Author Archives: Editor

Audio Podcast Novel: Pinocchio (Chapter 7)

by Editor

DOWNLOAD PINOCCHIO – CHAPTER 7

Per l’Italia!  More of our story!

This is one of the great gifts from Italy to the children of the world. Carlo Collodi’s 1883 masterpiece, The Adventures of Pinocchio, is the story of the wooden marionette who desperately wants to be a real boy. His adventures are full of mischief, wonder, sadness, joy, treachery, danger and all the exuberant life of a real Italian boy. This is the English translation by Carol Della Chiesa.

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Reading and illustration by Alessandro Cima

All audio stories are Copyright © Candlelight Stories, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Do not distribute copies of our MP3 audio or video stories. They are for your personal use. If you choose to burn our MP3 stories onto a personal CD, do not make copies of the CD or distribute them to other people. Also, do not sell CDs containing our audio stories. All audio stories are copyrighted by Candlelight Stories, Inc.

1927 ‘Metropolis’ with 25 Minutes of Lost Footage

by Editor

The TCM Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles is hosting the North American premiere of Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction classic, Metropolis, with 25 minutes of newly discovered footage.

Metropolis is the story of a mechanized future city with rulers who live atop high towers and masses of slave workers that operate the giant machines below.  A rebellion is incited when a robot version of a young woman who works to help the poor is set out to inflame the oppressed workers.  The setting of the film is just astounding and has not been matched for beauty by any film since.  This is one of the great classics of world cinema and finding 25 minutes of lost footage is incredible.  Several years ago, I went to the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood to see a newly restored version that had still photos inserted where footage was missing.  I suspect that many of those missing scenes are now included!

The film was discovered in a museum storage room in Argentina.  So not only did Argentina hide escaped Nazis, but it has also been hiding a German science fiction treasure… unwittingly of course.  And if you look at Metropolis carefully, you can see the Nazis coming.  The film is permeated with it.  If you don’t believe me, consider that the screenwriter, Thea von Harbou did in fact become a Nazi.  Another Fritz Lang classic, Spies, is so riddled with antisemitism that it is almost impossible to watch.  So there it is.  Great classic yes, but also profoundly threatening.

Here’s the Los Angeles Times article about the restoration.

Here’s a link to the prior restoration: Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)

Film: Rockbois Documentary

by Editor

Ryan Dooley, street artist, made this little documentary about his group of painter friends working in Italy. They are painters who paint on walls. They have nothing to do with what we know as ‘taggers,’ who are simply imbeciles who like to write their names on things. Painters are people who make art. This group seems to find walls in Italy that need some paint applied. It’s beautiful.

Newsreel Film From 1947: Making Books

by Editor

“This man is an author. He writes stories. He has just finished writing a story. He thinks many people will like to read it.” So begins this 1947 Encyclopedia Britannica film about how books are printed and bound. Almost none of what you see in the film, with the possible exception of the book trimming blade, exists anymore. It’s fascinating and horrifying at the same time. Fascinating because we get to see the mysterious process of making a book. Horrifying because we see how machines dictate the movements of human beings in an assembly line environment.  It’s so dreadful that I may never want to read an old book again.  Perhaps e-books are some kind of salvation after all.

Are Children Philosophers?

by Editor

The Philosophers’ Magazine has an interesting article about teaching philosophy to children.  There is research that suggests teaching philosophy extends benefits across the primary school curriculum.

Philosophical intelligence is the capacity of the mind to solve the recurrent problems of human existence. Some of those problems stem from the activity of the mind contemplating its own existence, others stem from the challenges humans face living in the world. Philosophical intelligence is our ability to organise our ideas and concepts into mental maps and models of the world. It involves processing information and trying to find meaning at a conceptual level, for example, by asking questions such as What is love? What is truth? What is beauty? But can children engage in this kind of questioning?

I think it’s a natural fit for kids to think philosophically.  They love asking big important questions that seemingly have no answer.  It’s the best of all games to play with a kid.  Big questions and even bigger answers!

Read the article: Can Children Philosophize: The Case For

Avatar’s James Cameron Interviewed by L.A. Times Blog

by Editor


The Los Angeles Times Blog has an interview with James Cameron, the director of Avatar.

“We’re working on finishing an additional six minutes of the film — which includes a lot of Weta work — for a theatrical re-release in August. We were sold out of our Imax performances right up to the moment until they were contractually obligated to switch to “Alice in Wonderland,” so we know we left money on the table there. And the 3-D really helped “Avatar” right up until the moment that it hurt it. And it hurt it at the moment “Alice” and then “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Clash of the Titans” came in and sucked up all the 3-D screens. We went from declining 8% a week to declining 50%. Clearly, it wasn’t market forces directly; it was the availability of theaters. So we’re going to wait until there’s a time to come back in, inject the new footage into the mix and see if we can interest people in the “Avatar” experience in theaters.”

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am so sick of hearing people talk about this silly 3-D trend.  It’s just a clever scam to raise ticket prices.  I don’t care what Cameron says.  Fortunately, however, the new DVD appears to be in regular 2-D.

James Cameron: The ‘Avatar’ sequel will dive into the oceans of Pandora | Hero Complex | Los Angeles Times