Tiddlings

Fun Fact of the Day:  Guess who has just come out in support of Junie B? None other than SPOGG (The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, to you). I’m just pleased as punch that there even IS an entity named SPOGG out there. Anyone play the game Beyond Balderdash where you have to make up names for acronyms?  If I were to name SPOGG I might call it the Social Philanthropic Order of the Gentle Grammarians.  But that’s me.  Here’s their statement on Junie B: "For the record, SPOGG is a huge fan of Junie B. Jones. Parents who refuse to read it because of the grammar are missing serious hilarity, as well as the opportunity to point out the errors and talk about language with their kids. Kids would much rather you correct a book character’s grammar than their own, so it’s actually a terrific teaching opportunity." Jolly good show.  I wouldn’t argue with them either.  It is wise to never debate an entity that rhymes with the word "hog".

In other news, I’m loving the Onion article, Final Harry Potter Book Blasted For Containing Spoilers.  Someone had to say it.  I’m just glad it was them.

Finally, I was trying to reference an obscure foreign children’s film from Europe as seen on that old Nickelodeon show Pinwheel and I found a very useful listing on Wikipedia.  To my very great surprise, Pinwheel (a show that was unfairly labeled the poor man’s Sesame Street) contained multiple foreign animated shorts that were based on works of children’s fiction.  There was King Rollo, based on a David McKee character.  The French short Emily (called Emilie in France) was based on books by the French children’s book author Domitille de Pressense.  And apparently Simon the Land of Chalk Drawings wasn’t the Harold and the Purple Crayon rip-off I’d always thought it was.  It was based on books as well.  Somehow my brain has cancelled out the existence of West Germany 1974 World Cup mascots Tip and Tap, though.  If you are uncertain as to whether or not you ever saw Pinwheel as a child (and it  did require having cable in the early 1980s) perhaps this will jog your memory.