T-shirt #215: Powell's Books

T-shirt #215: Powell's Books

Three subjects today only one of which is related to Powell's Books. Today, I will review the book Night Film. I want to deliver a heartfelt thank you to my readers. And, of course, I have a few things to share about the resignation of Jim Leyland from the Detroit Tigers.

Today's shirt comes from my recent visit to Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon.

The shirt came wrapped in a paper band bearing the quote: "Was he an animal, that music could move him so? He felt as if the way to the unknown nourishment he longed for were coming to light." - Franz Kafka (1883-1924) The Metamorphosis.

I did not go nuts in Powell's with pictures, but my wife did take a photo of us together. Can you guess which section we're in? Where I found her in my wanderings?

Not much else to say about Powell's. It's a great bookstore? Yup.

DEAR READERS

Once again, I had someone tell me that he loves the blog. I never expect this to happen. I think I blushed. I feel a little embarrassed each time, like I got away with something I should not have. This particular comment came from someone I respect a great deal. He was a senior when I was a freshman. I had no idea that he was reading my blog at all, even once. I looked up to him a great deal when I in college and since. I am honored by his praise.

I do watch the stats that Blogger collects. Though I know that many of the "hits" to my blog are robo-bots, collecting URLs to sell me alleged readership boosting services, looking at the numbers, I also know that many of those hits represent readers or at least quick clicks, people who pop in and skim or glance or peek.

Page views yesterday totaled forty-three (43). Page views last month totaled fifteen hundred and twenty-two (1522). So far, page views all time total nine thousand four hundred and seventy-four (9474).

THIS MONTH - OCTOBER
(Stats reflect the activity for the month)

On October 16th, the blog peaked at 101 pageviews. Interesting stats pop out. T-shirt #176: Isher Artifacts earned itself a whopping 216 page views. I suspect this spike in views has to do not with the subject of the shirt and searches related to it but all the comic book content on the page, as I reviewed Forever Evil, Infinity, X-Men: Battle of the Atom, and Avengers AI, all of which may lead people from Google searches to my page.

It's no surprise to me that my tribute to my dear friend Bob Russell received over 80 hits for T-shirt #171. It's interesting that my recent adventures in Hawaiian food, featuring my People's Food Co-op shirt, in the post for T-shirt #199, has received 70 page views. And interstingly, the hodge podge that is T-shirt #209 has received 22 page views. And finally, not so strange, but an interesting fact is that my post on Nightwing, T-shirt #62, has received 57 page views. Is this due to the number of Nightwing fans among my readers, on the Internet, or the spike in Nightwing attention due to his unmasking in Forever Evil?


ALL TIME

I will just post the Blogger chart below to save time. Isher still leads not just for the month but all time posts probably because of all that comic book content. The Neahtawanta Bob Russell tribute follows due to my promotion of it on the Bob Russell memorial page and all the people who love Bob. I am intrigued that Batgirl ranks third, though like Nightwing, this may be due to increased interest in the character due to her stories in the DC universe. The Barn Theatre post ranks fourth because, again, of my promotion of it through the Barn page on Facebook and all the Barnies who may be interested in my tribute. Lastly, T-shirt #118 was my posting about the Trayvon Martin case, which I cross promoted to both Reddit and Stumble Upon. BTW, the links in the chart below are live links. Feel free to click.

More » Posts Entry Pageviews T-shirt #176 - Isher Artifacts Sep 13, 2013,  228 T-shirt#171 - The Neahtawanta Inn - Goodbye Bob Ru... Sep 8, 2013,  177 T-shirt #28: Batgirl (spoiler alerts) Apr 18, 2013,  119 T-shirt #125: Hair and the Barn Theatre Jul 24, 2013,  117 T-shirt #118: WWKD: What Would Kirk Do? Jul 17, 2013,  99

Ultimately, the upshot here is that I want to thank my readers, both those I know and those I do not. I am humbled and honored to have what I write read at all. There's a certain amount of hubris necessary for writing and publishing. I have that hubris, but I try to keep it in check. I will work hard to deliver quality content as often as possible and be worthy of your time and attention.

