Cinematic Short Films: ‘The Elephant’s Song’

This is the story of Old Bet, the first circus elephant in America, set to a tune sung by her friend, an old farm dog. Their story is portrayed in colorful, handcrafted animation, created frame by frame with clay-on-glass and oil pastel animation.

Animated and Directed by Lynn Tomlinson
Written by Lynn Tomlinson and Sam Saper
Music and lyrics by Sam Saper
Vocals by Deletta Gillespie and Brooks Long
Instrumentals and arrangement by Trucker Talk: Abby Becker, Greg Bowen, Jessica Keyes, Rich Kolm
Sound Effects by Elsa Lankford
Sound recorded and engineered by Shea Springer, Sweetfoot Studio
Additional animation by Lucy Saper and M.C. Tomlinson

AWARDS:
Audience Choice, Best Short Animation, Providence Children’s Film Festival, 2020
Climate, Environment, Biodiversity Prize, Festival Le Temps Presse, Paris, 2020
Best Music, TOFUZI, Batumi, Georgia, 2019
Best Narrative Short, Programmers Award, 32nd annual Virginia Film Festival, Charlottesville, VA, 2019
Best Animated Short, Sidewalk Film Festival, Birmingham, AL, 2019
ASIFA East, Independent Films, 1st Prize, NY, 2019
ASIFA East, Excellence in Music, NY, 2019
ASIFA East, Women in Animation Award, NY, 2019
Global Insights Stellar Award (Top Award), Black Maria Film Festival, 2019
Best Animation, NatureTrack Film Festival, CA, 2019
Best Short Film, Environmental Film Festival at Yale, New Haven, CT, 2019
Best Animation, Nevada Women’s Film Festival, Las Vegas, NV 2019
Best Animated Short, SENE Fest, Providence, RI, 2019
Best Sound Design, Chesapeake Film Festival, Easton, MD, 2019
Best Environmental Short Film, Chesapeake Film Festival, Easton, MD, 2019
Best Animation, Big Muddy Film Festival, Carbondale, IL, 2019
First Prize, Made in Baltimore Short Film Festival, Baltimore, MD, 2018
Best Experimental, 2nd Place, Los Angeles Animation Festival, CA, 2018
Best of Festival, Peekskill Film Festival, Peekskill, NY, 2018
Best Animation, Peekskill Film Festival, Peekskills, NY, 2018
Award of Merit for Animation, University Film & Video Association, Las Cruces, NM, 2018

Seaside Walks: Mevagissey – Cornwall, England (4K)

Mevagissey is a village, fishing port and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately five miles south of St Austell. The parish population at the 2011 census was 2,015, whereas the ward population at the same census was 4,354. 

Sunday Morning: News From London & Zurich

Monocle’s Emma Nelson and panellists Simon Brooke and Florian Egli on the weekend’s biggest news stories. Also in the programme: what’s making headlines at Austria’s ‘Profil’ magazine, and a check-in with our Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey.

Analysis: How America’s $2 Trillion Afghanistan War Ended In Chaos (CNBC)

Twenty years of war for the United States and coalition partners in Afghanistan ended with the collapse of the Afghan government after U.S. troops withdrew from most of the country. The rapid advance of the Taliban forced an evacuation of more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan over the course of the last few weeks, and led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members. Here’s how the fall of Afghanistan happened so quickly, and what’s next for the war-torn country.

Walking Tour: Potsdam – Northeast Germany (4K)

Potsdam is a city on the border of Berlin, Germany. Sanssouci Palace was once the summer home of Frederick the Great, former King of Prussia. On the grounds of the complex, the Renaissance Orangery Palace overlooks Italian-style gardens with fountains. Historic Mill offers city views. English gardens surround neoclassical Charlottenhof Palace. The 19th-century Roman Baths were built in several architectural styles. 

Flight Views: Lake District, England In An Autogyro

There is a certain ecstasy in flight. Travel with no constraints of speed, boundary or traffic, surmounting geography without effort, looking down like a god or a hawk.

Country Life, August 28, 2021

The best place to do this is the Lake District, where I went in June. Modern autogyros (also called gyrocopters) are usually slender aircraft about 3ft wide and 15ft long.

They have no wings. Instead, an unpowered rotor provides lift and a small engine and propeller at the back give forward speed.

Recent video of Lake District autogyro flight:

The delights of our flight were marvellous: floating buoyant in the summer air, deftly absorbing or avoiding updrafts and downdrafts, thrumming softly over the tapestry of lakes and fells, skimming steep, dun-coloured slopes or the meadows where poets wandered, Ruskin enthused and Beatrix Potter conjured small animals to human life.

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Tours: The Banff Springs Hotel – Alberta, Canada

Located in the heart of Banff National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the world famous Banff Springs hotel stands as a landmark in the picturesque alpine town of Banff, Alberta. Canada’s “Castle in the Rockies,” has been providing legendary hospitality to our guests for more than 130 years.