Flip Book

I've never read "T. Tembarom" by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and now I never will.

A Clockwork Oomny

"A Clockwork Orange" is Nadsat for "A robotically responsive man". Nadsat isn't a real language, either, it's the little dialect that was made-up by Anthony Burgess in his novel, "A Clockwork Orange". This novel was later made into a movie, featuring the rebellious and heinous acts of a futuristic, "ultra-violent" and rebellious youth, Alex, who is later made to pay for his crimes through mentally torturous experiments, and becomes mentally sensitive to violence.

The molodoy nadsat that dratses old lewdies.

This movie is not for the faint-hearted eunuch jelly, and I know this because I am a pretty squeamish guy, and it was near traumatizing. But if you have the guttiwuts to sit through it, it's a very interessovating psychological thriller with terrifying implications.

But anywho, about that Nadsat. Anthony Burgess decided to narrate his book from the first person view of Alex, and as with any time period, his language is laced with slang. But in order to draw the illusion of the strangeness but vague similarity of the future, he made up words and used them as if they were actual words. Throughout the novel, and movie, certain words would be seamlessly replaced by their Nadsat translations, and consistently, too. Burgess took Russian translations for most of the words, and altered much of them to make them slightly more strange. And for others, he abbreviated synonyms, for example, "money" is called cutter, which is reminiscent of "bread and butter". And for the rest, he just made stuff up. But exactly why did he do this?

Being a book published in 1962, some notoriously odd slang was beginning to form. Predicting that this phenomenon of people making up words would continue for the rest of the existence of humanity, as always has been done, he decided to use dialect as a way of adding to the illusion of time travel. Futuristic scenery is always a fascinating subject. Because of elements like clothing, music, architecture and dialect, when we go in to watch a movie, we can sense that the setting is either in the past because things looks familiar, or in the present because things looks familiar. But oddly enough, we can also tell when something is futuristic, even though we have no idea what the future will look like.

Dialect is often recycled, when words become twisted to mean something else and sound slightly different over a period of time. So by displaying a highly distorted, amusingly silly form of language, we automatically infer that this alien slang is the process of many, many "recyclings" of language. The elements of these made-up words make the movie that much more detailed.

Animation Rears its Round, Black Ears

As you may have noticed, fellow Art and technology student or curious onlooker, I have been discussing "motion pictures", pictures that are so barely similar and played so rapidly in sequence that it gives the illusion of motion. Such is every movie, just a serious of dozens, thousands, millions of photos. It wasn't long after film was invented with camera and photographs that people started to realize "Wait, can't we just DRAW movies?"

"Toot-toot!" -Steamboat

Well honestly, the idea began to float around for some time with little animated shorts and shows, like Felix the Cat, and productions of the famous Walt Disney, like Silly Symphonies and Steamboat Willie. But it wasn't until "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Fellowship of the Apple" came out (I added the fellowship part, don't throw a riot) that the possibility of pure animation as a mode of cinematic entertainment was relevant. The first full length film made from scratch and paint was produced. And, here's what surprised everyone, it made money! Animation had really begun to well-up in popularity before its release, becoming a fun little area to venture in for the artist.

Stop motion videos and animations are all over, now, like the infamous "GIF" image format, which despite being infamous for relatively poor photo quality in color range, has animation support, allowing for humorous little quips and snippets composed of several images in sequence to be pasted all over the web.

Obligatory Team Fortress material. Deal with it.

And also, I am reminded of the "game" called "Gary's Mod". This little "game" is... well, it isn't really a game on its own. It's a program that allows you to use props and characters from almost any PC game you may own, put them in any setting of almost any game you own, and mess around. You can strap rockets to chairs, make people with tiny heads, and most notably, pose characters and freeze facial expressions. Before the game developer, VALVe, created the game filming software "Source Film Maker", people used Gary's Mod (commonly called GMod) to make movies. Creators would pose the characters and take a picture, pose the characters a little differently and take a picture, then repeat the process for hours. Then, they would assemble the pictures, play them in sequence, add music, and create little animations, then immediately upload them to YouTube. The poor production quality contributed to the remarkably low frame rate, creating humorously abrupt and choppy animations to experiment with, leading to the evolution and demand of Source Film Maker, which is developed and almost exclusively used for Team Fortress 2 videos. However, many many aspiring animators are getting jobs from the attention grabbed by their high quality videos and animations. Here's a good one that won several awards and was actually played on live television at the international, annual "Video Game Awards", made by an animator for Bethesda. Once again, Team Fortress 2 related.


