Bart King's Blog, page 266

Make-Up Will Never Be Fun Again

In 1986, this book came out. It was billed as "fun."

Any reader brave or crazy enough to open it was then exposed to these horrors:

Look, it's not that I have anything against wearing creative make-up. I have some on right now! But somehow, the fact that these kids aren't even TRYING to give a fake smile makes them extremely scary.



That's not fun.



And you can take it from me...I'm an expert!



Top images from Awful Library Books.

Yes, Those Vacuum Cleaners Suck...

...and they're cool anyway! Between its 13-year-old inventor and giant suckerpads, I love this story... despite its less-than-promising lead: "Schoolboy Hibiki Kono can be pretty unpleasant."

It's a Plane! It's a Car!

Actually, it's a Terrafugia, and it's a flying car…or a light aircraft auto. When the plane is a car, its wings fold up so that it can go down normal roads.



And when the car is a plane, it flies. That means drivers must have pilot's licenses, and pilots must also have driver's licenses. Hey, I wonder if the car's airbags would help if you went into a dive and crashed into a mountain?

Just wondering.

It's an Exciting Monday!

Or not.

Yep, It's a Kitten Riding a Tortoise

What are you going to do about it?

Hopefully, He's Not THAT Stupid

A Royal Air Force co-pilot has some fun at the driver's expense. Story here.

The Trunk of the Tree Goes Round and Round...

See this pretty picture? Those round things to the right are tree trunks.

Yep, a Dutch company called BOARD came up with a plan to use fast-growing willow trees to create "artsy" shapes with the wood. More info here.

Some of My Favorite Things to Read

Do you ever just want to ROCK?

Or would you rather stay at home teaching your dog how to play with turtles?

I don't know about you, but on a day like today, I feel like shopping for a car that can really reflect who I am...

Now as you get to the end of this crummy blog post, you may be angry...in which case, do I have the book for you!

Some of these images are from Awful Library Books.

The Library Sign at My Old High School

The Library Sign, originally uploaded by Bart King.

Chundering and Proposals Don't Mix

I was once an incurable romantic, but since my last round of inoculations, I've gotten better. But even so, I was pleased to read that a young man named Oliver Harkness proposed to girlfriend Priyanka Chaudhuri with a display in the shop window of London's Primrose Hill Books.



MERITS: Oliver described his feelings leading up to the big moment this way: "I was so nervous I nearly chundered." (Bonus: The bookstore manager, Jessica Graham, loved the idea.)DEMERITS: Oliver is a banker. While...