When you reach something in Dutch (like a tweet from
actor/singer Timo Descamps) looks like slightly scrambled English; then even
spoken Dutch is almost understandable to English speakers. So Michael Erard
offers an opinion, “What Dutch Children’s Books Can Teach Adults”.
These “zoekboeks” are picture books of whole imaginary kingdoms,
circulated through seasons, almost like board game templates. That’s the zoekbook,
which invites the reader to go on a low tech Pokemon search. The German
counterpart is the Wimmelbuch.
Speaking of board games, there really aren’t that many based
on a geographical layout of a place. I
remember vaguely there was a game called Mr. Ree, which was more complicated
than Clue. But there was also a game called Star Reporter, which had an
imaginary country with a capital called Urbana, and a network of roads, rail,
and airplanes. In this age where Trump
calls journalists enemies of the people, we ought to bring it back.
Reid Ewing has been tweeting about working on a graphic
novel, and recently posted a work-in-progress video for “The Winchester Half-Tragedy”, which
happens in a high school and environs. The outspoken kids (exploring dysmorphia,
fluidity, rebellion) eventually brush up with real tragedy. There is irony (a
high school principal becomes a “principle” but that happened to me in 2005
when I worked as a sub.) The video has the text and still hand-drawn images,
and some plain text. An animated film
would be interesting (would run about 15 minutes instead of 27). I hope Reid
gets somewhere with this commercially.
All this reminds me of comics, which I don’t read, but I had
at least two coworkers who were fans of Doonsbury (like today’s about delayed
brain development in guys).
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