According to the Associated Press:

"The mother of three told The Associated Press that she finally agreed to pose for the magazine when they called on her 40th birthday….

After turning down offers to pose for the magazine in the past, Margolis said she accepted this time because she felt posing nude at the age of 40 is empowering.

‘In the past it would have been for gratuitous reasons,’ she said."

Right. Now it’s not gratuitous. Because she’ s 40. And that makes it empowering. Would have been gratuitous at 35 or 37 or 39. But not now, not at 40. Hmm.

(Photo from cindymargolis.com)

BBC News reports that Hargreaves created the first Mr Men, Mr Tickle, thirty-five years ago. Looking at the exhibition recently opened at the Animation Art Gallery in London, it’s no surprise that Hargreaves is apparently the third best-selling children’s author of all time. 

Here is the link to more pictures of the Misters and Misses, and here is the link to the official Mr Men site.

My all-time favorite? Mr Bump.

(Source for Mr Tickle and Mr Bump is BBC News)

I received this e-mail from Amazon.com the other day:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

As someone who has purchased books by Mark Victor Hansen, you might like to know that Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living Series: Asthma (Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living) will be released in paperback soon. You can pre-order your copy by following the link below.

Is it just me, or don’t we have enough Chicken Soup for the Soul books already? Amazon.com lists 513, and I personally own a few of them (they did wonders when I had a long recovery a few years back).

So don’t get me wrong. This series is successful precisely because it tugs at the heartstrings. Kind of like a Hallmark card on steroids.

Maybe I should applaud Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. At a time when personalization and "all about me" don’t show any sign of abating, they keep cranking out book after book… and people keep buying them:

• Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul
• Chicken Soup for Scrapbooker’s Soul
• Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan’s Soul
• Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul 
• Chicken Soup for the Chiropractic Soul
• Chicken Soup for the Fisherman’s Soul
• Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul
• Chicken Soup for the Mother of Preschooler’s Soul
• Chicken Soup for the Country Soul (comes with its own CD!)

There are books for different ethnicities, different ages (Kids Soul, Preteen Soul I & II, Teenage Soul I-IV, Grandparent’s Soul and more, ), professions (Dental Soul) and interests (Traveler’s Soul, Golfer’s Soul). The list goes on. Pretty soon we’ll all have our own Chicken Soup book.

(If you’re feeling particularly cranky, you may want to buy Chicken Poop for the Soul: Stories to Harden the Heart and Dampen the Spirit, a parody by David Fisher.)

But what I’m really holding out for is Chicken Soup for the Blogger’s Soul. I’ll even help put it together.

King will be the first author to promote his work this way, an ironic marketing method considering Cell is about a signal called The Pulse that is sent through cell phones and turns users into "something less than human."   

According to the Journal, thousands of cellphone subscribers in the coveted 18 to 54 years-old demographic group will receive a text-ad that reads:

"The next call you take may be your last…..Join the Stephen King VIP Club at www.cellthebook.com"

After signing up for the VIP Club, members get the chance to purchase special cell phone wallpaper or two different talk tones for $1.99 (available to AT&T, Cingular and Sprint customers).

One talk tone says "Beware, the next call you take may be your last," while the other says "It’s ok, it’s a ‘Normie’ calling," with Normie referring to the few people who haven’t been affected by The Pulse.

You can listen to the talk tones here and The Pulse here.