strange and random happenstance

I am a brochure hoarder. Anywhere I go I grab one. The problem is what to do with them later? What's their purpose? They just take up space and yet you don't want to part with them. Unless they have a  place in a photo album or have a secondary function they are a waste of space and right now I'm all about downsizing. Therefore a brochure redesign is like a dream project for me. Because I can take it to the next level, making it functional and collectible. Though this assignment for school had two requirements, I had to use all the existing text in a current brochure while also using an interesting and unique fold. So I worked backwards. Whose brochure would I love to redesign and the answer quickly came to me, obviously The Jane Austen Centre in Bath. The next question was, what kind of fold? Well, for anyone like me who spends way too much time watching Jane Austen adaptations they covet getting a letter like Austen's characters, getting to crack the seal and unfold the paper. Therefore the fold became obvious, I would use a typical Regency letter fold.

What's unique about this fold is that it's based on one of Jane's own letters, which I scanned in and used as a background, drastically toned down to not interfere with the legibility of any information I needed to convey. While any brochure is functional to an extent I love that this made it a keepsake, like getting a letter from Austen herself. As for that red seal? No, it's not wax, but a faux wax seal sticker which can be purchased in bulk and used to add an air of authenticity. Ironically the seal in the picture is from another fandom I'm a part of. Yes, it's a seal for Hogwarts. Originally I wanted to take the wax seal further and create one in the centre's colors, but then I found out that during Jane Austen's time you could use only red or black wax, so it stayed red. Yes, I'm a stickler for certain things, also, the more you know, right?

The information in the brochure could basically be broken down into five categories: Jane Austen, Touring the Jane Austen Centre, the Gift Shop, the Tea Room, and Jane Austen's Bath. Using the centre's own logo as a starting point, I created four more icons to go with the subsections, a teacup, a reticule, a teapot, and an umbrella. These categories then easily divided the content into the sections that could correspond to the various panels the folds created. When you first open the brochure you get this nice little text area with all the information you could need with the headings set in a font based on Austen's own handwriting. In the smaller sections at the top I placed the valuable information of location, hours, and admission. But for me it was all about the interior of the brochure where I placed the map, where form and function combined in happy symmetry.

The entire interior was turned over to a map I drew in Photoshop with my Wacom. Yes. I drew a map of Bath with all the locations important to Jane Austen's life clearly marked. Why would I draw a map other than being totally OCD and always having a need to take a project to the next level? Because, to me, I find maps the most useful thing a brochure can give you. Therefore I figured I HAD to have a map. And while I haven't been to Bath I feel like I know it now. I drew out all the streets, and looked up all the names, I was not just an armchair traveler but an armchair detective, following Jane's life through the city she loathed. I hope one day to go to Bath, and before you ask, yes, I'm taking my own map. Though I also kind of want to see what would happen if I was left without a map. After this project could I find my way without any help? I have a feeling I could...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Armchair Detective, Bath, Bicentenary Ball, Brochure, England, Hogwarts, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Centre, Letters, Maps, OCD, Redesign, School, Tea, Unique Fold, Wacom, Wax Seal

Caroline Stevermer is a fellow Midwestern girl, growing up on a diary farm in the middle of nowhere. Sadly I only had a defunct diary farm in the middle of nowhere to visit on the weekends, otherwise known as my grandparent's house. Writing since the age of eight she went to Bryn Mawr college and got a B.A. in Art History. Her first sale as a writer happened in 1980 and she has been writing even since. I first found out about Stevermer because I had foisted Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on my friend Ann, who was then known to quote the book at me, who then said, have you heard about Sorcery and Cecelia? I had not! I was beyond excited to hear about another author writing in the Regency era with a magical bent. What is so unique though about Stevermer's series with Patricia Wrede is that they took their love of Austen even further and wrote the three books in the series in epistolary form, each one writing one of the characters, and therefore writing back and forth in a letter game, to the delight of all readers.

