Bart King's Blog, page 280

"The Big Book of Kingology"

I was lucky enough to visit James John Elementary School in Portland the other day. In addition to meeting many cool people, I was stunned to be presented with the Big Book of Kingology. And it's the coolest thing I've ever seen!
FYI, the book's authors used my family pictures and biographies at bartking.net as a jumping-off point. It includes an inventive dialogue between my sister Gretchen and myself...
Some ideas for my father-in-law...
A speculation on my dad... This priceless "How To Be...

Gabbing with Gingkoes and Chatting with Chestnuts

It's a lovely notion, really.

Book Description: Talks with Trees: A Plant Psychic's Interviews with Vegetables, Flowers and Trees contains a collection of over thirty interviews with many different species of plants and trees including ancient redwoods, a Japanese maple, a garlic bulb, an onion, an apple tree, two heads of lettuce, a purple potato and many more.

The author [is:] a spirit channel for over fifteen years… His first interviewee was a potted plant sitting atop a bank counter. While...

I Made a Video!

It's for The Big Book of Gross Stuff.

Step, Slide or Boom?

I have a sister nicknamed "Boom" because as a wee child, she fell down the thirteen stairs in our house.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
She was okay.
But Boom could have avoided both her bumpy fate and unusual nickname if our parents had installed a slide in the house.How cool would that have been? And as you can see above, that's what London architect Alex Michaelis did for his kids.
The beauty of these kinds of stairway additions is that when...

Open Mouth, Insert Foot, Win Award

The Plain English Campaign has singled out the most poorly-worded statement made by a public figure last year.
Ladies and Gentlemen, here is Lord Mandelson, your "Foot in Mouth" winner!

"Perhaps we need not more people looking round more corners but the same people looking round more corners more thoroughly to avoid the small things detracting from the big things the Prime Minister is getting right."

A Tale to Warm Your Library Card

We can agree that the traditional red phone booths (aka, "phone boxes") that used to be all over the United Kingdom are cool. But who uses public phones anymore? Nobody. So why not put something that is cutting edge in the booth, like say, books?

Heck, why not put in a whole library?

The residents of a small village in Somerset have done just that. When their "Giles Gilbert Scott K6 design phone box" was threatened with demolition, the 800 people of Westbury-sub-Mendip defended its honor by b...

Multi-Tasking in the Oregonian

The Sunday Oregonian 's "Books" section has a piece of mine about micro-literary criticism and Twitter. As the headline above shows, the formatting of the piece is spot-on.
But I also bring sad news: The author's photo accompanying the on-line article reveals me as both insufferably smarmy AND blurry around the edges. (Smarmy and blurry? Hmm, that's actually not half-bad...)

My Most Favorite Job: "Master of Cheese"

One of the most specialized jobs in the world is being a Maître Fromager (mate-trah fro-maj). That's French for "Cheese Master." It's not what you think; the Maître Fromager doesn't order the cheese around. Rather, he or she is in charge of tasting and testing different cheeses to judge their quality.
But it's a dangerous job. Cheese elbow is a common injury the Maître Fromager can get from cutting pieces of different cheeses over and over again every day. (Insert your own "cutting the...

Cookin' with Coolio

And they say publishing is in trouble. (I guess they hadn't counted on the Ghetto Gourmet.)

That Sound You Hear Is Barbie Screaming

This garish version of the Ken doll was announced in October... and cancelled in November! And so the product description is all that exists of this once-proud doll:

"Join the cool sophistication in breezy Palm Beach! Sporting a dashing jacquard-patterned jacket with a light pink polo shirt and crisp white pants, this Ken Doll is ready for the Palm Beach social season, sunning by the pool, and a stroll with his furry little companion. Fashion designed exclusively for the Silkstone Barbie Doll...