Hotel E, Pritt Parn, 1992

Klaabush in Space, Avo Paystik, 1981

Automat, Lucie Stamfestova, 2004

Milk of Amnesia, Jeff Scher, 1992

Excerpts from The Great Rock n' Rol Swindle, Julien Temple,1980

Bodies:
Animated excerpts from Malcolm McLaren's tale of the Sex Pistols, The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle.

I listed the director as Julien Temple, because there wasn't a distinction in the animation department itself. These are the animators:Phil Austin, Derek W. Hayes,Bill Mather, Gil Potter, and Andy Walker.






EMI


Interview with Johnny Rotten:



End Credits (Friggin' in the Riggin')

Dental Hygeine Dilemma (excerpt from 200 Motels) Cal Schenken, 1971

Now you are relaxing in your post holiday refractory period, you know what you need?

You need to see a dude roll up and smoke a hotel bath mat. Yes. And some of Zappa's Comedy Music.




What the Hell, I'm still feeling generous. Here's a 1974 promo for Zappa's Apostrophe, also by Schenken.

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus, Bill Melendez,1974

CBS Christmas animation, Willis Pyle and RO Blechman, 1966

Oh, here's one more. 'Cause it's Christmas and stuff.

The Christmas Visitor, John Halas, 1959

The Christmas Dream,Hermína Týrlová and Karel Zeman, 1946

I think I'm going to post two versions here, because I can't seem to find the longer Czech version in high quality. It's lovely, and I wish I could find the full version at a higher resolution.

Here's the Castle Films edit:


And here's the original:

Christmas Card 2010, 39 Degrees North, 2010

A festive short by Beijing studio 39 Degrees North, inspired by a poem by Neil Gaiman.

Walks of Life, Cyriak Harris, 2010

Another one of the series of Short Stories commissioned by Showtime.

Frosty the Snowman,Robert Cannon, 1953

Visdüm Tooten, Don Hertzfeldt, 2010

So yeah, here's a new Don Hertzfeldt cartoon. Pretty exciting, right?

But check it out, THERE'S MOAR!



Then you can go here and buy presents for me!
Via Metafilter, and also via James, who technically told me about The Meaning of Life thing first so of course I must give him props as well.

Contact, Vladimir Tarasov, 1978

Cowboy in the City, Vladimir Tarasov, 1973

Profesor Balthazar: For Heaven's Cake, Zlatko Grgić, Boris Kolar, Ante Zaninović,1971

No subs, sorry.

Here's a different episode of Professor Balthazar than the one I posted earlier. No snoot playing virtuosos in this one, unfortunately, but it's still very charming, and the link works.

The Ark, Grzegorz Jonkajtys & Marcin Kobylecki, 2008

Romans Dzentelmena, Tomasz Kozak, 2000

Also by Tomasz Kozak. Also NSFW.

Opera Ocalenia, Tomasz Kozak,1998

I'm gonna go ahead and say this one's NSFW.

Oczekiwanie ( Awaiting)Witold Giersz, 1962

Temple Rider, Miles Cheng , 2010

No subtitles, but I'm sure you won't mind.

Thanks to Cavin for sending this to me.




(I'm having a deuce of a time finding the director's name. If anyone has it, let me know.


UPDATE: Thanks, Matthew!)

The Apple Theives, Otto Foky, 1967

The Sun and Moon Are Stolen, Sándor Reisenbüchler, 1968

Gustavus and Alienation, Marcell Jankovicz, 1965

Gustav was a very popular Hungarian cartoon series from the 60s and 70s, created by József Nepp, Attila Dargay and Marcell Jankovics.

Mashed, Anthony Holden, 2009

Schoolhouse Rock; Naughty Number Nine, Phil Kimmelman, 1973

Monsters Do Have Their Place, (Anti-cable TV PSA) 1969

A theatrical cartoon warning against the "monster" of "pay TV," made long before anyone had to spend 45 minutes on the phone with Comcast.