THANK YOU for reading.

JIM LEYLAND = CLASS ACT

Following the defeat of the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, Jim Leyland has resigned as head coach and manager.

Jim Leyland steps aside as Detroit Tigers manager: 'The fuel's getting a little low' - FREEP

I recently wrote about Jim and his tenure with the Detroit Tigers in T-shirt #210. I defended Leyland against castigation by an idiot sportswriter, who turns out to have been right that Leyland would not continue if the Tigers lost the ALCS. I still think the local sports writer guy is an idiot.

As I wrote before, I was not on the band wagon that the pivotal change in 2006 that got the Tigers to the World Series was Jim Leyland. I think Leyland would agree with me. I defended him against criticism in recent years. I have not always agreed with his moves, but I do not think he is the reason the Tigers lost the ALCS, despite the Game Two debacle. Still, it's not a bad decision for him to step down. New blood may help (though, like the Red Sox last year, it may not).

Even though, Alan Trammell was my all-time favorite Baseball player, he was not my all-time favorite Baseball manager, a distinction I must grant to Sparky Anderson. Tram does not rank second either. In terms of Tigers managers, I must say I have enjoyed Jim Leyland's tenure more than other notables, like Billy Martin, Ralph Houk, and even though they were before my time Mickey Cochrane and Ty Cobb.

Thanks for a great eight years, Jim Leyland. We will miss you.

NIGHT FILM

I am not posting a bunch of links here. Just one to share the CBS Sunday Morning story via a cool blog by someone named Lisa.


Did you see Marisha Pessl on CBS Sunday Morning?

I first mentioned Night Film in the post for T-shirt #204.

In that post, I explained how I came to read Night Film and how much I was enjoying it (so much so that I read nothing else). It ranks with Ready Player One and Red Shirts as the three best new books I have read this year. Though I endorsed Warren Ellis' Gun Machine, and I enjoyed it, that book cannot compete with these others.

Night Film has already made my list of favourite books of all time.

My review here will not be extensive, and I am not posting reviews by others. I just give this book my strongest recommendation. Along with the other two I named (though Red Shirts will not appeal to everyone), I will bug people to read these books. Fantastic.

Night Film could have been hokey. But it's not. My first reaction to a novel that mixes straight prose narrative with "found" objects, such as police reports, magazine articles, and blog posts is that it can be a sign of a lazy writer. But perhaps this kind of thinking is the old way and not the new vanguard, not the zeitgeist. Marisha Pessl is not a lazy writer; she is a masterful and accomplished writer, who creates a vivid tapestry of character and suspense.

Night Film chronicles the investigation of the death of Ashley Cordova, daughter of reclusive cult horror film director Stanislas Cordova, who has died of an apparent suicide. Pessl has invented a rich history of Cordova and the people associated with the making of his films as well details about the films themselves. As the book begins, Cordova has not been seen in public in over 30 years, he has not made a film in over ten years, and his last few films were so horrific that no mainstream company would distribute them. The films are shown in underground locations (literally, like the catacombs in Paris) and are expensive commodities to come by copies.

To frame Cordova, think a cross between Lynch, Polanski, and Kubrick, and even that triptych is not an accurate portrait. My wife proclaimed, as she read the book, that she wished someone like Cordova actually existed.

I do not want to spoil any of the surprises of this masterful work that seems to elevate the suspense genre to new heights and intricacy. Suffice to say that this is one of the single best books I have EVER read, and I look forward to re-reading it multiple times. Do not hesitate. Do not pass go. Proceed straight to obtaining this book, take a deep breath, and plunge into the darkness with your eyes wide open.

Sovereign, deadly, perfect.

IMAGE GALLERY
Included here are the fictional movie posters for the fictional movies in the fictional book. Enjoy.

This last image is not a movie poster;
it's just a page from the book

- chris tower - 1310.22 - 10:04

T-shirt #214: Gaia Ultimate Gear: Sleeveless White

T-shirt #214: Gaia Ultimate Gear: Sleeveless White

Happy Monday.

