak said.  “They Want To Survive.”

More:

 


L Banks: Artist’s version of the world’s oldest animation

May 3, 2013

L. Banks illustrated a publication about an ancient bowl found at the Burnt City, in what is now Iran.

L. Banks illustrated a publication about an ancient bowl found at the Burnt City, in what is now Iran.

It’s a nice rendering of . . . gee, what is that?

If you remember correctly, it’s a goat.  It’s a goat.

More specifically, it’s the goat depicted on “the world’s oldest animation,” a bowl more than 5,000 years old that some researchers think may have been the earliest attempt to depict animals in motion.

I wrote about the bowl back in 2008.  I learned of it from Kris Hirst at About.com, and I thought it was interesting.  “Animation” in the headline, at spring break, and tens of thousands of kids took a look at the little .gif animation from photos of the bowl.  The post took about ten minutes to compose, and it remains the single most popular post ever at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub (even more popular than the posts about the imaginary Texas chainsaw massacre).

So I stumbled on Banks’s drawing.  Illustration is often high art — the image above is identified as an educational image.  Children’s book?  Don’t know.

Banks has some other very nice illustrations on display, on completely different subjects.  You should go see.

What was that bowl maker trying to show with the goat and tree on that bowl?  Did s/he dream that people would be making images inspired by the bowl, 52 centuries later?

World's oldest animation; bowl from the Burnt City

An animated .gif made from photographic images of a bowl found at the Burnt City, and dated at 5,200 years.


Go vote! says the Jack-o-lantern

November 5, 2012

Go Vote jack-o-lantern gif

Found on Tumblr

Stuff found on Tumblr.  Nice sentifment from a winking jack-o-lantern.

Trick: Animated #govote jack-o-lantern to keep away the ghosts of low voter turnout.

Treat: Tell your friends to visit rockthevote.com to find their polling station!

animated gif by Bruce Willen

At the GoVoteNov6 Tumblr site:

Click here to find your polling station and if you’re eligible for early voting.

For more #govote images and to submit your own go to:govote.org 

 

 


School House Rock update: Reforms on “I’m Only A Bill,” the story of making laws

October 12, 2012

Remember the old School House Rock?  Disney finally put all of the old episodes out on DVD and Blu-Ray.  Short songs with animation explaining grammar (“Conjunction Junction”), or math, or history, or economics.

Schoolhouse Rock!

Schoolhouse Rock! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the most popular was a later production that explained how a bill becomes law in the U.S. Congress, “I’m Just A Bill.”  You may remember how it was parodied by The Simpsons, too, and others.

It’s been updated by Fiore, now including the influence of the “American Legislative Exchange Council,” or ALEC, a Koch-brothers funded frat for conservative state legislators:

Maybe not suitable for elementary school classrooms; probably too violent for high schools, too.

More:


Why Obama Now?

October 7, 2012

Obama’s own words, with animation provided by Lucas Gray, a veteran animator from The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Andre Tartar wrote about it at the New York Magazine website:

Your average campaign ad involves lots of black and white B-roll, ominous music, and floating newspaper headlines. So this nearly 4-minute illustrated reel by Lucas Gray, a veteran of the Simpsons and Family Guy animation departments, is a welcome bit of color. Using audio from a speech President Obama gave at the Associates Press Luncheon in April, “Why Obama Now” is a jaunty mix of cartoon Americans driving their Model T Fords off the assembly line onto the American Dream, graphs and charts sprouting up as the president rattles off statistics, and little bobblehead meanies providing comic relief: Bush and Cheney with a pile of gold (the Clinton surplus), Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly, and the rest of the conservative pundit gang. It also includes the best (though not most convincing) explanation of trickle-down economics we’ve seen yet: “If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the sparrows.”

At the website for WhyObamaNow.org, the sources are listed:

  1. Obama’s speech to the Associated Press luncheon on April 3, 2012, at the Marriott Wardman Park
  2. Other sources for graphs shown throughout the video
  3. Transcript of the entire speech

The entire speech (58 minutes — 36 minutes for the prepared text, plus Q&A):


Notebook – an animation look at reality in a digital age

August 4, 2012

I’m up for a brilliant little idea not carried on too long.

Stumbled into this film from four years ago.  The producer/director/creator explains it:

Noteboek (English title: Notebook) consists of 4 short experimental films where I try to confuse the reality.
In these films, illusions and expectations are challenged.

Noteboek is a short film and part of my graduation project.

[Music: The White Stripes-Seven Nation Army.]

And where is Evelien Lohbeck today?

If you want to see more work please visit:
evelienlohbeck.com

The guy’s woman’s got a wicked sense of the surreal, and a good sense of humor.

Tip of the old scrub brush to Le Web  . . . et le reste.

