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I hope all of you are enjoying summer and can you believe this is Week 10 of our Book-Jumper Summer Reading Series??!! What fun it has been!
I can share with you that I’m up to my eyeballs in Norse Mythology. The ever-talented Roscoe Welply and I are working on a new book from Audrey Press all about the Norse Gods. Some of you might not know this about me but my family comes from the Island of Gotland in the Baltic sea. There on this magical island is buried Thor,the hammer god himself. So I guess I can technically say that Thor is a part of my geneology.
Runemarks by Joanne Harris is one of my son’s favorite reads. He has read it several times and has continued on with the series as well. He highly recommends it with five golden stars and thumbs up.
All of us know about the ancient Greek and Roman Gods. We read about their magical world both in school and for pleasure. But now a new realm of Gods has been introduced—the Norse Gods.
Maddy Smith is a unique, chaotic girl in a plain, orderly world. The age of the Æsir—Odin, Frigga, Thor, Tyr—is long gone. 500 years gone to be exact, after Ragnorak, the changing of the worlds. Now the Order rules, under the guidance of the Nameless, and anything seen as demonic or different is cleansed.
But in Maddy’s little town of Malbry she is no more than hated by the rest of her simple villagers. Until One Eye comes along. This mysterious traveller tells her stories of the old age and confirms that she does in fact have powers, powers of the Gods. But old One Eye only tells Maddy half-truths, only trains her in what she needs to know. She does not understand what is going on beneath the Middle World or what is happening at the End of the World where the Order congregates.
Life changes drastically for Maddy when One Eye sends her on a wild goose chase for something called “The Whisperer.” All she has to go on is that it will call to her and that it is very important that she trusts no one and bring the whisperer back to Maddy.
But forces are at work against Maddy and her old friend. The Order has now become suspicious of the town of Malbry and the paranormal activity occurring there. And One Eye’s old friend, Lucky, isn’t quite as dead as One Eye hoped he’d be.
In her journey through the tunnels of the underworld, Maddy uncovers the truth about her birth, her friends, and what is truly going on in the nine worlds. The Æsir are rising, but the Nameless has other plans for the nine worlds. After hearing the first prophecy in five hundred years, Maddy must figure out how to save her friend, herself, and the Nine Worlds from the Chaos that rests in the bottom of the world.
I know this summary is quite vague, but I do not want to give anything away. All the surprises that were around the corner in this book were so exciting to me that I’d hate to deprive you of such a feeling.
We have read books upon books upon books about the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. Well, Joanne Harris’s Runemarks is the start to the rise of the Norse gods. Well read in classical language and mythology, Runemarks is full of Norse history, but is also an exciting new tale to the old Gods. Her exciting tale of a nearly unknown world summits interest from the very beginning—from the curious Runemarks, to the alternative use of the word faerie, to these new, powerful Gods that we will soon get to know as well as we know Athena and Zeus. May the Greek Gods rest in peace, and may we welcome the Norse Gods with open arms! Be sure to finish out the series with Runelight and The Gospel of Loki.
Something to Do
1. Check out this complete list of Norse runes and their meanings HERE.
Interested in learning more about Norse mythology? Go HERE.
2. Even though in Runemarks, Thor has lost his hammer, we still know it exists. And he’ll need it back eventually so lets help him out by making our own Thor Hammer!
3. Idun is the goddess of healing. She heals the sick, wounded and dying, with her dried apples—the food of the gods. Make your own healing fruit!
***
It’s the End of Summer Audrey Press Book Sale!!
Summer is slowly winding down and thoughts are turning to the upcoming school year and reads that will take us into (and through) the colder months ahead. Instead of being sad to see summer go, I choose to Celebrate! And what better way to do it than with an End of Summer Audrey Press Book Sale. For two weeks only readers can get a great deal on two of my most popular books. But don’t delay; this super special sale ends August 14, 2015.!
First up The Waldorf Homeschool Handbook: The Simple Step-by-Step guide to creating a Waldorf-inspired #homeschool. And for a limited time, this best-selling book by Donna Ashton, The Waldorf #Homeschool Handbook is now only $17.95 until August 14th, 2015 !
Enjoy more month-by-month activities based on the classic children’s tale, The Secret Garden! A Year in the Secret Garden is a delightful children’s book with over 120 pages, with 150 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together. AND, it’s on sale until August 14th ! Grab your copy ASAP and “meet me in the garden!” http://amzn.to/1DTVnuX
Two great children’s books-Your choice, $17.95 each!
Scribble on her Dress .... from the book Thin Time
Matilda by Sophie Bignall
I was furious with Thomas for running off, but I had to find him. Crawling from under the bench, I tiptoed along the aisle to the wooden trellised gates and was shocked and surprised to hear Thomas giggling and the sound of gentle laughter. There was someone else in the church!
The laughter was such a comforting noise in that gloomy place and I hurried between the high-backed choir stalls into the cold moonlight pouring through the huge, stained glass window that filled most of the east wall of the church. In front of me was a vast expanse of dirty red carpet stained with candle wax. It covered the paving and the three wide shallow steps that led up to a low platform against the back wall of the church. On the platform was the altar, a long stone table draped with an old grey cloth, and sitting on the bottom step was Thomas with the young girl from the knight’s tomb beside him!
Her long hair fell in a colourless shawl round her thin shoulders. Her dress was like the cloth on the stone table, threadbare and so old it was hard to tell the colour it had once been. The folds of her dress were full of dust, but I saw smudges of gold paint on the cords and tassels of her cloak. Recovering a little from the shock of seeing her, I remembered something else and went hot and cold inside. I’d scribbled my name all over her. Thank goodness, I hadn’t scribbled on her hands and face!
