Fear that if you were at Hogwarts you would be in Hufflepuff.
I’m deep into re-reading all the Harry Potters, enjoying them.
books
His Dark Materials illustrations
I’ve finished reading Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials now, and I thought it was wonderful. The ideas and characters are still floating round in my head. One of the charms of the trilogy is the little little symbolic illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, drawn in pen and ink by Pullman himself. They are simple, and black and white. Pullman has written about how he did them, and also features them on his site, though the ones for the last book are not up there yet:
View Northern Light illustrations
View The Subtle Knife illustrations
I love the way they pinpoint in a nutshell, the essense of each chapter. My impression is that this doesn’t happen so much in books anymore. We are used to icons and symbols in software, or maps, for example, but those are more to do with function. Trademarks and logos are different again, more about branding and identifying; perhaps, as Michael suggested, a modern version of heraldic design.
Rambling
Not sure why I thought of this photo this morning. It was taken about 18 months ago at Middleton in South Australia, and I love the washed out summer look with the orange and blue.
I had the pleasure of having lunch with fellow Canberra blogger Ampersand Duck a couple of days ago. I really enjoyed it — thanks, AD!
That day I also picked up a copy of Northern Lights, the first in Philip Pullman‘s trilogy His Dark Materials. I’ve been intending to read it since blogging about the theatrical production which featured puppetry daemons designed by Michael Curry, and now by the news that it’s being made into a film, The Golden Compass, which has a release date at the end of this year. I’ve already dived in, and I’m finding the story engrossing.
I wonder how the daemons will be done in the film?
Breakfast reading 4.22
- Dickens World will open in May. I wonder how it will pan out? And what the state-of-the-art animatronic show is? Wasn’t there someone developing a virtual world, a la Second Life, based on Dickens, or did I dream it up? I can’t find it on Google.
- Amy gives us an interpretive reading of a 1907 text on novelty, fads and herd mentality. I’m sure I’m one of the ‘social derelicts’! Isn’t it noticeable how patriachal the writing is? Maybe I will record a reciprocal reading from Christina Hardyment’s book Dream Babies: Childcare from Locke to Spock, which traces the fashions in childcare over the last few centuries, based on her theory that ‘what we are told to do with our children is very much a reflection of the times we live in, and the prevailing social and psychological theories’. This book influenced me greatly: I can remember being quite shaken that something as fundamental as how one brings up children could be so deeply subject to fads (and again, often in the past generated by ‘knowledgable’ men), but it’s really worth knowing. I should read some of Hardyment’s newer books, as they look interesting, too.
- Princess Mary of Denmark, (our Mary ;P), has given birth to a daughter. She and Frederick have all the sense, joy and grace that is lacking in the English royals; wouldn’t it be nice if we could swap? His wedding speech was worthy of a Darcy.
Till it looked O.K.
Actually, my favourite Sendak picture book is In the Night Kitchen. I love the illustration, the cityscape made from kitchen packets and utensils, the dreamlike whimsy of it, and Mickey’s confidence. Above all, I like the part where he models the dough into a plane:
What better way to describe how you go about the creative process? I was delighted to find this lovely video animation of the book, adapted and directed by Gene Dietch, complete with jaunty music:
Where the Wild Things Are: link dump
(Photo credit: wellingtonany)
Mentioning the Spike Jonze film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are a few days ago reminded me that I had a bunch of WWTA/Sendak links that I collected when I was trying to scrounge information about the film. (As it happens they are keeping things very well under wraps, which is understandable.)
Take a Swim on the Wild Side: article about the filming taking place in Nov 2006 on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. There are two pictures of one of the monsters on the beach,and wading out in the water, but don’t get too excited – they are so tiny you can’t really make anything out! It describes the puppets (made by Henson) as follows:
The seven creatures stand up to 275 centimetres tall. Although made of foam, they are heavy and hot for the actors and stunt doubles operating them. Word is they wear them with the head on for no more than 30 minutes at a time, with 10 and 15-minute breaks in front of an air-conditioner… Heavy boots inside the suit and massive clawed hands make it difficult to move.
Loungelistener’s photoset of the performance of Where the Wild Things Are at Detroit Opera House, performed by the Grand Rapids Ballet. Some very cool picture of huge puppets on stage and behind the scenes.
Hand puppets and soft toys, and here
Action figures 1,2,3,4,5,6
Graffiti/stencil in Melbourne
Stencil art
Jack-o-lantern
Leg tattoo
Max tattoo
Mural in LA
Mural at the Philadelphia Flower Show, 2006
Costumes at DragonCon
Float in Mardi Gras, New Orleans, 2006
Pavement chalk art
6 part home videos of WWTA Interactive Metreon theme park – glimpses of one of the big puppets.
The Rosenbach Museum has Sendak Gallery (holding original drawings), shop, and is hosting a Spring Festival this coming week
Mommy a video about Sendak’s new pop-up book.
WWTA animation, I think the 1988 one.
There now, I can delete my Wild Things bookmark folder!
Penguin and Moomin stuff
Penguin books beat Time to the punch on focusing on you, the user. They have a series of classic books with blank covers, so you can do the cover illustration yourself. It’s a cool idea, and I might buy the Woolf or Austen if I saw one, but I’m not really tempted. However, it has lead me to drool yet again over the Penguin book mugs. I noticed Laura has one, and I am dead jealous! Maybe I’ll just go ahead and order one.
Giant Icelandic marionette
This is a still from a video of a giant marionette in Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s being operated by three helicopters! There are some other videos here. I can’t find any other information about it, which is strange, but people seem to think it was being filmed as a viral ad for jeans. It makes me think of my favourite Roald Dhal book, The BFG.
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre & Shaun Tan: The Arrival
Following on from yesterday’s post about the puppet-based theatre adaptation of Shaun Tan’s picture book, The Red Tree, today I discovered that Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s adaptation of Shaun’s new book, The Arrival, had just finished it’s season in Perth. The production, which The Australian gives a rave review, uses digital animation, puppetry and acting, and is visual theatre:
‘The absence of words not only makes the story perfect for puppetry but emphasizes the isolation that is experienced by many people arriving in a new place.’
Although The Arrival book doesn’t come out until October, there is an online preview, in which you can see some of the pages, and read Shaun’s detailed description. It looks wonderful – a 128 page book of illustrations without words, a
silent graphic novel, arranged and presented rather like a photo album, which can be interpreted rather like a silent film. ‘Through a series of connecting images, it tells the story of an anonymous migrant leaving some unfortunate
circumstances in his home country, crossing an ocean to a strange new city, and learning how to live here.’
The Lost Thing, another Tan book that was made into puppet theatre by Jigsaw Theatre Company here in Canberra a few years ago, and for which I made puppets, has been touring since, and is due to have a season in Melbourne this November at the Arts Centre.
I also came across some photos at Flickr of a Shaun Tan mural at the Subiaco Library in Perth.
Update:
Talking Squid’s review by Russell B. Farr
Links updated 2015
