More Sunday Musings...

* Jim Pinkoski and I are conversing on matters of science and religion, Creationism and Darwinian Evolution, and our comics work -- all via this blog's comments function. Check it out below, or click

here.

* This just in from my dear friend Diane E. Foulds, a fellow Jan Svankmajer fan; Jan and Eva created some of the most uncanny stop-motion animation short films and features ever made, and though they aren't to everyone's taste, they are incredibly vital works nonetheless, and a huge influence on (for instance) Dave McKean's work as an artist and filmmaker. Here's what Diane sent me:

"Eva Svankmajerova: 1940 - 2005
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The Czech Republic lost one of its finest artists this week, Eva Svankmajerova: writer, painter, and Surrealist artistic collaborator with her husband Jan on numerous mixed live-action/stop animation films including the award-winning "Little Otik" in 2000. Over forty-five years Eva and Jan Svankmajer became inseparable on the Czech arts scene. They collaborated on deeply visceral works that echoed the darkness of totalitarian life as well as life in general, hiding and subsequently revealing surfaces beneath surfaces: sexuality, corruption, hidden violence, and sporadic beauty."

For the full version, please go to

Eva Svankmajerova obit.

I'll be including some of Svankmajer's animated work in this weeks CCS film presentation, in memory of Eva. The features, Alice, Faust, and Little Otik are all available on DVD; there are also two excellent compiliation DVDs of most of the Svankmajers' animated and live-action short films, The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer Vol. 1 and 2, from Image and KimStim. They were released in 2003; I've no idea if they're still in print, but they can still be found online from a number of sources.