This is one of the projects I've been working on recently, for an art college class. Yes, birds and mail art. Wonderful. Loads of cutting, slicing, collaging, and then drawing and painting, was done. I ended up with a couple of options to work on, and liked them both but ended up picking this one below for the final review.
I went through a bit of exploration and research and managed to develop quite a fascination with ravens, sifting through poems such as Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven', folklore, fairy-tales, fables--almost picked Aesop's The Crow and the Pitcher--so it isn't too surprising that I went with this pair in the end ... In Norse mythology, Huginn (from Old Norse "thought") and Muninn (Old Norse "memory" or "mind") are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world of Midgard, and bring information and news back to the god Odin. Flying messengers. Perfect.
I've depicted them as a white and black raven, and addressed the envelope to them. Their names are written in ancient Nordic runes just above their respective beaks. Yes, there's a message inside as well, written on rice paper 'parchment'. Private, of course. Let's hope that the envelope will eventually be returned to sender (me!) with a postal mark to show that it's been in the system. Here's a glimpse of the bit of mess I made while researching and working on the project ...
Here's the back of the envelope with a depiction of the Nordic mythical Tree of Life, Yggdrasil ...
The ravens and the tree were paper cuttings (my sketch book suffered somewhat) that I painted (watercolour for the birds and some marker pen on the tree) and collaged onto the envelope. On the front I'd also glued crosswords (to symbolize thought, naturally) onto the original white envelope, and then placed a thin sheet of rice paper over the whole thing so that it looked like parchment, slightly aged. I quite like the result, what do you think?
The other attempt at mail art was slightly a different one: I made an envelope from black paper and then cut straight into it, collaging and shading only the white bird on the front. Then I placed white paper inside the envelope so that it showed through the snipped out leaves, flowers and insects.
Simple, but I think it's quite cute. The back is a more abstract representation of a (meaner) raven and its wings, can you see it?
I did like this black and white bit of mail art, but once I'd begun on the research for the winged messengers of Odin, I fell in love with them and that was pretty much that. I think I made the right choice picking them as my final piece, what do you think? There are infinite possibilities for both options though, and I may end up using them somehow on cards and other goodies, so keep an eye out for them up at the Floating Lemons shops in the near future ...
Not every scholar of medieval English has the privilege of translating a major poetic text, and fewer still have the chance to do it all over again, eighteen years later. My first edition of the Poetic Edda was published in 1996 and about two years ago, I was invited to think about a second edition, one which would expand the number of poems and which could be brought up to date in other ways. But what could have changed as far as this classic work was concerned in the meantime?
Well, unlike a single poem, such as Beowulf or Piers Plowman, the Poetic Edda is a collection of poems. Most of these are to be found in a single manuscript, known as the Codex Regius, kept in the Árnar Magnússonar Manuscript Institute in Reykjavík, Iceland. But, preserved in other Icelandic manuscripts, are a good number of further poems in the same kind of metre, which relate more stories of Norse gods and heroes. Four or five of these poems have always been considered part of the Poetic Edda and I translated them in the first edition. But now there was room for some more.
“Hervors død” by Peter Nicolai Arbo (Hervor was a shieldmaiden in the cycle of the magic sword Tyrfing, presented in Hervarar saga and of which parts are found in the Poetic Edda). Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
I’ve added three more eddic poems which I think are interesting in different ways. The first of them is traditionally known as “The Waking of Angantyr.” It tells the story of a warrior-maiden Hervör, who dares to go alone to an eerie island, haunted by her undead father and his eleven brothers. Hervör wants her father’s magical sword Tyrfing, but Angantyr is determined not to give it to her. He’s quite surprised that a girl should dare to come to the uncanny place:
Young girl, I declare you are not like most men, hanging around by mounds at night with an engraved spear and in metal of the Goths [armour], a helmet and corslet before the hall-doors.
At first Angantyr pretends that he doesn’t have the sword, next, he warns (truthfully) that the sword bears a curse, but finally he hands it over to the triumphant Hervör. A bold and determined heroine and an undead corpse — this seemed like a good addition to the new translation. The other additions are “Groa’s Chant” and the “Sayings of Fiolsvinn,” two related poems. A young man called Svipdag has been cursed by his stepmother to go on a quest to find and woo the lovely Menglod, a task fraught with danger: “she has ordered me to go where she knows there’s no going,” Svipdag laments. Wisely, he first visits the grave of his dead mother for advice. Groa is indeed anxious to help and she sings a number of spells over Svipdag. If he crosses rivers or sea, if he’s chained up or assailed by frost, “may no corpse-cold come to ravage your flesh / nor bind your body in its joints.”
Groa chants spells for her son, from The Elder or Poetic Edda, translated by Olive Bray with illustrations by W. G. Collingwood (1908). Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Groa’s last spell will help Svipdag if he must “bandy words with the spear-magnificent giant,” and this is exactly what happens. When the hero finally reaches Menglod’s hall, the watchman Fiolsvinn won’t let him in. Entrance is only permitted to the man who can fulfill a whole series of impossible tasks, set up in a circular fashion. Svipdag is about to despair, but wait! No man can come in unless he has carried out this task — or unless his name is Svipdag! And so when Svipdag reveals his name, he gains entry to the hall and is rapturously embraced by Menglod, who chides him lovingly, “A long time I’ve sat on Healing-rock / waiting day after day for you!”