More:


Time lapse photos: NYC, before 1975

May 22, 2012

Why does time-lapse photography fascinate me so?  It reveals changes over time we too often miss, or don’t stop to appreciate.

Here’s an excerpt from a 1975 film, set to music recently released.  Watch closely, you’ll see the shadows of the World Trade Center passing over New York City.

Described at Youtube:

A music video for the gorgeous track “Exercise #3 (Building) by CFCF (Mike Silver). Song is from his upcoming EP titled “Exercises,” which arrives on April 24th via Paper Bag Records.

Footage is from the 1975 short film “Organism,” by Hilary Harris.

For more on CFCF:

http://paperbagrecords.com/artists/cfcf
http://soundcloud.com/cfcf
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CFCF/196418801490

edited by https://www.facebook.com/daviddeanburkhart

More:

Tip of the old scrub brush to Slacktivist.


Jim Morin at the Miami Herald demonstrates why gasoline prices rise

May 6, 2012

Jim Morin of the Miami Herald, via the National Journal.  Here’s  a near-real-time demonstration of why gasoline prices rise so dramatically.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Jim Morin at the Miami Herald demonstrates why …, posted with vodpod

Oscar winner, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lesmore”

March 6, 2012

When Bugs Bunny earned the sobriquet, “Oscar-winning rabbit,” there was a good chance that a good cartoon nominated for an Academy Award would be shown at a movie in your neighborhood.  In the past two decades, it has grated on me that so many of the Oscar-nominated short subjects, documentaries and cartoons could not be seen.

If you watched the Oscar broadcast, you may have been tantalized as I was by the view of the “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lesmore,” which ended up winning the award for Best Animated Short Film

Wonder of wonders:  The makers of the piece put it up on YouTube, so you and I can see it.  God bless “Conceptual designer Brandon Oldenburg and children’s book author/illustrator William Joyce” for doing that, and may they have much more success with similar projects, even and especially out of their New Orleans, hurricane-wracked studio.

For your viewing pleasure:

See also:


Secret life of books, captured on video

February 23, 2012

Yeah, we sorta knew that:

Explanation at YouTube:

After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago (http://youtu.be/zhRT-PM7vpA), my wife and I (Sean Ohlenkamp) decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto (883 Queen Street West, (416) 366-8973).

Everything you see here can be purchased at Type Books.

Grayson Matthews (http://www.graysonmatthews.com/) generously composed the beautiful, custom music. You can download it here: http://itunes.apple.com/album/awakenings-single/id496796623


Automaton from “Hugo,” alive and well and living in Philadelphia

February 20, 2012

You saw and loved Scorsese’s “Hugo.”  You rushed home and Googled “Georges Melies,” and you rediscovered a thrilling character from history You wondered:  Surely the automaton was wholly fictional, right?  No one could really make something like that!

Oh, but they did.  The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia has one restoredCBS Sunday Morning reported it:

(And then CBS disabled embedding — you’ll have to go watch at YouTube.  Sorry.)

Here, watch this longer piece demonstrating the device:

Steampunkers everywhere are suddenly filled with hope.

But, should we be surprised that mere mechanical devices can do such seemingly wonderous stuff?  Remember the “bird pistols” that were auctioned a few months ago?  And what about all those mechanized clocks in towns and cities across Europe? See the clock tower in Poznan, Poland, for example:

At Mid day everyday, 2 mechanical goats bang their heads together and a guy plays a trumpet.

Amazing stuff was possible, without electronics.  2D animation on film is fantastic.  3d animation of a real object?  It appears just short of miraculous, and then only because we know something about how it was done.  Arthur C. Clarke’s famous Third Law screams to be noted here:  “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  But of course, no one is making such automata today.  Maybe they are miracles, no?  Bugs Bunny sang, “Carrots are sublime/You get a dozen for dime/It’s magic!”

Magic of and on film, one of the great themes of the movie “Hugo.”

Updated:  More sources (courtesy of Zemanta): 


Annals of Global Warming: Arctic ice at second lowest level ever measured

October 12, 2011

Two years ago warming denialists claimed the Earth is actually cooling, and they predicted dramatic cooling by late 2010.

Instead, warming continues, overcoming the temporary mediation caused by increased particulate and sulfate emissions from coal burned in uncontrolled fashion in China, as evidence by things like the continued shrinking of Arctic ice below 20th century averages.  See this press release from NASA:

RELEASE : 11-337 – October 4, 2011

 Arctic Sea Ice Continues Decline, Hits Second-Lowest Level

WASHINGTON — Last month the extent of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean declined to the second-lowest extent on record. Satellite data from NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder showed that the summertime sea ice cover narrowly avoided a new record low.

The Arctic ice cap grows each winter as the sun sets for several months and shrinks each summer as the sun rises higher in the northern sky. Each year the Arctic sea ice reaches its annual minimum extent in September. It hit a record low in 2007.

