My Current Mood in a Picture

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Friday, August 31, 2007

My APEC protest

I'm moving my APEC protest, non-violent as it is, to my Blog, to avoid being hassled by policemen in the wake of John Howard's draconian terrorising of his own people.

I will not be beating up anybody, instead I post my words on my Blog, where I cannot be silenced.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-world-at-our-feet/2007/08/31/1188067367901.html

Here is the article about APEC, so you can make up your own mind.

Sincerely, TeenAuthor.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Back Again

I passed my English Trial Exam.

I handed in my Visual Arts Body of Work.

And I'm completely OVER school in general.

More news as it develops.

Sincerely, TeenAuthor.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Very Busy! Can't Post for another Week

I have been very busy on both my new book and my HSC Study. Will Return Soon.

- Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Somebody bought a copy of MY BOOK!

I have earned $1.45 in royalties from the sale of a copy of my book, Small Worlds: A Miscellany!

This might not seem like much, but this means two things:

1: People are actually able to buy my book off Lulu.com

and 2: Somebody, somewhere, is reading my book...

Buy your copy of Small Worlds: A Miscellany off my Lulu Shopfront:

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1187919

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Book Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

This is a children's book unlike any other I've seen. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a book about an orphan boy who tends the clocks of Paris, having learned the trade from his alcoholic Uncle, who has long been missing. He steals things not only to survive, as his Uncle cannot provide for him (he's missing, remember?), but also to repair the mysterious Automaton, a mechanical man which he found in the burnt out ruins of a museum, one of the clues to an unfolding mystery that has been driving him all his life.

The book has it all, serious yoink-ing (the avant-garde of thievery), the history of early cinema (and presented in a non-boring way), a French girl who has a taste for books, an old man who makes clockwork toys, and a guy with an eyepatch who befriends our protagonist.

I give this 9.5 "Clockwork Gears" out of 10, minus 1.5 for the constant thievery which may set a bad example for younger children.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is like what the Moon Landing Footage in the 1960s was to that generation, only for our generation. In BOOK FORM. Hundreds of pages long, it is a mammoth epic, that leaves no questions unanswered about the characters. Wizards and Witches will die, One who cannot live while the other survives will fall, and an epic battle over many pages that left me half expecting King Leonidas from 300 to turn up to say "THIS... IS... HOGWARTS!", will blow your mind.

Unexpected plot twists are justified in this final Harry Potter installment, and do not feel unnecessary at all. Provided that nobody spoils this book for you (however, you will be pleasantly surprised), you will be shocked, relieved, shaked, rattled, and of course, Rolled, by J.K. Rowling's send off for the boy wizard that earned her millions.

I give this 10 out of 10 "Horcruxes".

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Boycott Angus & Robinson!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/bookshop-chain-puts-bite-on-small-publishers/2007/08/07/1186252708854.html

This is an outrage to anybody who is an author and even a reader in the 21st Century, and if big business is charging big bucks for books to even be stocked on the shelves, don't support it.

There's always Dymocks and Borders and Kinokuniya instead.

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Almost Finished Reading Harry Potter 7

Review (spoiler free) coming soon for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Finished my Trial Exams

Yay!

I did pretty well on my exams for English Advanced as well as Visual Arts (I think, since the marks haven't come back yet).

At the moment I'm working on my Visual Arts Body of Work again, my illustrations need colour added to them.

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

I got my LT Author Button!

http://www.librarything.com/work/3600749

This truly acknowledges me as a published author. LibraryThing is a great site which supports authors who use it, by giving them a big yellow button to declare their literary cred.

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Gone Studyin'

I have to study for my HSC Trial Exams, so you won't be hearing much from this TeenAuthor for at least a week.

Sincerely, Jacob Martin, TeenAuthor.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Manga Review: Yotsuba&! Vol. 1

There is a lot of Manga in the world today, as Japan and Globalisation have expanded the borders of this artform. One master of the medium is Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy. He made popular what Manga is today. But at the moment I'm reviewing a work by Azuma Kiyohiko, called Yotsuba&! Vol. 1.

Anybody familiar with Azuma's other work, Azumanga Daioh, and the anime series that came from it, will recognise the distinctive art style used in Yotsuba&!, In fact, some of the characters cleverly reference the appearance of the characters from Azumanga Daioh, Asagi in Yotsuba&! looks slightly like Sakaki, Yotsuba looks like Chiyo-chan in subtle ways, and Ena resembles the immature teacher Miss Yukari from Azuma's earlier work. But despite the similarities, Yotsuba&! is not a retread of Azuma's Daioh.

Yotsuba is a little girl and new in town, like Chiyo-chan from Daioh, but instead of the child prodigy Chiyo was, Yotsuba is naive, to the extent she does not know what a swing or an air conditioner is, and this series chronicles the days when Yotsuba discovers new things in the world, always with wonder and a sense of enjoyment of everything.

Yotsuba's father, an unkempt but incredibly mature young man, tries his best to raise the girl he adopted. He is one of the best characters, and one of the most intriguing. As the volume progresses, one finds out more about this mysterious man. We are not told why he has moved to a new town with his daughter, and we do not find out what his job is until later in the volume, but this allows us to speculate what might have happened to him earlier in his life to make him what he is, a sometimes irresponsible chap who strives to make sure Yotsuba grows up right.

What struck me about this Manga volume was that it actually made me laugh. I have difficulty expressing laughter, and it takes something really funny to provoke a true to life

LOL.

Really, it will make you laugh. If you do not, you probably need to see a psychiatrist. The nature of this Manga is pure, simple humor. Azuma uses Yotsuba's naive understanding of the world to deliver laughs, with Asagi often taking advantage of Yotsuba's nature to get enjoyment. An example: Yotsuba finds out about global warming by having Air Conditioners explained to her, thus convincing her to think A/C units are evil. But when she finds out her Dad has installed one in the house, she is without doubt that her Dad is the "enemy of the Earth".

It's even funnier with the pictures. You need to see the expressions used in this to fully appreciate the effort that goes into every gag.

I give this Manga Volume "10 out of 10 Summer Cicadas".