What constitutes a medieval poem? One of the most important poems in the Poetic Edda, “The Seeress’s Prophecy” exists in three different versions in medieval Icelandic manuscripts. Very often editors have combined the texts of all three versions to try to recover what they think might have been the “original” form of the poem. But nowadays scholars tend to think that this is a pointless endeavor. After all, this poem probably existed in oral tradition for a hundred or more years before it was first written down and there was likely never a definitive version. Newer critical thinking argues that it is better to reproduce what actually appears in the medieval manuscripts than to try to find the lost original. And so I’ve provided two versions of this poem, one written down in 1270, and one which was written down about forty years later. In the earlier version, the death of Baldr the Beautiful ushers in the beginning of the end of the world: Ragnarök. Baldr’s mother Frigg had made everything on earth promise not to hurt him, but she did not bother with the mistletoe, for it was so little and frail. Wicked Loki shaped it into a dart and put it in the hands of Baldr’s blind brother Hod when all the gods were amusing themselves by throwing things at Baldr and watching them bounce harmlessly from him. Here Baldr lounges against a wall, while Loki guides the fumbling and hooded Hod:
The Death of Baldr, from The Elder or Poetic Edda, translated by Olive Bray with illustrations by W. G. Collingwood (1908). Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
In the later version, preserved in the Hauksbók manuscript, which was compiled in the first decade of the fourteenth century, Baldr isn’t even mentioned; that seems to be a difference worth recording, and it suggests that the death of Baldr wasn’t necessarily connected to Ragnarök.
And perhaps most importantly, eighteen years ago talking about the reception of the Poetic Edda meant talking about Wagner, William Morris, and Tolkien. Nowadays the influence of these wonderful poems is felt much more widely, in popular culture as well as in the opera house. Hollywood has its Thor films; novelists such as Neil Gaiman in American Gods (2001), young adult authors such as Melvin Burgess and Joanne Harris, even Game of Thrones, with its dragons, ravens, shield-maidens, its endless winter, wolves and giants, have seized on eddic themes and motifs to capture the imaginations of new generations. I hope that this new version of the Poetic Edda, with its additions, updates, and revisions will also find new readers to thrill to these poems, which speak to us in comic, tragic, grandiose, crude, witty, profound, and commonsense tones.
The Lost Sun. (The United States of Asgard #1) Tess Gratton. 2013. Random House. 368 pages. [Source: Library]
My mom used to say that in the United States of Asgard, you can feel the moments when the threads of destiny knot together, to push you or pull you or crush you. But only if you're paying attention.
I found The Lost Sun to be an enjoyable read. I didn't love, love, love it. But all the same, I found it to be a quick and pleasant read for an afternoon. The hero of The Lost Sun is Soren Bearskin. He is "destined" to be a beserker just as his father was. His beserker legacy troubles him greatly. He does not want to give way to it, no matter if it's in his nature or written in his destiny. He does not see anything positive in it. Soren Bearskin falls for the new girl at school, Astrid Glyn. Astrid is a seer; her mother was a very, very famous seer. Early in the novel, something bizarre happens. Baldur the Beautiful, a god who was supposed to resurrect in the springtime, did not appear. He did not come back to life. He did not rejoin the gods. He's completely missing. Astrid and Soren team up to find him. Astrid's dreams and visions offer BIG clues to the pair. Together can they find him and set things right?
For readers who enjoy fantasy quests, The Lost Sun is definitely recommended. Astrid and Sun have a mystery to solve, and they go on a quest together. Along the way, they offer readers a look at a very different alternate vision of the U.S.
People have expressed an interest in turning this feature into a meme, so that's what I'm going to do! If you'd like to join in, pick an exciting book deal announcement (before there are covers or even proper synopses) and tell us about it in a post! Publisher's Weekly is a great place to see new book deals, but authors frequently announce them on their blogs and Twitter as well.
Tessa Gratton has signed a three-book, six-figure deal with Suzy Capozzi at Random House Children’s Books for a new YA trilogy. Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency handled the world rights deal for Gratton; the series is called the Songs of New Asgard. The series presents an alternate history of the U.S. in which the country was founded on elements of Norse religions, and gods walk among humans, with some maintaining powerful positions in the government. Rennert said Gratton’s inspiration was, in large part, her own translation of Beowulf. The first book, Weight of Stars, follows two teenagers who embark on a cross-country search for a missing god. As the kids travel through the United States of Asgard they encounter, as Rennert put it, “smalltown zealots, trickster gods, and sadistic field trolls.” Gratton’s YA debut, Blood Magic, was published by RH Children’s in May 2011, and the companion book to that title, The Blood Keeper, is coming out in August 2012. (via Publisher's Weekly)
"Our country was founded two and a half centuries ago by men who served the old gods of Scandia. We need them, people say. They wait always at the edges of our stories, to nudge an election one way or another, to turn away natural disaster, to rebuild, to inspire kindness or bolster fury."
In Book One, Soren is the lonely son of an infamous berserk warrior, who only wishes to ignore the battle-fever in his heart and be normal. Astrid’s mother was a famous seer, and she wants to use her own prophetic dreams to change the world.
When Baldur the Beautiful goes missing, the two teens take off on a road trip to find their lost god. Along the way, they encounter zealots and trickster gods, undead soldiers and sadistic field trolls. To survive, they’ll have to choose between loyalty and destiny, and learn to have faith in themselves.
I loved Tessa's debut Blood Magic, I think this new trilogy sounds AMAZING. I want them in my hands right noooow! What do you
3 Comments on Signed, Sealed, Delivered (3), last added: 11/18/2011
Why indeed? But despite our financial woes, I am interested in the origin of the idiom, not in exorbitant prices. On the face of it (and the nose cannot be separated from the face), the idiom paythrough the nose makes no sense. Current since the second half of the 17th century and probably transparent to the contemporaries, it later joined such puzzling phrases as kick the bucket and bees’ knees.
