Adventures in Cartooning is a book that teaches kids about cartooning and comics in general. The basic idea is that you can draw comics if you can doodle. It’s drawn like a doodle comic and it goes over drawing, laying out comic panels, storytelling, and having confidence in your own doodling skills.
There’s an online preview here.
Thanks to BoingBoing for posting this.
This is the first John Carter of Mars novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan books. It was his first novel, published in 1917 and it’s a work of rip-roaring science fiction that has inspired many of the great writers in the genre. The story concerns soldier John Carter who is mysteriously transported to the red planet where he fights to protect his princess against impossible odds and many peculiar creatures. The book is very much a product of its time, with outdated ideas about the red planet and outdated social ideas. But if you can just go along for the adventurous ride, you are in for a sci-fi space opera swashbuckling treat.
You’ll find regular podcasts of all the chapters over the next couple of months. Subscribe to our feed.
Duration: 00:21:54
Read by Alessandro Cima
All audio stories are Copyright © Candlelight Stories, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Betty Boop stars as Cinderella in this 1934 cartoon from Fleischer Studios. This was Betty Boop’s only appearance in color.
Tomas Nilsson made this unique version of Little Red Riding Hood. It’s a modern isometric music video interpretation of the story. Very effective. He says he did it as a student assignment.
Here’s an excellent audio download of one of the old Tom Swift adventure books, Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X. The reading is by Roy Trumbull at the Story Spieler Podcast.
The Tom Swift adventure books are a series that began in 1910 and continue in some form today. This particular book was written in 1961. Tom is a young inventor who dreams up all sorts of high-tech devices and craft in order to win the day.
Apparently, computer developer Steve Wozniak grew up reading the books and credits them with inspiring free and open creative thinking.
Well, if this isn’t the most insane thing I’ve seen in several years! This is a simply unbelievable video of the Miniatur Wunderland model railroad in Hamburg, Germany. It is the largest in the world at 16,146 square feet with 10,000 railroad cars running on 6.8 miles of miniature track. Construction of the railroad is still underway, with a scale model airport due to open this year. Good grief! Total mind-blowing insanity!
Here’s a site that posts photos of incredible bookstores from all over the world. The picture here is of the third floor of Shakespeare & Co., in Paris. It’s got lots of books, a bulletin board, a ladder, and… a bed. How’s that for reading comfort? I bet shoppers are fighting over the bed everyday in Paris. I wonder if there’s a time limit on reading in the bed?
I have to visit this bookstore soon because I am a very lazy reader.
I found this on a wonderful literature blog called Conversational Reading.
Nicole Mitchell made Zoologic in 2007 and it won the 2008 Student Academy Award. It’s a humorous story of an overzealous zookeeper who meets his match in a penguin and gorilla who lead a comic revolt against him.
Artist Dave Gibbons did a video workshop revealing how he paints the Watchmen character Rorschach using digital tools. The video was produced for ImagineFX magazine which is dedicated to fantasy, sci-fi, comic and manga artists.
Here’s the trailer for the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are movie, directed by Spike Jonze. The movie is an adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story. Max, a disobedient little boy is sent to bed without his supper. He then creates his own world filled with creatures that make Max their king.
Shimmer is a magazine of contemporary speculative fiction. Kind of a fantasy/sci-fi sort of thing. They are offering their latest issue with 12 stories in it as a free download. Some of the titles included are, The Carnivale of Abandoned Tales, Jaguar Woman, Counting Down to the End of the Universe, and an author interview.
Download the latest issue of Shimmer Magazine.
Kutiman posts video mashups on YouTube that make brand new music. He takes video clips that other people have uploaded and he cuts pieces out of the people playing their instruments and then edits them all together with just the right timing and layering to create a whole new musical mix. This one’s a nice little funk number and the filmmaker/musician creates a lively atmosphere out of his found musical clips.
In China, there’s a revolution in online novels. Writers are uploading their books to be read by millions of Chinese readers who pay a small amount for each book. The leading company offering online novels in China is Shanda Literature. Their site, Qidian.com, is the most popular destination for novel readers. Even regular bookstores are now offering print versions of online novels. Apparently, the online universe is China is relatively free of censorship and authors find themselves with more freedom to criticize.
Here’s a CNN article about the online publishing boom in China.
Here’s an absolutely fascinating film shot from the front of a streetcar in Barcelona, Spain. Look at the way the people in the city of 1908 run along with the streetcar trying to see and be seen by the camera. They seem to be full of joy and excitement. They run along and ride bikes and wave. Can you imagine people acting this openly today? There’s something profound in this little film. It just goes on along the tracks and through the crowds of happy onlookers without trying to make a point of any kind, but it makes a strong impression. Wonderful film. Watch it through to the end. It will make you feel inexplicably happy.
Here’s an illustration from Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote. It was done by Gustave Doré. It shows Don Quixote reading a book of chivalry in his library. I love the way Doré shows all the madness of Quixote’s imagination surrounding him in his chair as if his imagination and the book were coming to life. It’s a reminder that the sanest guy in the entire novel is really the Don himself… even though he does go off tilting at windmills as if they were giant monsters.
Click the image to enlarge.
