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Barnes & Noble trip!
Jun. 14th, 2006 12:12 amFinally made it to the *HUGE* Barnes & Noble in Burlington, up on the Middlesex Turnpike, where it intersects with the Burlington Mall Road. I'd had a heck of a time trying to figure out how to triangluate the bus schedule for that, but I thought I'd make the effort. I could easily max out my credit/debit card there, but I held myself in check.
Bought the prose novel version of Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" and his graphic novel "Mr. Punch", featuring Dave McKean's artwork; I'd been trying to get my hands on a copy of that without much luck until now. I've already read it and I think it's... not my favorite of his work (which will always be a toss-up between "The Sandman" and "American Gods"), but I think this one has the most personal resonance for me, since it deals with very familiar things like adult suffering and childhood innocence and what happens when the two intersect against the backdrop of a Punch and Judy show.
And I saw more "Da Vinci Code" junk than you can shake a stick at. They've got a movie tie-in wall calender for next year. They've got a Sudoku book (Of course, tie two fads together into one and sell it even faster). They've got a million different books that by turns debunk the damn thing and extrapolate on the OMG TEH MIZTRIEEZ!!11111. I saw the Da Vinci Tarot deck you'd mentioned, Puck... I swear they could put something Da Vinci Code-esque on toilet paper and people would buy it like it was the greatest thing in the world.
But the piece-de-resistance that I saw on my way out, on a table of books labelled "Bizarre and Funny Gift Ideas" -- and which I very nearly bought as a prank -- was this book done in the manner of the "Worst Case Scenario Handbook" series entitled "How to Survive a Robot Rebellion". Yeah. Part of me was laughing, part of me was grinding my teeth and the part of my brain that's got that connection to the Houseparty of folks from other universes suddenly became Radio Free Angry/Amused Exiles and Mecha-Rights Defenders. As I was flipping through it, rolling my eyes over things like "How to Escape a Smart House" and "How to Identify a Humanoid Robot", I had to listen to various folks in my forebrain muttering or snarking or groaning over it. The real kicker was "When All Else Fails: How to Fake Being a Robot", with suggestions like "Dress in an Addidas-type jumpsuit. Put tinfoil down your pants to change your heat signature. Make the occasional 'beep... boop' noise." Cecie just shook her head: "That might work if you're trying to be a service droid, but I think there'd be trouble if Joe or one of his brothers went 'beep... boop'." The Merv just kinda laughed it off. Flood, on the other hand, hit the ceiling and went through the goffering: "What do they take us for? Have they any thought that we might be more dignified than that?! I've never said such rot in my entire existence!" etc. etc. etc.
What happens when you have science fiction-universe-dwellers (of your ...discovering or from other folks') that seem to have lodged in your grey matter... Keeps life from being dull, I'll say that!
Bought the prose novel version of Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" and his graphic novel "Mr. Punch", featuring Dave McKean's artwork; I'd been trying to get my hands on a copy of that without much luck until now. I've already read it and I think it's... not my favorite of his work (which will always be a toss-up between "The Sandman" and "American Gods"), but I think this one has the most personal resonance for me, since it deals with very familiar things like adult suffering and childhood innocence and what happens when the two intersect against the backdrop of a Punch and Judy show.
And I saw more "Da Vinci Code" junk than you can shake a stick at. They've got a movie tie-in wall calender for next year. They've got a Sudoku book (Of course, tie two fads together into one and sell it even faster). They've got a million different books that by turns debunk the damn thing and extrapolate on the OMG TEH MIZTRIEEZ!!11111. I saw the Da Vinci Tarot deck you'd mentioned, Puck... I swear they could put something Da Vinci Code-esque on toilet paper and people would buy it like it was the greatest thing in the world.
But the piece-de-resistance that I saw on my way out, on a table of books labelled "Bizarre and Funny Gift Ideas" -- and which I very nearly bought as a prank -- was this book done in the manner of the "Worst Case Scenario Handbook" series entitled "How to Survive a Robot Rebellion". Yeah. Part of me was laughing, part of me was grinding my teeth and the part of my brain that's got that connection to the Houseparty of folks from other universes suddenly became Radio Free Angry/Amused Exiles and Mecha-Rights Defenders. As I was flipping through it, rolling my eyes over things like "How to Escape a Smart House" and "How to Identify a Humanoid Robot", I had to listen to various folks in my forebrain muttering or snarking or groaning over it. The real kicker was "When All Else Fails: How to Fake Being a Robot", with suggestions like "Dress in an Addidas-type jumpsuit. Put tinfoil down your pants to change your heat signature. Make the occasional 'beep... boop' noise." Cecie just shook her head: "That might work if you're trying to be a service droid, but I think there'd be trouble if Joe or one of his brothers went 'beep... boop'." The Merv just kinda laughed it off. Flood, on the other hand, hit the ceiling and went through the goffering: "What do they take us for? Have they any thought that we might be more dignified than that?! I've never said such rot in my entire existence!" etc. etc. etc.
What happens when you have science fiction-universe-dwellers (of your ...discovering or from other folks') that seem to have lodged in your grey matter... Keeps life from being dull, I'll say that!
