Best Friends Forever Mini Series
Travis Cain
www.kidrobot.com
$7.95 each

If you enjoy exploring the ways of the universe through the eyes of seemingly harmless objects you'll like the toys in Travis Cain's (MFA 2004 Design) Best Friends Forever mini series. The small, paired vinyl figures in each set in the series represent a classic trope: Love can hurt. This somewhat tangled subject is handled here in an ultra-cute fashion. Each set includes two interlocking figures of things that are inevitably linked together, but not without one ultimately harming the other (think cheese and grater; steak and knife). One set features a red apple with its "frenemy," a green worm, bursting out of its "head." In another, a cheese grater nestles deeply into a wedge of cheese, the cheese looking the worse for wear. A third pair—aptly named Jordan + Spike—includes a high-top sneaker and a nail. Each object wears a demented smile which lends a childlike aspect to a somewhat somber subject. Messages aside, the sweet, bubbly figures in their bright, bold colors are pleasant to look at; children will find them appealing, but adults will be equally—if not more—appreciative.
[Marguerite Dabaie]

The artistic collaboration known as The Royal Creature is the brainchild of Delaney Jane Larson (BFA 2005 Fine Arts) and Matthew Tellier. The original inspiration for the Brooklyn-based duo's work sprang from a series of Valentine cards that Larson collaged using the Jacks, Queens and Kings from an old deck of playing cards. The Creature is motivated in part by the "pervasive art movement," a notion promoted by Los Angeles artist Gary Baseman that muddies the distinction between fine art and commercial art. Larson and Tellier sell—through their Web site and the online source Etsy—etchings, drawings, silkscreens and other works of art as well as note cards, T-shirts, buttons, tote bags and their popular small-plant creature pots. Everything is made by hand (Larson and Tellier take turns creating each piece) and "creatures"—the faces of which have morphed from those on the playing cards, but still bear traces of those origins—feature prominently in nearly all of their works.
With a cast of magicians, acrobats and sideshow-like characters, Larson and Tellier are currently working on a circus-themed series that deals with issues of love, heartbreak and relationships. Like Barnum & Bailey, The Royal Creature aims to create—and sell—a small-scale "Greatest Show on Earth."
[Dan Halm]

Rio
Directed by Carlos Saldanha
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
DVD / Blu-ray, $29.99/$39.99

Captured as a young bird from the wild, Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg), is a domesticated Spix's macaw living in a small town in Minnesota, thousands of miles away from his Brazilian homeland. When Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann), his owner, discovers that he is the last male of his species, she gathers him up and they head south to Rio de Janeiro to meet and, hopefully, mate with the only remaining female. However, it is far from love at first sight.

Not long after their rocky introduction, the two macaws are "bird-napped" by greedy animal smugglers and find themselves lost in the Brazilian rain forest. Finding their way back to Rio, their courageous journey results in friendship, then love, and finally Blu's learning to spread his wings and fly.

Directed by Brazilian-born SVA alumnus Carlos Saldanha (MFA 1993 Computer Art), the film brings together vivid characters, colorful backdrops and an energizing Latin and contemporary sound track. Saldanha has created a family-friendly music and dance—not to mention, moviegoing—experience for audiences of all ages. In addition to the more than one hour of special bonus features and materials found on the DVD, buyers have access to all-new exclusive bonus levels of the game Angry Birds Rio, which showcases characters from the film.

The movie also features the voices of Jermaine Clement, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, Jane Lynch, Tracy Morgan, Wanda Sykes and will.i.am.
[Dan Halm]

Bulgette the Messy Sleeper
Bethanie Deeney Murguia
Tricycle Press
Hardcover, 32 pages, $15.99

For her first children's book, Buglette the Messy Sleeper,Bethanie Deeney Murguia (MFA 1998 Illustration as Visual Essay), had to look no further than her own home for inspiration. "I was struck by the contrast between my swaddled newborn, who slept so calmly, and my 3-year-old, who thrashed from one end of her bed to the other every night," says Murguia. "I began to suspect that my 3-year-old was having big dreams, and the story of little Buglette was born."

The story follows Buglette, a petite ladybug, as she spends her days busily tidying her home while at night dreaming of building mountains, swinging from a trapeze and kicking a ball over the moon, only to wake up in the morning to twisted blankets, tossed pillows and in one case an overturned acorn cap (used to cover her bed.) Buglette's sleeping habits begin to worry her family: Will she wake the neighboring crow? Or will her big dreams and blanket-twisting ways ultimately help save the day? This delightful story will appeal to children of all ages—and to those who toss and turn throughout the night.
[Dan Halm]

Lewis & Clark
Nick Bertozzi
First Second Books
Softcover, 144 pages, $16.99

Comic books are a medium associated with diverting adventure and acts of derring-do. The best comics visualize the tales of heroic individuals thrown into extraordinary circumstances; tales of adversity and triumph, of ability blessed with grace, grit, intelligence and skill. No super powers necessary. Such is the case with Lewis & Clark, SVA faculty member Nick Bertozzi's arresting illustrated chronicle of the adventures of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their daring journey across the American frontier from 1804 to 1806. Bertozzi's minimalist, rough-hewn, dark-inked illustrations breathe life into one of the most important expeditions in American history. Often, people dismiss history as boring or inaccessible; Bertozzi's graphic approach to historical storytelling is anything but. What may come across as dull in the written word, dazzles in illustration, as Lewis and Clark tackle treacherous mountains and rapids, uncooperative Indians, illness, exhilaration and despair to become the first American explorers to reach the Pacific Ocean. Written and rendered with love, respect, humor and admiration (as well as a fine eye for historical accuracy and detail), Lewis & Clark is not only rip-roaring fun, but also a high-stakes adventure tale as well as an important lesson about the need to reintroduce our history, in a variety of formats, for each new and eager generation.
[Christopher Bussmann]