Am I too optimistic?

Do I start too many posts with a "happy day" greeting?

I believe in the power of attraction, the power of positive energy.

Today's blog is short on text because I am just featuring photos with captions. Starting the work week and took off most of yesterday, so I did not work ahead as much as I hoped. Still, as my wife has told me, more people would read my blog if the entries were not so long, to which I replied that I had been managing many shorter entries, had she not noticed? :-)

Oh... and how do you like my Smokey the Bear hat?

Today's shirt pairs with T-shirt #208. Both purchased at a very cool ultimate tournament in Lexington, Kentucky that I attended in either 2001 or 2002.

CAVEAT: It occurred to me yesterday while scrolling through Instagram that I have many friends who are fantastic photographers (such as my amazing wife). If you have not figured this fact out by the 214st day, the photography element is not the point of this blog. I could take better pictures, take more care with pictures, spend more time setting up shots, but I do not care as much about the photographs. This blog is devoted to writing. I care about the writing. Even though today features a dearth of writing.

IMAGES

Some shots from the trip both Portland and Hawaii shots. Meeting the Fraziers, who are UBER cool. Then shots from yesterday's restful and lazy Sunday with the puppy.

Me and Liesel in the
Bridgeport Brewing Company
in Portland, OR 1310.07

Liesel and her friend Stephanie
in a little Mexican place in Oahu

Me and Stephanie's husband Pali
in that Mexican place in Oahu
I can't do that thing with the fingers

me at steam vents
at Volcano National Park
day before government shutdown
ruined our exploration of it
(Park closed)
And yes, it was COLD!
1309.30

Me atop Mauna Kea among astronomical
observatories.
The HYDRA shirt is under that coat
COLD.

Satchel puppy's morning nap - 1310.20
Taken with new Samsung Galaxy S4

Satchel thinking about meaning of the universe
deciding it's "42" - 1310.20
Taken with new Samsung Galaxy S4

Satchel puppy: "You must play with me!
You cannot read!
You must play towel tugging game!!
NOW!"
 - 1310.20
Taken with new Samsung Galaxy S4

Satchel puppy gives up trying to play
crashes for afternoon nap  on dad's
legs while he fills out
comic book order (note catalog)- 1310.20
Taken with new Samsung Galaxy S4

Satchel puppy's second afternoon nap -
Does she not look serene and content?
1310.20
Taken with new Samsung Galaxy S4

- chris tower - 1310.21 - 9:50

T-shirt #213: Bitch Magazine

T-shirt #213: Bitch Magazine

Today's shirt is black for mourning.

Today's shirt is dedicated to bitching, though I may not bitch. I am really not that upset that the Tigers lost the ALCS. I had a bad feeling from the start of the ALCS. The Tigers won Game One handily, but my bad feeling was not dispelled. The troubled feeling I had seemed confirmed by Games Two and Three, both of which they should have won. Had they won those games, with a 3-0 lead, they would have won the series.

Do I want to bitch here? I could bitch about Jim Leyland's use of pitchers in Game Two. I could bitch about the lack of offense to support for Verlander's awesome pitching in Game Three. I could complain about Cabrera running through a stop sign in Game Four. I could criticize Prince Fielder's anemic hitting for the series.

But you know what?

It's hard. Baseball is a difficult game. Hitting a major league fastball is possibly the hardest thing to do in sports. Remember what I wrote about expectations in T-shirt #203 and again in T-shirt #205? It's all right to hope that the Tigers win the World Series. But to expect a win? It's difficult enough to get to the World Series. The Tigers have made it there twice in the last eight years. Currently, the Tigers are the only AL team to get to the ALCS the last three years in a row. The NL team that matches this record is the St. Louis Cardinals.

Is this a terrible thing? Hardly. I can lay blame all over the place with managers, coaches, and players. But the fact of the matter is that it is very difficult to reach the World Series, let alone win it. Maybe now, Tigers fans will temper their expectations because maybe the fault this year is with the fans. Expectations were way too high. I cannot count the number of people I have heard say that they will accept nothing less than winning it all in 2013. That's too much pressure. That's an unreasonable expectation.

