Audio noise

Listening to the last disc of Patrick Ness' 'The knife of letting go'. I was given this copy some time ago with the recommendation that it was a great story, wonderfully wrought in audio by Humphrey Bower. I put it away thinking I'd get to it at a suitable time. Well the time has come, and I'm playing it in the car. Now the true test would you stay in the car listening to a book after you've arrived at your destination? Yes I did.
The story is a teenage science fiction story set on New World.
Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown. But Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets. Or are there?
Just one month away from his 13th birthday - the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence. Which is impossible. Prentisstown has been lying to him. And now he's going to have to run... 
It is the first book of the 'Chaos Walking Trilogy', so would I read/listen to the rest? You bet! 
The trilogy's film rights have been bought by Lionsgate, so if depicting Noise was an art for the audio version, it will be interesting to see how it is portrayed on the big screen.

Ghost island

Have to make mention of this again after Prime screened "Ghost island" last night. The segment was on the same island as my Ultimate assignment post Hashima or Gunkanjima (Battleship Island).

Gunkanjima in battleship silhouette

When you put aside their over the top hype -  "This tiny island was once the most crowded place on the planet, until suddenly in 1974 every inhabitant disappeared..." it goes on to explain "For the past 30 years, Hashima Island, off Japan’s south coast, has been off limits, with public denied access to any part except the landing stage. Little bigger than the MCG, this mysterious place was home to more than 5,000 coal miners and their families for over 80 years. They were well paid, every square metre of the island filled with towering apartment blocks. This speck in the South China Sea was the home to doctors, teachers and shopkeepers – then it was abandoned.
Closed to the outside world for decades, the island is a snapshot in time; everything is as it was when the last boat left. Two years ago part of the island was used for the James Bond movie Skyfall, and now Sunday Night reporter PJ Madam has been given exclusive access to all parts of this island of ghosts. The vision captured is eerie, captivating and extraordinary."
Here is the link to the Prime story
And yes I'd go if it was for access to all of the island like the film crew and not just the tourist version.

Once upon a children's book

The 'Once upon a time: a world of children’s picture book art' exhibition opens on Friday 21st March and runs till Sunday 31st August, in the Cowen Gallery of the State Library of Victoria in Swanston Street Melbourne.

from 'The hidden forest' by Jeannie Baker

May Gibbs' gumnut babies

Let your imagination run wild in this free exhibition celebrating the world of children’s picture book art. See classic characters like Blinky Bill and the Magic Pudding, as well as fun favourites including Miffy, Grandma Poss and Old Tom. You’ll also see aliens and fairies, tigers and bears, cranky cats, playful pups and a dinosaur who does the dishes!

 Look at original drawings, dummy books and videos about the artworks to discover the magic behind creating illustrated stories, then create your own story with our free activity booklet.

The State Library is now the custodian of Dromkeen Children’s Literature Collection which was previously at the Oldmeadows’Dromkeen Homestead at Riddells Creek. 

The collection consists of approximately 7500 original artworks and illustrations from prepublication material of many of Australia’s best-loved children’s books. The collection also includes a historical book collection, six bronze sculptures of picture book characters and the Dromkeen archive.

The prepublication artworks include early drafts of classics like Ron Brooks’ “John Brown, Rose and the Midnight cat”, before John Brown became an Old English sheepdog.

There are the rare copies of stories, such as the original “The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek” by Jenny Wagner, the story and illustrations had successfully passed through all the editing and publishing stages when a young child pointed out that the male wallaby had a young joey in a pouch. Successive editions changed the ‘his’ to a ‘her’!

The original 'Bunyip of Berkeleys Creek'

With the State Library, the Dromkeen Collection continues to foster a love of books & reading, and to support literacy among young people.

Growing cities

Must be time to combine a WebUrbanist post and 'Now & Then' images. I had seen some of these photos before, but hadn't recorded it, now here are just some of the more dramatic examples from "Then & Now: the stunning speed of urban development"
We complain about the pace of change, as old buildings are ripped down to be replaced by often uglier, utilitarian replacements. That pales against the mammoth pace of change in some overseas cities.

The well-known gambling mecca of Las Vegas was carved out of the Nevada desert, when hotels and casinos began construction in the 1930s.

The top black & white photo with the early hotels the Dunes and the Flamingo, is from 1954, and the colour image is from 2009.

China is in a building boom at present, and this is evident from these two photographs of Shanghai. The daylight image was taken in 1990, and the night-time image just 20 years later in 2010.

 Dubai may be where all the oil money is, and it shows in the architecture. 
You can recognise the 3-part apartment building in both photos, but everything else appears to have changed from 1990 to 2003. And it will have changed again in the past 10 years.

You knew Tokyo would make the list - on the left is the Japanese city in the 1960s and again on the right in 2010.

Finally - Panama City is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the world, and these two photographs illustrate the sharp contrast between the two eras. The black & white town sprouts into a maze of skyscrapers between 1930 and 2009.

 Check out other famous cities London, Paris... on the WebUrbanist post.