50 Greatest Cartoons
Cityrag has a list of the 50 Greatest cartoons as voted on by the animation industry in 1994. There is a Youtube link to those films in the post. Wonderful to see that many of those films have been on Ticklebooth.
Marshmallow Breakout
While you’re playing the game, a man inside is very busy eating marshmallows.
From the 77th Kinchan’s Kasou Grand-Prix (2007)
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Related: Kasou Taishou
Cyriak’s animation mix
a compilation of loads of my little bits and bobs set to one of my tunes.
A video that is overflowing in wit and ideas. Repetition never seemed so funny or pleasurable.
Watch it – via Metafilter
Ticklebooth’s Best Online Videos of 2006
Sorting through the 1200 posts in 2006 (a little more than 3 per day spread out over 110 categories), it is hard to genuinely find one video that is a cut above to name it the best of 2006. So, I have decided to select the best from each format and then select others that best exemplify the many categories.
However, if I were forced to pick one video from this past year, it would have to be YouTubers. I wouldn’t call it the best of the year or even the best of any one category, but it best captures what 2006 was all about. The subject of the piece was Youtube, its personalities, and the videoblogging phenomenon. A very relevant subject since Time magazine called the Youtube celebs (& other user generators?!) the people of the year, while YouTube was named the invention of the year. Videoblogging is undeniably one of the hottest current trends.
Youtubers captured this phenomenon at its infancy in all of its wobbly baby steps — the confusion over its purpose and direction, the yearning to say something, to belong to a community, and the wonder of looking at one’s own self.
2006 was also a great year for music videos. The production value of current music videos is pale in comparison to the videos of the 90′s, but current graphics tools (and artists) make up for any such losses. If anything, as a medium, the music video seems to be choking under the weight of graphics and animation. And though much of it is excellent work, it seems to cancel each other out. Which brings us to my very mainstream pick.
Best Music Video: Ok Go “Here it goes again”
This video stood out not only because of the ingenious use of treadmills but also because of its apparent simplicity. A single shot, no fancy lighting, a cheesy background, and a Salvation Army wardrobe were all that it took to make the biggest video hit of the year.
And we covered the hell out of it! We had cats on treadmills , dancing legos, Ok Go performing the song live and several imitations of A Million Ways to Have Fun.
Noteworthy mentions:
Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” – Would’ve been my pick if it weren’t for Ok Go. Everything from the song to the graphics was executed in perfection. There was also a cool live version.
Jeffrey Lewis “Anxiety Attack – Directed by Jerome Derathé (I am keeping an eye out for this guy).
Zero 7 “Futures” – One song, two great videos.
Hafdis Huld “Tomoko” – Can’t tell you how many times I have watched this. I don’t expect you to understand.
Papas Fritas “Hey He You Say” – Rivals “Here it Goes again” in fun factor.
Franz Ferdinand “L. Wells”
The SoftLightes “Heart Made Of Sound”
Coldcut “The State We’re In”
Kanye West “Touch the Sky”
Bob Dylan “When the deal goes down”
Kelis “Millionaire”
Regina Spektor “Fidelity”
Battle “Children”
Otafuku Rex “Do Me”
Wolf Parade “Modern World”
The Tourist “Indian Giver”
Smiling Addiction
Best Live Action Short: Duplass Brothers “The Intervention”
A film that I wish I had made. One confused man combats his friends who demand the truth. This short feels like a gymnast on a balance beam approaching his inevitable ball crunching fall. The acting is tremendous and is easily the Best Acting Ensemble. Make sure to check out the feature-length film by the Duplass Brothers, “The Puffy Chair” which is now available on DVD.
Notables:
Alive In Jorburg
The Ballad of Gabrielle
Best Animated Short: Pjotr Sapegin “Aria”
Rarely do animated characters induce such empathy. Other filmmakers would have needed a feature length film to roll out Aria’s elaborate plot. In Aria, metaphors act as shortcuts but also as little emotional pins piercing into those voodoo doll-like figurines.
Notables:
Wind Along the Coast
Bendito Machine
Flatlife
Le grand sommeil
The Man Who Planted Trees
Ryan
Best Abstract Short: Tony Comley “Abigail”
It begins like a metaphor — a culture partying its way to a crash — but it evolves into a dream about love trying to heal. The rotoscoping manages to maintain the appropriate distance between dream and reality. The ending is quite beautiful even though I’d wished it had carried on. It is all about the mood.
