A Master Class in Animation From Terry Gilliam

Open Culture has fast become one of my favourite online sites. There is so much great information on there that I find myself regularly sharing interesting links and content through these pages.

Today’s Viewing List includes another nod to Open Culture for bringing the inimitable Terry Gilliam to my attention. Terry, you should know, is the legendary animator with the Monty Python team (and if you don’t know who they are, you should hang your head in shame).

Gilliam was born in Medicine Lake, Minnesota, and began his career as an animator and strip cartoonist, and went on to become a highly regarded screenwriter, film director, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. To name just a handfull, among his many directorial credits are Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). Since this is a travel site, embedded here is a video of Gilliam’s 1974 animation, The Miracle of Flight.

If you are tempted to try making your own animations, the following 14+ minute video shows you how to make your own cut-out animations.



Thanks to Biblioklept and Open Culture for bringing this to our attention.

Famous Letters and 1880s Brooklyn

The Reading List today looks at the letters of famous (and infamous) writers of notes, letters and other correspondence. Appropriately enough, we begin with …

Letters of Note

Letters of Note is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos. Scans/photos where possible. Fakes will be sneered at. Updated every weekday.

Fascinating correspondence from such luminaries as the writers Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, and Charles Bukowski. There is correspondence from Francis Ford Coppola to Marlon Brando; from Hunter S. Thompson to a 'Production Executive' at indie movie studio The Shooting Gallery; and a very creepy letter from Mark Chapman (the man who killed John Lennon), to an unnamed person enquiring about the possibility of auctioning his copy of Double Fantasy. The very same copy that Lennon had signed just hours before Chapman shot him! Read more...

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Brooklyn Daily Eagle Archives

Now here is something right out of the vaults. It is an online collection of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, a newspaper that has been in publication since 1841.

Incredibly, the early issues of the paper, dating from 1841 until 1902, have been archived by the Brooklyn Public Library, and readers and researchers can trawl their way through 60 years worth of publications for specific names, events, and other historic information.

The screen shot here shows the cover of the edition for Thursday, May 24, 1883. It was on this day that the Brooklyn Bridge was officially opened, and in a special 12 edition, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle covered all the major particulars of the opening including guest lists, speakers, a history of the construction project, and a whole lot more.

It is fascinating stuff, and history buffs looking to capture a sense of what it must have been like living in New York City and in particular Brooklyn during the late 1880s, will get a lot out of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives.

Newtown Creek Tour

Newtown Creek barges © Bernie Ente

The recent Circumnavigate Staten Island tour was completely sold out, and the next Working Harbor tour is sure to do the same, if only because the two hour tour of Brooklyn’s Newtown Creek is an incredible bargain at just $10.

The good news gets better because not one, but two tours of Newtown Creek are being conducted on the same day, so you have two chances of securing a place on these popular tours. Here are the details:

When: Sunday, 23 October, 2011

What: Two Cruises – 10:00 am to 12:00 noon; and 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Where: Departs from Pier 17, South Street Seaport at the foot of Fulton Street, Downtown Manhattan 

Getting There

Take the A C J Z 2 3 4 or 5 Train to Fulton Street and walk east to Pier 17

Souvenir Tour Brochure with historical information and vintage maps.

The cruise takes place rain or shine. 

Purchase tickets here... 

The Newtown Creek tour is organised by the Working Harbor Committee and the Newtown Creek Alliance. 

The low $10 price is made possible by funding from the NewYork City Environmental Fund (NYCEF) for Newtown Creek, which in turn is part of the Hudson River Foundation. 

To stay informed about upcoming Hidden Harbor Tours bookmark the Working Harbor website…