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Good morning! We’ve not done a Video Sunday here on Fuse8 in a while, so let’s start with the ritualized boiling of the blood. Which is to say, can picture books be written in an hour? No. But Slate decided to go on and and prove as much. The results:

More interesting, in a way, is the accompanying written piece in which real editors like Alvina Ling and Cheryl Klein critique what the folks here have come up with. Kindly. Very very kindly.

Looks like that Curious George documentary got the Kickstarter backing it was seeking!  Love the promo video they created for it.  Some killer original footage here that I’ve just never seen before.  Check it out:

Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link.

A pretty advanced PSA, I must say.  Even if you’re unfamiliar with the song it’s parodying, I think you’ll get a kick out of it.  The book cameos are particularly keen.

My father-in-law wrote me a week or two ago to tell me that, “CBS Morning news had a lovely piece on the research librarians at the main library (5th and 42nd). I think you would enjoy the segment and probably know some of the featured librarians. Hopefully, the website has the video from this morning’s show.”

They did.  It does.  Here is the result.

I used to work a floor about the ASK NYPL team. There wasn’t any partition between the floors so you could hear them talk pretty clearly. It was a fascinating process.

Finally, this is sorta off-topic.  It’s certainly older.  I’m not one for the Cute Kids Saying Cute Things genre, but cute kids with Australian/New Zealand accents?  That’s different.  Particularly when it’s all part of an effort to raise money for sick kids.  And this isn’t entirely off-topic.  After all, there are some very interesting children’s books in the backgrounds here.  Stick around for the song.  It’s not the earnest tripe you fear at first.

Good cause.  Good folks.

The pioneering African-American animator is the subject of an in-depth exploration of his life and career.

Morning, folks. We’re beginning this Sunday morn with stuff that’s good for the soul.  How often have you said to yourself, “I’d love to own some original art from illustrator Matthew Cordell but I’m too busy spending all my cash on children’s literacy foundations”?  Well, fear not!  Now you can do both.  In celebration of their book Special Delivery, Messrs. Cordell and Philip Stead are going to hold a raffle for five pieces of awesome art.  You win by donating money to good causes.  The details are here and the video here:

Next up, the American Hogwarts.  I mean, it is if by “Hogwarts” you’re referring to a well-established university setting with a clear cut amazing children’s collection, staff, program schedule, and more.  Princeton finally decided to create a little trailer for the Cotsen Children’s Library, and I have to say I’m stunned. First off, there’s my girl Dana Sheridan killing it with the storytimes.  Then there’s the just wide range of services they provide.  And the furniture, dear GOD the furniture!!  I’m fascinated by the Cotsen Critix program too since bookclubs for 9-12 year-olds are my weakness.  Wish I lived closer to it!  Here’s more background information and here’s the trailer:

Someday I shall teach a course on the art of the book trailer. In it I will show all the different myriad styles and techniques one can utilize when coming up with your very own.  And always assuming that I remember, I shall include this simple, lovely trailer for The Mystery Hat by Rune Brandt Bennicke and Jakob Hjort Jensen .  Sometimes it’s all in the soundtrack, folks.

There go Scieszka and Biggs.  I’ve suspected for years that they were in the pocket of Big Audiobook but never had the proof . . . until now!!

Seriously, though, I’m-a wanting that crazy white wig.

So this year we are seeing not one but TWO different early chapter book series about Latino girls. This is a good thing since the running tally before 2015 was . . . um . . . yeah, it was zero.  Zero series in total.  The first is the Emma Is On the Air series by Ida Siegal and illustrated by Karla Pena.  The second is the Sofia Martinez series by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Kim Smith.  But only one of these (as of this post) has a book trailer:

It’s not a children’s book.  It’s not even a YA novel.  It’s (*gasp* *shudder*) an adult book . . . but its book trailer is adorable.  I can resist it, not at all.

Thanks to Alison Morris for the link.

I had not yet taken the time to see the trailer for the Lena Dunham/Hilary Knight documentary. Nothing too surprising to see here, but it’s certainly a very clear cut case of a famous person attempting to shine their light on someone they admire who might not be a household name (though Eloise certainly is).

Thanks to educating alice for the link.

And I’m not feeling too creative on the off-topic video of the day.  And when the going gets tough, the tough links to cat/dog videos.  So goes the world.  So goes the world.

We had the privilege of speaking with Mary Mazzio – an award-winning filmmaker and creator of Underwater Dreams, a documentary film chronicling the inspirational story of four teenage boys, each the son of Mexican immigrants, who enter a sophisticated robotics competition and defeat the likes of engineering powerhouse MIT.

