This is a really sweet and heart-warming little film. It’s a documentary about a young boy who built his own arcade from cardboard boxes. Take ten minutes out of your day and watch.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
This beautiful film has been nominated for an Oscar in the Short Animation category. It draws on influences as varied as Buster Keaton and the Wizard of Oz and is all about the magic of books. Put 15 minutes aside today and watch it.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.
Harrison Ford watches the Indiana Jones films for the first time.
This is just so sweet. Harrison Ford marvelling at his younger self being chased by boulders…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aDFeFwxymA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
EDIT: Unfortuntely, I’ve just heard that it’s all a fake. More here http://www.rightthisminute.com/video/truth-about-harrison-ford-watching-indiana-jones
Stickers!
Artist Yayoi Kusama recently built a plain white installation in an Australian gallery and then gave kids stickers to transform the space over two weeks. The result was a glorious explosion of colour.
More after the jump.
The Lion King Rises
The Dark Knight Rises trailer has been around for a couple of weeks now and I have to say I was completely underwhelmed by it. However, this parody gave me a giggle.
2011; What it meant to me
The past 365 days have been a particularly great year for me.
There are all the obvious things that most of you already know. I’ve had my first book published to critical and public acclaim. It was even shortlisted in the BGE Irish Book Awards – (that was a shocker!) Because of the book, I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of new and fascinating people, including several fellow writers who have had nice and encouraging things to say. But the real joy has come from my many visits to schools and libraries. Meeting the children to have read or are reading my book is a pleasure incomparable to anything else. The enthusiasm kids today have for books is infectious and makes me want to go home and read/write even more.
I’ve spent a lot of the time in the past year learning how to be a writer. When I wrote the book in 2010, I kind of just stumbled into everything, feeling my way blindly. But at the start of 2011, I set myself some writing targets and got into a habit that I keep to today. Right now, I have the first drafts of the next two Arthur Quinn books complete and am working on a whole other story that I hope people will get to read one day.
My friends and family have been so supportive to me all year long that I can’t thank them enough. The same must be said for my publishers, Mercier Press, fellow authors and all the kids book enthusiasts I’ve met along the way.
But what else did 2011 mean to me? Well I thought I’d have a look back at some of my highlights. What were yours?
Learn to talk like Kristen Stewart!
Following on from the below post, here’s the same brilliant impressionist teaching you to talk like K-Stew.
The Cabin in the Woods
This looks interesting. It’s kind of a cross between The Hunger Games and Friday the 13th, written by Joss Whedon (Buffy) and Drew Goddard (Cloverfield).
What do you think?
Let Kristen Stewart tell you the Christmas Story
The River Poddle
For anyone who’s read my book Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent, you’ll be aware of the importance of the River Poddle in the plot. In one major scene, Arthur, Ash and Will explore the river under the city of Dublin.
Here’s a great clip from an RTE documentary a few years ago that tells you all about the Poddle, as well as giving us a glimpse of the river itself. Watch it to the end to see the grate that features in the book, too!
EDIT
And here’s the actual programme that inspired me to write Arthur Quinn. When I saw the Poddle in this, I just knew there had to be some sort of monster hidden there! (The Poddle part starts from the 4 minute mark.)