How it works: The first line of the video is recorded in real-time, but the second line is late by 1/60 of a second, the third is late by 2/60 of a second and so on to create a long rolling shutter effect.
This is by no means new technology, but the simple dance accompanied by Beirut music (La Llorona – March Of The Zapotec), is certainly one of best examples I’ve ever seen. It looks like some sort of alien mating dance.
The video actually came out a few years ago, but it’s recently been making the internet rounds, so it’s new to me. Here’s an example using the same technique from 1988 called The Fourth Dimension.
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this amazing stranger from the Planet Krypton, the Man of Steel, Superman.
I was in sort of a 1940’s cartoon mood this morning, so I give you Superman & the Mechanical Monsters. The short film was released back on November 28th of 1941, but it looks similar to animation from my childhood. The Mechanical Monsters was the very first story that featured Clark Kent using a telephone booth to discard his street clothes and change into Superman. Apparently, this cartoon also influenced scenes from Castle in the Sky (great film!) and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
And while searching around the internet, I stumbled across this Techno music video made by Nick Benidt from footage of the cartoon:
The song here is ‘Nizhny Tagil’, produced by Marek Tejchik from the Berlin-based minimal techno label, FRUCHT. It has a lot of vintage sounding robot sounds, so I see why Nick chose The Mechanical Monsters for the video.
Here’s Nick’s excerpt:
“The song reminded me of robots, buttons, technological gizmos, etc…so I started thinking about footage I had seen or downloaded over the years. I remembered a special film I’d been saving for the right inspiration. It was a Superman cartoon made in 1941 called ‘The Mechanical Monsters’ In those days TV wasn’t around yet, so people would have seen this 10 minute cartoon before the main attraction in the cinema.”
Alright folks, now go dress up as a robot and scare some people.
Brains. If you have any RobotSpaceBrain-oriented pumpkins to share, feel free to email them along to robotspacebrain@gmail.com, and I’ll try to share them.
And in case you were curious, the Texans pumpkin placed 1st. I must say, the star on that helmet is precise. The Dia de Los Muertos inspired pumpkin placed 3rd.
These wonderful posters are from Japanese artist, Kazumasa Nagai. The designs appeared in LIFE Magazine’s Science Library during the 1960s. Nagai’s work is reminiscent of another artist we’ve featured here on RSB, Yusaku Kamekura, and not only because Nagai is a Japanese graphic designer, but also because they both employ a strong use of negative space and bold colors in their designs.
The Growth – 1966
The Cell – 1966
And here’s a few more of my favorites that aren’t from LIFE. This Asahi poster is fantastic. I want it for my wall. Someone should make a replica with Lone Star beer to celebrate my home state.
Asahi Steinie – 1965
Expo 75′ International Ocean Exposition – 1975
Kōrakuen Jumbo Pool – 1973
That’s all for now. Take a scroll through all of Kazumasa Nagai’s work here. There are some real gems.
I have the last installment of the One Year Anniversary posts for you today, and these are some of my favorite from the whole site! I have for you one of my very first posts, and I still think it’s one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Cordyceps Fungi blows my mind! It’s the reminds me why I started this blog in the first place.
This next post is an excerpt from AI Magazine published back in 1982, but I still think the insight rings truer than ever… “Self, itself, is not a single thing.”
And this last post is probably my favorite example of anatomical art.
Well, that’s all for this year. I hope you’ve enjoyed some of these posts, and I hope you’ll look forward to new and exciting material from RobotSpaceBrain.
