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We speak to three of the artists who presented at this year's event in Mexico: Melissa Ballesteros, Raven Bazan, and Ana Ramirez.

The post Pixelatl Festival 2016 Video Wrap-Up appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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Victorian Reading Challenge
Host: Becky's Book Reviews
Duration: January - December 2016
Goal: Read a minimum of 4 Victorian books

Sign up in the comments (If you have a blog, please leave your blog address. If you have a goodreads profile AND if you review regularly on goodreads, then you may leave that as well.)

How this challenge is different from last year: I'm not doing a BINGO challenge this upcoming year. If you want to sign up for this challenge again and hold onto a bingo card from 2016 or 2015, you're definitely welcome too! But I won't be designing a new card for next year!

You are also welcome to use my new checklist below. But it's optional.

Also new this year, I'll have quarterly check-in posts. I'll be posting check-in posts March 25, June 24, September 23, and December 30. You may leave links to your reviews on any of those four posts. If you want to share your review with me BEFORE that, AND if you have twitter, feel free to tweet me a link @blbooks.

IF you love Victorian literature AND you happen to love tea...consider joining my Share-a-Tea reading challenge.

Feel free to copy/paste this. You can replace the _ with an X or a ✔ (copy/paste it) when you finish reading a book. If you list the books you read, that may help other people decide what to read.

_ 1. A book under 200 pages
_ 2. A book over 400 pages
_ 3. A book that REALLY intimidates you
_ 4. A book you REALLY want to reread
_ 5. A new-to-you book by a FAVORITE author
_ 6. A book with illustrations
_ 7. A book that was originally published serially
_ 8. A book published between 1837-1849
_ 9. A book published between 1850-1860
_ 10. A book published between 1861-1870
_ 11. A book published between 1871-1880
_ 12. A book published between 1881-1890
_ 13. A book published between 1891-1901
_ 14. A book published between 1902-1999 with a Victorian setting
_ 15. A book published between 2000-2017 with a Victorian setting
_ 16. A book by Charles Dickens
_ 17. A book by Wilkie Collins
_ 18. A book by Anthony Trollope
_ 19. A book by Elizabeth Gaskell
_ 20. A book by George Eliot
_ 21. A book by a new-to-you male author
_ 22. A book by a new-to-you female author
_ 23. A book translated into English
_ 24. A fiction or nonfiction book about Queen Victoria
_ 25. A book that has been filmed as movie, miniseries, or television show
_ 26. A play OR a collection of short stories OR a collection of poems
_ 27. Biography, Autobiography, or NONFICTION book about the Victorian era
_ 28. Genre or Subgenre of your choice (mystery, suspense, romance, gothic, adventure, western, science fiction, fantasy)
_ 29. Book with a name as the title
_ 30. Book You've Started but Never Finished
_ 31. A Christian book fiction or nonfiction
_ 32. A children's book

 Rules:

• Fiction or nonfiction.
• Books, e-books, audio books all are fine.
• Books and movies can be reviewed together or separately.
• You can create a reading list if you want, but it's not a requirement
• If you do make a list, consider adding a list of five books you'd recommend to others
• If possible try to try a new-to-you author! I know it can be really tempting to stick with familiar favorites.
• Children's books published during these years should not be forgotten!
• Rereads are definitely allowed if you have favorites!
• A blog is not required, a review is not required, but, if you don't review please consider sharing what you read in a comment with one or two sentences of 'reaction' or 'response.' 
• Any qualifying book reviewed in 2017 counts towards the challenge. If you're like me, perhaps you try to schedule posts a week ahead of time. So if it's reviewed in 2017, it counts. Even if you finished the book the last week or two of 2016! 

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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All too often, young people feel they don’t have the power to fix problems in their communities.

How can books inspire students to take action and become engaged citizens?

Earlier this year, First Book, along with our partners the American Federation of Teachers and the Albert Shanker Institute, presented educators nationwide with a challenge: identify an issue and a civic engagement project important to their students, school or community. We then asked for proposals on how, with the support of books and resources from First Book, could their students take action to address that issue and show their students that they have a voice and the ability to make positive changes happen.

We called this challenge The Citizen Power Project. Funded by the Aspen Institute’s Pluribus Project, 15 proposals  – five each from elementary, middle and high schools – would be chosen to receive a collection of special resources to help them implement their projects and a $500 grant for use on the First Book Marketplace.

More than 920 proposals were received.

The 15 classroom projects that stood out and won the challenge addressed a wide range of issues, such as:

• Learning about global cultural perspectives as a way to build compassion,
• Planning a community garden to promote healthy eating,
• Combating bullying,
• Learning American Sign Language and
• Building a health and wellness library.

