Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy are joining the ranks of Holly Hobby and My Little Pony--iconic toys that have been "updated" for modern audiences. School Library Journal reports that Simon and Schuster and Starz Media have joined forces to return the dolls to the pop culture spotlight. The new Raggedy Ann looks awfully cute. She has a sort of manga style about her. But I loved her in her original incarnation. This must be how Pooh fans felt when Disney got their hands on the franchise and irrevocabley defined how Winnie the Pooh looked for generations of children.
Now I like the sci-fi madness of Philip K. Dick as much as the next obsessive fan, but this is just amazing.
A film company has just bought three-year, first-look rights to the entire collection of Dick stories and novels that have yet to be turned into movies. It is a rare writer who can inspire this kind of commitment from fans. Just listen to this:
"Based on material from Dick's vast body of work, co-productions may include film adaptations, as well as television and other media projects. Details of the production slate are forthcoming. Dick's works include more than 120 short stories and 45 novels."
SF Signal readers are talking about why Dick's stories lend themselves so well to other media, as well as proposing new films.
If you want something a bit more down to earth, PeteLit has nice, well-written list describing his favorite lit-bloggers. Find some new reading material.
Over at the MFA Blog, Daryll Lynne Evans has some grim professional advice for writers thinking about MFA's. The readership is already chiming in over the great career debate:
"I've got a fresh, if alarming, take on what's out there. First you need to understand that you're not getting the MFA to learn a job skill or walk into a paying career. No "precise job opportunities" are attached to the MFA."
Imagine a book club full of Dick-heads all studying the same book.
That's right. A longtime fan of science fiction genius Philip K. Dick will be live-blogging his reading experience this summer. David Gill (founder of both the blog and the pun, Total Dick Head) will be revisiting Dick's dense novel, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
His post inspired me to dig out my own copy and re-read this trippy masterpiece. Check it out:
"Scene by scene, chapter by chapter, I'll be analyzing the action, looking for common PKD themes and connections to other works, enjoying the new notes on the novel prepared by Jonathan Lethem for the Library of America release, and exploring scholarly work done on the novel."
Yesterday Kimberlee Morrison suggested we all pick up the "cerebral and intricate" novel Paradise. That book has already spawned plenty of book club analysis, but could merit a blogged reading as well.
Close reading such "intricate" books will make you a stronger writer and help you find your reading community as well. What other books could use this kind of close reading among blogging fans?
