{Inspiration: Jazz that Nobody Asked For by Benny Box}

I love shorts, especially animated shorts.
 In this week's Vimeo-staff-picks-sobbing-because-talented-people round, I ended up watching Jazz that Nobody asked for by Benny Box. 

Jazz that nobody asked for from Benny Box on Vimeo.

In the author's words, this is what the film is about:

Sometimes a song can get stuck in your mind. Become a little piece of unwanted music, that keeps looping for the rest of your day.

Neurologists claim that stuck  songs are like thoughts we're trying to suppress. The harder we try to think about them, the more we can't help it. The phenomenon is also known as earworms, and the ongoing 'dim di da da dum' causes a kind of brain itch you can't scratch.

Jazz that nobody asked for is an ode to all those unwanted songs out there, that have nowhere to go. The music that haunts this film, is the amazing swing jazz tune 'Quaker City Jazz' by the long forgotten 'Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters'. In 1937 they were the first jazz big band to feature an african american vocalist.

Oh those unwanted songs that just get stuck in your head... How I hate them. HATE THEM!
I personally love the jazz players and the expressions of the characters in the entire film {especially the animals and the nurse running away screaming with fire}

{Inspiration: Live the Language}

Every time I go to Vimeo aka I-want-to-cry-because-life-and-talented-people-who-make-videos-and-such I have a list of videos I watch more times than I should. Case in point: EF International Language Centers promo videos.

Beautiful stills, a lovely selection of typefaces and {me being me} foreign cities make this videos one of my favorites. Promoting: Vancouver, Sydney, Los Angeles, Beijing, London, Barcelona and Paris, the latter being one of my favorites. All videos directed by Gustav Johansson.

EF - Live The Language - Paris from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Barcelona from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

EF - Live The Language - Beijing from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

{Inspiration: Lisa Congdon's 365 Days of Hand Lettering

I'm a sucker for hand lettering.
I love the way it looks, how it makes design something special plus it's typography. What's not to love about typography? Since I can't really do any good with typography myself, I have to cry and sob watching other's artist magnificent work.
So when I came across Lisa Congdon's 365 Days of Hand Lettering project I just zomg!
In her own words, the project is about:

Each day for 365 days for the year 2012 I will post an image of something I have hand-lettered: a letter of the alphabet, a word, a phrase, a quote, a name. Some of the lettering will be based on traditional forms of calligraphy or vintage lettering and some will be of my own design.

 Here are some of the days of hand lettering {photo credit from Lisa Congdon 365 days of Hand Lettering site. Make sure to check the rest out}

♪♫ Le Festin by Michael Giacchino

{Inspiration: Paris vs New York by TonyMiotto}

It's a motion graphic kind of day {it's always a motion graphic kind of day so that last sentence was irrelevant}. Delight your eyes with Paris vs New York by TonyMiotto.

Paris vs New York from TonyMiotto on Vimeo.

{Inspiration: Persepolis}

Persepolis is an animated film directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi based on the latter's graphic novel of the same name, winner of the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.


Made in black and white, the film is about a girl, Marjane, living in Iran during the Iranian Revolution.  

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs. - (x)

Making women wear niqabs/ hijabs, sexist remarks made by men and a series of laws created by the Iranian government are some of the topics featuring on the film.

I think I'm going to watch this again. Yes, I like it that much.

{Inspiration: Dimanche}

Looking at the Oscars 2012 nominees I end up in the Best short film, animated category. Since I tend to judge books/films by its cover {yeah yeah...} the poster for Dimanche by animator/illustrator Patrick Doyon caught my eye. The reason is very simple: the drawing style. Ever since I saw a similar style of drawing in my English instituted book eons ago, I fell in love with it.

So I started looking and looking for this shirt film and came across the trailer:

Dimanche / Sunday (trailer) from doiion on Vimeo.

As I expected, it lost to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore {no surprise there} but I do believe this is a really good animated short *cough*blindbydrawingstyletalk*cough*.

{Inspiration: The Alphabet by n9ve}

Delight yourself with this awesome yet simple animation by n9ve {Make sure to check out more of their work}

The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

Just randomly looking at videos on vimeo. A good thing to do if you ask me.
Also you might notice I made some changes on the template and I thing I'm gonna stay with this one {since I've change it like 4 - 5 times}