We believe these projects, and the books and resources First Book will provide to help them flourish, will help these educators and the young leaders they teach to advance the causes they are so passionate about. And, by sharing stories about the successes of these projects, we hope to inspire others around the country to be change makers, themselves.

With our partners, we’ll be checking in with the inspiring projects through the end of the year to update you on their progress toward creating innovative learning environments, and the impact of the projects on their respective communities.

Stay tuned for more about the Citizen Power Challenge winners! Read more about the Citizen Power Challenge here.

The post How Books Inspire Action: The Citizen Power Project appeared first on First Book Blog.

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All too often, young people feel they don’t have the power to fix problems in their communities.

How can books inspire students to take action and become engaged citizens?

Earlier this year, First Book, along with our partners the American Federation of Teachers and the Albert Shanker Institute, presented educators nationwide with a challenge: identify an issue and a civic engagement project important to their students, school or community. We then asked for proposals on how, with the support of books and resources from First Book, could their students take action to address that issue and show their students that they have a voice and the ability to make positive changes happen.

We called this challenge The Citizen Power Project. Funded by the Aspen Institute’s Pluribus Project, 15 proposals  – five each from elementary, middle and high schools – would be chosen to receive a collection of special resources to help them implement their projects and a $500 grant for use on the First Book Marketplace.

More than 920 proposals were received.

The 15 classroom projects that stood out and won the challenge addressed a wide range of issues, such as:

• Learning about global cultural perspectives as a way to build compassion,
• Planning a community garden to promote healthy eating,
• Combating bullying,
• Learning American Sign Language and
• Building a health and wellness library.

We believe these projects, and the books and resources First Book will provide to help them flourish, will help these educators and the young leaders they teach to advance the causes they are so passionate about. And, by sharing stories about the successes of these projects, we hope to inspire others around the country to be change makers, themselves.

With our partners, we’ll be checking in with the inspiring projects through the end of the year to update you on their progress toward creating innovative learning environments, and the impact of the projects on their respective communities.

Stay tuned for more about the Citizen Power Challenge winners! Read more about the Citizen Power Challenge here.

The post How Books Inspire Action: The Citizen Power Project appeared first on First Book Blog.

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Your opening line needs to encourage readers to continue on with your story.

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2016/09/nail-that-first-line-2/

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 Katie boasted an impressive pedigree among mythological beasts; her father was a Minotaur, her mother a Satyr. Katie, unfortunately, hit the recessive gene lottery in the pairing.

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Good morning.

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So Kailana (The Written Word) and I really LOVED participating in Jenni Elyse's 30 Days of Books.  We thought it would be fun to do a movie-theme list of questions! Feel free to switch "favorite" to "least favorite" if that is more applicable to you!

Today's question: What is your favorite comedy or romantic comedy?

I'm going to go with some older titles:

George Washington Slept Here
Some Like It Hot 
Operation Mad Ball
Operation Petticoat
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
It Happened One Night
Bachelor Mother 
Monkey Business 
I Was A Male War Bride
The Long, Long Trailer
His Girl Friday
Lover Come Back
The Tender Trap
If A Man Answers
Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding
Singin' in the Rain
Walk, Don't Run

But can't forget Much Ado about Nothing! Or Ever After! Or Princess Bride! Or the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie! Or Young Victoria!

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Trumpet. Patricia Lynn. Illustrated by Bernice Myers. 1953. Whitman. 30 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: On Farmer Friendly's farm everyone worked. Farmer Friendly plowed and hoed and harvested the fields. Mrs. Friendly cleaned and baked and sewed. Babs and Buzzy sold fruit and vegetables at their roadside stand, while Harry the hired man did a little of everything.

Premise/plot: The friendly family gets a dog; they name him Trumpet. Everyone, but Harry, likes him. Well, that's only partly true. The animals don't like Trumpet's barking, and, the family doesn't like how the animals react when Trumpet is barking. But. When Trumpet learns that there is a right time and a wrong time to bark, all is well on the farm.

My thoughts: I liked this one. It was a cute story. I really enjoyed the illustrations. If you enjoy vintage illustrations, then you should definitely seek this one out.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 7 out of 10


© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Jim Hillin, the cg supervisor of "Beauty and the Beast," reveals the making-of an iconic moment in Disney animation history.

The post 25 Years Ago: The CG Secrets of the Ballroom Sequence in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

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Here is the line pattern and rhyme scheme.

