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Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Stop Driving Us Crazy! (Intellects Cool & etc. edition)
Posted by John Holbo on 02/12/08 at 09:14 AM
Sorry for light blogging. I’m going through a non-verbal period. Fortunately, I stocked up on picture books in the event of such an eventuality. Example: Cartoon Modern
[amazon], by Amid Amidi, who blogs at Cartoon Brew. It’s lovely, and has sent me scurrying off in satisfactory directions. Example: YouTube has “Stop Driving Us Crazy". (You do want to click that link.)
Basically, it’s a reimagining of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Sinister Martians ...
having exhausted their home planet’s breathable atmosphere ...
invade the helpless Earth. And the tripods are stopped ...
... not by man’s much-vaunted technology. Not even by the human spirit, but by a different sort of spirit ...
A tiny molecule, humble chemical. And yet ...
No, wait. That’s not what it’s about at all. I’ll just quote from the book.
The Department of Motor Vehicles meets Christian morality in Stop Driving Us Crazy (1959), a film commissioned by the Methodist Church [specifically by its ‘General Board of Temperance’]. Reckless driving is sinful, and the right of way is not as important as “God’s Right Way,” according to the film’s lead character, Rusty, an alien from Mars. The sober lesson in vehicular etiquette is tempered not only by its far-out sci-fi setup but by other decidely nonconservative elements, such as the ultraflat, clean shapes of Cliff Robert’s character design and the Hard Bop jazz stylings of Benny Golson and Art Blakey and His Jazz Messengers. The film was directed by Mel Emde at the graphic design firm Creative Arts Studio, an infrequent producer of animation. It is not the most inspired design by Roberts, and the low-budget production prevents thoughtful translation of his designs into animation, but the offbeat marraige of gospel, design and jazz atones for the weaknesses of the film.
I’ll drink to that.
Mmhm.
I propose you dust your French and go there :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oYUNhl7ark&feature=related
That looks good, yabonn. My French is sort of intermittent, alas. But I think I got the gist.
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