Graphic Passions: "Everything Is Teeth"

And what has been my own choice of graphic novel reading recently?

"Everything Is Teeth" - written by Anglo Australian writer Evie Wyld, with art work by illustrator/model-maker Joseph Sumner.

Part memoir, the story features child Evie, partially brought up on her grandparents's sugar cane farm in Australia, and Evie's obsession with sharks.

Now, I understand the obsession factor with things that penetrate our nightmares. I'm not too good on spiders (so I don't think I fancy Australia much where there are quite a lot of spiders and they really can kill you... Bbrrr!) Come to think of it, I'm not too good with sharks either, enough for any fear I might have had of going to sea to be more about the things in the deep that might eat me... than of drowning in the watery stuff. And in particular ... those sharks... those teeth.

Joe Sumner's art work for "Everything Is Teeth" is predominantly black, white and line, except for the sharks which are rendered in naturalistic tones ... and there's the odd splash of red in the gruesome bits. The result is superficially simple and it is very easy to devour the book (shark-like) in one big gulp. But  there is a rhythm in the layout ... (I think)... where quiet double-page spreads are interspersed with comic-strip narrative, all of which result in a careful re-telling of a childhood, a family, and a phobic obsession, a world in which facts are gathered and images haunt. But the haunting image is also the fate of the shark.

You can read an "Independent" interview with the author here.

The Doll Is Pointed Towards Michael Leunig.

The Doll was introduced to the work of  Australian artist and cartoonist Michael Leunig the other day. Although he do seem to have attracted a bit of flak recently with his "anti-Vax" (vaccination) cartoons.

Grey Doll & Criminal Listening: BBC Radio Four, Cuba And More Foreign Bodies

A newsletter from Bitter Lemon Press... specialist publishers of translated crime fiction ....  tells us that those of us in the UK listening to BBC Radio 4 are due for a Cuban crime treat on Saturday afternoons ( 2.30 - 3.30 pm starting 15th November ) with a series of dramatisations of Leonardo Padura's "Havana Quartet".

What's more there is a tie in with a new series of Mark Lawson's excellent "Foreign Bodies". This time he looks at how crime fiction reflects different political systems.... starting with Cuba and Communism. These programmes will air on BBC Radio 4, from Monday 17th November, 1.45 - 2.00 pm. and will run daily in same slot until Friday 21st November. In addition to Cuba the episodes will cover political perspectives from USA, Poland, Australia and Nigeria.

Ooh! I gotta pin my ears back and enjoy this lot.

Saturday Night Thrills... On the Telly: "The Code"

How did you get on with BBC4's Saturday Crime Spot of "Crimes Of Passion"? Well... I was having my doubts after Episode One but thought I would give it a more generous go..... And then I gave up. It just continued with its strange red herrings and retro fashion bloops. Sadly, it was not for me and The Old Man refused point blank.
We had to substitute DVD Saturday nights....

So, I shall look forward to the new series for viewing. As of  Saturday 11th October at 21 hrs.... (er... tomorrow/today whatever...) BBC4 will be showing its UK viewers the Australian series "The Code" ....billed as a political thriller. Once again, I look forward.
I shall be there.... sat in my chair ..... glued.
Some people view Saturday nights as curry nights, I do view them as foreign telly nights. Hurray!

Animated Discussions: Real-life Settings And Lighting for Paul Howell's "Husk"

With a life-sized puppet and real backdrops - "Husk" is a stop motion animation set on the streets of Melbourne and telling the tale of a dryad amongst feral fairies! It's currently doing the rounds of film and animation festivals. The film is by animation software "Stopmotion Pro" owner, Paul Howell with music by Bruce Smeaton.
Follow this link to a set of blog posts that describe its making... including some of the problems involved in shooting on real-time city streets.
And this is a very short trailer!


Husk film trailer from Paul Howell on Vimeo.

Animated Discussions: "The Maker" by Zealous Creative

The Maker is an award-winning animated short by Los Angeles based production company Zealous Creative - who produce ads, corporate videos and short films.
Devised as a vehicle for a music score by Paul Halley and using the puppets of Amanda Louise Spayd the end result is a wonderful tale of the excitement...and pain behind being "A Maker".

You can watch an accompanying, fascinating, short that describes the long journey of  "making" of "The Maker" here.

Animated discussions : "Mary and Max" and That Sepia Thing

On Thursday 19th May, 22.45 pm Film Four is showing claymation feature "Mary and Max" as part of their Australian Season on British TV.

In their words: this is an "Adult-themed claymation film about the 20-year pen-pal relationship between a girl living in Melbourne and a man 35 years her senior living in New York."

Max is the overweight Asperger sufferer who receives a penpal letter from 8 year old Mary Maisie Dinkle in Australia. Mary, bullied by classmates and ignored by her dysfunctional parents, is looking for friendship on the other side of the world. In her random search of the phonebook she picks out the bewildered loner Max. The film follows their lives and relationship (cemented by a passion for chocolate) into Mary's adulthood.

It's a dark world in dark colours but filled with humour...OK.. maybe that's a bit dark too.

And I've noticed that this "dark"/sepia thing frequently shapes the animation world. From the dark art-film world of Brothers Quay and their inspiration the Czech film-maker, Jan Svankmajer, on into shorter films and independent commissions such as Richard Hutchinson's 1993 stop-motion animation "The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb".

Maybe it's something to do with the subconscious dreamworld that seems to inform a lot of animation. Certainly my dreamworld is often rather sepia coloured.... Well maybe that's just me.

Want a taster of "Mary and Max"? Click here for a YouTube trailer.