The Spotlight
June 2006 - Immedium
1. News
2. Upcoming Books
3. Events
1. NEWS
A. This Dog is having a dandy Year!
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Daniel continues to be a busy puppy, as The Year of the Dog was the theme for the May fundraising dinner for the Friends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control.Asian Week featured The Year of the Dog on the cover of its May 26th issue, and wrote, "The book is brilliantly illustrated by Jeremiah Alcorn. In their journey together, Daniel discovers his true nature — honest, faithful and loyal... But incorporating Asian elements into his book is a careful balancing act. Daniel and Lin enjoy such universal pleasures as swimming, picnicking and frolicking in fields. The book doesn’t lecture on cultural practices of Chinese New Year. Instead, it explores common themes of family, patience and confronting fears.”
In its May/June issue, the Bloomsbury Review provided this recommended it to readers, summarizing: “his diligence pays off and Daniel indeed saves the day”.
Again here is the preview of the upcoming The Year of the Pig.
B. Get Ready to Light Your Fire
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Expect more fireworks after July 4th, as we launch our first coffee table book - Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man Photography. From its origin 20 years on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, this event has grown in attendance, art, and awareness worldwide. To learn more, read the San Francisco Chronicle’s retrospective from last year.
Beautifully designed by Stefanie Liang with cutting-edge digital enhancements by Mia Nakano, this book captures the essence of this unique event like none other before it. Larry Harvey, the co-founder and director of Burning Man, concurred:
“This book is a landmark. It does more than illustrate a so-called counter-cultural event. Rather, it exhibits the integrity and singleness of vision of a complete work of art. I think that a sophisticated public is ready for this. It is among the first to get things right. It does not merely display Burning Man in pictures or explain it in words: it manifests the spirit of our culture through its style."
Author Barbara Traub will be joined by Larry Harvey and editor Tracy Swedlow at many of our upcoming Bay Area events. We invite you to save a date and come to the launch party on July 14th in San Francisco.
C. Get an original WonderBaby painting!
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For fans of WonderBaby (and children everywhere), you can purchase a favorite letter from this beautifully illustrated alphabet. Artist Joe Chiodo is offering all his original paintings, which were created at a size of 14 x 14 inches.
Check out the gallery here.
Keep in mind for your friends and family, that WonderBaby makes a great baby shower and birthday gift. So plan ahead and stock up for all those youngsters out there!
D. Robot Stories author amps up the Buzz
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Greg Pak has launched his new site - www.pakbuzz.com - featuring news regarding his work on the Incredible Hulk and Battlestar Galactica comic books. Recently interviewed regarding Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Pak recollected:
I grew up at a time when the most prominent Asian American character in mainstream media was a dude in a teen flick who’d fall out of trees to the sound of a gong. So I’ve been annoyed by stereotypical imagery in mainstream media almost as long as I can remember. At the same time, I’ve always been hugely impressed by the way films speak a universal emotional language and have the power make us fall in love with anyone. I always paraphrase Spike Lee, who once wrote something along the lines of “the more specific something is, the more universal it becomes.” The idea is that if you actually depict a character fully, with all of his or her background taken into account, the audience will get it, even if the character is completely different from the audience. In fact, it’s precisely because you’ve depicted the character so specifically that the audience gets it — something that’s true in your character’s life, if it’s presented in the right way, will resonate with something true in every viewer’s life.
Meanwhile, when interviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle on June 1st, Pak added, ""My whole goal, in movies and now in comic books, has been to figure out a way to take genre storytelling, and to use that pop engine to do emotionally compelling stories featuring real human characters -- who just happen to come from different backgrounds. I especially want to tell stories involving Asian Americans. Because it's really through these accessible art forms that Asian American stories can reach a wide audience."
Spread the good will by recommending your local library carry the book Robot Stories and More Screenplays (ISBN: 1-59702-000-1). Go to your library’s web site and email them the suggestion – your help is much appreciated!
2. UPCOMING BOOKS
JULY 2006
Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man PhotographyAuthor: Barbara Traub
Introduction: Les Blank. Foreword and Afterword: Larry Harvey.
