A sprinkling of treats to enliven your day:
1) Christoph Niemann’s Abstract City blog post, Let it Dough, from the New York Times, in which he explains the world—through cookie dough, natch.
2) A particularly wonderful flash-mob Christmas song in a crowded mall.
3) Our fabulous Candlewick sales rep, Deb Woodward, shared this sugar plum of a discovery. It’s an actor impersonating legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog reading children’s books and philosophizing about their hidden existential explorations and psychological subtexts. They’re very funny:
Curious George
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
Madeline
Where’s Waldo?
4) Sir Ian McKellan visits a class of extraordinary ordinary children, is moved by their performance of a selection from Hamlet, and shares his love of Shakespeare with them. I also found this inspiring video of their teacher, Rafe Esquith (Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire, etc.), talking about how to help kids develop honor and focus in a distracted, often dishonorable world. And — if you go to YouTube and search for the Hobart Shakespeareans, you will find a wealth of great videos showing these kids in action. It’s so fantastic to see fifth-graders performing Shakespeare, understanding what they’re saying, and expressing it with passion and commitment. Love!
5) This just in from Mediabistro via The Huffington Post: It’s worth visiting Twitter for a new meme called #BookstoreBingo, in which booksellers and customers tweet funny things overheard in bookstores.
Examples:
@AaronsBooks: #bookstorebingo “I’m looking for a book tha’s about *this* big, and has something to do with a Christmas tree, don’t know author or title”
@ThrillDetective: #bookstorebingo (Mother to daughter, holding up copy of Hugo’s Les Miserables): “Look, honey, now there’s even a book!”
@bookmonger: Where’s your section on books about twirling fire? #bookstorebingo
edparnell “I want Mein Kampf” “Who is it by?” “Hitler” “Hitler who?” “Adolf Hitler. You don’t know him?” “I can’t know every writer” #BookstoreBingo
rockcitybooks Best OH yesterday: a mom praising e-books to her 18 y.o.-ish daughter; daughter protests: “But I *love* the feel of paper!” #bookstorebingo
@Brilliant_Books: #bookstorebingo. Overheard: “I forgot what a great selection of books they have here”. Makes it all worthwhile.
Got any literary laughs or inspirations you’d like to share?
Here’s wishing everyone plenty of these, as well as warm homes, simple pleasures, and cozy family read-alouds as we head toward the end of 2010 and into a brand new year. See you next week.