Animator. Director. Artist. Scapegoat.
I am so grateful I got to meet Roger Ebert in 2009, when he screened Sita Sings the Blues at Ebertfest. He couldn’t speak then, but he stood onstage while his computer’s synthetic voice read his comments and looked intently in my eyes to make sure I was taking it in. He really wanted me to receive his gift, which was hard because it was so generous.
Here is his longer review of Sita Sings the Blues, which brought many, many viewers to it.
I’m finally using this great plugin for Flash, that even works with Ye Olde Macromedia Flash 8 (considered by most animators to be the best version ever made, far superior to Adobe’s crippled messes). The Library Symbol renaming tools alone have made me a fan.
The Public Domain may not be growing (thanks to endless retroactive copyright term extensions) but it still contains a “whopping plentitude.” The biggest challenge to users is simply discovering PD works in the first place. Fortunately the Open Knowledge Foundation (one of the best Free Culture organizations anywhere) has just given everyone a leg up with its new web site, the Public Domain Review. From their About page:
The Public Domain Review aspires to become a bounteous gateway into the whopping plenitude that is the public domain, helping our readers to explore this rich terrain by surfacing unusual and obscure works, and offering fresh reflections and unfamiliar angles on material which is more well known.
Go there to find all kinds of delicious images, texts, sounds, and other treasures that, thanks to our collective cultural amnesia, are as fresh and exciting as anything Big Media tries forcing down our throats today.
Above: Princess Nicotine, and early stop-motion silent film, featured on The Public Domain Review.
With the tagline, “Offended Hindus uprising against Anti-Hindus!” Troll Sena is the World’s best (and possibly only) Hindu Nationalist parody site. Covering such outrages as Ban Valmiki Filth!, Raavan Ballsphemy!, Shame of Khajuraho!, and Cowardly Cow Outrage!, they’re barely distinguishable from the real thing. Or maybe they are the real thing. Who cares?