That's like buying five lottery tickets and expecting to win the grand prize and nothing less is failure, even if one of those tickets wins $5000.

Expectations must be managed properly. Unlike many other Tigers fans, I am not despondent today, I did not lose sleep last night (in fact I turned off the game just before the Tigers scored two runs to make the score 2-1 at least for an inning), and I did not have indigestion because of the Tigers losing the ALCS. I did not expect them to win.

The lesson here is the same as in life. When I expect too much, I am disappointed. The world is disappointing. People are disappointing. The government is disappointing. So many things disappoint me. I am crushed by this disappointment if I let myself be. If I keep my expectations in check, if I accept an "ordinary level of misery" to life (because life is full of misery), then I can be happy, I can be grateful for the things and people and stuff that do not disappoint me. Then, I survive and thrive and indulge in a bit of jive. After all, what else are we going to do?

Wallow?

I do not choose to wallow.

ONWARD.

Today's shirt is dedicated to one of my favourite magazines: Bitch Magazine. Find the current issue (see image, left) and back issues at the link.

Bitch bills itself as a feminist response to popular culture. I used the magazine's content extensively during my years teaching media studies in the women's studies department at WMU. Now, Bitch has a very active online presence. I watch the RSS feed of its blog for interesting content all the time.

The sticker I am holding in the picture above demonstrates that I am a member of the B-Hive, a subscriber and giver of donations.

Bitch is now BITCH MEDIA with a blog, activism, podcasts, mixed tapes, video, Facebook, Flickr, and much more in its social media tapestry.

The site has searchable content. For instance, here's a great link for a Popaganda Episode, a podcast about
"nerdery." It is described this way on the site: "Nerds are the kings of our culture these days—but what is a nerd, exactly, and who gets to call themselves one? This show digs into gender, race, and nerdery with an organizer of GeekGirlCon, comedy nerd Phoebe Robinson, music nerd turned Yale lecturer Allyson McCabe, and (of course!) a rigorous discussion of feminism in Star Trek with two hardcore Trekkies. Listen in!"

Sticking with comic book related content, here's two more great links from BITCH MEDIA.

Is Wonder Woman too muscular for the silver screen?

and

Marvel debuts a new series: the all women X-Men


One of the articles I liked best in using Bitch  resources in the class room was one dedicated to the concept of "Women in Refrigerators," just one of the horrors to which women comic book characters have been subjected in what appears to be a clear example of misogyny in action. Though possibly apocryphal, a DC editor reportedly told Alan Moore to "cripple the bitch" when he (Moore) had the idea to have the Joker shoot Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, in the Killing Joke special edition comic book.

Ashley McCallister revisited this territory in 2010 in "And Then There Was Oracle."

Some of my readers may be surprised that as a comic book lover I would invite such abject criticism of the genre. But criticism is what keeps an art form vital. And comic books are hardly paragons of virtue and the avant garde. And if that story about what the editor said is true (and I think it is) then comics DESERVE criticism.

Here's one of the best things I ever shared via Bitch Magazine, which it seems the folks at Bitch update frequently.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Feminism But Were Afraid to Ask

For those who eschew the "feminist" label, this is an excellent article that smartly positions feminism in a broader and more open context.

Feminism is not a dirty word.

Bitch Magazine  has some great content on more than just comic books as well, as the world of popular culture is vast and densely populated with things begging to be analyzed and criticized from a feminist perspective.

Years ago, while teaching WMS, I tried to buy a Bitch T-shirt to wear to class. I was choosy in those days about which shirt I wore each day and often matched shirts to featured musical artists, many of which I have yet to feature on this blog, though one example is here at T-shirt #121. I am all about being recursive.

I am happy to say that Bitch has realized it has many readers, which include men, and thus needs to sell shirts in men's sizes (also aware that some women prefer men's cuts or men's sizes).

