testing and playing

A couple of weeks ago Jasper and I were invited to try a new cute App developed by one of my dear friends. Based on her line of children's books, Windy & Friends is a series of interactive stories using stop motion animation. Not only did Jasper get to play it, but he also got to be one of the kids in their promo video! (OK... don't worry, I don't think this will lead in to any foray into child acting or anything… being on the shy side, I would probably make a horrible stage mother anyways... haha). Check out the trailer here, and more about Windy & Friends here.

sochi 2014

We have attempted to visit many of the pavilions dotted around the city during the winter Olympic games... there are so many ridiculously long lines though, it's beginning to feel a lot like Disneyland in the summer on a public holiday. One of the pavilions we were patient enough to get into was the Russian Sochi House - basically a showcase of the next city to host the 2014 winter games. Instead of showing you pics of the mass droves of people, or the corporate sponsor displays (which I might add, are very mediocre too look at), or the Russian singer that was wearing a silver lounge suit (I missed my opportunity to take that photo... too much glare from the suit, sorry) I thought I would show you a peek at their mascot.

To my surprise, they have adopted Cheburashka as their mascot! Ok, so you might be asking... who on earth is Cheburashka? Well, he is a cute little creature with big ears... the original stop motion animation was from 1971 (directed by Roman Kachanov)... um, and I know this because I have the cute little animated series on DVD... uh, as well as the doll... um, along with a few other collectibles too.

Disappointingly, they have made him blue, red and white for the Olympic games (the original is chocolate brown)... and the dolls they had in the gift shop were not very cute, since they had plastic faces. The one I have is much cuter (see pic below). But I can't complain too much... I am still super excited to see him as the mascot.

i love mitten

A conversation a few years ago between a coworker and I, as I was surfing on ebay:

Coworker: I see you are on ebay... you sure can find some crazy stuff on there

Me: Yeah... it's great

Coworker: Did you buy anything?

Me: Yeah.. I just ordered a DVD

Coworker: Oh, which one?

Me: You probably haven't heard of it...

Coworker: I'm sure I have... I'm a movie geek... what is it?

Me: It's a DVD of 1960s Russian stop motion animation for children by Roman Kachanov

Coworker: {Dead Silence and blank stare}

I had to get the DVD... it has one of my all time favorite animation shorts on it... Mitten (or Варежка in Russian). About a little girl who's winter mitten magically transforms into a knitted puppy, the 1967 Roman Kachanov 10 minute stop motion piece will warm your heart (good for the little kiddies too, since there is no dialogue). Take a break and watch it here... it will make you smile.