Meta, Medieval, Magic, Chimney, Cycad
Adaptation
Lessons From The Screenplay | YouTube | 1st April 2019
A video essay about the making of a video essay about a movie (Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation), which itself is about the making of a movie. The meta-narrative follows a YouTuber facing writer's block as he watches his twin brother's superficial YouTube channel skyrocket to success. Usually meta humor comes off as self-congratulatory, but given the subject matter here, it's brilliant (18m 49s)
The Medieval Women Who Sealed Themselves Inside Churches
Museum Mimi | YouTube | 21st December 2021
The strange story of Julian of Norwich, an "anchoress" from the fourteenth century who saw God and then locked herself in a tiny church-room for the rest of her of her life, writing a 60,000 word religious tract. "Pretty hands are a sign of idleness and that’s not allowed in ascetic life, so ladies, it’s time to start digging your grave with your bare hands in your tiny cell" (16m 02s)
Why Everyone Hates Wizards
Mattias Pilhede | YouTube | 21st December 2021
An anti-wizard screed from an alternate world where wizards are a quotidian part of life. "The sky, nowadays, is blood-red. But the sky actually used to be blue. And I guess it's kind of farfetched to blame this on dark magic, but it just feels like something that might have to do with the amount of rituals lately that open the gates to hell" (4m 22s)
The Chimney Swift
Fabian & Fred | Vimeo | 28th December 2021
Really haunting animated short—a letter from a real 19th century British "sweeper master" describing how he turns young boys into chimney sweeps. "I never got stuck myself, but many of them did, and were taken out dead. They were smothered for want of air, and the fright." The astonishing directness allows for a piercing vision of the past (5m 00s)
Mesmerizing Video Of The Week
A 360° panoramic adventure through a Copenhagen greenhouse
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