Weekly Book Giveaway: Another Fine Myth, by Robert Asprin
Our latest Book Giveaway is Another Fine Myth, a 1978 fantasy/comedy written by Robert Lynn Asprin. (This isn't the cover art featured on our particular edition, but don't worry: they're both equally ugly.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 10/25/19...
Webtoons: Super Secret
Our last Webtoons recommendation is eon's Super Secret. This series has three major things going for it: A) it's already completed (and the ending is great), B) it centers around a bunch of non-spooky monsters...
Webtoons: Age Matters
Our fourth featured title from Webtoons is Enjelicious's Age Matters. This series features a fairly conventional romantic set-up: there's a super rich, handsome guy (cranky yet secretly caring!), and a poor-yet-spunky heroine...
Webtoons: My Giant Nerd Boyfriend
Next up in our week of Webtoons mini-reviews is My Giant Nerd Boyfriend, a comedy/romance/slice of life story written by someone who calls herself fishball. This series, which is updated three times a week, consists of a bunch of A+++ standalone jokes about the writer and her much-taller boyfriend, both...
Webtoons: Lore Olympus
The second Webtoons title we're featuring is Rachel Smythe's Lore Olympus, an ongoing series updated on Sundays. It's a modern retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth that features a deliciously soapy take on the Greek Gods. The series is...
Finally, the one I care about
We're ending with the trailer I am most excited about: ITV's adaptation of Jane Austen's Sanditon. Frankly, I have a lot of concerns about this show (starting with petty stuff, like why the heroine is constantly wearing her hair down, and working up from there), but I'm still gonna watch it, even if...
So much no
Continuing with our full week of movie trailers: today it's the final trailer for Warner Bros.' Joker. Clearly, the filmmakers behind this movie thought they'd one-up Heath Ledger's take on the character by going for the "depressed and angry loser" approach...
A lot of terrible hair
And in our next featured trailer, we have The King, which is rife with strange head-styling choices, from Lily-Rose Depp's wimple to Timothée Chalamet's bowl cut to... whatever is happening to Robert Pattison's hair...
Interesting
There have been a flurry of trailers released recently, and I'm, oh, 40% intrigued and 60% confused by this AppleTV trailer for Dickinson. Are they really attempting the full-blown A Knight's Tale-style anachronistic take...
The Magic Pudding, by Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay's 1918 novel The Magic Pudding is proof positive of my theory that Australian fiction—even their fiction for children—is not for the faint of heart. It centers around the Magic Pudding, a rude, sulky, anthropomorphic dessert, and the three friends who form the Noble Society of Puddin'-Owners...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Magic Pudding, by Norman Lindsay
This week's Book Giveaway is Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding, which was originally published in 1918 and is considered to be an Australian children's classic. (It is also exhibit A in my ongoing argument that Australian literature is a uniquely red-blooded beast.) This giveaway will run through 10/25/19...
Instant no
Here's the trailer for the new movie Vita and Virginia, based on the love affair between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Frankly, if I wanted to watch two attractive people make each other miserable for two hours, I'd prefer the misery originated from...
More magic (this time with rules)
People informs me that HBO Max has greenlit a series based on Rules of Magic, the prequel to Alice Hoffman's novel Practical Magic. Set in the 1960s...
One of the giants speaks
According to the Guardian, comics legend Art Spiegelman is claiming that he was asked to remove a criticism of Donald Trump from an introduction he wrote for Marvel. (It was really more of an implied criticism—he mentioned something about how "the Orange Skull haunts America".) The official reason...
The Right Swipe, by Alisha Rai
The Right Swipe is a spin-off from Alisha Rai's Forbidden Hearts series. It features a totally different style of cover art (one that I suspect is meant to evoke Jasmine Guillory and Helen Hoang's novels, which makes sense, as all three authors are at the top of the “smart, hot, diverse” romance market), but it has a lot in common with her earlier books, including a multi-ethnic cast, family drama, and interesting career dilemmas...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Right Swipe, by Alisha Rai
Our latest Book Giveaway is The Right Swipe, the most recent romance novel from Alisa Rai. You might not guess it from the completely dissimilar cover styles, but this is actually a spin-off from her earlier series. It stands up just fine on its own, but completists should take note. This giveaway will run through 10/25/19...
Beach reads for a very intellectual swimmer
Former president Barack Obama just released another list of recommended reads, and his choices are predictably excellent—thoughtful, important, challenging books. I'd actually quite like it if Trump would do something similar, if...
The Grand Dark, by Richard Kadrey
Richard Kadrey's The Grand Dark reads like he took the little-seen but super fun 2012 film Premium Rush (bike messengers! Crooked cops! Underachieving young adults!) and filtered it through a Grand Guignol-inspired lens. His protagonist is a young man named Largo, who relies on drugs and macabre entertainment to muffle his intense anxiety about the rapidly crumbling world around him...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Grand Dark, by Richard Kadrey
This week's Book Giveaway is The Grand Dark, a recent standalone fantasy from Sandman Slim author Richard Kadrey. The official premise sounds a little clichéd, but I have faith in Kadrey to transform it into something memorable. A full review will follow shortly...
Fingers crossed
According to Deadline, Netflix has "won" a massive deal for the upcoming TV and film projects from Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. If the way Game of Thrones ended (not to mention the entire idea of their since-cancelled Confederacy project) is any indication, Netflix might live to regret...
Does not compute
Gizmodo informs me that Nickelodeon has acquired the rights to make an animated TV series adaptation of Jim Davis's inexplicably popular Garfield comic strip. I mean... why? Why is there a demand for this? I've spent years reading about the death of newspapers...
If it works, it works
This is probably the most interesting article I've seen about Marie Kondo's work: an essay in Business Insider about using the KonMari method to get rid of credit card debt. The author takes Kondo's tidying-up tips and applies them to her financial life, and the whole thing...
Sans Romeo
The 2020 Pirelli calendar has been released, inspired by the theme "Looking for Juliet”. Eight actresses, performers, and models were shot by photographer Paolo Roversi, each offering a different visual take on the character. All of the Juliets look lovely, but...
The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I really liked Helen Hoang's romance novel The Bride Test, but I watched it under the influence of two truly terrible Chinese dramas, which I suspected might have skewed my enthusiasm. In an effort to clarify my opinion (and read anther unconventional romance novel) I picked up her first book, The Kiss Quotient...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang
This week's Book Giveaway is Helen Hoang's The Kiss Quotient, a gender-swapped take on Pretty Woman featuring a heroine with autism and a hero who divides his time between several part-time jobs, which include everything from escorting to prom dress alterations. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 8/15/19...