With all the GMod and SFM videos being made, I strongly believe that the amateur animation movement is being promoted and dabbled in more than ever, and I'm proud to promote it.

Grand Theft Auto: Twentieth Century.

No sir, this isn't leaked footage of the long lost GTA prequel from the 1900's; this is a real-life movie! This was produced as one of the films by the infamous Edison Film Company (which, if you read the little footnote of my last blog, you'd know I have this prejudiced distaste for). I was going to describe the ingenuity of Edison and his undeniably philanthropic efforts to make science and arts a purely entertaining medium with no motives for money-hoarding whatsoever, but now that I think about it, that would probably just devolve into me using all sorts of bitter sarcasm to jab at him for effortlessly ripping-off the lives of creatures and humans and their honest creativities, all in an attempt to become a business powerhouse.

And... that would be mean.

So let's look at this video of a few men robbing a train. For almost 1900 years, the public has been asking "How do I rob a train?" And finally, the Edison company comes to the rescue and puts all of our greatest troubles and wonders at rest with this motion picture! Right in the decade when pictures began to magically move, thanks to science, this movie was released. It was silent, because the technology to record sound had not yet been created (stolen and commercialized) by the Edison company. So in theatres, a live pianist would be playing a live piano in front of the live audience to add flair to the not-so-live action on screen. Which makes sense, I mean, it's kind of uncomfortable just watching a bunch of silent guns go off and hearing the "tickatickatickatick" of the projector. But I must admit, this video becomes much more entertaining if you manage to play this video in a separate tab...



But then again, that song goes with literally every thing.

As I watched this, I was reminded of a little game I played, Runescape. Ever heard of it? Thousands of teenaged boys cry out in agony as they regret the mindless weeks they spent on that game. I, however, enjoyed the game. It's sort of medieval, I suppose, but there are pirates and monkeys, and ninjas, and robots, and robot zombies, and ninja monkeys, and zombie pirates, and ninja pirate zombies (seriously). I'm reminded of a little story called "The Great Brain Robbery", about an undead evil pirate, Rabid Jack, creating an army of bionic zombie pirates to rule the world. He creates his army by implanting the brains of monks from a little island into his undead minions to create an army of zombie-mechs with average-intelligence. It's a very, very serious plot.

Half pirate, half robot, half pirate ship, half zombie, half monk. The ultimate fighting machine.

But about this movie, at the end, do you see the man shooting his gun at the audience/camera? Just imagine, a room full of people who have never seen a movie before and are convinced that everything on the screen is actually happening. Now imagine showing somebody shoot a gun at them. I can imagine that pure hysteria was unloaded into the crowd, as people thought they were being really shot at.

It's like 3D, except, the third D is unnecessary because nobody knows the difference. I just thought that'd be an interesting thing to imagine.

First Men (to look like they sorta were) on the Moon

Try your best to ignore the non canonical creepy music and enjoy this film. This is one of the first films ever, created by Georges Melies, back when movie editing was done by hand and good* ol' Thomas Edison had invented the first movie player. Melies is known for practically pioneering "special effects". It may look cheesy to us, with what we could call nowadays "poor quality effects". But considering the fact that we can have a movie like "Transformers" exist, where a giant robot that turns into a car beats up a robot that turns into a helicopter, and when you consider the fact that nobody is really phased by the reality that we can do that sort of thing, it isn't really fair to call this movie one of lower-quality. This guy, Melies, was a genius. When film first came out, a series of thousands of pictures on a strip, he was one of the first to realize you could edit the film to seemingly alter reality. In the beginning of the movie, some "wizards", I presume, turn little sticks and telescopes into chairs.

And that drove people nuts! It was ingenious!  And then, they decide to go to the moon by building a big gun, and having some people sit inside a "bullet", then shooting at the moon.

We realize nowadays that, just as turning sticks into chairs on film is old-hat, that sitting inside a gun is not how you get to the moon. But at this point, nobody really thought too hard about doing that because, well... The moon is far away, it's science fiction to them.

I know you're in there, Bobby Goddard...

But anywho, while I watched this movie, I was instantly remembered of Dr Robert Goddard, the father of the rocket. Do you know how he imagined space travel would look like? He imagined it, as a young boy in 1899 before this movie was released, to be like it was pictured in this movie, and because of this image of being fired out of a gun into space in, he was inspired to later grow up and invent the rocket, conceptualize going to the moon and possibly planets, almost 50 years after his death reincarnating himself into the robotic dog of Jimmy Neutron under the admittedly conspicuous alias "Goddard", and thus carried on his legacy of space travel ingenuity via an emission of brainwaves of his hidden knowledge of rocketeering and space travel technology into the brain of Jimmy Neutron while he slept.

