Casper David Friedrich

is a much neglected Romantic landscape painter who in stark contrast to his contemporaries, with their classical tastes, was much more interested in the landscape than portraits or still lives. His art doesn't fail to impress you with the impact he manages to express in his landscapes. He would study different aspects of nature in detail and would then paint a landscape with this level of detail.

             Wanderer above the Sea of Fog                     The Abbey in the Oakwood

He is known for his expansive landscapes against which he would often set human figures and buildings. His paintings were often gothic or sublime in nature. A contemporary said that he had discovered the 'tragedy of landscape'. In recent years his impact and legacy has been reevaluated and there later this year there is a show of his work on at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York called Casper David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature.

Link to the exhibition

  

Maid Marian And Her Merry Men ...

is a children's tv series about the adventures of Maid Marian as the leader of the Merry Men instead of Robin Hood who is portrayed as an inept ex-tailor rather than the valiant leader of the band of outlaws known as the Merry Men.

 The series is historical in a tongue and cheek sort of way and is genuinely very funny as it follows the escapades of The Merry Men lead by Marian against King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. 

The series stars Tony Robinson Of Time Team and Black Adder Fame, so it is interesting to see how well the history is portrayed and parodied like in Black Adder where where he played a character called Baldrick. Robinson has expressed interest in continuing the series beyond series four and one Christmas special. Interestingly the series was adapted into a series of comics By Paul Cemmick for The Daily Telegraph Newspaper's children's newspaper, The Young Telegraph.

 

Here is a link to the series on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maid-Marian-Her-Merry-Men/dp/B001BDF7DA

 The Legend of Zelda...

Echoes of Wisdom is a Zelda game made by Nintendo that uses the same aesthetic as a previous Zelda game called The Legend Of Zelda Link's Awakening, which is itself a remake of an earlier Zelda Game. You can read more about it in one of my previous blogs.                         

                                       

It is interesting for two main reasons; the first and foremost is it is actually the first Zelda game where the main character you play as, is Zelda Herself and not Link who usually has to rescue Zelda in previous games. Ironic since the entire franchise is called The Legend of Zelda and not The Legend of Link.

The other of the two reasons is that you can play the game by learning and creating copies of most things in the game, even enemies, very much in the vein of Nintendo's Mario Maker 1 & 2.

Zelda

Link & Zelda

Here is a link to the game on Amazon, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Legend-Zelda-Standard-Nintendo-Download/dp/B0DG3S4RQ1?th=1

 THE ISLAND...

Is a picture book by renowned Swiss artist Armin Greder. He works mainly in compressed charcoal and pastels for his bold and minimalist illustrations. His work is often about serious topics like immigration, and prejudice conveyed in an accessible and impactful way without the usual bombast of other fables in similar picture books. his work reminds me of Henry Moore the sculptor and Edvard Munch's the scream in it's intensity, while the plot and tone feel more like a Raymond Briggs picture book. 

©Armin Greder

©Armin Greder

©Armin Greder

©Armin Greder    ©Armin Greder

Greder has published many other picture books such as; diamonds, the mediterranean and The Inheritance etc. His work has been nominated for multiple awards; such as the Hans Christian Andersen award and the CBCA Picture Book Of The Year Awards. 

He currently lives in Peru after previously migrating to Australia. Here is a link to The Island on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Armin-Greder/dp/1741752663

 THE MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD ...

Is a French Animated series loosely inspired by two children's historical adventure books called respectively The King's Fifth, and Island of the Blue Dolphins. The animated series follows the adventures of three children called Esteban, Tao, and Zia; and is set in the 16th Century as Spanish Conquistadors invade and plunder the New World (The North and South Americas) in search of gold and glory. In particular they are after the fabled Seven Cities of Gold (also known as the Seven Cities of Cibola and based on a real legend). It is these seven cities that the series is centred around and a lot of history and culture is mixed with the science fiction technology of the cities of the series in a very exciting and adventurous way.

                                                          © Blue Spirit                                                    © Blue Spirit              

The series was first broadcast in 1982 and concluded with only one of the cities discovered but exactly thirty years later in 2012 the series was not rebooted but was actually continued and ran for another two seasons until 2020. The quality and story of the first series was carried over perfectly and the series concluded in truly epic fashion with the discovery of the final city. I would highly recommend this series to anybody who likes adventure and history with a science fiction twist and anyone who is interested in different cultures as the story takes place all over the globe after season one!            

Here is a link to the series on Amazon and here is a link to Blue Spirit production's website.

SCOOBY-DOO, MYSTERY INCORPORATED ...

Was an animated 2010 Scooby-Doo TV series that was surprisingly serious for Scooby-Doo but which still maintained the typical humour of the original whilst being a surprisingly complex story driven series in it's own right. The story involved an evil parrot and the gang's families, with even a few David Lynch references thrown in! It was a shame that the series didn't continue beyond the first Two Seasons but the story wrapped up satisfactorily without the need for any further follow-ons.  

         © Warner Bros. Animation

                            

   © Warner Bros. Animation       

Here is a link to the series on Amazon.

 THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD ...

Is a collections of short stories written by J. K. Rowling shortly after she completed writing Harry Potter. They are a collection of fairytales set in the Harry Potter universe and include humorous annotations from characters within the world. Interestingly Rowling illustrated the book herself and there were special leatherbound copies produced for friends that went up for auction before a commercial edition was published. Here is a comparison:

                  © J. K. Rowling                                                 © J. K. Rowling

Each fairytale is fun or scary and they are all very enjoyable with or without their connection to the Harry Potter series as a whole.

Here is a link to the book on amazon.