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Forrester: E-book sales to hit $1 billion this year
Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Corporate News,
Research firm Forrester has released some numbers on E-book sales for the year, and they're betting that this is the first year where e-book sales will reach close to $1 billion. They also say that by 2015, that amount will pass the $3 billion mark. The survey questioned 4,000 people and indicated that more and more people get their books in digital form. While only 7% read books in e-book format now, they spend a lot of money on them, and that figure will continue to grow. It seems the most popular device to read e-books on is the desktop computer, followed by the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPhone and Sony eReader.
Read More 
| CNet
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Mark Twain Tops Bestseller List ... 100 Years After His Death
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories:
Mark Twain’s name appears on high school reading lists all over the country, and even decades years after his death he was a controversial character. Twain’s stories have been repeated targets of censorship, in some cases being burned and banned in bulk. The man himself was a colorful character, who is well-known for being a prolific drinker, gambler and rider of riverboats.
Now, a century after his death, he’s at the very top of the Amazon bestseller list … with a brand-new book.
Twain’s last book, Autobiography of Mark Twain, is only one of many books to be published after Twain’s death … but it is perhaps the most anticipated. Twain decreed that the book must wait for publication for 100 years after his death, which occurred in April 1910.
The first volume of the lengthy book will be available on November 15.
Read More | Entertainment Weekly
VIDEO: Lauren Conrad Offers Fashion Advice Via PSA
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Celebrities, Fashion Designers, News, Videos,
Reality star-turned-writer Lauren Conrad is taking to the internet (with the help of Ryan Seacrest) to promote her latest book, Style.
In her PSA, Conrad targets “fashion f****-ups,” in which she uses Anna Wintour‘s face to cover up the expletive. As humorous as it is and as much as I agree, I find it hard to listen to fashion advice from someone whose style mostly consists of flip-flops, jeans, and simple dresses. Her boldest fashion move was a Moschino dress at the MTV Movie Awards!
If you do happen to like her styling tips, her book is now available in stores.
Batman: Gotham City 14 Miles
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Television, DC Comics,
Mark Waid says it best in the blurb he wrote for the book I most want this Christmas. Says the man from Boom! Studios: “I now have a new book for my ‘Five I’d Take to a Desert Island’ list. Gotham City 14 Miles is the perfect companion to my favorite pop-culture phenomenon of all time!”
In case you need an explanation, 14 miles is the distance from the Batcave underneath “stately Wayne Manor” to Gotham City in the 1960s Batman TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Gotham City 14 Miles is the title of a forthcoming book of essays about that TV classic, edited by my pal Jim Beard.
Inside, Beard’s bunch offers up a thoughtful reevaluation of the 44-year-old show, one of the first big comic book successes on the small screen. The series had an impact not just on pop culture, but on the DC Comics Batman as well. According to Beard, “essays examine Batmania, camp, the role of women, the show’s participation in ‘60s counter-culture, its many celebrated actors, its lasting cultural effects, and other critical subjects.”
Click to continue reading Batman: Gotham City 14 Miles
Steven Spielberg Eyeing Robopocalypse
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: DreamWorks, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Science Fiction, Books, Rumors,
Steven Spielberg is considering a directorial role on Robopocalypse.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker is lining up the project—based on a forthcoming novel by Daniel H. Wilson—with reports that Dreamworks is “in a frenzy” about the potential of the movie.
“With DreamWorks, everything is potentially a Steven project - until it’s not. That’s why everyone’s in a frenzy trying to read it,” a source told the Vulture blog.
The story, which was optioned by the studio back in November 2009, is believed to be a realistic portrayal of a possible robot uprising.
It is one of a number of robot-related projects being created by DreamWorks. Transformers 3 is due to be released earlier next year, while Reel Steel, a movie about robot boxing, is due to hit cinemas in November 2011.
Steven is currently filming War Horse - the tale of a boy who goes to the battlefields of World War I to find his beloved horse - and is attached to work on sci-fi movie Interstellar, due for release in 2012.
Read More | New York Magazine
Russell Brand Spent a Night With Kate Moss
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Movies, Hook-ups, Rumors,
First Courtney Love—now Russell Brand is admitting that he once spent the night with Kate Moss.
