May 4 2009 Quimby the Mouse and his Cat-Head Wife, Sparky

Here's one for fans of Felix the Cat-style spousal abuse (who isn't?): cartoonist Chris Ware, with the help of animator John Kuramoto and musician Andrew Bird, made a Quimby the Mouse cartoon short to promote This American Life -- Live!

You'll love it. And probably feel a deep melancholy after it:

Continue Reading " Quimby the Mouse and his Cat-Head Wife, Sparky "

May 7 2008 'This American Life' Exposes Human Flaws with Pleasing Animation

The new season of This American Life begins this began last Sunday, so brace yourself for the nasally voice of Ira Glass (now with visuals!) with this clip from the first episode. In this animation of a previous radio broadcast, Ira and his friends stumble upon the quirkiness of human behavior when Robert incorrectly believes he was at an event his wife had only told him about. Crazy, right? It turns out memory is flawed in some ways. Thankfully, the whole masturbatory story is set to the visuals of illustration and comics genius Chris Ware, so at least it's grating in a clean, geometric, eye-pleasing way.

Continue Reading " 'This American Life' Exposes Human Flaws with Pleasing Animation "