Talking Pictures and Old Homes

By now most of you Young Adult lit readers will have heard of the fabulous book by Ransom Riggs: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It has been a staple of the New York Times Bestseller list (36 weeks and counting) since it debuted last June and has been lauded by reviewers for its originality and inventive integration of antique photographs into the story. What you may not know is that Ransom Riggs also has a background in filmography.

The video I’ve attached below, made and narrated by Riggs himself, chronicles his unusual hobby of photograph collecting that ultimately led him to write his novel.

Talking Pictures

Riggs also made a brief documentary about the filming of his book trailer (if you haven’t seen it, it is really very good–check it out on his YouTube channel), for which he traveled to Belgium in order to film inside abandoned chateaus. What he found was absolutely breathtaking.

Old Homes

Fantastic Flying Books

I’m always excited when I stumble across new stuff via the blogosphere; and thanks to culturepants I got to watch this splendid little video entitled “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.” Although I’d never heard of it before, this video, the debut animated short by Moonbot Studios, has been accumulating awards left and right, and is now nominated for the Oscar in the Best Short Film category.

I think this quote sums it up:

Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story.

Enjoy!

I’m reading a book, man! I’m reading a book!

Who doesn’t get a little grumpy when interrupted while reading a book? We’re just lucky this frustration is now expressed in the form of song.

Shipping Errors and John Green reads ‘The Fault in Our Stars’

I am feeling pretty frustrated today, after spending an hour on hold with customer services trying to get my copy of John Green’s new book, The Fault in Our Stars, shipped to me (hurray for unexplained mix-ups). So, in order to cheer myself up, I decided to re-watch these two videos of John Green reading the first two chapters of the book.

For those of you unfamiliar with the premise, here’s a brief synopsis:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

John Green is a Printz medal winner, and is best-selling author of the books Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and (my personal favorite) Paper Towns.

On to the clips!