bookshelves of doom

I'm not sure if I should tell Josh about this or not.

Stephen Amell (AKA Oliver Queen AKA The Hood AKA Green Arrow AKA the star of Josh's favorite CW show except for Hart of Dixie) is in talks for the Fifty Shades of Grey movie:

Speaking in a video posted on his Facebook page, Amell said: "I get questions about Christian Grey all the time. That project is a long way off. I know this, because I had a meeting about it."

Amell then went on to tease his fans, saying: "A long way off. I mean, not that long, but not close. I wouldn't call it long, but I wouldn't call it close."

I... have no idea what he's trying to say. <insert joke about the dialogue on Arrow here>

WHYYYYYYYYY?

At GalleyCat:

Jim Carrey to Self-Publish a Children’s Book

As Josh said, at least he's self-publishing it?

And the newest author to be accused of plagiarism is...

...(brace yourself, because this is depressing)... Jane Goodall:

Jane Goodall, the primatologist celebrated for her meticulous studies of chimps in the wild, is releasing a book next month on the plant world that contains at least a dozen passages borrowed without attribution, or footnotes, from a variety of Web sites.

The only aspect of this that I find remotely exciting...

...is imagining the amazingness of whatever she'll be wearing in her author photo:

Danielle Steel is writing a picture book.

I very much hope that she doesn't let me down.

If you're having trouble commenting here...

...you aren't alone.

Typepad is working on the problem, so hopefully it'll be back to normal soon. :(

In the meantime, if your comment gets eaten, try again or let me know via FB or Twitter, and I'll try to track it down in the spam folder!

SAY WHAT, NOW?

At the CBC: Anne Shirley... goes blonde:



(It's an unauthorized edition, BUT STILL. Also, it was apparently in that round-up of hideous cover art that Jezebel did a couple of weeks ago, but I missed it because the art on The Bell Jar was so wrong that I ran screaming (or, well, clicked away) before seeing the rest of the slideshow.)

I... could have gone my whole life without knowing that This Is A Thing.

But, you know, since I had to suffer, I figured I'd share.

From BookRiot:

Goodreads is the largest bookish social network, with over 13 million users- and apparently some of those users have been using the site for something other than book reviewing: sexual roleplay. On Goodreads. Sexual roleplay…on Goodreads.

Head. Desk.

Oh, CW. For once, you have failed me:

The CW Greenlights ‘Hunger Games’-Esque Reality Series:

THE HUNT is an intense wilderness competition taking place over one month, as 12 teams of two are provided no food, water, or shelter, but must compete in a game where they’ll rely on their physicality, survival skills, and hunting skills to endure their conditions, capture one another, and ultimately win a huge cash prize.

(via Gwenda)

It's the headline we've all been dreaming of:

At the Guardian: Britney Spears in talks to write novel.

As fascinating as this all is, it should be noted that the Guardian is incorrect in claiming that this would be BritBrit's first foray into fiction.

GAH. NO.

From TheForce.net:

Lucasfilm to join company's global portfolio of world class brands including Disney, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel and ABC.

STAR WARS: EPISODE 7 feature film targeted for release in 2015.

The Clone Wars is great (and for that matter, so are the Legos), but MAKE THE MOVIES STOP.

Is Curious George Goes to WordsWorth* haunted?

This blog comment seems to suggest as much.

WooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOoooooo.

As I said on the FB, I totally always got the creeps when I was in the store's basement by myself at night, but I just chalked it up to my innate, never-totally-kicked fear of being alone in the dark.

(via Chrissy)

_____________________________

*Or whatever it's called now.

For those of you who are not on Twitter, here's the latest:

So, have you been following this story?

The one about the publicity campaign for the YA book with the blackface video?

It's been going on for weeks (or longer?) now, but I only just stumbled across it due to the Io9 link above.

Yikers.

From what I've seen—and yes, this is based solely on only having read articles/essays/rants (and, to be fair-minded, the author's rebuttal) about it and being excruciatingly uncomfortable while watching the video—it does look hugely problematic. But I'd love to hear from someone who's actually read the whole book.

Say what? I must have heard that wrong.

Warner Bros considers The Shining prequel:

The Shining prequel is being written by Shutter Island's Laeta Kalogridis, suggesting that the studio is taking the prospect of a new film seriously enough to employ a screenwriter of some pedigree.

Go away, please.

Clandestine Classics.

From the Guardian:

Readers will finally be able to read what the books could have been like if erotic romance had been acceptable in that day and age, redefining the boundaries and bringing the classics to a new generation of readers. We're keeping the works as close to the originals as possible. It's not our intention to rewrite them, but to add a deeper relationship and character development to them; to enhance rather than to distort.

Baloney. The relationships and character development already have plenty of depth. You're adding sex scenes to appeal to the erotica and gimmicky mash-up markets, and to jump on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon. I mean, by all means, go for it, but let's not try to dress it up, eh? (<--There's a joke there, but I'm feeling too lazy to put it into words.)

[ETA: Um. The series apparently includes a erotic reworking of SHERLOCK HOLMES.]