Art Reference

I've gotten to flip through Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet before. It always looked to be a pretty helpful text with vellum overlays and tasteful black and white photography. However, it is oversized and slightly out of budget, ranging from 40$ to over 70$.

A lot of the amazon reviews recommend Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form by Eliot Goldfinger. I haven't ever gotten to see this text, so I wouldn't know for myself if it is any better. But as reference texts go, Simblet's is more pertinent to the various details that a character modeler or figure artist would want to refer to than most I've used.

Be warned there is a lot of nudity. I really did warn you- NUDITY & NEKKID PEOPLE. Its not my fault if you scream when you see people sitting down with no socks on.

Progress

Almost done with Fires of Heaven but I can't really give an ETA on it... sorry only get a chance to read it when I have downtime at work. That has been pretty scanty lately since I'm the only help there is and we have possible part timers flitting in and out. Annoying.

So I canceled Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip and I may end up returning Iron Tower by Dennis McKiernan. I'll just have to pick it up later. Also canceled French Women Don't Get Fat. I'll have to giggle over that some other time I suppose.

I am unashamed to say the only thing I'd drop my progress in FoH for would be if my hold for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came in. I'm pretty patient... and the system is currently flooded with extra copies to meet demand. I'll get to read it eventually. But no hurry.

Sanctuary probably won't take me longer than three days, so I'll just keep it renewed until I get FoH done. Since I already know that the main character has already moved to a different location yet again and there was no pressing hook at the end- I can wait. I'm not deathly interested in it like I am in following Rand. I want to see what happens, but I'm not going to try and force myself to read something I only have a mild interest in. But by all means I'm not going to send it back when it took almost three weeks to get the stupid thing in. Jeeze.

More Elfquest

Elfquest Captives of Blue Mountain by Wendy and Richard Pini

I wish there were more novels of the Elfquest series. The treatment that is given since there are no pictures to accompany is a vast elaboration. Most would simply dictate and format the comic scipt and not bother to enrich the characters and landscapes, but that wouldn't be Richard Pini.

Together with Wendy and Richard we revist the World of Two Moons before we ever knew of the Go-Backs or Mer-folk and how they found out about elf worshiping humans. Richard has a very accessable manner of writing, no twisting overly wordy path to navigate. You could drop this in the lap of a twelve year old if you didn't have the comic books to introduce them to Elfquest.

Another delicious romp! Very fun and sincere.

Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction

I saw the movie first, and got curious about Mike Mignola. Unlike my experience with Sandman, I'm dissapointed with Seeds. I don't knock the art, but it wasn't my style to begin with. Really bare and blocky- very dark that I couldn't tell what action was going on.

Seeds is what the Hellboy movie was adapted from, but there are many many differences. In fact, other than the Sorcerer and Hellboy- there is no resemblence. The story is extremely brief and fast paced to the point of leaving the reader behind without apology. It would be better if a person could come to the graphic novels without having seen the movie, or at least warned that there is only the most tenuous reltaionship between the two. So my review is colored by that glaring aspect.

I thought about picking up more of the books later to see if there was a difference in writing or style but I simply haven't found the interest like I have in the old X-Men comics and Sandman.

Really the cutest thing about this book are the illustrations of young Hellboy and pancakes.

Shadow Done

I finally finished the Shadow Rising today. Sorry it took so long. Since this is book four, be warned that this short review will contain some elements and outright spoiling. Sorry, but this far into the series, it is unavoidable. You should be reading where you left off instead of reading a review ahead.

This book should be the one more appropriately the Dragon Reborn. Rand has journeyed to his mostly unknown Aiel birthfolk with Moiraine, Lan, Mat, Egwene, Rhuarc, and Aviendha, etc from Tear. He has truly stopped questioning the forces pulling him into a destiny that he neither dreamed or desired from his home in the Two Rivers and is determindly seeking out the prophecies detailing his weave in the Pattern. This means confronting all the strange customs of the Aiel.

Egwene is determined to learn of dreamwalking from the Aiel Wise Ones to better catch more Black Ajah. Mat simply cannot break away from Rand no matter how much he gripes and follows him even into the depths of the Aiel sacred place, Rhuidean. He comes out half-alive after a second brush with a ter'angreal of a red twisted doorway, and deeper in touch with an evident past life. Moiraine also adventures into Rhuidean, as does Aviendha- but we know nothing of their experiences, except that it is traditional for Wise Ones to make the trip.

