Six Quotes from Bridget Jones's Diary

Some of my favorite quotes from Bridget Jones's Diary: A Novel
by Helen Fielding, in no particular order.
And I love the movie, too! :)

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that as soon as one part of your life starts looking up, another falls to pieces.

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As women glide from their twenties to thirties, Shazzer argues, the balance of power subtly shifts. Even the most outrageous minxes lose their nerve, wrestling with the first twinges of existential angst: fears of dying alone and being found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian.

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“It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting "Cathy" and banging your head against a tree.”

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Resolution number one: Obviously will lose twenty pounds. Number two: Always put last night's panties in the laundry basket. Equally important, will find sensible boyfriend to go out with and not continue to form romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobic's, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits or perverts. And especially will not fantasize about a particular person who embodies all these things”

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Being a woman is worse than being a farmer there is so much harvesting and crop spraying to be done: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturised, spots cleansed, roots dyed, eyelashes tinted, nails filed, cellulite massaged, stomach muscles exercised.


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Oh God. valentine's Day tomorrow. Why? Why? Why is (the) entire world geared to make people not involved in romance feel stupid when everyone knows romance does not work anyway. Look at (the) royal family. Look at Mum and Dad.”

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Bookish Pics

SteamPunk Mini-Book from Saimba



Cozy Kid's Nook From ooh_food on Flickr

Book Club I Font from Bygg Studios


From The Magic Forest Tumblr












"Literary Devices" by Grant Snider

Scholastic Unveils New Harry Potter Cover

Here is the new cover and I love the way Diagon Alley looks with the textured cobblestones, candles, and crooked buildings of ancient age, but I don't quite understand the two people with rabbit ears and faces. After quite a bit of discussion on Harry Potter Network, we decided that the rabbit people are supposed to be Goblins from Gringotts, even though it never says in the books or on Pottermore that they have pointy ears. Yet JKR made a drawing from HP and the Sorcerer's Stone that showed a goblin with pointed ears, and we know she was involved with the way they appear in the movies. In the books, it is actually House Elves that have pointed large "bat-like" ears, but maybe all these little people are connected in some way.

The new artist, Kazu Kibuishi, has done several interviews:

From Publisher's Weekly:

The new artwork is by Kazu Kibuishi ... creator of the bestselling graphic novel series Amulet (Scholastic/Graphix). “Initially I didn’t want to see it done,” Kibuishi told PW, “because I love the original covers so much. I’m a huge fan. But after thinking about it for a while, I figured if someone were going to do it, I should try it.”
. . . Kibuishi believes he may have it a bit easier than Mary GrandPré, the artist who created the original U.S. covers for the Harry Potter books. “I have the advantage of seeing the books in historical context,” Kibuishi says. However, he notes that he has put pressure on himself, wanting to live up to GrandPré’s example. “I’ve never worked so hard on single images in my life!” he says. “I’m an author as well and I know how much work I put into my own covers, so I thought ‘this [the Harry Potter project] won’t be bad.’ But when I came to do it, I realized how much more this project meant to me. I want to get it right.”

Via Snitchseeker

What was your inspiration for the new cover for ‘Sorcerer's Stone’?
Kibuishi: That one was the clearest cover for me to do. It probably best signifies the idea of Harry becoming a new perennial classic. I feel like over time [Harry Potter] is going to be looked at like we look at a Dickens novel or a Wells novel. I wanted to give the covers that classic look. It was like I was doing almost a kind of fan art of Harry Potter, but done in the style of classic literature. The initial cover was very Dickens. I was thinking of “Great Expectations” or “A Christmas Carol.” I have a film background and I’m a big fan of movie poster. It’s probably reflective of some of my favorite movie posters as well.