Idioms are harder to trace to their “roots” than words. Etymology, though not an exact science, is governed by certain regularities (sound correspondences, patterns of semantic change, and so forth), but a search for the origin of idioms rarely needs the expertise of historical linguists. They will offer good advice only when words have changed their meaning, as happened, for example, in curry favor (where curry means “brush, groom” and favor once referred to a donkey and later to a horse) or forlorn hope (from Dutch), in which hope meant “group, detachment of soldiers” (a cognate of Engl. heap) and forlorn had the sense of “lost” (a cognate of Engl. lorn and German verloren). It is possible that nose in pay through thenose did have a meaning different from the one we now ascribe to it, but, other than that, we cannot account for the odd phrase unless we succeed in reconstructing the circumstances in which it was coined. A product of popular culture? An obscene joke from a Restoration comedy? A borrowing from the language of thieves? In the 13th century, the famous Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson explained to his countrymen the meaning of numerous phrases that originated in ancient myths. By his time, more than two hundred years after the Christianization of Iceland, those myths had either fallen or were falling into oblivion. I wish we had someone like him who would be capable of solving our puzzles. But this is a forlorn hope. So to business.
The Internet supplies those who look for the history of pay through the nose with four or five explanations from books bearing the generic title Phrase Origins. All of them, regardless of their reliability, have a fatal flaw: they do not cite their sources. At best, they say it is usuallybelieved or according to legend, but never add where they found the legend, who wrote what they repeat, or even approximately where the gossip originated. Only dictionaries of quotations try to discover the authors of famous lines, and their efforts have been crowned with great success.
This is what we can find.“If you were caught stealing in medieval times, they sliced a slit in your nose.” Anywhere (or only in England?) in the Middle Ages at any time? “In medieval times, when the Jews were being bled for money, any objection by them to paying was greeted with a slitting of their noses.” Again the Middle Ages (which, incidentally, lasted more than a thousand years), but now it is the Jews, rather than the Swedes. The allusion to bleeding noses will recur below. “Odin laid a tax of a penny a nose upon every Swede.” However, Odin (or Othinn) was the greatest god of the Scandinavian pantheon, and it is hard to understand what he could have done with such a tax, for he neither sold nor bought anything. Some time ago, I explained (in this blog) the origin of the idiom it rains cats and dogs. According to one of the nonsensical articles I had consulted, Odin was surrounded by cats and dogs, and they caused rain. This is a lie bordering on blasphemy. Odin stayed away from cats and dogs, and those ani
0 Comments on Why pay through the nose? as of 1/1/1900
Mr. Popper's Penguins by the Atwaters: An adorable, totally wholesome story about Mr. Popper, a humble house painter with humongous dreams of being an Arctic and Antarctic explorer. When, in response to a fan letter, Mr. Popper's favorite explorer promises a suprise over a radio broadcast, Mr. Popper's life is changed forever by the delivery of a penguin of his very own. Now charged with caring for the strange bird, Mr. Popper finds all means and manner of solutions, and eventual showmanship with his ever-growing flock. Hilarious, and so cute it's almost physically painful, Mr. Popper's Penguins is a perfect book to read aloud to younger kids and for kids to read on their own. Because, really. Who doesn't like penguins?
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman: Join a boy (aptly named Odd, Gaiman has a way with names) on an adventure with three very cranky Norse gods who, thanks to Loki, have been turned into animals and robbed of their powers. This is the newest children's book from Newbery winning Gaiman, and as usual he is able to delivery snappy dialogue, individualistic protagonists and a thoroughly comical view of famous mythological deities. Unlike TheGraveyard Book and Coraline, this book has plenty of adventure without being too scary for younger readers. It can also serve as a really great intro to Norse mythology for the younger set. Personally, my favorite part actually came at the end of the book, and isn't even a part of the story (but is rather the about the author, clearly written by the author) but the content is good, too. The Cricket in Times Square by George Seldon: Chester Cricket arrives in New York quote by accident by way of picnic basket. But once he settles in, he finds all the Big Apple has to offer: friendship (with an adorable cat and mouse pair, yeah, they're friends, things work differently in the city, they tell Chester) music and even fame. Despite a pretty outdated depiction of an older Chinese gentleman (writing in dialect doesn't help anyone...) this book holds up pretty well, with enough adorable to give you diabetes. The illustrations by Garth Williams (who also illustrated Charlotte's Web) punctuate the book nicely. A generally lovely little book.
Ice Land by Betsy Tobin. 2008/2009. Penguin. 368 pages.
When I was sixteen, I was given a cloak made entirely of feathers.
Did I enjoy this one?! I did! It's a complex story--at times--a historical fantasy with gods (the Aesir), giants, dwarfs, and humans living messy (and sometimes intertwined) lives. But it's a beautiful story as well. It is set in Iceland (circa 1000 AD), and it is the story of love in all its messy glory.
It left me a bit speechless. Not many books do.
From the back cover:
Warned by the fates of an impending disaster, Freya embarks on a dangerous journey deep into the mountains to find a magnificent gold necklace said to have the power to alter the course of history. Meanwhile, the country is on the brink of war as the new world order of Christianity threatens the old ways of Iceland's people, and tangled amid it all are two star-crossed lovers whose destiny draws them together--even as their families are determined to tear them apart.
Infused with the rich history and mythology of Iceland, Betsy Tobin's sweeping novel is an epic adventure of forbidden love, lust, jealousy, faith, and magical wonder set under the shadow of a smoldering volcano.
They got it right! You know how sometimes the way a book's description can be so misleading, and so not-the-book-you-get? Well, this one really is as good as they make it out to be.
