Wonky Dragons
Here’s some caricatured dragons from the Spanish film, El Corazón del Roble / The Heart of the Oak. This is the third and last of the Dragon Hill series, the earlier ones being hand-drawn efforts. 3D artist Jon Unceta textured, shaped, and rigged the CG versions, more streamlined than the hand-drawn versions. Oddly, the producers opted to make the wings teeny. Teeny wings for a dragon? No, thank you. But these are fun to look at.
This is Ken Green, who gives Homer Simpson a run for his money in the Stupid Husband department. He doesn’t mind spilling paint on the living room floor:
Galadrielle, Ken’s frustrated wife and the real head of the household:
Elfy, the rambunctious son:
Vivian, Elfy’s feminist sister and scaly equivalent to Lisa Simpson:
Last but not least, Ethelbert, the know-it-all grandfather and mystical leader of the dimension called “Dragon Hill”:
Smaug Gets Busted
Over the weekend Weta Workshop’s bust edition of Smaug the Terrible made its premiere appearance at New York Comic Con. Charlie Jane Anders of io9 reported that the supply “sold out in a heartbeat.” But the Workshop has more that can be ordered from their website, here.
Behold the detail of the bust, as sculpted by Andrew Baker:
The bust can also hang on the wall as well as rest on a table.
Beauty.
Robotech: Macross Updated
What if Super Dimensional Fortress Macross were animated today and integrated into Robotech? Here’s some footage updating scenes from Macross but set to the music from Robotech, as composed by Ulpio Minucchi and orchestrated by Arlen Ober:
Compiled and uploaded by Ivan Vallejos, November 22, 2013
From Darth Farmer to Darth Vader
What would Darth Vader sound like if he was voiced by Darth the actor who wore the costume? Listen to this excerpt from the 2004 documentary, Empire of Dreams:
Uploaded by Guardstark on June 23, 2007.
Visual effects maestro Ken Ralston described it as “hilarious and terrifying at the same time, because we didn’t know what Darth sounded like. That was the first time we heard him. We’re like, ‘Is that it? Is he gonna be some Scottish guy? What is this?'”
A YouTube commentator pointed out that Prowse’s accent was actually “West Country English.”
George Lucas hired James Earl Jones to provide a more menacing voice. Jones talked about his contribution for the American Film Institute:
Uploaded by the American Film Institute on July 9, 2009.
In 2015, Welsh rock musician Jayce Lewis seized the opportunity to record David Prowse over a period of two days and apply modern audio technology to make him sound closer to James Earl Jones’s performance. Did they succeed?
Published on October 1, 2015.
Video owned by Devfire Entertainment Ltd © & ℗ 2015
Music owned by Devfire Entertainment Ltd © & ℗ 2014
The Force’s Mouth
Filmed by Simon Huntley
Edited by Simon Huntley & Jayce Lewis
Music By Protafield
Recorded at Northstone Studios – Pen Y Fai (Bridgend – UK)
And Queens Road Studios – Bridgend – UK
How boys grow up in Disney films
What’s it like to be an orphaned boy in a Disney film these days?
November 25, 2015
The Good Dinosaur, the story of an orphaned boy raised in the forest by an orphaned dinosaur.
April 15, 2016
The Jungle Book, the story of an orphaned boy raised in the forest by wolves, a panther and a bear.
August 12, 2016
Pete’s Dragon, the story of an orphaned boy raised in the forest by a dragon.
When Thunderbird is Slow
Is your Thunderbird email sluggish? Does the system pause when you click on an email file to read, or transfer a file to a folder or try to delete a file? The culprit is likely a corrupted inbox.msf file.
I found a solution here:
Basically, you shut down Thunderbird, delete the inbox.msf files, restart Thunderbird which will give you a new inbox.msf file — uncorrupted — and everything should be hunky-dory. It worked for me.
Follow the procedure in the link provided.
A Win for the Dragon — SCBWI-LA Writer’s Days — Part 2
In my last post, I mentioned the opportunities provided by SCBWI for writers, such as the conferences held by the regional chapters. Late in 2014, the SCBWI-LA group announced registration information for Writer’s Days, to be held March 7 and 8 in 2015. Attendees were offered two opportunities for their works. One was a manuscript critique from one of the visiting professionals: Julia Maguire, Angie Chen, Mary Ann Fraser, Julie Williams or Michelle Markel.
For a fee of $45, an attendee would submit ten pages from their manuscript. I selected assistant editor Angie Chen, who provided valuable advice on the opening to The Justice Dragon’s Secret.
The second opportunity was a free contest, in which an anonymous judge–from the visiting faculty or local professionals—would select from one of four categories:
Picture Book (text only, no illustration or dummies)
Middle Grade novel (first 10 pages)
Young Adult novel (first 10 pages)
Other: Non-Fiction book or Other (first 10 pages) / Poetry (10 poems)
The prize would be free tuition to an upcoming SCBWI-LA Writer’s Day’s or Illustrator Day’s event. Beyond that, winning the contest would be a big plus in a query letter for the story.
The deadline for the critique was January 18, 2015, and January 15, 2015 for the contest.
