Worlds Collide with Amy Poehler and George R.R. Martin!

Remember how I mentioned that Amy Poehler's book and George R.R. Martin's book came out at the same time? They're both on the publicity track, and stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers this week. Here is the silliness that followed



My favorite was the aunt who didn't get invited to the Red Wedding. That's legit.

Happy Potterween! New Stories up on Pottermore!

Six new essays from J.K. Rowling about various Harry Potter characters (including Dolores Umbridge, thestrals, and Sybil Trelawney) are up on Pottermore as you read this! Very exciting. The telegraph has a whole live blog about it. I know what I'll be doing at work today! Ok, I'll be doing work, but hopefully I can fit a little of this in, too.

"Yes, Please" is SO GOOD!

Expect to see a lot of Amy Poehler love over here in the new few days, because a) she's doing a lot of press and b) I'm reading her book, Yes, Please and it's SO GOOD! There are moments I laughed out loud on the subway on the way to work this morning, and it has put me in such a great mood. This woman lifts everyone up. I love her! So, yes, I know I've already given her a shout out, but she deserves like a million more!

So for your enjoyment, Jezebel rounded up their favorite answers from Amy's Reddit AMAA. And here is the full AMAA.

You Ain't Cool Unless You Support Planned Parenthood*

Lena Dunham's book tour t-shirt says, "Lena [Heart] Planned Parenthood." And now tons of celebs are wearing them! It's a great way to raise awareness for Planned Parenthood (and Lena's book). Planned Parenthood is also going to be doing nine events in coordination with the book tour throughout October. You can check out them all the celeb photos at HuffPo.

*Yes that was a Billy Madison reference for some terrible reason.

A Whole New World... of Ice and Fire!

Big day! In addition to Yes, Please, George R.R. Martin's latest encyclopedia, A World of Ice and Fire came out today! The husb and I got our copy in the mail. Spoiler alert: it's enormous! But there are also a lot of pretty pictures in it. It's like an adult picture book combined with a fun textbook. Well, I say fun. We haven't read it yet. But I sure do hope it's fun!

Yes, Please! Start Reading "Yes, Please"!

Speaking of books that came out today, you can now read Amy Poehler's Yes, Please! What are you doing reading this blog? Go! Order it online! Grab it in a bookstore! Kindle it! iPad it! But get it in your mind-tummy!

And if you need a little extra convincing, you can read a few excerpts from the book here and here!

Let's Get Physics, Y'all!

Megan Amram has written a new book, Science... For Her! which comes out November 4th. To promote it, she's released this music video even our tiny, ladylike brains can understand!

Let's Get Physics Y'all with Megan Amram, Nick Offerman, Rich Fulcher, and Steve Agee from Nick Offerman      

I know what I'll be reading on the 4th and what I'll be trying to get out of my head forever!

"Harry Potter" Helps Teen Readers Empathize

In case you needed another reason re-read Harry Potter or gift them to your little cousins or nieces and nephews, a new study suggests reading the HP books increases your ability to empathize with different people, particularly "out groups" vs "in groups".  From the Scientific American article on the study:

For decades it's been known that an effective means of improving negative attitudes and prejudices between differing groups of people is through intergroup contact – particularly through contact between “in-groups,” or a social group to which someone identifies, and “out-groups,” or a group they don’t identify with or perceive as threatening. Even reading short stories about friendship between in- and out-group characters is enough to improve attitudes toward stigmatized groups in children. A new study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that reading the Harry Potter books in particular has similar effects, likely in part because Potter is continually in contact with stigmatized groups. The “muggles” get no respect in the wizarding world as they lack any magical ability. The “half-bloods,” or “mud-bloods” – wizards and witches descended from only one magical parent – don’t fare much better, while the Lord Voldemort character believes that power should only be held by “pure-blood” wizards. He’s Hitler in a cloak.

Intuitively, this feels right, but it's good to know it's backed by science and not just the innate yearnings of my heart.

The Toast's "Outlander" Drinking Game

The humor site, The Toast, has a pitch-perfect drinking game for the new Starz' series, Outlander (and the books the show is based on). I should also mention that if you really do abide by it, you will get super-schwasted, so proceed with caution.

Also, I really wish I could watch the show without paying for Starz! They totally hooked me on the first episode (they gave us a free weekend of Starz and then just took it away! Which was the point but still lame).

Read an Unpublished Chapter of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

You can read a whole, unpublished chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory over at The Guardian.

There's generally a reason why part of a book doesn't get published, and it certainly makes sense here (too many kids!), but the mountain of vanilla fudge does sound delectable - though I'd prefer salted caramel fudge to vanilla.

New Bloomsbury Harry Potter Covers!

