A few months ago, the tireless trufflehound of the interwebs, JES, led me to this.... a delightful piece of prose poetry by Karel Čapek (a writer I read a lot of as a kid, and absolutely loved: a marvellous fabulist and wit - begetter of the term 'robot'* for a humanoid mechanical servant, amongst much else) and an equally delightful piece of visual poetry inspired by it, the creation of a young Polish art student, Alicja Cioch (you can read about the process of making the film on her blog here, and also see some of her charming original storyboards for the project). Just the thing for a mellow, self-reflective Sunday.
How to grow clouds
It takes a lot of work: it is necessary to weed very carefully, to toss out muck and small stones by hand, to kneel on the earth, bend over, dig about in the soil, water profusely, collect caterpillars, exterminate aphids, loosen the ground and serve the earth; when your back hurts from all this and you straighten up and look at the sky, you will have the prettiest clouds. Probatum est.
* Čapek generously acknowledged that he got the idea to use this word from his elder brother Josef, a painter.
3 comments:
So glad you liked that animation -- I did, too!
(And I'll have to add "tireless trufflehound of the interwebs" at once to the ledger of epitaph candidates which The Missus will have to consult when eulogizing me, ha.)
I think I've used that one before, JES. It is becoming difficult to think of new descriptions appropriate to your remarkable abilities.
Amongst the many treasures you've turned up for us this year, this was a real stand-out. (And one of those - wasn't it? - that you buried in the comment thread, added only as an afterthought!)
LOVELY! Oh, this was such a treat. Thank you both.
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