Stevermer's work thrives in magical realms, even if they are magical realms that look very much like our own twisted in her unique way. Her Galazon series features a school of magic, long before Hogwarts made it cool. The acclaimed author Terri Windling called the first book, College of Magics, "charmingly distinctive . . . [marked by] the sly wit and sparkling prose that have earned her a cult following." And as for this cultist, I am happy to say that she still lives in the Midwest because I've been lucky enough to meet her twice at WisCon, getting my Cecelia and Kate books signed of course, and seeing her on several panels on very unique subjects. Here's to her continued success, but enough from me, how about a little something from Stevermer in her own words?

Question: When did you first discover Jane Austen?

Answer: When I was in high school, Scholastic Books featured an edition of Pride and Prejudice for fifty cents. I think I still have it. To be honest, I didn't appreciate her until I was in college. I made the mistake of considering her high literature and missed how wonderful her books are.

Question: What do you think Jane Austen would think of her impact with so many literary offshoots, from parody to pastiche?

Answer: Sad to say, I fear she would find our interest in her sadly ill-bred. She had a keen sense of humor, so perhaps she would enjoy laughing at us.

Question: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Answer: It's difficult to pin down, as the sources are so varied. Often from a desire to read about a girl having and adventure on her own terms.

Question: What makes the early 19th century mesh so well with magic?

Answer: I think many time periods mesh well with magic, but to focus on the early 19th century specifically, perhaps it is because advances in science made at the time could as well be advances in science. Electromagnetism in particular seems magical to me.

Question: The world building and system of magic varies greatly in the regency fantasy genre, how did you go about creating yours?

Answer: I worked with Patricia C. Wrede to make sure our sections matched enough to make sense. In my own "College of Magics" and "Scholar of Magics" novels, I was inspired by the C. S. Lewis book, "The Discarded Image." What if the geo-centric model of the universe actually worked?

Question: If you had to choose between writing only period literature or only fantasy literature, which would win?

Answer: Gosh, I don't think I could separate them! I love writing in historical periods not my own, but I can never, ever stick to facts. So I guess fantasy would win out. But probably not for long.

Question: Be honest, have you ever dressed up in Regency clothes just to pretend for a moment you are in the past?

Answer: Not in Regency clothes, but for summer jobs in college I worked as a costumed guide in historic houses, so I've worn both hoop skirts and a bustle routinely. They do change the way one moves.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A College of Magics, Caroline Stevermer, Galazon, Hogwarts, Jane Austen, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Patricia C. Wrede, Pride and Prejudice, Regency Magic, Sorcery and Cecelia, WisCon

Red Glove (Curse Workers Book 2) by Holly Black
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry
Publication Date: April 5th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Cassel has spent his summer celebrating the end of his mother's incarceration by getting back on the game with her in Atlantic City. Cassel is so worried about how Lila was cursed into loving him by his own mother that he isn't very concerned with his mother returning to her old ways; the ways that got her into prison in the first place. But Cassel doesn't care, he has his final year of school soon and will spend all that time trying not to think of Lila. Bit hard when Lila has transferred to Wallingford. Yet those are the least of his worries when the feds show up to interrogate Cassel about his brother Philip.

Turns out Philip isn't really the forgiving sort, even when it comes to family. To get revenge against Cassel he has turned narc and was going to tell the feds everything, until he was murdered... The feds are now looking to Cassel for help with Philip's murder, as well as a slew of other ones. While Philip's murder should bother Cassel the most, the other murders, or more accurately, disappearances, concern him more, because he thinks he might have done them himself. Then there's his mother, who has "aligned" herself with New Jersey's Governor who is for the anti-Workers bill. Walking a thin line between right and wrong in every aspect of his life, Cassel longs for normality, but the con keeps calling him.