ETA a much higher quality clip and title.

Yuck Mouth, Isadore Freleng,1973

1970s "Bod Squad" PSA.Produced by Depatie-Freleng Enterprises for ABC. Voiced by Scatman Crothers.



Another member of the Bod Squad was the mystifying Time for Timer. I still don't know what he is, and I still find this disturbing.

Shop-Vac, Jarrett Heather, 2010

I haven't featured any kinetic typography animation thus far, but this is so perfectly done, regardless of what you think about Jonathan Coulton's music. The use of type and design enhances the song, and highlights the loneliness of the modern culture of homogeneous convenience and isolation.



Via Metafilter

Summertime, Ub Iwerks, 1935

I miss it so. Sigh.

Cheese Burglar, I. Sparber, 1946

New Town, John Halas and Joy Bachelor, 1948

Your Safety First, George Gordon, 1958

Check it out, guys. It's the future!

The Fantastic World of Fantastico Morales, Jossie Malis, 2010

All the Great operas in Ten Minutes, Kim Thompson, 1992

Since most of us learned everything we know about opera from cartoons anyway.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B, Walter Lantz, 1941

An interesting, well made, and problematic cartoon, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy is certainly a product of its times; the rendering of racial stereotypes is a bit of a shock to the modern eye. It includes reused animation from Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat, which was pulled from distribution due to objections from the NAACP.

According to the Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia:

(Lantz) repeatedly stated that his cartoons were never meant to offend anyone. After the 1948 decision, Lantz made a major effort to make sure that offensive caricatures of any racial or ethnic group would never appear in his cartoons again. He also personally made sure that "Scrub Me Mama" would never be distributed on television.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy was nominated for an Academy Award in 1941

Jerky Turkey, Tex Avery, 1945

Was this trip really necessary?

Norakuro, Mitsuyo Seyo,1934

Based on the popular manga by Suiho Tagwa.

Sanchiki the Monkey; Shock Troops, 1934

Spider and Tulip, Kenzo Masaoka,1943

7 Ways of the Meek, Ken Nordine, 2010

Ever have a bad week, no I mean a really bad bad bad week?
I haven't, but like you I can make one up.
-Ken Nordine

I am not a day person. I never have been; I was always more of a "middle of the night" person. A "wee hours" sort. Even as an infant, I used to stay up all night telling myself jokes, so I have been told.

The daytime is filled with shrill chattering(just now there is a murder of crows outside my window making some ungodly racket.) The voices of the night are much more distinctive. None more so than that of Word Jazz verbal virtuoso Ken Nordine.
"Stare with your ears," he instructs.

Imagine how thrilled I was that we can stare with our eyes as well; Nordine has been making animation to accompany his wordly visions.

an octogenarian curiosity, the originator of word jazz back in the 1950s, in love with the wow of now

Achoo Mr. Kerooschev, Stan Vanderbeek,1960

John and James Whitney, Five Film Excercises - films 1-4, 1943-1944

According to DanSpegel-
...These films are visually based on modernist composition theory, the carefully varied permutations of form are manipulated with cut-out masks so that the image photographed is pure direct light shaped, rather than the light reflected from drawings as in traditional animation. The eerie, sensuous neon glow of these forms is paralleled by pioneer electronic music sound scores composed by the brothers using a pendulum device to write sounds directly on the film's soundtrack area, with precisely controlled calibrations.


Film One:


Film 2-3:


Film 4:

Len Lye, Free Radicals, 1958

In which pioneering New Zealand filmmaker Len Lye animates the sound of the music of the Bagirmi of Africa, with hypnotic results.

Early Abstractions, Harry Smith, 1946-1957

No.1: A Strange Dream (1946)
No.2: A Message From the Sun (1946-48)
No.3. Interwoven (1947-49)
No.4. Fast Track(1947)
No.5: Circular Tensions, Homage to Oskar Fischinger (1950)
No.7: Color Study (1952)
No.10. Mirror Animations (1957)

Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure, Anonymous, 1929

NSFW. REALLY SUPER DUPER NSFW.

