Winston, more animated than usual

This is cute:

It's an animated student film by Guenever Goik that incorporates the sounds of Winston's whining (and Rudy's responses). Guenever says that having this film on her reel played a part in lading her current job at the Jim Henson Company, which is oddly cyclical since Winston is more Muppet than cat to me. Anyway, enjoy.

Comments

[cam]

God that was the saddest thing ever! I'm going to hug my dog.

[lawnjart]

I could only watch half of it, I was getting too depressed!

[akzombie]

lawnjart: it only got more depressing as it went on. The ending was miserable.

What is it with young art students that absolutely nothing can have a happy ending? Yay for talent and all that, but holy cats, now I want to go kill myself. I think I shall console myself by watching some actual Winston and Rudy videos that do not feature a post-apocalyptic landscape.

[nado]

i concur with the general consensus.. it depressed the bejaysus out of me.. i understand that our constant need for a hollywood happy ending can be futile at times, but really.. what a downer!

[Icarus]

Oh dear. That was a bit dark. But it was cool. I loved when they attacked the mustached robot. That was some bona fide Siegfried & Roy type shit.

[Miss Lisa]

Jesus--what's going on at Jim Henson Company? Dark Crystal 2?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzgVPB5dpgg

[Mongoose]

Wow. She got mad skillz!

[Brandon H]

Jim Henson is shelling out misery and hopelessness to kids now?

[Linda]

I thought it was amazing, and I enjoyed the darkness. If a four minute clip can evoke that much emotion out of me than I approve wholeheartedly.

[Guenever Goik]

Hi guys - filmmaker here. Like Winston himself, white tigers are a product of mills and inbreeding, which results in physically deformed, mentally challenged, "undesirable" animals.

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/cats/wild/white_tigers.htm

That site lays it on a bit, but external research backs it up. There's usually no happy endings for the cats that don't 'come out right.' That being said, it is a tad dark.

Please note - this is not affiliated with/sponsored by/promoted by the Jim Henson Company, I just happen to currently work there. They're doing a great kid's show about science right now for pbs.

[Nikita Tinypaws]

Winston is not undesirable, that's for sure. Cool little film though.

[Gretchen]

Guenever,

Thanks for the link-- I'd had no idea that this controversy even existed.

The article appeals to a lot of sentiments to argue against breeding white tigers....some which I would say are legitimate, others definitely not. The terms "aberration" and "artificially bred" really mean nothing. There is no way for zoos to breed animals except artificially, by introducing males and females and hoping for the best. If the product of such unions is not one which would have happened in nature otherwise, who cares? That's not an argument that they should not exist in the first place. If a zoo gets a lion and a tiger together and creates a tiglion, where is the argument that the tiglion should not exist?

Additionally, profit vs. conservation is a red herring. Why should we care if people are breeding tigers for profit? If you say you're breeding for conservation but in fact your efforts do not further conservation at all, then there is a problem, because you are deliberately deceiving people. But breeding animals for profit is not inherently wrong, any more than doing anything for profit is inherently wrong. People have to make a living.

Birth defects, on the other hand, I think are much closer to a good argument against breeding white tigers. If they regularly are born with severe physical impediments, then I would say it's wrong to keep breeding them. The article says:
Only 1 in 4 tiger cubs from a white tiger bred to an orange tiger carrying the white gene are born white, and 80% of those die from birth defects associated with the inbreeding necessary to cause a white coat. Of those surviving, most have such profound birth defects, such as immune deficiency, scoliosis of the spine (distorted spine), cleft palates, mental impairments and grotesquely crossed eyes that bulge from their skull

If this is true, that is enough reason to oppose the breeding of white tigers-- which is not merely done by half-ass circus owners, but notably Siegfried and Roy, who in their exhibit at the Mirage in Las Vegas are currently showing off their recent acquisition of four white female tigers. I've recently been there, and of course there is no mention made of this controversy at all.

[Gretchen]

Oh-- also, I would love to hear about the show on science that the Jim Henson Company is doing.

[MDP]

Yeah, it's dark. It's either going to be a happy ending or it isn't. It's just because it was cute little animals that makes it more depressing. If it were people it would be like, eh. No biggie.

[relan]

all 3 of my lil feline babies just got some love, tear stained, damp miserable love. that was the saddest thing ever. i can't handle sad right now :(

the kitten reminded me of my tiger-striped gray kitty. he's always scared and making that scared mewing noise.

i feel another cuddle coming on...

[Marie]

Beautiful work, but deeeeepressing. God, would a happy ending have killed?

Congrats though!

[jilly]

I'm glad I read the comments first because it wasn't as sad as I was expecting (but don't get me wrong, still sad).

p.s. I love Heathers.

[Sparker]

Aw that did make me sad- but like Linda said someone's obviously got talent if four minutes evoke that much emotion from you.

Also, being the eternal optimist that I am I immediately thought of the Discovery Channel show about "Life After Humans" basically set in a post-apocalyptic setting and if I recall the tigers did quite well for themselves. So the unseen ending could still be very happy!

And I do believe the show referred to above is Sid the Science Kid which premieres on PBS in September; I've been seeing ads for it while babysitting and I have to say it looks great! I love Jim Henson creations, and wish that man were still among us.

Also- Dark Crystal had a happy ending, remember people.

[Stephsteph]

That just broke my heart. It actually hurt to watch it. There are 3 kitties asleep on my bed right now that are about to get snorgled.

[Amy]

Cool film (muchos depressingness though). Winston and Rudy are now officially stars! :P

[Washington Cube]

That's what I thought. Winston and Rudy are stars. Do you think Miss Bette Davis would have said, "I'm not going to play a sadistic, cynical whore in "Of Human Bondage?" Or serving a rat to Joan Crawford? She knew how to play dark.

Winston likes doing "dark." His characters have more range, and he can express himself better as an artiste.

No more summer haircuts for Winston. It's in his new contract. He has to be "film ready."

[WinstonFan3000]

Beautiful animation, but daaaamn... bleak!

[kdub]

I definitely need to see something nicer than that before I go to bed, I'm so sad now.

[that damn monkey]

Guenever, awesome work.

Rich, put a damn warning on shit like that, would you? I'm now reduced to blubbering at work and can't explain that it's due to sad kittehs on my computer....

[Fzliwjkq]

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