Fulla, a young maiden, is unhappy. Her grandfather (her only remaining family) wants her to get married. He wants to do the choosing of course. What does she know of such things? Of what makes a marriage work? What makes a marriage strong? How could she--such a young thing--know about love and matters of the heart? How can she know her own mind? So says her grandfather, Hogni, in any case.
Who would she choose if she had her way? Does she dare speak it even to herself? When such a choice is oh-so-obviously forbidden? It's Vili. A young boy from a rival family. The son of the man who killed Fulla's father.
This isn't Fulla's story alone. It's also the story of the goddess, Freya. The goddess of love who is a bit unlucky when it comes to her own heart, her own affairs. Freya has worries of her own. Worries for her people, worries for Iceland itself. She's heard prophecies, seen signs, enough to lead her on a quest for what could be salvation. Her search for a remarkable gold necklace, a necklace made by the dwarfs, what would she do to obtain it, to make it hers? Will it change her destiny?!
So many different characters...so many stories intertwined...all beautifully and wonderfully done. A great, great story. Very compelling and oh-so-fascinating. Definitely recommended. It would be oh-so-perfect for Carl's Once Upon A Time reading challenge this spring. If you can wait that long. I couldn't. I'm weak.
I'm guestblogging again over at Saints & Spinners... like I said before, her Children's Books That Never Were feature is just too good for me to resist! CLICK HERE to read more about Furious George: Father Knows Best.
0 Comments on Children's Book That Never Was: Furious George as of 1/1/1900
Given the intensity of today's DVD Special Features, it's no surprise that we never get to them all. And to be honest, as enlightening as the Director's Commentary may be, most people rarely take the time to sit through it. So, as a special service, I've transcribed a portion of the Director's Commentary from the Limited Collector's Edition of Ratatouille that I thought you'd find particularly enlightening. Enjoy!
Scene: Remy Cooks the Soup Time: 00:23:32 - 00:34:46 Commentary by: Brad Bird (Director, Writer) and John Lasseter (Executive Producer)
Bird: This might be my favorite scene. It really gets to the epitomizes one of the driving forces behind the plot, and that is the transcendent nature of art. How one can just get swept up in the divine process of creation, whether it be cooking, painting, or animating. Here Remy delays his escape, literally putting his life on the line, in order to satisfy his artistic impulse. It's really quite beautiful.
Lasseter: I couldn't agree more. As artists, we all know that risk is an essential component to all great art. Without risk, there is no reward.
Bird: And this project in and of itself was a huge risk. I mean, the idea of creating an entire movie around a rat in the kitchen... and cooking no less! You don't know how many people thought we were totally nuts. Though to be honest, we weren't exactly treading new ground here. Rodents have been at the heart of children's entertainment for generations.
Lasseter: And because of the Disney connection, people always assume that Remy was a descendent of Mickey Mouse...
Bird: Yeah, that's the first thing people always ask me. But, to be honest, while I was putting the script together, I didn't consider Mickey to be a good role model for the Remy character. For me, as great as Mickey was, he was always a creation… never the creator. He was the product of Walt Disney's imagination, but the character himself lacked imagination… I always found him to be kind of bland... the likeable straight man in a world of fantastically complex characters. To find a suitable ancestor for Remy, I had to draw upon a character who felt the same creative impulse. I found just the guy in another beloved rodent: Leo Lionni’s Frederick.
Lasseter: When Brad told me this, I nearly fell out of my chair, because Frederick was one of my childhood favorites. You all know the story, a band of mice prepares for the harsh winter, but one of them, Frederick, collects words and colors instead of food. At first, everyone thinks he's lazy, but when winter comes and they are out of food, Frederick's artistic vision inspires them and keeps them warm for the duration of the summer. Inspiration and imagination warms the body and soul and the power of art triumphs over circumstance. Bird: Right.... so as you can see, Remy and Frederick have a lot in common. They really are cut from the same cloth. They both start out as outcasts because of their artistic tendencies. They both want to elevate themselves from the mundane through their art. However, I was always a little bothered by Frederick because I kept thinking, couldn't he have collected words and colors while lending a hand? I mean, there had to be some kind of balance between indulging in your art and the basic necessity of gathering food. I couldn't shake the feeling that despite his triumph at the end, he was still kind of a freeloader.
Lasseter: Brad, I never thought I'd say this, but you're starting to sound like a Republican.
Bird: Stop it. You know what I mean. Yes, art is important, but so is sustaining one's livelihood. I mean, hadn't Frederick ever heard of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?!
Lasseter: Brad, you're digressing again. Let's get back on track, or we'll have to cut this from the final DVD.
Bird: Right. So, in order reconcile the basic need for food and the transcendent need for art, I had the brilliant idea to make food his art! It was quite an elegant solution, if I do say so myself.
Lasseter: Plus, with the current pop culture obsession with the culinary arts, food made the movie very marketable. I mean just look at the popularity of the Food Network, Top Chef, Iron Chef, Swedish Chef, etc. This was an idea that came at the perfect time. But that's the producer in me talking.
Bird: Yeah, the producer in you also forced me to put in that ill-conceived romance between Linguini and Collete. That one still stings... I mean, who in their right mind would believe that the tough-as-nails Collete would ever fall in love with the hapless Linguini? Suspension of disbelief can only take the audience so far.
Lasseter: Yeah, yeah, I didn't hear you complaining when Ratatouille was sitting at the top of the box officeas the checks were rolling in. I know the movie industry and I know our audience. People want some love sprinkled into every story... it's like putting hot sauce on your burrito, it just spices it up a bit.
