Clean white gas stoves dance to a hip-hop beat while robot gophers materialize in the oven. Pretty ghosties emerge from a walking computer, yellow cities rise and fall, then rise again. A grapefruit turns into a flaming spaceship for alien Q-bert lookalikes.

Welcome to the world of Mumbleboy.com, home page of Flash animator Kinya Hanada. Featuring animations, illustrations, and an adoption program for handmade stuffed animals, the site has developed something of a cult following among fans of techno-culture. Distorting shape, space, and meaning, Hanada’s animations elevate you to that transcendental level of virtual contentment that was previously only accessible through an Atari. Highly recommended for this purpose are “Powers that Lurk,” “Pamplemousse,” and “Patterns,” which can be found on the animations page.

People prone to making generalizations have been saying that design is the new art. Looking at Mumbleboy’s animations, they might decide that design is the new cinema, as well.

This article appears in October 19 • 2001.

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