I need to brag...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
I just need to. First, I think the gacha machine is one wondrous invention of a genius who understands the pleasure derived from childish anticipation of twiddling the knob to obtain what you want but not necessarily getting it. It can be delightful and nerve wrecking at the same time because every individually-packed bobble is a must-have or you might just end up getting the same bobble content after the third try. So there I was thinking how cool it would be if I have my personal gacha machine that I can twiddle whenever I wanted to. And that's exactly what I did. I got myself a gacha machine.
Gacha'ed from the gacha machine itself at Cineleisure, here is a mini version of the machine, assembled from scratch. It's Sanrio of course, the mother of all kawaii things. Of course it works, you just twiddle the knob and mini bobbles will slide out. Standing not more than 10cm in height, tell me it's not cool? And you can even fit the machines on top of one another or hook them up side-by-side, just like the real thing.
When I came across The Book of Lost Things earlier this year, the title intrigued me but I thought no further to pick it up. Then I saw it again recently and felt that I must simply read it.
The book is amazing. It's a story about 12-year-old David coping with the death of his mother at the start of WWII after succumbing to a debilitating illness. David loves books (just like I do) and he finds solace in books especially after his father remarries. His stepmother is soon pregnant and David fears that his soon-to-be-born step-sibling will snatch his remaining love - his father, away from him. And then, something mysterious happens when David is somehow whisked into a world where fairy tales are real. The only thing is, characters that we've grown up to know such as Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, etc are different in this realm. David has to find a way to escape this fantasy world as well as to elude the clutches of the crooked old man. The key lies in the hands of the King who owns... The Book of Lost Things.
Twisting and portraying fairy tales in a different take is nothing new as many authors have already trodden that path. Connolly managed to weave fear and suspense in this tale of magical realism and it was difficult to put down this book once I started reading it. I cried when I was reading the last two pages and continued sobbing into my pillow, feeling emotionally drained.
A book that affected me so much, I felt justified in getting the signed copy I found today although I already have the unsigned copy in my possession. And lucky me too because the copy I picked contained a postcard with a story excerpt slipped between the pages. I simply love the cover which is done in silhouette reminding me of Jan Pieńkowski's works. Speaking of which, the eagerly awaited new book from Pieńkowski will be made available soon and I've just emailed Kinokuniya to see if they are going to bring in this book. I really hope so because Pieńkowski's illustrations are amazingly beautiful. Here's a sneak peak on his latest book published by Puffin.
Based on the original nineteenth-century English translation by Sir Richard Burton, David Walser retells these fantastic tales with a flourish of magic. Jan Pieńkowski's exquisite silhouettes on stunning colour bring the stories vivdly to life, with silver ink printing throughout making this a truly sumptuous production of one of the oldest and best-loved story collections. My previous two Pieńkowski book collection was done on marble backgrounds and so I'm eagerly waiting to savour this new book of his which is done on digitally-produced psychedelic backgrounds. Here's a sample of how the illustrations will look like in this book (left pic) and a comparison to his previous book, Fairy Tales. It's so gorgeously breathtaking, I think I'm going to faint!
Oh yes, what's the story behind the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland book? I've read the story before and since I lost my old copy I decided to get a new one. And the cover is somewhat a silhouette of vines and leaves - complements my Connolly book very well, I believe.
Gacha'ed from the gacha machine itself at Cineleisure, here is a mini version of the machine, assembled from scratch. It's Sanrio of course, the mother of all kawaii things. Of course it works, you just twiddle the knob and mini bobbles will slide out. Standing not more than 10cm in height, tell me it's not cool? And you can even fit the machines on top of one another or hook them up side-by-side, just like the real thing.
When I came across The Book of Lost Things earlier this year, the title intrigued me but I thought no further to pick it up. Then I saw it again recently and felt that I must simply read it.
The book is amazing. It's a story about 12-year-old David coping with the death of his mother at the start of WWII after succumbing to a debilitating illness. David loves books (just like I do) and he finds solace in books especially after his father remarries. His stepmother is soon pregnant and David fears that his soon-to-be-born step-sibling will snatch his remaining love - his father, away from him. And then, something mysterious happens when David is somehow whisked into a world where fairy tales are real. The only thing is, characters that we've grown up to know such as Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, etc are different in this realm. David has to find a way to escape this fantasy world as well as to elude the clutches of the crooked old man. The key lies in the hands of the King who owns... The Book of Lost Things.
Twisting and portraying fairy tales in a different take is nothing new as many authors have already trodden that path. Connolly managed to weave fear and suspense in this tale of magical realism and it was difficult to put down this book once I started reading it. I cried when I was reading the last two pages and continued sobbing into my pillow, feeling emotionally drained.
A book that affected me so much, I felt justified in getting the signed copy I found today although I already have the unsigned copy in my possession. And lucky me too because the copy I picked contained a postcard with a story excerpt slipped between the pages. I simply love the cover which is done in silhouette reminding me of Jan Pieńkowski's works. Speaking of which, the eagerly awaited new book from Pieńkowski will be made available soon and I've just emailed Kinokuniya to see if they are going to bring in this book. I really hope so because Pieńkowski's illustrations are amazingly beautiful. Here's a sneak peak on his latest book published by Puffin.
Based on the original nineteenth-century English translation by Sir Richard Burton, David Walser retells these fantastic tales with a flourish of magic. Jan Pieńkowski's exquisite silhouettes on stunning colour bring the stories vivdly to life, with silver ink printing throughout making this a truly sumptuous production of one of the oldest and best-loved story collections. My previous two Pieńkowski book collection was done on marble backgrounds and so I'm eagerly waiting to savour this new book of his which is done on digitally-produced psychedelic backgrounds. Here's a sample of how the illustrations will look like in this book (left pic) and a comparison to his previous book, Fairy Tales. It's so gorgeously breathtaking, I think I'm going to faint!
Oh yes, what's the story behind the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland book? I've read the story before and since I lost my old copy I decided to get a new one. And the cover is somewhat a silhouette of vines and leaves - complements my Connolly book very well, I believe.
5:49 PM
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