Notables:
Contorted Conditions – Episode 9
The Owl
Fallen featuring Locast
Kite
Self Portrait
Once We Were Penguins
Pro Radii
The Critical Moment
12 Verses in Water
Best Comedic short: Le Montage
I am not much of a romantic comedy kinda guy. But Le Montage is one of those romantic comedies that is made for a guy like me. The short is sprinkled with montages that feels more like Rocky than French Kiss.
Notables:
Extreme Skipping
Pubic Hair Fashion
Iraqi insurgents don”t need subtitles!
Crime wave
Turbo Stroker
What’s It Gonna Be?
Fuck Highlands Ranch
Canoodles
Dubya Screws the Country
Best Television: Congressman Westmoreland on Colbert
The biggest movers and shakers in (American) television were Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The Democrats pulled off an unbelievable victory in the mid-term elections largely because of these guys. Check out our extensive election day coverage.
Notables:
Stephen Colbert vs Eleanor Holmes Norton
Colbert Rips Bush
Daily Show – Uncaged Heat
Daily Show – Stem Cells
Best Commercial: Eatons “Aubergine”
It is quite long for an ad, and it is prettier than the style that it imitates so well, but there is no question that this is a masterpiece. Though I realize that this was an ad at the very end, the word Aubergine is etched into my memory.
Notables:
Happydent White
The First Post ad
iPod Color Nano
Nike Hurt
The Love Story
Miller auditions
Wes Anderson’s American Express ad
Best Virals: Evolution of Dance
It is hard to resist posting everything we think is cool or funny. Our focus here at Ticklebooth is to post videos that had something to say and/or were exceptionally creative in some way. To a large extent, we have stuck to this tune even if at times we have strayed from the course. As you will see from the Evolution of Dance and our selection of virals, they usually celebrate human ingenuity.
Notables:
The Donut rapper
Hannes Coetzee
Scratch n Spin
Matrix Ping Pong
Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva
Al-Jazeera
Sexiest Magic Trick
Best Documentary: Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke
The most popular Ticklebooth post for 2006 (thanks to the good people at BoingBoing). Spike Lee’s doc on the Katrina disaster was brilliant, timely, and much needed.
Notables:
The Sand People of the Kalahari
A Glass Wall
Donald Trump discusses Citizen Kane
Best Video Podcasts: Ze Frank’s The Show
Even though I am quite fond of my video podcast site, the title deservedly belongs to Ze Frank. Whether it be telling of the news, Ze’s life lessons, or the almost shocking but appropriate metaphors, it is hard to deny the splendor of Ze’s brain.
Notables:
Squigglebooth – Ticklebooth’s raunchy brother. Felicia did a “best of” here.
Four Eyed Monsters – I just wish these guys would post more.
Chasing Windmills – Gets better and better.
JerryTime
Dave Huth
Young American Bodies
Shac shorts
Best in Categories:
Slow Motion: Pitter Patter – I love this video! Slow motion never felt so good!
Stop motion: Between you and me. Others: The past of pikapika
Art: Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase
Love: Been you all along
Timelapse: Baraka. Also: Greenpeace Breathe Ad
Action: Kung Fu vs Yoga. Also: En garde
Remix: 8 1/2 Mile – This was made in the stars. An absolute perfect match.
Cool Graphics: MTV Haiku. Also: Shaken
Old School: Anti-Pornography Propaganda film
Disturbing: Evolution
Journey of a Hero: One Red Paperclip. Also: Crutch
Stunts: It was the year of the Borat. Others: Sour Death Balls
Burton’s Universe: Vincent. Directed by guess who?
War: The Bloody Circus
Human Ingenuity: Tale of How
Nature: Inner Life of a Cell. Also: Meteorite Collision
Is it Funny?: Carlitopolis
Painfully Real: Blurring Fat
Playful Innocence: Mr. & Mrs. Blue Skies
Cool Graphics: MTV Haiku. Also: Shaken
Editing: Rockwars & What is this
You can check out Dek‘s equally awesome picks for 2006 here. If you are still aren’t worn out from watch so many films, may I suggest some other lists. If you like this post, take a look at our other feature stories.
In closing, I’d like to thank all of you readers and the other writers here at Ticklebooth. Special thanks to Dek who manages to unearth the rarest of videos everyday!
Japan Destroyed and Rebuilt
Here’s a couple of Japan themed clips, showing human ingenuity, at its worst and best. I like the way they match, giving much more sense to each other.
The first one, is a CGI re-enactment of the explosion of Little Boy, the first atomic bomb ever used against civil population in history. It is an excerpt from Hiroshima, a BBC documentary.
The second is an old post from my own blog which I’ve just updated. Japan is a visual piece directed by Nobuo Takahashi that shows a Japanese city changing from a rural area to a metropolis.