N S F W

Don't say I didn't give you fair warning when you're watching this and you've got schvantzes all up on your screen when your boss sneaks up behind you.

If you've ever seen a naughty cartoon before, you know that most of them are not so great. This is a bit different - when I first saw an excerpt, I noticed that the animation, despite being a bit spare, was quite well done. There's a reason for that.

From the wiki:

The artists are unknown, but a widespread rumor states that a group of famous animators created the film for a private party in honor of Winsor McCay.[1] Disney animator Ward Kimball gave the following account of the history of the short:

The first porno-cartoon was made in New York. It was called "Eveready Harton" and was made in the late 20's, silent, of course—by three studios. Each one did a section of it without telling the other studios what they were doing. Studio A finished the first part and gave the last drawing to Studio B [...] Involved were Max Fleischer, Paul Terry and the Mutt and Jeff studio. They didn't see the finished product till the night of the big show. A couple of guys who were there tell me the laughter almost blew the top off the hotel where they were screening it.[1]

Some pretty impressive names were supposedly involved in the project, but none of them seem to have definitively stuck.

Shizuku (Drop) Osamu Tezuka, 1965

Suur Toll (Tyll the Giant) Rein Ramaat, 1980

Fantastic animation(with an amazing soundtrack) from Estonia.

Some Facts About Owls, Tony Dusko, 2008

Fifth grade teacher Tony Dusko makes short animations to motivate his students.

I suspect he also does it to crack himself up.


Anyway, this is about owls.

A Fish, Sergei Ryabov, 2006

Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike, Chuck Jones, 1944

Hey, it's everyone's favorite bumbling soldier, up to his old antics.

Night of the Carrots, Priit Pärn, 1998

Bermudu Ziedas, L. Stukiene, 1988

No subs, but the cartoon is mostly wordless aside from the theme song.

The Fine Art of Goofing Off, Henry Jacobs and Bob McClay, 1972

Three excerpts from a longer series.

www.ImportantRecords.com
About the dvd:
THE FINE ART OF GOOFING OFF
In 1972, San Francisco public television station KQED aired the first of three half-hour
programs devoted to leisure titled The Fine Art of Goofing Off. Combining various
animation techniques — stop-action photography, claymation, collage, cut-outs,
and continuous drawing — this unique series celebrated pointless activity, dancing
between the silly and the philosophical with free-associative abandon.
With few if any creative limits set by the station, the films reveal a fresh, imaginative
collaboration between animator Bob McClay, Henry Jacobs, and producer Chris Koch.
Included are contributions from Alan Watts, author George Leonard, psychedelic poster
artist Victor Moscoso, filmmaker Jordan Belson, humorist Woody Leifer, as well as
members of the legendary San Francisco troupe and Second City antecedant, The
Committee. Amazingly, these three films were rescued by McClay on their way to the
dumpster about 30 years ago! Thanks to him, they've survived to still offer the advice,
"The pursuit of happiness can be extremely tiring— sit still and let happiness pursue you for a while."

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

The Snail, Petr Zakrevsk, 1993

When The Sand Will Rise, Galina Barinova, 1986

Ready Or Not, Here I Come, Vlad Fesenko, 1992

QUICK! EVERYONE PUT ON YOUR PANTS!

HERE COMES THE INTERNET!


THIS IS NOT A DRILL!




Eh, who am I kidding. Take 'em off.

Subservience, Patrick Bouchard, 2007

Khoda, Reza Dolatabadi, 2008

The Bear Who Loved Vodka, Darren Price, 2006

The Factory, 2009

Dear Chantal Buck, Clarissa Matalone, Jan Heiman, Katie Siller, Rachel Whalon -

I really like this, but next time you collaborate, please elect someone to be the director. I appreciate your democratic, collective approach, but it's too hard to fit all of your names in the post title. So draw straws, rockpaperscissors, eenie meenie miney moe, roll dice, draw cards, consult the Oracle, JUST PICK SOMEONE.

