Colors

Anybody who has spent some time in the store knows that one of the favorite topics of conversation around the front desk is photographer/filmmaker macabre Charlie White--both pro and con (a fun game to play would be to guess who of us falls into each camp). White was recently part of Adidas’ seven-week Adicolor podcast series. Adicolor, by the way, is a series of customizable shoes made by Adidas. But the shoes aren’t nearly as interesting as the different takes on color by each director asked to be part of the project. There’s...

White (starring Jenna Jameson)
Red (below)
Blue
Yellow
Green
Pink (Charlie White's film)
Black

Enjoy.

September So Far

1. Max Brooks : The Zombie Survival Guide

2. Alexander Roob : Alchemy & Mysticism

3. Milan Kundera : The Unbearable Lightness of Being

4. Mark Z. Danielewski : House of Leaves

5. George Orwell : Nineteen Eighty-Four

Cut and Paste Digital Culture

I don’t mean to be solipsistic here, but I found something today that was interesting. Actually, the phenomenon is well known, but it’s the first time it happened to me.

So I’ve got a personal blog. It’s nothing special; I’m just keeping a digital record of my progress on reading all 100 works David Pringle listed in a 1985 book as the best science fiction novels from 1949-1985. So I just finished #4 (I only started a couple of weeks ago), which is Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters. It’s about these communist slug creatures that take over the minds of Middle Americans and make them…make more mindless slug-controlled humans. I know, I know, you’ve seen it before (Invasion of the Body Snatchers and so forth), but this one is particularly Heinleinian and a heck of a ride. A good friend of mine who is a Marxist historian thinks it’s the worst novel ever written; I think it’s fantastic.

So I put “Heinlein” and “Puppet Masters” into the Blogger search engine today--I wanted to see what other people were saying about the novel--and the first things that popped up were sites not controlled or even heard of by me that were using my exact words. First thought: “What the hell?” A little more investigation revealed that these sites use my first few words and then link to my blog. That made me feel better, but it’s still strange and a little creepy. On the other hand, it’s not like I made the Nimoy video I posted earlier today or the liberty squirrel below.

Now why were they (Rebellion Coffee for instance) interested in what I have to say? Well, I don’t think they really are; I believe I was picked up by data miners. But that’s beside the point. They’re Libertarian websites. Heinlein was very influential on the party, and he certainly believed in freedom from government and the rights of the individual. Strange then that these Libertarian sites were making my words prima facie look like theirs. Heinlein himself sued the makers of the 1958 movie The Brain Eaters (which, just to make my day go around in circles, stars Leonard Nimoy) for lifting their idea from The Puppet Masters of all things. Anyway, I find the whole thing fascinating but disturbing. It’s really troublesome when several sites have the same posts, words, etc. but are controlled by different authorities and “authors.” It’s becoming difficult to know where things originate from on the Web. Most likely it’s Essaytown.com.

LOTR: Before Frodo There Was Bilbo

And before Data there was Spock.

And before Shatner’s “Rocketman” there was…

Just Cause It's Beautiful

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, dog days, when people do things they are sure to be sorry for after.

Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

--Jenni

New to the Store, New to the List, Newly Back in Town

A big welcome to our new co-worker Jeremy. He’s a long-time customer, first time employee. You’ll be seeing his friendly face on the weekends, and he’s even got a few staff picks for yinz to consider on display in the east room already. He’s a local writer, reader, teacher, and Scrabble champion. So if you are up to the challenge, I think he’s always looking for new opponents. Personally, I’m going to stick to jacks and marbles because I’m sure he’d whip me in any word game.




New to our bestseller list is Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide, which we’ve seemed to barely be able to keep on the shelves of late. Considering the direction the world is taking, it’d probably be a good idea to keep a copy with fresh water and canned goods in your basement bunker, no? There's a pretty cool website here that you should check out, and a sequel will be in the store tomorrow, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

In a former life I lived in Smoky City (Pittsburgh to yinz folk not in the know). While there, I was an employee of the Andy Warhol Museum. (No, it’s not in New York. And yes, there’s also one in Slovakia.) One of the worst things I had to do while I worked there was patrol the Silver Clouds. Now the Clouds themselves are pretty amazing. The problem is that when most people enter their space, their first reaction is to beat the hell out of them. I still have nightmares about the sound of pounding fists on Mylar balloons. With that said, I highly encourage you to check out the Silver Clouds at their grand return to MOCRA on SLU’s campus. But please be gentle with them.

The Kids Are Alright

Publishing for young adults has undergone a real renaissance in the last few years (thanks, Joanne ), and there’s been a plethora of great books aimed just at a teen audience. One of my recent favorites is Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. The main character Tally lives in a society where everyone is beautiful. At age 16, the government transforms its citizens through extreme plastic surgery so that all will meet a governmental standard of beauty. But when Tally meets a group of renegades that rejects the artificial world of superficial beauty and who actually want to keep their physical imperfections, she begins to question everything she’s always thought to be true about the world. Westerfeld examines the idea of instant gratification and an obsession with perfection in an exciting book that will appeal to both girls and guys.

Needless to say, I've cancelled my appointment for a face lift. Y'all will just have to accept me, jowls and all.

John Hodgman : Areas of My Expertise

John Hodgman is hilarious. Lately he’s been everywhere (he plays the PC in those Mac commercials for instance). The You Tube below is from one of my favorite appearances by him on the Daily Show.

His book Areas of My Expertise (now out in paperback) is the next on my “to read” shelf. What are his areas of expertise? “Matters historical, matters literary, matters cryptozoological, hobo matters, food, drink & cheese (a kind of food), squirrels & lobsters & eels, haircuts, utopia, what will happen in the future, and most other subjects.” Of these, he’s particularly fixated on hobo matters. Hodgman’s book includes a history of a failed hobo rebellion, which was put down by FDR (who had developed a polio WMD to inflict on hobo jungles) and anti-hobo spy Walker Evans, and a list of 700 hobo names including the once Secretary of the Treasury Hobo Joe Junkpan.

--Jason