Watch Hiroshima. (Flash Video)
Watch Japan. (MPEG-4)
Protrude Flow
Creator’s motive:
I wanted to create a space where people could experience the dynamism of physical development. I decided that manipulating fluid by voice input would be an optimal means of interaction. The experiments I did shaping magnetic fluid with a metallic luster were astonishing and exciting from start to finish.
The tremendous energy in even the smallest movement of the fluid as it gushes up, flows, and falls in an endless kaleidoscope of patterns is art I want to offer for people’s enjoyment. I am deeply grateful to everyone who worked with me on this project
As a child or an adult, watery-solid-stuff (gooey) fascinates me and, I assume, most people. Why is gooey stuff so pleasurable to watch?
This is Dynamation!
A featurette on Ray Harryhausen‘s Dynamation technique, with images from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
Bonus: Creatures List. A video compilation of every Ray Harryhausen stop motion animated creature in feature films, presented in chronological order.
Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva
One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Stunningly beautiful but relatively simple. Japanese Buddhism (and much of the Oriental Buddhism) is centered on developing two emotions within you. Namely, to be compassionate to others (common among religions) but to also constantly create a sense of awe within you of the world, especially in regards to nature.
The video certainly does that. It shows the human shape in a dynamic form that can work in perfect synchronicity with others. Like old Hollywood musical numbers, the sheer number of bodies can be overwhelming and, in this case, become a mystical event.
Don’t miss this, you will probably want to watch it again.
Rinpa Sai
Another cool stop-motion group art video.
Fast and Reliable
A documentary about a bicycle courier with a very important message. The director is Tom Soper.
Released with a Creative Commons License.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
via Atom Films
Favorite Scenes: When We Were Kings (the climatic fight)
If you haven’t seen When We Were Kings, you should. A Oscar winning documentary on the famous Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in Zaïre in the 70′s. I am not a big boxing guy but this film was so moving, mostly because of Ali and his connection to the Africa.
When it came to time for the fight, it felt like going back to work after a wonderful vacation. At the time, I didn’t know who had won the fight but watching the film, I’d guessed it would be Foreman. I had never seen a more intimidating boxer than Foreman.
With the commentary of Normail Mailer, the fight becomes a mythic struggle. Young vs Old, strong vs the dance, skill vs art, Foreman vs Ali. The fight lives up to the hype.
[Spoler Alert] Ali gets beaten to a pulp, by design. After very round of Foreman’s beatings, Ali responds with verbal abuse. Foreman unable to get Ali down tires rapidly, and in the 8th round, Ali springs into action. Four to five punches is all it takes to bring the tiring Foreman down. It is incredible since Ali had taken such a beating at the ropes for almost 7 rounds. The film also briefly goes into Foreman’s transformation after the fight, from an anti-social boxer to the sweet television personality of today.
Ali became one of my heroes after watching the film. I can’t tell you how many times, women have found that offensive. Since Ali was a big womanizer among other things. But Ali, unlike his peers, spoke and acted for what he believed in. He might have been an egomaniac but he was also genuinely interested in using his fame for the good of others. His stand against Vietnam was unprecedented. If he wasn’t robbed blind by Don King, I’m sure he would have given most of his money to charity.
U-min
A Japanese dancing crew does one an outstanding routine. Their slow-motion is something you oughta see. Definitely!
Watch it. (Flash Video)
The Simpsons at The Actor’s Studio!!
This isn’t a joke, The Simpons cast were actually at The Actor’s Studio. Pop culture scales new heights. Sadly, the editing stinks. For whatever reason, the producers of the The Actor’s Studio suffocated the show with a lot of cutaways from The Simpsons, instead of just showing the actors talking. Which kills the point of the show, to show the transformation of these actors to these characters. Notice that the actor behind Marge’s voice is never seen on camera. In the group shot, she magically disappears.
Anyways, if you are a Simpsons fan, it doesn’t get better than this.
Watch Part one – Part two – Part three
The Man with Two Heads
“A French mime does his rather unusual routine. You probably should not take drugs before viewing this.”
Watch it. (Flash Video)
The Man Who Planted Trees
The story of a shepard who repairs the ruined ecosystem of a secluded valley by singlehandedly cultivating a forest over a thirty year period.
A short film directed by Frédéric Back based on a story by Jean Giono. Won at the Oscars and in Cannes, back in 1988.
This is the English version, with the narration of Christopher Plummer. The French version had Philippe Noiret (RIP) as recitant.
Watch it. (Flash Video)
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