Week ending 4/28
That was a long week.
What did you read?
Reread "The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You" by S. Bear Bergman; skimmed "That's Revolting! Queer strategies for resisting assimilation" by Mattilda Berenstein Sycamore, most of a book about collections development that is from 1981 and solemnly warns the reader that some serials titles will cost a library UP TO 75 CENTS, oh the humanity.
"Rex Libris," volume one of some cartoons about an immortal librarian who defends truth and justice and chases down space warlords who don't return late books. His boss is Thoth. The art is okay, nothing special (too digital for me and the speech bubbles are not intuitively placed, which is a me problem, not an author problem-- I frequently have trouble with speech bubbles and it has lead to really surprising conclusions about jokes in cartoons, in some cases my version is better) but the writing is superb. Read the last third of Carl Sagan's last book, since I had forgotten about it until just now, the chapter in Jack Morin's "The Erotic Mind" about his data collection method (it's a really good book, just because I read the boring part doesn't mean you have to, too) and the last two chapters in "This book is OVERDUE! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All" by I forget who, but I needed motivation.
All of B. Kliban is back in print, but not at 1975 prices; I paid $5.95 for "Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head" which has the cartoon I wanted to see desperately, incredibly bad-- I wanted to see it more than $5.95 worth, so it's comparatively a bargain. Art Spiegelman (he wrote/drew "Maus")wrote the introduction for the new edition of "Cat."
Did you watch TV?
Other than a few moments of secondhand "Fashion Police," not that much incidental television. Lots of incidental Skyrim-kibbutzing ("Maybe if you stealth up to the tunnel, then FUS RO that guy, then run away while your backup takes care of him?") At one point we watched the first two episodes of "Supernatural" and I can't really see what the fuss is about. I will probably not continue with this show unless I am for some reason sick in bed. I do like monsters, however.
I mentioned that I watched the last episode of the first series of BBC's "Sherlock"? Well, I watched it again, after apologizing to my roommates ("I had to! It was an emergency!") Well, we watched it again, and then the next night, somehow managed to contrive (I can't imagine where we might have acquired the second series of the show in this country, possibly by magic. Actually someone honked the doorbell and there was this basket on the step with a disc in it) to see the first episode in the second series AND THIS IS SUCH A GREAT SHOW YOU GUYS. It is SO PERFECT. The show's writers are aware of the various controversies and contradictions in the Historical Documents and have taken a firm stand on each issue, and also have remixed the variety of insider-markers-- let me just stab my mail to the mantel, etc-- without doing that awful "gosh, look, we read the books too" thing that some shows do; it's perfectly tuned.
I didn't go anywhere new and I didn't swim more than 2 miles because I have too much work for next couple weeks.
What did you read?
Reread "The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You" by S. Bear Bergman; skimmed "That's Revolting! Queer strategies for resisting assimilation" by Mattilda Berenstein Sycamore, most of a book about collections development that is from 1981 and solemnly warns the reader that some serials titles will cost a library UP TO 75 CENTS, oh the humanity.
"Rex Libris," volume one of some cartoons about an immortal librarian who defends truth and justice and chases down space warlords who don't return late books. His boss is Thoth. The art is okay, nothing special (too digital for me and the speech bubbles are not intuitively placed, which is a me problem, not an author problem-- I frequently have trouble with speech bubbles and it has lead to really surprising conclusions about jokes in cartoons, in some cases my version is better) but the writing is superb. Read the last third of Carl Sagan's last book, since I had forgotten about it until just now, the chapter in Jack Morin's "The Erotic Mind" about his data collection method (it's a really good book, just because I read the boring part doesn't mean you have to, too) and the last two chapters in "This book is OVERDUE! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All" by I forget who, but I needed motivation.
All of B. Kliban is back in print, but not at 1975 prices; I paid $5.95 for "Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head" which has the cartoon I wanted to see desperately, incredibly bad-- I wanted to see it more than $5.95 worth, so it's comparatively a bargain. Art Spiegelman (he wrote/drew "Maus")wrote the introduction for the new edition of "Cat."
Did you watch TV?
Other than a few moments of secondhand "Fashion Police," not that much incidental television. Lots of incidental Skyrim-kibbutzing ("Maybe if you stealth up to the tunnel, then FUS RO that guy, then run away while your backup takes care of him?") At one point we watched the first two episodes of "Supernatural" and I can't really see what the fuss is about. I will probably not continue with this show unless I am for some reason sick in bed. I do like monsters, however.
I mentioned that I watched the last episode of the first series of BBC's "Sherlock"? Well, I watched it again, after apologizing to my roommates ("I had to! It was an emergency!") Well, we watched it again, and then the next night, somehow managed to contrive (I can't imagine where we might have acquired the second series of the show in this country, possibly by magic. Actually someone honked the doorbell and there was this basket on the step with a disc in it) to see the first episode in the second series AND THIS IS SUCH A GREAT SHOW YOU GUYS. It is SO PERFECT. The show's writers are aware of the various controversies and contradictions in the Historical Documents and have taken a firm stand on each issue, and also have remixed the variety of insider-markers-- let me just stab my mail to the mantel, etc-- without doing that awful "gosh, look, we read the books too" thing that some shows do; it's perfectly tuned.
I didn't go anywhere new and I didn't swim more than 2 miles because I have too much work for next couple weeks.