In addition to exploring STEM topics, this film sheds light on the lives of immigrant families and the struggles they face living in America.

Underwater Dreams is now available for free on the First Book Marketplace thanks to generous support from 3M.

Q: What made Underwater Dreams such a special story to tell? 

A: Four high school boys from Phoenix, AZ building an underwater robot from PVC parts and chewing gum – and then defeating MIT – was an incredible David and Goliath story, particularly given their lack of resources and money. What I did not anticipate was the degree to which their win catalyzed and inspired their community. Since that win in 2004, Carl Hayden High School, where about 90% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, has sent more engineers to Arizona State University than athletes.

Q: What role did teachers at Carl Hayden High School play in helping their students achieve their goals? 

A: Underwater Dreams shows firsthand the mentorship and leadership that teachers invest in their students. The involvement of teachers Fredi Lajvardi and Allan Cameron was at the heart of the success of the Carl Hayden team.  They encouraged their students, documented and undocumented, to think, to reach out to experts across the country, and most of all, to believe that they could figure out a way to solve a problem themselves.

Q: How has the film positively influenced young people, specifically Latino youth? 

A: By witnessing the story of these students, other Latino youth view their own destinies differently, with more hope. They see that anything is possible, regardless of the impediments of poverty or status of documentation.

One middle school student in California told us that because of his culture, she didn’t think she could be anyone until she saw the movie. Now she believes he can do something important. Similarly, a group of undocumented immigrant students at MIT galvanized together and publicly revealed their identities for the first time after seeing the film.

Q: When it is all said and done, what would you like to see happen in this country as a result of Underwater Dream’s success? 

A: If Underwater Dreams can change one young person’s conception of what might be possible, it was all worth it. There are so many bright, capable students in zip codes that we as a country overlook. One of those students could start the next Google.

The post Q&A with Mary Mazzio: Underwater Dreams documentary filmmaker appeared first on First Book Blog.

This gets a HYPE ALERT rating since I’m in it, but Marisa Stotter’s documentary She Makes Comics will finally be available on December 9th—either as a DVD from Sequart or via digital download. The film was directed by Stotter and produced by Patrick Meaney and Jordan Rennert of Respect! Films, with exec producers Julian Darius and Mike Phillips (both of Sequart) and Columbia University comics librarian Karen Green. The film was screened a few weeks back and everyone who saw it greatly enjoyed it. I enjoyed being interviewed for it, and it’s a story well worth telling, if I do say so myself. Previous documentaries of comics interviews often included a few women, but this puts the spotlight on key figures in the history of comics including Karen Berger, Wendy Pini and Kelly Sue DeConnick.

The film was funded on Kickstarter. Previous Sequart films include Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods, Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts, and The Image Revolution (I’m in a couple of those too MORE HYPE.)

She Makes Comics tells the little-known story of women in comics, highlighting the contributions they have made to the medium since the turn of the 20th century. It features interviews with such prominent figures as historian Trina Robbins,Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, underground comics artist Joyce Farmer, former DC Comics publisher Jenette Kahn, Wendi Pini, Colleen Doran, Karen Berger, and dozens of others.

She Makes Comics is now available to order on DVD and as a digital download at SheMakesComics.com. The digital version ships on 9 December. DVD orders shipping domestically and placed by 16 December will arrive in time for the holidays.

by TimShoesUntied flickr.com

Yesterday when I posted on Facebook for WOW! and on my Editor 911 page about The Oscars, we got fewer responses than I figured we would, and many of them were negative. It turns out everyone doesn’t love this night as much as I do–I confess I like the Hollywood glam, I like to see the people we see on the silver screen interacting with other people, and I like the emotion of the winners. I do realize that these people are being awarded for pretending to be other people and for a life that is already rich and full of rewards. But I still love it.

When I realized I wanted to write about The Academy Awards on my blog today, instead of a book, I realized that you can use the awards with kids/teens/other adults, just like you can a book. You can use some of the stories from last night to inspire others to follow their dreams, to reach for the stars, and to persevere through anything. There are two stories/award winners in particular that I feel share this theme, and their stories are below.

