Happy Snarksgiving

November 27, 2008 | Filed Under Random Acts of Snarkness | Leave a Comment 

Pimp My [Book] Ride

Unshelved has chosen its picks for their 2008 contest, Pimp My Bookcart. The competition, sponsored by Smith System, encouraged any institutions that utilized the almighty book cart to deck out the rolling shelving units and enter the running. The contest received over 100 submissions this year from places all around the globe — schools, libraries, bookstores, even a jail. 

First prize was awarded to the pimpiest bookcart, Food for Thought, by Student Employees of Columbia University Library. They expanded on the hot dog vendor theme to create a unique literary transporter that looked like Oscar Mayer-on-wheels, but was actually loaded with delicious books. Good on you, Student Employees of Columbia University Library!

Second Prize went to Phoenix Rising by Harlem High School Welding 3. These ingenious students transformed a boring old bookcart into a pretty impressive miniature firetruck. Also notable is the expandable ladder on top of the cart, which has a cherry picker-like bucket on the end — complete with a stuffed, and presumably freshly-rescued, cat.

There was also a Kid’s Special Prize, as well as a whole slew of runners-up. My personal favorite is Joad’s Jalopy, by the Briargate Branch of Pikes Peak Library District. The entry, inspired by Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, is a bookcart pimped out to look like an old-fashioned whitetrashmobile. Yee-haw!

Visit Unshelved to see photos of all the big winners.

 

Story Source  Unshelved  |  Image Source  Bookcases Galore

November 26, 2008 | Filed Under Eyes on the Prize | 3 Comments 

Bad Sex Can Win You a Prize

Well…sort of.

The UK’s Literary Review annually presents its Bad Sex in Fiction Award to an author who has penned the worst sex scene in a novel published in that year. But don’t think the title is reserved for low-rent erotica and cheap paperback romances. The awards tend to single out some of the biggest names in literature for their boner-killing attempts at crafting a serviceable sex scene. Nominees for the distinction have included John Updike, Paulo Coelho, Tom Wolfe (who won in 2004 for a scene from I Am Charlotte Simmons), and Norman Mailer (last year’s winner, whose A Castle in the Forest contains a passage describing a penis as “soft as a coil of excrement” — talk about boner-killer).

Today, the 2008 Bad Sex in Fiction Award was awarded to Rachel Johnson, who faced — pardon the term — stiff competition this year (Updike and Coelho were among her fellow nominees). Johnson’s novel Shire Hell contained the winning passage, which the prize committee singled out for its bizarre collection of animal metaphors (i.e. comparing a character’s tongue to “a cat lapping up a dish of cream so as not to miss a single drop”). 

But Johnson is thrilled with the award, calling it an “absolute honor”. ”I’m not feeling remotely grumpy about it,” she said. The author was present at today’s ceremony and accepted the award — a big plaster foot — from actor Dominic West (The Wire).

Congratulations, Rachel Johnson! (I think.)

 

Story Source  The Guardian  |  Image Source  The Daily Mail

November 25, 2008 | Filed Under Eyes on the Prize, Newsies | 1 Comment 

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      WHAT IS A SNARK?




      The Snark is a creature created by Lewis Carroll in his poem "The Hunting of the Snark". To give a proper description of Snarks, one must look no further than Carroll himself, who summed them up in one word: Unimaginable.

      But this much we do know: some have feathers, some have whiskers. Snarks sleep a lot, yet they are an ambitious lot -- with very little sense of humor. They love bathing-machines and tend to bring them wherever they go; they are also handy for striking a light. Snarks live on a far-off island, a place filled with chasms and crags, and are constantly on the lookout for Snark-hunters. Their mortal enemies are hope, care, thimbles and forks.

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