Hasta La Ideas

Shanghai Expo 2010: architectural photographer Roland Halbe has sent us some interior shots of the Danish Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group. (more…)

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Aardman Animations has recently launched a new, self-funded short film programme to showcase the talents of its directors and the first two films have been released.

Fly, shown above, tells the story of a pesky insect that gets in the way of a couch-potato enjoying quality time with his TV. It is directed by Alan Short, who says: “This set up is the premise for a series of silly gags, in the style of a homage to such animation greats as Tex Avery and Chuck Jones.

“The character design is extreme to say the least,” he continues. “Both the man and dog are each the result of just one or two quick drawings – I’m not a fan of over-designing, I prefer the freshness that you get from working quickly and loosely. The intention was for the characters to look funny in their own right yet not over-shadow the humour of the performances.

“We experimented with the look of the environment, as we initially thought that the extreme design of the two hero characters would need an equally stylised apartment to live in but, in actual fact, we found that a fairly realistic-looking set worked pretty well in the end.

“The crazy 1970s style patterns helped a lot, with horribly clashing wallpaper and carpet. We liked the idea that the flat hadn’t changed in years, yet the man has a brand new and contemporary television set, suggesting that he cares nothing about lifestyle and soft furnishings but TV is a very important thing in his life!” The film was made using Maya and After Effects.

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Blind Date is by Nigel Davies, and tells the story of a lighthouse keeper’s search for true love. “Internet dating has boomed in popularity and become the source of fascinating tales of mis-matched dates,” says Davies. “I set the film in a timeless place where there are Victorian piers, wind farms and lighthouses still inhabited by people who dress for dinner and have broadband internet connections.

“I wanted the visual style to be sketchily drawn, a bit scribbly, scratchy, rubbed out and smudged. Early designs included using charcoal, but a combination of soft pencils, hard pencils and smudge-sticks worked best; a celebration of the tactile quality of pencil on paper. The characters were animated traditionally so that the graphite could be smudged into the ‘tooth’ of the paper. The drawings were then scanned and coloured in Digicel’s Flipbook software and output as targa files for compositing.

“A consequence of an early exploration into an all CGI treatment was incorporated in the environments. Drawn background layouts were projected onto geometry in Maya, this gave us the possibility to use 3D camera moves in some shots and a 3D quality to selected background elements. From these Maya scenes line, depth, colour and shading passes were rendered out; these were combined in After Effects with the drawn character layers.

“It has taken over two years to complete this three-minute short, squeezed between and dotted around commercials. This made maintaining a momentum to the production difficult, but then it acted as a great contrast to the usual quick turnover, high pressure commercial work.”

Reader G. submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I was wondering what you thought of spice racks? I was thinking of purchasing one, but I see a lot of of options and some seem bulky, expensive and unappealing. I am a recent college graduate with a small kitchen in a one bedroom apartment, I’m struggling with space in my kitchen. I may need a kitchen cart and other things too.

I’m not the biggest fan of traditional spice racks. Mostly, I dislike them because they encourage purchasing less-than-stellar spices, take up an unnecessary amount of space, and they encourage storing spices you don’t actually use. Also, spices should be stored in a dark, dry location and many spice racks are made to be out on a counter where the spices will quickly lose their flavor.

I encourage you to simply attach two metal strips to the inside of your pantry door or a kitchen cabinet door. Then, as you purchase good spices from a gourmet grocer or an online store like Penzeys Spices, just stick adhesive magnet tape to the back of the tins so they’ll stick to the strip. Detailed instructions can be found on Instructables.

Alton Brown uses velcro strips, which is just as wonderful as magnetic strips and perfect for renters.

If you own spices already, check out “The shelf life of spices” to make sure your spices haven’t lost their flavor. And, don’t forget to label your spices if you put them in tins so you don’t add marjoram instead of oregano to a dish.

Thank you, G., for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Be sure to check out the comments where our readers will add even more answers to your question.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Manchester-based Dorothy has created a striking poster to promote Tate Liverpool‘s current exhibition, Picasso: Peace and Freedom, which runs until August 30…

The exhibition is the first to focus on the post-war period of the famous artist’s work in depth – a period in which Picasso was a member of the French Communist Party.

The poster features a bespoke font designed specially for the exhibition – inspired, Dorothy tells us, “by the posters designed and distributed by striking workers and students in the Paris uprising of May ’68.” The font, entitled Picasso ’68 is being used across all exhibition branding, advertising and a range of merchandise including the poster shown above – which has been produced as a limited edition screenprint which is for sale exclusively in the Tate shop.

wearedorothy.com/

tate.org.uk/liverpool/

This year’s Rooftop Films—an ode to film and the New York skyline in its 14th year—kicked off with “This is Short Film,” a compilation of short films at New Design High School in the Lower East Side. Culled from over 3,000 submissions, the shorts were played after a set from Twin Sister, whose garage-band style, low-fi sounds under rainbow lights brought a glimpse of laid-back summer evenings.

The set list included “Drunk History: Tesla and Edison,” the latest from the YouTube hit serial where a drunk storyteller recounts an historical event without the aid of sobriety. In “Tesla and Edison,” Nikolai (played by John C. Reily with questionable wigs) discovers alternating current much to the consternation of Crispin Glover’s Thomas Edison.

“Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn’t seen it)” takes a similarly punch drunk approach to history. The filmmaker Joe Nicolosi asked his friend Amanda to retell the original Star Wars trilogy based on her spotty exposure to the franchise. Another short short, “Git Gob,” follows a brief animated conversation between two alien blob-like bear creatures about hats.

Other films included “Voice On The Line,” a film directed by Kelly Sears, and selected for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, that uses archival footage to recreate soviet-era horror. “Logorama“‘s condemnation of corporate culture figures Ronald McDonald as a hitman up against Michelin Men cops. The film won the Academy Award this year for Best Animated Short.

The second show of the season debuted with great aplomb. “Holy Rollers” is the Indie drama about Hasidic Jewish drug dealers, with cult fave Jesse Eisenberg adding star power.

Upcoming on 21 May 2010, Romantic Shorts “Hopelessly Devoted” will highlight the best of the oft-cliche’d niche with fresh perspective. The films include “Obvious Child,” an unconventional love story with Jenny Slate of newfound SNL fame. The center of the evening will be new Spike Jonz robot short “I’m Here,” in addition to seven other films redefining romance.

The following Saturday, 22 May 2010, “Engkwentro” recounts and exposes government-sponsored murders and kidnappings in this debut documentary.

Other notable screenings include Floodtide, the documentary about artist Swoon and friends’ ramshackle sailing trip down the Hudson river on 7 July 2010 at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, and the famed Animation Block Party on 30 July 2010 at Automotive High School in Williamsburg.

Venues range across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, as well as the Hot Docs documentary film festival in Toronto. All shows are $10 in advance or at the door and include a live music pre-show as well as free drinks following the screening. View the full schedule from their site. The summer season of Rooftop Films runs through 20 September 2010.