The REV It Up List

David Ben and the Ring Dragon

David Ben had a dream that woke him up at 2 or 3 in the morning one day in 2001. It was all "like a movie," he explains, it was vividly explicit allowing him to see the story unfolding right before his eyes and he could even "clearly see the final act of the book!" He woke up that day and knew he had to write it all down.

And that, he did. He turned his dream into a beautiful reality: The Ring Dragon.

David tells me that Ring Dragon is unlike any other dragon that exists in the fantasy world out there. "This is a new brand, a new type of dragon." A dragon whose main target audience is fifth graders (or other dreamers, like me, who love fantasy books even at the still young age of 38.) 

David is an elementary school teacher who graduated from UCSC in 1998 with a degree in film and video production. He later obtained his substitute teaching credentials and has been teaching for the past nine years. In addition to his role as a school teacher, and now a book author, he has also created music for a local school play, Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.  You can hear all the tracks for this musical in this link. The interesting thing about David's musical talent is that he does not play any instruments, he uses a computer software called MIDI Synthesis to create his artful music. He simply has a natural given talent to create music! Specially classical music.

And from reading Ring Dragon, I can also say he has a talent for words! Many of the characters in Ring Dragon were inspired by David's students, and even by himself and his wife at a younger age. And perhaps because of its youthful sources of inspiration, Ring Dragon offers its readers a beautiful story filled with fantasy and excitement as well as a keen sense of humor and frankness. When the characters are faced with life and death situations, they react in the natural way in which normal fifth graders would react. Completely unpretentious with heroes who struggle and make mistakes, but learn from their experiences. Ring Dragon offers a true sense of freshness and fun. 

Like most dreams, the making of them can be a hard task. I asked David if his process of making his dream turn into reality was an easy one. "I had to knock on many doors. I got an agent and sent easily about 100 queries," he explained.

-Can you share a piece of advise to any young writers out there?

"There is no mystery. It's all about hard work. There is no quick way around it. Anyone who wants a successful book can do it if he or she works hard. If there was a secret I would like to find it. For me, it's all been a process of hard work."

David explains that Ring Dragon is intended to be a lengthy series and I am happy about that because I am already anxious to read the next volume! You can pre-order Ring Dragon here. It will be on sale in bookstores by late August. 

Frida Kahlo: A Diary of Inspiration and Art

Written by Maria Hammon

 

I have always felt that Frida Kahlo (Mexican painter 1919-1954) was one of the pioneer women of art journaling. If you ever get a chance to read it, her diary is a piece every artist should experience at least once. Even if you do not speak Spanish, you can SEE so much through her journal pages. Words, art and emotion are mixed in a beautiful array of colors and vivid imaginary. To me, her diary is breathtaking. It invites me in as an observant of her trials and tribulations during the last decade of her life. It shares her love letters, her political ideas, her visions, her art, her passions, her dreams, her fears and also her nightmares.

The diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self Portrait  includes an introduction by authors Carlos Fuentes and Sarah Lowe. One of the quotes by Fuentes that I loved explains, "...a streetcar crashed into the fragile bus she was riding, broke her spinal column, her collarbone, her ribs, her pelvis.... The impact of the crash left Frida naked and bloodied, but covered with gold dust."

And gold dust is indeed what seems to be the enchanting, riveting effect left by Frida’s art legacy.

Since we are talking Friday Kahlo, I should also say that if you haven’t yet seen the movie Frida, with one of Salma Hayek’s best performances of her life paired with Julie Taymor’s brilliant direction, this is a memorable artful film not to be missed.

Connecting with Arboretum

Reviewed by Maria Hammon

 

Today I found a new book I fell in love with. It is always a thrill to me when I find a book that makes me feel connected. Not to the concepts and ideas in it, although that is always a plus, too; but to the fact that no matter who we are, we all are small puzzle pieces of the same big picture. That with a pencil in our hands, we can all, in our own individual way, explore ourselves and recognize the parts of us that were meant to fit in this world, and the parts that are unique to each of us. In Arboretum, David Byrne explores himself and finds connections “where none were thought to exist.” His faux science, his personal drawings, and diagrams are incredibly fun to discover.

Through his tree-shaped drawings, Arboretum discusses many subjects. It is often philosophical and artistic. And perhaps even poetic. It is like a little bit of freedom and fresh air.

David Byrne is perhaps one of the most talented artists of our era. From his music with Talking Heads; his thought provoking books Your Action World, The new Sins and Arboretum, to most recently, his outspoken online journal, Mr. Byrne continues to show a true creative spirit in his work. And that, is certainly something to admire and applaud.

 

Secret skin...a rebirth into the world of adventure.

Last weekend, in my way flight back from L.A., I picked up the March 10, 2008 edition of the New Yorker.  I don't read that magazine very often to be honest, but I noticed the front page had a very artsy looking face with swirls which I thought would be perfect to use, in part, for an altered journal of sorts (if you are a literary genius and/or a fan of the New Yorker you'll just have to get over it.) But then, I noticed that the magazine actually had an essay written by Michael Chabon. I remember Chabon from his brilliant 2000 novel, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the following year, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay." Chabon's novel has been one of my favorites since then! Not only because it was beautifully written and included so much history (the Holocaust and WWII) as well as an overall view of the American culture from the mid-20s, but also because of its ground breaking narrative of the development of the comic book industry while maintaining a fresh and vivid story with lovely characters. Chabon's characters are missed -well after you are finished reading the book...in fact, I still do!