Bird:Now who's digressing? Back to my point, if you take Frederick and compare it to Ratatouille, you'll start to see more parallels. The scene where Remy helps his cousin Emile visualize taste pays homage to the scene where he Frederick helps his friends visualize the colors of spring. And instead winter, I chose to embody the impending threat of death in the chilly and crypt-like character of the food critic, Anton Ego.
Lasseter: And as all us in the entertainment business know, a critic's chilly reception is much deadlier than the coldest winter.
Bird: Yeah, luckily, we haven't had to deal with much of that because we only make awesome movies.
Lasseter: Yeah, we rock.
Bird: But just like Frederick's art triumphs over winter, Remy's art melts the heart of Anton Ego and his perpetual winter of discontent. And in both the book and the film, the skeptical peers find inspiration in the wake of their talented friend/son. Oh, and even the name Linguini pays homage to the great children's author... I wonder if the audience caught that. Lin-gui-ni, Li-o-nni...
Lasseter: I didn't even catch that until now!
Bird: I know, cool isn't it? High five!
[Bird and Lasseter "high five".]
Bird: Ooo! Ooo! This next scene is great too, where Linguini and Remy first communicate down by the river. There are just so many layers of complexity embedded in their interaction. To really increase the tension, I incorporated aspects of Freud's Theories of Externalization as well as the Jungian Conception of Synchronicity...
Lasseter: Oh wait--did you hear that?
Bird: Hear what?
Lasseter: That sound... I think... I think it's the sound of our audience falling asleep.
Bird: Or... maybe... it's the sound of me feeding you a knuckle sandwich!
Lasseter: Bring it on, Birdman!
Bird: You asked for it... I hope you're hungry!
---end of transcript---
4 Comments on Ratatouille: Director's Commentary, last added: 12/5/2007
This was too funny. I just bought Ratatouille for the kids, and they were getting a bit annoyed with my comments while we were watching this. I really enjoyed the movie. But your post...too funny.
Sara said, on 12/5/2007 6:58:00 AM
Delicious. And trying not to sound greedy here, but how about MORE? From other movies, I mean. You know you can.
TadMack said, on 12/5/2007 7:21:00 AM
HEEE! You know, I kind of hated this movie, so this does me good...
Minh Le said, on 12/5/2007 8:00:00 AM
I'm glad you liked the post. and Sarah, I'll definitely check and see if i can see any other hidden special features in my DVD collection.
though, to be clear, I really liked this movie... and have seen it more times than any grown man without kids should admit to.
An adorable little fox wants a friend, so he decides to go out and catch one. His mother quickly corrects him and tells him that you don't catch friends, you make friends.
The fox takes this literally and goes out and builds a friend out of an apple and some sticks. Unfortunately, his apple-headed friend is incredibly boring and doesn't play well with others. Soon a few other animals from the forest show up and they all decide to help the fox make a friend. By the end, in the process of making friends, they have inadvertently become friends. Awww... In lesser hands, this could have been extremely cheezy, but Relf's illustrations are so soul squeezingly adorable, that it works really well.
Relf's book also works because it is a rather astute commentary on the difficulty of forging friendships. Indeed, it is rare for people to directly say "Hey, let's be friends." The more common method is to engage in an activity through which social relations and friendships are built... just as Fox and his buddies build a relationship while working on a project together, most people today make friends through activities such as happy hours, book clubs, or sports.
Sports are a great way to make friends (especially for guys who are typically less comfortable with their emotions) because it allows for the development of camraderie and emotionally significant relationships through a socially acceptable venue. Strong friendships are developed on the playing field and emotional barriers are slowly broken down. (Where else do guys pat eachother on the butt without a second thought?) The sports world creates a useful context upon which friendships can be cultivated and eventually thrive off the field as well.
Sports is such a powerful unifying force that it can extend well beyond the realm of individual friendships and into the global politics. The most startling example is the Iraqi national soccer team, who recently beat Saudi Arabia to win the Asia Cup. This victory prompted throngs of Iraqi citizens to take to the streets in celebration. Shiites and Sunnis rejoiced together, chanting "One Iraq!"
From Harper's: "Sport brings us together while the heads of everything in Baghdad can't bring us together for five years," said one reveler. "If the Iraqi football team ruled us, peace would spread in our home."
Indeed, it appears that where diplomacy and military occupation have failed, soccer has triumphed. Sport may prove to be the best hope yet for quelling the tragic sectarian violence that has been consuming Iraqi cities for years now.
Seizing this unprecented momentum, President Bush finally heeds the country's call for a change of strategy in Iraq and commissioned the conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, to produce the following top secret policy initiative:
The report, called "A Kick in the Balls: Soccer as a Strategy For Ending the Conflict in Iraq" is an attempt to capitalize on the transcendent power of sport as a means of redeveloping a sense of national pride and peaceful coexistence between warring factions in Iraq. The report, which will be delivered to the President early next week includes the following recommendations:
1) Replace the Department of Defense with the Major League Soccer All-Star team.
2) Cut off all ties with new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and announce that all diplomatic relations with Great Britain will now go through David Beckham.
3) Preemptively commute the sentence of NBA official Tim Donaghy (who is under investigation for rigging games). Put him in charge of officiating for all future soccer matches to ensure that Iraq will always emerge victorious.
4) Pressure the international community to name Pele as the new Secretary General of the United Nations.
5) Appoint Brandi Chastain as the successor to Tony Snow for the position of White House Press Secretary. If anyone questions the president's latest strategy, she will be instructed to take off her top as a diversion. If that doesn't work, she will kick Helen Thomas in the face and shout, "Anybody else want some?!"
6) Request that French president Nicolas Sarkozy lend the services of soccer legend Zinedane Zidane to the Iraq War so that he can serve as a one man army to secure Anbar province.
