Rick Riordan - The funmaster

Master of the retold and reimagined Greek myth. Purveyor of Indiana Jones meets National Treasure meets brilliant reading marketing scheme. Rick Riordan is a children's author, though he also writes for adults, and is/has writing/written some of the most entertaining books I've crossed recently. Sure he's on the best sellers list, which, to those of us under the ambiguous label "indie," might find offensive. I don't and won't be boxed out of enjoying, wholeheartedly, books or music designed to entertain. I've made it through the backlog of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and now patiently await the finale. I'm also just starting the 39 Clues series which is already panning out to be just the book I was looking for, both back in elementary school and on most Saturdays. Check out the website, the books, and enjoy.

Rick Riordan's Site

Go Here - Watch This: Where the Wild Things Are

Having been a fan of this book since I was child, I was thrilled and terrified that they were turning it into a full length movie. It was a scary book to open for the first time since there were "wild things" and there was a distance from home that had been breached with, perhaps, no return. A nail biting thought as a single digit old boy. However, there was adventure, there was independance, and there was the pursuit of something that "I" liked - exploration. Maurice Sendak's book was and may still be on the frequently banned books list along with his In The Night Kitchen. I understand the uproar from parents as we see Max exhibiting an emotion we generally tie to bad behavior (anger) and willing himself to disappear from the situation. There is a brief resolution at the end as we see his meal on a table when he returns unharmed and exhausted and in need of his family. Whether you loved it or hated it for reasons stated above or because of others - it's scary, the monsters are weird, you don't like Sendak's art - in my book, it's a children's classic. Now to the movie.

Click on poster for preview website

I had heard rumors that there was going to be a movie and I groaned. I thought it might be the sort of digitally enhanced attempt like last year's Horton Hears a Who, which did well, I think. I also thought it might be just a short film to introduce another box office smash attempt like the latest Disney offering or something from Nickelodeon Studios or something. However, I stumbled across the full length movie preview on Apple's website and was blown away. Absolutely blown away. It's in real life and everything looks like it did in the book except with real people and brilliantly made up monsters (Jim Henson?). They're going to have to make up some lengthier plot lines and that worries me, but those at the writing helm are Spike Jonze (music video extraordinaire) and Dave Eggers (hipster, writer - What is the What, and creator of McSweeney's and all of the 826 writing clubs). I'm not terribly worried that they'll write in a lot of sap or silliness. The film itself looks gorgeous. Huge panoramas, that almost grainy, sun-dried camera lens. And the music on the preview... I couldn't help but think I knew it as soon as it came on. Arcade Fire's "Wake Up." If that didn't make me excited, nothing would.

In the end, who knows. It may be my new favorite movie. I love movies in general that deal with internal struggle and end with redemption and resolution. Maybe this isn't one of those and I'll hate it. Either way, I'm stoked.

Intentions

I had a grandiose idea to post the list of books I've completed thus far as well as a little snippet about them. I also thought that I would have time this weekend to post my list of best music for this quarter of 2009, complete with snippets. Though now, alas and alack, Sunday night has arrived and I have accomplished only two of three goals for the weekend: clean the bathrooms and bake orange whole-wheat bread. Posting the above listings was pushed aside as our homestead contracted the flu. We don't know what kind or how long it lasts, but everyone here except me is under the weather. In the place of the aforementioned lists I'll give you a link to an art blog that I think is fantastic. I'm a big fan of the Brothers Hildebrand who did art for Tolkein's books as well as Terry Brooks' fantasy series based around the Shannara family. That's a bit of a side note. I'm in the midst of reading Andrew Peterson's (yes, the Andrew Peterson of The Far Country, Love and Thunder, and Resurrection Letters II) kids fantasy novel On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and the illustrations are fantastic. On Peterson's blog, he passes a link to the artist who drew all of the illustrations, one Justin Gerard.

http://www.quickhidehere.blogspot.com/

Over the last year he went back and illustrated points in Tolkien's original masterpiece The Hobbit. His work began as an attempt to illustrate the Lord of the Rings but he found that Peter Jackson's Hollywood-ized version was too ingrained. So I leave you with the link to his gallery for The Hobbit, some other random bits of art, and some illustrations for Beowulf. Enjoy all.


http://www.justingerard.com/