Perrin, Faile, Gaul, Chiad, Bain, and Loial have broken away from the ta'varen binding them to Rand to journey through the Ways to the Two Rivers at reports of the Whitecloaks besetting the town. They arrived to keep the Whitecloaks from burning down Edmond's Field they thought, instead finding the Aybara family razed and burned- by Trollocs. The rest of the Two Rivers is beset by a dark horde of Trollocs and Myrdryaal as well as Whitecloaks, and it appears that Edmond's Field is relying on the famed heroism of their own Perrin to guide them through the forces seeking to destroy them utterly. Faile is as stubborn as ever, equally as determined to set Perrin straight and protect him- as much from her strangling him as the Whitecloaks eager to hang him. They meet up with the Aes Sedai Verin and Alanna, who were hunting more girls in the area who could channel, sine the Manethern area was so thick with the ability and old bloods.

Elayne, Nynaeve, Thom, and the thief-catcher Juilin Sandar have purchased passage on a ship to Tanchico in hot pursuit of the Black Ajah that stole ter'angreal from the White Tower. They befriend the crew of the Wavedancer and its channeling Windfinder, Jorin. Apparently the Aiel are not the onlt ones with impressive prphecies of the Dragon, the Sea Folk call him Coramoor and waive all fees to the band to take them at all speed. They make the voyage in record time with assisting Jorin to call winds to push themselves along. Local rioting and government upheaval looks to make their task of intercepting the ter'angreal difficult. They run into Bayle Domon, who aides them in their search.

Min is back in the White Tower of Tar Valon, having borne her message to the Amyrlin Seat, is cooling her heels semi-against her wishes. The Amyrlin's excuse, to keep her close in the uncertain times and observe her semi-prophetic visions. It does nothing to prevent the breaking of the Tower, save that Min saves Siuan and Luane picking up Logain on the way. Tar Valon is in chaos and the Blue Ajah almost assuredly wiped out. The world is unaware.

I do agree with my husband in this, Jordan has a way with domineering women roles. I feel that Egwene and Faile are examples of this to the extreme. Where have all the brainless and loafing fluffheads gone? Apparently still here in the real world. I feel they do far exceed their boundaries many times, but luckily they have the men that they try to bend to their will that ignore them. There is some justice to this I suppose.

The book covers all grounds fairly, and no one character is shorted. This is a very key book and describes absolutely fabulous conflicts and new areas. I will have to go back over a couple of chapters simply to absorb all the details of some of the Aiel towns. I had to hold in a laugh at Jordan describing corn and tomatoes with awkward mispelling and word jumbles. Such as Maize being Zaime and tomato as oomato. Or something like that. I refuse to comb through the book more than to get names and places spelled right. There is definitely a lot more enjoyment in the book now that Rand, Perrin, and Mat are more set to move the world as best they can rather than digging their heels in.

In short, we jump from everyone in the Stone of Tear, to going to the Waste, Tanchico, Tar Valon, Two Rivers, and the waters and roads in between. Its a huge book and easy to get lost. If you don't remember what happened for everyone to end up in Tear to begin with, do yourself a favor and reread Reborn. A great read, I'm off into Fires of Heaven now.

Book Balancing Act of '05

Eek! Almost done with Shadow Rising. I also realize that I read book 3 the Dragon Reborn all the way back in April... and it is July, three months later. Eew. Almost a quarter of the year. Now I know why I was having to think really hard about the battle at Falme and the Seanchan. I may have to skim over the book a bit and make sure I can place everything, or find a quicknotes somewhere on the internet.

I may end up taking some of these library books back until I get further in the WoT, we have all the way up to Crossroads now. And the new one comes out in October. I have Sanctuary, Redeeming the Lost, Simon & shuester, and Iron Tower waiting on me. I think I may drop Redeeming, and finish glossing over the Simon Greek Mythology book tomorrow and not pick up the Patricia McKillip book I was going to get. Sanctuary is pretty short and the Iron Tower, I'm fairly sure I can fit in sometime.

Off to edit my library lists.

Greek Day

The Simon & Schuster book of Greek Gods and Heroes by Alice Low
Ages 8-12

I had contributed to the Houston County library's copy of this book being as careworn at present than can be believed. There was a particular classmate of mine that I would fight over the temporary possesion of said book. When its all said and done, this book is abbreviated in the more classical aspects of things like Bullfinch's Mythologies but well suited to the age range.

The watercolor illustrations are imaginative and add to the fantastic myths in the telling. In many ways concepts are aided with the art- such as with the Lotus eaters and the gorgon.

Some of my sources were lacking in freshman high school and I was able to find more fact in this book in a few circumstances. Some children might be sensitive to the violence that mythology often has (non-marital sex, revenge killing, maiming, etc.) but the book presents it in as pastel yet frank truth as mythology can be told.