It is not clear who made the first Cuckoo clock but it was around 1750 the first Black Forest Cuckoo was created.
There are museums displaying the collection of Cuckoo clocks, the Cuckooland Museum in the UK and the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum inGermany.
Some of the latest ones are very savvy with some special designs.
On a personal level I would not like to own one, for the simple reason I don’t like to be reminded of the passage of time every hour. And imagine my plight when this happens in the night, with the cuckoo waking me up every hour to say “see another hour has passed away”
But this is exactly what Alex Budovsky has done. He has made a short film showing how the Cuckoo has entered our lives and controls our thoughts. It is every where, in our bed, in our bath tub….. slowly it takes over our complete life. The way he has depicted the whole process in this short movie with simple animation technique made me sit through for the 3 minute duration of the movie. It is in Black and White and the pace is very fast.
The music by Stephen Coates is apt and one can imagine how the conveyor belt effect can change our lives.
It has won the Jury Award for the Best Animation at Sundance Online Film Festival for “the perfection of music and fantastic Imaginary”
To see the movie, click here.
15 comments:
I love the artistic design of the first clock, but I agree, I wouldn't want a little bird popping out every hour to remind me of the time, even in the middle of the night!
Oh yes, these cuckoo clocks can be annoying when one is resting! Wonderful animated movie!
I LOVE CUCCKOOO CLOCKSSSSSSSSSSss... I had to write in bold capitals yess thats how much i love them :) I have 3 of them in my home :)
and no they dont annoy me , you can get different ones.. and they can be set to work only when there is light , so when it goes dark they dont go cuckoooo cuckooo :) at least mine don't :)
Bikram's
Haha, very funny. Yep, they're world famous in the Black Forest, but they're way too noisy, so I never bought one as a souvenir. I enjoyed watching them for a while in a clock shop - they were all set at a different time, so the cuckoos were constantly popping out and screaming, lol.
As far as the reminders of the passage of time go - I think the digital age reminds us much more so than the harmless yet slightly annoying cuckoo clock.
P.S. Bikramjit has a point here - you can definitely turn the cuckoo off in the evening or even during the day time and just have the clock on your wall as nice reminder...of a lovely vacation and time standing still ;-)
Interesting! Thanks for the history.
I recently read an article on longevity that mentions "not living by the clock" as a possible factor in health and well being. Of course one can enjoy and have clocks and not be pressed by them. ..enjoy the birds on your patio and silence the cuckoos!
I don't think I've ever seen a cuckoo clock in person. I don't think I would want a bird chirping at me every hour either though.
I feel that the film cannot rob the romantic appeal of the Cuckoo clock.
I love the music - found myself bouncing along with it. On the other hand, the film had my mind racing to keep up with the story. lol
It's quite interesting that I read this post of yours just now. Why? Because earlier this evening, I was musing, at a place where I was made to wait for quite some time, that how much time am I wasting to get a 10-minute job done! It was not the cuckoo telling me that but I was going "cuckoo" there, if you know what I mean!
Cuckoo clocks are my fav.
The video isn't getting uploaded. Will try again.
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that orange one is very cool!
-liv
http://chocolivlovelaugh.blogspot.kr
I remember seeing this for the first time in my uncle's house when i was a kid. he bought it from switzerland. the making of this is a cottage industry there i've heard. But i am no more fascinated by this clock. The movie isn't showing when i clicked on it.
I find cuckoo clocks annoying. My parents had one and when it quit working, they couldn't find anyone to repair it so it stayed silent. That was OK with me!
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