Video Sunday: Pure Gold Edition

We begin today with a charmer.  Isn’t that great? It’s a short film called Have You Ever Wanted Superpowers? created by film students at the University of Bergen, Norway. In the midst of all this Watchmen ridiculousness, it’s nice to see someone tackling the idea of superheroes from a practical stance.  Thanks to Diversions of the Groovy Kind for the link.

All right. So admittedly I’m inclined to be generous with this one. To my snobby snobby mind there has yet to be a picture book to film adaptation that was ever successful (small screen Grinches don’t count).  So when adapting a picture book they need a little backstory, sure.  Admittedly, I wish that they’d gone with the original spin, where things falls from the sky because that’s the world in which they live, but this could be okay too.

You can see a better quality video here if you like.  I am heartened, admitted, by the news that this is, "Written and directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, executive producers of the television show How I Met Your Mother."  So there is that. Except doesn’t the lead in this film just look like a CGIed Ted?  Thanks to Kids Lit for the link.

If you want to be strict about it it ties into children’s literature because Gervais has done a picture book or two in his day. Thanks to Children’s Illustration for the link.

Yep.  That’s nutty.  Wonderful, but nutty.  Very big thanks to Shaken and Stirred for the link.

Briliant.  Gaiman does clear up on his blog one question I had after watching the interview.  When suggesting a dark illustrator to complement Stephen’s children’s book he says "Art Spiegelman".  I found this very peculiar.  Was that really the first person to pop into Gaiman’s head?  What about Gris Grimley, who illustrated his alphabet book?  Fortunately, all is revealed:

"Afterwards, I was taking my family to have dinner with Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly and their family, so at the end of the interview, when Colbert asked for an illustrator to make people lose all hope, I suggested Art, to make Art smile. And it did."

There you go.

So, I find that I still have a lot of links that I could include here, but today has been such a marvelous day for videos that I should probably save something for another week.  Enjoy our weekly off-topic video then.  LED sheep.

Thanks to Bookninja for the link.

Filed under: Videos