D is for DESTRUCTION

I showed this to my class today and they lost their marbles.
They chanted along with each letter.

Can you guess which letter was their favorite?

The Alphabet 2 from n9ve on Vimeo.

SEDUCTION

Ok guys, I buckled.

I tried to take a vow of plastic celibacy, but last night these shoes 

were chillin near the googly eyes 

and they used their combined seductive powers to entice me to make these:

They're SO RAD!!!

Especially when you have them all together, the TRIFORCE power of hat/shades/sneaks:

My mind is boggled and torn. I absolutely LOVE the whole creative process of making stuff like this. Actually, scratch that, more than love: I GET OFF ON the whole creative process. How do I continue this path without supporting industries that harm our Earth? Like, I'm not trying to be an a$$hole and shove these issues in everyone's face, but it is something that we need to think about and make efforts to change. And since I've always been an advocate of ethical consumption and living self-sufficiently it would make absolutely no sense for me to construct my business without considering the impact it would have in ripple-effect. 

As I continue to battle this problem, I will keep on with my other projects and hopefully find a way to consolidate these seemingly opposing matters.

This video completely encapsulates my perspective. 

(I'm very wordy today, aren't I?  Must be lack of sleep.)

Back to the Start - ad for Mexican food chain Chipotle (food with integrity)

"Questions of science, science and progress 

don't speak as loud as my heart"

Like Leaves and Pages...

 Books suspended above an entrance to the Istanbul modern art museum by Hanif Shoaei via thisiscolossal.com

The Joy Of Books

"Books are a hard-bound drug with no danger of an overdose. I am the happy victim of books."  

 - Karl Lagerfeld -

Anagram Bookshop in Prague (now closed) - promotional images from Kaspen

The writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads...

- Dr. Seuss -

Beautiful photographs by Cara Barer

I love library porn even more than I love cabin porn.

I found Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal through 

Bookstore Guide - An amateur guide to bookshopping throughout Europe.

Ok, you NEED to click this link and see the library in 360' which is just the coolest thing EVER! Scroll down a bit and use the cursor to look around.

And this is Ireland's Trinity College Library:

Lucille Moroni's book sculptures

Exploded Books by Betsy Jayne

I'd like to thank Scott for sending this to me: 

It started suddenly. Without warning.

Last spring, Julie Johnstone, a librarian at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, was wandering through a reading room when she saw, sitting alone on a random table, a little tree.  It was made of twisted paper and was mounted on a book.

It looked like this was a one-off, a beautiful and delicate piece of art created by a fan of the Poetry Library. Until, in late June, the National Library of Scotland found themselves the recipient of a similar piece.

Read the INCREDIBLE whole story HERE. The artist remains unknown.

Using old books, Su Blackwell creates beautiful landscapes.

And this photograph is by Angélica Vis.

Read more about amazing art HERE at thisiscolossal.com which has become my FAVORITE website and I can't stop exploring it. It is IMMENSELY inspirational.

8 to 0

Look at what my friend Mike made!

8to0 -- short film from Michael Lam on Vimeo.

Holy talent.

Check out his site and other work... www.lamiam.ca


2010_Demo Reel from Michael Lam on Vimeo.

Pete is a cool CAT

Does a little bit of mess bother Pete the Cat?

GOODNESS, NO!

He just keeps walkin' along, singing his song...

Pete the Cat - "I Love My White Shoes"

I just found that vid, and I thought it was pretty cute.

Here are some more great kids songs/clips. You might recognize some of them!

Sesame Street - Animals Escape from the Zoo

(I love the animation in this one!)

Sesame Street - The Alligator King

I sing The Ugly Bug Ball regularly, since it's in my head a lot. And I like bugs.

Burl Ives - "The Ugly Bug Ball"

image found here

Bugs with human faces. ooOOoo!!

I have this song in my head a lot too. Especially when it's raining. 

And I see a worm. 

And I run through the grass.

Raffi - "Robin in the Rain"

:P  Andy

Light and Shadows

Miwa Matreyek's Glorious Visions

Got any Grapefruit?

I think it's time to start illustrating those children's books I wrote.

Wakkity Wak - Jack Kerouac

This quote is from "On The Road" by Kerouac.

I've read it, and there were some really lovely poetic dreamy sections to it.

I've officially given up on A Tale of Two Cities. 

The original plan was thought up by The Book Club (velociraptor and snow leopard) 

where we'd keep the other's copy of the book, draw in it and add quotes and word definitions as we went, and then exchange copies to discover all the fun little doodles and scraps inside. 

I am not happily reading, and have moved on to "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky.

I am going to continue drawing in A Tale Of Two Cities, but I'm no longer reading it and only augmenting it with fun things, like an animated flip book of Flip the Frog, who I have hereby renamed "Philippe":

Velociraptor will have a lot of fun animations to find!

And I'll take pics of the book when we do the exchange, and post them here.

GOOD MORNING!

Wanna see how I am in the morning?

Watch the following clip:

Me, sleeping, cozy and warm... Don't wanna get up.

And then I'M AWAKE and it's time to go!

So many things to do!

Climbing trees!

