Happy New Year!
January 9, 2012
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Happy new year! As mentioned in my last post, this week I’m squirreled away at my wife’s family’s cottage in Michigan, feverishly pounding away on an overhaul of my book. It’s amazing how productive you can be with a full night’s sleep and no babies to tend to! But I do miss Heather, Lucy, and Ingrid, and whenever my computer switches to a screen saver of random photos, it’s almost always of one of them, and my heart melts. But I must persist! Work! Do!
The cottage doesn’t have Internet or even a working phone right now, which is good for concentration, but I had to break down today and catch up on some crucial emails. So right now I’m writing this using the free wifi at a grocery store near the cottage. Not glamorous!
Speaking of, the above image is some Order of Odd-Fish fan art of one of the more glamorous characters in the book, the young actress Audrey Durdle. It’s by Marie, whom I first met when she posted her wonderful and insightful review of The Order of Odd-Fish on her old blog, Leaving Shangri-L.A. Since then, we’ve become friends, and hung out whenever she has been in my neck of the woods (Chicago) or I’ve been in hers (New York).
Marie recently sent me the above image, commenting that “I realized this sketch I did of Audrey all kitted up for the Cephalopod Ball has been hanging in my cubicle for two years!” The Cephalopod Ball! Clearly this is a lost Odd-Fish scene waiting to be written. The picture is gorgeous, of course―and Audrey is really working that squid in her hair. I assume it’s alive and just hanging out. Marvelous job, Marie!
It occurred to me this would pair well with this yet another entry for the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to post. It’s a retelling of The Witch of Blackbird Pond―but with a twist.
Now I’ve already featured a brilliant 90-Second Newbery adaptation of The Witch of Blackbird Pond done in straightforward style by the kids at Laurelhurst Elementary in Portland, OR.
But this one, by the wickedly talented Lucy, Kate, Rebecca, and Elliott of Cincinnati is something altogether different:
What a creative and hilarious take! There was so much to love here: the “I am such a calculus-a-holic” line followed by the exclamation of “Zeus!”, the “Settlers of Catan” reference, the insane makeover montage climaxing in that hip-cocking sashay, and most of all, the whole character of Kit! Such an ingenious idea to update her character into a vapid California girl. The over-the-top puns and winking at the end made me giggle. I thought this was just brilliant. Well done, Lucy, Kate, Rebecca, and Elliott!
Okay, back to writing!