WAR, QUEEN & A LITTLE GIRL

Books & Comics Selfie Project #2

"BILLIE TEMPLAR'S WAR" by Ellie Irving

Who said that reading novels and writing about them must be boring?

"Billie Templar's WAR" is an amazing and funny story about a naughty girl who becomes a local hero. Written by Ellie Irving, published by Random House children's division - it is a great book not only for the little ones.

Billie lives in Merchant Stanton. Her dad is a British soldier fighting in the Armed Forces abroad. Missing him and wanting him back home she goes to the Buckingham Palace to have a word with the Queen about it. Elisabeth II is away on a holiday though. Unable to meet her Billie decides to bring the head of the country to Merchant Stanton instead. She organizes a military tattoo for the Diamond Jubilee and gets all of the town involved in it. Things go a bit complicated when everybody is ready to perform in front of the Queen but she is not there...

Great novel for parents to read together with their kids.

Frankenweenie

Tim Burton's 'Frankenweenie' is a story of a lovely dog Sparky and his young owner Victor. Due to an unfortunate car accident Sparky dies. But before he rests his poor dog's bones in peace Victor brings him back to life using his knowledge of science and an experiment with electricity. Soon everybody learns about Victor's zombie-pet messing around the town. Experimental technology which brings the dead back to life ends up in the hands of the wrong people. But the love beetween Victor and his dog prevails and saves the town!

Black and white 'hand-made' animation. 87 minutes. Brilliant!

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Maya Persson  

Lady Godiva's Giant Doll

£2.8 million 'Lady Godiva Awakes' project involved a journey of a giant Lady Godiva puppet from Coventry to London accompanied by artistic events, music and parades of dancers. It was a festival moving from one town to another and Midland's contribution to the Cultural Olympiad - a creative part of the London Olympics.

As the legend puts it, Lady Godiva was a wife of a greedy English aristocrat. Once she asked her husband to lower the taxes and make his people's life more bearable. He agreed under one condition. His beloved bride was to go around Coventry on a horseback... naked. But the people were kind and grateful and didn't look at her disgrace. As a result of that taxes got smaller, Lady Godiva kept her pride and became a colourful element of the Midlands' history. 

'Lady Godiva Awakes' attracted a range of recognized artists including Zandra Rhodes, who designed custom made underwear and garments for the puppet. On longer distances the doll rode in a horse carriage put into motion by a large group of cyclists.
 
Rugby's part of the celebrations took place in front of the Art Gallery And Museum where a stunning decoration made by the local communities was set up. Kate Morris - an artist and a community worker - was selected by the council to run a range of workshops at schools and daily nurseries. A few months of her work with children and adults resulted in the creation of a few hundred meters long bunting which became the focal point of 'Lady Godiva Awakes Rugby' celebrations.

Each piece of the bunting was made precisely and individually and represented something that Rugby is proud of. It was an educational lesson, as Kate shared a bit of inside knowledge about local inventions and achievements. And so, if you didn't know, Lewis Carrol wrote 'Alice In Wonderland' in Rugby, hologram was invented here and it is of course the place where rugby games started. The drawings which appeared on the buntings were inspired with the town's history.

The crazy and brave concept of creating a huge puppet and making it travel a few hundred miles from Coventry to London actually worked quite well. What more can I say? It brought people together and it was fun to be there!
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Text: Maya Persson 

Links:
Lady Godiva Awakes: http://www.imagineerproductions.co.uk/ 
Lady Godiva Rugby: http://godiva-awakes-rugby.yolasite.com/ 
Kate Morris: http://katemorris.carbonmade.com 
Zandra Rhodes' fashion for Lady Godiva: http://london2012.cswp.org.uk/news?title=international-fashion-designer-joins-godiva-awakes 
Cultural Olympiad London: http://festival.london2012.com/about/culturalolympiad/cultural-olympiad.php

Children Fiction - Anything Better Than Harry Potter?

Children Fiction is a very entertaining and imaginative form of relaxation for my mind. One would think that children are not very demanding readers, but they are. And so are adults with a bit of a kid's soul. Apart from Harry Potter there are a few other titles worthy of mentioning.

