Yup it's finally time for another one of my Pointless Ramblings. This one might actually not be entirely pointless.

This time I've tackled the media's role in the upcoming election and I think it should be worth a look for just about anyone. Enjoy!

A higher quality Quicktime-file is available here.

Coffe Time

As my former Superanomalies-clip was an outstanding success. (At least in the scope of this blog). I figured it was about time for another one.

Monkey business?

This one is all about coffee and is not recommended for the squeamish coffee-drinker. (Don't tell me you weren't warned). A higher quality Quicktime-file is available here. Any positive sensible feedback is welcome.

For some strange reason most of my posts so far have been either about poorly used visuals or about how the message might be better without visuals. Interesting as this may be, I also think I've been overly cautious. It is after all much easier to point out flaws than put your neck out and tell the world what you really like.

An example of Richard Condie's style as well as Sharon Condie's background-work

So, one out-sticking neck coming up. Okay, I'm not taking an enormous risk recommending an Academy Award Nominated animation. I do however find Richard Condie's "The Big Snit" from 1985 to be an absolute superb piece of visual storytelling. To some of you raving about this film is probably like raving about water being wet. I still find that it is nowhere near having the position it deserves among the general public though. This is not the Disney-, WB- or MGM-cartoon that's part of our common cultural fabric.

So why do I find this piece so brilliant? Well, as a piece of visual storytelling it is brilliant because the visuals are the main-source of the quirky humour it exudes. Normally a story about a couple experiencing domestic problems under the threat of nuclear holocaust is not your regular laugh-riot. Yet it clearly works here. Admittedly the humour is of the dark variation but thanks to the friendly style of the animation you're left with a positive feeling despite that ending. So, as I've already spent way too man words describing something that is better experienced I suggest you head over to the National Film Board of Canada and see for yourself.

Phew, it's hard work sorting out those a's and o's in anamolies anamalies anomalies!

I've been working for some time on the first installment of what I've chosen to call "Pointless Ramblings". No, that is not the new title of my blog. The idea behind this, and hopefully future ramblings, is to make a quick video about uh... something. I prepare a text relatively quickly and get a soundtrack in place based on the text. I then more or less improvise by making illustrations, animate text and put together a visual to accompany the video. In lack of a better term it could be called video-jazz.

Yes it does say superanomalies...

I don't nitpick on every detail, everything does not have to be great. OK is good enough. This is the only way I'll be able to get stuff like this out while still having some time left for more ambitious projects. Now, hopefully this should still mean that the "ramblings" are both watchable and mildly entertaining. I think #1 is, but I'm obviously biased. It has been said that _a picture is worth a thousand words_, so if my calculations are correct this film should be worth nearly 5 millions of them. Happy viewing!

A higher quality quicktime version is available here

OK, this one is probably akin to "Lennon lives, McCartney is dead" but hey, this is my blog and I can write what I want. And as it happens I'm still not quite done with Apple's new portable, the Macbook Air.

As I wrote in my last post I have a hard time seeing the potential market for this product, but perhaps this is just the way Apple planned it? The ultra-thin enclosure and solid-state drive is new stuff for Apple and maybe, just maybe, they're not 100% confident that everything will run smoothly with this first generation product.

So, to avoid risking extreme expenditeur and an outright scandal, it would make sense to roll out a product that only sold in relatively modest numbers. This would give them a lot of valuable feedback about how this stuff works in the real world.

Perhaps it all started something like this:

Following the US primary elections on the news is at the moment surprisingly entertaining. Polls seem to be based on coin-tosses and any predictions might as well be created by a random-prediction-generator(tm). Still, this doesn't stop the "experts" from weighing in with their opinion about the prospects of the different candidates. Upon closer inspection there seems to be a fairly clear-cut pattern to their analyses and it looks something like this:

OK, first a small confession. I'm something of a Mac-head and yes I do love a lot of their products. Apple have always used the fact that they're "different" for what it's worth. As "standard" Windows-PC's, at least traditionally, have been about as exciting as.. ...as cricket (sorry cricket-fans) this makes a lot of sense. Apple's current campaign "I'm a mac" continues the trend and I believe this is a strategy that makes a lot of sense for a smaller company. People instinctively root for the underdog and there is something to be said about having a product that differs from the masses as well.

So why doesn't Microsoft do the same thing with their Zune-player? Now, I haven't seen one of these yet, but reckon they must be OK. Having Microsoft's deep-pockets, media-interest and advertisement-budgets could well help it to become something of a hit. It's not an iPod and for some people it seems that's the most important specification any MP3-player could have...