What am I seeing?
Movie advertisements masquerading as book covers, graffitti-ized to make them less detestable.
What?
Movies are not books, and books are not movies. We think they should each be allowed to be their own thing. Putting a movie poster on a book is disrespectful to both mediums, and it makes us sick to see it. We alter a book's cover to change its context so that it has as little to do with the movie as the movie does with the book. Then we leave the book in a public place. A QR code inside the front cover takes the recipient to the blog post about the book.
Who are you, and who do you think you are?
We are The Crosspatch Collective, a group of grouches who love books, love movies, and don't confuse the two. We think we are purveyors of tiny pockets of chaotic rebellion. Anyone who appreciates our actions may consider themselves honorary members of The Crosspatch Collective. Anyone who thinks we're silly and wasting their time may freely ignore us.
What's your problem? Why shouldn't Ben Affleck be on a book cover? He starred in the movie, right?
He did, but he did not star in the book. If you do not understand the difference, no amount of explaining will convince you. Perhaps you could stick around and let the ideas soak in. Or just move along to something else. Possibly this.
Obviously moviebook covers are detestable. How can I get involved?
Take the following steps:
- Get a copy of a book that has been adapted into a movie, featuring a cover that sells the movie more than the book. Do not buy it new. Doing so will only serve to encourage publishers. Secondhand bookstores (we are regular shoppers at Half-Price Books) are a treasure trove.
- Decorate the book cover in such a way as to make it ridiculously inappropriate to the content. Use whatever you like. We typically use Posca paint pens on our books.
- Send us a 300 dpi color scan of your altered book cover with any information you would like to include.
- Receive a QR code from us, print it out, and paste it on the first page of the book.
- Drop the book in a random public place. We prefer independent coffee shops, but we leave it to your discretion.