Friday, August 2, 2013

A trip to Old Number Six

I spent a rare day off today making a pilgrimage to a favorite used bookstore...


With more than 100,000 musty treasures available for browsing, how can you go wrong?  I picked up a book of poetry to better acquaint myself with one of my April A-Z post subjects, and I also found a long-sought occult tome for under $10 that I've only seen for over $50 on the webernets.

I also happened to see a rare (?) role-playing game book that was recently on a list posted by Catacomb Librarian, here, as one of several that deserve more attention in the blogging world.  (Don't worry about it being lost to history, though... the good Librarian has already started to dig into its quirky details, here.)  Unfortunately, the proprietors must have known its worth, too... $45 was too steep for me, for something I'd most likely never play.

Anyway, it was a fine day.

Also, a few other random bits that don't quite deserve their own posts...

(1) As a follow-up to my previous review, I eventually realized that Austin Grossman's characters Simon and Darren were probably not based on Jay and Silent Bob (duh), but more likely on two, you know, actual pioneers of the home computer age...


I'm pedantic and geeky, but I never claimed to be quick on the uptake!  :-)

I'd have used pictures of the real guys, but these actors give off vibes that are much more reminiscent of my conception of Simon and Darren.  (In Grossman's book, for example, Darren was a lot slicker and smarmier, and Simon was a lot more psychologically damaged, than the real Jobs and Woz probably were back in the day!)  This movie comes out in a few weeks... if any of you see it, I'd be curious to hear your opinions in the comments.

(2) A couple of days ago, I spent far more time than I'd care to admit scrolling through a web page called Awesome People Hanging Out Together.  Come on, they found this picture:


That's Count Dooku on the left, Grand Moff Tarkin on the right, and in the middle... the Candyman!  cha ch'kan... cha cha ch'kan...   Not a Star Wars or Rat Pack fan?  Okay, how about:


Look closely... "Daydream believer, and a homecoming..."  "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"

(3) Blah blah blah third thing.  I just realized that this one probably could and should be expanded to a full post.  I'll hold off on it for now, in order to learn a bit more about this topic before proceeding.

7 comments:

  1. One loves bookstores. It is sad that soon they will be extinct.

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    1. I wouldn't wish such a bleak future on anyone... they'll be rarer, but hopefully never gone completely. The process of discovering new authors, combined with the social interaction, coffee and biscuits, and activities for the little ones to do, seems pretty evergreen. I'm sure the purchasing model will change -- say, you browse sample books that never leave the store, then what you "buy" are either virtual files or something to be printed on demand.

      Wishful thinking? :-)

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  2. A bookshop with used books - woosh - you'd see Husband dash into it. In our house in Hildesheim one flat is only for books - well, and his home study desk, and I, though I love books, got unnerved by the masses. We gave 6.000 old rare German detective novels to the Literary Archive in Marbach (normally they accept only classic - but nobody had collected these books, and now they have proof that German detective story started before (!) Edgar Allan Poe). About these books Husband had written his thesis.
    Well, I thought: good - now there is some space... You bet: woosh - it filled up very quick, with other important finds.

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    1. That's fascinating about the German detective story. I know about the father of German horror (and considered devoting one of my April A-Z posts to him), but didn't know about this.

      It's amazing how cleared spaces get filled up so fast! :-)

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  3. Ah, no! I don't think Darren and Simon were Jobs and Woz! For the record, I like both Simon and Woz better ...

    Cool deal on scoring the $10 find! I live for that stuff. :)

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    1. I admit to knowing next to nothing about the Steves... it was really seeing that actor above (and some old pictures of Woz) that spurred the connection with my mental image of Simon.

      With book buying, I'm probably going to have to set a policy of one donation for every acquisition... the shelves are groaning. :-)

      I'm hoping to hear more soon about the big move. Exciting times!

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    2. Patience, grasshopper.

      I'm throwin' up a post about it today and yer in it. :)

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