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Great post Paula, enjoyed reading it. Love the way you've done the foliage on your pic, it really livens it up.

Re. Maurice Sendak, we used to read 'In The Night Kitchen' to our kids many moons ago. They loved it, beautifully illustrated - in fact we still have the book. I agree with what you say, children are so wrapped in cotton wool these days but they love scary/ weird stories, don't they?

And....hope your wild kitty friend is ok...he'll probably turn up again when the rain stops and he's hungry...hope so.

Your new piece is gorgeous - so soft and light.
I agree with your thoughts about doing shows - it's soul destroying.
Good luck for the future.

Wow, a guy that makes little glass turtles out of marbles - how neat! Sorry, couldn't resist. Okay, better luck with the next one(s)!! No matter what the venue etc., shows are a lot of work. I am often shocked by how many shows some artists do. I guess it makes sense if you are making lots of sales but again, they sure are a lot of work.

100 percent agreed! I loved it!

I'm excited to see this and, yes, to see some good hand-drawn animation. But I will say in Pixar's defense I feel that they almost never wink at the adults. Sometimes maybe the Pixar writers take it to an adult level, but they never wink. Maybe you were thinking of Dreamworks? Winking is all I think they really know how to do.

Liz Lemon? Now that's a mother I want to see! (Versus Tina Fey in those credit card commercials.) Seriously, you make me more interested now in seeing this.

I loved this movie. Themes were so well layered, yet non-intrusive. And the characters were terrific, especially the Ponyo and Sosuke.

I saw it with my middle schooler, and we talked about it for a long time afterward.

I totally agree. When I went to see if there were some adults in the theater who were clearly disappointed, because I think they were hoping for something more like Miyazaki's adult stuff. But I felt that was one of the most toddler-appropriate movies I've ever seen, with, as you say, minimal winking to adults. (I wouldn't say no winking to adults; I burst out laughing every time they played "Ride of the Valkyries.")

But yes, both Ponyo and Sosuke were very very young, and realistically so, and I loved how very safe the whole conflict felt.

I loved it too. Miyazaki always knocks me out with his mix of honesty and fantasy. Grown-ups are moody, not everything works right, and babies have snot running down their faces. Yet the world is an awesome place to be.

I saw a subtitled version of Ponyo back in the Spring and thought it was outstanding. I have to admit I'm apprehensive about the voice talent Disney has employed for the US version. As much as I admire Blanchett, Fey, Neeson et. al, familiar actors sometimes creates a certain detachment. (for example hearing Phil Hartman's voice in Kiki's Delivery Service always weirds me out) I also worry when I see that Disney has used a Cyrus and a Jonas to fill lead roles. This is the type of synergy that is not exactly Ars gratia artis.

For those who've seen the film, did you find any of the voice talent distracting, or gimmicky?

Eric, I thought the voices were great, especially Ponyo's. I didn't know who the talent was until the credits rolled at the beginning, and even then I was so swept up in the film that I forgot all about the celebrity cast until after the movie was over.

Miley's sister and the "bonus Jonas" turned in shockingly good performances, imo. Tina Fey was great, too, but I don't think her role called for as many dimensions as the kids' did. I felt the only sour or 'meh' casting note was Liam Neeson.

It's a real treat -- a home run for just about all kids from 3-8, I think.

I love his movies - can hardly wait for it to arrive upstate.

Probably one of the only recent films that managed to enthrall all three of my children at the exact same time. They're aged two, four, and six, and I relished this small miracle and was able to actually watch and enjoy the film myself!

One of the things I appreciate about Miyazaki's films is a lack of a villain in the story. There may be antagonists, but they usually prove themselves quite sympathetic towards the end -- in the case of Ponyo, it's an evil wizard who is eventually revealed to be more of an overprotecive father with a seriously bad case of Anime Hair. Love it.

Roger, I was so focussed on the Wagner I didn't even notice The Magic Flute...but of course it's all there as well. And how wonderful to have such a complex movie that's truly for LITTLE kids. Just goes on to prove what a genius he is...

Brooke, that's the Magic Flute thing--Sarastro and the Queen of the Night, the parental figures to the young heroine Pamina, are scary and powerful but only ambiguously at cross-purposes, and once Tamino proves his love (in a test very much like the scene in Ponyo where the two kids walk through the tunnel) all is well. The friend who came with us pointed out that this dynamic is at work in The Golden Compass, too.

The Wagner allusions are neat--Brunnhilde (whose famous Ride is quoted wittily in the Ponyo score) is the daughter of Wotan, the king of the gods, and Erda, goddess of the earth, who dumped his sorry ass before the opera begins. That Brunnhilde also has a gaggle of sisters. Things do not end happily for her, however.

I adored Ponyo, and had a special appreciation for the sheer amount of responsibility he had, and how his mother trusted him enough to talk to him as a person.

I think the problem I had with the Where the Wild Things Are trailer is not the stilted dialogue, but that the voices lacked a resonance that I would expect from a large creature. The sound was...flat? Maybe that's it.

Accolades to Ms. Patron!

What more could a writer ever hope for than to...

1) Win a Newbury
2) Become a controversial banned book
3) Have Mr. Sendak side with you

Man...I'm gonna sit right down and get back to work on my book! May the planets be aligned for me tonight! ....Congrat's Susan...

M

It's Newbery! Not Newbury.

Yes, M. You have a vigorous and entertaining voice. I wouldn't be surprised if you DO end up needing Maurice on your side one day.

Mickey vs GI Joe:

I recently gave a brief recap of the ongoing scrotum issue to my boyfriend, and he shrieked and grasped his genitals: "OH NO! Sounds like the people who made GI Joes have a blank spot of skin colored plastic where their penises & balls would be!" This wasnt a flip comment, he had real memories of how disturbing & confusing this was to him in childhood. IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN would have been wonderful for him to have had access to as a child.

Censors of this type of material clearly are not remembering how troubling it is for kids to navigate the unnatural world of mysteriously missing words, images and body parts, and so often all on their own.

- B

Roger--
I was just looking at some F&Gs for May and came across If My Dad were A Dog by Annabel Tellis. (Scholastic) The art is sorta like Todd Parr but with photos of dogs photoshopped in.

Anyway.

On one page, the dog is walking away and we can see a (rather small for a Labrador) scrotum. The next page has what appears to be the very same dog in the very same walking away stance with the balls gone. Photoshopped out I figure.

Then a few pages later, we have the dog lying on his bag ready for a good tummy scratch, but, now he wearing PINK AND WHITE POLKA DOTTED BOXERS. It's the only page in the book where the dog has on clothing, so it is easily noticed.

I might not have noticed the missing parts except for the current chatter about Lucky, but I certainly would have wondered about the boxers. This book was first published in the UK. I wonder if the dog was clothed there as well.

Just wondering.

R