Dec 20
Some brief musings on the latest vaguely Narnia-themed theatrical treacle:
If you happen to like any linear combination of dragons and/or Art Nouveau, you should probably go see it. Treat it as a slide-show of visual wonders, occasionally interrupted by boring people talking.
I regard it as pretty absurd to talk about “spoilers” in the context of a work (ostensibly) based on a book that’s over fifty years old, and I don’t think I commit any. Nevertheless, here’s a cut:
Oct 14
I’ve just watched a movie that is my strong favorite of all those I’ve seen this year, and which has earned a place in my lifetime top ten. It’s animated, it’s only fifteen minutes long (of which two are credits) and it’s free. It’s called Sintel, and you should stop what you’re doing and go watch it right now. (While you can see the whole thing on YouTube, it is well worth the download of one of the full-res versions. If you must go the YouTube route, at the very least choose one of the higher resolutions.)
More spoiler-free images and discussions after the jump.
A little over a year ago, I posted regarding the dragon as represented in the medium of cake. While I didn’t have any plans to revisit that topic, the recent Smaug cake by Maria Campos instantly made me reconsider. My first encounter with this work was via Cake Wrecks (in the Sunday Sweets section, of course!), which linked additional images in Sugar Madness’ Flickr photostream. More details of construction can be found on the artist’s blog, The Cakerator.
Additional images after the jump.
Comparing 2008 to 2009, we’ve seen catastrophic declines in castles, glowy magic and swords. Unicorns have seemingly disappeared, and even formerly sizable populations of elves, wolves and horses are in sharp decline.
Dragons, obviously made from sterner stuff, remain unscathed.
Context? Fantasy novel covers. This news courtesy of Orbit Books (via Making Light). Their handy comparison chart is reproduced to the right, but really: go read the original article. Sample quote: “The number of dragons on covers held steady this year. The dragon population seems to be in perfect balance – but we can’t tell if that’s because new dragons are being born to replace old ones, or if last year’s dragons are just really healthy.”
Jun 21
Sometimes, in fairy tales, building a castle can help you avoid being eaten by dragons. On the beach, alas, this is not the case. From the Harrison Lake Sand Sculpture competition, by way of EpicWinFTW.
High-school students Sam DeRose and Alex Jacobson have constructed Saphira, a fire-breathing, Arduino-controlled animatronic dragon (named in homage to the protagonist of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance trilogy).
You can see her in person at the Maker Faire at San Mateo County Event Center, May 22 and 23. (Via Make: Online.)
Mar 28
DeviantArt user toge-NYC created this wonderful white dragon with plastic kitchenware. Just look at it.
Mar 24
Here’s an image from the Baje Nalozki Sagen Brauchtum (Book of Woodcut Artwork), courtesy of the image gallery at the Texas Wendish Museum. (The gallery is an autoplaying slide show, so I regret I cannot link directly to the source image.)
I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here, but I’m sure there’s a story behind it.
Caption ideas (even NSFW-ish ones, if they’re funny) are welcome in the comments.
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