The British comedian took the supermodel back to his house in 2006 after being introduced to her by their mutual friend Sadie Frost. Russell, 35, reveals in his new book My Booky Wook 2: This Time It’s Personal:
“When we arrive at Sadie’s house it is decided that Matt Morgan, co-presenter of my radio show, should walk into the house, so there is no photo of me and her together. “This gives me hope that we do have something to hide, but also makes me jealous of Matt as he gets to walk up the driveway with her. Within the beautiful house we flirt for a while, then under some mutual pretence of looking at hung photographs of Sadie’s deplorably gorgeous children we wander off. We are alone. Eventually there is no more universe between our lips and so we kiss. And yes, on one level I’m enjoying the kiss, but my mind is screaming, screeching, body-popping, lambada-ing, every-dance-craze-there’s-ever-been-ing. I get on with the kiss, and I think it’s a good kiss, but of course all this analysis going on simultaneously. “I’ve got to get her out the house. Ludicrously I say to her, ‘Do you want to come back to mine Kate Moss?’”
When Kate agreed to go back to his London home with him, Russell admits it was one of the most exciting moments of his life, but also one of the most nerve-wracking.
Click to continue reading Russell Brand Spent a Night With Kate Moss
Weekend Reading: Alan Moore, Tamara Drewe and Darwyn Cooke
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Reviews,
So did you read that great interview Adi Tantimedh had with Alan Moore over yet at Bleeding Cool? I was going to write about it precisely because I disagreed with almost every comment on the site and then I discovered that a much better writer, Tom Spurgeon at the Comics Reporter, did a much better job of encapsulating my feelings. So my work here is done.
Remember all those comic book movies that people outside of comics don’t really know are based on comics because they don’t have capes and boots, like The Losers, Scott Pilgrim, Road To Perdition, etc. There’s a new one coming up next month called Tamara Drewe, based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds.
The trailer looks awesome and I get a Reuben, Reuben vibe from watching it. (Yes, that’s the world’s oldest reference point, but go look it up.) Tamara Drewe looks like a lot of fun and I hope it moves a few thousand copies of the graphic novel, which is also well worth reading. Here’s a nice article on the movie from the BBC.
Now let’s see what else is out there.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Alan Moore, Tamara Drewe and Darwyn Cooke
Grace Coddington Autobiography in the Works
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Celebrities, Editorials, Models, News,
Grace Coddington is to pen her fashion memoirs.
The Welsh-born fashion writer, who came to the attention of many thanks to her starring role in The September Issue alongside Anna Wintour, is to write a book with Men’s Vogue editor-in-chief Jay Fielden.
“We’re just starting, and I think it’s going to be a really fun project. I’m hoping it’s going to be very rich in fashion history.”
The book is expected to document her early life in Wales, as well as her careers at both British and American Vogue. The flame-haired former model is currently the creative director of American Vogue, and joined the magazine on the same day as Anna Wintour in 1988.
Her profile was raised by The September Issue, which explored her relationship with both Wintour and the other stylists and designers involved with the magazine. Grace began working for Vogue after her modeling career was cut short due to a car crash that led her to require plastic surgery.
Heidi Montag Taking Legal Action to Prevent Spencer Pratt Tell-All
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Television, Break-ups, Divorce, Legal Issues, Rumors,
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag have at least one more thing to argue about. The soon-to-be-divorced couple is squabbling over Pratt’s future plans to pen a tell-all book about his private life with Heidi Montag.
“This is exactly why I left him,” Montag told reporters when asked about the book. “Right now, I’m looking into my legal options.”
In an interview with Us Weekly, Spencer Pratt said his book will detail his entire relationship with Heidi. The tell-all will also contain details about Montag’s family life, particularly her relationship with her mother Darlene Egelhoff.
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag will be divorced on Valentine’s Day 2011. Heidi formally filed for divorce on the couple’s first wedding anniversary.
Read More | TMZ
Bartleby’s Book of Buttons now available for iPad
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Books, iPad Apps, New Apps, $4.99,
Hey, all you iPad-owning parents out there, if you are looking for a children’s storybook that does more than just read aloud to your kids, you’ve gotta check out Bartleby’s Book of Buttons Vol. 1: The Far Away Island. What makes this different enough to warrant our excitement? Well, we’ve been playing with it since it’s been in beta, and it’s just fun for kids…and to be honest, even fun for an adult to go through once or twice. It’s a case study for how you can take books, and do them differently on the iPad, providing a fun, interactive experience for kids and parents to share together. Each chapter of the book is a puzzle that follows the story, but to get to the next chapter, you must first solve the puzzle. Each puzzle that you solve “unlocks” that chapter in the table of contents, so you can skip to any unlocked chapter from the beginning.
The puzzles aren’t hard, but for a little child it might take them a minute or two of playing with the page to figure it out, which is great to see. We’ve got a Bartleby Book of Buttons gallery that shows you a page from each chapter, to give you an idea of what we mean. But seriously, if you have a child between the ages of, say, 5-10, we don’t see how you can go wrong. Bartleby’s Book of Buttons Vol. 1 is available now on the App Store for $4.99.
Read More | Bartleby's Book of Buttons Vol. 1
