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Brooklyn-based French filmmaker Michel Gondry directs feature films, shorts, commercials, and what he may be best known for, music videos. Much of his work is full of practical and digital effects, often of the hand-made do-it-yourself variety, always clever, and typically animated.

While many people stiffen and become more conservative as they age, Michel has retained the natural enthusiasm of youth to experiment creatively and to release and publish all sorts of work fearlessly. This DVD menu screen from one of Michel’s music video collections illustrates his playful approach to art:

Michel’s longest music video directing relationship is with Bjork. He directed the video for “Human Behavior” from her Debut record, and most recently directed the video for “Crystalline” from her Biophilia record, with animation direction by Peter Sluszka:

Michel draws and creates books. Picturebox has published three of his books. One is a comic book and another is a book/film collaboration with artist Julie Doucet.

He recently released Haircut Mouse, a short multimedia animated film:

Here is a trio of Rubik’s Cube solving videos. The first utilizes a simple filmmaking trick before escalating into the use of digital effects in videos two and three:

Here is a teaser for his film Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?, the “animated conversation” with Noam Chomsky:

You can see more work at Michel’s website and watch “TV Gondry” for a brief commercial of Michel pushing his products:

If you happen to be in the San Francisco area this week, please consider heading to Modern Times independent bookstore this Thursday, July 30, at 7 PM. IRAQIGIRL’s developer (i.e., the guy who discovered the IraqiGirl blog, had the idea to make it into a book, and assembled the initial manuscript), and former human shield in Baghdad, John Ross, will be talking about how the book came to be and reading some selections.

And now having shamelessly promoted the book, I’m going to even more shamelessly brag on behalf of the press publishing it. Here’s Library Journal, post-ALA:

Small presses, big books

Essays by Arundhati Roy and Wallace Shawn, plus reflections on the contemporary world by Noam Chomsky and Breyten Breytenbach. Top picks from a big New York house, right? Wrong. These authors are all being published this fall by Chicago-based Haymarket Press, truly a small press that thinks big and my top find of the convention. Roy’s Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers (Sept.) argues that Hindu nationalism and economic reform are thwarting India’s democratic efforts, turning the country into a police state. Shawn’s Essays (Sept.), his first collection and ranging over his entire career, move from the act of playwriting to considerations of privilege, while Breytenbach’s Notes from the Middle World (Nov.) considers the artist’s role in a shrinking global environment. Chomsky’s Hopes and Prospects ponders political activism in the Western Hemisphere.

And now I am going to stop bragging. For this week, anyway! Real posts coming up.