Contribution: Leonard Nimoy. Epilogue: Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
$29.95, Hardcover, 160 pages
ISBN: 1-59702-003-6
The Black Rock Arts Festival (otherwise known as "Burning Man,") has become an annual pilgrimage for 40,000 people from around the world to the desert of northwestern Nevada during the last days of summer. This book is an unprecedented photographic record of a decade of Burning Man celebrations, which has grown from a bonfire on San Francisco's Ocean Beach to a global phenomenon. Photographer Barbara Traub captures the sacred and profane through photos of otherworldly artifacts, structures, and costumes that defy description. Contributions from filmmaker Les Blank, Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, Star Trek's Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy, and beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti help to illuminate Traub's unique perspective on this dynamically evolving event.
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OCTOBER 2006
The Octonauts: The Only Lonely MonsterWritten and illustrated by Meomi
$15.95, Hardcover, 36 pages
ISBN: 1-59702-005-2
The Octonauts is a crew of misfit critters who roam the ocean in search of adventure, treasure, and fun! From their undersea base called "the Octopod", the Octonauts explore a colorful world full of thrills, chills, and gills! The crew of eight talented critters, including a brainy octopus, brave polar bear, daredevil kitten, and scientific sea otter, is always ready to embark on a new exciting voyage. In this debut episode, the Octonauts encounter a giant sea monster! What will they do? Stay tuned and get ready to join the adventure to find out!
"Winsome characters the scream LOVE ME. You can’t help but do exactly that.”
-- Babywit Clothing
3. EVENTS
Awareness of Immedium’s books is heating up, and we are proud to have more author events than ever before. For a full listing, please follow visit the events page.
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JUNE
- 6/1/06: Oliver Chin: Wa Sung Community Service Club, 1116 Franklin, Oakland, CA, 6:30 pm.
- 6/6/06: Oliver Chin: Comic Book Workshop: Ygnacio Valley Library: 2661 Oak Grove Rd., Walnut Creek, CA, 3:30 pm.
- 6/22/06: Oliver Chin: Author presentation: College-Rolando Library, 6600 Montezuma Road, San Diego, 10:00 am.
JULY
- 7/05/06: Oliver Chin: Comic Book Workshop: Pacifica Public Library, CA, 1:30 pm.
- 7/9/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA, 7:00 pm.
- 7/11/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Cody's Books, 1730 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA, 7:30 pm.
- 7/13/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Books Inc., 301 Castro St, Mountain View, CA, 7:30 pm.
- 7/14/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Launch Party 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 6:00 pm.
- 7/16/06: Oliver Chin: YOD: San Francisco Animal Care & Control, 1200 15th St., 6:00 pm.
- 7/18/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library, San Jose, CA, 7:00 pm.
- 7/20/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, 6:30 pm.
- 7/21/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: The Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, 7:00 pm.
- 7/22/06: Oliver Chin: Comic Book Workshop, Part 1: Newark Library, 6300 Civic Terrace, CA, 1 pm.
- 7/25/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: San Francisco Public Library - Main Branch, 100 Larkin, 6:30 pm.
- 7/26/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Saratoga Public Library, Saratoga, CA, 6:30 pm.
- 7/27/06: Oliver Chin: Comic Book Workshop, Dublin Library, CA, 2 pm.
- 7/27/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia, San Francisco, 7:30 pm.
- 7/28/06: Barbara Traub: D2D: Barnes & Noble, 3900 Mowry Avenue, Fremont, CA, 6:30 pm.
- 7/29/06: Oliver Chin: Comic Book Workshop, Part 2: Newark Library, 1 pm.
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Enjoy your summer reading and talk to you soon!
Immedium
P.O. Box 31846
San Francisco, CA 94131
orders@immedium.com
Immedium, Inc. inspires a world of imagination, and creates entertaining books that have multi-dimensional appeal. Based in San Francisco, CA, Immedium sits on the Pacific Rim, a vibrant intersection for crossover cultural trends from Asia and America. Embracing an increasingly diverse and "multimedia" world, Immedium publishes titles ranging from eye-catching children's books and contemporary non-fiction to commentaries on art and popular culture. Visit us at www.immedium.com.