One of the things that I love most about the Harry Potter books is that you get a feel for the character's daily lives amongst the chaos. Some of my favorite parts of the books are Harry, Ron, and Hermione just hanging out in the common room and doing their homework. There's something calming and homey about this. This, among many others, is the reason that the Harry Potter books are like comfort food in written form. Just sink into a chair in the Gryffindor common room and let the worries of the world wash away. That's what Red Glove felt like to me.

Like White Cat, Red Glove, is very much derivative of Harry Potter, but in this second installment it was almost entirely made up of those captured moments of rest at Hogwarts. Red Glove was a very non-demanding book. The mystery wasn't in any hurry to be solved and skipping a few classes to relax seemed of more importance. If I'm being honest, with things in my life as they are right now, this is exactly what I needed in a book. A quick read that wasn't demanding and felt like you'd had a good long nap after you finished it. A refreshing read if you will.

There is one thing that I thought had potential that was ill utilized, and I'm talking about the relationship between Cassel and his mother Shandra. For the previous volume she was in jail so their relationship was confined to phone conversations and we were unable to get how the dynamic of their relationship works. Now that she's out there's so much opportunity that Black could have exploited and we are left with one tantalizing glimpse of what could have been. Their relationship is very odd, the closest thing I can think of is Norma and Norman Bates on Bates Motel.

It's a weird vibe, what with the mother supplying endless girls to get Cassel over Lila, all while saying how ungrateful he is for the gift she made of Lila. Girls who may or may not be working girls it should be said. Plus the way Cassel just sits around watching his mother do her endless toilette to go on the game, icky spiders going up and down my spine. Yet the second Cassel is back in school, his mother is off his radar, though sometimes on his tv screen. I just wish this relationship had been explored more, because I think Cassel doesn't make much sense unless you look at his family. We already know how his brother's fucked him up, but his mother knew about that and also added in her own brand of sick.

Speaking of Shandra, she is just one of the many women in Cassel's life and I've got to say, there's a victim mentality with the three main women in Cassel's life. Shandra, his mother, Lila, the love of his life, and Philip's wife, Maura; all three women are victims. Shandra, because of her own impulses resulting in incarceration, Lila, because of years of captivity as a cat and then being whammied by Shandra, and Maura, whose memories were being wiped so that she wouldn't remember fights with her husband and therefore forget about leaving him.

Of course this could all be the cause of the world they live in and the life of crime they can't escape, but the fact that all three have been violated can not be forgotten. But Black does something interesting. She let's the victims have their revenge. She lets the oppressed claim a little of their own back. So while the depiction of women might seem bleak, they aren't weak in the end. Shandra gets out of prison and embarks on a major con that is for the benefit of all the cursed, instead of settling for her own comfort, Lila breaks free of her curse and starts to plan her future where she will take over her father's empire, while Maura... well, Maura's revenge is something you have to learn for yourself and then savor.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Atlantic City, Bates Motel, Gryffindor, Harry Potter, Hermione, Hogwarts, Holly Black, Nora Bates, Norman Bates, Red Glove, The Curse Workers, White Cat

Etiquette and Espionage, Finishing School Book the First by Gail Carriger
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 5th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Sophronia isn't exactly like other girls her age. Rather then sitting prettily in a chair and waiting to be wooed, she'd rather be climbing up a tree. Her mother therefore has decided she needs to go to finishing school... yet the finishing school that takes her isn't what it seems. While they will make a lady out of her, they aren't interested in quelling her unusual habits, but in cultivating them for a more open ended meaning of finishing. A school devoted to the arts of espionage will obviously have a few evil villains and traitors in the mix. Sophronia and her posse of friends soon stumble on a plot to leak information for an astonishing new invention to the evil Picklemen, who have already attacked the school once. It is up to them to stop this from happening, this is what they are being schooled in after all...

