As a parent, Maurice Sendak’s post-Where The Wild Things Are interviews totally make me regret not reading my kids more Maurice Sendak books when they were little-little.

Back when Where the Wild Things Are was adapted for the screen, Sendak was asked about kids who might be scared by the film- and spoke what some parents might find refreshing words about bubble-wrapping kids for the big, scary world. Sendak said:

“If they can’t handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it’s not a question that can be answered… This concentration on kids being scared, as though we as adults can’t be scared. Of course we’re scared. I’m scared of watching a TV show about vampires. I can’t fall asleep. It never stops.”

The In The Night Kitchen and Chicken Soup With Rice author was asked again about the scaredy-cat issue when he released his newest work, a book called Bumble-Ardy. Unsurprisingly, Sendak was similarly unconcerned with whining parents, and said as much in post-publishing publicity.

Now the plain-spoken author is the subject of a new, short documentary from the Tate. In the piece, Sendak denies his work are “children’s books.” He says:

“How do you set out to write a children’s book? It’s a lie… The magic of childhood and the strangeness of childhood, the uniqueness that makes us see things that other people don’t see.”

When asked about sequels to Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak huffs:

“Go to hell … go to hell. I’m not a whore, I don’t do those things.”

Watch the full clip below, and another of the initial comments by Sendak in 2009 about Where the Wild Things Are:

Maurice Sendak in Short Documentary, Still a Badass is a post from: The Inquisitr

Okay, this one is hard to sum up in a title, but is incredibly worthwhile to read about, so bear with me.

Former Minnesota Senate majority leader Amy Koch has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage, and in 2009, she tried to amend the Minnesota Constitution to add language stipulating that “a marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in Minnesota.” Because she cares a whole super lot about the sanctity of marriage, and wished to see it not be taken lightly, or diluted by the gays.

Except! Apparently not her own. Koch was carrying on in secret with a male staffer, news of which came to light in her state and caused a significant scandal. The situation was complicated because the staffer, believed to be a man named Michael Brodkorb, worked under Koch and the “inappropriate relationship” presented a fairly clear conflict of interest.

Luckily for Koch, people in her state were understanding and forgiving of her transgressions. Which also isn’t true! John Medeiros- of the Minneapolis’ Intermedia Arts’ Queer Voices reading series- authored a scathing letter to Koch, hoisting her on her own petard in a way that is both beautiful and horrible to observe, in that she deserved every bit of it. Since justice can not be afforded the piece when snipped and quoted, the full text is below.

What do you think about Koch’s situation and Medeiros’ letter?

Dear Ms. Koch,

On behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize for our community’s successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage.  We are ashamed of ourselves for causing you to have what the media refers to as an “illicit affair” with your staffer, and we also extend our deepest apologies to him and to his wife. These recent events have made it quite clear that our gay and lesbian tactics have gone too far, affecting even the most respectful of our society.

We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love has cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry.  And we are doubly remorseful in knowing that many will see this as a form of sexual harassment of a subordinate.

It is now clear to us that if we were not so self-focused and myopic, we would have been able to see that the time you wasted diligently writing legislation that would forever seal the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, could have been more usefully spent reshaping the legal definition of “adultery.”

Forgive us. As you know, we are not church-going people, so we are unable to fully appreciate that “gay marriage” is incompatible with Christian values, despite the fact that those values carry a biblical tradition of adultery such as yours. We applaud you for keeping that tradition going.

And finally, shame on us for thinking that marriage is a private affair, and that our marriage would have little impact on anyone’s family. We now see that marriage is more than that. It is an agreement with society. We should listen to the Minnesota Family Council when it tells us that marriage is about being public, which explains why marriages are public ceremonies. Never did we realize that it is exactly because of this societal agreement that the entire world is looking at you in shame and disappointment instead of minding its own business.

From the bottom of our hearts, we ask that you please accept our apology.

