Monday, November 23, 2009

twilight pale

Slightly Like Strangers by Emily Listfield.

My vocabulary for cosmetics is awful, so this is going to come out wrong. Are the people on the cover wearing too much foundation or too much face powder:




The photo:




I wonder if this was a new marketing tactic in the late '80s: to include the author's headshot in the book. (Maybe this was an advanced reader's copy?) The same picture, but cropped, is used for the biography. While researching background on the author I came across these tips for author headshots, which include: add a statement necklace like chunky layered beads or turquoise. I'd suggest bamboo, but to each their own.

Monday, November 16, 2009

inside and out (not feist)

My brother found this note before his first college tour. They grow up so damn fast!

The Storyteller: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa.




The note:





[Heart] Surrounded I sit amidst erosions gift. small pebbles they really do uplift. memories are precious at times we knew there was a love for very few. Now I seek our origins name not recognized. Will we crash upon the sand, or flee this land we encroach every day. I vanish among the surf to find that wisdom of a fluid type. Sing to me, the sea whispers in my ear, dance circles until there's no rigidity. Sacred we are but seldom we do -- caught inside the rabid Muse -- Electric smells -- I can replace the power to feel that space between two cities outside of time. the race. Surrounded.

by Julia

Detail:




Question: What I find intriguing is the lack of possessive apostrophes (erosions, origins) mixed with the use of a contraction (there's). What's Julia getting at?

Feist sez:

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Dem Bums

White Noise by Don DeLillo.



Inside:





A Dodgers' 1991 World Series ticket! Hooray! An unused ticket for a series the Dodgers didn't play! Uh, what now?

The 1991 season was played before divisional realignment, so a team could theoretically finish the season and within a week's time start Game One of the World Series (there was no Divisional Series like today--only a best-of-four League Championship Series, which if both winning teams swept would take only five days). Thus, the net effect of such a short postseason was every team not yet mathematically eliminated from contention printed playoff tickets--even World Series tickets--to sell to eager beaver fans and scalpers before the regular season concluded. That year, three National League teams were fighting for two playoff spots heading into October: the Pittsburg Pirates (who finished 14 games ahead of the second-place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL East) and the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves over in the NL West. (Of course Atlanta played in the NL West. Duh.)

On October 1st, the Dodgers were atop their division, one game up on the Braves. But both teams were tied for first by October 3rd, setting up a critical season finale against the San Francisco Giants. (If you don't know anything about the spirited Dodger/Giant rivalry, see this photo.) The Dodgers being the Dodgers, known as "Dem Bums" while stinkin' it up in Brooklyn before moving out to Los Angeles in 1958, were eliminated October 5th by Trevor Fuckin' Wilson, who pitched a complete game shutout. (The Giants finished 19 games out of first place, but both teams have a long history of knocking one another out of the postseason.) And once Eddie Murray grounded out to second base in that ninth inning, thousands of voided Dodger playoff tickets made their way into trash bins or transmogrified into bookmarks. Handy!


What's also remarkable about this ticket is the purchase price: $40 for a Top Deck seat! A Top Deck seat in the regular season cost you $5 in 1991; $11 in 2009.

(FYI: the Minnesota Twins won the World Series, defeating the Braves in seven games. The home team won every game. Baseball fever: catch it!)

Friday, November 6, 2009

Rosetta Stone Required

Guest Post #3!

Eric found this cool note of scribblings: one English, several of unknown origin. Probably not the glyphs of an alien species, but my guess is the smooth loops of Arabic.

Eric sez:

I'm not certain what language the marginalia is in this used copy of The Buddhist Tradition. What I am sure of is that my phone takes better pictures than my camera.

The note on top:



No clue:



Yes, you are reading that correctly:


("Ben complete shenanigans")


No cover art, but here is the spine:


Thanks, Eric (aka Guest Poster #3)!

Public Service Announcement

Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night?

Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?

Have you or your family ever seen a spook, specter, or ghost?

If the answer is "Yes" then don't wait another minute. Pick up the phone and call the professionals...

notes in books!

That's right, if you have a book shepherding notes somewhere in your library, ferret that sucker out, take some pictures, and email that bastard to notesinbooks20 [at] gmail [dot] com.

We're ready to believe you!