Dickensblog

Please, sir . . .

Graphic designer Dinah Fried has done a set of photographs depicting famous meals from literature, including Oliver Twist's bowl of gruel. It looks about as appetizng as you'd expect . . . which is to say, not very.

Dickens, the board game

A new limited edition version of Snakes and Ladders, designed in honor of Dickens, draws on Portsmouth's history. Portsmouth City Museum has a copy available for the public to play!

Dickens and the Dark Knight

It's opening day for The Dark Knight Rises. If you see it, and you catch any of those Tale of Two Cities-related themes and references we've heard about, give us the scoop!

Update: Mark D. Roberts of Patheos has some details on this. He also suggests, bless him, "You've seen the movie, now read the book!"

Update: Here's more from Forrest Wickman of Slate, though he gets some details about ATOTC wrong. Careful, this one's heavy on the TDKR spoilers. Thanks to David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page for the link.

More on the 'Nickleby' TV update

Another, more detailed report on Nick Nickleby is available at ScreenTerrier.

Michael Emerson reads Dickens

Thanks to Christy for passing along this great clip, from a charity benefit in Los Angeles.

(And the Person of Interest/Dickens connections just keep popping up . . . )

Let Dickens edit your work!

Type something into the window at this Google Docs demo, and classic authors -- including Charles Dickens -- will help you with it! This article explains more about how it works. Having tried it, I can tell you it's a pretty bizarre experience!

Guest of honor

Thanks to the bicentennial, Dickens got some special attention at this year's Stratford Poetry Festival!

Oliver, the comic book

Comic Book Resources has an interview with the creators of a new comic book that's basically Oliver Twist with clones and superpowers (because why not?). Go here for all the details.

(Image copyright Image Comics)

I'm not sure I believe it

"Small Sam, Little Larry and Puny Pete were all in the running before Charles Dickens settled on 'Tiny Tim' for the sickly sad sack in A Christmas Carol."

(Thanks to Christy for the link.)

I mean, really, Puny Pete?

The Dickens/'Singin' in the Rain' connection

Today's the 60th anniversary of the release of my favorite movie, Singin' in the Rain. I had hoped to see it at the theater, but alas, no Northern Virginia theaters are participating in the nationwide showing. So I shall content myself with a post pointing out one of my favorite Dickensidences of all time (in case you're new around here, a Dickensidence is a Dickens-like coincidence that happens in real life):

My favorite movie, Singin' in the Rain, contains a reference to my favorite novel, A Tale of Two Cities.

Seriously, how cool is that?

Now, just for fun, who can be the first person to tell me who makes that reference?