How to fix Romantic Comedys

Ok, first of all, I need to admit I love a good romantic comedy.
But the operative word is "good" and I'm thinking that the last really good one I saw is the classic "I know where I'm going" (1946, I think, tho I hasten to add I wasn't alive when it was released).
I did go see "The Proposal" last night. The two main characters have a decent chemistry on screen and there was a kernel of an interesting story buried in an otherwise very silly (stupid?) plot. It could have been such an interesting and fun movie if only it had included some of the following:

• The plot device was believable. No large firm is going to let their best employee get deported without helping her from the beginning. And no firm would let that employee force another into committing a potential felony. How about 2 people getting married for mutually beneficial, but not criminal, reasons?
  
• Let us see that the "witch" is actually really good at her job. I'm tired of flat characters that are all good or all bad. And then 100% redeemed with one realization.
• Same with the good guy. He had some issues himself that were actually interesting, but just glossed over in the movie. In "Proposal" they had the pieces to have her character help his but just dumped them for a comedy bit.
  
• Even if you have a lot of funny character ideas, you don't need to use them all. More narrative, please, less cheezy lap dances and yes, no cute dogs.
  
• No more long chase scenes to be reunited. Boring.

Thank you for letting me vent. When are the writers going to be allowed back into the movie business?

Festschrift for Hedi Kyle

Hedi Kyle, Penland, 2004

A "festschrift" is a collection of essays written in honor of an individual's work by that person's colleagues. (It's from the German fest for festival and schrift for writing, sort of a festival of written articles...a nice concept, especially when it is about one person or their work.)

I was really delighted to learn last week that a festschrift has been published for Hedi Kyle. Hedi was, until recently, the Head Conservator at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and is a founder of Paper Book Intensive. To say that she is a major influence on many book artists and binders is a significant understatement. I don't imagine that there is a single binder or artist currently working who hasn't learned from her directly or indirectly, a notion supported by the 27 contributors to the book. In this festschrift you'll find essays by Julie Chen, Carmencho Arregui, Claire Van Vliet and a number of other artists, binders and teachers.

In all my work with musicians and artists, I don't think I've ever met anyone as naturally creative as Hedi. Or as generous. Most of her original structures come from her experience and observations as a conservator. But she is also constantly folding or manipulating paper, thread and/or glue to try new things. One of her most famous book structures is called a Blizzard book, one long sheet folded into a self-bound book with pockets and pages. The book was created one morning a number of years ago when she was socked in at home by a blizzard. She spent the day folding and unfolding simply being curious, until she unexpectedly had the Blizzard book. The structure has been a staple of many of her classes and is now in the general milieu, often being taught without appropriate credit to her originality. I was at a workshop with her a few years ago and someone asked her about that problem. She simply shrugged it off with this comment: "When I teach someone one of my structures, it just means that there is room in my life for a new one to come along."

You can order the Festschrift for Hedi Kyle here. I'm thrilled that the original response was overwhelming enough for it to go into another printing.


An update: I just did a google search for Hedi and found some pictures from the presentation of the Festschrift here. She cut her hair!

Further googling: I found a wonderful audio interview with her here, as part of Steve Miller's podcasts with poets and artists.

Painted evenings

Penland, 2007

I knew when I was at Penland last year that it might be the last visit for a little while. Certainly money was a factor (though I think the cost of the sessions are very reasonable), but I also had a strong sense that when it was time to travel again that another location would beckon.

Circumstances are such that there is not going to be any traveling this summer but I have decided to splurge on a class at MCBA, a class which starts this evening. I haven't yet met the instructor, Julie Baugnet, but I was drawn to the class by the beauty of her work. There is some similarity in the painterly qualities of her books and those of my Penland instructor in 2007, Laura Wait and it's a form I'm anxious to explore again. The class is formally titled "Mixed Media and the Artist's Book" and plans to "explore the realm of possibilities for creating content and working with materials such as watercolors, acrylic, pastel, collage and cut paper."

It will be wonderful to get back to these kinds of materials again...to feel them in my hands.

Stitches and Sewings for Bookbinding Structures

One of the reasons I was attracted to the world of book arts was for all of the wonderful stitches that were possible. I remember something called a sewing card when I was a child...a card with connect-the-dots hole and a colorful string to weave in and out of the holes. Perhaps because I was successful with that card I felt emboldened to continue in that "field" as an adult. ;-)

I almost missed this on the book arts forum, but Betsy Palmer Eldridge and the Guild of Book Workers have generously published a wonderful document on their web site that collects sixty different techniques of sewing from the different bookbinding traditions. Originally a presentation at the GBW/CBBAG conference in Toronto in 2008, its history actually began at Paper Book Intensive in 1991 when I imagine a group of artists began to try and collect all of the ways that they knew to assemble a book using thread. (Being PBI, I also imagine that it was quite late at night and that there might have been drinking involved. They have a lot of fun at PBI!)

The diagrams are in color...each stitch is in a different color thread and there are helpful symbols for where to start and end. You can find the PDF here. There is also a version available to print out and sew together yourself, if you'd rather have a book than a handout. It's a very valuable and generous resource.

MCBA Prize for Book Arts

Jan Owen

Requiem

My own Minnesota Center for Book Arts has established the MCBA Prize to "recognize book art from across the field and around the world" and named the five finalists here. The prize comes with an award of $2,000, not to mention the distinction of being the first winner of this hopefully bi-annual award. (It is being given in conjunction with MCBA's biennial.)

Simon Redington

Bomb

The intent of the award seems to be to encourage not only form and craftsmanship but also the development of content and how these three elements work together. I'm not familiar with all five finalists, but having taken a number of Julie Chen's classes, I know that she works particularly hard...both in her own work and in encouraging others...to see that her voice is understood in all aspects of her final book.

Veronika Schapers
Durs Grunbein

The question of what makes a book art is always an interesting one and I'm sure that this prize will elicit more of that discussion. What makes it successful is an even more elusive question. There are so many possible elements to a potential book: is there text? is it handwritten or is it printed with letterpress? (Some would say that the modern invention of polymer plates in printing is not the same technique as using metal type.) If the work is a single sheet of paper (as in a broadside) is it a book? I'm beginning to have my own definition of all of this, but in the meantime you can enjoy all of the submissions and the finalists' work on the link above.

Clifton Meador
Avalanche

A note to the web master at MCBA: it would be lovely if we could click on the photos and see them in a larger size on our screen.

Julie Chen
Panorama