Ah-Mazing.

This is why someone should invent a stay-alive-forever-to-ensure-geniusdom-in-the-future pill and give it to Mo Willems. This is just a thank you doodle, too. This says nothing of his animations and books and what-have-you. Then again, he did pretty much shape my childhood with the Off-beats. Those few moments of Nickelodeon airwaves completely made commercial breaks worth their beans.

I'm a tad late ('bout a month or so) in catching up on Mo's Doodles, but I'm so glad I didn't let the overwhelming number on my bloglines feed (::gasp:: 43!!) put me off, because my life wouldn't have been complete without looking at this picture. I'm serious. Who knows what kind of crazy shenanigans would have befallen me. I'd probably have ended up living in a refrigerator box in Miami. Though, considering I used to play homeless when I was little instead of house....

Sneaky Author Alert

What's a super cool way to teach kids a word they may not know, but appears in your story a bunch of times, so they probably should know it? Have your characters debate the meaning of it. Philip Pullman, you sly old dog, you.

"What do you mean, a paleo-archaeologist? Archaeologists already study what's old; why do you need to put another word meaning 'old' in front of it?"

Why indeed.

::HIS DARK MATERIALS::The Subtle Knife::Lighted Fliers::

Two for Tuesday!

Special edition of Pottertastic Tuesday with two (count 'em--TWO) YouTube videos! Today was pretty much a waste of a day, so I need to pretend to be productive somehow. The first is a sneak peak into the production of the newest movie complete with interviews and teeny glimpses of costumes and footage. The second is a Lego Harry Potter skit that is not that amusing until about two minutes into it when Dumbledore arrives. Lesson? Put Dumbledore in everything and he will make it better. No really. Write that down.

Naked Men

And just so you don't think I'm hatin' on all old books, here is a delightful picture of Mister Ranger from an old Yogi book illustrated by Mel Crawford that I found on Fun All Around. Enjoy!

Tired... so tired

Since I feel groggy and tired, my throwback shall be about a tired, old story. Many (a very many) will disagree with me about this, but I think the Chronicles of Narnia is terribly outdated. I decided to reread the Narnia series, in light of the popularity of the newer film versions and think that I was much better being off leaving the books in the foggy haze of forgotten memories. At this point, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is so embedded in popular culture that to recite the meat of the story here would be silly. In this review, I just want to discuss the feasibility of book-talking this book to a kid.

The main problem that I have with this text is gender roles. The girls are dainty and help out with setting tables, and washing dishes and aren't meant to fight. With hundreds of women in the armed service, it is an insult to the women fighting and risking their lives to suggest that women aren't meant to fight. Peter is given a rather phallic sword and shield and is expected to lead the battle. In the first book, The Magician's Nephew, Andrew must go after Polly because she is a girl and would not be able to get back herself.

Yes, these books are historical classics of children's and Christian literature. Yes, the gender roles depicted in these tales reflect the time period in which they were written. But, no, that does not mean I have to recommend them. I have an extreme aversion to sending the wrong idea about gender to young children still forming their concepts of boy and girl behaviors. They get enough of that on the playground and at potentially in their own homes. The last place they should get that thought is the local library (i.e., the warehouse of open ideas and information sharing). I would recommend other books (whose titles have decided to abandon me at this crucial juncture in my argument) that also place women into stereotypical "girl" behaviors over Lewis's books because they don't explicitly state that "women aren't meant to do" XY and Z the way Narnia books do. The fact that he repeatedly states what behaviors are and are not acceptable when exhibited by one gender is what holds me back.

If someone comes in asking about Narnia, I'll point to the DVD section unless they ask me otherwise. Honestly, I'd be hard-pressed to find a situation where I see myself even pausing on the spine of the book, let alone pulling it off the shelves without prompting.

SCILS and the hotness

Well, thank you, University of South Carolina for answering the age old question, "Where are all the mildly attractive men in Library Science?" And thank you, Fuse 8, for helping me find the answer.

I wonder if there are enough even remotely attractive men currently attending our program to get a full twelve months for a calendar. Any thoughts?

News these days

"I am unable to understand how a man of honor can take a newspaper in his hands without a shudder of disgust."

::Charles Baudelaire::