Short Film: Poem

"Poem" by Matthias Zentner

Although this has been used as a commercial for Showtime in Ukrain, it's still a beautiful piece of art worthy of the title "short film."  In all likelihood, without the money behind the advertiser, it would never have been produced, which would have been a terrible loss.

In this piece, the reading experience is represented as a visual metaphor as a woman passes through four stages of her life. I particularly like the part where the books escape from the bird cage, but everything about this is quite beautiful.

Interview: Patton Oswalt Interviews Harlan Ellison

At the Cinefamily Harlan Ellison event on January 19, 2012, Patton Oswalt crashed the interview and took over from Josh Olson.

Lecture: The Enigma Machine

At Fractal’11 last April, author Kij Johnson gave an interesting lecture entitled The Enigma Machine: Writing, Typewriters, and Decoding the Truth.

During World War two, the German military sent information critical to the war through messages encoded and decoded on Enigma machines, small rotor machines that looked a bit like typewriters. A message encoded by an Enigma machine was nearly impossible to decode except with another Enigma machine.

Here’s another way to think of it: the Enigma was a typewriter that concealed and revealed the truth. Every writer works as an Enigma machine, using her typewriter (or computer keyboard or pen) to do the same things. This talk explores the ways a writer uses fiction to code and decode reality, lie and tell the truth.

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Bookshelves: Plumber's Pipes

Plumber Bookshelves by Stella Bleu Designs 

The Corner Industrial Bookshelf is a great conversation piece turning heavy iron piping into a modern urban look that will add a sense of history and character to any space.

This design holds books 8 shelves and conveniently fit in those tight corner spaces. 

Book Reading: Ursula K. Le Guin Reads from Lavinia

Ursula K. Le Guin reads from her latest novel, Lavinia. The author spoke at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon, on April 22, 2008.

Fiction: Variation on a Theme of Coleridge

Author Alberto Chimal of Mexico City reads his story "Variation on a Theme of Coleridge" from Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic (Small Beer Press, January 2012), an anthology of new Mexican fiction never before translated into English.

Book Trailer: Keep Our Secrets

Teaser trailer for KEEP OUR SECRETS, a color-changing kids' book by Jordan Crane. Coming in November 2011 from McSweeney's McMullens, the brand new children's imprint from McSweeney's Books in San Francisco, CA.

Art: Fictional Landscapes

Fictional Landscapes by UK-based artist Kyle Kirkpatrick

Video: The Joy of Books

After organizing their own bookshelf earlier this year, Sean Ohlenkamp and wife Lisa re-doubled their efforts for Type Books in Toronto. After several sleepless nights of animating with a crew of over 20 people, the Joy of Books was born. Music composed especially for the short by Grayson Matthews. See many more books here.

Poetry: "Oh, the Places You'll Go"

"Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss
Performed by the attendees of Burning Man 2011

Art: Storybook

Storybook by Jeannette Woitzik