Tag Archives: art

Book Review – Tetris

Tetris book coverTetris by Box Brown

Have you ever played Tetris? If not, where have you been for the past 30 years? And, if like the majority of the world, yes, this delightful graphic novel might interest you. It depicts the somewhat strange and dramatic story surrounding the creation of Tetris and its rise to gaming legend. The book also expounds on the deep connection between art, games, and the human condition and how that connection played a large role in the creation and immense success of Tetris. I find that this story and its assertions about art and games almost had to be told through graphical means. The book itself is art. Overall, I highly recommend Tetris both the game and the graphic novel.

Check this out… Recovering the Classics

Recovering the Classics is a great initiative that crowdsources new creative covers for books in the public domain. Check out some of the gorgeous art that people have contributed…

Pride & Prejudice book cover

Don Quixote book cover

The Metamorphosis book cover

The Three Musketeers book cover

 

 

Book Review – The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories Volumes 1-3

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories book coversThe Tiny Book of Tiny Stories Volumes 1-3 by HitRECord

Crowdsourced from the open-collaborative community, HitRECord, these tiny stories and corresponding art is put together in these three tiny volumes. Crowdsourcing art fascinates me. It seems like a no-brainer in this hyper-connected world and HitRECord is highlighting crowdsourcing’s major potential here. The stories are pithy and creative; the illustrations are fun and varied. The stories range from funny to profound to haunting and yet, so much is conveyed in so few words. Very enjoyable!

Tiny Story 1

Tiny Story 2

Tiny Story 3

The Scarlet Letter Wordle

The 20 most common nouns in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Scarlet Letter wordle

Check out my other Wordle clouds!

Book Review – The Divine

The Divine book coverThe Divine by Asaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka, and Boaz Lavie

The Divine is a dark fantasy graphic novel about an American explosives expert sent to the fictional country of Quanlom, where he gets in the middle of an army of children led by two magical brothers. The story, inspired by a photograph of the real Burmese twins who led the guerrilla group God’s Army, twists myth and truth into magical realism at its best. Asaf and Tomer Hanuka’s art is starkly riveting. Their use of color brings emotion and tension to the beautiful drawings. This kind of story is not something I would normally pick up, but I’m glad that I did because I was drawn into the tale of dragons and ancient spirits.

The Wind in the Willows Wordle

The 20 most common nouns in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Wind in the Willows wordle

Check out my other Wordle clouds!

The Mysterious Affair at Styles Wordle

The 20 most common nouns in Agatha Christie’s “The Mysterious Affair at Styles.”

Click to enlarge.

Mysterious Affair at Styles wordle art

 

 

Check out my other Wordle clouds!

 

Pride & Prejudice Wordle

I had an idea that I wanted to try out… I took books that are in the public domain (so that I had easy access to the text) and condensed them down to the 20 most used nouns (for the most part). Then I used Wordle.net, an awesome “word cloud” creator, to make fun art with the words. Let me know what you think in the comments.

First up, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride & Prejudice wordle art

 

Check out my other Wordle clouds!

Book Review – The Monuments Men

The Monuments MenThe Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel

Review: For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, the Monuments Men were a group of Allied soldiers tasked with preserving the cultural history of Europe. They stopped the bombing of churches and other significant architecture and tracked down art and artifacts stolen by the Nazis. The book follows a dozen or so of the original men who built the Monuments Men unit and discovered thousands of stolen art in hidden Nazi caches. The writing was middling but the story itself was inspiring and long overdue for telling.