The Jar. Episode 8 of "Weird Dreams, Animated"; a series where dreams and nightmares come to life. Have a weird dream? Drop it in the comments.

On this day, 53 years ago, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world was officially opened. On October 20, 1973, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Sydney Opera House, after 14 years of construction that ran far behind schedule and many times over budget. Its Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, had resigned in 1966 after clashing with the government, and he never returned to Australia to see it finished. Did you know the man who designed it never saw it in person? Have you ever been inside it?

Down. Episode 33 of "Weird Dreams, Animated," a series where dreams and nightmares come to life. Have a weird dream? Drop it in the comments.

2. Designed the bottle once in @NanoBanana and used it as the reference for every product shot, so it stays identical 3. Animated each shot in @Kling_ai , one simple action per clip 4. Designed a custom voice for the brand and generated the VO in @ElevenLabs

How I made it 👇 1. Planned the moodboard and shot order in Firefly Boards @Adobe

On this day, 175 years ago, a book came out under the wrong title, sold poorly, and went on to become a classic. On October 18, 1851, Herman Melville’s novel was published in London in three volumes as The Whale, in a print run of just 500 copies. He changed the title to Moby-Dick right after, but too late for the British edition. It got mixed reviews and earned him about $556, and it was out of print when he died in 1891.

On this day, 31 years ago, a woman in France passed an age no one had ever been confirmed to reach. On October 17, 1995, Jeanne Calment turned 120 years and 238 days old, becoming the oldest person ever recorded at the time. She was born in 1875 and went on to live to 122, which is still the longest confirmed human lifespan.

Have you ever had a speed date end before it even started? Got a story? Send it my way, might end up as an episode.

On this day, 1,336 years ago, a former concubine took the throne and became China’s only female emperor. On October 16, 690, Wu Zetian declared herself emperor and founded her own dynasty, the Zhou, pausing the Tang dynasty she had risen through. She had first entered the imperial court as a young concubine and spent years holding real power behind her husband and sons. She ruled until 705, and she’s still the only woman in Chinese history to rule as emperor in her own right. Who do you think is the most underrated ruler in history?

Eye Grammar #09: The Sound Makes the Scene Same shot, three soundtracks: a fairy tale, a horror film, a comedy. Not a single frame changed. How it works → Your eyes see the image, but your ears tell you how to feel about it → Music and sound effects frame what’s on screen before you even think about it → Change the sound, and you change the genre Why filmmakers use it → Creating tension or warmth without changing the picture → Telling the audience what’s coming before it arrives → Making something scary, funny, or magical with the same footage Film theorist Michel Chion called this “added value”: sound changes how we read an image so naturally that we believe the meaning was in the picture all along. Think of Jaws: for most of the film you barely see the shark. Two notes of music do the work.

On this day, 444 years ago, ten days disappeared from the calendar. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar to fix the old one, which had slowly drifted out of sync with the seasons. To get things back on track, in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Poland, Thursday, October 4 was followed directly by Friday, October 15. Not everyone switched at once, and Britain and its colonies waited until 1752. It’s the calendar most of the world still uses today. If ten days vanished from your calendar tomorrow, would you notice?

Wrong Tool. Episode 32 of "Weird Dreams, Animated," a series where dreams and nightmares come to life. This one's a community dream, shared with us by @AiFoodPrawns. Have a weird dream? Drop it in the comments.

My submission for Toshi's art gallery. Share one image of your own imaginary beast.

On this day, 79 years ago, a pilot broke the sound barrier with two broken ribs. On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 rocket plane faster than the speed of sound over the California desert, reaching about Mach 1.06. Two days earlier, he had fallen off a horse and cracked his ribs, and he reportedly kept it quiet so he wouldn’t be grounded. He couldn’t reach the hatch handle, so he used a broom handle as a lever to close it. Would you have taken that flight?

Eye Grammar #08: Suspense vs. Surprise Also known as Hitchcock’s bomb theory. How it works → Surprise: the audience knows nothing, and the bomb gives them a few seconds of shock → Suspense: the audience sees the bomb first, and every second of small talk becomes unbearable → The tension comes from the gap between what the audience knows and what the characters know Why filmmakers use it → Turning ordinary moments into nail-biting ones → Making the audience an accomplice: you want to warn them, but you can’t → Stretching a few seconds of shock into minutes of tension Hitchcock explained this to François Truffaut in their famous series of interviews: surprise gives you fifteen seconds of shock, suspense gives you fifteen minutes of dread.

On this day, 719 years ago, hundreds of knights were arrested in a single morning. On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar across his kingdom, accusing them of heresy and other crimes. The Templars were one of the most powerful and wealthy orders in Europe, and the king was reportedly deeply in debt to them. The order was dissolved within a few years. Some say this date helped fuel the Friday the 13th superstition, though historians debate that. Do you think the charges were real, or was it all about the money?

Chalkboard. Episode 31 of "Weird Dreams, Animated," a series where dreams and nightmares come to life. Have a weird dream? Drop it in the comments.

On this day, 227 years ago, a woman cut herself loose from a balloon thousands of feet in the air and floated down on a parachute. On October 12, 1799, Jeanne Labrosse rode a basket from about 3,000 feet and became the first woman to make a parachute descent. She had taken her first balloon flight less than a year earlier, and went on to make more jumps in France and England, once from around 8,000 feet.