Predators of the Sprawl

The Nursery is a collective of young animators, filmmakers, writers, and illustrators devoted to creating fresh, edgy entertainment for your enjoyment.



Predators of the (Urban) Sprawl is a crude yet funky look at hipsters in the city. Now in their third episode, Predators takes issues that are commonplace to city dwellers and transform them into animated vignettes.

In this episode,

Life in the Sprawl heats up as summer temperatures soar and brainless hipsters take to the streets for relief. There is danger in them hoods hater: QuarterWatersaurs!

As a former New Yorker, I must say that Predators III perfectly present summers in the City when the heat becomes stifling, oxygen feels slimy, and the brain starts hallucinating.

You can find more Predators of the Urban Sprawl on the Nursery’s YouTube channel and their website. Here’s a Behind the Scenes video created by The Nursery.

I also recommend The Nursery’s other animated web series: Flex n’ Zepher and President of the Future.

Scorsese's Student Film

An NYU student film by Martin Scorsese titled What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing In a Place Like This?



You would think being a former student of the NYU film department, I would have seen this brillant little number. (Alex tells me that she had seen it the first week of film school; us Cinema Studies folks missed out)
Instead, I found the early cinematic works of Mr. Scorsese posted to The Little Round-Headed Boy's blog. He called the short film:

a mini-masterpiece. It's a comic autobiography of Algernon, a cheery Brit who comes to the big city as a writer and tries to discover who he is through a series of misadventures. It's full of witty comic touches, visually inventive montages and one shadowy character who reminds you of the Mobsters who would inform his later films.

A big fan of Scorcese, I have to agree with the Little Round Headed Boy. His early work shows growth and potential. The writing, the music, the shadows, the slow pacing, are all unmistakeable Scorcese. I just can't look away.

Maybe this YouTube capture of Marty's early works will pump me up for the several hours that l am about to commit to see The Departed in theatres. Pretty sure it will be worth it!