Midnight Dance, John McCloskey, 1996

Hallowe'en Party, Max Fleischer, 1933

P.S. - Bring your lunch.

Three Monks, Da A, 1980

Part One:


Part Two:

The Cowherd's Flute, Wei Te, 1963

Part One:


Part Two:

Fishing the Moon From the Pool, Keqin Zhou, 1981

Kingdom of Cats, Mariya Kuznetsova, 2007

The Scissors and the Little Boy, Hristo Topouzanov1973

One Designer, Two Designer, Alexander Sitt, 1978

A comical film that explains the importance of design.

Tales of the Wizard of Oz; Get Out the Vote, Harry Kerwin, 1961

Nikchemuchka (Useless Doll) Leonid Zarubin, 1977

Romeo and Juliet, Dušan Petričić, 1984

I love me some Shakespeare, but Romeo and Juliet has never been one of my favorite plays.

I could change my mind.

Cyrk, Włodzimierz Haupe, 1954

Three is a Magic Number, Phil Kimmelman, 1973

Three is a Magic Number was the first song composed for the Schoolhouse Rock series, to aid children with multiplication tables. It worked, at least for me - the threes were one of the first multiplication tables I understood and mastered, and I was awful at math.

Yankee Doodle Daffy, Isadore Freling, 1943

As Is, John and Faith Hubley, 1971

A very brief but great short from The Electric Company.

The Sound of Music, Phil Mulloy, 1992

Jukebox, Run Wrake, 1994

Geraldine, Arthur de Pins, 2000

My Financial Career, Gerald Potterton, 1962

The House That Jack Built, Ron Tunis, 1967

Field and Scream, Tex Avery, 1955

The Last Battle, Aleksandr Viken, 1989

The Outing, Inessa Kovalevskaya,1986

Declaration of Love, Dmitry Geller, 2006

The Glass Harmonica, Andrei Khrjanovsky,1968

Stratos Fear, Ub Iwerks, 1933

Monkeydoodle, Les Elton, 1931

Mildly NSFW due to, uh, monkey boobs.

(Unfortunately, it seems that the sound cuts out intermittently.)

Finding His Voice, F. Lyle Goodman and Max Fleischer, 1929

Short that explains how optical soundtracks work on film.

Right Wing Radio Duck, Jonathan Macintosh, 2010

There are a lot of remixed and re-edited cartoons out there. Normally I wouldn't feature one, but this is very astutely observed and well done.



Via Metafilter

Firing Range, Anatoly Petrov, 1978

She and Her Cat, Makoto Shinkai, 1999

Wolf Daddy, Chang Hyung-yun, 2005

ffwd, blu, 2006

Most people know Blu for his epic wall painted animations, but he plays indoors as well.

Revolver, Jonas Odell, 1993

Bosko's Store, Hugh Harman, 1932

Nature in a Top Hat, Boxena Moxisova,

Cool Cat: Alex Lovy,1967

Normally, I try to feature cartoons that are good.

This is not good. Really, really not good.

This is what became of Warner Brothers in the late 60s, in case you were wondering what the "Looney Toons" appelation was doing attached to something so lame. Tragic, ain't it?

But hey, Larry Storch!

The Man with the Beautiful Eyes, Jonathan Hodgson, 1998

The Trip (aka Travel) Kihachiro Kawamoto, 1973

I was saddened to learn recently that the great stop-motion animator Kihachiro Kawamoto passed away on August 23rd of this year, at the age of 85.

Though he studied and worked alongside the giants of Czech stop-motion, he retained a deep love of traditional Japanese puppet technique and theater.


His films were masterful, compelling and beautiful. I've posted a few before (Farce Anthropo-Cynique, The Demon, and The House of Flame.)


R.I.P.



Part 1:


Part 2:

Mona Lisa, Toshio Matsumo, 1973

Experimental video manipulation.

