You might have noticed that I buy a few books. I’m trying to assemble a library of every important (IMHO) science fiction book ever published in first edition hardback (plus selected fantasy and horror titles to boot), but I’m also doing it on the budget of someone who is not made of money. With one exception (a pre-publication Stephen King ultralimited), I’ve never paid more than $400 for any given book. But recently I had to break that rule to buy a copy of not just one of the most important science fiction novels of the 20th century, but one of the most important books ever published: The true Secker & Warburg first edition hardback of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, in an imperfect (but unclipped and almost entirely intact) dust jacket. I bought it from a noted science fiction book dealer for $500 (discounted down from considerably more).
Here are a two scans of the book:
Flaws include slight spine lean, hint of fading to spine panel at top and bottom edges, else fine in a good-only example of the green dust jacket (the other, and generally more desirable cover variant is red, but there’s no priority between the two), with blind-side masking tape reinforcements along portions of top and bottom edges, with show through, most noticeably along top edges of rear panel and flaps and lower edge of rear panel, and shelf wear at head and heel of spine panel, corner tips and along front flap fold.
It’s hard (but obviously not impossible) to find a decent true first of Nineteen Eighty-Four in dust jacket for under a grand.
Now to save up my pennies for a copy of H. P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others…
Airplane!, The Exorcist, The Empire Strikes Back and The Pink Panther are all great films, arguably among the top 100 ever made. I believe it was K. W. Jeter who said that the student version of THX 1138 was much better than the theatrical release, so I’ve always been curious to see that. Strangely enough, I’m also curious about Saturday Night Fever, despite my loathing of disco, as many critics (the late Gene Siskel among them) consider it one of the great films of the 1970s, and National Review‘s John Derbyshire says it’s one of the best films about blue collar American life ever made. I also remember Dwight being impressed with Malcolm X, despite not having seen Malcolm I–IX.
Of course, a lot of these are notable only for being early examples of the form rather than gripping cinema, such as Newark Athlete:
Or A Trip Down Market Street:
Let There Be Light is John Huston’s pioneering documentary on the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following World War II:
And Our Lady of the Sphere is sort of like Terry Gilliam’s work on Monty Python, but not as interesting:
Then again, it was made in San Francisco in 1969, so there’s nothing about it that can’t be explained by the phrase “Dude, I was so high…”
But honestly, I’m only linking to this story for two reasons: For the MST3K reference in the blog post title, and to include the pure awesomeness that is Forklift Driver Klaus. (Note: Don’t watch if you’re easily offended by completely over-the-top gore and violence. Skip the first minute if you don’t understand German; the rest is pretty much self-explanatory.)
Just when you thought it was safe to surf the Internet, it’s another Downfall parody. (Not safe for work.) At least the creator did a bit more editing than usual. (Blame Mike. He sent it to me.)
I can only imagine Ellison’s reaction: “Ray Bradbury gets hot young women that want to screw him, and I get Hitler? What the hell is wrong with the Internet?”
Consider this your yearly warning not to try driving your car on icy hills. Unless you like playing a really expensive and dangerous version of bumper-cars…
Note: Not my videos, so I’m not responsible for musical choices, commentary, etc.
Bonus: City bus.
You might really want to consider slowing down in this weather. I said slow down! Never mind…
I’m not sure if “bailing out” is the right move here.
I’m pretty sure it’s not the optimal solution here:
A commenter on the Sherry Black murder followup suggested a possible connection between her murder and the arrest of transient Paul David Vara (not Vera) on multiple rape charges. I am unable to find any mention of a connection with the Sherry Black murder, or Lorin Nielsen, or Insane Clown Posse, in the searches on his name, much less the semi-incriminating updates our commenter attributes to him. If our commenter has such links, perhaps he could share them with us. Or, better yet, the Salt Lake City police department, who I am sure are in a much better position to act on such information than I am.
As far as I can tell, there are no new leads in the murder of bookseller Sherry Black. Or at least none that the police are sharing with the media.
However, that blog update did link to this fascinating piece from 2008 talking about a ring of meth addicts stealing Mormon collectables and selling them to antique dealers, and the (mostly unsuccessful) quest of Randy Holladay to get back his possessions. I am very far indeed from the Salk Lake City antique business, but the story paints them (and the “pickers” that sell to them) in a most unflattering light:
Holladay made one fatal mistake, he says, in his homespun investigation. He gave out his list of stolen property to antique dealers in the first week of March. That’s something the Utah Antique Dealers Association advocates, according to its vice president, Nate Bischoff. One day to the next, though, Holladay says, the trail went cold. He suspects the list was circulated to dealers across the Salt Lake Valley, who then hid from view whatever they had bought of his possessions.
The story it paints of the Salt Lake City police is also less-than-flattering, noting that “In 2007, nine burglary detectives handled 1,300 cases each.” The story also notes:
A month ago, Holladay learned that 10 pages of e-mails he had sent to law enforcement at the beginning of the investigation were being circulated among neighbors and what he calls “various shady people” throughout the city. In those e-mails, Holladay poured out his anger, his fear, his suspicions—accurate or not—of neighbors and others. The district attorney’s office shared the e-mails with defense attorneys in the discovery process. Lloyd says his house was broken into several weeks ago. The only thing taken was the discovery file containing Holladay’s e-mails relating to this case.
Then again, hosility to police is pretty much a given for an “alternative weekly,” so their reporting in that arena may need to be taken with a grain of salt…
