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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

And Stephen's opinion is the one that counts.

Heh. Stephen Colbert has weighed in on that J.D. Salinger "continuation" kerfuffle, too. Behold:

For your viewing pleasure

After a seven-month delay, the release date has finally hit for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and people seem to really, really, really* like it.

*Although the Rolling Stone article, as of this writing, is spelling "Daniel" as "Danel" and "Gryffindor" as "Gryffandor", so they obviously didn't like it enough to spellcheck.

Labels: Harry Potter, Movie Adaptations

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Bibliophile home design?

...or not, as the case may be.

I'm a big fan of the home decor site Apartment Therapy, but sometimes I'm amazed at how impractical they can be. Take, for example, this area, which they glowingly describe as a "bright book corner":

Um, what? Who would read there? The description mentions curling up with a book, but would anybody actually "curl up" on a metal chair? Plus, I don't see a reading lamp, and the only natural light source looks fairly high up on the wall. I'm not saying the space isn't cute, but "Highly decorated bookshelf space, anchored by chair too uncomfortable to actually sit upon" might be a more apt description.

Labels: Bookshelves, other websites

Comic book casting news

There's been a fair number of movie casting announcements over the past few days. Natalie Portman has been cast as Jane Foster, the love interest in Kenneth Branagh's upcoming adaptation of Marvel's Thor (adding weight to my belief that this will be the most pretentious superhero movie ever), Ryan Reynolds is set to star in the Green Lantern, and Cameron Diaz might (or might not) be playing the female lead in Seth Rogen's Green Hornet.

Labels: Comic news, Movie Adaptations

Friday, July 10, 2009

Wolverine: Prodigal Son, by Antony Johnston

In the grand tradition of alternate-universe fanfiction, writer Antony Johnston and artist Wilson Tortosa have created a shonen manga take on the popular X-Men character Wolverine. Their new series Wolverine: Prodigal Son is a reworking of Wolverine’s origin story: what if the young superhero-in-training had grown up in a martial arts school in Canada?

In Johnston and Tortosa’s world, Logan is a grumpy teenager with a mysterious past. He’s by far the best fighter at the Quiet Earth School in the Canadian wilderness, an isolated institution devoted to the study of martial arts. Bored and irritable, Logan is torn between a desire to see the outside world and fear over his upcoming graduation, but when his mentor takes him on a trip to New York City, Logan encounters a series of new challenges... including one that will change Quiet Earth forever.

Tortosa’s straightforward, energetic artwork is ideally suited to Prodigal Son’s violence-driven storyline, and the story’s original characters are well-defined and likable, if somewhat generic. Johnston rounds out his cast with Logan’s Quiet Earth mentor Mr. Elliot, Elliot’s daughter Tamara, and a memorable assortment of villains (including my favorite: a mute, telepathic supervixen with a dramatically billowing coat and a wicked facial scar). However, if you buy this book hoping to see a fresh take on more of the traditional X-Men cast, you’re going to be disappointed—I didn’t recognize a single additional character*. Wolverine: Prodigal Son is plenty entertaining, but it’s aimed squarely at hardcore Wolverine junkies and fans of OEL manga, not X-Men purists.

*Admittedly, I’m no expert, and a minor character might well slip past me.

Labels: Book Reviews, Comics, manga

Thursday, July 09, 2009

More budget-friendly Wordcandy fun...

Speaking of free stuff (always our favorite price!), VIZ Media is offering a free iTunes download of the first episode of the anime Honey and Clover (based on the super-popular shojo manga of the same name by Chica Umino), now through August 31st.

Labels: anime, manga, Wordcandy on the cheap

Catherine Jinks for grown-ups

We recently noticed that Evil Genius author Catherine Jinks has been posting a free e-book on her site for adults. The story is called The Deck, and the site describes it as "[The] comic tribulations of housewife, mother and part-time funeral-parlour receptionist Roanna Hagelburgh". Now, we haven't read The Deck yet, but we're pretty sure you should take that "for adults" thing seriously—even Jinks's YA stuff can be incredibly creepy*, so we expect the sky's the limit when it comes to her grown-fiction.

*Julia's been reading The Reformed Vampire Support Group in fits and starts, but she has to keep putting it down to let her stomach settle.

Labels: Catherine Jinks, Wordcandy on the cheap

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Nodame Cantabile: the saga continues

AnimeNewsNetwork has some info on the upcoming third season of the animated version of Nodame Cantabile, which is scheduled to air next January*. The animation and character design for this series has been first-rate (plus it's wonderful to actually hear the music), so I'm really excited about it.

*Which means I'm choosing to view it as a personal birthday gift from the Nodame author to me. Thanks, Ninomiya-san!

Labels: Tomoko Ninomiya

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Cover art on the cheap

If you're a fan of classic book art, AllPosters has some awesome posters on sale. These three are all 50% off (each costing about $15), and the site is currently offering free shipping:

Labels: Art, Book Covers

Jennifer Crusie's back catalog LIVES!

Ohohoho, what is this? Amazon tells me that Bantam will be releasing Crusie's long out of print title The Cinderella Deal as a mass market paperback in January 2010.

Note: I would post a picture of the original cover, but I've decided, for the sake of everybody's eyes, it's better to wait until they've updated it.

Labels: Reprints, Romance, Upcoming Books

Monday, July 06, 2009

I don't think I'll be able to handle this in 3D.

There's a new, official, HQ Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs trailer out, and this one features more Mr. T. (always a good decision):

Labels: Kids' books, Movie Adaptations

The world run amok

So, it's been several days of crazy news, right? Palin resigned! The Californian economy went belly-up! Michael Jackson died! And then, in a little bit of weirdness that sat atop the great big pile of weird like a cherry on a sundae, Rupert "Ron Weasley" Grint announced that he'd gotten--and then recovered from--the swine flu.

Labels: Harry Potter