on book covers

I just have to comment on the cover of the book I'm reading right now:
Mortal Engines, by Philip Reeve; I first found out about it in a British book about cover design, and I have to ask, what on earth were they thinking when they put the US edition out? The original cover (see left) is so nice, a great illustration in a classic children's book style -- and they replaced it with this boring, murky, pedestrian cover that from more than about 2 feet away looks like a whole lot of nothing. Honestly, I just don't get it. I guess some editor just had to put their "stamp" on it. Anyway, so far I'm enjoying the book enough that I will probably want to actually add a copy to our library (and get the sequels). So, amazon.uk, here I come!

a string of links

So, I'm only like, a year behind on links to things here. But let me try and slap a few up so I can clean them out of my "things to link to" bookmarks!

Mei & Satsuki's house. At the World Expo in Aichi, Japan, there is a replica of Mei & Satsuki's house from Totoro. Apparently it's such a popular attraction that going to the Expo does not guarantee that you'll get to see it! They are planning to move it elsewhere at the end of the Expo though, so perhaps it'll find a permanent home somewhere.

amaztype. A super-cool little thing someone dreamed up where you can spell any word out of book covers from an amazon search. If you use an author's name, it'll spell it in their books! Yes, I've done both our names, it's pretty fun!

Uwajimaya. Also amazon-related, asian grocery store Uwajimaya is now online at Amazon. Get your Pocky fix no matter where you live, straight from Amazon!

Retro Arcade. Found this flickr photoset on scrubbles, and man is it a killer. Evan was mesmerized.

The Lewis Carroll scrapbook at the Library of Congress. Not exactly enthralling but a really interesting object. Note his clippings from Punch!

Superdickery. You've seen this, right? Everyone probably has, but just in case...it's a hysterical collection (one of the many) of vintage comic covers. No wonder it's been so hard for the medium to get any respect, right?

The Mod bullet is public domain. (warning: link is to a pdf file) Okay, a little dry and you'll want to skim, but I actually found it fascinating reading. And on that note, have you seen our ska baby clothes? That "Rude Baby" is so cute on Emily it kills me.

and finally for today:
My "Diry" of My Trip to Peekskill, a really entertaining photo tour of Little Lulu's home town!

meow

Oh, I only desperately want to get this kid's Hello Kitty bike for Emily!!

how can people afford anime?

Seriously. I was all excited to find out that Kodocha was being released here, since I never managed to get fansubs (that whole baby thing having kept me pretty busy). Evan was going to get it for me until we realized: It's $30 per 3 episode DVD. And there's 102 episodes. That's $1,020. Even at Amazon prices, or with discounts....that's a ton of money. But obviously they think there's a bunch of people out there that have it! When we realized how much these series are costing people we just couldn't believe it. I know DVDs aren't cheap but...the Emma Peel Avengers megaset cost us $99 for 51 episodes, for example. The recent Pee-Wee release? $80 at Amazon for, I think, 48 episodes. How are the anime companies getting $10 per episode? And do "the kids" really have that much allowance to spend? Holy wow.

more mocca

Ah, and I finally got to the very funny Animal Party, by Julie Klausner. Also recommended, and it looks like you can read it online at her site!

more on mocca

Evan already posted about our MoCCA mini-comics haul, which he looked through far more thouroughly than I did. I agree with him 100% on that Eleanor Davis story, it's amazing. I think this may be her site, but I'm not 100% sure. There could be two Eleanor Davises at SCAD. But I doubt it. Also really enjoyable (and I snagged it away so Evan didn't actually read it yet) was the completed Catfight by M.K. Reed. We got the first part of it last year (I think -- I don't remember MoCCA 2004 too well as I was holding back Emily-related nausea most of the time) so I was excited to see it finished. A really good read -- and I also highly recommend the story "Cold As Ice" on her site, I literally could not stop reading once I started!

I'm A Scottaholic

because Scott Pilgrim is Da Bob-Omb! There's only one thing about it that sucks: just two volumes are out, and #2 just shipped sooooo who knows when there will be more?