This Animated Life

Chris Ware & John Kuramoto bring you this animation featured in season two of This American Life.


There's something fascinating to me about the foibles of New York life. It is a city both real and imagined, in which intellectual and whimsical pursuits seem equally valid and rewarding. In recent years, I think I've become aware that I participate in one of the many brands of New York. There exists a tribe of foreigners who somehow feel an affinity to Fairytale NYC that we can't quite explain. It might describe your politics, cultural aspirations or material desires but I'm going to just start calling it "New York" the way a font is called New York. NYB – New York Brand. I say a "brand" but it could just as well be an "attitude" or a "feeling" but whatever this is, it seems to be encapsulated by certain media or personalities that you can easily group together. That's how I feel about this cartoon. It's as though, this is my wish; I want to be walking in Manhattan, on a lovely spring day, discussing some celebrity I spotted. Unfortunately, that happens to be the height of my ambition at the moment. I think films made me want to desire this. Maybe this guy is right.