This snippet from Who’s On First remains one of my favorite examples of kinetic typography, the animated typographical interpretation of dialogue from films, television or music.

Alwayswatching has a great list of some of the other competitors. These designers are really thinking about font, space, and composition in creative and inspiring ways.

I hereby give Sita Sings the Blues to you. Like all culture, it belongs to you already, but I am making it explicit with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. Please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show Sita Sings the Blues. From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes.

And with those words, master animator Nina Paley shares with us her gorgeously animated feature debut, a musical retelling of both a personal tramautic break-up and an Indian myth. It’s a film bursting with color and pathos and creativity. The animation style is so stunning and detailed, it’s staggering to reflect that the film was animated almost exclusively by one individual.

The irony of it all is that Paley used songs recorded in the 1920’s that are out of copyright; but because the compositions themselves are still restricted, she had to pay about $50,000 of her own mula to acquire the rights.

She now described herself as a “full-time free culture activist.” To wit, on her blog (which includes plenty more most excellent animations) she sings us a ditty she recalls from her childhood, “Copying Isn’t Theft.” Of course, she encourages covers and remixes, and now links to her favorites. Below is an adorable French cover.

You can watch Sita Sings the Blues at thirteen.org. Nina Paley’s excellent blog is here, while the Sita Sings the Blues homepage is here. I heard about the film through the excellent Spout Filmcouch podcast, which I’m disconcerted to learn (just now as I research this posting) has broadcasted its last show.