garuda

It's Saturday morning! It's cartoon morning!

Even though, I usually post animations from The Saturday Morning Cartoon Index, I have now decided to post other little jewels of animations that I find elsewhere, as well. This animation was found on Kitsune Noir.

Garuda is a simple but beautiful film about a young Indian boy who chases his dream. The visuals in the film are totally stunning, filled with all kinds of wonderful colors and textures. The short was created by Nicolas Athane, Meryl Franck, Alexis Liddell, Andres Salaff, Maïlys Vallade, who were all students at Gobelins.

Garuda from Andres Salaff on Vimeo.

via Kitsune Noir

absolute nobody

Last Wednesday J.D.Salinger (91) passed away and I decided to finally give The Catcherthe re-read I was planning to. I have also rediscovered this wonderful quote from "Franny and Zooey":

"I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody."

Most people are afraid to live with themselves as absolute nobodies. That is why they try so hard to belong somewhere, to be recognized, appreciated, approved, accepted etc. That is why they end up "conditioned to accept everybody else's values" and giving themselves away.

And I say that I have rediscovered it, because at the time when I actually read "Franny and Zooey" I must have been too young to understand and hence must have overseen it. Or I must have thought it was just some pretentious talk coming from a pretentious character of a pretentious book.

But now I see things in a different light. And it is through the power of books that I understood that being an absolute nobody need not have negative connotations. Books like The Catcher, that have absolute nobodies as protagonists - characters that we all eventually come to love and admire despite (or maybe because of?) their inability or unwillingness to adapt. Being an absolute nobody actually means being authentic. And it does take a lot of courage to not be anybody (else).

P.S.: And I believe it's the word "absolute" that makes the whole concept so intriguing: You see, being an "absolute" (not "relative"!) nobody, means by definition that a person's condition cannot be judged by or measured against common standards.

dacafe diary

I have recently discovered a wonderful family blog documenting daily events: Dacafe. I was surprised at how difficult it was NOT to press the "next button" and discover another episode of these people's life as a family. The pictures are sometimes artistic, but mostly they depict random moments of mundane life. Nevertheless, they are able to transmit a very calm, soothing and comfortable feel, like a sip of a warm tea on a cold day or the sunshine on a beautiful afternoon walk in the park. Looking at these pictures is more than peeking into someone else's life in hopes of distracting ourselves from our own. This diary invites us to take a short break from the impatient pace of society. It is a reminder of how wonderful life can be if you take the time to record the small things. It's all about the small things.

2010

2010 is here and somehow, although it's arrival was no surprise, it has caught me unprepared once again: I don't have any resultions. In fact, the only thing that came to my mind was that I should try and give myself a neat manicure on a regular basis. This resolution is as relevant to my life right now as it was difficult to come up with it.

On the other hand when we played a funny game at the New Year's party (which consisted in being randomly assigned someone else's resolution) I received "to visit three countries with my better half". No comment on that.

It's gonna be an interesting year. At least I'll have pretty nails.

thirsty boy

Meet "Black Boy Wanting Water", a 2008 guerilla marketing campaign for Music Is Life that I have recently discovered on Ecopop.

"It's a perfect example that proves that successful marketing communications is not about a big budget, but about big ideas. Not only did this Belgian-created campaign raise awareness about the issues surrounding clean drinking water, but it also generated almost five million dollars in charitable donations in only six days."