Tidits: Guybrarians are real! Facebook friend your favorite Asian dictator!

This is a twofer tidbits day, with a bonus third! 

• I double dog dare you to Facebook friend Kim Jong-il's grandson.  He has bleached blond hair!  And a his favorite movie is Love Actually!  Everyone knows that Facebook friends is real friends.  Not a chance you'll wind up on a watch list or anything...


• Are you sitting down? Yes?  If not, do it.  Right now.  I'm waiting.  Okay, I have to tell you something.  You ready?  Okay.  Phew.  Okay.  THERE ARE MALE LIBRARIANS.  I'm so glad I have that off my chest.  Don't we all feel better now?  Sorry I shouted.  Some Guybrarians got together and, well, gave a gift to the world.  As they say:
  

  We know what people think: Dewey, glasses, shushing, books, hairbuns, Party Girl and card catalogs.  Yes, we know what people think.  We know that the American, library profession is approximately 80% White and 72% female; and we know that tens of thousands of librarians are expected to reach age 65 in the next 5 years.  We also know that this is not us.

  Logically, the solution that follows was for them to release a calendar.  Logically, I was always going to be behind this decision.  Well played, Guybrarians.  I noticed a little headline on EW when reading Fiddy's book exerpt earlier, but figured it was probably a good idea to wait until home.  It was the logical choice, you see.  Especially because...hot snap, Mister January!  I hope that is not a library book!  Someone is totally getting this for Christmas.

Tidbits: $0.50 on 50 Cent's

So, 50 Cent is writing a book.  A book about bullying.  A book titled Playground.  Yeah, you read that correctly.  EW has a three chapter preview up for your reading perusal.   I'm going to assume by the title page that he is...somewhat affiliated?  Not because he can't write.  In fact, I bet if he did more of the writing it'd sound a million times better, and I'd probably be about to make less fun of it.  But the voice?  It's a bit White lady trying to sound like a teenage Black boy.  Insert huge eye rooooollll.   I hope the book gets better in chapter 4.  Here's what you need to know:

• It is about bullying.  I'm going to guess about how one becomes a bully.  Since that's what Fiddy tells us in his intro. 
• It is "partially autobiographical," which leads me to wonder why they didn't use the term semi-autobiographical.  Are they different?  Is this wordplay?  Am I overthinking?
• The protagonist is a 13-year-old boy named Butterball from Garden City, NJ.  Except I only learned that he was 13 from reading the EW preface blurbage, not the book, unless I missed something.
• In fact, I spent a solid few minutes while reading it trying to figure out how old this Butterball character is.  Because...how old could they be if they are hanging out on a playground during school, and then talking about getting invited to a coed party?  The party part pegs them at at least middle school, since there is a solid no boys at girls party (and vice versa) cootie rule from second to sixth grade.  Everyone knows that.   It's just science.  But then again, what middle school still has a playground?  Or recess?
• Another thing has me confused in the first three chapters.  Initially, you think the bully may be Maurice.  But you'd be a fool, despite the tricksy fat-kid mislead, because what bully is named Maurice?  Maurice is Belle's dad in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  Everyone knows that.  It's just science!  Craaaazy old Maurice!  Moreover, what kind of bully named Maurice sits on the swings by himself reading a book?  Clearly, it is Butterball, he of the rotund, Thanksgiving association.  And he of the sock filled with D-batteries that he beats the stuffing out of Maurice on the confusing playground.  See what I did there?  This book is so written by a White lady.
• It has illustrations.  Much like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.  Clearly Razorbill has a target audience.  
• I should add that I like that the topic is bullying from the bully's POV; it's not something you'd expect from a celebrity author.  Snaps on that account. 
• This is now about as long as the exerpt. 

The Future of Us, by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler: AIM for memory lane!

The Future of Us
by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Razorbill: New York
ARC reviewed, pub date November 21, 2011

It's 1996, the internet was accessed through the phone line, few people had computers, Jerry Maguire showed us the money, band camp hadn't yet been slandered, and Facebook wasn't even a wink in Mark Zuckerburg's prepubescent eye.  Life-long best friends and neighbors Josh and Emma have been a bit on the outs since Josh let his burgeoning feelings for Emma be known.  Emma's recently remarried dad has gifted her a computer. Josh's mom makes him bring over their AOL CD to install on her computer.  When she does, it loads to a site she's never heard of, something called Facebook, where an woman in her early thirties bears a striking resemblance to her, in addition to sharing her first name.  Even weirder, Josh has an older doppelganger with the same name too.  But every time they reload the page, things seem to change in the lives of these strange same faced and named people.  As they explore the site, Josh and Emma learn more about themselves and realize that the decisions they make change the lives of the people they will become.  This fun book may be best suited to older YA's, and especially towards twenty to thirty somethings who will nostalgically remember well the days when it took forever to log in to AOL...  

Tidbits: Chaos Walking Movies? I feel unokay.

You guys.  Thanks to Ms. Hawes, movie maven and IMDB queen,  I have been duly notified that Lionsgate has optioned Patrick Ness' fantastics Chaos Walking books.  Honestly, not sure how to feel.  Yes, I want more people to read these fabulous books.  But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I think that Hollywood may royally miss the boat and muck up this fantastic series.  As she pointed out in her email, how would they even recreate the Noise? How!?!?   I'm going to have to sleep on this one!  I am, however, reassured that they've just purchased the rights, and that there is a producer of repute...it could be years or never that the ruiners get on board their ruiny train and ruin a fantastic series!  Maybe I have made up my mind...I'm only in, and only slightly so, if like...John Malkovich is cast as Mayor Prentiss. 

Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater: Horse whispering by the shore

Scorpio Races

by Maggie Stiefvater

Scholastic: New York, 2011

Publishing date 10/18/2011

     On the small isle of Thisby, the arrival of autumn hearlds the start of training for Scorpio Races, a 5-mile slog down cliff-bound beach on the back of barely tamed man-eating horses.   Adapted from the Gaelic and Celtic legends of the kelpie, the blood thirsty water horses are known of as the capall uisce, drawn to shore every year by the November tides.  Yearly, men die in the races, either trampled or mauled by the monstrous animals they race.  Yet the races are the economic and cultural backbone of Thisby, a mid-century fictional island that reminds of a small Irish island.  Four-time race winner and pseudo-horse whisperer Sean Kendrick saw his father die in the race as a child, yet is drawn to the powerful and dangerous capail uisce.  He longs of earning enough to purchase the capall uisce on which he has successfully raced, Corr, from his horse dealer employer.  This year, though, the tides have turned.  Kate “Puck” Connelly, orphaned by the capall uisce, will be the first woman to enter the race, audacious enough to race on a regular horse.  Puck is racing both to save her home from the same horse dealer, and to stall her older brother from migrating to the mainland.  Stoic and quiet Sean is the only man on the island who gives her a chance, even helping her train.  Puck and Sean both have everything to lose and everything to gain, including a friendship that has the potential to blossom into more.  Will they make it through training?  Will Puck be allowed to race?  Will they survive the race?  Who will win?  Who will lose everything?  This book is strongly recommended to girls aged 12-15, and may hold appeal for fans of Stiefvater’s other series.