"Chinti" - An Animated Short Made Entirely Out Of...Tea?

We've seen creative applications of materials for stop motion shorts in our time, but Chinti is entirely on another level with it's creative usage of tea leaves as it's primary medium. The stop motion short was created by Natalia Mirzoyan, and narrates the story of a weakling ant who finds true inspiration from a random scrap of paper that happens to fly it's way with an image of the Taj Mahal on it.

Conflicted between it's duty to it's colony and it's dreams of heading somewhere new, the ant eventually chooses to lives a life of struggle, hoping to find a way to bring this dream land to life. Unbeknownst to him, the and doesn't realize that his dream land might be closer than he originally thought.

I honestly have no idea how Natalia pulled this off with the medium she chose, but Chinti turned out absolutely beautiful, garnering selections and wins at over 50 international animation festivals. The narrative itself was also really nicely paced, efficiently narrating the everyday of struggle of helping a dream come to fruition.

Mega64: Journey

 

There were whispers around the internet of Mega64's fabled Journey skit which graced the eyes of GDC goers, but I had always assumed it would be at least a year before the group would release it. Following the route of many past Mega64 skits, the group take to the streets to f*ck with the people of California, except this time I found it pretty damn heartwarming.

 

The skit is still hilarious, don't get me wrong, but there's something about the games soundtrack and memories of past game experiences that really tug at the heartstrings. Or it might also have something to do with the fact that we've evolved from calling everything Nintendo to calling everything Angry Birds. God f*cking dammit.

A Beautiful Journey Across South America

Vincent Urban's journey across South America is a spellbinding series of snapshots from a multi month journey through urban and natural landscapes, condensed into a gorgeous six minute video. With the help of a beat up LandRover, a few great friends and a handful of DSLR cameras, I'm guessing some truly beautiful, magical memories were created in the process. Wonderful.

Journey's Journey Between Two Strangers

Play this game ASAP

Judging from Thatgamecomapny's track record, it shouldn't be much of a surprise when I say Journey is fantastic. The small studio has managed to push out some of the most refreshing and overall engaging games since I started gaming, yet Journey manages to surpass all expectations I had for the studio. In a recent article by Jim Sterling, a plea was made to refrain from using the word experience when describing “art” games, but to do so would simply detract from from the overall explanation of just why Journey is so damn good.

Yes, Journey is a game, a very good one at that, but as a whole, it's an experience. It's the kind of experience where you set aside a portion of your day to do nothing but play the game, only because you enveloped yourself so deep within the world of Journey that you forgot what time it was. It's the kind of experience where nothing around you matters, even if your dog is being an asshole and taking a massive sh*t in front of you, only because Journey is capable of such deep immersion that nothing around you matters anymore. It's also the kind of experience where you find yourself feeling such a deep level emotion that you end up connecting pieces of the game to your own life without even realizing it.

Journey is the full package, providing enjoyment on so many levels that it becomes near impossible to pinpoint each and every one. Although, one level manages to stand out more than the rest.

Skinemax : A Tribute To A Cinematic Golden Age

Reserve one hour of your day to take part in this amazing journey through an era now decades behind us, filled with memorable imagery and chock full of nostalgia for people who grew up during the eighties and early nineties. If you were born after that, consider this a fascinating look at the culture from that era, and all the imagery that defined a generation. So many amazing memories, and damn... Its been an incredible journey so far. This is the equivalent of a nostalgia nuke for people who grew up in that era, so be careful. Once you start, its really hard to stop watching this.