Link roundup

1. I highly recommend The Dala Horse by Michael Swanwick. Imagine a post-apocalyptic Dora the Explorer adventure. (Or A Dora the Explorer episode taking place in Dan Simmons's Ilium world.) It's part of the best of Tor 2011 collection that's a free download at Amazon.

2. This is a very good cat animated gif. Via.

3. Why is the Ace the high card?:

The use of the ace as the highest card in the French deck gained more widespread acceptance as a result of the French Revolution. Examples of the ace being a high card include the game Hearts.

The promotion of the ace symbolised the removal of the nobility (especially King Louis XVI) and the promotion of the common man. In addition to this move, the traditional court card imagery of the nobility had the crowns removed so as to give human personifications to chosen democratic ideals (Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité). Upon the rise of Napoleon to Emperor, royalty became more popular once more and the royal court was re-established on the imagery of the cards. Napoleon commissioned an artist to depict a more historically-correct court, but the move proved unpopular and the medieval court figures were quickly reinstated.

4. "Meet The Convicted Felon Who Defrauded The NFL, Made Reggie Bush Ineligible, And Funded The Saints' Bounty Program."

Link roundup

1. Apple's free guide to developing iOS apps. Via.

2. A look at the wild parrot population boom in Los Angeles.

3. I love video game review site Action Button, but I was awfully disappointed with the just recommended iPhone game Ziggurat. (I like Action Buttons reviews so much that I feel betrayed.)

4. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed Leviathan Wakes by Daniel "James Corey" Abraham. It's excellent pulpy retro-scifi about an oddball crew jetting throughout the solar system to unravel a conspiracy that threatens all humanity.

The Secret World of Arrietty was terrific

I'd heard The Secret World of Arrietty was good, but I hadn't expected to enjoy it so much. As good as any other Studio Ghibli movie I've seen. My 5 and 7 year old boys liked it too.

Comic book review roundup

1. Batman: The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder, Jock, and Francesco Francavilla: Jock's covers and Francavilla's interior illustrations (especially his colors!) are terrific. But the story's a lackluster rehash of Batman stories I've read many times before, and if all of the issues had been drawn by Jock (he drew about half of the issues), I wouldn't have even bothered finishing it. Certainly not bad, but it's been grossly overpraised by critics (or the praise reflects how terrible the vast majority of comics were in 2011).

2. Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba: Why are all the good non-super hero comics emotionally devastating? If that's what you're looking for, you'll enjoy this. I'm not looking for misery in my recreational reading.

3. Ultimate Comics Avengers: Blade vs. the Avengers by Mark Millar and Steve Dillon: I love everything by Steve Dillon, and this was no exception. Really fun.

4. Hellboy Volume 11: The Bride of Hell and Others: Just the latest solid collection of Hellboy short stories illustrated by various all-stars. Hellboy in Mexico, illustrated by Richard Corben and starring a battle between Hellboy and a demonic luchador, is the standout.

5. X-Force: Sex and Violence, Deathlok Nation, and The Dark Angel Saga, Book 1: I loved, loved, loved The Apocalypse Solution, so I went and bought every other collection I could find. These were all fine, but none were great. I found Deathlok Nation to be more confusing than fun, and I never cared for the Age of Apocalypse storyline or character designs (Wolverine especially looks like an idiot), so it was tough to enjoy The Dark Angel Saga too much.

Book review roundup

1. Dune by Frank Herbert: I watched the movie when I was too young and thought it was weird and dumb. But Rob Beschizza's post about Dune without dialog interested me enough that I decided to read the book. It truly deserves its fame. More like Game of Thrones than Star Wars. $10 at Amazon.

2. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman: Pleasant all-ages novella starring Thor, Loki, Odin, and a seemingly unremarkable boy. I look forward to reading it to my sons. Not crazy about the illustrations, though. Currently $6 at Amazon for the hardcover.

3. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen: With a $16 cover price, I can't bring myself to recommend this since you can read the whole thing in about two minutes (even if you go slow) and it's basically the same drawing over and over. It really should be a board book at half the price. But. The illustrations are charming, and the book has a very, very funny (and dark) conclusion. I strongly recommend you borrow a copy from the library, or grab the $6 used copy currently at Amazon.