Welcome to the week, people!
Here are the shiny bits that caught my eye last week—please to enjoy!
♦ THE NINTH ART.
Super Team Family‘s mash-up of the Vixen and Black Panther last week was great to see. I have long been a big fan of Black Panther, though I only know Vixen from the animated Justice League shows.
Christopher and Kevin decided to have a Batman vs. Mr. Freeze theme wedding, and, from the pictures on Offbeat Bride, it looks like it was a lot of fun. The wedding party’s attire was inspired by heroes and villains in the Bat-universe, and the attention to detail overall was impressive. Click the picture below or the link above to read more about the wedding—you’ll be glad you did! Via.
Christopher & Kevin’s wedding party | Photo by Collective Perception Photography
Tor.com has an interview with Jeff Lemire about his new eight-issue monthly series for Vertigo, Trillium. I’m down for this.
Previews! Check out Tor.com’s preview of Battling Boy by Paul Pope here. And while you’re at it, check out The Mary Sue’s preview of Batgirl #23 (I just finished reading the first collected volume of the new Batgirl series, and I really liked it–disappointment aside at her “miracle cure”).
This retro-Wasp GIF by Brianne Drouhard is pure delight. Via.
Loving this cover for Wonder Woman #24 by Cliff Chiang! You’d better click to enlarge it. Via.
♦ MAKE WITH THE FUNNY … OR DIE!
Amber Tamblyn and David Cross made a PSA! Gynotician is pretty good satire and trades on the awkward humor that’s so popular with the young people nowadays. Via.
Check out the latest Ask Baba Yaga: Most Days I Feel Like I’m Choking on Ambivalence by Taisia Kitaiskaia at The Hairpin.
♦ THE BOOK NOOK.
Did you know August 9th was National Book Lover’s Day? Neither did I. Via.
The Atlantic reports on a book the size of a ladybug! Via.
Loved Emera’s review of The Drowning Girl: A Memoir by Caitlín R. Kiernan atThe Black Letters. How could I not when she references the “half-rotted Hel of Norse mythology”?
Because you need to know: a brief history of book vending machines. All the way back to 1822! Via.
Check out this reading nook, via Photos that Shocked the World on Facebook:
Six Senses Laamu, Maldives
Some fine book art you need to see:
A handmade wooden book by Pochiko Ho. Visually clever.
Swan Song by Emma Taylor. Check out the texture on those feathers!
Two by Molly Brooks (I posted about her comic Post before): first, The Naked Self, a “mixed media project for the prompt ‘Identity’.” And Rattenkonig (one image seen below). Here’s the description:
A picture book of pen-and-ink drawings with two pop up spreads, three cutouts, and a central 3D box structure with moving layers.
It tells the story of a little girl who gets kidnapped by rats after her father’s death. the concept of the ‘rattenkonig’—a group of rats who get knotted together at the tail while burrowed together underground— is used as a visual metaphor for the grief experience and the search for connection out of absence.
Rattenkonig by Molly Brooks
♦ COVER TO COVER.
Kazu Kibuishi’s cover for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
These covers, showcased on Awesome Book Covers, just made me happy. First up, The Crane Wife:
And Tampa (I laughed when I saw it):
♦ VIEWERS’ PARADISE.
Episode Four of Doctor Puppet: Smoke and Mirrors!
Check out 20 things you never knew about The Piano (in honor of its 20th anniversary). I knew several of these things (Miramax, try harder!). How many did you know?
Can’t wait for the third series of Sherlock, due in 2014? Here’s a 30-second preview. You’re welcome.
Have you wondered to yourself, “What if actor Ron Perlman and director Guillermo del Toro shared an apartment?” Well, L/Studio has answered that question, quite adorably, too. Via.
Film trailers!
I’m compelled by How I Live Now; the trailer is pretty great. And Saorise Ronan is fantastic.
Philomena because I love love love Dame Judi Dench.
♦ TURN THE PAGE.
The third issue of Demeter’s Spicebox.
First issue of the revamped Mythic Delirium.
From Enchanted Conversation: The Two Sisters by Loni Klara.
From Daily Science Fiction: Breaking Orbit by Rachael Acks; Sticks and Stones by Kevin Pickett; Squeak by Emma Osborne; The Programmer and the Social Worker, or, A Love Story about Future Creep by Tina Connolly; Super-Parents Last All Childhood Long by Erica L. Satifka; The Dollmaker’s Grief by Michelle M. Denham; and Apology Accepted by Kathryn Felice Board.
From the spring 2013 issue of Devil’s Lake: He Took His Skin Off for Me by Maria Hummer. You can listen to/watch Hummer read her story here.
From Apex Magazine: Sister Twelve: Confessions of a Party Monster by Christopher Barzak.
From Tor.com: All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead by Dennis Danvers; Babayaga (excerpt) by Toby Barlow; and Antigoddess (excerpt) by Kendare Blake.
Flax-golden tales by Erin Morgenstern: Impending Doom in Fluffy Coats and We Cannot See Our Destination But We Can See Far Enough to Get There.
Shark Week poem entry by Marnie Bullock Dresser (the last lines get me). Speaking of last lines that get me, check out this poem by e.h.
♦ THE WRITING DESK.
Colleen Doran provides a selection of business and legal advice books for graphic artists and authors.
Chuck Wendig has 10 thoughts on story. The best take-away, in my opinion: “The three C’s in a story are, I think: complication, conflict, and consequence.”
Great quote from Jane Espenson in this Advocate interview: “And if we can’t write diversity into sci-fi, then what’s the point? You don’t create new worlds to give them all the same limits of the old ones.” Via.
Gail Carriger offers 26 Tips for Researching Victorian-Set Steampunk.
One Simple Secret for Success as a Writer by Chad R. Allen.
Several good and/or interesting posts from LitReactor:
Peeling Back the Onion: 5 Books that Subvert Narrative Expectation.
5 Ways to Get Rid of Your Damn Empty Modifiers.
10 Tips for Successfully Publishing Your Stories.
Warren Ellis takes the Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe.
♦ THE HORNS OF ELFLAND.
Eric Himan’s “Red Hot Tears” video:
“Call Me on the Ouija Board” by Sharon Needles. Can you name all the horror films she’s channeling in the video (warning: the first minute or so has some strobing)?
I like the clever doubling in Robyn’s video for “U Should Know Better” featuring Snoop Dogg.
“You & Me” by Disclosure featuring Eliza Doolittle (the Baauer Remix):
An older-but-new-to-me song: “Breathe Again” by Sara Bareilles
♦ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOLLY!
