Science Fiction Double Feature

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Neither of these can really considered “Science Fiction”, but they were a double-feature nonetheless.

A few weeks ago, some friends and I drove up to Warwick, New York for our annual drive-in trip. Unfortunately we did not plan this trip well around the new releases, but our impossible schedules. Just when we thought that we were going to seize a chance to see Pacific Rim in the full glory of the countryside and night sky, the weekend’s movies were posted and we were left with…pretty uninteresting and unusual pairings. Of the choices, we opted to stick with screen 3, which was showing a billing of The Wolverine and Turbo.

Usually the drive-in pairs similarly-rated or genre-ed movies together, but this was one pairing we could not figure out. The Wolverine is the sequel of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and as the title indicates, took a great departure from everything related to the X-Men. Being a familiar and generally well-versed with comic book lore and characters, The Wolverine confused me to no end in plot and execution. Canon characters and plot points were used independently and poorly. Fleeting references were made to the Wolverine’s canon background and history, but it was otherwise disappointing to see them not built-up with the utilized history. The events of The Wolverine take place after X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), a movie that one cared for and really wished to re-live again with any follow-ups. That being said, the best of this came in the credits where a clip alluded to the 2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past movie, the next addition to the X-Men series – which also marks the return of early X-Men film director Bryan Singer and utilizing one of the most epic stories in comic book history (To be as big of a comic book nerd as possible…).

Coincidentally, at the same time that Turbo was playing, Ryan Reynolds’ other summer movie R.I.P.D. was playing on screen 2 and we enjoyed flipping the radio stations in-between the two audio broadcastings as we weren’t invested in Turbo. Granted, Turbo is marketed for an audience a bit below our age ranges, but I’ve watched plenty of other G-rated movies that made clear, interesting and logical sense. Turbo was clunky and contrived. Some fun could be found in the throwback references to Youtube sensations and autotuning, but otherwise it was definitely not for us.

And like that, the annual drive-in pilgrimage was made and remembered. We’ll always have a lasting memory of watching the strangest movie pairing ever.

The Wolverine: 0 re-watches

Turbo: 0 re-watches

Saturday in the City

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This weekend, I took a trip into New York City. I take for granted the fact that I can take a train for reasonably cheaply into New York and be swimming in a variety of exhibits, sights, and sounds. With summer class over, I said enough was enough on Saturday and took the train to, essentially, eat and sight see. I also wanted to see if I could finally get into the Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library.

Great Success!

In some ways, visiting the Schwarzman Building of was nicer than visiting the Library of Congress. For one – I finally completed what was becoming a epic quest of battling weather/hours/dragons to get into the Library. Another is that the Library of Congress is exclusively meant for the Congress and thus there are more restrictions on what one can see. At the Schwarzman Building, visitors were free to wander the public reading rooms and halls, as New Yorkers are able to.

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Patience and Fortitude
I didn’t get any pictures of the inside of the building. It’s best experienced rather than pictured? (Also, I just didn’t care.) Perfectly fated though, the Library had an exhibit up about the importance of children’s books, of which I took many pictures.

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The exhibit took the viewer through the history of children’s books, highlighted some sensations, and acknowledged different facets of children’s bookship. There was a great display about censorship and banned books.

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“Where the Wild Things Are” – One inside was painted Max’s Crown Gold and the other was Wild Thing Hairy.

And unexpectedly, there were a few sections highlighting comic books and graphic novels! Specifically, they looked at how comic books were initially perceived by librarians – i.e. inappropriate for children and for any reader.

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superheroes

Awesome to see the X-men represented.

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Will Eisner’s “The Contract with God” (1978) is often noted as the first graphic novel.blankets

Craig Thompson’s “Blankets” (2003) under the glass, noted for changing the 21st century perception of illustrative storytelling.

After all that, I just bopped around the city. I made it down to The Strand and bought a birthday present for a friend, ate ice cream in Bryant Park and a burger Shake Shack (over-rated). Overall, an excellent celebration to summer class ending and getting to savor summer for a little bit longer before classes resume in September.

 

 

August Rising

august

source

listening :: I’ll Get By and The Moth Radio Hour – A View of the Earth (so beautiful);

watching :: Won’t Back Down;

reading ::The Night Circus, and Locke & Key;

wanting :: New running shoes;

working :: Job applications;

writing :: Nothing! Survived my first and last summer session!;

thinking :: New York City tomorrow, switching out of creative writing and into stage lighting, and all of this month’s activities.

