Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays!


Have the very Happiest of Holidays, dear readers. May the weekend be full of family, friends, and loved ones.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Road Goes Ever On . . .


Here it is, dear readers: the first trailer for "The Hobbit". I just finished reading the book for the first time last week, and I am terribly excited for this film. Enjoy;)

Monday, December 19, 2011

Make a Wish . . .


I don't endorse a lot of books on my blog; I read something new nearly every week, and it would get tiresome to all of you if I was constantly saying "read this! it's awesome!". I'm making an exception for this book, because, well. Let me just say: Read this! It's awesome!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I won't give away much, because you should discover it like I did: unfolding page by page like a flower with an unexpectedly complex fragrance. I did not know much about this when I picked it up on a whim on Friday: EW just reported that the rights were picked up for a film adaption, but I had not heard anything else. I liked the book jacket description. I needed a new book. Done.

I couldn't predict how quickly and utterly I would be caught up in it, and how completely enchanted I would be by the tale. From the start, the blue-tressed Karou and her fanciful sketchbooks full of drawings of strange creatures, tooling around Prague, was someone I wished I could sit and drink tea with . . . and then it got better. Because, those fanciful creatures Karou draws aren't from her imagination: they're her family.

I wanted to live in this book, to meet Brimstone the Wishmonger and Issa and (certainly) Akiva and Zuzanna. I felt like they leapt off the page, and the complex mythology tied in with Karou's world is at once familiar and original, and easily (and beautifully) visualized. Much of the book was spooled out vividly in my head, so much so that I found myself itching to pick up my own sketchbook and start drawing them all, and I haven't been drawn to do that by someone elses's writing in years. And, I immediately wanted to dye my hair blue and start playing with knives (not that weird if you know me, but still strange enough).

Read this book. If you're a fan of fantasy (I'm sure most of my readers are), you will be as enchanted as I am. I actually cried reading this, out loud, real tears. That sounds weird, but I do not cry while reading (not since Phillip Pullman's Amber Spyglass). Read this. And then suffer with me waiting for the next installment;)

Skiff Made of Paper . . .


Don't ask me why (even I don't know why I decide to do some of these projects), but the last few weekends I have made paper-cut dioramas inside book boxes. I was inspired by an ad in a Martha Stewart magazine, and I guess I was bored. Unlike most bored people, who make a sandwich or pick their nose or something, I decided to grab the card stock and an exacto knife. Go figure.

The first was dome imside a book box I didn't use for my Audiobook project, and it turned out pretty well. I intend to cover the outside with paint and paper at some point.

The second I did yesterday, and had a bit of a rockier time of it, because:
a) I used a plain paper mache book box, which I will never do again.
b) I am out of hot glue sticks, something I thought was an actual impossibility.
The book box is woefully uneven on the inside, something you can't really detect until you start trying to attach pieces or perfectly square paper into it that end up going wonky. And, the absense of glue means I used masking tape, which looks sloppy. Not my best effort, but a learning experience.

All in all, I think I may keep going with this idea, doing more clasic books like the one above. I love the stark simplicity of the white paper with the complex cut layers showing through each other, and I have mental ideas for Moby Dick, Watership Down, Lord of the Rings, and several faery tales. I may end up having a busy holiday weekend;) If they turn out well, I may start listing them in the shop, just for funsies . . .