I’m sort of surprised one was still in business. What with the insane rents and all.
Also, Rick Klaw’s grandfather, Bettie Page photographer Irving Klaw, gets namechecked.
New York’s Last Movie Photo Shop Closes Its Doors
October 29th, 2013Library Additions: Philip K. Dick’s A Handful of Darkness
October 29th, 2013Another important book for closing in on my complete Philip k. Dick in hardback collection:
Dick, Philip K. A Handful of Darkness. Rich & Cowan, 1955. First edition hardback, Currey binding A (blue boards lettered in silver) in a first state dust jacket (no mention of World of Chance), an Ex-Library copy with most of the usual flaws, including protected dust jacket flaps taped to boards (and inner cardboard sleeve additionally taped) and stamp for Eeeling Science Fiction Postal Library on inner cover; dust jacket is completely intact, the only flaws being “D11/2” written in white on bottom spine just above publisher, and slight dust staining to white rear cover; call it a VG/NF Ex-Lib copy. Levack, 21a. Currey (1978), page 157. Dick’s first short story collection and first hardback book.
(Click to embiggen; hairline crack on left is a scanner artifact.)
Giant Pentagram in Kazakhstan
October 28th, 2013Well, here’s something you don’t see every day. A giant pentagram in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan.
Looks to be about 1,300 feet across.
I’m sure it’s in no way a summoning grid for unspeakable eldritch horrors…
Shoegazer Sunday: Black Tambourine’s “Throw Aggi Off The Bridge”
October 27th, 2013For your Sunday dose of shoegaze, here’s Black Tambourine’s “Throw Aggi Off The Bridge.”
Halloween Horrors: Flying Death
October 25th, 2013Heh.
Library Additions: Two Signed Ray Bradbury Books
October 24th, 2013I picked up two more signed Ray Bradbury books off eBay:
Creepy Online GIFs and Their Origins: Ballface
October 22nd, 2013Here’s a GIF that’s a wee bit unnerving:
It’s vaguely reminiscent of the creepy moon in Georges Méliès’s The Astronomer’s Dream.
Turns out it’s from a “tracking & compositing experiment” video:
I know that I always use subjects that are super-creepy for my tracking and compositing experiments…
Library Additions: The Signed, Limited Edition of Isaac Asimov’s Nemesis
October 21st, 2013Picked up another book for my collection:
Asimov, Isaac. Nemesis. Doubleday, 1989. First edition hardback, number 485 out of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued.
This was a serendipitous find. I wasn’t looking for it (since I’m not generally a big fan of Asimov’s later work), but merely entered “signed limited edition” in Amazon’s books section just to see what I would find and this came up at $80. Given that it was originally issued at $125, and given that copies on Bookfinder start at $150, I thought it was a good price. Asimov isn’t actually a hard signature (especially compared to verified Philip K. Dick or Robert A. Heinlein signatures), but he has become fairly pricey one for his first editions.
Shoegazer Sunday: Velveteen’s “Poster Boy”
October 20th, 2013Velveteen is a band from Germany most famous (for certain values of “famous”) for having their album hoaxed as a Death Cab for Cutie album. (Disclaimer: I couldn’t recognize a Death Cab for Cutie song with a gun to my head.) Correction: The band wrote to note they’re the London Velveteen, not the German one. “Poster Boy” is another video whose theme is “War is bad and stuff.” Or alternately, “stock footage from the Vietnam is pretty cheap.”
Bum Phillips, RIP
October 18th, 2013Former Houston Oilers football coach Oail Andrew “Bum” Phillips Jr. has died at age 90. It’s pretty much impossible for anyone who didn’t grow up in Houston during the “Luv Ya Blue” era of of the Earl Campbell Oilers to tell you how much Phillips meant to the city. He may be the most beloved NFL coach never to even reach a Superbowl. Bud Adams firing Philips (and then trading Campbell to New Orleans for a sack of doorknobs) was one of the many, many, many things Oilers owner Bud Adams did to earn the enmity of the city he would eventually deprive of the Oilers.
Philips was an ornery cuss, but a classy one, and 100% Texan. He will be missed.
Edited to Add: Oiler player tributes to Bum. “Everybody loved Bum.”