Safety first
Check out this owl-shaped bookend from Etsy artist Aprilfoss:Pretty cute, huh? And, at $26, relatively affordable. Aprilfoss's owls come in a wide variety of colors and fabrics, and each one sho...
Witch-hunting for fun and profit
Cinematical is linking Noomi Rapace (who played Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) to an upcoming American project called Hansel and Gretel: Witch ...
From one creepy extreme to another
These oddly melancholy images of obese Disney princesses are popping up all over the Internet. (They're drawn by Aly Bellissimo, the artist behind the questionably-SFW Creepy Miranda blog.) I wa...
Down for the count
PublishersWeekly recently posted an interesting article about chain bookstores' ongoing attempts to stay profitable during the economic downturn. Of the three major U.S. book chains (Books-A-Mill...
Now in glorious Technicolor
Cinematical informs me that Lionsgate Films is pondering three directors for their upcoming Hunger Games movie adaptation: Gary Ross (Pleasantville), David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), and...
Like Gokusen, but even stranger?
AnimeNewsNetwork informs me that a live-action(!) television adaptation of Deka Wanko (the current manga from Gokusen creator Kozueko Morimoto) is in the works. Now, I haven't read Deka Wanko (l...
Don't do it, guys.
A television adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series, created without involvement by the author?This, dear readers, is a Very Bad Idea.
Weirdness collides!
If you check out the website for Icelandic musician Bjork, you can see the video for her song "Moomins and the Comet Chase". It's part of the soundtrack for the movie based on Tove Jansson's chil...
Right there with you, NPH
Wow, this movie (based on the YA book Beastly by Alex Flinn, and inspired by the "Beauty and the Beast" fairytale) looks seriously terrible:I'm actually almost impressed by how bad this looks.
Sage advice for the young'uns
Ah, satirical advice from Disney's cartoon princesses! Check out these words of wisdom from "Belle" and "Ariel":To be fair, I feel like cherry-picking objectionable messages from Disney films is ...
Christmas (themed books) come early...
Oooh, Lisa Kleypas is releasing another holiday-themed novella (after 2008's A Wallflower Christmas). Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor will be out in late October, and appears to be the first entry...
A book club take on Mockingjay
Okay, one last post on Mockingjay, and then I'm done talking about it (at least until the inevitable movie* comes out). The online magazine Slate has chosen Mockingjay as the subject of one of th...
Edgar Allan Poe fights (or possibly commits) crime
John Cusack has apparently signed on to play Edgar Allan Poe in a (fictionalized) account of the poet's last few days of life. The description of the film on Cinematical mentions something about ...
The Walking Dead on AMC
Behold, the trailer's out for the upcoming AMC zombie series The Walking Dead, based on the comic book of the same name by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. Enjoy... but not right befo...
Aisha finally hits the big screen
AustenBlog has posted a review of Aisha, the Bollywood update of Jane Austen's Emma. The critique is positive but far from gushing, and the author notes that the movie appears to be a close remak...
Onwards and upwards
Now that one buzz-worthy summer release is behind us, it's time to move on to the next. The final book in the 39 Clues series comes out next week. Behold:Fans of this series know that only a fra...
Catching Fire and Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
Well, dear readers, I waded through both Catching Fire and Mockingjay yesterday, and my emotions were mixed. There were elements I liked, but the violence was so constant that I found myself actu...
The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
One of my goals for this summer was to read Sun Tzu's The Art of War. I'd like to say I had some noble purpose in mind, but the truth is I'm just a huge, huge nerd—I wanted to hone my war-mongering...
Complete with recipes!
If you're a Hunger Games fan and 21 years of age or older, be sure to check out Forever Young Adult's Hunger Games Drinking Game, which I'm sure will make the whole "Peeta Vs. Gale" debate a whole...
Frankly, my hopes are not high.
Well, dear readers, today is August 23rd, and tomorrow is the release date for Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay. If you're desperate to celebrate this event, you can nip down to your local Hot Topic a...
Saving one's spot
If you're looking for some book-themed presents that manage to be both awesome and affordable, check out these bookmarks by Olympia-based artist Sarah Utter, creator of the "Reading Is Sexy" t-shi...
Branching out
My, my... Janet Evanovich has written a full-length novel about Diesel, the mysterious supernatural being who consistently turns up to hit on the heroine in Evanovich's holiday-themed Stephanie Pl...
I'm sorry for posting this.
No, I really am.You can apparently buy J.D. Salinger's seatless, lidless, uncleaned toilet (complete with a letter of authentication) on eBay for one million dollars. Ordinarily, I'd add a picture...
Middle Earth: the theme park?
According to Cinematical, there are rumors that Universal Studios is toying with the idea of making a Lord of the Rings theme park (presumably thanks to the success of its Wizarding World of Harry...
The end of the beginning of the final Harry Potter movie
MTV's Movies Blog is reporting that the first half of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will end at roughly Chapter 24, for those of you who've been wondering. (Here's h...
Embroidering Mr. Darcy
Artistically-inclined Jane Austen fans take note: you can buy a PDF version of this Mr. Darcy cross-stitch pattern from Etsy artist thetimeisnow for a mere $7.00. The pattern is printable, in col...
Cookbooks for the ages
The Guardian has assembled a list of the Top 50 Cookbooks Ever. (Here's the top ten, for readers in a hurry.) Turns out I don't own a single one of 'em.
A guiding hand
Flavorwire has compiled a list of their top-ten picks for Literature's Best-Dressed Characters. Their choices lean heavily towards Literature That Has Inspired Movie Adaptations, and I'm somewhat...
Low, lower, lowest
Slate just posted an article speculating that e-readers like Amazon's Kindle will soon be costing less than one hundred dollars. While this is certainly more reasonable than the 2009 price of rou...