I wanted to like this book, I really really did. Thankfully, now that more reviews are coming out it seems to be just me, which I hoped was the case, because I love Gail's writing but I just didn't love this. While reading this book I did something I rarely ever do, and that's set the book aside for awhile. Usually when a book isn't working for me I try to push on through till I reach a point where either I grudgingly find something to like and my opinion is changed or I finish it and can mark it off my list and get it out of my life and onto the next book. But I love Gail so much I thought that everything I was hating about the book was just in my head. So I set it aside and read something else, which I really enjoyed. Feeling hopeful that my joy in books was undiminished, I picked up Etiquette and Espionage again and found that I still could barely stand reading it. The book was indeed a book I had to push through till the end and then I had a hard talking to with myself as to the rating I'd give it... let's put it this way, it was saved from the one star rating just because of Bumbersnoot. Who doesn't love a Steampunk version of K-9 without all the annoying "mistress" stuff?

Dumbing down. That is the flaw that got in my craw. There is nothing I hate more then feeling like an author is talking down to me, which is a fatal flaw of L. Frank Baum, or dumbing down their writing so that little old me can understand it. Oh gosh, I just can't handle the overly big words, it makes my brain hurt. I have noticed that several authors who have written for a predominately adult audience aren't quite able to make this shift into YA. For some reason they treat their audience differently and change their writing stylistically. The thing is, the YA market is a very discerning audience. Gail's previous books have much cross genre appeal and she could have easily just taken out the sexy bits of her previous books and that would have been enough. But instead we get a book that is predominately action which lacked a snap to the language, and it felt flat. The witty repartee seemed pushed aside for plot expedience, making the whole book lackluster. Etiquette and Espionage felt like a wonderful book that had been mercilessly bowdlerized to make it into a blockbuster that was dumbed down for the masses. Gone is the chatter over tea and scones, in is the heroine climbing the side of a dirigible... why? Because obviously that's the easiest way to get to the bowels of the ship? Excuse me what? Action action action to me is dull, please bring back the chats over tea.

Yet it wasn't just the writing that was dull, but the plot and characters. For a heroine, Sophronia was very one dimensional. She was good at physical activities such as climbing... yeah, that's it for Sophronia. Oh, except that she is so obtuse! I mean, it's understandable that at first she didn't get the joke and the true meaning behind a "finishing school" but that she continuously didn't get it just drove me insane. I just wanted anyone at all to pull her aside and go, "Ok, so, Sophronia, we know that in your world getting finished means getting all your accomplishments polished so that you can be married off, but look at the classes we teach here, finishing can also mean killing someone, ok, now stop being so dumb." Add additional characters even dumber than her as sidekicks and a very basic espionage plot, and the book just didn't appeal to me at all. Sorry.

Though there is one aspect of the book that bothered me beyond all the dumbing down and that is Soap. Soap himself doesn't bother me as such, in that he's just a stock minority character to round out Sophronia's team, it's his name. In another instance of Sophronia's stupidity, upon first meeting Soap she doesn't realize that he is black because he is covered in soot from coal. His name comes from the fact that no matter how much he washes, he'll still look like he's covered in soot. Excuse me? Um... this name offends me on so many levels. I don't care if it's irony or self parody on Soap's part, to me it's racist. While the name is countered by his portrayal and the fact that he is a love interest, the name is just so so wrong. Even before this time in England, there where quite wealthy and well respected blacks in the community, thank you Regency House Party. Slavery was first abolished in 1807 with any people slow to the party being taken out with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, while this book is set in 1851. So, while I know racism even lingers to this day, there was so much upheaval and change and so much good being done before the setting of this book that by naming the character Soap, it just feels like two steps backwards.