I submitted the opening to my Justice Dragon story, Message to a Dragon, which could be described as Scrooge/The Grinch with dragons but without the Christmas angle.
Writer’s Days were held March 7 and 8 at the Skirball Center. The first day was the main conference, with “intensive” sessions held the second day.
Here we are enjoying the panels, and otherwise waiting for the results of the contest to be announced.
You can imagine how tough the competition would be for the Los Angeles area. When Edie Pagliasotti announced my name, I was stunned. As I floated to the stage to accept the honor, she read the judge’s evaluation (the text emailed to me later in the day):
All of the volunteers for SCBWI-Los Angeles congratulate you on winning the middle grade category in this year’s Writer’s Day contest with your manuscript, The Justice Dragon: Message to a Dragon. Here is what our professional, anonymous judge had to say:
- First place goes to a marvelous dragon comedy. What exactly is a dragon comedy, you ask? Imagine a sort of novelized cartoon if that cartoon were hilarious and brilliantly written. Containing vivid descriptions such as “A large dorsal-backed dragon sauntered into the room. He had a heavy-set jaw, a body bulging with muscles and polished blue scales that gleamed under the torchlight—the epitome of what human-people would call a ‘hunk.’” The reader cannot help but to visualize the odd cast of characters, which include an experiment conducting she-dragon, a sympathetic red dragon chosen as a specimen, a bodymender—should it all go horribly wrong, and a saucy whistle-blowing park ranger in charge of protecting the wildlife. THE JUSTICE DRAGON entertains.
Afterward the winners congregated outside for photos.
(L-R) Maddie Rue Burke, Bob Miller, Judy Faulkner, Maria Johnson, Karol Ruth Silverstein, Toni Gallagher, Laurie Young, Judith Presnall. Not pictured: Pauline Ts’o and Julia Wasson.
I could have flown home but my car was in the underground parking lot, so I had to drive it. By happenstance, I passed by Edie. She recognized me and threw me a big smile and congratulated me once again. Wow. This was not reflective on me, but on the generous heart of Edie and all those who run SCBWI. The encouragement and joy they bring to others is value beyond measure.
Later, the Kite Tales blog posted a wrap-up of the event with mention of the contest winners, here.
To the fine folks at SCBWI, my thanks.
All photos of the conference are by Ann Suk Wang. Her gallery can be viewed here.
SCBWI-LA Writer’s Days 2015 — Part One
Writing and selling books is a tough market to crack. A writer has to convince an agent, a publisher, and then as many readers as possible to buy their work. And so it helps to network with fellow professionals who can encourage, teach, and generally provide support. For children’s books, the primary networking opportunity comes from SCBWI, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, with chapters all over the world.
SCBWI offers two major conferences a year, one in Los Angeles and one in New York. Additionally, many chapters offer conferences that bring in two or more editors, agents, and established writers that offer tips for success and provide opportunities for networking.
This year, the Los Angeles chapter offered “Writer’s Days”—a weekend event held March 7 and 8 at the Skirball Center. Here’s a look at the schedule for Saturday:
For an extra fee, one could submit the opening of a manuscript for evaluation by one of the visiting editors. One was Angie Chen, Assistant Editor at Farrar Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers.
In her presentation, Angie discussed how to write strong protagonists. She recommended Janice Hardy’s essay, “10 Traits of a Great Protagonist.”
The other editor was Julia Maguire from Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Her topic: “We’ll Never Run Out of Stories to Tell.”
Many publishing houses no longer accept unsolicited submissions. Exceptions are made when an editor visits an SCBWI event, when they allow a limited time for submissions by attendees.
Learn more about Writer’s Days in SCBWI-LA’s Kite Tales blog, here.
All SCBWI-LA Writer’s Days photos on this page by Ann Suk Wang. Her photos of the event can be viewed here.
In my next post, I’ll talk about something exciting that happened to me at the event.
The Difference Between a Citizen and a Subject
What is the difference between a citizen and a subject under sovereignty? Historian David Ramsay provided an explanation at the dawn of American Independence:
- “THE United States are a new nation, or political society, formed at first by the Declaration of Independence, out of those British subjects in America, who were thrown out of royal protection by act of parliament, passed in December, 1775. A citizen of the United States, means a member of this new nation. The principle of government being radically changed by the revolution, the political character of the people was also changed from subjects to citizens.
The difference is immense. Subject is derived from the Latin words, sub and jacio, and means one who is under the power of another; but a citizen is an unit of a mass of free people, who, collectively, possess sovereignty.
Subjects look up to a master, but citizens are so far equal, that none have hereditary rights superior to others. Each citizen of a free state contains, within himself, by nature and the constitution, as much of the common sovereignty as another. In the eye of reason and philosophy, the political condition of citizens is more exalted than that of noblemen. Dukes and earls are the creatures of kings, and may be made by them at pleasure: but citizens possess in their own right original sovereignty.”
A Dissertation on the manner of acquiring the character and privileges of a citizen of the United States. [Charleston, S.C.? : s.n.], 1789. 8 pp.; 22 cm. (8vo)