Surprisingly, this drastic new strategy will garner support in both political parties. Democrats will support the initiative because shifting from a military based occupation to a soccer based occupation will allow them to bring our troops home sooner rather than later (and reverse their sinking standing in the public opinion polls).
Republicans and the White House will support the plan because no one in the United States really pays attention to soccer, so interest in Iraq will quickly evaporate. The less attention on the war, the better off the Republican Party. Soon (to the delight of the embattled Bush administration), CNN will stop covering it all together and the only place you will be able to get updates on the war will be ESPN Deportes.
Note: This strategy will not bring an immediate end to all violence. During this past week's celebration, 4 people were killed by celebratory gun fire (which tragically, is a low casualty rate in present-day Iraq). A key component to the success of this plan will be providing the Iraqi population with free bottles of celebratory champagne so that the worst injuries will be limited to the occasional cork to temple.
6 Comments on Fox Makes Friends, last added: 8/20/2007
Is it sad that I truly think this has more chance of succeeding than anything else the administration has tried so far?
And is there any chance we could get Ronaldinho involved? I know, he's Brazilian and they've stayed out of the conflict so far, but... he's very very cute. Could be good PR. Just sayin'.
Minh Le said, on 7/31/2007 5:31:00 AM
Eisha, you're brilliant! I'll call the Heritage Foundation and see if they can add the following recommendation:
Recommendation 14b: Install Ronaldinho as the head of the new Iraqi Ministry of Magic. This move will a) take advantage of his cuteness and his ridiculous ball skills b) harness the enormous popularity of Harry Potter.
Would anyone stand a chance against the combined power of Harry Potter and Soccer?
And would Ronaldinho and his giant teeth be the greatest Quidditch player of all time?
eisha said, on 7/31/2007 1:13:00 PM
It's a fine plan. Except for the part where you make fun of his teeth.
Minh Le said, on 8/1/2007 5:38:00 AM
I'm not making fun of him... as a wise man once said, "Foreign Policy is worthless if it doesn't have teeth to it."
In which case, Ronaldinho may prove to be our greatest asset in the realm of international diplomacy.
Cynthia said, on 8/1/2007 10:55:00 AM
i guess soccer is the solution to all of the world's big problems. remember paola? grassrootsoccer.org uses the power of soccer to fight HIV/AIDS!
Kyra said, on 8/19/2007 10:31:00 PM
Forget soccer (mustly because I don't understand the game).
If Aldous Huxley and Edgar Allen Poe teamed up to create a children's book, this would be it. The world of The Flower is a hauntingly dismal place where the city is all shades of grey and people live in tiny boxes. A world where the great vastness of human potential is confined by the cruel limitations of their post-industrial nightmare.
The human spirit was not meant to live in a colorless world, wading through smog, scurrying across concrete, afraid to make eye contact on the subway. In this book, city living is cold and soulless... like a cadaver--still vaguely human, but for the distinct smell of fromaldyhyde.
Not to be melodramatic or anything.
Anyways, the hero in the book works in a library (obviously, since the library is a breeding ground for heroism), and one day discovers a book with a beautiful picture of something he had never seen or heard of before... a flower. The color from the picture is mesmerizing and soon our hero finds himself following a trail that leads him towards a reconnection with nature and a rediscovery of the beauty within.
The book reminds us of the importance of retaining some connection with the natural world, even when confined to the concrete jungles of urban living. I never quite understood this, probably because I've managed to kill every plant I'd owned. (A cactus even died under my care and those are supposed to be indestructible!)
But my girlfriend agrees with Light and Evans, and always insisted that having plants around the apartment was key to maintaining our sanity. And right now, as I look around the room, and see the few small potted plants bravely adding life our box of an apartment, I have to admit they've got a point. (Obviously, I'm not the one responsible for watering them or they would be dried-out husks by now.)
Which is why it's a good thing IKEA sells cheap plants. Truly, all your home furnishing needs in one conveniently surreal place! Who needs Mother Nature when you have the welcoming bosom of Swedish mass-production to make you feel at home?
0 Comments on The Flower as of 1/1/1990
Cynthia said, on 7/12/2007 10:57:00 AM
i have recently come to nearly the same conclusion as The Flower, all on my own. here's how it happened...
coming back to san francisco after a weekend at home in southern california--running at the beach, swimming outdoors--made me really disgruntled about coming back to city life. not that so cal life is rural or tropical by any means, but there was some element of a slower pace, the time and opportunity to appreciate the water and sky, and spacious parking lots that made me really long for something different than my alleyway that is a frequent stomping ground for the rattle and ruckus of shopping carts pushed by homeless people who are rummaging through our recycle bins, domestic fights involving shouting and throwing glass bottles from the aforementioned recycle bins, drunk folks vomiting while they keep walking, human poop with comb inserted into it, and the rudely awakening oom-pa-pa of tuba-filled mexican music and spanish chatter taking place literally on our doorstep. i did not even realize how much stress i'd been feeling about it until i left, and i guess it was so bad that it made even l.a. seem like a happier-go-luckier land.