Did you use artist Mary GrandPre’s work as a jumping off point?
Kibuishi: Her work stands alone in its own way. They are like icons….As I said, I came at it as more as an art historian. Taking a look at how we have sort of accepted Harry into our culture and trying to invent it for a new generation of readers. I tried to sever as many ties as I could and try to think about it from a completely fresh perspective while paying respect to the work that came before.
I made stylistic tributes to Mary’s work. There are little elements and flourishes that I probably wouldn’t have done myself, but they’re so subtle, in the technique that I’m not sure someone would notice.

~~~ More At Link . . .

When Fonts Go Bad

In the modern world anyone who uses a computer, even children, have to face the question of which typeface to use for any particular project, whether it's a powerpoint for school, a poster for the PTA, an art graphic for Pinterest, or even a published work. Most computers are loaded with fonts, and you can download hundreds more for free on DaFont, 1001FreeFonts or FontSquirrel. As you can see from those collections, there is a world of typography beyond the usual (and rather boring) Times New Roman.

This blog, for instance is written in Georgia font, an easy-to-read font that has a roundness to it that I find pleasing. And it's a "serif font" that has little "tails" on the letters that lead your eye from one letter to the next. The post title is Trebuchet, which is a "sans" font, without the little strokes on the letters, and that makes it look clean and neat as a heading. I could have picked others, but those are just two I personally like.

And then there's Comic Sans, based on comic-book lettering, which was overused on early Microsoft computers and in hundreds of Ad campaigns to the point that people grew sick of it.


Some people have been downright infuriated that people still use it when there are so many other choices, and they want Microsoft to ban it from the type library. Why? Maybe because it looks too simple. I tend to think of it as a "clown" font, for some reason, but I don't actually hate it. Others do apparently, like the folks at "Comic Sans Must Die" . . .

From the website "Ban Comic Sans"

Love it or hate it, Comic Sans is one of the most popular fonts in the world.
Vincent Connare designed the font for Microsoft in 1995. He described it is best being used for “new computer users and families with children”. Despite this it has constantly been misused and can be seen everywhere from school letters, e-mails from government officials and even in documents about the discovery of the Higgs Boson.
Since it was unleashed on the world there have been multiple calls by designers for the font to be abolished completely.
Comic Sans Must Die is a project that satisfies every designer’s dream: to see Comic Sans die a slow and painful death. Every day the individual glyphs of Comic Sans will have their demise displayed for all to see.

However, in defense of the much-maligned font is the Comic Sans Project Tumblr with examples from well-known and beloved products such as Nintendo, Kodak, and Levi Jeans (not to mention the "S" in Superman). In fact, if you look around in any store you will probably see this font because it has something going for it - it is simple and easy-to-read.

Here's a short video history of Comic Sans. The consensus of the people questioned in the video find Comic Sans to be "silly" at best and "creepy" at worst. It reminds many of their first typed paper in junior high school. However, clearly the font works well for sign-making and branding ordinary products. For fancy imported products or professional printing jobs, not so much.



And now Vsauce has posted a video "Defense of Comic Sans" that takes a scholarly approach to put Comic Sans in the context of printing and typographical history. When you're done with this video and this post, you'll know more than you EVER wanted to know about Comic Sans. Still, good times.

The Real King Richard III Revealed

“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.”
― William Shakespeare, Richard III
Last September British archaeologists in Leicester dug up part of a parking lot and found an amazing grave containing the bones thought to be the real King Richard III, last Plantagenet King of England and the last King who died on the battlefied, beaten by Henry VII, ancestor of the modern royal family. Now the bones have been proven beyond a doubt to be King Richard, verified through DNA testing with descendents as well as historical accounts of his appearance and wounds in battle.

Will this change the way scholars and actors interpret Shakespeare's play, which paints Richard as a villain and murderer? That remains to be seen. What will happen next is that the body will be buried in nearby Leicester Cathedral, and a display for visitors will also be built. That is, if the city of York doesn't interfere. They have written a letter to the Queen of England, asking that the body be buried there instead because Richard was both coronated and married in York Minster Cathedral.

BREAKING! World first - The complete skeleton showing the curve of the spine #RichardIII ow.ly/i/1t0gN

— Uni of Leicester (@uniofleicester) February 4, 2013

From CNN.com

Since his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, Richard III has been portrayed as hunchbacked and hateful, accused of killing his own nephews, the "Princes in the Tower," to usurp the throne.
But the Richard III Society believes the monarch has been unfairly maligned by history and in particular the Tudors who ousted him.
