It’s catch-as-catch-can this Saturday on Ectomo. Strolling through the fields of internet, harvesting what we could, no particular theme presented itself, no one flavor stood out. So today it’s a stew of animation goodness, a hodgepodge of styles and tastes; because sometimes you have to make the best of what’s lying around.
Dr. Tran “Dickable Afternoons”: “Remember those good times at home, in the 1800s, back when you and the neighborhood rowdies would romp around, kicking an old piece of rope? And then Mom would call you inside, where you’d all gather at the dining-room table, while she served up a steaming hot plate of Dr. Tran’s Old Fashioned Peppermint Dickables.”
Ark: In the future a mysterious pandemic has decimated the population of the world. Survivors have retreated to huge ships and set out for uninhabited lands. The exodus has begun, under the leadership of one man.
Log Driver’s Waltz: I was reprimanded for not including this in my Canadian themed SMCs of a few weeks ago, so I include it here now. Chicks dig log drivers.
Strange Invaders: Some couples want to have a baby so badly, they don’t care how they come by it, even if it falls, glowing, from the sky. Watching this, an episode of Invader Zim featuring space aliens who resembled human babies came to mind. Could this have been the inspiration for Vasquez and Co.?
The Tick “The Tick vs. The Tick”: It was mentioned in the ectochat earlier this week that the SMCs needed more Tick, and I agree. In this episode, The Tick and Arthur go to a superhero nightclub. However, it seems that there is already another gentleman who goes by The Tick, and he’s not ready to give up the name. Also, “I’m the Evil Midnight Bomber, What Bombs At Midnight!”
Uzbek director Nazim Tulyakhodzhayev’s short, animated adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s short story of the same name. The tale of a robotic house mindlessly continuing its tasks even after the human residents have been wiped out by nuclear war.
If all goes according to plan, I’ll be making my first sojourn to Tokyo later this year to spend time amidst my people; androgynous psuedo-adolescents in ridiculously large shoes and intricate makeup that my clumsy gaijin fingers could never hope to achieve. That is, of course, unless the post-apocalyptic vision of Tokyo Genso is realized and the already frantic pace at which the denizens of this planet are determinedly ruining it increases to an exponential rate.
While a Tokyo crumbling and covered in vines does sound like a gas, it would be nice to see the prancing lady-boys of which I’ve heard so much at least once before the Earth reclaims this beautifully androgynous Metropolis.
As far as I can tell, Ambassadors Day looks like a Samuel Beckett play in which all the characters must wear gas masks, a prospect that sets me aquiver with excitement and, if I’m honest, something not unlike arousal:
Ambassadors Day takes place thousands of years in the future, when the remnants of the human species have moved indoors to escape the wrath of an environment turned hostile. Many generations have passed, and all that’s left of communication between these isolated sanctuaries of humankind are the Ambassadors.
Long after the End of the World has passed into myth, two envoys meet to exchange the weekly numbers of their people. It is a day like any other in Rendezvous Zone Eight-Seven Northwest, until one of the Ambassadors is ordered to shoot the other. Refusing, the Ambassador tries to defuse the situation. Unfortunately the problem began thousands of years ago, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Rocks are thrown in glass houses, kettles are called black, and everyone manages to get their feelings hurt. When the dust has settled, the world is changed forever.
A short film, running twenty minutes total, it can be purchased here.
In sheer defiance of the World Wide Web Consortium's will, Ectomo was designed using a non-web-standard font. Luckily, it is included in the excellent font pack released by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, which can be freely downloaded in Mac and PC formats here. Ectomo should still look fine without it, though.
