Blog Watch Wednesday

Reviews:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta - young adult, contemporary - 5/5 stars

Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill - horror, western, steampunk - 4/5 stars  

The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers - post-apocalyptic, young-adult - 3.75/5 stars

A Night Like This by Julia Quinn - historical fiction, romance novel-ish - 4/5 stars

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne - post-apocalyptic, horror young-adult - 3/5 stars

Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison - historical fiction - 4/5 stars

The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner - historical fiction - 4.5/5 stars

Red Glove by Holly Black - young adult, supernatural fiction - 4/5 stars

Gilt by Katherine Longshore - young adult, historical fiction - 4/5 stars

Fun Stuff:

The first line of Albert Camus's immortal existenialist novel  L'etranger has been lost in incorrect translation. Til now.

 Have you ever wondered how the universe will end? Not life, but the entire  universe? These people have figured it out for you. Bad news: it will End. Good news: "There are a few conflicting theories on what will happen to the universe in the long term, but the most likely theory — continued expansion until heat death occurs — is calculated to happen in 10¹⁰¹²⁰ years. This is a vast, vast number that you or I can’t even begin to comprehend; it’s 1, followed by 10¹²⁰ zeroes." So we'll all be long gone, missing the ominous-yet-awesomely named "Black Hole Era". Damn. Really fascinating article, though.

Film.com wonders who would win between the Avengers Heliacarrier and the battleships of Battleship. (I vote Heliacarrier)

10 Vestigial Traits You Didn't Know You Had.

Detailed and comprehensive infographic breakdown of YA covers from 2011. Including: color distribution, minority representation, gender reprentation, etc.

 

See the Game of Thrones cast both in and out of character. Gwendoline Christine is a strikingly beautiful woman.

From The Onion: Game of Thrones is "running out of old, unkempt men to cast."

Ewa's RESPONSE to S2E8 ("The Prince of Winterfell") of Game of Thrones. My favorite bits: "This doesn’t fit her trajectory in the books, though, where she’s more a nascent ninja killer – less about the wider world, more about that secret little prayer of names she wants dead." If you read recaps of Game of Thrones, these are the ones not to miss.

Game of Thrones cake pops! S1 spoilers!

How the art for the Game of Thrones calender came to life.

The Avengers has made more money than The Hunger Games.

The Most Mind-Bending, Surprise Endings in Sf/F. I've only read one of those mentioned (Ender's Game) and it completely caught me off when I read it. (I was 10)

So. Cool! A review of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone in rap! Clever and dead-on.

Did you know that the movie Gladiator had a planned sequel? And that the plot was literally insane or high on meth? World: leave Gladiator (and Gladiator-era Russell Crowe) alone and never ever make that movie.

Handy website for all the time zones/knowing what time it is anywhere in the world.

Want to know how common your birthday is? Now you do.

If Apple iPads were U.S.-manufactured, they'd cost $14,970. Each.

Watch out: The FBI is being creepy again. "We need wire-tap ready websites now" for social networks, email providers, etc.

(Insane) woman in Manhattan lives in 90-square foot "microstudio". That's $700 for 12 x 7 living space. I feel claustrophobic from Arizona reading that.

8-year old Filipino girl kills Adele cover of Someone Like You. Kills. It.

A few months old, still awesome: Ryan Gosling reads aloud from the internet meme devoted to him, "Hey Girl."

Did you know people actually read more now, in the internet age, than in the 1940s and 1950s? It's true.

Donna Summer has passed away, at the age of 63.

Beloved author Jean Craighead George has also passed away. She was 92.

 

Amazing infographic devoted to 30 Rock's Liz Lemon's hair.

This helpfully outlines all the sci-fi and fantasy shows coming out this fall. I'll probably try 666 Park Avenue because I want to read the book and Revolution for Supernatural's Kripke, but otherwise, slim pickings.

Di you know a snake can still bite after it's been beheaded? SOMETIMES HOURS LATER. Here's a video in case you don't believe me.

Seattle library hides 1000 books in town for kids to find, read, re-hide for others.

Astounding book sculptures.

Leigh Bardugo, author of the aaamaaazing Shadow and Bone, due out later this summer, has revealed the final two titles in her Grisha series as well as opening an international giveaway for book one!

The 9 Circles of Hell, depicted by that most fluid of mediums, Lego.

One new study finds that Facebook was mentioned as a cause of 33% of all divorces in the UK during 2011.

How science fiction futures have changed over time.

The 3rd or 4th man (semantics!) ever to go over Niagra Falls without protection lived through the ordeal.

The end of the publishing world as we know it: Fifty Shades of Shit Grey has sold 10 million books in 6 weeks.

From Cracked:

• 5 Nazi Plans That Prove They Were Dumber Than You Think
• 5 Celebrities Who Got Famous by Being Obsessed Fanboys
• 5 Iconic Pop Culture Improvised At the Last Second
• 6 Terrifying Creatures That Keep Going After They're Dead
• 6 Absurd Movie Plots You Won't Believe Are Based on Reality
• 6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America