Blogger Beware: The Goosebumps Blog

I think most of us were a little too old for the Goosebumps craze, but this blog is still funny even if you've never read one*:

http://www.bloggerbeware.com/

The author is re-reading all the Goosebumps books and reviewing each one. He keeps track of recurring themes like platonic boy/girl friendships, lack of minority characters, questionable behavior by parents and teachers, werewolf appearances (it's always werewolves!), suspicious scientists, '90s cultural references (one parent worries if her son has become "a grunge"), and gives away each of R.L. Stine's famous twist endings. He also makes a lot of musical jokes, which I always enjoy. Anyone else who can identify the Leonard Cohen reference in the Scream School entry gets to be my new best friend. :)

This retrospective post is a good introduction to the blog, with the author providing a top 10 best/worst Goosebumps books.


*I actually have read one. My younger sister loved these books, and I know I did read one of her's that was about a boy and girl who went to a horror amusement park that turned out to be run by...Aaahh!!! REAL MONSTERS! But judging from the blog there were actually several different Goosebumps books with exactly this premise, including an entire spin-off series, so I don't know which one it was.

Uh oh, they're on to us

I suppose it was inevitable that someone would eventually realize the truth.

Librarians are vampires.

It's nice to have outside confirmation of my theory that IT people are a related subspecies, though.

Men of Mortuaries

Inspired, I suspect, by the daring librarians of Waupaca, a bunch of morticians have put together a "Men of Mortuaries" beefcake calendar to benefit breast cancer patients.

http://www.menofmortuaries.com/

I was kind of hoping they'd all be wearing top hats and leaning on the hoods of hearses, but the calendar appears to depict these hunky shirtless morticians engaged in their favorite non-death related pursuits.

The whole thing is actually far less creepy than that Italian coffin-maker's site that uses Eurotrash bikini models to advertise its products. You may remember this as being a well-known "weird thing on the Web" site a couple of years back. I see the (probably not safe for work) page is still up at:

http://www.cofanifunebri.com/product.htm

It seems only the "Fashion line coffins" get to have bikini models in their photos. I see from the page that this site now also offers a calendar of its coffin girls. I have to say, I think the Waupaca librarians were more appealing. Miss October here looks suspiciously like Ozzy Osbourne.

PS: The rejection counter moved up from 55 to 56 because of me. The University of Illinois at Chicago has apparently decided to close their search without hiring anyone. And it only took them five months to let me know!

Neil Gaiman on alphabetizing books

While looking at this and that on YouTube, I found this clip of author Neil Gaiman at a convention answering the old "Where do you get your ideas?" question.

The interesting thing to me is that about a minute in he starts talking about alphabetizing his books as a kid, and how by the time he was seven he was agonizing over such issues as whether books by Roger Lancelyn Green should go under "L" or "G".

Sound familiar, anyone? Does it in fact sound EXACTLY LIKE YOUR OWN CHILDHOOD? Because it sure sounds like mine!

This makes me think that either Neil Gaiman has missed his true calling as a manbrarian, or that I should have become a bestselling author adored by 17 year old girls who wear black all the time. (Sound familiar, anyone? Does it in fact sound EXACTLY LIKE YOUR JUNIOR YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL? Because it sure sounds like mine!)

Speaking of librarians and wearing black all the time, I've got another YouTube clip as a sort of lagniappe for this post:

Ninja Librarian!

RIP Kilgore Trout

I was absolutely bummed to hear of Kurt Vonnegut's death today. I always feel a little melancholy when an author dies, but Vonnegut is one of my favorites. Seems especially sad that someone who made his career from his creativity and intelligence would pass away as a result of brain injuries. Time to reread my favorite: Welcome to the Monkey House. Maybe that will cheer me up a little.