Who is your favorite TV dad?

(inspired by Erin at Library Scenester)

Cold Snap

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Throwback from the spring semester – the doctoral students are weird.

listening :: Welcome to Night Vale and Enter Shikari ;

watching :: Funny You Should Ask and maybe Pacific Rim at the drive-in this weekend;

reading :: Wide Sargasso Sea, The Night Circus, and Lucifer (a spin-off of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman);

wanting :: A lobster roll and sunshine;

working :: On cataloging this stack of magazines and job applications;

writing :: My final assignments for Grant Writing (Two more weeks!!);

thinking : The Creative Writing class I signed up for, fall running events, and work happenings.

What are you guys up?

(inspired by Erin at Library Scenester)

2013 Eisner Award Winners

2013 Eisner Award Winners

San Diego Comic Con is this weekend and that can mean only one thing! (Well, actually many things…)

When the nominations were posted earlier this year, I posted a list of my hopefuls. 8 winners out of 11 isn’t too shabby, and good job Saga for cleaning house!

A new

listening :: Rooster Teeth podcasts and a lot of Pink Floyd;

watching :: Prefontaine (Cried my eyes out) and Spirit of the Marathon;

reading :: Homeward Bound, Torch, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (I am close to meeting my yearly reading goal);

wanting :: Summer class to be over, and a pita sandwich;

working :: On grant research and job applications;

writing :: The final mock grant proposal.

thinking :: What happens after grad school, traveling, and other existential topics.

What are you guys up?

(inspired by Erin at Library Scenester)

Hello, Mr. G

“Hello, Casey.”

“Hello, Mr. G—“

At least once a week, for the year that I was at that library, I would exchange only those words with this one patron. He would take up all of the tables in the genealogy and local history section with various Sanborn maps and indexes. It was understand within the staff that this was okay – he was a master genealogist and was essentially adding to our collections. He worked quietly and methodically. I never wanted to bother him with any other words; he always appeared to be on a mission of some sort. 

I learned this morning that Mr. G—- passed away, quietly and even older than he had been those years ago. I learned more from his obituary about him than I never knew directly from him. He lived a good, long, full life. Even now though, I can still hear the way his voice said “Hello, Casey.” Raspy and weather-worn, very grandfatherly.

At the gig I am presently at, I have a similar exchange with a patron. Every day he asks for “The Record”, the local newspaper, but usually he doesn’t have to croak out the words – I grab The Record as soon as I see him approaching the desk and he smiles when I hand it off to him. That is the limit to our exchange as well, but I when he doesn’t come before lunch. Just as I would’ve about Mr. G—-.

You can’t really bank on anything in a library staying as it was the day before. People come and go as they please and as live takes them. Material gets checked out or disappears. But it’s the little exchanges with “Mr. Record” and the ones that I had with Mr. G—- that are small rays of light in the day.

Dewey or Die

I AM THE GREETEST from Daniel Angri on Vimeo.

listening :: I AM THE GREETEST (Because I am a rat);

watching :: Above, Prefontaine and Spirit of the Marathon ;

reading :: Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed and Deadeye Dick;

wanting :: Tacos, new shoes, and a trip;

working :: The mock grant proposal, video cassette withdrawals, birthday boxes, and shopping lists;

writing :: Blog posts, discussion posts, and outlines;

thinking :: The weirdly realistic dream I had last night, and some bad news from the 100 Acre Woods.

(inspired by Erin at Library Scenester)

What are you listening to?

Knee High By The Fourth Of July

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listening :: Talon of the Hawk 24-7;

watching :: Perks of Being a Wallflower after work;

reading :: Winger, Underwater Welder, and Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon;

wanting :: A huge bacon cheeseburger and a drink, febreze, Google Reader to return, and naptime;

working :: On Grants homework;

writing :: nothing recreational;

thinking :: What will happen after grad school, Italy, road trips, Kaytlyn, and lunchtime .

(inspired by Erin at Library Scenester)

What’s new?

A way to go

listening :: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim on cassette and the above;

watching :: Seasons of Grimm and some Murray at Wimbledon;

reading :: Still Points North and other summer reading program books ;

wanting :: To be at Annual, but looking forward to some transmissions from the conference, and lemonade;

working :: On Grants homework (groan, summer school);

writing :: Some nonfiction and Nano outlines;

thinking :: Buying a handheld GPS, Germany, Carnivals, and the frightening dream I had on Wednesday.

(inspired by Erin at Library Scenester)

What’s new?