Storytelling with sand

Words, images, signs, I have seen a lot of ways to tell stories.

But using sand. Yes it is possible.

Watch the next video. It tells the history of the Ukrain with sand!

Recycled orchestra

Not a story in music, but music in a story. A story worth retelling.

These children make the most beautiful music on instruments made out of garbage.

Take a look and a listen!

Retelling Sherlock

Some stories are so good, you just keep on telling them.
But sometimes a story does get a bit dated, because of time. And they need a bit of updating to be retold in the current time.

One of them is Sherlock Holmes. Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Absolutely wonderful stories about a brilliant detective who is solving crimes in London around the 1880s. 
1880 London is of course not 2014 London. Carriages have been replaced by cars. Telegrams by Whatsapp. Letters by e-mail.
So what if you want to retell the story to the kids of these days?
You retell by putting this "high-functioning sociopath" (as he describes himself these days) into London 2014. Where he can use cellphones, cars, computers and more.

And luckily the BBC has made "Sherlock" as brilliant as the books.
With Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson (yes together, again!).

It is very fast paced. With dialogues that are so smart you actually have to listen to them a couple of times to get all the information. Small clues on how it is done everywhere, that you won't see on a first watching. All the use of modern day technology. Rushing through London 2014 on cars, cabs, motors. With an array of wonderful characters to support the story.

And because of these days internet, they get a huge fanbase from all over the world. Who are puzzling along to find out, who has done it.

The BBC broadcasted the last of season three last week. The US starts off with season three this week.
This is the trailer of the first in season three.

Enjoy watching! But also read the books, to see where they originally came from. The stories are great, the craftsmanship to put them to modern times is amazing!

When words become images

and tell you their stories:

There are more of these amazing words/images. Check them out here.

Hidden stories in books

They say; "Don't judge a book by its cover". I think I found why.

In really old books people painted illustrations on the edge of the book. An illustration you can only see when you slightly fan the pages of the book. Because when the book is closed you can't see any of it.

Take a look at this website with some images and videos showing them to you.

Makes me totally wonder why to put so much effort into something that people might not even see. Or would it be that it was custom back in those days to look at the book if it had a nice picture there instead of on the cover? Not judging the book by its cover, but by the edging?

Rules of Storytelling

Yes, even to storytelling there are rules (or better, guidelines).

Previously I wrote about the people of Pixar. How Andrew Stanton gave his ideas about great storytelling (read it here).

Somebody else at Pixar: Emma Coats, also told the world what she thought the rules to great storytelling are. She tweeted a list of "22 rules of Storytelling" a while back.
And thanks to the big world of internet, they are now put to images from Pixar movies. Making them into inspirational posters for storytellers around the world.

These are two I found very fitting for my blogging.

This one is very true. Put your idea down. Even when it is just the tiniest idea. It might grow into something bigger that is worth telling to the world.

Also a very good one for me. I'm writing a lot of concepts for this blog. Some have been in concept for a very long time now. Others grow into a blog very soon. Some find a friend later on and the two of them go onto my blog to tell the story.

For a complete slide show of all the images and rules: check this website.

Home is where our story begins

I came across this sign the other weekend when I went shopping with my mother.

It reminded me of my blog and of my home, so I bought it, and it is now decorating my front door.

Your home of course tells a lot about you.
How you have decorated it.
What kind of rooms you have (a baby room or a home office).
How your garden looks.
How long you have lived there.
Or maybe how long it has been in the family.

But where you live also tells something about you.
In my case, it tells a lot. Since I live in the best neighbourhood in the world, when you are a Tolkien fan like me. All the streets are named after the characters from the works of Tolkien. I had to do a class assignment a few weeks ago, showing what is best about the city you live in. So take a look here for all the pictures.

You can understand, whenever I have to fill out my address and somebody is a Tolkien-fan. I have a story to tell.