We Read Blender So You Don't Have To!

Collection development tips and other news from the August 2006 issue of Blender Magazine:

* Country star Gretchen Wilson is working on her biography entitled Gretchen Wilson: I'll Tell You What a Redneck Woman Is. No further comment.

* Jack Osbourne is also working on an autobiography entitled 21 Years Gone about his family's rise to fame in reality television and his battle with drugs. Between this and Gretchen's book, are there going to be any ghost writers left if Kevin Federline decides to take a stab at "writing"?

* In the article "The 25 Biggest Wusses Ever," Blender votes James Taylor the #1 wuss. Other mentions go to Garth Brooks, Christopher Cross (natch), and Chris Martin from Coldplay. Do I sense an opportunity for libraries to make a "wuss" display?

* Beastie Boys release the concert film Awesome; I F*ckin' Shot That!, in which they gave video cameras to 50 members of the audience and let them do the filming. Although the magazine warns that it might make you seasick, it does give this praise:

"... [T]he film's central gimmick, while visually frustrating at times, offers
vantage points conventional concert movies wouldn't bother with, such as the
men's room and the seat next to Ben Stiller."

Good enough for me.