SATAN!

This is so strange. First: I LOVE the claymation. Great stuff. Bring back claymation! Second: satan? Wow.



Running with this theme, I found this:

SNICKET COVER

This is the way all covers should be designed:

LORAX STATUE STOLEN!

The Lorax statue went missing from its San Diego estate on monday. The surprising thing is that the bronze statue weighs 300 pounds! That's one hard thing to steal. Police are trying to determine if the theft is related to a movie that is currently in the theaters... or was the theft money related? If the metal is melted down it could be worth some money.

"We don't know if it's just a prank because of the recent release of the movie or if someone thinks it's going to be worth a buck or two because it's a lot of (metal)," San Diego Police Lieutenant Andra Brown said. The police said there is evidence that the statue was rolled down hill and into a truck waiting at the bottom. "We're just hoping that the suspects return it," Brown said. "The Geisel family is just asking that it be returned and they don't want to pursue the matter any further. Which is not to say the police won't."

BEST AUTHOR PHOTO EVER

Now Dan Santat is about to unleash something...

Today in fact!

NICE TRAILER

Dan Santat makes the nicest book trailers.

JEANNIE BAKER CUT PAPER

I was browsing around the bookstore a while ago and came upon a book called MIRROR. Wow! The art is super cool. It's all done with paper. The reader follows the lives of two different families at the same time. I recommend checking it out.

BOTTLE

This is great...

Bottle from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

And here's the making of...

Making of "Bottle" (in 1 minute) from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

AUTOMATON

I haven't watched Hugo Cabret yet, but viewed a long preview on Netflix and I saw the wonderful automaton creation the boy was hiding. This brings me to want to share the creepy yet wonderful real-life automaton that is at the Smithsonian:

He's a clockwork monk that moves and prays, build in the late 1500s!



Elizabeth King, a sculptor who has been studying the monk wrote:
"In the Smithsonian Institution is a sixteenth-century automaton of a monk, made of wood and iron, 15 inches in height. Driven by a key-wound spring, the monk walks in a square, striking his chest with his right arm, raising and lowering a small wooden cross and rosary in his left hand, turning and nodding his head, rolling his eyes, and mouthing silent obsequies. From time to time, he brings the cross to his lips and kisses it. After over 400 years, he remains in good working order. Tradition attributes his manufacture to one Juanelo Turriano, mechanician to Emperor Charles V. The story is told that the emperor’s son King Philip II, praying at the bedside of a dying son of his own, promised a miracle for a miracle, if his child be spared. And when the child did indeed recover, Philip kept his bargain by having Turriano construct a miniature penitent homunculus."

Go HERE to listen to a fascinating and well worth-it RADIOLAB piece on the subject. It's great! And creepy. I love creepy.

Here you can view silent documentation of the monk. Wonderful.


Now go listen to radiolab!

SPINNING RAINBOW BALL OF DEATH

Here in NY I've seen Improv NY here and there. I've even been tempted this year to go on the "No Pants Subway Ride." I would have had to go into work late however. And if a manager found out it was because I was riding the subway without pants all day long... well... there's not much good in that one... except for a nice video to show the grandkids.

Anyway, I can't tell you how many times my lovely laptop has happily displayed its little rainbow spinny icon in front of all the kiddies sitting patiently. I don't think they really noticed. I think it was only I who got frustrated at the interruption. Hopefully with my brand new MacBookPro I won't have another apple rainbow ball of death show up in the middle of a presentation but I'm sure it's bound to happen.

Blah blah blah. Let me show you the video. Thank you to Jarrett Krosoczka for posting this on facebook so that I could enjoy this and then pass it on. Enjoy.

JUSTICE DEPT. DESTROYING THE WORLD OF BOOKS?

New York Daily News has written an article about a potential lawsuit against the five big publishers and Apple for attempting to raise the prices of ebooks and wrangle the digital market away from the likes of Amazon. Doing so could prove very damaging to B&N. Julie Bosman of the NYT said, “Barnes & Noble, once viewed as the brutal capitalist of the book trade, now seems so crucial to that industry’s future. Sure, you can buy bestsellers at Walmart and potboilers at the supermarket. But in many locales, Barnes & Noble is the only retailer offering a wide selection of books. If something were to happen to Barnes & Noble, if it were merely to scale back its ambitions, Amazon could become even more powerful and — well, the very thought makes publishers queasy."

“Seems that the US Justice Dept wants to destroy the world of books," Salman Rushdie Twittered.

LITERACY MONTH

The month of March is "March into Literacy" month. Go here to put this nicely designed spread on your blog or site.


Via MAT@USC: Become a Teacher

DRAWING FROM MEMORY

I read DRAWING FROM MEMORY on my plane ride to South Carolina a few weeks ago. The kids and Librarians were great there, by the way, but I digress. Anyway, I really loved the mix of drawings and photographs. At first I wondered if it would work but I was pleased to find that the photos really pulled me into the story. And the drawings are great.

This is a summary from the publisher that I got off of Amazon:

"DRAWING FROM MEMORY is Allen Say's own story of his path to becoming the renowned artist he is today. Shunned by his father, who didn't understand his son's artistic leanings, Allen was embraced by Noro Shinpei, Japan's leading cartoonist and the man he came to love as his "spiritual father." As WWII raged, Allen was further inspired to consider questions of his own heritage and the motivations of those around him. He worked hard in rigorous drawing classes, studied, trained--and ultimately came to understand who he really is.

Part memoir, part graphic novel, part narrative history, DRAWING FROM MEMORY presents a complex look at the real-life relationship between a mentor and his student. With watercolor paintings, original cartoons, vintage photographs, and maps, Allen Say has created a book that will inspire the artist in all of us."



It's funny, but the parts that fascinated me weren't told in great enough detail. Why, for example, was he allowed to live by himself at such an early age? Was this common practice? I mean, he was 11! He was in the 6th grade! If that was done in the US it would be child abuse. I was more fascinated by his relationship or NON relationship with his father and the distancing one with his mother. Also, there wasn't much student/teacher relationship shown. The teacher wasn't around much. What there was a lot of was a demonstration of Say's progression as an artist. I liked that at first (I mean, how cool for everyone to SEE what we artists do and how we grow as artists!) but at times I wished for more of the people parts of the story.

Lastly, I wanted to know what happened to Say in America! What happened to him with his dad? The reader is left hanging. Big time. I enjoyed reading this story but I wanted more. Could there be a part two perhaps? A what happened with Say and the people in his life? Life beyond the pencil perhaps?

UM... UNIQUE BOOK TRAILER

At first I thought the mouths were hand/thumbs talking... until I realized that they were really upside down faces... erm... chins! Interesting? Funny? Scary? Or just too odd for its own good? You decide!

BIRDS WEARING MILITARY OUTFITS

These are by a Japanese artist. Very cool.






Thanks to my friend Natalie for showing them to me!

TAYE DIGGS

Yes, yes... more celebrities coming your way! i haven't seen his book so I can't comment on the quality. He is good looking. I'll give him that. And I like the message, especially since I'm worrking on my bully book. Maybe I can contact him and he can give me something for it. Well, I can dream anyway.