The bantam lord at last doth strike!

[imomus]

One has a tendency to think of the man—nay, the phenomenon!—the world knows as Lord Whimsy as an end in himself, a work of performance art, an "affected provincial" about whom articles are written, films made and books published; a dandy, an avid horticulturalist and eminent apian. But Whimsy contains multitudes; he's also a partner in graphic design company Plankton Art, where he goes by the Clark-Kentish name of Allen Crawford.



Whimsy's design work is perfectly wonderful; as optimistic, baroque and colourful as his dandy persona. That's why, when he announced back in February that he was working on a Flash animation for my song "Bantam Boys" (from the award-winning "Otto Spooky" album, one of the Chicago Reader's Top 10 albums of 2005, apparently!), my heart fluttered like the song's heavily-filtered madrigal guitar chords. It's been fluttering for ten months now, and might have killed me had Whimsy not, yesterday, delivered his masterpiece. Yes, the animation of "Bantam Boys" has now arrived! It turns out to be the most spectacular safari since Rex Harrison talked to the animals in "Dr Dolittle" or Cousteau flipped off the deck of the Calypso kitted out in flippers and snorkel. Click the picture above to embark on an extraordinary journey! (Flash media, 1.2 MB.)

Lord Whimsy's colourful and beautifully-curved extravaganza (it reminds me of a Matthew Barney film) joins the Flash pieces made earlier in the year by The Lady Pat (Your Fat Friend) and Blayne Greiner (The Artist Overwhelmed), both still available for your viewing enjoyment.

Comments

[la-aquarius.livejournal.com]

Fabulous. Whimsy, if you're reading this, this is spectacular.

Fantastic, Whimsy!

[spoombung.livejournal.com]

Very, very beautiful. We really enjoyed it.
Congratulations, Sir

[reggie-c-king.livejournal.com]

Magical. Whimsy is to be congratulated.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

My hat grants wishes, you know.

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

I like the flying stained-glass uterus, if that's what it is.

Shades of Lovecraftian Fantasia.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Laughed out loud when I read this.

[bifteck.livejournal.com]

What fun! Fabulous effort, W. I, too, love the swimming uterus.

[bifteck.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I suppose it's an entire reproductive system, isn't it.

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm... makes me want to see a feature film. I love the recent Hayao Miyazaki films. This could be equally great, but in a completely different way esthetically.

I loved the biker... too bad she went off the cliff, and fell down into that "weird Momus-land".

//Produkt

a good day for marine creatures, it seems ...

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4530980.stm)

Re: a good day for marine creatures, it seems ...

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

you know you've been in Japan for quite a long time when you look at the above picture and begin to salivate.

[silenceinspades.livejournal.com]

genius.

[w-e-quimby.livejournal.com]

we all need a little whimsy in our lives

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

A shiny potato to anyone who can find me in the animation above.

No--make that TWO potatoes.

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

success !! huzzah !!! does he get paid for it? the old westwood. fuck all.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

Sublime.

[anglerfish96.livejournal.com]

Breathtaking! I promise not to be so impatient next time.

[blndsnnts.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous and harrowing. The images of Momus embryos invading the earth are frightening. But they're also so well synchronized and handsome. Too bad they're deadly.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

"They are not aware of their function as objects."

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

I'd say this animation might show us Momus actual 'vision' for making the world a better place.

In other words: "Spread the Momus"

[(Anonymous)]

Hey Momus,
I only write this because a genius-level gentleman like you would probably be interested to know:
"Apian" is an adjective, a person who is into studying bees is called an "apiarian."

Sincerely,
Ram Lakhan
Cathedral School, Bombay, Class of 2007

[imomus.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right, Ram. I did look the word up when I wrote the phrase, and discovered my error, but I rather enjoyed implying that Whimsy is, himself, a bee. It seems appropriate for one so busy. And I wondered if anyone would notice...

[(Anonymous)]

Very camp, I love Flash colours. Lovely graphics to. Surely a still from this would serve as your next album cover.

[seanthesean.livejournal.com]

strange similarity...
harry shearer's michael jackson moving to berlin parody song sounds quite like vintage momus... including the lyrics.
http://play.rbn.com/foo.ram?url=livecon/kcrw/g2demand/ls/ls051211le_Show.rm&start=.8&proto=rtsp
it's on around 20 minutes into the show.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It sounds more like MC Paul Barman (http://mcpaulbarman.com/audio.html) to me!

[piratehead.livejournal.com]

I and my six-month old boy were transfixed alike.

[piratehead.livejournal.com]

I think it was making him nostalgiac for his old digs.

[(Anonymous)]

Mary! What part of CRAP don't you people understand? This is not innovative -- Mondo Media was doing more advanced stuff with Flash in the freakin' "Happy Tree Friends" cartoon four years ago and more -- it's not particularly challenging (where's the beef, Whimsy? Oh that's right: as usual, there isn't any) and it tells us nothing of interest or verity about either its author or its ostensible subject. Fat lot of onanistic fluff is what it is. No more.

[bifteck.livejournal.com]

Oh, boo, you crybaby. It's pretty to look at, evokes curious thoughts and feelings, and there isn't much more that's necessary. Besides, no one said it had to be particularly innovative in the first place.

Could you do something like that? I surely couldn't. Therefore, I may marvel at it. You're the onanist around these parts, sir.

[w-e-quimby.livejournal.com]

i don't know if this was intentional, but i like how the position of the eyepatch changes

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Laziness or artistic license, Q. Take your pick!

[butterflyrobert.livejournal.com]

This is one of the best music videos I have seen, and perfectly compliments the music. Genius as always... My admiration is matched only by my envy.

[nomorepolitics.livejournal.com]

That's absolutely wonderful -- oh, you said it yourself -- and the music is too!

What else can I say but that I wish I could get a projector and play it all day on my livingroom wall.

Fantastic!!!

[nomorepolitics.livejournal.com]

One comment is obiously not enough. Ingenious work, Whimsy!

[nomorepolitics.livejournal.com]

It's the best thing I've seen on this blog. (No offense, Momus)

[nomorepolitics.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful break from the philosophical discussion I'm having with uberdionysus (http://www.livejournal.com/users/uberdionysus/)here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/uberdionysus/276957.html)).

O.K. I promise that's the last comment today.

[(Anonymous)]

Nomorepolitics, I have to say that your discussion is one of the most painful examples of two equally condescending pifflers arguing the toss over whose simple and rudimentary view is in line with their respective superficially understood philosophical (and in your case religious) concepts I've seen for ages (why on earth did you direct people to it?!). Incidentally, your idea of subjectivity is way off - pure experience precedes the formulation required for the faculty of will that you advance as subjectivity's essence. And please, don't reply.