Dictionary Bookmark

Today, whilst splurging a veritable fortune on books in my local Waterstones, I happened across what is potentially the most awesome thing I have ever found in a bookshop; dictionary bookmarks. They’re the same size as a regular bookmark with an elongated keyboard and control pad composing the main body and a small screen at the very top which peeks over the pages when the book is closed. 

I almost had a nerd-fit when I saw them.

The essential premise is that whenever you come across a word you don’t know or understand whilst reading you can simply type it into the bookmark and it will give you the definition. I can’t even describe in words how amazingly useful and convenient that would be. Sadly, such awesomeness comes with a price-tag of £19.99 which, while certainly reasonable, I struggled to accept spending 20 quid on a bookmark when I had already spent over £100 today. 

I’ll most likely be going back to purchase one and stare in awe at it when I’ve had a chance to build up my bank account a bit, but for now I shall just have to lust after it from afar.

Birdie out -

Where is all the Loki merch?

I was in Cambridge the other day visiting a friend at uni and decided to pop into their Forbidden Planet store to check out how the Cambridge geeks stock up on merchandise. As I was standing in the queue waiting to pay for my copy of Dollhouse: Epitaphs* I noticed the racks of Avengers Assemble merchandise stacked on the shelves. As in the Forbidden Planet megastore in London and other shops I’ve searched, I failed to see a single piece of Loki merchandise; there was tons for all the heroes, I think even Nick Fury and Coulson got a look in, but no Loki. 

Now, Loki is one of my favourite characters in the entire Marvel Universe and my absolute favourite in the Avengers franchise, so I find this very irritating. I mentioned my annoyance to my friend and it was another customer in the queue who responded that her sister had complained of the same problem, like wise I’ve discussed the matter with several other people all of whom agreed that Loki was severely underrepresented in the merchandise front. Now, I’m well aware that there are plenty of Loki products available on the internet (I vaguely remember seeing something about a Loki perfume…) but that’s really not the point. I like to be able to fuss and fiddle with things and squawk about how “I’m not sure” before I make up my mind about buying them and I feel that I have been denied this chance and surely the fact that other people are having similar problems means it’s something that should have been addressed in Marvel’s marketing plans.

Well, now that I’ve got that off my chest I’m going to go sulk whilst bitterly perusing Loki products on the internet.

Birdie out -

 

*Dollhouse: Epitaphs is a comic book mini-series that ties in to the Dollhouse television show. It doesn’t add a huge amount to the whole Dollhouse plot, but it is entertaining and provides a little extra insight into the character of Alpha and expands on Ivy’s importance.