Fusenews: Late Night “I Don’t Feel Like Including Any Images” Edition

• Oz and Ends had a great piece up lately called Gaiman on Milne on Grahame in which he discovers a 2001 interview with Neil Gaiman discussing A.A. Milne’s love of that obscure little title The Wind in the Willows. Gaiman says, "And The Wind in the Willows was a dud: it was completely forgotten to the point where A.A. Milne wound up writing an essay in the 1920s saying: Let me tell you about one of the best books in the world, and you have never heard of it. It was called The Wind in the Willows."  Bell has a great selection from the piece.  Interesting stuff.

• Speaking of Gaiman, Monica Edinger has posted pics of her class’s truly magnificent Graveyard Book mural.  If you have not seen it yet, do.

• A critical review of the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas has just appeared on Horn Book.  Heh heh.  Boy oh boy I wouldn’t wanna be that reviewer when the pro- Pajama factions align.  What kind of sap would think it was a good idea to put down . . . oh . . . um . . .  uh-oh.

• There’s a site out there that apparently knows whether or not the author of a blog is male or female depending on their use of language.  It was 89% sure I was a lady (and, as anyone can tell you, lady I am not).  A quick glance at the poll accompanying the site shows that the Gender Analyzer is only right about 54% of the time, though.  Thanks to Adam Rex for the link and for his newfound entry into the cult of womanhood.

• A match made in heaven or the seventh circle of hell?  Well, what do you get when you take the Muppets, add in a little Gris Grimly and top the whole kerschmozzle off with  Guillermo del Toro?  Pinocchio, of course!  I kid you not.  According to the Jim Henson News Blog Muppet News Flash (45 points for the title, guys), Del Toro said of this upcoming project, "The idea came from Gris, and everybody loves his book about it. The original story is far more perverse and spooky and semi-necrophilia vibe to it in certain aspects. Gris certainly has that vein in him, he wants to do this with that original spookiness in it, we are trying to get it going. The Jim Henson Company is behind it and we are currently working on the screenplay!"  Necro-what now?  Thanks to Wilson Swain for the link.

• Speaking of Muppets, what are you New Yorkers up to tonight?  Well, if you’re free there’s a program tonight being hosted by Women in Children’s Media called Breaking Into Kids’ Media: How to Get to Sesame Street.  All you need to know?  It’s free and you get to see Kevin Clash (Elmo) and Sonia Manzano (Maria) talk.  That’s all I’d care.  Thanks to Jennifer Hunt for the link.

• I have a great deal of fondness for small presses.  Sylvan Dell’s a good example of that.  Nice little press.  Has its niche.  And recently they’ve been writing little articles discussing everything from Don’t Be a Couch Potato…Publicity for Your New Release to How to Get Your Manuscript Published.  Most recently they’ve posted The ABCs of School Visits: A Primer for Authors and Illustrators, by Gail Langer Karwoski. Feel free to give it a whirl.

• Finally, Marc Tyler Nobleman of the ultra-cool Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman has posted some pics from his self-described mini-blog tour.  I myself was fond of the blue punch.

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