Brian Selznick is the Bee's Knees

Writing and drawing are my loves.  For a long time now I've wanted both to be my career.  Writing and illustrating novels is something I dream about all the time, even though I don't think I could ever do it as seamlessly as Brian Selznick.  The first time I picked up The Invention of Hugo Cabret I was pretty speechless.  Here was a guy doing pretty much exactly what I wanted to do and totally winning.  I had one of those everything-is-totally-awesome-with-my-life-right-now kind of moments.

(I left the images their original size so you can appreciate the artwork.  Go ahead, appreciate away)



 

When I heard they were coming out with a movie, I was iffy, as I always am with book-based films.  Parts of it I hated, parts of it were okay, and parts of it I liked.  I would say it was down the middle road, nowhere near Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is burning in the hell of my mind as we speak.  It's safe to say that it, along with the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie, should never come up in conversation around me.

But anyways, last year, Brian Selznick came out with another one of his written/illustrated novels, Wonderstruck.  This time he took it to a new level by telling two stories at one time, with the illustrations following a deaf girl in the 20s and the writing following a boy in the 70s, and ending with their stories intertwined.  It was one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.





Selznick has honed in on the fabulous idea of combining writing and art and has taken it so much farther than the little story books you read to your pre-schoolers.  This is essentially what I dream of doing with my life.

Can you tell he's my favorite artist/author?

And if you've been thinking this whole time that these are kid's books, you're right.  Sometimes I'm a 22-year-old kid.  That's just the way it is.

Forgotten English

   So, I got this really awesome calendar over Christmas break.  I was so excited when I saw the name.  Forgotten English?  Oh, ho, ho, there was no turning back after that.  I had to buy it.  I'm only eleven days in, but I can tell this is going to be a good year, even if it's only because I get to read about a crazy new word every day.
   What kind of words have English speaking people forgotten about?  And how does a person just totally forget that a word exists?  I know that's what you're thinking, but I have no answers.  Sorry.  But I can go on in length about some interesting words I've come across so far.  Is that okay? Oh, well, you'll get over it.

Hopshackles
What these were, we can only guess...They appear to be some kind of shackles imposed upon the loser of the race by the judges.  Roger Ascham [wrote in] The Scholemaster (1570): "Some runners...deserve but the hopshackles."
                                                             -Robert Nares's Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859

The brand new year started of with this one.  I couldn't get over their definition.  Heh, hopshackles...


Ploughed Rainbow
A field ploughed in curves ("bows") to suit a curving outline, is said to be ploughed rainbow.  Hence, some fields have the name Rainbow Field.
                                                                       -Edward Gepp's Essex Dialect Dictionary, 1923

This one is one of my favorites so far, because the same day that it was on the calendar, I also found a green star sticker on the floor of my room, the same stickers we use in the Rainbows class at church.  I miss those little kids.


Water-wolf
In drinking out of a stream, a man is said to "swallow a water-wolf" which, it is said, lives and grows in his stomach.

                              -Sidney Addy's Glossary of...Sheffield [Yorkshire], 1888

While to most people this may seem on the outrageous and ridiculous side, I find this one hilariously awesome!  Not to mention, this totally sounds like something that would pop up in one of the circle stories my friend Caroline and I write.  I have a feeling there will most definitely be a water-wolf in the current one.

Stay out of those streams and don't drink any water-wolves, people!

Holey Moly, I Can't See Anything!

    My recent acquisition of a pair of jeans from Hollister sparked some very interesting thoughts.  Now before I go into this, I just want to say that a relative gave me the jeans for free, and I’m not knocking free clothing.
    I’m just different I guess, but I don’t particularly like rips in my jeans, nor do I think there is any justification in buying a pair of jeans with rips in them.  If you really want rips, rip them yourself, instead of walking around with holes so close to your crotch that you might as well be a hooker.  This complaint can pretty much go to any store that sells ripped jeans, but thankfully I can find nice jeans around too…ones that cost less and aren’t holey.
    Of course, in the case of Hollister, you might not know whether or not your jeans are ripped until you come out of the store, where you can actually see your hand five inches from your face.  Not even a minute ago, I had a thought that Hollister is a lot like those rides at Disney like Pirates of the Caribbean, and It’s a Small World: really dark, with a few lights here and there.  At Disney, I can understand: they don’t want you to see the ugly things that make the ride as awesome (or as creepy) as it is.  At Hollister, I just don’t understand.  Are they trying to save money on their light bill so they can pay to spray a million bottles of perfume in their stores every day?  Or maybe they’re trying to hide the fact that they jack their prices up for clothes that aren’t nearly worth it?
    In any case, I’m thinking about borrowing my dad’s headlamps so my friend and I can go on a search for a pair of Hollister jeans that don’t have rips or holes.  First one to find a pair wins! What do we win? I have no clue, mostly because I don’t think anyone is going to win.