I Forgot My Phone

As an undergrad I studied abroad twice. I went to Paris for four months in 2004 and London for four months in 2005. This was pre-smartphone, but the internet was big, and in both places we were cut off from regular internet access. We spent all our time exploring, talking, and maybe doing homework. One of the biggest differences from one year to the next was cameras. I was one of a few with a digital camera in Paris, whereas in London everyone had one and it was outdated instead of state of the art. A digital camera made endless picture taking a possibility, and I started to realize that I was experiencing everything through a lens, instead of through my own eyes. So I stopped. I decided my priority was to experience everything and be present rather than to have a photo proving I saw such and such.


This video made me think of that, and it made me sad that life has come to this for so many. I personally don't have a smartphone, but I have seen this in friends. And obviously my view has changed about photography, as I've become interested in it. But I always want to be present in my life. I set the camera to the side sometimes.

My new favorite site: Actual teen vs real teen

Ever wonder what all the actors playing teenagers really looked like as teens? I've been introduced to a new tumblr about just that: Actual Teen vs Adult Teen. Ann Foster created this tumblr placing photos of actors at a particular age they played next to the actor at the age. The difference is sometimes startling. Here are some highlights:

Left: Judy Greer, age 18
Right: Judy Greer playing highschooler Fern in Jawbreaker at age 23

Left: Rooney Mara yearbook photo, age 16
Right: 23-year-old Rooney Mara playing 16-year-old Taggerty in Youth in Revolt

Left: Luke Perry yearbook photo, age 18
Right: 24-year-old Luke Perry as 16-year-old Dylan in 90210 (seriously??)

Sometimes the differences are especially striking because of how exaggeratedly young the actors looked as teens.

Left: 17-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio as Luke on Growing Pains (17!)
Right: 28-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio as 17-year-old Frank in Catch Me If You Can 

Left: 16-year-old Ryan Gosling as Bret in Road to Avonlea
Right: 24-year-old Ryan Gosling as 17-year-old Noah in the Notebook 

I think it also shows the effect of styling and makeup. Comparing yearbook photos to movie/TV photos is totally different from comparing tv/movie photos with tv/movie photos. Just look at this one:

Left: Shay Mitchell modeling jeans, age 17
Right: 24-year-old Shay Mitchell playing 17-year-old Emily in Pretty Little Liars

Sometimes the differences are barely noticeable

Left: Matthew Broderick at 18
Right: 23-year-old Matthew Broderick playing 17-year-old Ferris Bueller

I sometimes lament that movies like Hunger Games and Ender's Game are cast with older actors.

Left:  16-year-old Jennifer Lawrence on Cold Case
Right: 21-year-old Lawrence as 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen.

Left: 15-year-old Josh Hutcherson in Journey to the Center of the Earth
Right: 19-year-old Josh Hutcherson as 16-year-old Peeta 

Can you imagine if the you were watching those teenage baby faces? And they were the older tributes? (Though, admittedly, Hunger Games's casting is pretty darn good even with the age differences.)

For Ender, it's more like Teen Child vs Actual Child:

15-year-old Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggan

In the book, Ender is 8-9. I think in the movie they're not even playing it that way. Ender's supposed to be middle school age, which 15-year-old Asa passes for pretty well. But can you imagine if the cast were actually children?? Here's Asa at age 10 (a year older than Ender):

Asa Butterfield as 9-year-old Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Wow.

Picture This: The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery

The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery by Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell Fradon, illustrated by Eric Velasquez

In 1856, two slaves named John and Frank escaped their master in Kentucky and fled to the north. They arrived in Oberlin, a town that lived by a "higher law" than the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed slave owners to capture their fugitive slaves anywhere in the nation. Slave hunters came looking for John, and with the help of a young boy, they captured him. When the people of Oberlin found out what happened, they gathered to rescue John and protest his capture.

This is an incredible true story. The people of Oberlin rescued John by force and hid him, allowing him to disappear into the night. The rescuers--thirty-seven of them--were tried in court for breaking the law, found guilty and sentenced to three months in prison. Eric Velasquez's dramatic illustrations often unfold like scenes from a film. A particular highlight is the nighttime scenes featuring with beautiful play between light and blue-toned shadows. At the end is a photograph of the thirty-seven convicted rescuers in the jail courtyard.

Recent Read: Jinx

  In the Urwald you grow up fast or not at all. By the time Jinx was six he had learned to live quietly and carefully, squeezed into the spaces left by other people, even though the hut he lived in with his stepparents actually belonged to him. He had inherited it after his father died of were wolves and his mother was carried off by elves.

