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When the end credits of a movie roll, it’s easy to walk out of the theater, exit the streaming service or app, or eject the blu-ray/DVD. It’s rare for viewers to sit through end credits or even take note of the names in the earlier part of the film, but in recent years there’s been a trend with including entertaining credits, especially end ones, to keep audiences occupied. This is most relevant in big-budget movies like the MCU films (no wonder, as audiences are expected to sit through the credits for a final after credits scene) and animated films that utilize the credits to play around with the movie’s art style, and kudos for them. These credits are a small step towards casual viewers noting the names of all the people who have contributed their time, skills, and efforts to the making of the movie.

January 5th is National Screenwriters Day, created to celebrate and honor the work of all the screenwriters who can get left in the shadows of the directors. Yes, the director is obviously an important and major figure in bringing a film to life, but those who script the film are just as crucial in the movie making process. This list is for all those aspiring screenwriters and other filmmakers, from editors to camera operators to producers, who have big plans for the future and the now. May these middle grade reads inspire you to pursue your dreams and continue creating movies that make you happy.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Another year is here, and for once, social media seems to have less of the usual resolutions and New Year, New Me posts. Perhaps 2020 has left everyone just a little unsure of what 2021 will bring, and a little apprehensive about the big plans that would usually be the theme each January.

However, no matter the unsurety of the new year, or the lack of big parties to celebrate, there’s still space to create something new and to make plans to better ourselves, even in smaller, more lockdown-friendly ways. Personal growth and introspection has become a theme, and with these reads, you’ll be able to carry that forward (and leave the rest of the year behind), and make 2021 an incredible year—no matter what that ends up looking like!

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

The year is almost over, and 2020 has been, well, a doozy. While we're choosing to look ahead and plan our reading lists for the new year, we want to take a moment to look back at some memorable books from recent years—with a twist. Check out these emoji covers designed by Molly Murphy, Quirk designer extraordinaire!

[Header image by Oliver Hale on Unsplash]

December 29th is Tick Tock Day, and no that doesn’t mean it is time to look at short videos all day. As the year winds to its inevitable end and we can at last say goodbye to the seemingly endless 2020, it is time to consider the things that have been yet to be done this year. As the clock ticks ever onward all around the world, we at Quirk wanted to take a look at some of the greatest clocks in popular culture as a reminder of the hours spent cooped up at home watching TV and reading books this year.

December 31 is Make Up Your Mind Day, so of course we’re thinking about classic Choose Your Own Adventure novels, the Give Yourself Goosebumps series, and our very own interactive romance novel: My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris. We love the thrill of making a choice in our reading experience, completely altering the course of the novel – or at least feeling like we have that kind of control. But what if we had the power to change the course of some of our favorite classic novels, simply by making a different choice? Imagine what a wild reading experience that would be.

(Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash)

Last year North American, indie and foreign film distributor Film Movement did the world a favor and registered December 28th as National Short Film Day. This amazing new celebration commemorates the day in 1895 when the Lumière brothers projected a program of 10 short films to a captivated audience of 33 at the Grand Café in Paris (read more about it in Venice Gondolier Sun’s article).

To honor the igniting of a global fascination with cinema and to celebrate how far the world’s come with film, here’s a small collection of beautifully done shorts, paired off with some familiar and hopefully new reads. Grab your popcorn and your TBR list!