Needless to say, the discovery of his essay in the magazine, certainly made my day. He talked about his memories from Sunday school religious classes (Jewish Ethics), to the meaning behind superhero costumes. I particularly loved these two paragraphs:

We say “secret identity,” and adopt a series of cloaking strategies to preserve it, but what we are actually trying to conceal is a narrative: not who we are but the story of how we got that way—and, by implication, of all that we lacked, and all that we were not, before the spider bit us. Yet our costume conceals nothing, reveals everything: it is our secret skin, exposed and exposing us for all the world to see. Superheroism is a kind of transvestism; our superdrag serves at once to obscure the exterior self that no longer defines us while betraying, with half-unconscious panache, the truth of the story we carry in our hearts, the story of our transformation, of our story’s recommencement, of our rebirth into the world of adventure, of story itself.

He later shares of his own childhood escapism through his "secret skin" when he became his own superhero, "Aztec" (gotta love the fact that he created a Mesoamerican wizard for his superhero):

And the self you knew you contained, the story you knew you had inside you, might find its way like an emblem onto the spot right over your heart. All we needed to do was accept the standing invitation that superhero comics extended to us by means of a towel. It was an invitation to enter into the world of story, to join in the ongoing business of comic books, and, with the knotting of a magical beach towel, to begin to wear what we knew to be hidden inside us.

I loved Chabon's topics: superheros, childhood and memories. I loved that his essay invites us to the idea that superhero costumes are really nothing else than the "the truth of the story we carry in our hearts...our rebirth into the world of adventure, of story itself."

I loved his essay. In fact, think I'll have to dust off the old Kavalier and Clay and read it, again. For the sake of good memories.

Sarah Fishburn, Angela Cartwright and Pasticcio!

Artists and author duo Sarah Fishburn and Angela Cartright have given birth to another fabulous art baby! Their quarterly art zine Pasticcio is full of rich color, amazing art (a variety of mixed media art and photography), bold commentary, reviews, and creative techniques. Even the paper this zine is printed on feels good! Pasticcio looks and feels more like a book than a magazine and would look fantastic displayed on your coffee table~ it is a work of art!

365, a project.

One of the most inspiring groups in flickr is called 365. In this group the idea is to take a self-portrait a day for 365 days. Pete Ark was one of the people who got to successfully complete this project and he even turned his pictures into a self-published book!  His photos were always reaching high popularity rankings in flickr because he was always extremely creative in his photography and post-processing. You can check out most of his 365 pictures here. But if you want to see all of them, including some behind-the-scenes shots, you have to get his book. I have it and I loved it. It's one of the most entertaining table books we have in my living room!  Every time anyone stops for a visit, they get to be delighted by Pete's creative shots. Here are two of my favorite ones. The one called "In bed with Canon" has got to be the one of the funniest ones and the Ark World 365 was just too cool for words. 

Inspiring the masses

Paolo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, has been one of my favorite fiction novelists for several years. His works, which include about eight novels, two memoirs and several collections of writings among other things, have been sold in over 150 countries worldwide and have been translated into 66 languages. The Alchemist is a lovely story of a boy named Santiago who goes into a quest for the pursuit of his dreams. Coelho's somewhat simple, but heartwarming style is one of the things I love about his books. His stories draw you in right away and while they can generally be a quick read, their characters leave an imprint in your heart that is hard to forget.

Through his blog, Coelho shares a series of daily messages that I often find inspiring and uplifting. One of his recent stories titled "How to do what I want" made me reflect on the importance of loving what we do. I particularly enjoyed reading one of the comments left by a woman named Tania who shared author Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s words, “This holy longing is to live passionate, rather than passive, lives.” I loved that quote because I do believe that work is deeply connected to passion. Our true passions awaken through our every day work and that's precisely why we need it. It's the fuel that keeps us alive. A life without work would indeed be hell. I hope you too can find some inspiration and uplifting messages through his blog. 

And if you need some visual inspiration, I have paired some of my favorite quotes from his books with my nature photography in my quote-a-day blog.

Mr. Coelho also has a flickr page with some of his personal photos, including a folder with the theme, "a day in the life." I think that an author who can share freely his art and his words with the world, and takes the time to document the fabulous adventure of the every day life, is indeed one amazing person.

healing your broken heart

Author Susan Piver has a helpful video about mending a broken heart. She also has a cool red couch. It's been our experience that people with red couches usually have really good advice. We have enjoyed Susan's articles in Shambhala Sun (especially I Do? ) and are looking forward to reading her newest book, How Not To Be Afraid Of Your Own Life.

Books for Women and Kids in Shelters

Author Jim Hines is on a mission to get books (signed by authors)  to women and children in shelters for victims of domestic violence this holiday season. For more details, visit his blog. We love this idea and know how much joy  a book can give a person, especially during difficult times.