The Little Cow, Igor Lazin, 2001

Sometimes, frequently, I will post cartoons that are not subtitled or otherwise translated. Generally this is because I find them enjoyable regardless of the dialogue, or the dialogue is sparse enough or the action clear enough that it doesn't impede my understanding.

However, there are also occasions where the words are integral to the piece. On those occasions, I am grateful that a translation is available, even I know it can never capture the nuances of the mother tongue.

Here is an example. Here's the cartoon in Hungarian:



And here is the same cartoon, dubbed in English:



I know I learned a beautiful lesson about life, just now.

The Other Side, Mikhail Aldashin, 1993

The Apple, George Dunning, 1963

Synchromie, Norman McLaren, 1971

Made with an optical printer, this film utilized McLaren's technique of rendering the sound directly onto the film.

Voyage to Next, John and Faith Hubley, 1974

ETA - I just learned of the passing of animator Bill Littlejohn, who worked with the Hubleys on many of their films, including this one. R.I.P.

A Sheep in the Deep, Chuck Jones, 1962

"Mornin' Sam!"

"Uh...hullo. Mornin' Ralph. Have a good day."

Kozete (Cosette) Arnolds Burovs, 1977

No subtitles, but there's only a little narration at the beginning and end.

Pirat, Jan Bubenicek and Bretislav Pojar, 2002

Part one:


Part two:

All The Tears, Jossie Malis, 2009

It is now time for the heavy metal musics. Please to be banging your heads.

Video for Gojira's All the Tears.

Bluebeard, Alexander Bubnov, 1996

Another interpretation of the story of Bluebeard, this time from Ukranian studio Borisfen.

Part One:


Part 2:

Very Blue Beard, Vladimir Samsonov,1979

Part 1:


Part 2:

Fatum, Akop Kirakosyan, 1992

The Cycle of the Piss Slug, Victor Balaguer, 2005

I am all about stayin' classy.



via Aniboom

The Broken Jaw, Chris Shepherd, 1995

The Stain, Marjut Rimminen & Christine Roche, 1991

Pacifier, Konstantin Bronzit, 1993

BABIES.

Push, Osamu Tezuka, 1987

The Big Snit, Richard Condie, 1985

It completely blows my mind that I haven't posted Richard Condie's classic The Big Snit before today.

Libido of Benjamin, Ivan Maximov, 1994

Rotate the Completor #6, Emily Kaplan, 2010

I have been debating with myself whether or not I should post this here. I wouldn't necessarily presume to compare myself to the animators I post every day.

On the other hand, I worked my ass off on this. And this is MY BLOG.

I decided to compromise and make it a bonus feature today.

SO.

This is a video for song #6 from Rotate The Completors: Completed Rotations Of The... LP, available from Roaratorio.

I just finished it yesterday. Now I am going to.. I dunno, read a book or something. Try to regain my social skills.

Punch and Judy, Jan Svankmajer, 1966

Dancing, Bruno Bozzetto, 1991

It's So Nice To Have a Wolf Around The House, Paul Fierlinger, 1979

A friend sent me a story about Paul and Sally Fierlinger's 2009 film My Dog Tulip, and I was reminded how much I enjoy Fierlinger's work.
Part One


Part Two

Sciany (Walls) Piotr Dumala, 1988

Candy's Film, Candy Spliner, 1973

Since it's Sunday, how about a whole bunch of nudity?

It's tasteful.

What?

Watching Grass Grow, Don Hertzfeldt, 2005

Fascinating* time lapse film in which animator Don Hertzfeldt..well... animates.
Illustrating, among other things, the importance of rocking out to the animation process (it is vital. VITAL)

This is an extra on Hertzfeldt's Bitter Films Volume One anthology, which you can PURCHASE HERE.

*to me, anyway.

Adagio, Garri Bardin, 2000

Stunning, expressive stop motion from Garri Bardin.

Jak działa jamniczek , Julian Antonisz, 1971

No translation (I think the title is "how a Dachshund works")
but I really like this one anyway.

