Moonshine-Dreamworks Artists After Dark

When I first encountered this book, I was tickled pink that the Dreamworks artists had gotten together to print a book of personal art.  I flipped through it, admired the art, and put it right back on the shelf.  It wasn't until fairly recently that I decided to fork over the cash to buy it.  If you're an artist, then you know how much art books generally cost. It's comparable to buying college textbooks, so you better love the art inside.

Honestly, it's not a book I'll be re-reading over and over again.  A lot of the art books I buy are used for reference, like the Spectrum series.  The art in Spectrum books is mainly from the industry(created for a client).  Not personal pieces.  It's organized by medium-whether it was printed in a comic, or for concepts.  This makes it incredibly helpful when I want to reference lighting, color scheme, or style for a particular industry.

The art in this book was lovely, but it felt like visiting Deviantart with all the dregs filtered out.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's wonderful that such a diverse group works together to make exceptional animated films.  But this is definitely a  book for art lovers, not artists.

That said, I'd like to highlight some of my favorite artists in the book:

Devin Crane-His stylized girls look like the jumped right out of the 70's.

Goro Fujita- There's obviously a story behind his robot and kid paintings, and I want to know what it is!

Ritche Sacilioc-His urban war torn and massive metal structure environment paintings seem to belong is a video game.

Shannon Tindle-Her fantasy paintings are beautifully lit, making you want to live inside them.

Dominique Louis, Simon Rodgers, and Jason Willian Scheier are all amazing landscape painters.  I'm in awe.

Patrick Mate-A wonderful sense of humor is evident in his work

Takao Noguchi-His fanciful illustration on the back cover was what convinced me to buy the book

Bibliophile iPhone 4 Cases

I found these really cute iPhone 4 cases over at Modcloth.  Makes me wish I owned an iPhone, but they're too expensive for a poor students like me.  So far, they only have  Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird style cases.  They're both adorable, although I prefer the To Kill a Mockingbird case.  I'm drawn to the cool color scheme; and to be honest, I prefer the novel.  Of all the books I was forced to read in high school and middle school, that was one of the few I breezed through.

What book cover would you want on your phone case?
I'd love to have a Wonderful Wizard of Oz cover for my phone.  Not only is green one of my favorite colors, but I love the font!  The letters just have a wonderful aesthetic to them, especially that "f" in "of".  Publishers just don't do that anymore!

Legacy of the Dead, by Charles Todd

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything on here.  I'd like to claim it was because my final year of college has started, and I've been updating my portfolio in preparation for entering the job market, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate.

The thing about creating and maintaining a blog is that there is a fear attached to it.  You worry that your writing style is too long winded, or that you're not giving an accurate review of the material you feature. Since my last blog post, I've thought many times about entries I would like to write, but I couldn't find the initiative to type them up.  You have to overcome those insecurities and realize there will always be someone who disagrees with what you are writing, and accept these factors. Or that could just be me and my paranoia...

Anyway...back to the review!

With Borders closing down this month(sigh), I've been doing a lot of book shopping, especially literature, mysteries, and comics.  I don't know what changed, but I've gotten to the point where I don't want to pick up another fantasy novel ever again. Somewhat similar to listening to your favorite song one too many times.

One mystery series that I stumbled across is the Ian Rutledge mysteries by Charles Todd.  The series follows a Scotland Yard detective who is also a World War I (or Great War if we go with the time period) vet.  Rutledge hides a great deal of mental trauma from the war by burying himself in his work. His greatest secret from the war is that he had to kill one of his own men, a Scot named Hamish, for refusing to return to No Man's Land.  This death has weighed so heavily on Rutledge that the voice of Hamish is trapped within his mind.  Not only does this highlight the timeless horrors of war, but it allows Hamish to play a Watson to Rutledge's Holmes.

Most of the novel is set in a vividly detailed Scottish village.  There are one too many characters for me to keep up with, and it would have been helpful if there was a chart in the back of the book.  I often get confused by village life stories, especially when the characters are all referred to by their last names. This is especially confusing for a mystery novel when you're trying to keep track of who did what!

For the most part though, I was able to keep up with Rutledge's investigation.  This was very different from an Agatha Christie mystery.  Christie usually likes to sneak in little bits of information that she can reveal later on as being vital to the case.  I have a feeling this was more like a real investigation.  Rutledge just continues to hound the suspects and review his notes over and over again with his doubts voiced by Hamish.

Overall, this was a very satisfying read.  My main critique is that the ending was a cliff hanger.  Todd leaves Rutledge in a critical condition without tying up the mystery with a pretty little bow.  The murderer is caught, but in a manner that leaves the reader still asking questions.  Again, this is probably more like a real life investigation.

You have to buy the next book in the series to find out how it all ended, which doesn't sit well with me.  Still, if you're looking for a good post-WWI book, this should fit the bill.