Fusenews: Stump and Nonsense

So much for that whole we’re-going-to-cast-an-unknown idea for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie.  From Cynopsis Kids:

Fox 2000 ‘s big screen version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid will star Zachary Gordon (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Brothers Bloom) as middle schooler Greg Heffley, THR .  Directed by Thor Freudenthal, the movie is based on Jeff Kinney’s books and is being produced by Nina Jacobson under her Color Force banner with Brad Simpson.  Chloe Moretz ((500) Days of Summer, Kick Ass) is expected to also be in the film as a girl in his class who is all clad in black and has a wry sense of humor.  Rachel Harris (The Hangover) will play Gordon’s mom in the movie.

I’m also not entirely thrilled about the Chloe Moretz choice since I just saw (500) Days of Summer and she was the weak link.  But maybe I’m just having a day of the grumps.

• I start to feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise as one when I read titles like Are some children’s classics unsuitable for kids?  It’s the word "unsuitable" that gets my goat I think.  Fortunately the piece is smarter than its title. Thanks to Jen Robinson’s Book Page for the link.

• For some reason I keep blurbing YA books.  It’s odd.  First it was The Chosen One.  Then it was When the Whistle Blows (which breaks middle grade as well).  Last, but not least, was So Punk Rock.  Now the crazy kids behind that last highly amusing book have been interviewed over at Cynthia Leitich Smith’s place.  And considering how funny their book was, I gently suggest you give ’em a gander.

• Who am I to resist?  It’s Create Your Own Debut YA Cover time!  So much fun it’s almost cruel.  Here’s mine:

Art directors?  We don’t need no stinking art directors!  I imagine this YA novel would be about a kid who starts campaigning for a candidate who promises her that he’ll save her favorite grove of trees.  Then he betrays her halfway through for a freeway.  A billion thanks to 100 Scope Notes for laying down the rules.  Be sure to read the comments so that you can see all the other covers people have made.  I think my favorite thus far is Diana Peterfreund’s Yank.  Particularly the by-line.  There’s also a collection of various faux YA jackets here for your amusement.

• I’m sure that this is very very good advice for artists (the title of the post is How Not to Display Your Artwork on the Web , after all).  But after reading some of the advice I’d like EVERY possible person with a website to consider taking these notes to heart when creating or updating their sites.  It had me at "As long as you’re coding, make sure your site is Internet Explorer specific. You don’t want any bums using Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, OmniWeb, UNIX, LINUX or a Mac to access your site. If they can’t get a real computer, they should get lost."  S&S website take note.  Thanks to Children’s Illustration for the link.

• The other day I vaguely looked at all that info about Blogher and the Blogher Conference.  Made me idly curious.  Wondered if I should consider throwing my hat in the ring.  After all, I fulfill their two requirements.  I blog and I have more than one X chromosome.  But after reading MotherReader’s post Blogher09 Vs. Kidlitcon, my curiosity has been sated.  Some day I do hope to find the breach between our little insular world and the mommy blogger world that lurks just beyond our walls, but for now I’m content to eye it from a wary distance.

• Blue Skunk tells us that your desktop image says something about you.  Probably true.  My husband’s computer consists of a rotating series of campy 1950s & early 60s comic book covers and panels (where I got this).  My own laptop’s desktop?  Just one photo and it looks like this.

Paging Dr. Freud.  Thanks to Teacherninja   for the link.

• Daily Image:

A new entry into the Animals That Should Have Their Own Picture Books category:

Thanks to Shaken & Stirred   for the link.

Filed under: Fusenews