News From Other Blogs

There are a couple of things I've seen on other blogs today that I thought I should share.
First up is this bit about Jessica Alba's fiance/baby daddy from What Would Tyler Durden Do?

This dude doesn't even really do anything, yet he snared the hottest piece of ass on earth, making this the biggest upset since I won that no-rules, underground MMA tournament in Thailand last year. With that in mind, you might think I'd begrudgingly give him the respect he's clearly earned. Yet, look, here I am, telling him to go fuck himself.

This was worth sharing simply because the last sentence made me snort.
The other item is from Neil Gaiman's blog, in which he responds, as always, reasonably and good-naturedly to a parent whose daughter is writing a book report on Stardust and who was shocked - shocked! - to find that that the word "fuck" appears in a book so obviously intended for children.

My 12-year old daughter chose Stardust for a school book report. We purchased it in paperback at Barnes and Noble. From the packaging, it looked like an appropriate fantasy story for her age and her 6th grade teacher approved it. We were very offended to find that it had an explicit sex scene and the word "fuck" in it.

Neil points out that it isn't actually a children's book, but my point in posting this here is that the usage of the word "fuck" - which appears exactly one time and in extremely small print, like this - is actually one of the best scenes in the book (not really sure about the "explicit" sex scene; I don't recall it being terribly explicit). In fact, that the particular scene did not appear in the movie is pretty much the only complaint that Scott and I had about the filmed adaptation. Actually, the scene does appear, it just doesn't include the one word that really sells it. We were hoping it would be there, and were almost leaning forward in anticipation of it, but alas, Claire Danes never utters it.
For anyone who hasn't read the book, the appearance of the word occurs shortly after Yvaine, a star, has fallen to earth and broken her leg in the process:

There was a cracking sound, sharp as a shot, and the light that had filled the grove was gone.
Or almost gone. There was a dim glow pulsing from the middle of the hazel thicket, as if a tiny cloud of stars were glimmering there.
And there was a voice, a high clear, female voice which said, "Ow," and then, very quitely, it said, "Fuck," and then it said, "Ow," once more.
And then it said nothing at all, and there was silence in the glade.

Still, well-written and funny or not, this evil passage will be responsible for creating a generation of sex-crazed, impious hooligans who might have otherwise lived their lives pure as the driven snow, completely free of ever encountering that horrible word if they had not been deceived or forced to read a book intended for adults , as it's not as though they could ever possibly encounter that world in their day-to-day lives.
And that's just a fucking shame.