So, wow, this is turned into a rather wordy review now didn't it? I guess I just really needed to justify those two stars which have been worrying rather a fair few of my friends who are also huge fans of Gail Carriger. In summation, I don't think this book will get Gail many new readers. There is just too much world building that is dependent on having read the previous books, written for a much older audience who will not appreciate the dumbing down of the writing. The only little joy I got from this book, aside from Bumbersnoot, was seeing characters from The Parasol Protectorate at a younger age... though not all cameos are successful. Yet there are ways this series could work. I liked the school and the fixed environment, just flesh it out more, set aside more chapters to fully explore this school. Show us classes. Make it Harry Potter on a damn dirigible not debutantes climbing dirigibles! And please, before anything else, give Soap a real name.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Dirigible, Etiquette and Espionage, Finishing School, Gail Carriger, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, K-9, L. Frank Baum, Racism, Regency House Party, Steampunk, The Parasol Protectorate

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Published by: Arthur A. Levine Books
Publication Date: July 21st, 2007
Format: Hardcover, 784 Pages
Challenge: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy
Dumbledore is dead. Harry will not return to Hogwarts. With Ron and Hermione by his side he must destroy the final Horcruxes so that when Voldemort dies he truly dies. Problem is... what are the other Horcruxes? Dumbledore is dead and left them very strange parting gifts, from a Golden Snitch, to a Deluminator, to The Tales of Beedle the Bard in the original runes. With the trio unable to tell or rely on outside help they are cut off and at a loss as to what needs to be done. The casualties are heavy, during their first escape, Mad Eye and Hedwig are dead. Soon after the ministry falls and Harry becomes the number one target. So of course, when they realize that one of the Horcruxes is in the ministry, they blatantly, but with much planning, break into the ministry. With two previous Horcruxes destroyed during Harry's time at Hogwarts, they now have a third... but how to destroy it and how to find the rest? Stealthily moving about the country they have close calls and infighting. But as time presses on, there is hope. In a race to the finish, anyone could win, but hopefully it will be Harry.

Everyone I know has read Harry Potter, so recapping a plot that is so much a part of literary history seems trite. So instead, I'll do more of the talking and less of the summarizing. Firstly, I find it interesting, that Rowling so broke from the mold of her previous books. Each book was set up around the school year with the holiday breaks and such. But here, there is no school, there is no routine that we have grown to know and love. There is one encounter, one Horcrux after the other. Each section almost radically different that the previous. We have the happy homemakers and Grimmauld Place planning what amounts to Potter's Three (you know, like Ocean's Eleven). Then we have them hiding in the woods. Then there's the Dickensian "Ghosts of Christmas Past." Each section different but so fabulous in it's own way that you don't want it to end. But what I find fascinating is the whole dissection of the life of Albus Dumbledore. His continual barrage by the media makes Harry question everything he knew about the man, even the mission he set him on. I wonder, if J.K. Rowling hadn't become famous if she would have been able to successfully show the effect the media has on someone. Since day one Harry was set up as a celebrity and a hero, someone who the newspapers craved to hear and read about. But it was these books that made Rowling famous in a way similar to what Harry experienced in his world. If this had not happened would it have been as convincing? I'm not saying that these experiences necessarily changed her plotting of the book or what she intended to do. But perhaps it was the viciousness of attacks and this omnipresence in her life that lead her to see how easily your opinion of someone can change just by what's being said true or false. Harry's doubt of Dumbledore is a big theme, in fact perhaps the biggest, in Deathly Hallows. One I think born of a truth that J.K. Rowling learned the hard way. It doesn't matter what you were, it's what people say about you once you're gone. While this isn't how it really is, it's the love that came before, it's hard to remember that love sometimes. And that's what it comes down to in the end. Love. Voldemort, like the deceitful press, just tears down everything and everyone, but if you can remember that love, you have the most powerful magic of all.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Hedwig, Hermione, Hogwarts, Horcruxes, J.K. Rowling, Mad Eye, Ocean's Eleven, Reading Challenge, Tales of Beedle the Bard

Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
Published by: Children's High Level Group
Publication Date: December 4th, 2008
Format: Hardcover, 180 Pages
Challenge: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

