This first video is “Hedgehog in the Fog”.

An award-winning animation feature by Yuri Norshtein. Winner of the following awards:
- Outstanding Film of the Year (London UK 1977)
- Winner of 2nd Prize (Sydney Australia 1978)
- Winner of 3rd Prize (Chicago USA 1977)
- Tokyo All time animation best 150 in Japan and Worldwide: Hedgehog in the Fog “№1 Animated film of all the time” (2003)

This animation is really excellent. Suddenly, I’m curious about Russian animation, and I find “Polygon”:

An animated film by Anatoly Petrov of 1978. An outstanding feature in term of realistic technique. It won the following prizes:
- Official Selection Oberhausen, Germany 1979
- First Prize Yerevan, USSR 1978

Ah – it becomes clear that these are both from the same production studio: Soyuzmultfilm. From Wikipedia:

Soyuzmultfilm (Russian: Coюзмультфильм, translated as Union Animation) is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Over the years it has gained international attention and respect, garnering numerous awards both at home and abroad. Noted for a great variety of style, it is regarded as the most influential animation studio of the former Soviet Union.

…and continuing:

The Studio was founded in 10 June 1936 under the name Soyuzdetmultfilm (Союздетмультфильм – abbr. from Union Children’s Animations). The name was changed to Soyuzmultfilm on 20 August 1937. Initially comprising only a few scattered workshops, Soyuzmultfilm grew quickly, soon becoming the Soviet Union’s premier animation studio. The studio produced exclusively traditional animation until 1954, when a “puppet division” was founded and the first stop motion-animated film released. The puppet division would later also make cutout-animated films.

During the Soviet era, the studio employed a maximum of over 700[1] skilled labourers and released an average of 20 films each year (the highest number was 47, in 1973).

The 60s, 70s and 80s saw the release of many films whose characters became an integral part of Soviet culture: Winnie-the-Pooh (Винни-Пух), Crocodile Gena (Крокодил Гена), Karlsson-on-the-Roof (Карлсон, который живёт на крыше), The Musicians of Bremen (Бременские музыканты), Three from Buttermilk Village (Трое из Простоквашино), Nu, pogodi! (Ну, погоди!), Hedgehog in the Fog (Ёжик в тумане), The Mystery of the Third Planet (Тайна третьей планеты) etc.

The variety of animation styles and the unprecedented degree of artistic freedom given to its many animators made Soyuzmultfilm perhaps the most diverse of the world’s major animation studios.

Soyuzmultfilm’s creativity was fueled in part by the unique conditions of the Soviet Union which made it possible for the studio to disregard the commercial appeal of its films. Because animators were paid by the Academy of Film regardless of how well or how poorly their products sold (though they were not, in fact, “sold”), they were free to pursue their artistic vision without giving a thought to finances.

Whoah!

RTFA: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123654552575064501…

The question, however, is whether the blame is with Mr. Wilders, who simply exposed Islamic radicalism, or with those who promote and engage in this religious extremism. In other words, shall we fault Mr. Wilders for showing photos of the hanging of homosexuals, or shall we fault those who actually promote and practice this crime?

There is a certain schizophrenia among many Muslims who seem to believe that it is acceptable to teach hatred and violence in the name of their religion, while at the same time expecting the world to respect Islam as “a religion of peace, love and harmony.”

Scholars in the most prestigious Islamic institutes and universities continue to teach things like Jews are “pigs and monkeys,” that women and men must be stoned to death for adultery, or that Muslims must fight the world to spread their religion. Isn’t, then, Mr. Wilders’s criticism appropriate? Instead of blaming him, we must blame the leading Islamic scholars for having failed to produce an authoritative book on Islamic jurisprudence that is accepted in the Islamic world and unambiguously rejects these violent teachings.

