Elsewhere, 11/21 (Pre-Turkey 2007 Edition)

If you’ve got a couple of hours to spare, check out Twitch’s video player, which is quickly becoming the storehouse for international and cult trailers, clips, and short films.

PopMatters reviews Paprika: “In contrast to the typical American animation, where anthropomorphized animals trade lame pop culture references within a message-heavy happenstance, Paprika is like 2001 without Kubrick’s obsessive ambiguity… Like the DC Mini at the center of the story, Paprika doesn’t fully explain its purpose or potential. It leaves it up to us, the viewers, to figure it all out. And that’s half the fun of this fabulous film. The rest is what anime does best — amaze.” My review is here.

The trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield is alive and kicking. The initial teaser that played before Transformers was just great, and the new trailer looks even better.

IGN reviews BioWare’s Mass Effect: “Mass Effect is [a] game that is greater than the sum of its parts. Technical issues abound, but the majority of Mass Effect is so expertly delivered that it can transcend its weaknesses. Applying number ratings to a game like this doesn’t do it justice because there is no way you can ignore its technical flaws. Simply put, Mass Effect is a game that must be played. Then it must be played again. Don’t pass this one up.” Between this and pumpkin pie, my Thanksgiving is looking pretty packed.

Keep browser lock-out a thing of the past: “Locking out users, be it because they do not use a particular device or application to browse the Web or because they happen to have a disability, completely misses the point of the Web. The Web is meant to be universal, device-independent, inclusive, and accessible. What, exactly, is the point of deliberately preventing people from accessing your site with the user agent of their choice? “Amen. Besides, why would you want to lock out a browser as great as Safari, especially with all of those great new features that WebKit is sporting these days?

The latest anime from Makoto Shinkai, 5 Centimeters Per Second, won “Best Animated Feature Film” at the first annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards — more info here.

My cable modem has been taking a beating lately, and The Ultimate Bootleg Experience is to blame. Lately, I’ve been really digging Talk Talk in London (1986), U2 in Paris (1987), and The Cure in Birmingham (1985) — and that’s just scratching the surface.

Off The Sky has just released Form Creek, yet another downloadable EP for your listening pleasure.

I only just discovered it, but I have a feeling that Labrador has another hit on their hands with Club 8’s The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming. Give it a spin and decide for yourself.

Understanding Web Design: Web design is not book design, it is not poster design, it is not illustration, and the highest achievements of those disciplines are not what web design aims for. File under “Must read.”

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