It's hard to review a book of short stories, in that their brevity makes summary almost a spoiler. This compilation by J.K. Rowling helps us delve further into the world of Harry Potter by providing us the book that was not only Hermione's legacy from Albus Dumbledore, but also the key to unlocking Voldemort's downfall. While some people are apt to shove it into the category of her two throw away charity books, Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, this would be shortchanging the wonder of this book. Everytime you think, wouldn't it be wonderful to be a student at Hogwarts or live in the Waizarding world, you hit the roadblock or "but it's fiction." But with this book within a book, which is written just as well as the series, you feel like you're holding proof of Harry Potter's existence. These are the stories the wizarding children were raised on, these are like the Brothers Grimm are to Muggles. Especially with the limited edition, which is now sadly out of print, you get the thrill of an olde tyme book with metal and leather, where each corner depicts on of the four new stores in metal. In fact, the only fault I have with this book is that it only has four stories we haven't heard, because "The Tale of the Three Brothers" was in Deathly Hallows. All the stories Ron references in that book are in this book... though Dumbledore mentions a goat story that is suspiciously absent... But it's Dumbledore who raises the bar. His notes not only add further back story and nuance to Deathly Hallows, but it also adds a level of humor that embodied Dumbledore. His story of the one failed pantomime and Hogwarts for "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" is hilarious, and that alone makes this book a must read!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Hermione, Hogwarts, J.K. Rowling, Quidditch, Reading Challenge, Tales of Beedle the Bard, Voldemort

Happy Halloween Everyone!!! So, I think I should add, for the sake of honesty, that I actually own a lot more costumes then the ones shown. I just thought, to not disrespect that most frightful of holidays I would only include ACTUAL Halloween costumes...not say, my Lord of the Rings costumes with full elf ears, or my Firefly get up, I have the complete Kaylee outfit...so only Halloween, because otherwise this would be a long post indeed!

80s punk, and the return of part of my Pippy gear! Also I cut my hair, MYSELF, about 10 minutes prior to this...so that would be how I ended up with such funky hair for my passport 6 months later...

BEST HALLOWEEN EVER, it was Absolutely Fabulous (haha)! You can't believe how nice people are to you when you're Edie and Patsy! The free booze and cigarettes. I could not even guess how many people we posed for pictures with. That's Hunter S. Thompson, apparently he had a thing for Patsy...

My last year of college totally sucked and I needed a quick yet evil costume, my friends were throwing a theme party, the orcs had taken over Rivendell (literally, their co op was called Rivendell and we had orcs) and I wanted to vent my rage. I went as a Vengeance Demon. Lots of fun and scary too. Note the all out vein action.

So obviously everyone should have a Harry Potter costume. Really they should, you don't realize how useful they are! Plus, aside from the cloak, the individual parts can be worn at any other time without looking like a schoolgirl. This is me with my cat, who would so go to Hogwarts with me...TAKE THAT all my friends who say they're take owls cause it's like email.

Better shot of the costume taken this summer...yes I do occasionally wear it...so?

The year of, wear whatever you find at the thrift store in Ohio. Totally fun, and I took to wearing the wig wherever. Also a kid at the door when I was handing out candy said I looked like his teacher...hmm...what school does he go to?

Back in Ohio a year later I was able to convince my friends (Sarah and Matt) for a group costume...aka Team Zissou. Easy, fun, cool pics, and best of all, we went to an aquarium for cool photoage. As to me pointing to England...I think we were playing the where would you rather be, and I was watching Brideshead Revisited and I am pretty sure I'm pointing at the precise location of Castle Howard, I did study the map for awhile to be sure...

Team Zissou takes the riverboat down the Amazon...no that is not a person you see to the right...and it doesn't look like we are below water level....

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:05 AM 3 comments  

Labels: Ab Fab, Brideshead Revisited, Buffy, Castle Howard, Edie, Halloween, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, Hunter S. Thompson, La Croix, Ohio, Patsy, Pippy Longstocking, Rivendell, Team Zissou, Vengeance Demon