Okay, I may have made that part up. Maybe. But really, Georges started this whole "special effects" business, the field that I secretly want a job in. And while Georges was admittedly wrong about there being mushrooms  on the moon, he was a genius and years ahead of his time.

And like all proper geniuses, he was a bit nutty. Here's a photo of the Melies family, guess which one is Georges.

Go ahead, guess.

He even played the air guitar before the electric guitar existed. Truly a marvel of a mind.


*Thomas Edison was probably not as nice of a genius as everyone thought, as revealed in the recent proTesla movement. See TheOatmeal. Discretion advised: True facts, innuendos, and vulgar language.

Black Face Minstrels

So did that offend you? Well honestly, I'd hope it did offend you at least a little bit, because nowadays people won't stand for anything like this. Times have changed in nearly 100 years, as we all know, but still, this happened, people got a kick out of it, and nobody thought anything of it. As I say this, I'll just let you know that I'm going to use the words "white" and "black" to describe the races. Because honestly... let's grow up a little, guys. It's terminology. We won't bother calling a white person by their European decent, and not everyone who is "black" is an African American. And while I honestly don't think of any humans as less than others in value, there's just so much drama surrounding these issues that I know I'll tick someone off for assuming I'm showing hostility. So, sorry if my use of these words in such a sensitive culture is offensive, but hey, at least I mean nothing by it.

The Black-Faced Minstrel shows were little comic sketches of white men/women (at first, because soon, black men and women became attracted to acting in them) who would paint their faces with black paint and act, um... According to exaggerated stereotypes of the 1920s for the black population. And honestly, nobody thought anything of it, not even the people they were making fun of! In fact, they liked it! Why? because they were included. They felt outcast once slavery was removed, sort of like half-citizens, so getting some sort of acknowledgement in the entertainment industry was a big encouragement to them.


Nowadays, people would throw things and break stuff once they saw this. But has it really disappeared? And are blacks the only targets? Well strangely, there's been somewhat of an odd reversal in some cases. But first, let's look at Die Antwoord. She's like Lady GaGa, but much less... Well... You wouldn't hear her songs on the pop radio station. One of her songs, "Fatty Boom Boom", has a music video in which she paints herself black and gives herself yellow eyes. Is she imitating black-faced minstrels, or a black cat? Honestly, I'm not at all sure.

But that's pretty terrifying. Perhaps there are still more remains of this satire? Perhaps it isn't always meant to be in insult? Perhaps it isn't always the blacks who are the targets? In my favorite, FAVORITE video game of all time, Team Fortress 2, there are nine playable characters, each one very unique and with a specific personality and distinct ethnicity. There's a young-aged Bostonian, a crazed American warhero wannabe, a mumbling and muffled pyromaniac in a gas-mask, a Scottish demolitions specialist with an alcohol problem that can only be described as stereotypically Scottish, a Russian heavyweight, an Australian bushman, a German medical practitioner who may or may not have had actual medical training, a Texan supergenius, and a French ladykiller. So... guess which one is black.

Well, as a little joke, they made the Scot the black one! Why? Because it is a part of their very stylistic humor. They mean nothing bad about it and they're never racist with it, but instead, they're breaking the stereotypes. Ever heard of a black Scotsman? Because not many other people have. In fact, only 0.16% of Scotland's population is black! Quite the minority! Here's a little video they released about the character. The TF2 developers are known for making little "Meet the ____" videos for each of their 9 characters (and one for a sandwich), so here's his. Discretion alert: he blows people up into cartoony bits, and swears once or twice.

So, in a way, they sort of did put a "black face" on a "white man". Scots aren't typically recognized as being black, and so, one could in fact argue that Tavish DeGroot (that's his name) is a minstrel of sorts! In the video, he gets bleeped out, but the line he says is "I'm a black, Scottish cyclops... They got more [censored content] monsters in the Loch Ness than they got the likes of me..." He's my favorite character to play as, by the way.

Black faced minstrels may be seen as rude and absurd, but little, milder versions of it exist today. Even white-faced minstrels are around, in a sort of manner! Steve Urkel from Family Matters could be portrayed as a white-faced minstrel, picking on the typical nerd which is usually associated with being white. And yet, he's a hit.

