Jan 3 2012

The sincerest form of flattery

The company that represents the Diary of a Wimpy Kid brand recently won a temporary restraining order against the publisher of two Wimpy Kid-parodying graphic novels: the "Wimpy Zombie" series by ...

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Dec 29 2011

Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket?

If you prefer your comics with a side of creepy off-putting-ness, Fantagraphics' 4 Day Sale is currently offering 40% off on overstocked books. There are some solid options on the list, including...

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Dec 27 2011

Ten best?

This is the kind of year-end list we can get behind: Flavorwire has asked illustrator and graphic designer Andrew Henderson (curator of Lovely Book Covers) to choose the 10 Best Book Covers of 2011.

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Dec 26 2011

Half of The Hobbit

The Hobbit trailer is out (at long last):Uh... is that a touching moment between Galadriel and Gandalf? Because I don't know if I want to see that.

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Dec 23 2011

She must be joking.

You guys reckon this will go way, way on sale after Christmas? Because I would only pay $325 for a clutch (even a super-cool one, like this) if it came stuffed with at least $250 in cash.Note: Ac...

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Dec 22 2011

Yet more Bond

And speaking of upping the grimness factor in popular movie franchises, Daniel Craig is reportedly in talks to star in five more James Bond films.

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Dec 22 2011

Doom, gloom, and brunettes

The Batman: The Dark Knight Returns trailer is out:I'm certain there's some thoughtful comment I should be making about what this movie has to say about the current state of politics and the econo...

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Dec 20 2011

Because of Winn-Dixie goes musical

According to Playbill, songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) and Legally Blonde lyricist Nell Benjamin are adapting Kate DiCamillo's children's novel Because of Winn-Dixie into a Broadway-aim...

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Dec 20 2011

Katniss's manicure

Uh... when I think about potential Hunger Games merchandising tie-ins, nail polish is not the first thing that leaps to mind. However, China Glaze has announced that there will be a line of HG-th...

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Dec 19 2011
Dec 19 2011

Rating downgrade

According the Horn Book Blog, Akashic Books is releasing a G-rated version of their best-selling humor book Go the [Expletive] to Sleep entitled Seriously, Just Go to Sleep. This confuses me. My...

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Dec 15 2011

Skip Beat! goes live-action (but remains pretty cartoony)

The website Koala's Playground has posted a 20-minute-long "preview" (although it's more like promotional music video... on crack) of the upcoming Taiwanese drama adaptation of my beloved Skip Bea...

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Dec 14 2011

The anti-James Bond

And speaking of dour movies, the new adaptation of John le Carré's 1974 espionage novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has hit theaters:It's getting great reviews, so if you'd like to see something ...

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Dec 13 2011

Schmaltzy

The new trailer is out for the upcoming adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Behold:Dead dads, 9-11 victims, and WWII survivors? Yep. Won't be seeing...

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Dec 12 2011

The gift of library signage

One last gift idea:I totally covet this vintage-style wooden "Library" sign from Three Potato Four. The sign was inspired by public library signage from the 1950s, and costs a (relatively) reason...

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Dec 12 2011

A worthy sacrifice

The always-entertaining design blog Swiss-Miss recently introduced me to Isaac G. Salazar's "Book of Art" pieces. Behold:Pretty amazing, huh? Being me, I immediately wondered how you could dust ...

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Dec 9 2011

I hope those were all recycled.

According to Refinery29, Australian skincare line Aesop's New York store was constructed out of 400,000 strips of the New York Times. Newspaper strips, it turns out, make for remarkably beautifu...

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Dec 8 2011

What's with the New Age cover art?

If you're looking forward to the upcoming Lisa Kleypas novel Rainshadow Road, the website HeroesandHeartbreakers.com has an exclusive excerpt of the first two chapters. They're also running a swe...

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Dec 8 2011

Congratulations...?

It's that time of year again, dear readers: time for the 19th annual Literary Review "Bad Sex in Fiction" Award. This year's prize was given to David Guterson's novel Ed King, which they describe...

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Dec 7 2011

Them's fighting words

There appears to be a lively feud brewing between comics-world superstars Frank Miller and Alan Moore, sparked by their very different views on the Occupy Wall Street movement. Both authors are t...

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Dec 6 2011

Why so far away, May 8th?

At long, long, long last, the book cover and plot description for the final (sobs) Sisters Grimm book are out:"In the final volume in the Sisters Grimm series, Sabrina, Daphne, and the rest of t...

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Dec 6 2011

Gasp!

We're with AustenBlog on this one: regardless of British crime novelist Lindsay Ashford's claim that "Jane Austen was poisoned by arsenic", Austen is still dead, Sanditon and The Watsons are still...

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Dec 5 2011

Cusack has made worse-looking movies

Okay, so this movie isn't based on a book, but it does feature a fictionalized version of Edgar Allan Poe:

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Dec 5 2011

Sex sells (even olive oil!)

Presented without comment:

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Dec 2 2011

Wordcandy's Holiday Gift List: 2011 Edition

It's December, and that means it's time for Wordcandy to release our annual Holiday Gift Guide! We've chosen a variety of deeply awesome potential gifts for the bibliophiles on your shopping list...

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Dec 1 2011

Oooh, cheesy!

The first full-length trailer is out for Disney's John Carter (based on the "Barsoom" series by Edgar Rice Burroughs), and it looks like it's staying pretty close to its space-western roots:Barrin...

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Dec 1 2011

A nod to the pulp factor

Publishers Weekly did a great post recently about the many and varied cover art choices for John Steinbeck's East of Eden. I can't say I agree with their statement "If you haven’t yet read East o...

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Nov 29 2011

Neil Gaiman gets animated

Last year, it was an episode of Arthur. This year, it's an episode of The Simpsons. Do they give Emmys to people who guest-star on cartoons, and if so, is Neil Gaiman gunning for one?

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Nov 29 2011

Revisiting Firefly

If you're a big Joss Whedon fan, you should save some wall space for these awesome (and totally affordable) vintage-travel-style posters designed by Adam Levermore-Rich and inspired by Whedon's sh...

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Nov 28 2011

Sickening

According to ABC News, Twilight: Breaking Dawn-induced seizures are a Real Thing, so if your significant other is dragging you to see it for the third time this week, you can now fake a plausible ...

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