Oct 27 2011

Dressing up

If you've ever dreamed of looking like a disturbed computer hacker with multiple facial piercings (and who hasn't?), start saving now: on December 14th, budget retailer H&M will be releasing a clo...

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Oct 26 2011

It's almost Halloween, right?

Slate recently posted an article about the original Pinocchio story, which they claim is considerably creepier than the 1940s Disney version. Now, normally this wouldn't come as much of a surpris...

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Oct 25 2011

Big book, big price

Baking Bites has posted a largely-positive review of the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, which apparently boasts over 2,000 recipes from the magazine's twenty-year history.The book costs forty dollar...

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Oct 25 2011

He probably has his reasons.

This weekend's big geek news item was the announcement that Joss Whedon has made a mysterious adaptation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. I'm not sure why Whedon was compelled to ...

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Oct 24 2011

The Game of Triumphs, by Laura Powell

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15-year-old Cat Harper, the orphaned protagonist of Laura Powell's debut novel The Game of Triumphs, is not your typical wide-eyed fantasy heroine. After witnessing a murder, streetwise, pragmati...

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Oct 24 2011

The Prince Tudor Theory

I don't know about you, but I have my doubts about a movie that employs (SPOILERS*) murder, deception, bribery, and an incestuous affair between Queen Elizabeth I and her illegitimate son, all to ...

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Oct 23 2011

Kate Beaton

Kate Beaton is the author of Hark! A Vagrant, one of our favorite web comics (also one of our Featured Books). Hark! A Vagrant is a testament to the kind of comic strips that can only be found on...

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Oct 23 2011

Hark! A Vagrant, by Kate Beaton

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We rarely recommend buying something that can be enjoyed for free, but Kate Beaton's book Hark! A Vagrant is well worth your hard-earned $19.95—and not just because we want Ms. Beaton to earn...

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Oct 20 2011

Impressive... but morally wrong

I'm never thrilled when people take real books and transform them into fake books, and it's even worse when the books in question are actually nice. That said, these Book Charging Docks are kind ...

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Oct 18 2011

You win some

Publishers Weekly is reporting that Viz Media is moving closer to near-simultaneous English and Japanese manga publication, although English-language readers will be limited to the digital format....

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Oct 18 2011

Dude must have a lot of time on his hands

Speaking of classic manga adaptations, AnimeNewsNetwork has announced that the 1982 animated film The Last Unicorn is getting a theatrical re-release in 2012 and 2013, and author Peter S. Beagle i...

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Oct 17 2011

On the brink

According to ComicBookMovie.com, there's movement on the live-action Akira movie adaptation front. The movie has been in development for what seems like forever (the original Japanese film, based...

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Oct 17 2011

Why, movie gods, why?!?

Ugh: Megan told me that a second Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie was in the works, thanks to healthier-than-expected (or justified) international numbers for the first film, but I was hoping...

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Oct 13 2011

Charlaine Harris gets graphic

GalleyCat informs me that Charlaine Harris has inked a deal with Ace Books to produce a three-volume graphic novel series called Cemetery Girl. The books will be co-written with Christopher Golde...

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Oct 13 2011

The Thin Man redux

According to THR, writer-director Billy Ray has been hired to write a new adaptation of the classic Dashiell Hammett novel The Thin Man. Johnny Depp (seriously, does that man ever take time off?)...

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Oct 12 2011

Glutton for punishment

I thought Thor was, bar none, the worst movie I have seen all year, so I'm wondering if my affection for the first Ironman movie will be enough to make The Avengers bearable. We'll see when the r...

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Oct 11 2011

Hopefully this isn't a major financial blow to the actual comic book creators

According to the LA Times, Barnes and Noble announced last week that it will no longer offer copies of 100 backlist graphic novels from DC Comics in its bookstores, including well-known titles lik...

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Oct 11 2011

With bells on

YES! YEEESSSS! At long, long, long last, there is an official release date and title for the ninth book in Michael Buckley's Sisters Grimm series: on May 8th, 2012, you will find me at my local ...

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Oct 10 2011

The mind boggles

THERE'S GOING TO BE A RANMA ½ LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION?!? How—how—did I not hear about this? And how can it possibly work? For those of you unfamiliar with Ranma ½ (you poor things), it's one of ...

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Oct 10 2011

A loss for Georgette Heyer fans

I was saddened to discover that one of the very few Georgette Heyer fansites appears to have shut down. Georgette-Heyer.com was bare-boned but helpful, providing readers with news, a forum, and n...

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Oct 6 2011

Alcohol and bedazzled turtles?

The trailer's up for the movie adaptation of The Rum Diary, based on the Hunter S. Thompson novel of the same name:Yep. Won't be seeing this one either.

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Oct 6 2011

A bookstore employee's lament

Entertainment Weekly recently posted a photo taken at a former Borders store of an employee's list of grievances:Bits of it are funny, and there are elements I agree with (mostly the ones about re...

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Oct 5 2011

He's no Raymond Burr, but...

According to Variety, Warner Bros. and Robert Downey Jr. are planning to relaunch the Perry Mason franchise (based on the original series by Erle Stanley Gardner) as a feature film, with Downey Jr...

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Oct 4 2011

Bagels, pizza, and sewer steam

Do kids really need a scratch-and-sniff illustrated guide to New York's aromas, both good and bad? My first thought was "Ew!", but then I remember my elementary school peers' passion for those Ga...

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Oct 4 2011

Just over $4.50 per page

If money is no object when it comes to books for your coffee table, check out The Impossible Collection of Fashion. This 144-page-long book is priced at a jaw-dropping $650, and features one hund...

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Oct 3 2011

Rom-com on the lam

The One for the Money trailer is out, and I'll give it a solid "looks better than I thought it would". (Apart from Heigl's Jersey accent, which is straight-up embarrassing.)Of course, my expectat...

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Oct 3 2011

Werewolves on the Titanic!

My e-mail this morning included a promotional note about Claudia Gray's recently-released novel Fateful, which I skimmed with tepid interest. The cover didn't catch my eye, and our "To Be Read" s...

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Sep 30 2011

Why does Anna Faris keep doing this to me?

Seriously, I like Anna Faris, and I would totally shell out cold hard cash to watch her in something that wasn't Yogi Bear, part of the Scary Movie franchise, or... this.I just discovered Faris's ...

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Sep 28 2011

Just what the comics 'verse needs: more sex kittens

David Willis, author of the web comic Shortpacked! did a beautiful job of summarizing the many, many problems with DC Comics' reboot of the Teen Titans character Starfire in this strip.

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Sep 27 2011

Will there be creepy wallpaper?

If you're a Stephen King fan, io9 recently posted this video of him reading a full chapter of his upcoming book Doctor Sleep, his upcoming sequel to The Shining:

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