Popera Culture

People are scared of opera. Really, they are. It's fancy, expensive, long, and to the typical modern man, it's hard to understand (like a hummer-limo). However, little do these anti-opera non-believers know... Opera is everywhere! Arguably the predecessor to absolutely every other kind of multimedia entertainment, it has its root in pretty much every mode of entertainment that people pay to see. Not only that, but opera is also alluded to much more than one might notice. One of the more recognizable ones is this...

Sound familiar? I would hope so, because it is all over the place. In the next video, I've discovered a playlist that, should you choose to watch in its entirety, contains many references to operas. But to start, I'd like to point out one particular video in the playlist that contains the above song. Ever seen "Up"?


Pixar recognizes the importance of Opera. They make many references to it, as one could imagine. And also, remember that Madam Butterfly song I posted a while ago? Well it's parodied in a commercial. The sadness and sorrow in the song is perfectly coupled alongside the products of a most unexpected company.

Not even cereal is safe! Keep your eyes and ears peeled, opera is integrated in the most unlikely of outlets, and if one looks and listens with avid ears, one can see these little intrusions in thousands of locations. It only seems fair. I mean, if opera started this all, the least we could do is to let it show up!

Barber of Seville

So i watched my first opera today, Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Or, "The Barber of Seville", if you don't know how to speak Italian. Ever hear someone imitate opera singing and go something like "Figaro! Figaro! Figaroooo!"? Well, yeah, that originated from this opera. Figaro is the name of the barber, and no, he isn't a barber like we have. Barbers back when this was composed, 1815, did normal barberish hair stuff, as well as medical practices, pulling teeth, and plumbing. And in that particular song of his, he's bragging about how famous and good at barbering he is, but keeps getting interrupted by people asking for his attention. He pretty much says "Oh, blah, all I ever hear is 'Figaro! Figaro! Figarooo! Figaroooooo!'" What I find interesting, though, is that Figaro (arguably) isn't even the main character! But without spoiling anything, he helps a guy do a thing to do something for a person because that person doesn't want that thing to be done by someone else.

Here's the link to the YouTube videos I watched (with subtitles, if you had trouble reading the title of the opera). Part I and II both add up to, roughly, two and a half hours, so if you wanna watch it... Sit tight.




I really enjoyed it all. It's actually pretty funny, too! I'm not sure if all the people in the audience spoke Italian, or if there was some sort of translation available to them, because they all laughed at the right times. The opera contains some "breaking of the fourth wall", which I found interesting. Oh, speaking of "the fourth wall", most people use that phrase without really knowing what it means! People usually associate that phrase with when a character becomes self-aware, and realizes they're fictional and being observed by an audience. (When a character realizes they aren't being observed by anyone, we don't know what to call it, because we've never observed someone not being observed.) And while that technically is true, I even used it in my previous post, the fourth wall is best, and most accurately, described as the separation between characters and audiences. It can be spacial or physical, like when the president holds a conference on television. He's raised behind a podium, usually, so the fourth wall is that abstract space of characteristic that makes him different from the audience. Or if you're watching on television, the television screen is the fourth wall, because it separates the performer (Mr.O) from the audience (America, or really anyone with access to Fox News) for safety reasons, and for emphasis.

But it was intriguing, in content. I liked the story a ton, and it made it that much easier to appreciate this...


Rabbit of Seville from TravisD on Vimeo.

Madama Butterfly

In this video, I felt a strange, unsettling air in the very first second. Something didn't feel right. The ambiance, song, stiff movements, saturated colors all were very foreboding.. And for good reason.

As the animation comes to an end, we are forced to see the joy of Madame Butterfly, her hope for the American Sailor, and the child growing up. However, instead of the happy, joyous reversal we are built up to have, we see the man taking away the child to be with him and his wife. It is saddening and disturbing to see the child torn away from their umbilical cord into the mother, symbolizing that the father did more than just take her child. He took away a part of her. Something so close and dear to her that it became a part of her. It brought her joy, and he ripped it out as his to take.

Soon after, Madame Butterfly breaks the fourth wall. Aware of her doll-like nature, she runs out of the set and begins to destroy herself. She removes her outer flesh and skin, bearing her metal frame, in her humility, totally exposed. She takes herself apart, completing the self-destruction incited by her lover. Then, reduced to a heap of metal and a screw, she unplugs the light next to her, to waste away in silence and solace.

I was disturbed at the imagery, and mortality bore its ugly nature.