While many religious texts preach violence, the interpretation, modern usage and implementation of these teachings make all the difference. For example, the stoning of women exists in both the Old Testament and in the Islamic tradition, or “Sunna” — the recorded deeds and manners of the prophet Muhammad. The difference, though, is that leading Jewish scholars agreed to discontinue these practices centuries ago while Muslim scholars have yet to do so. Hence we do not see the stoning of women practiced or promoted in Israel, the “Jewish” state, but we see it practiced and promoted in Iran and Saudi Arabia, the “Islamic” states

Agreed. I think the last article about lashing an old woman is a valid example.

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/09/saud…

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, “Fahd” and “Hadian.”

Fahd told the policeman that he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

The Quick Brown is a Fox News headline tracker that visually displays deltas (additions and edits) in a quick-to-grok manner. It’s actually possible to watch the sensationalizing in slow-motion, which is as sickening as it is fascinating.

For example, the headline “Obama: Tax cut by April 1″ becomes “Obama gearing up for fight.”

The text of the article shifts from:
“President says he’ll fight to change health care, energy and education — even if lobbyists don’t like it”
to
“President says he’ll fight to change health care, energy and education — as GOP objects to budget’s cost.”

It’s almost like the news is being corroded before our eyes, where a perfectly reasonable story about taxes is tailored into a standoffish piece about Obama targeting the party of Fox News.

RTFA: http://www.thequickbrown.com/

What?
The Quick Brown tracks changes in Fox News headlines.

Legend
Styles used to show edits:

Red with strikethrough
Text that has been removed.

Black inverted:
Text or story that has been added.

Red
The story was removed from the headlines list.

Light grey
A headline that stayed the same.

Statistics
Stories: 7231
Total amount of edits: 10193
Running for: 550 days

So you lost your home. Now, what do you do about all the crap you’ve kept with you for years? The pictures, furniture, kitchen stuff, office stuff. Do you donate it? Do you pile it into your relatives’ house, or your new apartment? Do you Craigslist it?

In the following video, you can see exactly what happens: it gets hauled off to the dumpster. I’m going to have to ponder this one for some time, because there’s a feeling of horror that I’m overcome with, and that actually bothers me. No, not the feeling of the horror itself, but the fact that I feel it. After all, what do I care about other people’s crap? It’s just objects, and most of it was junk even when it was purchased. Why should I be even slightly concerned to watch crews throw away someone’s lifetime accumulation of belongings?

Is it the “wastefulness” of it all? If so, then why am I less mortified by the production of that crap in the first place? Is it the misappropriation of it all, where I have the knowledge that other people would make better use of the same resources. Is it the nagging feeling that the same people who bought that junk in the first place are out buying more of the same junk, and filling a separate space with it? Is it the knowledge that the destruction of these goods will keep driving the cycle of consumerism?

What is it about this video?

RTFA: http://kcet.org/socal/2008/09/foreclosure-alley.ht…

Episode 101
Foreclosure Alley
Correspondent Lisa Ling
Published On: September 23, 2008 11:02 PM

For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state – home to a major housing boom. But now the Inland Empire is pretty much the poster child for the foreclosure crisis. In the newer developments, house after house sits vacant – either up for auction, for sale by a bank or going for what’s called a “short sale” which is when the owner owes more than the house is worth.

SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the crisis – a company that specializes in removing whatever people leave behind in their foreclosed homes. The process is called a “trashout” – a term the company came up with because it perfectly describes what happens. Everything that’s left is dumped in a trailer and taken to the landfill.
Then there’s the guy who started a business to spray-paint dead lawns. That’s right. He paints brown lawns green. We also tag along with a couple of code enforcement officers who are spending more and more of their time having to drain slimy, abandoned pools.

Finally, we meet a typical couple who bought their first home, thinking it was a great investment and tax write-off. Now the place is worth only half of what they paid for it and their neighborhood has almost as many vacant homes as occupied ones.

One of the code enforcement guys sums up the problem in a single sentence – “You know you’re in trouble when the lawns are brown and the pools are green!”