I dig the red theme and the creepiness of the thestrals

Recently, Scholastic got some new Harry Potter artwork, so now Bloomsbury is following in their footsteps. I was never a fan of Bloomsbury's old HP covers, so these are a huge improvement. They're pretty spoiler-y (especially Book 7), so I guess they're really more for fans who have already read the books. I also feel like Harry doesn't really age throughout them - i.e. look at him in Book 1 vs Book 7 - not a huge difference even though it's been seven years! Ah well, the artwork in and of itself is really lovely.

Check out all the covers here!

Jane Austen Characters "Against" Feminism

Not sure if you've heard of the anger-inducing meme going around "women against feminism." It's super frustrating, but the blog Mansfeel Park did a fun takedown using Jane Austen characters. You can read more hilariously dumb male commentary-turned-comic at their site. Here's their Jane Austen Characters Against Feminism:

[Via HuffPo]

Awww, "Potterhood"

I saw Boyhood two weeks ago. It really felt like growing up. I don't love every Richard Linklater film (I think Waking Life only works if you're stoned), but I felt like this movie was well-suited to what he does well: capture a mood. The mood was "growing up" for both children and parents. It captured Texas well (nice shout out to the Dallas World Aquarium, even if they were supposed to be in Houston), and sometimes it's nice to have a movie where the biggest conflicts are "just feeling shitty" or "not knowing how to act around my parents" or "frustration at my kids for not appreciating me" and the normal story beats of "kid makes a bad choice > terrible consequence" aren't there. It's a real slice of life film if slice of life films were actually realistic. Of course, there is drama in one sequence, which I won't spoil, but the overall tone is much more subtle.

And all of that is to say that as much as I enjoyed the film in its two hours and forty minutes of nostalgia, I enjoyed this mash-up of Boyhood and the eight Harry Potter movies just as much:



[via /Film]

Comic Con: Stephen Colbert Surprises Everyone! Also the new Hobbit trailer

Guess who popped up to lead The Hobbit panel at Comic Con last weekend? That's right! The split-second scene-stealing Shifty-Eyed Lake-Town Spy himself! Vulture has the full text of Stephen's remarks. As is appropriate for anything relating to Tolkien, it's epic.

Oh, and here's the new trailer for The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies. Or, as I call it, The Hobbit: We Fleshed Out All the Crazy-Enormous Battles that Tolkien Kind of Breezed Over Because, Hey, It Was Supposed to Be a Kid's Book.

Mindy Kaling's Writing a New Book Because We Did Something Good this Year

We must have major karma rolling in to be getting books from Amy Poehler *and* Mindy Kaling this year! Mindy's new book is titled, Why Not Me? which she says has been her motto for life. Makes sense. It'll cover essentially everything that's happened since her last book, which has been, well, quite a lot. I'm stoked to read it! Also stoked to find out when it's going to be released! You can read more about the new book here (oh, look who it is, Davies again! Clearly, this is why we are friends).

"Yes Please" Let Us Read Amy Poehler's New Book!

I can't wait for Amy Poehler's book, "Yes Please" to come out in October (which I think is prime book-releasing season since it creates a buzz before Christmas and weirdos - i.e. me - only give the gift of books because they think it's more personal *and* more cheap than whatever fancy thing the recipient actually wants), but that means they forgo the wonderful summer reading season! I can totally picture myself on the beach, huddled under an umbrella saying, "Why is it so sunny and nice!? I can't read in this weather!"

Anywho - in the meantime, you can enjoy the cover art. I know I do:

It's reminiscent of her theater days, and makes me think of "yes, and" but in a more fun, "give me more" way. To that end, I wonder how much of her life and which aspects it will focus on. She's such an interesting lady. I can't wait to *Amy Poehler-style newsie boy* "Read all about it!"

[via Jezebel]

LeVar Burton's "Reading Rainbow" Kickstarter!

I'm totally onboard with LeVar Burton's new Kickstarter campaign to bring Reading Rainbow to classrooms around the world for free! Here's his promo video and the link to the campaign!



Pretty great, right? They've already reached their minimum, but I'm sure they'll put any extra funds to good use!

[via /Film]

Rest in Peace, Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou passed away today. Seems like a good time to re-read, Why the Caged Bird Sings. The Hairpin has a lot of links to her other work, and also the end of her memorable inaugural poem for Bill Clinton.

And a delightful comedic tribute to her from Maya Rudolph on SNL:

Read 'Light is Like Water" a Short by the Late Gabriel García Márquez

Anyone who's taken Latin America literature (or hopefully just literature at all) has read some of Gabriel García Márquez's work. 100 Years of Solitude is still one of my favorite books. But if you aren't familiar or want to read something short to remind yourself of what a great author he was, you can read his short story, "Light is Like Water" here. You can also read some thoughts on his passing here and a proper obituary here.

Interactive Game of Thrones Map!

Still upset about the latest episode of Game of Thrones? Need a distraction without leaving the GoT universe? Check out this incredible, interactive, Google-ified, detailed map of Westeros and Essos. It's amazing!

[via Neatorama]