Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Press-Out, Retro, Science and Spies


I’m a frustrated cartoonist.  For years I drew cartoons when I was in advertising and when I taught art at a local high school.  I’ve tried (unsuccessfully) to become a comic book and comic strip artist.

The heart and mind were willing but the speed and the opportunity were lacking.

But, I’m not bitter, I still enjoy looking at other artists work and truly appreciate the talent it takes to turn out a consistent and high-quality series of illustrations.

Carlton Books has provided me with a collection of cartoon illustrations by an artist I am not familiar with: Quentin Blake.

Quentin has assembled a wonderful and whimsy collection of cartoons in Roald Dahl’s Beastly Brutes & Heroic Human Beans Press-Out Paper Adventures, featuring illustrations of author Roald Dahl’s series of books characters and places. 

You may have heard of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory?  Yes, that Roald Dahl!

Inside colorful illustrations done in a chaotic and sketchy style are perfectly suited to portray Dahl’s cast of characters that guide readers through a gallery of a weird and wonderful cast of characters.

Readers can press out certain perforated sections resulting in odd and crazy pages with holes, ragged edges and shapes. 

Even better, readers can press out their own selection of art to make their own mischievous world. 

The book also comes with an inserted envelope to save punched out shapes and characters.

I’m not much of a videogame player-at least of modern videogames.

I much rather prefer the earlier classic games.  They were fun, easy to learn, provided hours of recreation and you didn’t have to be a contortionist and strategist to play them.

I still have my original Super Mario and Nintendo 64 game consoles and game cartridges.  And, yeah, I still play the games.

If you love retro video games as much as I do then you need to pick up a copy of The 100 Greatest Retro Videogames: The Inside Stories Behind The Best Games Ever Made.

The title pretty much says it all. 

The book goes into detail about each game including its creation, game play, features, hidden goodies and commentaries about those that created and played the games.

Packed with full-color screen shots and character and accessories images the book is a ‘must-have’ for any serious videogame player.

Science-ya gotta love it.  Without science and those who practice it the world would be a much colder, darker, frightening and primitive place.

Just imagine the lack of medicines, machinery, advances in food and farming technology and more?  We are fortunate to live in such a wonderful time with all the advantages modern science provides.

The fascinating thing about science is that it never stops expanding.  New discoveries emerge everyday and happen at such a fast pace it’s almost impossible to keep up.  Take computer science for an example.

What will the world be like in 10, 20 or 100 years?  It boggles the mind!

In Cutting-Edge Science: Up-To-The-Minute Discoveries, Facts And Inventions, author Colin Barras fills readers in on the latest leaps in scientific advances and innovations.

The information enclosed is sure to blow your mind!

The world of spies has been glamorized on TV, in movies and in literature.
Too often those that practice spying are portrayed as world travelers, masters of many forms of combat, super-intelligent and so on.

The truth is spying and espionage are dangerous, ponderous, often boring and above all else--clandestine.  What’s the point in being a spy if everyone knows who you are?

In Michel Smith’s new book: WWII Codebreakers And Spies: How British Intelligence & Special Operations Changed The Course Of History, readers are plunged into the dangerous and secretive world of espionage.

Archival photo, documents and charts complement the text that traces the role of espionage and counter-espionage that helped the Allies to win the war.

It’s an engrossing study of a turbulent time in history when the forces of good and evil faced off with the fate of world in the balance.

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