Wallace & Gromit

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Two of my favorite animated characters will soon be featured in their very own full-length film, Curse of the Wererabbit. Their official site reports a release this Autumn, and explains that the film has been in development for four years and will take over 18 months to shoot. A crew of over 200 people are involved in the production covering every aspect of the film making process, from the modelmakers and animators, set dressers and art directors to story artists, directors of photgraphy and editors. This is very funny stuff. Take a look at this video showing behind-the-scenes production. It’s amazing how painstaking claymation remains with current technology. And visit the BBC to see another hilarious short – Wallace’s take on Soccer, ‘Soccomatic’.

You should grow like an onion with your head in the ground.

BoingBoing points out a great site today, InsultMonger.com. There, you can find my favorite Yiddish curse (see title of this post), as well as dozens more. My dear old Dad would have loved to see this list. Of course, none of it would have been new to him, as he was fluent in these and probably many other Yiddish curses.

Snowy Gates

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I’m in New York City through Saturday morning, and took the opportunity after meetings today at Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle to (a) experience the heavy snowfall that began this afternoon and (b) check out Cristo’s ‘Gates’ project. My brain has a hard time with these – one side sees the Zen ‘saffron’ color and feels like it makes sense – while the other side of the noggin’ sees a construction site. Anyway, the installation looks downright magical in the snow. Don’t know if these images do it justice or not, but take a look. And for a different set of ‘Gates’, visit the Sommerville Gates project.

Friends in High Places

Digital marketing powerhouse Digitas/Modem Media announced today that my friend Cella Irvine would become their Chief Administrative Officer, reporting to their CEO. Cella is a long-time digital media vet, having led Microsoft’s Sidewalk operation in NYC for many years, up to it’s purchase by Ticketmaster/CitySearch. She went on to work for insurance giant Marsh, Inc. Anyway, she’s a brilliant and wonderful person, and should do well in her new role. BusinessWire news release on her new gig is here, and a Clickz.com news story is here.

Photos, musings and miscellany – New and Improved!