So, last week I heard a wonderful interview with Francis Ford Coppola, recorded at the Toronto International Film Festival, and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re a film nut like me.

Coppola is personable and eloquent, a real master talking about his career and his craft. His anecdotes from the filming of Apocolypse Now alone are worth the listen, but his take on money and the film industry, and his sage advice to questions from the audience of young filmmakers are also full of insight and sensitivity.

During the interview, I was reminded that Coppola named the film production company he founded 1969 Zoetrope Studios.

And in an amazing coincidence, a few days later, via Colossal, I came across several videos of zoetrope animations that knocked my socks off. The painstaking time it takes to conceive, construct and film these just blows my mind.

First up, given my oft-expressed love of bicycles, it’s no wonder that this caught my attention:

Second, even though I never thought I’d have to eat again, after the extensive holiday feasting this past weekend, my appetite switch was toggled back to the “On” position as I watched this:

And finally, it was back to bicycles, perhaps a sign from the universe that I need to do some extensive pedaling soon to work off the Thanksgiving calorie load: