Handmade book (Part 2)

Here is another update into my bookbinding endeavor. After finishing with the sewing of the spine of the book, I then proceeded to glue on what is known as mull cloth (I used cheese cloth). This cloth helps bind the covers of the book to the spine of the book, and in essence, hold the entire book together.

 (Bound and glued)

The next step will be creating the cover for it (which I am currently doing out of brown and black suede) It will be accentuated by brass and nickel eyelets. I'll hopefully make some kind of wrap-around tie to keep the book shut. More on that when it comes.

Handmade book (part 1)

While browsing online for steampunk inspiration I stumbled upon tutorials of how to make your own handmade journals. I thought to myself that this would be an interesting project to undertake. So this next series of blog entries will be my endeavors to create a handmade book.

I folded thirty sheets of parchment colored paper into "signatures" of three sheets each, which yields six book pages (12 sides) in each signature. So the finished product should have 60 pages (120 sides).

The next step was to stitch the "signatures" together.

 

(Signatures folded and stitched together)

So far that is all I have done. As I do more steps, I'll update my blog.

Update #0001

I should probably get back to blogging at a semi-regular basis (hopefully I can manage this).
Here is the link for the online e-zine of Gone Lawn #6
http://journal.gonelawn.net/issue6/glj_current.php
I hope you enjoy "The Action which Wolves Do towards the Moon." Whose title is an allusion to Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" which inspired this work.
After somewhat of a writing hiatus, I'm going to get back on a regimen of trying to edit my novel and work on the sequel.

This past week I did go out and watch Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows. It was relatively good, following some of the same tropes set forth in the first film. Overall it was on par with its predecessor. Professor Moriarty was an excellent villain in the film. Although my familiarity with the older series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce somewhat tainted my opinion of the new Sherlock Homes films. In itself, the films are excellent in setting Sherlock Homes in the authentic time period. But the character dynamic and interaction was not quite what I had anticipated. But it was good overall.

Have I Gone Lawn

In the midst of submitting my poetry to various literary journals. I've had one accept my work so far. Now at least I'll have something to add to my bio when submitting to other journals. I have a poem which is forthcoming in the #6 issue of Gone Lawn, a journal of prose poetry. I'll post a link to it when it is live on December 1. I'm off to go submit more poetry and finish stories.

The long haul

As some of you know, I've been recently trying to submit poems to various journals and magazines in order to get them published. I've been deleting some of my poetry from this blog. Just so that they aren't available anywhere else online, if the magazines do decide to buy them. Basically right now it's just a waiting period to see if they've accepted them. If not, then I'll send them out to more magazines. Time to go write some more, so that I have more to send out. It'll be a long process, but it's fun at the same time to discover some random magazine which seems to be a perfect fit for some of your poetry. Wish me the best.

Cinemagoer: "The Pianist"

The Pianist (2002)



This powerful story is told through the eyes of one man. Wladislaw Szpielman (played by Adrien Brody) a Jewish Pianist living in Warsaw during the outbreak of World War II. The account that follows in them movie is an extremely moving portrait who loses everything, he witnesses his family being taken away, and many of the atrocities which were done to the Jewish People in WWII.
What I found to be masterfully done throughout the movie was the way in which themes and certain shots were shown in the film. At times it had a feeling of the Hitchcock movie "Rear Window," in that everything the viewer sees is through the eyes of the main character. In essence, we as the audience become Szpielman, or at least have a strong sympathy towards his character.
Throughout the film Szpielman doesn't speak much as we see him struggle to survive in the rubble of the town. However it is in this silence that his true acting finesse shines through. In his facial expressions, especially in his eyes; we as the audience feel a sense of the pain and emptiness which he carries with him throughout the movie.
This was one of the more moving movies I have seen. The score is top notch and fits beautifully with the emotions being portrayed. In the end, it's his gift of music which saves his life. In probably the most emotional scene of the movie. All in all I believe that it's a movie which everyone should watch.

I'd give it a solid two thumbs up.