I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SHAWN COLVIN-Holiday Songs and Lullabies (1998).

This album “was inspired by impending motherhood and the rediscovery of a favorite children’s book–the enchanting Maurice Sendak-illustrated Lullabies and Night Songs, from whence many of these traditional tunes come.”

I wouldn’t have said it this way, but this quote from the Amazon page is pretty apt (if overwritten):

These simple, elegant songs outshine any nasty humbug associated with holidays and dark nights, offering sanctuary from the ill temper of the season.  Though she was heavy with child at the time of recording, Colvin’s sweet, girlish voice is here huskily warmed and enhanced by the fullness of womanly glow, conjuring the innocent simplicity of a safe childhood.

The songs are all gentle and have that lullaby feel.  Some songs have strings and horns, but mostly it is piano, organ and acoustic guitar.  And it is all down-to-earth, clean-sounding and cozy.

Technically this isn’t really a Christmas album, but it’s perfect to get you fall asleep early on Christmas Eve.

The songs include: “In the Bleak Midwinter” (Traditional) / “Christmas Time Is Here”  /  “Now the Day Is Over” (Traditional) /  “Rocking” /  “Windy Nights”  /  “All Through the Night” (Traditional) /  “Love Came Down at Christmas” /  “Silent Night” /  “All the Pretty Li’l Horses” /  “Little Road to Bethlehem” /  “Seal Lullaby” (Rudyard Kipling) /  “Evening Is a Little Boy/The Night Will Never Stay” /  “The Christ Child’s Lullaby” (Traditional) /  “Close Your Eyes” (Brahms)

What’s especially good is that she doesn’t take any fast or upbeat songs and make them slow and soporific, she takes most of the slow ballads and sings them very prettily.

[READ: October 31, 2017] The Dam Keeper

Kondo and Tsutsumi have both worked at Pixar, which may explain why this graphic novel looks unlike anything I have ever seen before.   I have (after reading their bios) learned that this was also a short film.  I’m only a little disappointed to learn that because it means the clips are (I assume) stills from the film.  It still looks cool and remarkable, but it makes it a bit less eye-popping that this unusual style wasn’t made for a book.

The story is a somewhat peculiar one, at least in the beginning.

Animals live in a town called Sunrise Valley.  The fog used to consume the town.  Then they put up a dam with windmills to keep the fog out. It is up to the dam keeper to make sure it is always running. Because the fog means death.

The dam keeper is a pig .  The fog came into town and killed the dam keeper’s wife.  The father taught his son about the dam and the importance of making sure the dam is always working.  Then one day the father walked into the fog and was never seen again.

His father always said that the dam was working if the residents forget about it.  And so they have–they think the Pig family is weird for monitoring it.

So Pig, with no parents, must attend school and monitor the dam.  He has a lot of responsibility.  And he has few friends.

The one friend he has is Fox, a nice girl who is kind to him.  Fox is such a good friend that she invites Pig along on her family’s vacation.  But Pig knows that he can’t leave the dam. It must be tended to every 12 hours.

But Fox is also friends with Hippo a brutish thug who likes to intimidate and pick on Pig.

Over that summer when he is all by himself, he is puzzled because one day the fog seems to have pulled back.  It makes the land beyond the dam visible for the very first time.  But it soon comes rushing back and slams into the dam.  Pig starts monitoring it and sees that it leaves and returns on a cycle.  The cycles are growing long but the fog is hitting harder.

During a time when the fog has pulled back, Fox comes to visit.  This makes Pig happy until he sees that she brought Hippo with her.   While they are there, the alarm goes off that the fog is returning.  Pig tells them not to worry.  However, it hits harder than ever and it drags the entire house with all of three of them into the wasteland.

They survive the crash and decide to walk back home.  On the way they meet a frog named Van (who is quite creepy). We learn a bit more about Fox and Hippo and Mr Frog promises to get them home safely.

As book one end, they come to another dam, with much bigger windmills. It is where Van lives, and he says his car will bring them back home.  They just have to be able to cross that treacherous bridge first….

The is the first book in the series and I really enjoyed it.  The visual creations are stunning and once I met the rest of the characters the whole thing was really compelling.  I’m looking forward to book two–I can’t imagine what’s behind that wall.