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07.26.07 by Widge @ 10:38 am  Clowns are evil. This cannot be disputed. BibliOdyssey has uncovered an ancient training manual in the art of clown combat. Study this. In the wake of Z-Day and the mime uprising, it's only a matter of time before a legion of hundreds of Pennywise wannabes pile out of a Mini Cooper in front of your house, looking for trouble. Remember, you heard it here first. Categorized as: Books and Stimuli
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07.22.07 by Widge @ 6:32 pm  That's the word from Scholastic. 8.3 million copies in 24 hours. Two questions: 1. Did anybody make any money? Besides Rowling, I mean. 2. And what sort of publishing deal does she have for whatever she feels like doing next? Categorized as: Books and Headsup
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07.22.07 by Widge @ 6:13 pm  So Borders has announced today that they sold 1.2 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows worldwide. That's a single-title one-day record for the chain, apparently. They only sold 850,000 copies of Half-Blood Prince on its first day. Huh. I actually just said "only 850,000 copies." Anyway, they also announced that about 800,000 fans turned out for their midnight sale/celebration things. According to the press release, they're happy as hell, but here's my question: did they make any money? I know it sounds insane but bear in mind that with the steep discounts going on, some chains actually lost money on previous Potter releases. Even with those sales numbers. I guess we'll hear soon enough. Image: a galleon, for sale here. Categorized as: Books
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07.19.07 by Widge @ 6:57 pm  So I've posted the press release (or at least as much of it as I could stand) to the new Gabfest. But the more I think about it, the more pissed off I am. (Update: Full press release text here.) Gist: a "certified grief counselor" is using the release of Harry Potter's final book to pimp herself to the media, under the guise of helping parents and children deal with grief over the death of fictional characters. Because deaths are rumored to happen in Book 7, the press release states "This could have a serious impact on children, millions of whom have grown up reading, watching and profoundly enjoying the characters and storylines of the Harry Potter series." For crying out loud, people. It's not bad enough that anytime Something Bad Happens we trot out grief counselors to prop up children (who, for the most part, don't need propping up as often as they get propped up--they're children--they're resilient little bastards), now we're going to trot them out when Something Bad Doesn't Actually Happen. It's fiction! Categorized as: Books
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07.08.07 by Widge @ 11:27 pm  Sloshing through the swamp of pop culture so you don't have to. We bring you ideas for how to waste your weekend. Tried to get this up yesterday, I know, I said so in the recording, but that's what I get for thinking. Of course, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting me use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as my theme music for this. Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Pitchforks and Lost Needles. Send them love and coin. BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here. Like the podcast? Tell us about it. Fill out a PodTrac Survey today. The Baby Jesus would want you to. Categorized as: Audiobooks and Books and Comics and DVD and Podcasts and Recommendations
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