• Winner of Best Documentary: The winner of the Best Documentary category last night (Feb. 24, 2013) was Searching for Sugar Man about a Detroit singer-songwriter, Rodriguez, who was popular in South Africa in the 1970s (never popular in the U. S.). The singer has a strange but true story–I won’t get into that here–but what’s interesting about this film is that the director, Malik Bendjelloul, ran out of money before he finished shooting the documentary. So, instead of trying to borrow more or do a Kickstarter campaign, he downloaded a $1.99 app on to his smartphone and shot the scenes he needed on his phone! Now that’s resourceful! That’s persevering; and last night, his spirit paid off because THE MOVIE WON AN OSCAR! To read the full story and share with your middle school/high school/college students and or children, go to this link: http://news.doddleme.com/equipment/director-runs-out-of-money-turns-to-iphone-to-finish-oscar-film/
• Best Documentary Short: This moment brought tears to my eyes last night, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one! The filmmakers who won this category for the documentary, “Inocente,” brought the subject, a 19-year-old Latino girl, of their film on stage with them. The woman (whom I believe was one of the directors) who accepted the award also had tears in her eyes and said that the girl was homeless a year ago, and now she was here in front of all of these people because of her art. That caught my interest–how about you? Art is powerful, just like music, and this girl’s passion is obviously going to change her life. On Huffington Post.com, an article states: “The documentary follows the life of Mexican-born, 15-year-old Inocente Izucar, an artist living San Diego, California, who with brilliant colors and unique pieces uses art to rise from her challenging reality and pursue her dreams of becoming a professional painter.” Now Inocente is 19 and has been given a chance to display her art and make an income. The website Nonprofit Quarterly has more of the story because of the nonprofit organization, Shine Global, which is dedicated to end abuse and exploitation of children around the world through film, made the documentary. For more info on this important subject and to see why the arts are important and we should encourage our children to do them, go to this link: http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/21847-nonprofit-produced-film-inocente-wins-oscar.html

Sure, it was fun last night to see Ben Affleck and George Clooney on stage accepting for Argo (an excellent film in my opinion) and to see one of my favorite, beautiful actresses, Jennifer Lawrence, win best actress. I thought Seth MacFarlane was funny most of the time, and of course, loved to see Jennifer Hudson belting out her famous song from Dreamgirls.

However, the stories that will stick with me from here on out are the two I mentioned above. I hope they touch you, too; and I hope you can find a way to share them with the young people in your life!

Don’t forget the middle-grade novel I am holding a contest to giveaway until March 1. Check out the super easy contest here.

Last night I finally had a chance to watch The Sweatbox, the documentary about the production of Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove.

When Sting was asked to create the music for  the animated feature, he did so on the condition that his wife Trudie Styler document the making of the movie — one that would turn out to involve countless story problems and struggles between the creative departments and management.

The documentary screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2002, and Disney seems to have made sure it was never seen again. This work print that floats around YouTube in various places isn’t the final cut of the film (and feels a little Sting-heavy) but it gives great insight into some of the internal struggles that plagued the post-Lion King Disney.

beatonna:

Man of A Thousand Voices: I’m watching this documentary on the legendary Mel Blanc.

Trailer for Adventures in Plymptoons!, a documentary on indie animator Bill Plympton.

I’m curious to see this. In high school I was lucky to live near a video store that stocked all sorts of unusual things, and it was discovering a beat-up VHS copy of Bill Plympton’s The Tune that got me excited about independent animation — here was this feature-length film that seemed to be so clearly the work of a single person, and it spoke directly to my sense of humour at the time. I became an instant fan.

A 2002 documentary on Daniel Clowes from Dutch television.

Red Hook - a film about Tommy Kane (by DannyGregory)

A nice little film if, like me, you like to watch artists while they work.

shorts on the go #1- Ancco (Eng) (by 만화,영화 comics,cinema)

A thoroughly enjoyable mini documentary about Korean cartoonist Ancco. It’s part of a series of short films about Korean cartoonists over at Comicinema.

Ancco’s work looks like a lot of fun — I see shades of Roz Chast and Pascal Girard. I particularly enjoyed her thoughts on drawing directly in ink after discovering that a certain energy is lost when tracing pencil drawings.

I finally got around to seeing Art & Copy, the documentary about advertising and creativity.

The doc doesn’t take a critical look at advertising’s effects on our culture. Rather, it aims its spotlight on the power of imagery, persuasion, originality, and the execution of an idea. And regardless of whether you work in advertising itself, I think all creative workers can glean some insight from this doc on how to best use their unique skills to stay ahead of the pack, sell their ideas, and ultimately, themselves.

Linotype: The Film Trailer 

Pure printing porn. I am excited to see this documentary about the stalwart typesetting machine.