Vincent Laforet created this video with a Canon 7D as the first chapter in a series for the Canon video contest “The Story Beyond the Still.” Laforet was given a still image to interpret, and this video is his interpretation of that image. The video ends with another still, which contestants for the second chapter had to then interpret and build upon. The result is a story told by multiple filmmakers, each with their own style of cinematography, dialogue and film making. Each chapter has different actors, but the actors look enough alike that it’s easy to tell which character is which.
The contest will have a total of six chapters, and with four of the chapters now completed I’m curious to see if the contestants will ultimately be able to tie the story together in a neat package, or if we’ll end up with an ending that does not do justice to Laforet’s alluring beginning. With an impressive list of filmmakers on the judges’ panel, my hope is that they’ll be able to find an ending that will satisfy the viewers in both its storytelling and its cinematography. The completed chapters are available here on Vimeo, along with the contest details. Chapter 5 entries are due by June 10, but there’s still lots of time to complete an entry for the final chapter.
Being a huge fan of Twilight the book and not being a huge fan of Twilight the movie, I had mixed feelings when I heard that a graphic novel was in the works. It is possible to have too much of a good thing, especially when the supplemental materials to the original “good thing” aren’t nearly as good. Instead of ruling out the graphic novel as a simple money maker in the Twilight franchise, I decided I’d wait until the book was in stores to see for myself. I’m glad I did.
Twilight the Graphic Novel, Volume 1 is a hardbound book with an absolutely stunning cover depicting Bella in the now-infamous meadow, and the cover image is just the beginning. Young Kim’s art brings the characters alive, and they are the characters as Stephenie Meyer has written them, not caricatures of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. The drawings are done primarily in black and white, with subtle washes of color on some images and fuller color to call attention to dream images and significant events. While I very much enjoyed the selective use of color, I did feel like some of the drawings felt unfinished. I believe this was a deliberate technique to call attention to certain images and to decrease attention on others, but I would have preferred to see more than the guidelines for eyes on some of the characters, and more than faceless heads on others. Overall, though, the book is beautifully drawn, and pulled me thoroughly into the Twilight universe, the drabness of Forks and the discovery of a first love.
The only major disruption in the book was the frequent placing of speech bubbles over the characters’ faces. I found this terribly distracting and somewhat insulting to Young Kim’s art. Often there was space on the page to place the speech that would not overlap a face, making the placement that much more frustrating. Hopefully the publishers will resolve this issue in Volume 2. I also wondered while reading the book it I would have understood it or enjoyed it as much if I had not read the original novel, as it felt like a lot of the story was left up to interpretation. That might just be me, though, as I often wonder the same thing when watching movie adaptations of books I’ve enjoyed.
Stephenie Meyer states in the introduction of the graphic novel that working on this version of the story brought her back to her first experiences with Edward and Bella, writing, “The art made it fresh again.” I couldn’t agree more. Kim’s beautiful images brought back everything I felt when I first read Twilight and made me excited for the release of Volume 2. Even though I know the rest of the story I can’t wait to see the images that Kim crafts for it. I highly recommend this adaptation to anyone who loved Twilight; hopefully it will make it all new again for you too.
This is the book trailer for The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu. I’ve seen links to book trailers before, and never thought much about them. I prefer to read the inside flap or reviews from other readers to decide if I want to read a book, and I don’t want to have preconceived images of the characters in my mind. This trailer caught my eye as it’s done completely in stop-motion, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
The song in the video, “Tais-toi mon coeur”, is performed by Mathias Malzieu’s own band, Dionysos, and also features French singer Olivia Ruiz. Malzieu is also working on an animated feature film of the book. I’m hoping he’ll go the stop-motion route for that too. If the trailer is any indication, it will be a film worth seeing. In the meantime, though, I’ll be picking up a copy of the book.
There is a version of the trailer with subtitles available also, but the images are not as crisp. You can find it here.
My house is full of books. There are bookshelves full of them in my living room, my bedroom and my office, and I always have a running list of books that I want to read that I haven’t had time yet to add to the home collection. I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve run out of space for more, and since I can’t imagine parting with any more of my current stash, I needed to find a solution. I’d heard about the kindle, but there was just something unappealing about the large white surface and the keyboard. It seemed, so… clinical. I like the size of my books. I like the smell of a new book, the feel of the pages, and the sound the pages make when I turn them. I like books. How could an electronic device give me that same feeling?
Last fall, as my book ownership was reaching the limit of my apartment and my husband’s tolerance, and I was sneaking books into the house and hiding them so it would appear they’d been there all along, Barnes and Noble announced that they were coming out with an ereader, a competitor to the kindle. I’d already decided that I wasn’t interested in the kindle, but the new ereader, named nook, had a different look and feel. It was smaller than the kindle in length and width, sized about the same as a thin trade paperback. Instead of a keyboard, which seemed silly to me on a “book”, there was a small touchscreen that would show images of the covers of the books in my collection. And it was from Barnes and Noble, my national book haven, the place that I could go, no matter where I was in the US, and feel at home. It was as if the book gods where sending me help in my time of need. How could I not at least give it a chance?
Not being one to rush in lightly, I waited until the sample nook arrived in-store to make a decision. Excitedly I arrived at my local B&N and bee-lined my way to the giant “NOOK” sign in the middle of the store. I couldn’t believe how small and sharp-looking the nook was, but I also couldn’t believe all the issues the salesperson was having with the display device. It seemed to take forever to turn the pages and to navigate the menu. I asked if the contrast on the e-ink screen was adjustable, and the staff went back and forth, unable to give me an answer. I left frustrated, deciding to wait until some of the issues were resolved before I made my decision.
A few weeks later, on December 26th, I was back in Barnes and Noble, taking another look. I’d heard that there’d been a software fix, and sure enough, the page turning and navigation were much faster. I placed my order, and anxiously awaited my nook, scheduled to ship on February 2. In the meantime, I read the nook forums an a lot of online reviews, and I started to worry. The reviews were bad, and the nook owners had a lot of complaints – issues registering, freeze-ups, losing their pages, parts of the book being cut off, sideloading issues, etc. I started to think I should just get a kindle. But I waited it out, wanting to see for myself if my nook would have issues.
Continue reading Review: Barnes and Noble Nook eReader »
Cookie splash! is a series of photos taken by Siebe Warmoeskerken, Owner of De Vetpan studios and fellow flickrite. Each photo in the series features beautiful bokeh and huge, amazing, perfectly in-focus coffee splashes, with cookies, of course! Warmoeskerken created the splashes using chocolate easter eggs, but says that any tiny, heavy object will do. I love the beauty of the splashes and the fantastically colored backgrounds.
For the try-it-at-home types like myself, Warmoeskerken provides a quick step-by-step tutorial and also a “making of” video on Vimeo. If you try this out, let me know. I’d love to hear how it goes!
May 31, 2010, at 1:44 pm