Cartwheels!

Catching butterflies!

Wheee!!!

RAAAAR!!!

ALL DAY PHOTOSHOOT

I am exhausted and have nothing remarkable to say.

SO

I will entertain you with THIS:

It's a gloomy day in Pizzaville...

I sit here working.
I've been sitting for a long time,
so long that I've sunk into my chair, and become one with it, as if my body has slowly grown roots into it's fabric.
s-i-g-h

What do we like to do when we feel unenergetic and couch-potato-ey?
Watch cool stuff online! YAY!
So here, my culturally curious friends, is a film called

"Sita Sings The Blues"

It is a story about Sita from the ancient Sanskrit book, The Ramayana. 

Read about Sita and The Ramayana by clicking on the links.

(i love wikipedia)

The creator, Nina Paley, has very interesting ideas about the
distribution, copyright, sharing, archiving, and showing of her animated film

Here's the link to her website to read more!

And here are some beautiful pics that have been in my computer for a while.
I added in some other fabulously ornate religious imagery as well.

HAPPY TUESDAY!

3D Animation OMG

Holiday Treats

 This is an ode to the tasty desserts I ate over the holiday!

My favorite are shortbread and gingerbread cookies with a cup of tea.

This is also dedicated to my friends who love baking!

Here is a link to the recipe for Caroline Swift's Winter Cherry Brownies, 

and a link to an amazing blog called Design*Sponge. 

I visit this blog regularly when I need inspiration and want to

dream about making things and crafting things... 

It's really great and inspirational. You should check it out.

I wish you sweet dreams with this amazing animation clip by Kristen Lepore!
(The "unwrapping" part is so cute!)

1. photo from Martha Stewart

2. Winter Cherry Brownies by Caroline Swift

3. Deer cupcakes from Baked NYC

4. Cake Train tin from Lakeland

No Phone To Phone Home

I left my phone at the studio. Nobody can call meeeeeee!! 

I am super exhausted. So here are some super cute pics to laugh at:

And I could watch this over and over and over...

Happy VINTAGE Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite times of year!!!

I wish that it came more than once. Why can't we dress up and run amok on other days of the year? 

It's not fair. And it gets so cold in October!

Here's some fun vintage Halloween goodness. The first thing I'm posting is  

"The Skeleton Dance" by Walt Disney Studios released in 1929.

The skeletons start to dance at 1:30 in the Youtube clip below:

What IS awesomesauce?

ATTENTION:

we have taken awesome, made sauce out of it, and now we have AWESOMESAUCE!!!

Yes, awesomesauce exists. But what is it exactly? 

Check out this stuff and you'll get the gist:

When you wish for a castle, is it made of cardboard? 

This cardboard castle was made by Ann Wood as a window display for Johnson's in New York City.

Do you get there with the help of your trusty bicycle horse? 

This was made by Eungi Kim from Korea. He calls it "Horsey".

And here is a vid called "Game Over" made by PES, who really and truly IS the king of the stop-motion animation realm.

It is, of course, awesomesauce:

If you have things that are "awesomesauce", send them to me at andymcparrot@gmail.com

My Nerdy Childhood

Tonight, over salmon sashimi, we started talking about theme songs from old TV shows. 

Here are some of my favorites. Some nerdy, some not so nerdy.

I picked some clips from more obscure shows because I could post clips from shows like Transformers, but everyone remembers those, and 
I'd like to trigger some long dormant memory in you. 

Unearthing tiny glimpses of things forgotten is delightful :)

This first one is super old and you may only recognize the music.

It was an educational program broadcast on TV Ontario that I used to watch
(I started being nerdy at an early age).
It taught the concepts of physics, and I loved the ones about molecules.

Everyone should watch these. They're great! Click here to watch them all!

Eureka!

"Some of the Molecules Important to Human Life" - by Raphael Abrams at 

http://doodlebird.wordpress.com/

The following show is responsible for the connection my mind makes whenever I put a hat on my head. Somehow it makes perfect sense to think that it will transport me to somewhere new, but of course this impulse only lasts for a second. I wish I had magic hats.

Harriet's Magic Hats

I'm not sure if they had Reading Rainbow in the States, but this was probably my favorite show. 

And Geordi LaForge is the host! WOO HOO! 

Reading Rainbow

"Reading is for Awesome People" - shirt by Nerdyshirts.com

and of course the very famous "Reading is Sexy" shirt from buyolympia.com

A TRUE STORY

For years I had a melody in my head and I could not figure out where it was from. 

Occasionally I'd sing it to someone and try to see if they knew it too. 

But nobody knew it, and it remained a mystery. 

Then one night I was surfing around old TV shows on Youtube, 

and I found a cute show called Jeremy the Bear. 

I listened to the theme song with no recollection until I got to the end.  
And then I almost fell off my seat.

The melody lasts from 0:41 to 0:55.

It's absolutely amazing how the mind stores memories and information. 

I don't actually remember very much from the show at all. Just that little melody.

Jeremy The Bear

(maybe THAT would make a good Halloween costume!)

And I'll leave you with this one: Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings.

Well you know my name is Andy,

and the things I draw come true!