realizing that it was not actually the end of an era for me here in sf, but rather just my body's longing for some peace, i made some resolutions: 1) spend time outside 2) not just outside, but outdoors and out of sf and in nature 3) outdoors in nature, go on hikes 4) to facilitate hikes, buy a bay area trail guide 5) grow things 6) tap into my long lost gardening fervor 7) nurture the basil plant i bought from trader joes 8) plant a Herb garden 9) buy pots, soil, and a watering can when i have money 10) buy Golden Gate Gardening, a book i once owned but lent away that has all you ever need to know about growing stuff in the bay area
here's what i've accomplished since then: a) went on hike in berkeley hills b) bought bay area trail guide AND golden gate gardening in the same bookstore trip (USED! yeah, green apple!) c) have been nurturing basil plant as well as my roommates flower pot, and have been eating basil in many delicious dishes, while continuing to nurture my 2 living room plants--Big Mama and Hearty d) found herb seed packets one of my roommates gave me for my birthday in december. put them prominently on my desk to remind me that they desire to be planted e) planning hike in marin for this weekend f) searched the 99 cent stores near green apple for a watering can but did not find one i liked
not bad for a week and a half, i figure. and i do feel a lot better, and i think i've snapped out of my moving-back-to-l.a.-stupor...for now at least.
did not know ikea has plants for cheap. will add to list!
i think that's it for my lengthy comment. i hope that makes up for whoever deleted theirs earlier. thanks for featuring this book and helping to unearth my flower!
After decades of silence, Sillifant finally takes it upon himself to pick up the torch and continue the story that began with George Orwell's Animal Farm. When we left the Animal Farm last, it was under the corrupt rule of Napoleon the pig's Stalin-esque regime. The pigs in power had begun to wear clothes and had become virtually indistinguishable from their authoritarian human counterparts. Having departed from their socialist roots, the farms adopts the philosophy of "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Farmer Ham is a direct descendent of Napoleon the Pig. Having inherited the farm from his lineage of revolutionary ancestors, he now rules his domain with an iron fist and is known for his ruthless tactics. Indeed, an underground newspaper gave him the name Farmer Ham because of his willingness to brutally eliminate any opposition, even cannibalistically disposing of those within his closest inner circle. Ironically, he liked the name and (after destroying the newspaper and imprisoning its employees), he proudly adopted it as his own and referred to himself as Farmer Ham from that day forward. It was the perfect name... the kind of perverse moniker that inspires the fear necessary to maintain order and give revolutionaries reason to pause.
The original Animal Farm was a thinly veiled story about the Soviet Union that warned against the dangers of totalitarian government and the inevitable cycle of corruption that comes hand in hand with power. ("When it comes to revolutionaries, trust only the sad ones. The enthusiastic ones are the oppressors of tommorrow." -William Vollman) This newest installment reminds us that no power is absolute--that there will always be challengers to the throne and that power is a luxury that must be maintained with meticulous precision. To illustrate this point, Sillifant presents Farmer Ham's totalitarian regime with a familiar nuisance: anarchists.
Represented by a gaggle of unruly crows, Farmer Ham's government is challenged by a band of rowdy nihilists who refuse to bow down to his authority. This dangerous here is obvious, as a few successful rebels can infect an otherwise submissive populace, and the next thing you know, you have a revolution on your hands. Farmer Ham knows that he must act quickly and decisively to quell the uprising. To do so, he recruits and trains an elite force of brutes known as the Scarecrow, a shadowy arm of law enforcement that has imperial permission to use whatever tactics they deem necessary. With the terrifying Scarecrow patrolling the fields, the dangerous anarchist element is quickly scattered to the winds.
So Farmer Ham's reign of terror lives another day... but how long can he maintain his stranglehold on the farm before he is toppled from his lofty perch? Today it's anarchist crows, tomorrow it may be socialist moles sprouting up from the ground, or capitalist pigs preaching their free market mumbo jumbo... no, it is only a matter of time before someone rises up against the oppressive Farmer Ham and decides that it's time to bring home the bacon.
And on his farm he had a coup, ee ii, ee ii, oooooooooo...
One of my childhood favorites is coming to the big screen and in spectacular fashion. Wes Anderson (director of Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums) is teaming up with the stop-animation guru Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) to bring Fantastic Mr. Fox to a theater near you. As if that wasn't enough, George Clooney and Kate Blanchett have already signed on as the voices for Mr. and Mrs. Fox. Fantastic indeed! It'll be interesting to see Roald Dahl filtered through Anderson's quirky lens. Question is... how will Mr. Fox look in a beret?
Side Note: Anderson has a history of resurrecting the stagnant careers of veteran actors, rescuing them from the twilight of Hollywood obscurity. In Rushmore, Anderson allows Bill Murray to reinvent himself by playing a petty but endearing middle-aged man who battles a high school student for the affections of a moderately attractive elementary school teacher. In The Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson breathes life back into Gene Hackman's career, giving him the role of a deeply flawed patriarch seeking redemption.
Who will be the next fading star to be graced by Anderson's rejuvenating touch? I'm hoping that it is Chevy Chase, who has been in a steady downward spiral since Caddyshack (not counting his brief resurgence in Three Amigos!). I foresee him displaying a subtle grace as the conflicted farmer who reluctantly matches wits with the clever Mr. Fox by day, but spends his nights reading Samuel Beckett by candlelight and listening to Elliot Smith b-sides.
I'm not rooting for Chevy Chase because I'm a particularly huge fan. I'm rooting for Chevy Chase because I'm afraid that if he doesn't land the part, he will sink into a deep depression and botox himself into oblivion... or worse, host National Bingo Night on ABC.
B-I-N-G-Ohdear lord, is that really the best idea for a show you could come up with?
1 Comments on Fantastic Mr. Fox, last added: 7/16/2007
George Clooney is voicing Mr. Fox, and Cate Blanchett Mrs. Fox. Wes now is doing post-production on his The Darjeeling Limited...which has Bill Murray in it.
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oh what a great idea for a meme!
i have Blood Magic on my shelf but i haven't had a chance to read it yet! i need to get on that. :)
Oooh, this sounds great. I will be ALL OVER IT.
Yay, this meme idea is awesome! I've linked up :)