Thank you.
John Medeiros
Minneapolis MN

Amy Koch, Gay Marriage Opponent, Gets Apology Letter from LGBT Org After Her Affair is a post from: The Inquisitr

I think this would be an excellent tool to get my toddler to eat vegetables and by vegetables I mean Spaghetti-Os with Cheez-Its crumbled on top and by toddler I mean me, while I scan Tumblr for funny pictures at 4am.

Toddler Dinners… This Changes EVERYTHING is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’ve avoided the gym since I was born but I have to say, this woman is making me reconsider.

Awesome Lady Makes Everyone Want to Go to the Gym is a post from: The Inquisitr

So technically they’re not pumpkins, but whoever did this won Halloween this year, you can all go home now.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Halloween Win is a post from: The Inquisitr

Kids’ writer Maurice Sendak- never one to parse words- is back with a book that has unsurprisingly gotten some flak from the overprotecting parents brigade.

Sendak most recently made news after the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are was criticized by parents who felt the classic book- about a little boy who goes to bed (gasp!) with no dinner before becoming a “wild thing”- was too scary. Sendak rightly told the whining moms and dads to “go to hell,” eliciting a few more fevered upset from the apparent committee to pretend kids don’t love scary and edgy shit.

Sendak authored and illustrated In The Night Kitchen and The Nutshell Library, and is out with his first written and illustrated book in 30 years. Bumble-Ardy follows a nine-year-old pig and his quest to have the ultimate birthday party, having been deprived his whole life.

CSM describes a bit of the controversy:

At one point in “Bumble-Ardy”, Sendak introduces the Grim Reaper, not an image that every parent wants her children dwelling on as they go to sleep. One reviewer on Amazon.com wrote that “Bumble-Ardy” was a “disturbing book in so many ways.” Sendak sees it the other way around. It is parents who are scaredy cats, he argues, frightened to deal with the nightmarish fantasies and even murderous impulses with which children are familiar and which books such as “Alice in Wonderland” explore.

Sendak refers to other, popular and more milquetoast kids’ fare that he says he isn’t against- but he consciously acknowledges he’s bucking the trend:

“It’s not a putdown of those earlier books. But basically, they went by the rules that children should be safe and that we adults should be their guardians. I got out of that, and I was considered outlandish. So be it.”

It would be kind of cool if all the parents who find it a bigger crime our kids might never be exposed to Maurice Sendak books got together and formed some kind of outrage group, but I think that particular demographic too busy living their lives and teaching their children actual useful things to have time for such a ridiculous venture.

Maurice Sendak Defends ‘Scary’ New Book is a post from: The Inquisitr

BRB, I am doing this at every restaurant everywhere for all of eternity.

Tip: I Suck at Math is a post from: The Inquisitr

This should be printed and reprinted, distributed across the US, and added to employment law in every jurisdiction.

[via reddit]

[Pic] Awesome Twilight Memo is a post from: The Inquisitr

Get ready to go back to bed, because you probably won’t see anything awesomer all day.

[via]

[Video] Pizza Hut Random Bollywood Dance is a post from: The Inquisitr

[Video] Jon Stewart Schools Trump, World on NYC Pizza Customs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dolly Parton, whose song Jolene is one of the White Stripes’ most beloved covers, said she would duet Jack White because Jack White is totally awesome.

Okay, the last part is total inference. But Parton says she’s “picky,” and how amazing would a Dolly/Jack duet be? Can you stand even thinking about it? Parton discusses how money and fame profile never enter into her decisions about collaborations- but mentions the rock god lives in her hood and is super talented:

“There’s been a lot of talk about Jack White wanting to work with me and I’ve always admired him and of course he lives in Nashville too.

“But I’m so picky about my music. I would never say never because he’s so talented and I loved the way The White Stripes did Jolene, it’s just that my music is so personal to me and I’m not going to work with someone just to have a hit.”