And thus this imaginative adventure through the dangerous forest called the Urwald begins. In this place where trolls, witches, and werewolves abound, the only safe place to be is on the path or in a clearing. So when Jinx's stepfather takes him off the path, into the depths of the Urwald, Jinx knows why--he's to be abandoned and left to the creatures who live there. But a wizard named Simon interrupts them, offering to purchase Jinx. And though Jinx has heard nothing but dark tales of evil wizards, Simon feeds him and keeps a roof over his head. Living with Simon, Jinx starts to learn about his own magical powers--his ability to see thoughts and listen to the trees of the Urwald. But when Simon performs a particularly powerful spell on Jinx, he feels completely betrayed and strikes out on his own to search for what was stolen from him.

What an imaginative world Sage Blackwood has created in his middle-grade debut, Jinx. Ok, let me give you one detail of this book to start: The witches travel by butter churn. The sound of a witch traveling by butter churn? "Ker thump, ker thump." Jinx "could just make out the hopping motion of a legless barrel-shape--thrusting a long, straight stick at the ground..." This cracked me up--a pogo stick-like butter churn (which we later find out is custom built to fit around the witch, and has to be replaced as they outgrow them).

This was such an enjoyable read. It was entertaining and humorous. The characters were colorful, appealing and oftentimes a bit eccentric. The story contained many familiar elements, creatures, and characters, but each with a unique and fresh spin. It did not at all feel like something I had seen before. Jinx's magical powers in particular are new and intriguing. Many places and people are introduced but not fully explored, leaving room for many more adventures in sequels to come.

Independent Reading: Benjamin Bear

This year the second independent reader by frenchman Philippe Coudray was published in the US. I wasn't familiar with his work, but when I read 2013's Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas! I knew I had to get my hands on his first book, Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking. So here's a review of the two, which are of equal appeal and high quality.

Each page is a comic featuring Benjamin Bear and his ideas and logic. The comics are low on words, big on critical thinking. How does Benjamin Bear find his way out of a maze? His fruit rots, and he follows the trail of ants. When a sheep complains to Benjamin Bear that he's hot, Benjamin shears the sheep's coat, but then he says he's cold! What does Benjamin Bear do? He knits the sheep a sweater out of the wool. I love these! They're funny and clever, and they require the reader to think. Fuzzy Thinking was nominated for the Eisner Award and has won many prizes in France. Coudray has published many more l'Ours Barnabé books in France, so I hope that means there will be many Benjamin Bear Books to come.

Some time with family

Last weekend I was able to get out of the city spend some time with a portion of my very large extended family in Southeast Washington.

Words cannot express what good that weekend did for me.

For one, there's the location. Southeast Washington is not a lush forest. It's the opposite--dry and dusty with rolling hills, specifically Horse Heaven Hills. On the one side is the green, irrigated valley of vineyards, orchards, and other farms. On the other side are wheat fields, golden and rustling in the breeze. Exploring this landscape is one of the highlights of each trip.

As I've gotten older, I've really come to appreciate getting away from the city.

But the best part of the trip is the people. My grandmother had 9 children, many of whom have large families of their own. I spent many summers coming up here to visit my grandma and play with my cousins. We spent the weekend sitting outdoors in the shade chatting and playing games--sometimes late into the night. (I got a few photographs of my cousins' children that are absolute gems, but I feel funny posting them on the web, so you'll just have to take my word for it.)

I treasure the relationships I have with my extended family. They're all such wonderful people. And I feel like I have my grandparents to thank.

Maddie on Things: A Super Serious Project about Dogs and Physics

Have you heard of the blog, Maddie on Things/Maddie the Coonhound?

Photographer Theron Humphrey decided to leave his job to travel across the country, finding one person each day of the year to photograph and interview, thus recording the stories of regular American folks. He figured he needed a dog to keep him company, and so he rescued Maddie from an animal shelter before setting out. Of course, it's the beautiful heavy-lidded dog who could balance precariously on objects that stole the show.

Together they spent 365 days on the road, traveling 65,000 miles.

Of course, the other (meaning not "on things") photographs of Maddie are wonderful, too.

This year, Maddie on Things: A Super Serious Project about Dogs and Physics was published. Theron Humphrey and Maddie are now on tour. You can check out Maddie on Things and his other projects, This Wild Idea and Why We Rescue on his website. (To be perfectly honest, the website is better than the book, but either way, I love the photos)