bookshelves of doom

Where did Hercule Poirot come from?

Belgium, yes, and Agatha Christie's brain, yes.

But also maybe this guy:

A real-life Belgian policeman who came to the West Country as a refugee during the first world war has been tipped as a possible inspiration for one of the literary world's most famous fictional detectives, Hercule Poirot.

Regardless of whether it's true or not, suddenly I feel like re-reading some Dame Agatha.

Trailer: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

 

A) Donald Glover! Jennifer Coolidge! And according to IMDb, Burn Gorman and Megan Mullally, too!

B) It looks like funny-if-generic family slapstick, and I have no doubt that I will eventually watch it when it comes to Netflix Streaming.

C) BUT WHY ON EARTH WOULD THEY SAY IT WAS BASED ON THE BOOK? BECAUSE NO.

WANTED: Someone to write fanfic based on this image.

From boingboing:

Via Amber.

"'Pinocchio’s anatomy has extraordinary properties,' said Mr Llewellyn."

From the Telegraph:

Steffan Llewellyn of Leicester University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, worked out that Pinocchio’s head weighed 4.18kg and his nose six grams with an initial length of one inch.

From that calculation, he concluded that when the nose grew to 140 metres the force exerted downwards would cause the neck to snap.

And Mr Llewellyn found that, if Pinocchio’s nose doubled with each lie, then it would reach that length after 13 fibs.

The study was published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics, which, according to the Telegraph article, has also published papers called "Does Winnie the Pooh have a B12 deficiency?" and "The viability of throwing giant tortoises into mines".

Clearly, I need a subscription.

"I have no personal repugnance to the idea of a union with you — but I feel convinced that mine is not the sort of disposition calculated to form the happiness of a man like you."

At Brain Pickings: 

How to Turn Down a Marriage Proposal Like Charlotte Brontë

Challenged at the Toronto Public Library: 2013.

From the Global News:

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss “encourages children to use violence against their fathers” and should be removed from the Toronto Public Library.

That, according to a complaint to the city’s library that wanted to see the book by the beloved children’s author removed from the shelves. The complainant also demanded the Toronto Public Library “issue an apology to fathers in the GTA and pay for damages resulting from the book.”

The library refused, noting the book is “humorous” and “well-loved by children,” it regularly appears on “best of” lists, Dr. Seuss was a Pulitzer Prize winning author and well, the children “are actually told not to hop on pop.”

See the full list here.

More footage from The Giver has been released...

...and yes, some of it is in black and white:

I'm still feeling EXTREMELY skeptical. It just looks way... flashier than I ever pictured the book.