Synthoughtic : must read
must read:
Grave Robber: the Gypsy Chronicles
All was peaceful in the quiet, Borough of Sewickley, PA, until someone decided to go ahead and raise the dead. Now, there's chaos. Have the demons of the Hollow broken the Treaty or are the humans dabbling in black magic? One thing is for sure. The only person who can bridge the gap between human and demon is the local Gypsy. It's Trudi MacKenzie to the rescue and not a moment too soon.
You've got to love a story that takes place in Pittsburgh! or at least some altered dimension of the 'Burgh. Maria twists and turns this story from beginning to end to make it unexpected and totally enjoyable. Her visual embellishment especially for the gruesome creates visuals that get burned into your mind.
Helvetica Forever: Story of a Typeface
Designed in 1957, the Helvetica font is an icon of Swiss graphic design, which was a model of sober, functional communication throughout the world in the 1950s and 60s. The balanced and neutral appearance of Helvetica forgoes a high degree of expressivity, a quality for which it is both criticized and admired. This polarization has helped to gain it unparalleled notoriety. Helvetica is far and away the most widely used of all typefaces; according to a survey by the Berliner Fontshop-Archiv, it tops the list of the hundred best fonts of all time. This publication retraces Helveticas fifty-year history, compares it to the well-known sans serif fonts of the twentieth century, and examines the phenomenon of its unparalleled spread. Numerous illustrations show a multitude of ways the font has been used in five decades from a wide variety of fields from signal design to party flyers.
Lars Müller (featured in the film above) was born in Oslo 1955 and has been living in Switzerland since 1963. After doing his apprenticeship as a graphic designer, and years of apprenticeship and travel in the USA and Holland, he opened a studio in Baden in 1982. In 1983, Lars Müller began publishing books on typography, design, art photography, and architecture.
Screenplay, The Foundations of Screenwriting
For almost twenty-five years, aspiring screenwriters have turned to guru Syd Field for clear and insightful step-by-step guidelines on the art and craft of writing screenplays. Now, with a totally new, up-to-date perspective on today's film industry, Syd Field again proves why he is revered as a master - and why SCREENPLAY remains the bible of the film industry. From inception through completion, from opening scene to finished script, here is a sourcebook designed to help today's aspiring screenwriters turn their ideas into scripts that will sell and succeed on the screen tomorrow.
This is hands down the easiest and best resource for learning how to write a screenplay. If you are struggling with starting or finishing your first screenplay this book is invaluable. If you are a seasoned writer, this book will still prove to be worth the money. This book should be on every indie filmmakers desk at home.
The Pop-Up Book of Phobias
Fear of heights, fear of spiders, fear of flying, fear of death--everyone is afraid of something. And these pop-ups place you in the hot seat--whether it's the dentist's chair as the drill comes spinning toward you; looking over the edge of a skyscraper whose sheer face plummets thousands of feet to the sidewalk far below; or the window seat of a plane as the oxygen mask deploys, your drink spills, and the horizon line shifts to an angle that is suddenly, terribly wrong . . .
I absolutely love this book. It reminds me of everything great about old fairy tales and Mother Goose rhymes. Bordering on playful and macabre, it is just plain fun to look at and read. In a world of web sites that struggle to be interactive, this book stands out as being thoroughly submersive and interactive in a very tactile way, something that no web site could ever achieve.