This morning, Publishers Weekly reported that Books, Inc. would be taking over the space now being abandoned by A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books. This is a great move on several levels: For one thing, the space remains devoted to the taste and sensibilities of an independent bookstore. Second, with eleven stores in its chain, Books, Inc. will have fallback stores to draw from should their operations at the Van Ness Avenue location flounder. As owner Michael Tucker puts it in the PW article, “Ten years ago I found myself facing the exact same dilemma and we had to close ten of 12 stores. Now we’re back up to 11.” (Thanks to Dan Wickett for the tip!)
Year / 2006
Demographics Schmemographics
What Microsoft adCenter has to say about you, the reading audience:
48% of you are male, 52% of you are female.
Microsoft predicts that 24.60% of you are below eighteen (what?) and that being down with the kids is the future of edrants.
Generally speaking, it’s split as follows:
18-24: 26.80%
25-34: 27.20%
35-49: 23.00%
Of course, had I known all along that I was appealing to fifteen year olds, I would have seriously curtailed my use of ten-cent words. I suppose I’ll have to spend more time dwelling upon Beyonce.
Perhaps something is off with the calculations. 60% of the John Birch Society‘s readers are women? Really? (via MeFi)
[UPDATE: Tito works the numbers, determined to find the manliest website.]
Something to Consider on the Fourth
Thank you, Frank Deford.
Did Bryan Singer Kill the Superman Franchise?
Roger Ebert: “This is a glum, lackluster movie in which even the big effects sequences seem dutiful instead of exhilarating. The newsroom of the Daily Planet, filled with eccentricity and life in the earlier movies, now seems populated by corporate drones. Jimmy Olsen, the copy boy, such a brash kid, seems tamed and clueless. Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has lost her dash and pizzazz, and her fiance, Richard White (James Marsden), regards her like a deer caught in the headlights. Even the editor, Perry White (Frank Langella), comes across less like a curmudgeon, more like an efficient manager.”
Turan hates it too. Maybe I won’t see this opening day.
Then again, 79% at Rotten Tomatoes, with many comparisons to Spider-Man 2.
Where Hours Drift Away
Trailers of Historically Significant Films. (Damn you, Pete Anderson!)