'Un Lun Dun' by China Mieville is one of the best fiction books I have read in a very long time. In my private opinion it is better than 'Harry Potter'. Captivating and mesmerizing, it introduces us to an alternative dimension, London's other side. Everything that is being thrown away in London, finds its' place in Un Lun Dun and forms into an incredible architectural landscape. And so houses are built with the use of old typewriters, vintage radios and broken washing machines. Sun is in the shape of a pretzel. Dustbins are living entities, just like umbrellas and buses. Even words which were a part of forgotten conversations continue their lives as little furry creatures. On a whole it is the British capital's reverse side and some form of a recycled universe.

The ancient holy book of Un Lun Dun predicts the arise of an enemy who will destroy the entire land. The only chance is the help from the Chosen citizen of the real London. And so it happens that the hero who will protect the magical world is a 13-year old Zanna. But as she is not up for the job, who will defend the doomed universe? Can it be someone who not mentioned in the prophecy? And what is a prophecy after all?

Beautiful illustrations make the reading experience even more exciting and move you into an alternative world full of monsters, surprising victories and of course ... magic!
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Text: Maya Persson
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Design a T-shirt and get wealthy

Threadless design by Kneil Melicano

Threadless T-shirt design by Chris Thornley
Threadless T-shirt design by Marco Angeles

Threadless children tee by Tony Aguero

Threadless children tee by Saman Bemel-Benrud

Threadless

is a designing company and T-shirts online shop based in Chicago.
http://www.threadless.com/

They organize all year round open designing competitions in which you submit your T-shirt design or a T-shirt slogan. Prizes are 2500$ for a design and 500$ for a slogan. They are awarded every month. The lucky author gets the financial award + Adobe Creative Package + a special medal+ a certain amount of money on free shopping in Threadless. They also choose a designer of the year who gets an impressive award.
http://www.threadless.com/submit

It's quite a lot as for a nice T-shirt. It's worth trying. If you want to take part in their challenge, check their website, designs and slogans first not to submit works below a certain level. If you want a nice cloth in your wardrobe, have a look at their catalog. Their approach is artistic and innovative, but crazy. Just like the world inside of your head!

Threadless spends over 1.5 million dollars a year for financial awards for their designers. Some of them won the competitions a couple of times which made them quite wealthy and popular in the world on design.
http://www.threadless.com/artists

Threadless has also got really cool clothes for kids in all possible sizes starting from hoodies and onies for infants, ending with T-shirts for teenagers. I would like to buy their astronaut hoodie for my friend's 4 year old son. I feel encouraged to have children when I see such nice clothes for them. When I have children, I will buy clothes for them from crazy designers.

Submit your design for children! Hurry up. This challenge is only up to August 20. Link

BLUE BEARS

Blue Bears are hand-made sad toy mascots by a Polish artist Paulina Korbaczyńska. Just like Nick Drummond's AT-AT robot, Blue Bears appear in every day situations. They seem to have their personality and private life. They are a bit melancholic. They read newspapers, play games, do the laundry, travel and socialize. They seem to be very thoughtful. They are very close to my heart.

If You fancy Paulina's bears, she may make one for You, if You write her an e-mail: korbaczynska@wp.pl.

Blue Bears Official Site in Polish: http://www.smutnemisie.pl/content8.htm
Paulina's and Blue Bears weblog: http://www.smutnemisie.blogspot.com/
Blue Bears Myspace: www.myspace.com/smutnemisie

NORAH JONES in SESAME STREET

As I have already mentioned it, I was born in Poland when it was still a Communist country. I think it inflicted my childhood a lot, because we did not have colorful toys, there were just a couple of designs and they were rather basic and not friendly. When I was 7, Communism chose to be overthrown. In result nice toys started to appear in shops, however they were insanely expensive. Barbie doll was an extreme expense. I had my first Barbie when I was about 12, because my mother could not afford it that easily. The things which came from America and Western Europe seemed to be colourful and friendly. So it was with TV programs for children.

I was a big fan of Sesame Street and I still am. When you do not get to be a child at the age of 8, you stay a child in your heart forever. It is interesting that history may inflict your childhood. Then you have twisted memories.

Sesame Street was broadcasted at 8 o'clock on Saturdays on Polish TV Channel 2 (because we had only 2 TV channels in Poland until recently). In my opinion the program was created by a genius and people who knew children hearts very well. It was nice to discover that very often famous singers appear on Sesame Street and perform their songs. It is great that they feel connected to the world of kids.

I was glad to have found Norah Jones singing on Sesame Street. It is a precious video for me. There was also Ray Charles and Johnny Cash singing in the program in the past.