Friday, March 11, 2011

Fantasy Football Doesn't Count

Time for the Friday round up with Laura:

Before we do the official round up, Eric and have been having a "discussion" that has gotten "heated" and may start a "feud," that is entirely the fault of the British mail system. The Royal Mail is putting out fantasy stamps. Dumbledore, Aslan, Merlin—lots of folks. I tried to come up with a list of iconic fantasy characters from the US to start my own stamp system, but my suggestions of Spiderman and Crash Bandicoot and Darth Vader were rejected. So: thoughts? All of my ideas have been callously rejected, and shit's going to get serious soon. This is a cry for help. Please help.

So while you're thinking about that, think about this: Funny or Die has a new book imprint, but they're not publishing Bill Cosby's new book, or the new Shel Silverstein collection. Which, you know, sad. But I'm sure they'll do something good. I'm considering getting an Amazon Prime membership to get all of their new books, either with free shipping or downloaded on the Kindles Amazon might give to Prime members. I can read through all of the untrustworthy online book reviews before I read Archie babies or Goodnight Dune. Although those might be more iPad-y books. Either way, I can use my letterpress app to really fake that old timey paper book feeling, while I watch second hand bookshops go out of business.

I'm going to keep my old timey TV so I can watch this Michael Chabon magician versus Nazis HBO series. What, is that too much awesome in one sentence for you? Then you might want to cover your eyes, because it turns out Harlan Coben was in a frat with Dan Brown at Amherst. Also, there's this hugely detailed sci-fi map. Overwhelmed? Take a breather with this trailer for Water for Elephants—oh wait, Christoph Waltz, the most creepy adorable man in the world, is in this movie. You know what, maybe think about investing in a place to write that's nice and quiet and doesn't have exciting Christoph Waltz news.

So I'm out, readers. Please list great American fantasy characters I can put on stamps in the comments—this is very important for my emotional well being, and also because I need to one up Eric. Until next week!

14 comments:

  1. I had not seen the map before. Thanks! I love it!

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  2. Personally I think Hellboy would look good on a US stamp. And I'm sure that would cause NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER with US religious groups.

    Fantasy figures aside -- look, I understand that you Americans don't have a monarchy to put on all your stamps. Can I humbly suggest just putting Bill Murray on all of them instead?

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  3. I think Neil's comment is the best in the history of PMN.


    E

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  4. I think Vader and other SW characters would be great on stamps! And how about some of the lords and ladies from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire? He's as American as they come, and he loves football.

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  5. In an informal poll at my library, we have decided that Eric is wrong. Superheroes and Vader definitely count as fantasy figures and would sell huge amounts of stamps.

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  6. Fight the good fight, Nancy. Down with Eric's stamp tyranny!

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  7. Some L. Frank Baum would be nice. Dorothy and her friends, or the various Witches.

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  8. I second Kate - Mr. Baum's characters! They are the American imagination.

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  9. Wow, I never realized before how thoroughly Britain kicks the US's butt when it comes to fantasy.

    Bill Murray (preferably as a Ghostbuster) it is.

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  10. That map... could and did spend hours over.

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  11. Neil Gaiman, while he is a Brit, actually lives and works in the US. He has some fabulous characters. Or, there are a ton of US vampire hunter things from the Anita Blake novels to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you're going science fiction as well, there's always Star Trek along with Star Wars. There's also the many Stargate series along the same vein. Characters from Firefly would look awesome on stamps.

    Hope that helps. :-)

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  12. Americans typically write about irony, angst, and vampires. So unless you want to put a mouth-breathing Kristen Stuart on a stamp, I'd bend over and take one for the team. Brits own us in high fantasy. It's where the history comes from. I think I'm going to change my name to I.D.K Bottomtooth and write about fantastical gnomes and use words like ere, fortnight, and whilst. Instant classic.

    P.S. I second the vote on Bill Murray and raise you one... oh who am I kidding, I've got nothing.

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  13. The good news is, Spider-Man and Darth Vader have already been on US postage stamps!

    http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=8444

    http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007stamps/starwars/07_sw41_front_lr_struck.jpg

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