BMP Supports Books in Homes

Last year in a blog post we mentioned an Australian charitable foundation called Books in Homes to let you know about this great program we've been supporting. Books in Homes aims to give books to children in remote communities or in low socio-economic circumstances. Since that time, I (Julie) in my capacity as a Books in Homes role model, have attended three book-giving assemblies at primary and infants schools in my local area where I talked about amongst other things... yes, you guessed it... mermaids! I brought one of my book treasures – my copy of Ruth Manning Sanders A Book of Mermaids to show everybody. The kids loved the illustrations but alas we did not have time to read one of the stories aloud because the most important part of the agenda was to hand out the book satchels and shake the hand of every child in the room. It was a delight to do so because dare I say it... a book in the hand is worth two ebooks in the digital world. The kids' faces reflected their enthusiasm and happiness which was wonderful.

Anyway, we were equally happy and proud to be given a sponsorship presence on the Books in Homes catalogue with the inclusion of the Black Mermaid logo (see top row right below), and our support will continue later on in the year and beyond.

We can't mention enough how Books in Homes is helping Australian children so we encourage you to support this very worthy cause.

CLICK ON THE LINK to see the Term 1, 2013 Book Catalogue.
CLICK ON THE LINK to see the Term 2, 2013 Book Catalogue.

CLICK ON THE LINK to check out the Books in Homes website to find out more, to make a donation or to see how YOU can provide your support.

Save the Coney Island Mermaid Parade

Here's a worthy Kickstarter project we've just discovered. The Mermaid Parade is an annual event that happens on Coney Island, New York. The problem is that Hurricane Sandy did a lot of damage to the boardwalk and the surrounds and has created near insurmountable problems for organisers this year who need to raise some money fast to keep the tradition going. The parade itself is filled with mermaids and mermans, Neptunes and Poseidon's galore. Here's a bit of background...

The Mermaid Parade is artists, it’s community, it’s Brooklyn weirdos, it’s people flying in from all over the world and, most importantly, The Mermaid Parade is YOU. Every year since 1983, it has enabled artistic New Yorkers to find self-expression in public. It’s an American celebration of ancient mythology and honky-tonk rituals of the seaside, and it showcases over 1,500 creative individuals from all over the five boroughs, kicking off the summer with incredible art, an entrepreneurial spirit and unflagging Coney Island pride.

The project has reached its funding goal but there are still four days left on the campaign so if you can dig up a few dollars to help, we're sure it will be greatly appreciated.

This year's Mermaid Parade is scheduled for 22 June 2013.

As for us, we're going to have to make a special trip there one day. It's officially now on our bucket list.

MEDIA RELEASE: Black Mermaid Productions™ Launches Elf~Fin™ Emporium

MEDIA RELEASE
31 May 2013

Black Mermaid Productions™ (BMP) is proud and exceptionally happy to announce the launch of its online shop – the Elf~Fin Emporium, featuring several lines of Elf~Fin™ brand gifts and collectibles.

The Elf~Fin™ range of images is based on BMP's latest comic book series Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed. BMP is an Australian creative team and publisher made up of Jozef Szekeres (artist) and Julie Ditrich (writer) that specialises in fantasy and mermaid-related comics and graphic novels.

The shop currently features four central images: three covers and what is becoming the definitive Hyfus and Tilaweed character signature image—the "Yin-Yang" design.

Designed by BMP artist, Jozef Szekeres, the images are lush, colourful and also tap into the growing mermaid market.

There are 60 products in the basic range. These include women's and men's clothing, kitchen utilities, home decor, as well as stationery items, greeting cards and framed prints. New designs will be released periodically in line with each issue release from the comic book series.

"This is the ONLY official trading post to purchase Elf~Fin collectibles,"says artist Jozef Szekeres, "Outside of hoping mermaid lovers will get pleasure and excitement out of wearing the designs or using them in some functional way, all sales help us push towards our comic book publication goals quicker which is our core business goal. We're greatly appreciative to our current readers for all their support and we hope more and more people will discover our artwork through this product range because we adore the characters and I adored painting them."

The Elf~Fin Emporium is run through CafePress. The official shop website is: www.elf-finemporium.com 

For further information contact Julie Ditrich or Jozef Szekeres on:
Phone: +61 2 9606 4728
Email: media@blackmermaid.com
Website: www.blackmermaid.com and www.elf-fin.com

Mermaid Fan Art

One of our constant readers – Pamela Crisp from Tasmania – occasionally sends us letters on her unique letterheads. They are lovingly embellished with her original mermaids that are partly inspired by Jozef's artwork, as well as other artistic sources. We've published some of these images before on the "Opening the Elf~Fin Conversation" post from a couple of years but now Pam has sent us a fresh bunch and has given us permission to post them on  here. We LOVE them!

New Mermaid Footage [UPDATED: 31/05/13]

The Abyss has always been one of our favourite movies and maybe James Cameron knew something the rest of the world didn't. Check out this new mermaid footage that's making the rounds. It was shot up in Greenland. It's unclear except for the translucent hand, face and body that swims off rapidly. It makes us think that the message in Cameron's film may have been portentous. We do SO hope this is not a hoax. The top video is from YouTube and the mermaid can be seen more clearly on it. The full video is below.

NOTE: Since posting this piece we have found confirmation that this is indeed a hoax (albeit a wonderful one that stimulates our imagination and that of millions of other people). Here is some information on the hoax: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-animal-planet-mermaid-hoax-special-record-ratings-20130530,0,3088708.story 

 


(PLEASE NOTE THAT WE'VE ADJUSTED THE SIZE OF THE VIDEO IN HTML BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE SHRINKING TO FIT THE PAGE SO HOPE YOU CAN STILL SEE IT ADEQUATELY.

BMP Newsfront

Okay... we've been a bit quiet on this blog lately but that's because we've been super-busy! Here is a quick summary of what we've been up to:

• The first issue of Hyfus & Tilaweed in the TREASURY edition has now been published. We've just sent out our first two waves of orders around the world. They've gone out to the USA, Australia, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Serbia. If you want to order a copy for yourself, you can either go to the Elf~Fin™ website or to the ordering information in the right hand column of this blog.
• BMP attended the inaugural Comic Gong at Wollongong two weekends ago. It was only a three hour event but it had a great vibe and there were lots of friendly faces at our table and in general circulation. Great to see some of our comics compatriots too. A whole bunch of Elf~Fin™ Issue #1 made their way into the hands of new and established readers so that was gratifying for us. Word on the street is that the event was a huge success so it is looking like next year will be a whole dayer.
• We're delighted to tell you that the Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed comic book trailer for Issue #1 has been featured on the Comic Book Trailer website, which has a great tag line: "Where comic books come to PLAY"
• We just launched the Elf~Fin™ Emporium – a shop with all things Elf~Fin™. There are three pieces of cover artwork up on various products, clothing, and collectibles. We also have a unique Yin-Yang design incorporated Hyfus and Tilaweed, which is the signature image for this shop. PLEASE BE AWARE that we run our online shop through CafePress. At the moment there is something funny going on – when you click on the link (and despite the url being correct), it seems to be defaulting to a CafePress gift page. This might be a fault in the algorithm or it may be a sneaky way that CafePress is taking you to one of their sections. Please persist by putting in the url again. It will come up correctly a second time. The actual shop name is "Elf~Fin Emporium". The domain name is www.elf-finemporium.com but it redirects to www.cafepress.com/elf_fin. We'll find out why this problem is occurring and hopefully fix it soon.