1 a1
2 b1
3 a2

4 b2
5 c1
6 repeat line 2

7 c2
8 d1
9 repeat line 5

10 d2
11 e1
12 repeat line 8

13 e2
14 f1
15 repeat line 11

16 f2
17 repeat line 1
18 repeat line 14
19 repeat line 3


You can read more about the terzanelle at Form and Formlessness.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a terzanelle. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

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The Print & Pattern Designers for Hire Directory has a new artist to introduce this week. Hollie Holden is predominantly a childrenswear designer, having previously worked at JoJo Maman Bebe as Senior Designer for 3 years and as a childrens nightwear & underwear print designer for a UK based supplier for a number of years prior to that. Hollie now lives in Vancouver, Canada working as a

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If you are looking for cute gift ideas then here are some ideas from UK retailer Accessorize. I had a browse around the store and website last week and picked out various designs on stationery, bags, and clothing.... Read the rest of this post

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500 और हजार के नोट नही चलेंगें – कुछ मजेदार टवीट – 500 और हजार के नोट बंदी का ऐलान होते ही जहां कुछ लोगो के चेहरे पर मायूसी छा गई वहीं कुछ बहुत खुश भी हो गए … और देखते ही देखते सोशल मीडिया पर अलग अलग टवीट की बहार ही आ गई … कोई […]

The post 500 और हजार के नोट नही चलेंगें – कुछ मजेदार टवीट appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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Welcome to Slice of Life Tuesday!

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Saw this photo on Instagram. So cute!!  The pouf is sewn with my Jump into Fun hippo fabric. Love it!

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(The Fears and Joys of Adopting)

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(The Fears and Joys of Adopting)

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Putting finishing touches on poem Forever, sketching versal letters and borders. Its hot chocolate weather again. Lots of snow. Winter

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The Matchmaker. Thornton Wilder. 1954. 120 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: I tell you for the hundredth time you will never marry my niece.

Premise/plot: The Matchmaker is a play by Thornton Wilder. Chances are if you hear the names "Horace Vandergelder," "Cornelius Hackl," "Barnaby Tucker," "Irene Molloy," and "Dolly Levi" you will likely think of the musical Hello Dolly and not The Matchmaker. But The Matchmaker obviously came first.

What should you know? It is FUNNY. It features more characters than the musical. (I really LOVED Malachi Stack and Flora Van Huysen. Malachi gets some of the best lines, in my opinion!) The ending is similar but not identical.

So for those who haven't seen the musical... Horace Vandergelder is a cranky old man who is about to make a big decision. He has decided to remarry. Just as emphatically as he's decided to marry, he's decided that his niece will NOT be marrying her fellow, Ambrose Kemper. Two of Vandergelder's clerks (he's a store owner) decide--on this momentous day--that they've had enough and deserve a day off. Not just any day off, but a day off in the CITY. One of them vows TO NOT COME HOME UNTIL HE'S KISSED A GIRL. Cornelius and Barnaby "happen" to meet Irene Molloy (Vandergelder's first choice) and her assistant, Minnie. The people seeking adventure get in over their heads. The people NOT seeking adventure get in over their heads too. By the end, one and all long for normalcy and routine.

My thoughts: If you ask me if I like the movie--well, I can get all the best scenes by watching Wall-E. But after seeing Hello Dolly live at my local theatre, well, my perspective changed a bit. Things that were slightly funny sitting at home watching the movie really become hilarious on stage. I walked out a FAN. The Matchmaker was a perfectly perfect read for me. And I loved coming across lines like, "Go and get your Sunday clothes on."

Quotes:

"It looks to me like you're pretty rash to judge which is fools and which isn't fools, Mr. Vandergelder. People that's et onions is bad judges of who's et onions and who ain't." Joe (the barber) to Mr. Vandergelder

"Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion." Mr. Vandergelder

"I tell you right now: a fine woman is the greatest work of God." Cornelius

"There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head." Malachi 

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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अपराध कथा – नोटबंदी की वजह से अपराध में कमी आई- बेशक नोट बंदी की वजह से बहुत परेशानियों का सामना करना पड रहा है पर एक अच्छी बात ये भी हुई कि अब हजार पाच सौ के नोट जो कभी तिजोरी में रहते और उनकी रखवाली करनी पडती … अब कोई डर नही… अपराध […]

The post अपराध कथा – नोटबंदी की वजह से अपराध में कमी आई appeared first on Monica Gupta.

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If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I post a daily sketch there. After about a year of people asking, I'm opening up an Etsy shop where I will take a limited amount of commissions. This will probably only run for a few weeks, so if you ever wanted me to draw your kid or your pet, click on over to the link below. Thanks so much!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JJKDraws?ref=hdr_shop_menu

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