Please click on the image to visit an online store which has only 8 (wonderful) products.

PENCIL TIP SCULPTURE BY AN ARTIST NAMED DALTON GHETTI!!!

just saw this on boingboing, and thought you should also see it right this very instant: The Minimalist–101 Fast Recipes for Grilling

I have not read Pride and Prejudice.

I have not read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I will not play a video game for the iPhone based on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Or won’t I?

This, of course, raises several interesting questions, such as: Why haven’t I read Jane Austen’s novel? Well, why haven’t you read Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino?

ANYWAY

The question I’d really like to address is this one: Why, initially, when I read about the video game based on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, did I react negatively? And why, after that initial negative reaction, did I quickly talk myself out of it?

How would I feel if someone asked if they could make a video game based on one of my books? Probably awesome, right?

Why didn’t I have that initial negative reaction when I found out someone had created a video game based on Italo Calvino’s story “The Distance of the Moon” from his book Cosmicomics?

I love video games with a narrative, even if that narrative is forced and trite and silly (Zelda, I’m looking at you), but is there something wrong with making a video game based on a narrative which is based on a narrative?

In many ways, I suppose this will boil down to questions of copyright and cultural appropriation, but it also has to do with a kind of cultural elitism from which I suffer: A video game based on Calvino is cool because Calvino is relatively obscure, and the game might get people to read his work; A video game based on a book about zombies (hugely popular in the culture right now) which itself is based on a book by Jane Austen (also hugely popular right now) is not cool because it’s capitalizing on (what I see as tired) cultural trends and will not, in all likelihood, get anyone to read either Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or even Pride and Prejudice.

blah blah blah

None of this really answers why I immediately talked myself out of my initial negative reaction, does it?

I suppose this post could just as easily have been about the Broadway musical version of Young Frankenstein.

This low-mileage (36383), well-taken-care-of, Honda Civic comes with manual transmission, power windows, single-CD player, and the Honda Music Link adapter for iPod. Both engine and body are in great shape. The car has never been in an accident. A small chip in the windshield was repaired in 2007. It has received all scheduled maintenance (all paperwork is available on request, and I will happily show you the Carfax). And it still gets great gas mileage. This Honda has had only one (non-smoking) owner. This may be the ideal car: Practical, reliable, and still a lot of fun to drive!

Call Shawn at 303.351.1374

Or see the ad on Vehix.com here.