Fusenews: Happy 2009! Now Where’s My Jetpack?

Over the holiday season I grew quite fond of this scan-o-rific site.  Golden Gems describes itself as, "A collection of little golden books and other vintage & modern illustrations meant to inspire and delight."  Those of you with a sweet tooth for Little Golden Book fare (even the sellout Disney/Yogi Bear kinds) will take pleasure in the titles she displays.  And those of you with interest in specific illustrators should take advantage of the links she provides on the side of the blog.  This is the kind of stuff that’s difficult to locate elsewhere.  Though doesn’t it look like the Saggy Baggy Elephant is just about to kick the Poky Little Puppy right smack dab in the rear end here?  Thanks to Wilson Swain for the link.

• I don’t think it quite fair that the roundup of Hottest Baby Names of 2008 was tallied before the official end of the year.  What if newbie parents everywhere decided on December 31st to name their little goobers "Schadenfreude", thereby skewing the results?  Ah well.  Not to give anything away but Isabella topped the girls and Aidan (Aidan?) hit number one in the boy category.  My name holds strong at #4 on the girl chart because there is no defeating the almighty power of the "Elizabeth".  None.  Oh, and Edward and Bella have done better this year too.  *sigh*

• The Cybils shortlists are up!  Run on over to see how many you know.  I’ve read 34 of 59 (not counting the non-fiction middle grade titles.  How’d you do?

• Melissa Marr has good book cover karma.  I mean . . .

Geez.  Geez o’ petes.  Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the pic.

• A great bit thank you to author Deborah Hodge for naming this site as one of the 8 Great Blogs of 2008.  Another thank you to her for introducing me to the blog The Rejector.  Motto: "I don’t hate you. I just hate your query letter."  It’s been around since 2006.  Dunno where I’ve been. Thanks to Rocco Staino for the link.

• That Andrew Lloyd Webber.  He really does put the "Huh?" in "Hundred thousand dollar musical."  Or in this case, "Hundred thousand dollar musical sequel", because what we are looking at is an official sequel to The Phantom of the Opera set on . . . . wait for it . . . Coney Island.  I’d love to end this little piece of news with a witty retort, but one of the commenters on the New York Times article beat me to it.  As Garx so eloquently put it, "Next, we go to the Lower East Side for Katz."  Wish I’d said it first.  Thanks to Stefan Dreisbach-Williams for the link.

• Golden Age Comic Book Stories has given us a late Christmas present by posting a ton of wonderful Winsor McCay (Little Nemo) political cartoons.  Some are difficult to decode, but a couple today could be popped into a paper without difficulty.  This was one of my favorites:

• Contrary to popular opinion, the Narnia films are not actually officially dead yet.  Disney has pulled out, but that doesn’t mean that Walden Media can’t go shopping the future films about to other studios.  And as this piece I’ve linked to points out, the only reason Caspian wasn’t considered a success was due to its release date.  Had it come out during either Thanksgiving or Christmas (where the kid-friendly choices were slim to none) it would have performed magnificently.

• Roger Sutton pounds yet another nail into the old is-the-Newbery-out-of-touch coffin.

• Okay, guys.  I think it’s time to say it.  Why don’t we stop publishing Holocaust memoirs, both true and fictional, for children for a while?  Between The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on the one hand and the news that some of the story behind Angel Girl is untrue on the other, I think that it is time to reexamine Monica Edinger’s piece The Holocaust for Young Children and to read it thoroughly.  Preferably multiple times.

• There are levels to true fandom.  Fans who love your books and create fansites.  Fans who love your books and create fan fiction.  And, most impressive in my eyes, fans who love your books and are willing to turn your perhaps impossible costumes into real-world creations.  A fan of the Monster Blood Tattoo books has recently done that very thing and Mr. Cornish presents the final product on his site.  I would like to see this as a trend that continues for a long long time.  More Monster Blood Tattoo cosplay please!

• Daily Image:

Not all of these are stellar but one or two are definitely worth a chuckle.  It’s off-topic, but if you dislike motivational posters as much as I do, some of these are pretty great.

Thanks to mom for the link.

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