It says its three-dimensional model of the king shows a face "far removed from the image of the cold-blooded villain of Shakespeare's play."

. . . Society chairman Dr. Phil Stone told reporters in London that the discovery and identification of the monarch had been "a momentous time" for the society. He praised screenwriter Philippa Langley's "tenacity and bloody-mindedness" in pursuing the project to locate his remains. Langley said her aims had been two-fold -- to try to find Richard III so that his remains could be retrieved from an "undignified place" and to "go in search of the real Richard III."

Stone said in a statement that the face was "younger and fuller than we have been used to seeing, less careworn and with a hint of a smile."
Richard III seemed "alive and about to speak," he said. "At last, it seems, we have the true image of Richard III -- is this the face that launched a thousand myths?"

From Reuters

Devotees of Richard, who have long campaigned to restore his reputation, proudly revealed a 3D reconstruction of the long-lost monarch's head on Tuesday, introducing him to reporters as "His Grace Richard Plantagenet, King of England and France, Lord of Ireland".

They said the face appeared sympathetic and noble - not that of a man cast by William Shakespeare as a villainous, deformed monster who murdered his nephews, the "Princes in the Tower".

"I hope you can see in this face what I see in this face and that's a man who is three-dimensional in every sense," said Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society, who led the four-year hunt to find the king's remains.

"It doesn't look like the face of a tyrant. If ... you look into his eyes, it really is like he can start speaking to you," Langley told reporters.

Guardian UK

Rival claims to Richard's body have erupted within 24 hours of the formal confirmation that the remains excavated from a scruffy car park in the centre of Leicester are indeed those of the last Plantagenet king. Leicester has him, but York wants him. So far Westminster Abbey, which holds both Richard's wife, Anne Neville, and Henry VII who defeated him, is maintaining a tactful silence, and nothing has been heard from Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire where he was born – but that may be just a matter of time.

As the face reconstructed from the skull was displayed – a faintly smiling man with a big nose and a notably determined jaw – Kersten England, chief executive of the City of York council, said it would be writing formally to the Department of Justice and the Crown "to invite their consideration of the views of the Duke of York's own people". Roughly translated, these views are: "Hand him over."

Leicester is equally determined to keep the man where he has lain since August 1485, when his body was brought back into the town naked and slung over the back of a horse – the traditional account newly confirmed by the revelation of the injuries to the skeleton. His body was claimed by the priests of Greyfriars church, and buried hastily but in a position of honour in the choir near the high altar.

Professor Snape Tweets the Super Bowl

Professor Snape was being quite witty on Twitter about the Super Bowl Sunday, especially when the lights went out! And he picked a good game to watch, since Professor Snape surely has an affinity for the dark and moody Edgar Allen Poe, whose poem "The Raven" inspired the name of the winning team from Baltimore, Poe's hometown.

Cross-Posted at The Illuminated Dungeon

@_Snape_

Somebody just used a Deluminator at the Super Bowl. #lightsout

— Professor Snape (@_Snape_) February 4, 2013

Too bad Muggles can't just cast Lumos. #lightsout #TurnOnTheLights

— Professor Snape (@_Snape_) February 4, 2013

The Muggles haven't figured out that this stadium power outage was caused by wizards yet. #lightsout

— Professor Snape (@_Snape_) February 4, 2013

I was hoping that when the power outage ended a cage would descend & we'd learn the players had been reaped for The Hunger Games.

— Professor Snape (@_Snape_) February 4, 2013

I bet Baltimore will win but San Francisco will get the snitch.

— Professor Snape (@_Snape_) February 4, 2013

Congrats to Ravenclaw for winning the Super Bowl.

— Professor Snape (@_Snape_) February 4, 2013

Super Bowl? They had a Sirius Black out.

— Professor Snape (@_Snape_) February 4, 2013

Burma's Exiled Leader Inspired by Harry Potter

After years of censorship by an oppressive military regime, the citizens of Burma,or Myanmar, are free to discuss books at last. The once-exiled democratic leader says that while she is a fan of Victor Hugo and George Eliot, it was the work of J. K. Rowling that helped keep up her courage while imprisoned.

From The Daily Mail

Burma’s courageous democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi revealed today that the adventures of Harry Potter kept up her spirits and resolve while she was being held under house arrest.

. . . The Nobel laureate who was held under house arrest in Rangoon for 15 years told a gathering of the country’s writers that her courage in the face of state repression paled in comparison to the heroes of Miss Rowling’s best-selling fantasy books.

‘I have to admit to you I read all the Harry Potter books,’ she said in a reference to the long years she spent locked away in her villa beside Lake Inya.

Hardly had her audience finished chuckling at her revelation when she went on to compare her courage with the Harry Potter characters.

‘I really don’t know how I could ever have been brave enough to do all the things those children did,’ she said.

‘So when people talk about my courage, I think to myself “They don’t know anything about Harry Potter.”’