Jun 20 2012

Clear your schedule, Mr. Cronenberg. Please.

See, at first I thought Bret Easton Ellis (who recently announced that he would like to write a movie adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey) was describing the book's protagonists as "potentially great comedic characters", and that seemed fair. Sadly, I was wrong. He actually said...

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Jun 19 2012

Aiming for adorable

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And speaking of art(ish stuff), here's a free font inspired by A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh. According to How About Orange, the font, called "Winnie the Hoop", is the debut release of Finnish graphic designer Teo Tuominen, and "Using this font to communicate a sad or grave message is not recommended"...

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Jun 19 2012

Pretty!

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Oooh, Kate Beaton (author of Hark! A Vagrant, which we reviewed recently) has illustrated a magazine cover for The Walrus...

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Jun 18 2012

I'm not buying it

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The website A Koala's Playground recently posted a comprehensive update on the status of To The Beautiful You, the upcoming K-drama adaptation of the popular Japanese manga/drama Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (better known as Hana Kimi). Frankly, I have my doubts...

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Jun 18 2012

Uncanny

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The Hairpin's "Texts from Scarlett O'Hara" is magical. It manages to sum up my feelings about Scarlett as a character and Gone With the Wind as a novel in less than a page: both are utterly shallow and rock-stupid...

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Jun 15 2012

Well, at least Nathan is thrilled.

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Maybe the second time will be the charm? According to Deadline, the film adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s classic cyberpunk novel Snow Crash has been revived. The book was originally optioned for film in the early nineties, but...

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Jun 14 2012

Awkward

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I must admit, I thought George W. Bush's head appearing on a stake on HBO's Game of Thrones was at least a little funny. Tasteless, sure... but still funny.

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Jun 13 2012

Read early, often

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According to the Guardian, nearly two-thirds of parents don't read to their babies, thereby missing out on a "crucial window" for the children's language development...

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Jun 12 2012

Gorgeous, if a touch creepy

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Okay, this dude's altered book sculptures are straight-up amazing. I have no idea how much they cost, but I suspect it's one of those "If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it" situations.

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Jun 12 2012

One more...

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Here's another summer reading list, this one featuring 101 high school-appropriate choices. It, too, is largely devoted to depressing books, but at least it presents its misery-pushing in the form of a beautiful flow chart.

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Jun 11 2012

Spoiled for choice

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The fine people at Publishers Weekly recently posted a list of recommended summer reading, and, as usual, a number of tearjerkers made the cut. Book critics always think they're being so original and daring when they recommend bleak summertime reading, but this list alone includes...

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Jun 11 2012

65% weird, 35% awesome

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The online design community Imprint recently posted an article about a "typographical experiment" called Page 1: Great Expectations. Each page of Page 1 is devoted to the work of a different graphic designer, but they all feature the same text: the first page of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations...

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Jun 7 2012

Recycling

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I'm never going to be fully comfortable with the idea of "repurposing" a book, no matter how terrible the story or how awesome the new product. That being said, some of these ideas for using up old books are kind of cool... but only if you're using, like, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novels.

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Jun 7 2012

The perfect spot to watch TV

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If you're looking for the ideal finishing touch for your living room, may I suggest this $30,000 Game of Thrones "Iron Throne" replica? I'm pretty sure it's exactly what your home decor needs to feel complete...

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Jun 6 2012

Ray Bradbury: August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012

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Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, and the hugely creepy Something Wicked This Way Comes, died yesterday at age 91. He apparently wanted to be buried on Mars; here's hoping he ends up there.

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Jun 5 2012

Perhaps an improvement?

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For those you who seriously disliked the trailer for Baz Luhrmann's upcoming Great Gatsby adaptation, do you like it better featuring the characters from My Little Pony?

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Jun 5 2012

Swashbuckling, etc.

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Guy Ritchie has been hired to direct a new film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. No word on whether or not it will be as smirkingly tongue-in-cheek as Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies, but since they're describing it as a "stylized" version of the novel, I'm assuming so...

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Jun 4 2012

Grimness abounds

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NPR has started a new blog devoted to YA literature. It's called "PG-13: Risky Reads", and while I'm not overly impressed by the books they have featured to date (On The Beach, Rubyfruit Jungle, Gone With The Wind, and I Am The Cheese), I'll definitely be checking back to see if their subject matter improves...

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Jun 4 2012

Utterly generic

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The trailer is out for the upcoming movie adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's 1999 novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I know people are excited about this, but I was rolling my eyes at the sight of Paul Rudd playing the requisite oddball-yet-understanding English teacher, and...

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Jun 1 2012

Busy, busy

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Publishers Weekly is offering an exclusive sneak peek at the cover for The Mark of Athena, the third (or eighth, depending on how you look at it) installment in Rick Riordan's best-selling "Heroes of Olympus" series...

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May 31 2012

Meh.

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The trailer is out for the upcoming movie adaptation of Les Misérables. I know some people are in a tizzy over the casting...

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May 30 2012

Could be worse, I guess

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Esquire magazine recently announced it will be releasing a series of ebooks dedicated to men’s fiction. The first edition will be a collection of short stories that aspires to satiate "the literary appetite of the male mind–whatever that may be"....

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May 29 2012

Seriously abridged

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If you're a fan of the Classics Illustrated series or the children's comics anthology Little Lit, you might want to check out the recently-released collection The Graphic Canon, Vol. 1. The trilogy will feature nearly 200 gorgeously-illustrated literary adaptions, ranging from the early epics...

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May 29 2012

Everything old

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Lifetime Television is developing an ongoing drama featuring Clarice Starling, the main character from the horror/thriller The Silence of the Lambs. I'm not sure if the TV show will have much to do with Thomas Harris's books, but there's still obviously a lot of interest in the series...

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May 25 2012

Useful, adorable, and free

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The website How About Orange has been on a bibliophile-friendly kick recently, posting links and how-to tips on a variety of book-related topics...

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May 24 2012

Sorry, Nordic Ware

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Baking Bites gave this Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "cakelet" pan a good review, but I find it straight-up disturbing.

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May 24 2012

So clever...

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Check out this entry to Dwell's Live/Work Design Contest. Pretty brilliant, huh? Although any bendy items (like, say, magazines) would probably flop over that short little stopper.

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May 23 2012

Over the top, and then some

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The trailer is out for Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of The Great Gatsby, and it looks exactly like you would expect: spectacular visuals, amazing costumes, and loads of Leonardo DiCaprio over-emoting...

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May 22 2012

Is there really a demand for this?

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All Neil Gaiman fans for whom money is no object (and don't already own virtually identical editions) take note: DC has announced a slipcase edition of all ten volumes of Sandman. The set will cost $199 and be released on November 13th.

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May 22 2012

Another one I'll be skipping

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Rupert Everett is planning to make his directorial debut with a movie about Oscar Wilde's final days. According to Variety, the biopic The Happy Prince will be a "comedy with tragic undertones", but if it's really a nonfiction account, I'm not sure where the comedy's going to come from...

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