"After the death of his wife, Diana, the retired Notre Dame professor and poet John Matthias wrote a long letter to friends and family. "

"He detailed the uniquely devastating circumstances of his wife’s decline, as well as the events that led to his own disorienting commitment to a psychiatric ward. He was surprised to learn that a colleague had submitted the letter for consideration to a major national publication, which published it...."

Writes Stephen P. Neary who animated the story, at the NYT.

That's a gift link, so please don't miss the beautifully drawn animation called "Living With a Visionary."

The old "so bad it's good" phenomenon works in China.

The BBC reports, in "Movie that went viral for terrible animation becomes China box office hit."

Niu Lai, a low-budget animation film about a cow in a dream sequence has seen a huge jump in ticket sales after going viral for its confusing plot and terrible graphics. It grossed just 7,705 yuan ($1,140; £843) in the first 10 days after its release, but has now made more than 11.4 million yuan, according to movie tracking site Mao Yan. That means it is holding ground against Hollywood blockbusters like The Odyssey and Spider Man: Brand New Day. 

"You may regret for 80 minutes if you watch it, but if you don't, you'll regret it for life," one popular social media post about the film said.

Stop motion animation that's so good it's actually more than you might want in one dose.

ニャッキの伊藤有壱さんにお声掛け頂き、コマ撮りの展覧会に一作家として参加しています。私はコマ撮り分野ではない場所から活動をはじめて、デザインの視点でのコマ撮りに取り組んできましたが、今回初めてコマ撮り界の本丸の方々とご一緒でき嬉しいです。今6年目のマッチ撮影素材等を展示しています pic.twitter.com/Ng1VkRKRwE

— okazakitomohiro (@oo_kk_aa) May 6, 2026

"The average person who’s looking at this stuff, I don’t think they care. I don’t expect the person I’m looking at online to be the person they say they are."

"I’m not going to meet this person in real life... At the end of the day, if they’re not real, who really cares?"

Said an unnamed AI user, quoted in "'Claudia’ offers nude photos for pay. Experts say she’s an AI fake. Will users feel ripped off as image-generating AI tools fuel a new wave of porn and scams?" (WaPo).

Isn't it better if real human beings are not used in making porn? 

"[W]ho really cares?" I suppose some people care, just like you might care if a movie has real-life stunts or CGI animation. You like thinking that somebody really did that.  

A separate problem is "inpainting," which works the face of a real person onto the AI-created body.

"When a blue spirit breathes life into the puppet, Geppetto is initially terrified... But the pair soon settle down, with Pinocchio... helping Geppetto repair the huge crucified Christ..."

"... that hangs like a tortured marionette in the church where congregants shriek about demonic puppets. 'Everybody likes him,' says Pinocchio, pointing up at what looks like a prop from Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971). 'He’s made of wood too. Why do they like him and not me?' This is just one of many profoundly philosophical questions... that Del Toro’s Pinocchio is not afraid to raise. While previous film adaptations... have prioritised a populist litany of instructional morals (honour your father, do not tell lies, do not be lazy), Del Toro’s version celebrates its antihero’s agent-of-chaos nature.... "

Writes Mark Kermode, in "Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio review – a superbly strange stop-motion animation" (The Guardian).

 

"Artist and director Em Cooper explored the space between dreaming and wakefulness, working on an animation rostrum on sheets of celluloid."

She painted every frame individually in oil-paint, a labourious process which took many months." 

 

I was alerted to the existence of that new video by the new Wings of Pegasus analysis of "I'm Only Sleeping" on the new "special" edition of "Revolver." Wings take a strong position against pitch correction and explains why it's not an insult to say that John was singing "flat": "Instead of saying 'flat, flat, flat,' we should be saying 'emotion, emotion, emotion'...."

I've got 10 TikToks for you this evening. Quite a lot, but won't you tell me what you like best?

1. Sharpening depicted in fuzziness.

2. Is this Mexican outfit offensive?

3. Woo speak, translated.

4. Is that Aaron Rodgers?

5. Lonely lass was Kate Dalrymple.

6. The word ladder exercise for how to write a song.

7. Can any song become a sad song?

8. Will you tell your male friend — seriously — that you love him?

9. Gays are coming for your girlfriend.

10. 1930s desk lamp restoration.