I recently wrote a little post for the City Paper on His Dark Materials and they’ve printed it this week. Enjoy!

His Dark Materials

I think my book club dumped me for going on about a kid’s book. But fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy know better than to dismiss it because of its marketing. Thankfully it’s getting less unknown by the minute with the first movie on the way next year, so it’s time to pass it around before Hollywood de-fangs it. Yeah, that’s right. The movie’s going to dumb down a “kid’s” book. I won’t go so far as to call HDM subversive, because frankly Pullman’s retelling of Paradise Lost in a contemporary society that never experienced the Enlightenment is more, well, enlightened that anything else. It’s a fantastic and emotionally honest story that explores the soul, parallel worlds, dark matter, and eventually a war on God.

Mason Wendell
Designer, Canary Promotion + Design/Musician

We’re planning a trip to Europe next year, and to be honest I haven’t felt that romantic gush for Paris that a lot of Americans have. I guess I don’t want to fall for the hype. But then last weekend I listened to This American Life’s Americans in Paris episode, and today I saw this photo (Paris by night). Dang, that’s purdy.

Last week we were thrilled to see that we nabbed a City Paper Choice Award for our work on ColbertNation.com. Here’s what they had to say: Best Surfing the Zeitgeist
“Was there a bigger star in 2006 than Stephen Colbert? The answer is no. And when Colbert ordered his army to www.colbertnation.com, whose handiwork did they see? Yup, the mad html skills of Megan and Mason Wendell at Canary Promotion + Design provide the interweb face for the America’s favorite fake conservative pundit.”

Thanks CP! So Mason and I popped into the CP Choice Award party Thursday night to say thanks and to chat with some of our favorite CP writers - Pat Rapa, A.D. Amorosi, and former staffers Juliet Fletcher, Jenna Portnoy and Lori Hill. (Sorry we missed CP’s talented photog Mike Reagan.) Much love to City Paper, but I was a bit flummoxed by the sort of freaks-on-parade-circus theme they had going on. I think the girls dressed like trees, the guy on stilts, and the many shirtless dudes were at a different party than we were. I feel like the paper’s editorial staff are so down-to-earth and approachable, not to mention that they produce really smart writing, so the party seemed at odds with the paper’s identity to me. Mason said it reminded him of Lollapalooza ‘92. I’m pretty sure we saw Mister Lifto talking to Michael Nutter.