arts // no. 8

Kickstarter in the Community: Making
textbooks affordable and adorable

» Textbook price comparison website creates textbook plush toys

: the bottom of the SlugBooks
: homepage.

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

I a world where post-
secondary textbooks

are exceedingly expensive,
SlugBooks, a textbook price
comparison website, strives to
help students make informed
textbook purchases. The
company began at the University

was named after the university’s
banana slug mascot.

SlugBooks also features
original comics and animated

textbook mascots. The mascots
are cartoon characters in the
shape of textbooks with faces,
arms, and legs that wear and/or
hold items that represent each of
their specific academic subjects.

an initiative to create original
comics for our Facebook page
at the same time that we were
redesigning the site. Photoshop
windows got mixed up and
we ended up with a textbook
cartoon on our homepage, and
the concept stuck,” said David
Miller, CEO of SlugBooks.
SlugBooks has designed 14
textbook mascots that cover a
variety of academic subjects,
which appear together at

“We've found it effective to

: use the characters on the site to
: disarm so many of the negative
: feelings students have towards

: their books,” Miller said.

However, some mascots

: do better than others on the
: website.

“If users who see a character

: leave more often than the proven
: : } : set, we'll either remove that

of California Santa Cruz, where it : design completely or rework it,”
: Miller said. “One example of this
: is Marine Biology, which used

: to bea textbook designed as a

. . ee _ | mermaid. It didn’t perform well
videos on their website, including : for whatever reason. Now it is a

: textbook in a scuba suit.”

SlugBooks transformed their

: characters from 2-D drawings

: to 3-D plush toys for their

: Kickstarter campaign called

: “#EndBookHate with Plush
Several years ago, we started : Textbook Toys.” The campaign’s

: objective was to help students

: appreciate textbooks by creating

: cute, cuddly plush versions of the

: mascots.

“Merging books with

something that resembles a teddy
: bear has really resonated with
: our fans,” Miller said.

The campaign offered a

: variety of rewards for project

: backers, from bumper stickers
: and book covers to custom

: textbook plush toys of the

: backer’s choice. The most

: popular rewards were the three
: textbook plush toys: Chemistry
: (a blue textbook in a lab coat

: and safety goggles holding a

: beaker and a test tube, both

: filled with colourful chemicals),
: Film (a tan textbook with 3-D

: glasses, popcorn, and soda), and
: Psychology (a cream textbook

: with a grey beard, glasses, suit,

: notepad, and pencil). Each

: of the three plush toys was

: available individually for a US$30
: donation, or backers could

: donate $80 for all three plush

: toys.

“The Chemistry toy was

: the most popular Kickstarter
: reward,” Miller said. “This was

: the original cartoon that was

: designed and among the most

: popular, so it made sense that its
: plush form also performed well.”

The Kickstarter campaign

: closed on September 25, having

: successfully raised $11,115 from 211
: backers, surpassing their $10,000
: funding goal.

“Perhaps the biggest surprise

: has been the number of inquiries
: we received after the campaign

: closed,” Miller said. “Librarians

: love these.”

For those who missed

: backing the campaign but would
: like to purchase the textbook

: plush toys, SlugBooks is in the

: process of setting up a website,

: EndBookHate.com, where fans

theotherpress.ca

  

Image slugbooks.com

: can pre-order them.

SlugBooks is also planning to

: introduce other textbook plush
: toys to the line, particularly in
: the sciences.

Although the textbook plush

: toys have gained a following of
: their own, they are only part

: of SlugBooks’ mission to help

: students find less expensive

: books.

“Always compare prices.

: Textbooks are more affordable

: right now than they ever will be,

: and comparing is free. You never

: know when a $200 book will only
: be $5 online,” Miller said.

For more information, check

: out SlugBooks.com

 

New Neverland movie doesn't soar

» ‘Pan’ movie review

Lauren Paulsen
Senior Columnist

OOOOS

here have been dozens of

adaptations of the story of
Peter Pan throughout the years,
some good, some... not so good.
After watching Joe Wright’s Pan,
I feel the latest offering falls
somewhere in the middle.

Pan is supposed to show
Peter’s story of how he came to
Neverland and became Peter
Pan. As a 12-years-old, he is
kidnapped from an orphanage
and brought to Neverland by
pirates to mine fairy dust for
Blackbeard. It is here that he
learns that it is his destiny to
become a hero.

Children will enjoy this
movie, which is good since they
are the target audience, but
I was disappointed to find it
lacking for an older audience.
It’s not the acting. There are
some pretty big names in this
movie: Levi Miller plays an
adorable and endearing Peter,

: Hugh Jackman is pretty much

: unrecognizable as a devious and

very flamboyant Blackbeard,
and Garrett Hedlund shows us
a likeable side to Captain Hook

: that we haven't really seen

: before. No, what bothered me
: most were the large plot holes,
: the often cheap-looking special
: effects, and a few minor points
: that really made no sense at all.

Pll start with the plot holes.

: Firstly, Blackbeard wants to kill
: all of the fairies so that he can

: mine their dust and live forever.
: This makes absolutely no sense
: to me, because eventually the

: crystallized fairy dust will

: disappear, and he won't be able
: to get anymore because all of

: the fairies will be gone. The

: second plot hole is that, for

: some reason, while Blackbeard

: is trying to kill the fairies, they
: do not fight back. It isn’t until

: Peter believes in himself and

? flies that they rally beside him

: and attack the pirates, and then,
: strangely, it is the pirates who

: can no longer fight back. The

: last plot hole that Iam going to

: pick at is the whole never-aging- :
: in-Neverland thing. Blackbeard
: is this really old, decrepit guy

: without the fairy dust, and if

: no one ages, where do all of the
: adults come from? They just

: kidnap them like they do the

: children? But then, what about
: Tiger Lily? She’s an adult in

: this movie, yet she was bornin : ff
: Neverland. Did no one think this : ©
: through? :

I did like some of the

amazing scenery shot in Pan.

: It was absolutely fantastic.

: Unfortunately, a lot of the

: special effects took away from

; that feeling. There were so

: many action scenes where it

: was obvious people were being
: held up by ropes to pull off

: the “amazing stunts” while

: they fought. I know that in the
: present day we can do a lot

: better. It honestly felt like we’d
: regressed here.

Adding to the non-

: highlights, at one point, Peter,
: Hook, and Smee are allina
gondola and it falls down with
: them in it, yet somehow the

: three guys fall and land several
: seconds before the gondola does. :
: That’s just one example. I might
: be nitpicking here, but it really

: detracted from the movie when
: my brain couldn’t figure out the
: logic of these things. I think the
: biggest thing to bother me in

: this section was that Peter was

: afraid of heights. Sure, all well

: and good, and it even makes an
: interesting plot point, but he

: never really acted like someone
: who was afraid of heights. I don’t :

 

Still from Pan

: think I would have even realized
it if he had not said it out loud.

: I know people who are afraid of
heights. That is not how they

: act.

Allin all, I think it’s a

: great movie for kids and it is

: entertaining to watch, but I

: wouldn't bother going to the

: theatres to see it. Wait for it to
: come out on DVD or Netflix,

: and save some money.