Riding the tortoise

'Tortoise Ride' by Meg Hunt

Virginia Frances Sterrett, illustration for Old French Fairy Tales (1920) by the Contesse de Segur (via 50watts). The story illustrated is that of Blondine, a princess lost in a forest due to the actions of her wicked step-mother, where amongst other adventures, she meets a great tortoise who offers her protection and to lead her out of the woods so long as she will sit on her back silently, without asking a single question, for six months. Another French fairytale has a princess who rides a tortoise- Babiole, but only when she has been cursed and turned into a (well-educated) monkey.

'A Monkey Riding on a Tortoise' (1821) by Katsushika Hokusai

Which makes me think of Monkey, Sun Wukong riding the giant tortoise during his epic Journey to the West, and then I am reminded that I promised you more of Awazu's turtles, some time ago. Here are but a few:

'QUARTIER PARCO -A' (1973), Advertizing Poster, Silk-screen by Kiyoshi Awazu

(1978) Public postet, offset, by Kiyoshi Awazu

(1980) Public postet, offset, by Kiyoshi Awazu

(1975) by Kiyoshi Awazu

The Anachronism

The Anachronism (Full Film) from Anachronism Pictures on Vimeo.

The entire, award-winning, steampunk short film The Anachronism by Matthew Gordon Long has been released on vimeo. It has intrepid Victorian, amateur-biologist children, printmaking specimens and discovering a ship-wrecked robotic squid submarine, which are pretty much a list of my favorite things, in a setting I recognized instantly as Canada's west coast, my former home. What little I caught of the Japanese was disconcerting. The story telling is perfect, right down to the things left untold.

From the film's website

On a sun dappled summer day a science expedition propels two children toward an enigmatic encounter at the edge of their known world. Arriving on an isolated beach, they stumble upon the shipwreck of a robotic squid submarine. The secret it holds within changes their lives forever.

The Anachronism is a Steampunk science-fiction short set in the late nineteenth century. Unfolding with the simplicity of a children's storybook, this lush journey through the landscapes of Canada's West Coast draws inspiration from a whimsical juxtaposition of Pacific Rim cultural references to elaborate an elegant meditation on the courage of curiosity and the haunting effect of childhood trauma. In 2009 the film won six Leo Awards including Best Short Drama.

(via bioephemera)