Lights Out, Paul Terry, 1942

Old Mother Clobber, Gene Deitch, 1958

The Trip, Shamus Culhane, 1967

Via CartoonBrew

Good Noose, Robert McKimson, 1962

Scoolhouse Rock; I Got Six, Phil Kimmelman, 1973

Funky multiplication.

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, Aleksandr Petrov, 1992

AMAZING work with paint on glass. Based on the story by Fydor Dostoyevesky.

The Mystery of Space, Juliy Kun, 2006

Based on the work of Rene Magritte.

Hobby, Daniel Szczechura, 1968

Join the Freedom Force, Martha Colburn, 2009

Perfect, Sally Walker, 2005

The Lump, John Weldon, 1991

John and Karen, Matthew Walker, 2007

Kon' (The Horse) Witold Giersz,1967

The Well: A Parable, Edward Sturlis, 1967

Plus and Minus,Eino Ruutsalo, 1967

Cowbrain, Paul Hamilton, 2008

Sita Sings the Blues, Nina Paley, 2008

This is the full movie.

Your Name Here Presents...

Sita Sings the Blues is an AUDIENCE-FUNDED PROJECT released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License.


"Sita Sings the Blues" is based on the Hindu epic "The Ramayana". Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina Paley is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of torch singer Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told." It is written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley.

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO THE FILMMAKER HERE.


What? You hate watching movies on your computer? You can BUY THE DVD! Or a t-shirt, or a pin.

Nina Paley discusses the copyright issues that have plagued her film here.







A tip o' the pants to Roxy for telling me about this film.

How to Play Football,Jack Kinney ,1943

Tulips Shall Grow, George Pal, 1941

Think About Your Troubles (excerpt from The Point) Fred Wolf,1971

A song from the classic film. Music by Harry Nilsson.

Educated Fish, Max Fleischer, 1936

Hamateur Night, Tex Avery, 1939

RSA Animate, Andrew Park, 2009 - 2013

RSA Animate is a fascinating series, showing sped up footage of artist Andrew Park illustrating talks hosted by The Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce. The amazing thing about these shorts, at least to me, is that they make everything the speaker is saying so stunningly clear. I can pick out exactly which points to agree and disagree with, and why. I think it's not just the fact that they are illustrated: there is something about watching the illustration in progress that keeps me utterly focused on the lecture. It resembles the way I have always taken notes in class (in one particular psychology class, I gained myself a bit of an audience.) Except it's better. Or at least, neater. At any rate, I am posting ALL OF THEM. Because I love you. Or because I don't want you to get anything done today. Up yours, Tuesday.




Stein Ringen; The Economic Consequences of Mr. Brown:

Matthew Taylor; Left Brain, Right Brain: Steven Davis and Stephen Lubner; Superfreakonomics: Phillip Zimbardo; The Secret Powers of Time: Jeremy Rifkin; The Empathic Civilization: Barbara Ehrenrich; Smile or Die: David Harvey; The Crises of Capitalism: Dan Pink; Drive; The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: Slavoj Zizek; First as Tragedy, Then as Farce; You simply MUST subscribe to their Youtube Channel. ETA: Matthew Taylor;21st Century Enlightenment Ken Robinson; Changing Educational Paradigms RSA Christmas Greeting Stephen Pinker: Language as a Window into Human Nature Evgeny Morozov:The Internet in Society; Empowering or Censoring Citizens? Renata Salecl: Choice The Divided Brain: Ian McGilChrist The Power of Networks; Manuel Lima The Truth About Dishonesty: Dan Ariely The Power of Outrospection, Roman Krznaric Re-Imagining Work, Dave Coplin This isn't an RSA joint; it's a wonderful TED talk by Denis Dutton (RIP, 1944- 12.28. 2010) but Andrew Park does his thing here too, and THAT's beautiful. TED:: Denis Dutton; A Darwinian Theory of Beauty