This book cover to the left is not directly related to Bitch Magazine, but since it's also called Bitch, I wanted to share it today as I always shared the cover and told its story in my classes every semester.

The story may also be apocryphal. That's okay. There's no Wikipedia page for this book, which is odd. Elizabeth Wurtzel's page does little more than list  the book as a published credit. My understanding is that Wurtzel took a lot of flack from some feminists for appearing in a super sexy, naked shot on the cover of her book. Her response is to those critics can be found on the cover in that image. I think it's great. Apparently, the controversy or the "adult" nature of the cover was too much for the publisher who insisted on a different cover for the paperback edition (with text that covered the tattoo on her shoulder).

Now 45, Elizabeth Wurtzel is still living life on her own terms and giving the finger to those who criticize her.

It's impressive.

Here's some content new and old.

1998 interview with Elizabeth Wurtzel on cinema

DEAR ELIZABETH WURTZEL, NO ONE CARES THAT YOU STILL GET IT ON - VICE.com

"Fuck you, Vice.com."

"I Refuse to Be Grown Up" from the Atlantic April 11 2013

"One Night Stand of a Life" from NeverYetMelted.Com from January 07 2013

"Vashti" from 1998

KIRKUS REVIEW OF BITCH

I toast the bitches of the world. Raise my glass.

Thank Heaven for the bitches.

- chris tower - 1310.20 - 11:23

T-shirt #212: Orange UnderArmor

T-shirt #212: Orange UnderArmor

Greetings. Happy Saturday.

Orange for the best colour of fall, for pumpkins and cinnamon and golden leaves. And for the Detroit Tigers. And that's all I am saying about that subject. No jinx.

Today's shirt is just an orange athletic gear shirt simply chosen to allow me to compose whatever I wish on the blog. Note the Huckleberry Hound toy in the shot. See yesterday's blog for details.

Today is a content-light posting. Yesterday frittered away in errands and some work wrap-up (after the usual Friday at 9 .a.m. monster grading deadline).

I bought a new phone: The Samsung Galaxy S4. I was sold on HTC phones, but learning of upheavals in the HTC company AND just impressed overall with the Samsung phone once I read about it and played with it. What the Hell. I was due for an upgrade and my HTC EVO was acting up badly. EPIC FAIL.

More for my benefit than yours (dear reader) but in case you are phone shopping here's two reviews and one article about the imminent release of Android 4.3, due soon to U.S. customers (others in the world already have it).

SAMSUNG GALAXY REVIEW- techradar

SAMSUNG GALAXY REVIEW- CNET

JELLY BEAN UPDATE DUE SOON

And in further evidence that the kids' dad and I are very simpatico, I learned that he bought this very same phone recently for more or less the same reasons I did.

Today, the blog features a bunch of art that has been clogging up my in box for some time.

I have finished Night Film, but I am not ready to write that review yet.

Plus today is rather busy. After teaching this morning, I am off to Kalamazoo College to see myself in a film that was made back in like 1983 or something by my friend H. James Gilmore, whom I have not seen since he graduated. Then, I am seeing a movie with Piper, though there may be a bit of shopping first. If all goes well and work is completed in a timely manner, I may have the first day off and day to myself to read comics and get ahead on this blog among other things that I have had in over two months (since before the surgery). I need such a day desperately.

Meanwhile, enjoy scrolling through various works of art, starting with an ancient shot of Academy Street, home of Kalamazoo College.

the art of John Buscema

Buscema's Vision

The next three images are from Francesco Francavilla (featured in  T-shirt #206) and his take on Batman circa 1972.

I forget which fan geek site collected these Halloween themed comic book covers, but I like them, so here they are.

Marvel Two in One cover by
George Perez

Mike Mayhew's
take on Jean Grey Phoenix

Classic Buscema splash
as Rick Jones summons
WWII heroes in
Kree-Skrull war
in Avengers

And finally, below, the first two shots with the new phone taken this morning 1310.19. It's the Satchel boo puppy.

- chris tower - 1310.19 - 11:10