Parton also mentioned possibly duetting with Lady Gaga, which would be so much less awesome than a Jack White duet. “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” Dolly! Do it!

Dolly Parton Says She’d Duet Jack White is a post from: The Inquisitr

The fact that “mysterious markings” have been found on the Great Pyramid of Giza isn’t even the single most interesting part of this story.

The strange symbols were discovered by a robot explorer. Using a bendy camera. If this post were a book, I would have read it thirty times when I was in the third grade. Even more mysteriously, the camera was inserted down “a hole in a stone door at the end of a narrow tunnel,” which in itself is one of several “mysterious passages” between the King and Queen’s tunnels in the Pyramid.

According to CNN, cracking the code of the strange hieroglyphs could help explain why the passages were made in the first place:

According to Peter Der Manuelian, Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology at Harvard University, similar lines have been found elsewhere in Giza. “Sometimes they identify the work gang (who built the room), sometimes they give a date and sometimes they give guidelines to mark cuttings or directional symbols about the beginning or end of a block,” he said.

Der Manuelian says robots are the key to unlocking the mystery:

“There are architectural explanations, symbolic explanations, religious explanations — even ones relating to the alignment of the stars — but the final word on them is yet to be written. The challenge is that no human can fit inside these channels so the only way to do this exploration is with robots.”

The next bit of exploration will be to examine stone at the far end of the chamber to see if it’s a wall… or another door.

Great Pyramid of Giza Robot Explorer Reveals ‘Mysterious Markings’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Alas and alack, these obscenely cool Space Invader chairs are currently only a prototype, dreamt up by artist collective Dorothy. Translation: they’re TOTALLY UNOBTAINABLE to the unscrubbed likes of you and I. These exist somewhere in the world, and my butt is not resting on them; it’s horrifically unfair.

Those sharp angles and flat surfaces might look unwelcoming, but these are made from cut foam for squashy comfort, and can even shoot real lasers at remote control hogs. Okay, not that last one. However, there is some pretty useful built-in storage space on these for games, books, or a refreshing drink.

Also, purdy colors!

[Dorothy, via Geekologie]

Take me to your living room: Awesome Space Invader chairs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Pictured: George at a Takei Pride parade.

[PSA] George Takei’s proposed solution to ban on the word ‘gay’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Spotted by redditor girlgeek at the Toronto SlutWalk- the awesomest jersey of all time.

No exceptions. is a post from: The Inquisitr

Could you imagine the awesomeness of getting to write this down every time someone wants your address?

[reddit]

England… so incidentally cooler than us is a post from: The Inquisitr

…has an excellent point, one ticket please.

Segway of Ontario tours… is a post from: The Inquisitr

Remember the wearable Master Chief helmet some dude made out of LEGO? Six months later, and the next logical step has occurred: the helmet has now become a full-on Master Chief suit.

Creator Ben Caulkins spent around six months building this suit of armor – supposedly, the torso plate was the trickiest part to complete. In the end, he had to use glue to hold the thing together. THEN GLUED HIMSELF IN FOR GOOD. Not really, though that’s what I’d have done. Deliberately.

More at Ben’s Flickr.

See also: LEGO RAGE

[Flickr, via Brother Brick]

Man builds Halo Master Chief costume from LEGO is a post from: The Inquisitr

YouTube user FPawesome discovered that playing said trailer backwards revealed a famous song from past Zelda games – ‘Zelda’s Lullaby’! I’ve no idea how people find this stuff, but hell, I’m glad they do. The first video I’ve posted below shows the trailer played forwards then backwards, while the second video is ‘Zelda’s Lullaby’ in its entirety.

Every now and then, I get a little reminder of why I still love Nintendo.

[FPawesome, via Go Nintendo]

[VIDEO] WOAH: New Zelda song played backwards is … old Zelda song! is a post from: The Inquisitr

One redditor spotted a mistake, though… which line cannot exist?

Awesome Tetris window hack is awesome is a post from: The Inquisitr