Monday Morning Smile: "This Is Water" - David Foster Wallace

This has been floating (pun mostly unintended) around the internet for a couple weeks now, but this short film featuring highlights of the late David Foster Wallace's commencement address to ​Kenyon College graduates in 2005 earns all the plaudits it's received.

By trimming Wallace's original speech of more than 20 minutes down by more than half, and marrying it to some excellent visuals, both real-life and animated, The Glossary have created 9 minutes that is certainly worth your time and worth the time of your kid-graduates.  Maybe not your preschooler or kindergartener, but as long as you (or, more importantly, your child) can handle a couple salty words they probably hear on network TV anyways, Wallace's speech says important things about attitude, empathy, and learning that folks moving on to junior high, high school, college, or just a new coffee mug should hear.

May 22 Update: I've noticed a lot of folks stopping by for this video today, which I found odd, considering I was about the 412,852nd person to write about it on a website.  I think it probably has something to do that I was among the last to post about it before the David Foster Wallace Literary Trust asked The Glossary to remove the video.  Sorry, folks.

David Foster Wallace - "This Is Water" (film by The Glossary)​ [Vimeo]

Monday Morning Smile: "The Birthday Card"

This video comes from brothers Ryan Mayers and Matt Mayers.  Matt Mayers is the husband of Stephanie Mayers, the swell gal who helps keep the Festival Five and Kindiefest ​trains running on time.  This features a cute kid (Matt's and Stephanie's daughter), a feel-good message, and, most importantly, a very important dessert.  Very. Important.

Monday Morning Smile: "Paperman"

In case you're one of the few who either didn't a) see Wreck-It Ralph or b) see the news of this a few days ago, Disney uploaded the full animated version of its Oscar-nominated short film Paperman on YouTube.  That means you're lucky enough to see the gorgeously-animated dialogue-free 6-minute short that originally aired prior to Wreck-It Ralph last fall for the first time.  I suppose there are things one could quibble about (must those characters' eyes still be so darn huge?), but as an example of storytelling (and melding of CGI and hand-drawn animation techniques), it's beautiful.

Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, "Paperman." Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute.

Monday Morning Smile: Candela y Los Supremos - "El Desalojo del Piojo"

I've featured the work of Candela y Los Supremos here on the site before, but I will be honest that it is hard for me to get past the language barrier -- singing in nothing but Spanish (or perhaps Portugese) makes it difficult for me to properly evaluate.

The music is infectious pop, though, so I'm gonna post this video, the leadoff single from the band's brand new album Animaladas (out tomorrow, Oct. 16, in Spain, and a week later worldwide, I believe).  It's for the song, "El Desalojo del Piojo," which roughly translates to "The Eviction of the Louse."  That translation makes the constant hair-mussing of 7-year-old Candela make a lot more sense.

If you want to listen to more, PlayGround has you covered.

Candela y Los Supremos - "El Desalojo del Piojo" [YouTube]

Monday Morning Smile: I've Set Sail

OK.  Enough of the animated stories for the "Monday Morning Smile."  On to the animated videos.  This is from Zooglobble favorite Eric Power, who animated Toh Kay's cover of the Dan Potthast tune "I've Set Sail."  A sweet love song, appropriate for all ages.

Toh Kay - "I've Set Sail" [Vimeo]

Monday Morning Smile: Owl Know How

I was unaware of how owls actually made their way into the world.  I am indebted to Isobel Knowles and Cat Rabbit for setting me straight.  (For those of you needing proof in book form, the 2-minute movie is also available as a book.)