RandomCha

Holy cow, I finally found another bookstore in Chicago to carry 100 Spinning Plates.

The Book Cellar, Inc.
4736-38 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
773.293.2665
http://www.bookcellarinc.com

I totally went in there as a cold call, two sealed copies and one reader’s copy in hand, and said hi to the lady behind the counter. I took them out of my bag and put them on the counter and she just flipped: Wow, that is so cool, that’s so clever, no we don’t do consignment, I’d rather just buy them outright, let me write you out a check right now, who shall I make it out to, yeah we should do a random literature reading night, oh and do you have a card so I can order more when these sell, have some wine in our cafe, bottles are 50% off the month of February.

Her name was Susie. She was so enthusiastic I was really caught off guard. I started sweating and stammering, and I hate when I can’t keep my cool. A very pleasant surprise.

It’s a great little bookstore, very friendly (obviously) with a really well-chosen stock. So, Chicagoans, please patronize! Indie bookstores are the lifeblood of culture!

Last night, after dinner, Andy declared that he wanted to see something “mindless and stupid.” So, fortified with a Mai Tai, I went to Specialty and rented “The Day After Tomorrow.” We were not disappointed as far as the mindlessness and stupidity goes.

Irwin Allen would be proud. It’s “The Towering Refrigerator,” only with much more expensive (and in most cases less convincing) special effects. Every cliche is trotted out again, including: the separated couple who must find their way back to Love and Respect, the brainy-yet-buff Geek Who Gets The Girl, and the Money-Mad Government Officials Who Won’t Listen Until It’s Too Late. There’s even Cancer Kid (a descendent of the girl in “Airport 79–The Concorde” who’s being flown to Paris for emergency heart surgery).

This film is the worst example I’ve yet seen of a Millenium Movie Disease I call Death By CG. Every visual effect is computer generated or enhanced. The worst symptom occurs when the world has been plunged into a deep freeze and THE ACTORS’ BREATHS ARE COMPUTER GENERATED. When Frank Capra made “Lost Horizon” and John Carpenter made “The Thing,” they both had the good sense to shoot on refrigerated soundstages to capture the authenticity of, well, being in the cold. Not this production. Whenever anyone exhales, it looks like an outtake from “Ghostbusters.”

Storywise it’s a very queer hybrid: a cautionary tale about global warming that was obviously made by conservatives. Imagine “The Day After” directed by Disney, perhaps. Too timid to show the reality of what would actually happen, especially to the survivors; whole plot complications jettisoned when they threaten to get too graphic or are no longer useful; and America still firmly on top at the end. And the film’s greatest moment of irony (white Americans fleeing to Mexico) is overplayed with ham-fisted heaviness. The actors have little to do other than look grim, stoic, or resigned.

And yet. Somehow it was still watchable. Why? Perhaps it’s the same reason that, despite “Fast Food Nation” and “Super Size Me,” McDonald’s still tastes good now and then.

New Jimmy Scott fan: upsidedownblue

Yay!

OFFICE WINDOW

The narrow strip of
glass showing through the blinds
reveals snow streaming
down at a slant,
the utility rack on an SUV
and an empty loading dock.
Here the office window
is at perpetual twilight, always
time for a coffee break.
The brick ledge has
not been been washed in some time.

22 February 2005

Whoa, things are looking pretty weird out there. Hunter S. Thompson, LJ breakups, detoxification, inability to ship eBay items to Canada and Germany. Is it because it’s a Federal Holiday and yours-truly still has to be at work? Hoping for a half day.

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1 jigger vodka
1 pony sour apple liqueur
1 pony curacao

In a tall collins or chimmney glass half-filled with ice, combine the above ingredients in the order listed. Do not stir. Top up with cranberry juice. Garnish with a slice of red apple perched on the edge of the glass.

[I invented this last night. Most tasty].

My eBay auction of The ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW Mayberry Mania Trivia Board Game just ended; the item sold for $12.55 to user alabamafan2003 (S Kelley – Guntersville, AL United States). Isn’t that a perfect matchup?!

Ugh. Writer’s block this morning. Maybe I need more coffee?

This afternoon there really wasn’t anyone in the office besides Brandon and I, and even the phones were strangely silent (well, mostly). It was really fun to BLAST Stan Freberg, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Jimmy Scott, Jim White, and Jimmie Rodgers.

The cleaning service came this morning. And stepping into the apartment just now feels WONDERFUL. My gosh, the hardwood floors haven’t looked so mirror-like since we moved in 3 years ago!

The copy of the Andy Griffith Show Mayberry Mania Trivia Game that I’m auctioning off on eBay is at $10.50. Those Mayberry fans are SERIOUS.