The near-record ice-melt followed higher-than-average summer temperatures, but without the unusual weather conditions that contributed to the extreme melt of 2007. “Atmospheric and oceanic conditions were not as conducive to ice loss this year, but the melt still neared 2007 levels,” said NSIDC scientist Walt Meier. “This probably reflects loss of multiyear ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas as well as other factors that are making the ice more vulnerable.”

Joey Comiso, senior scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said the continued low minimum sea ice levels fits into the large-scale decline pattern that scientists have watched unfold over the past three decades.

“The sea ice is not only declining, the pace of the decline is becoming more drastic,” Comiso said. “The older, thicker ice is declining faster than the rest, making for a more vulnerable perennial ice cover.”

While the sea ice extent did not dip below the 2007 record, the sea ice area as measured by the microwave radiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite did drop slightly lower than 2007 levels for about 10 days in early September, Comiso said. Sea ice “area” differs from extent in that it equals the actual surface area covered by ice, while extent includes any area where ice covers at least 15 percent of the ocean.

Arctic sea ice extent on Sept. 9, the lowest point this year, was 4.33 million square kilometers (1.67 million square miles). Averaged over the month of September, ice extent was 4.61 million square kilometers (1.78 million square miles). This places 2011 as the second lowest ice extent both for the daily minimum extent and the monthly average. Ice extent was 2.43 million square kilometers (938,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average.

This summer’s low ice extent continued the downward trend seen over the last 30 years, which scientists attribute largely to warming temperatures caused by climate change. Data show that Arctic sea ice has been declining both in extent and thickness. Since 1979, September Arctic sea ice extent has declined by 12 percent per decade.

“The oldest and thickest ice in the Arctic continues to decline, especially in the Beaufort Sea and the Canada Basin,” NSIDC scientist Julienne Stroeve said. “This appears to be an important driver for the low sea ice conditions over the past few summers.”

Climate models have suggested that the Arctic could lose almost all of its summer ice cover by 2100, but in recent years, ice extent has declined faster than the models predicted.

NASA monitors and studies changing sea ice conditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic with a variety of spaceborne and airborne research capabilities. This month NASA resumes Operation IceBridge, a multi-year series of flights over sea ice and ice sheets at both poles. This fall’s campaign will be based out of Punta Arenas, Chile, and make flights over Antarctica.  NASA also continues work toward launching ICESat-2 in 2016, which will continue its predecessor’s crucial laser altimetry observations of ice cover from space.

To see a NASA data visualization of the 2011 Arctic sea ice minimum as measured by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer – Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) on Aqua, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2011-ice-min.html  [I have changed the link to one that works for me.]

Here is that visualization, presented by Cryosphere Program Manager, Tom Wagner:

On Sept. 9th, 2011, Arctic sea ice most likely hit its minimum extent for the year. On Sept. 20th, NASA’s Cryosphere Program Manager, Tom Wagner, shared his perspectives on the ice with television audiences across the country.

On the top of the world, a pulsing, shifting body of ice has profound effects on the weather and climate of the rest of the planet. Every winter as temperatures dip, sea ice freezes out of cold Arctic Ocean waters, and every summer the extent of that ice shrinks as warm ocean temperatures eat it away. Ice cover throughout the year can affect polar ecosystems, world-wide ocean currents, and even the heat budget of the Earth.

During the last 30 years we’ve been monitoring the ice with satellites, there has been a consistent downward trend, with less and less ice making it through the summer. The thickness of that ice has also diminished. In 2011 Arctic sea ice extent was its second smallest on record, opening up the fabled Northwest Passages and setting the stage for more years like this in the future. In this video, NASA’s Cryosphere Program Manager, Tom Wagner, shares his perspectives on the 2011 sea ice minimum.

More data and animation versions here, at Goddard Multimedia.

 


New paradigm for education

October 31, 2010

Not sure where this guy, Sir Ken Robinson,  is going — nor especially how it would relate to education in the U.S. (this group is from Britian — hear the accent?).

The animation is great — I’d love to have someone who could do this for quick history lessons to correspond with what we’re supposed to be doing on the curriculum calendar.

Plus, of course, he’s right.  We need less standardization, and more personalization.  Firing teachers frustrates both ends of that equation. He’s right — the schools are headed in the wrong direction.

I’ll wager Arne Duncan has never seen this.  Any of our old friends at Education know?  I’ll wager this speech and film drop into the abyss, regardless the credentials of Sir Ken Robinson and the good intentions of RSA.

RSA is the acronym for the clumsily-named Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.  “RSA” is a deft recovery from such a nomenclaturical handicap.

This RSA Animate thing has some potential — a lot like some of the animation schemes used by network news.

Resources: