§ At long last! Shaenon Garrity takes on the “Littles” — Dot and Lotta!:

Little Lotta, incidentally, really needs to be revived, as she’s a great role model for plus-size kids, and there are certainly plenty of those around. The more Lotta eats, the stronger she gets, so gaining weight gives her super-strength to defend her smaller, non-super-powered friends, including her diminutive boyfriend who always needs rescuing. I guess nowadays we have Oprah. Anyway, she’s quite badass and she wants to be a police officer when she grows up, so I’m all over Lotta.

§ K. Parille looks at David Chelsea.

§ Chris Mautner surveys everyones — from Douglas Wolk to Tucker Stone to The Beat — on the ethics of reviewing in a small world like comics. A sample from Abhay Khosla:

I don’t see self-censorship as being a automatic negative. For me, anything that equals out to “try not to be quite such a complete douchebag in public” is a much needed tonic.

§ Warren Ellis wonders about the futures of the Internets:

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could stand up now and say, okay, these are the post-curation years? The world does not need another linkblog. What is required, frankly, is what we’re supposed to call “content” these days. When I were a lad, back in the age of steam, we called this “original material.” Put another way: we like it when Cory and Xeni are the copy/paste editors for the internet, but we like it better when Cory writes a book and Xeni makes an episode of BoingBoingTV.

§ CNN profiles famed LEGO sculptor Nathan Sawaya. (Above, one of Sawaya’s more abstract works.)

Donald Trump recently asked Sawaya to create a replica of the new hotel he’s building in Dubai. With 10 days to complete it, and only architectural renderings to work from, Sawaya toiled away in his Manhattan studio snapping tiny bricks together, barely sleeping, to finish the curvy 10-foot statue in time for its unveiling.

His work has also created a, well … buzz with entertainers.

§ Join the Lost Book Club!

§ Offered without comment: Comic Creators Set to Win Big in Platinum Studios’ The Comic Book Challenge 2008:

The Top 50 entrants, who include people from as far away as India, Singapore and Argentina, will now submit video pitches which will be judged by a celebrity panel of industry and Hollywood insiders at a secret location in early August. Platinum Studios will sign the winner to a publishing deal, which will include print, online and mobile. In addition, the company said it will seek opportunities both to develop the property for film and television as well as to create a licensing and merchandising program.