patrick boivin: at-at day afternoon.

Ah, Star Wars. Though I fear it’s starting to become the Helvetica of retro pop culture design references, just like Helvetica, or anything over-played, when it’s done really well in a new and exciting way allowances can be made. And if the outcome is as totally kick ass as Patrick Boivin‘s “At-At Day Afternoon”, then everything old is new again.

The premise? Gloriously simple. Imagine your dog was an At-At. Film it. Rejoice. Spread its awesomeness to the world. Make everyone feel like children again. Done.

And if you’re not sure what an At-At is, then I’m afraid I’m not sure we can be friends anymore.

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Via Motionographer.

bonsaininja + fare soldi: survivor.

Never heard of Italian disco-house? Well you have now.

Fare Soldi pushes the boundaries of gino funk with “Survivor”, delivering it with an incredible video by Bonsaininja. I don’t get tired of this whole retro, laser-filled, everything from the 80s is floating in space vibe. It looks like every image in here was pulled off the side of a plastic lunch box.

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birdy nam nam + will sweeney + steve scott: the parachute ending.

Damn. There is so much radness going on here I almost don’t know where to start. Designed and animated by Will Sweeney, designed and directed by Steve Scott for electro hip-hoppers Birdy Nam Nam’s “The Parachute Ending.” I totally dig this vintage sci-fi animation look that’s getting big lately.

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Via Motionographer

great works + pedro marín: el día después en teletexto.

This is totally in the rad, pixellated vein of two of amazing Toronto artists Superbrothers. Claiming (and I’m believing them) to be the world’s first video ever shown in Teletext, Great Works created this viral vid for Pedro Marín’s “El Día Después” from his soon to be released “I Will Glam.” It’s a shining example of how simplicity can be made beautifully complex.

I’ve never heard of him, but apparently Marín was a big glam pop star in Spain in the 80s. To fuel his comeback (I guess he’s riding that whole pop revival gravy train) they created his first vid in Teletext – a technology that was introduced the same time as glam rock, which Marín’s claims as his biggest musical influence. It played on Spain’s Channel Four throughout May. Pretty rad.

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Via Today and Tomorrow

adolescent: mogura.

In Adolescent’s “Mogura”, a cupcake plays Dig Dug. I really don’t think I need to say anything more than that, but maybe I should repeat it: A cupcake plays Dig Dug.

That’s one of the most enticingly win-filled sentences I’ve ever seen in the English language. It’s a cupcake… and it plays Dig Dug. Some days, life is just really worth living…

Watch “Mogura.”

tea&cheese: 8-bit waterslide.

Oh, 8-bit retrogame-inspired stop motion goodness, how I love thee. Let me count the ways…

This is Tea&Cheese’s entry into the Barclaycard waterslide film competition (following up on the popularity of their TV spot, “Waterslide”, which I posted about when it was released). If you love “8-bit waterslide” (and I did) then you can vote for it here (and I did).

superbrothers.

Sometimes art follows the same ideal as the scientific principle Occham’s razor: “All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.” While there can be beauty and complexity in an appearance of excess – Jackson Pollock is the first example that pops into my mind – there is a polar, but equally “complex simplicity” in the restraint and deftness needed to create an equal eye-catching visual from the simplest building blocks.

Plus, retro shit is just cool.

Toronto’s own Superbrothers (a.k.a. Craig D. Adams) takes the building block of the digital age, the lovely little pixel, and works his magic by cleanly and masterfully making art that is both retro and forward and groundbreaking all at once. It’s not a recreation of the old pixel as much as re-imagining of it, not a re-use but a way of taking the energy and creativity of the old 8-bit universe and imbuing it into new work. There’s a crazy beauty in examining the little things that make up everything else: oxygen molecules seem lowly until they gather to create wind; a water molecule seems miniscule until they coalesce into the ocean. And pixels are the foundation for all our digital canvases, with Adams giving us a fascinating view, as if through a microscope, into all the possibilities the little guys still hold and the magic they wield even in their most unaugmented form.

Adding to the coolness are two videos, created by Superbrothers, for the amazing Jim Guthrie (which he composed, appropriately and amazingly, on a Playstation…)

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If you’re into it (and why wouldn’t you be…) then head to the Superbrothers Shop to pick up prints and tees.