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Retro Cigarette Advertisements
Looking at old cigarette advertisements, it’s hard to believe there were people in the world who didn’t smoke. Tobacco was associated with sex appeal, especially when tobacco companies decided they wanted women to take up smoking in equal numbers. Since cigarettes are shaped like tiny phalluses, these no doubt appealed to men in equal numbers.
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Blood Symbolism
Red is not only the colour of blood–and the import of this fact does not need any emphasis–but it has also been used from prehistoric times to the present as a shield against evil. The Escape Through The Window: A Figura For Christ’s Victory Over Death, 1973 BLOOD AS SYMBOL OF LIFE Ancient Greek philosopher…
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Writing Activity: Describe The Outside Of A House
A writing activity in which you imaginatively approach a house and describe it.
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The Little Crooked House by Wild and Bentley Picture Book Analysis
The Little Crooked House (2005) is an Australian picture book written by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Jonathan Bentley who, coincidentally, has the perfect name for this story, gotta say.
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Marriage á la Mode by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
“Marriage á la Mode” (1921) is a Modernist short story by Katherine Mansfield, first published in a December edition of The Sphere: An Illustrated Newspaper for the Home. Magazines don’t normally publish summery stories in winter, but it makes more sense to know this magazine was aimed at British citizens living in the colonies. This…
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Stephen King’s The Mist Story Analysis
When you encounter mist in real life, what do you recall? Stephen King’s novella? Frank Darabont’s 2007 adaptation of Stephen King’s novella? The 2017 TV series adaptation of Stephen King’s novella?
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Symmetry In Art and Storytelling
Symmetry is one of those words whose everyday usage is a little different from the scientific meaning. Everyday usage a sense of harmonious and most appealing proportion and balance Scientific meaning In biology, the repetition of the parts in an animal or plant in an orderly fashion. Specifically, symmetry refers to a correspondence of body parts, in…
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Red and Blue Palette in Illustration
Below are examples of blue and red in art and illustration.
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Stone Mattress Short Story by Margaret Atwood Analysis
“Stone Mattress” is a masterful short story written by Margaret Atwood, published in The New Yorker in 2011. You’ll also find this story in the Nine Wicked Tales collection.
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Creepiness In Art And Storytelling
We know when something is creepy. But how to define it? On The Nature of Creepiness is a study by McAndrew and Koehnke, who realised there had never been an empirical study on what humans find creepy. The results were ‘consistent with the hypothesis that being “creeped out” is an evolved adaptive emotional response to…
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The Tunnel by Anthony Browne Picture Book Analysis
The Tunnel is a picture book written and illustrated by British author/illustrator Anthony Browne. The Tunnel was first published in 1989. SETTING OF THE TUNNEL In the 1980s it was far more common for kids to be sent out of the house because their mothers were sick of them (and it was almost always the…
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Over the Shop by JonArno Lawson and Qin Leng Analysis
Over The Shop is a wordless picturebook by JonArno Lawson, illustrated by Qin Leng, published 2021. Here’s something we all owe to the trans community: By pushing the conventional and arbitrary rules of gender, all of us are more free to be who we are. This picturebook is a celebration of these hardwon freedoms.
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Birthday Presents For 13-Year-Olds Who Love To Draw
I love art equipment. I love researching art equipment. My kid has expressed appreciation that their parent is an artist. Although I’m mostly digital these days, our kid receives awesome traditional art equipment as gifts. LYRA WATERSOLUBLE GRAPHITE CRAYONS These are big. Sharpen with a craft knife. Good for laying lots of colour down on…
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Amatonormativity and Storytelling
The word amatonormativity was coined by Elisabeth Brake in her book Minimizing Marriage: Marriage, Morality, and the Law (2011). Amatonormativity describes the societal assumption that everyone must seek romantic, sexual, monogamous relationships before finding happiness and fulfilment. Elizabeth Brake calls this undeserved elevation and centrality of romantic love amatonormativity, from the Latin word for love,…
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Films To Watch With A Twelve Year Old
The ‘parents guide’ section of any given movie on IMDb tells you what to look out for in these films. My kid saw these but not all can. Boy (a New Zealand film) Sci-Fi Gattaca Artificial Intelligence I, Robot Horror A Quiet Place The Ritual Carrie The Others Anime to watch while you’re still a…