Fun Friday Resources

We have a little bit of everything to entertain you over the holiday weekend!

First up, Standard Ebooks, which is “a volunteer-driven project that produces new editions of public domain ebooks that are lovingly formatted, open source, free of U.S. copyright restrictions, and free of cost.”

They carefully proofread and edit e-texts and lay them out in new formatting so that they are on a par with newly published books. They even provide good-looking covers, reminiscent of Penguin Books covers.

Their collection is already strong and continues to grow. Since it’s a volunteer organization, you too can become an e-book proofreader/editor/compositor! If I weren’t already swamped with William Blake’s Inn, Every Brilliant Thing, 3 Old Men, and the labyrinth, I’d love to apply my editing/book-designing skills to this project!

How about a free movie? Go check out the 3,000 Best Free Movies on YouTube. These are not like last week’s “How to Use a Dial Phone,” but actual movies that for some reason have found a way to be shared on YouTube. Some are obscure or niche (Queen Bee, anyone?) but many are major studio releases, some quite recent. Most are rated, and most are “free with ads.”

And if you’re determined to be productive this weekend, at least in the visual arts, here’s another repository of public domain paintings, posters, and illustrations, Artvee. STEAL FROM THE BEST!

from the fox jumps over the parson’s gate, illustrated by randolph Caldecott