Hey everybody! So Ruby and I went to see Wall-e and of course it was awesome, I mean it’s Pixar and robots my two favourite things in the world (not including Ruby or science fiction books). I did have a slight problem with the use of live action footage but thats a minor blip on the radar.
Before the film they showed trailers for Space Chimps, Ice Age 3, and Madagascar 2. After watching Wall-e you realise why Pixar is so far ahead of any of these other animation studios, Pixar takes risks… It’s risky to have no dialogue in a major motion picture for the first half hour, it’s risky to base a film on robots with limited facial expression and it’s risky to have a very retro sounding soundtrack. But it works…
Everything about Wall-e was brilliant but I kinda think M-O stole the show…
Hey guys an’ galls… Ruby here. So Emil is very happy at his new job working with Travis at the bookstore and I’m still at the Green Coffee Cup which I enjoy. But I do miss being involved in art so I enrolled in a late night drawing class at the local art college. We do plenty of life drawing and quick sketches and it’s really kickass
What got me back into art was my birthday present from Emil. He gave me a framed photo of three Edward Hopper paintings (He knows I love Hopper paintings). Edward Hoppers most famous painting is called Nighthawks, but the image above is called Hotel Room and it’s one of my favourites. Yes it’s a bit morbid, but is it? What I love about Hopper paintings like Hotel Room is you can really use your imagination and try and think about what is going on in the picture. Look at the body language of the subjects and objects in the frame. It all tells a story… I’ve always wondered what that letter in her hand says.
Take this couple in a New York Restaurant – What’s he saying to her? Is he handing her a ring? Is she relaxed or backing slightly away from him. Is that waitress listening in? The lady with the dark hair is smiling, has she overheard something funny???
This is all pretty obvious maybe, but I love to look at Hoppers paintings and just make up little stories. I’m sure some people may do this and others may not care but I love these paintings. I’d love to know if anybody else does this.
Hello everyone, sorry I haven’t “blogged” in a while but the bookstore has been really busy. I’ve added a whole new comics and graphic novel section to the store and business is booming! That’s actually not true, well the last part isn’t true. Yes I’ve added a new section to the store, updated the computer system (Daisy is gone!) and a whole load of other stuff but life at the bookstore is slow.
Hence the title of this blog, things you can’t ask Google. Working in a sleepy bookstore with even sleepier Travis gives me a lot of spare time. Spare time spent typing more and more random things into Google. Obviously Google is great, I’m not saying that it sucks. What I will tell you is if you find yourself typing things like this:
Why does my cat not respect me?
Which shirt suits me best for this job interview?
Should I steal a car tonight?
How come my girlfriend wont buy me gta4?
When will the post get here?
Could I solve crimes like Columbo?
… then you are probably asking too much of Google. The answers to these questions can be found in books!
I know Thom hates me and I always thought I’d be a cat person but Thom and I have never got on because he is basically pure evil. These cats may look like Hitler but I think I have the genuine article.
If you’ve ever owned a computer for more than five years it starts to pick up strange little quirks and habits, many of which tech-guys will tell you are routine. Travis owns a computer at the bookstore that must be a distant relation of HAL 9000, it’s very old and quirky.
It likes to remind you that leads aren’t plugged in and disk drives don’t excist, plus it only crashes when I’m trying to use it. It’s so ancient I’ve nicknamed it Daisy, I now have two mortal enemies:Rubys Cat Thom and the Daisy 9001. Good Grief!!
That’s right!!! Hoe indeed, today I quit my job at Bobs Chicken Palace! For a year I trundled in-n-out of that place and quite honestly, I hated it. Loathed it! The only reason I stayed there was because it gave me the opportunity of not using my brain and eating lots of ketchup. I’m not sure what everyone else did but personally I daydreamed about the book I was writing.
My science fiction novel, “They Came From Over There!!!” and now I’ve finished it sent it off to many various publishers and they have sent it back saying “We’re not publishing this…” So at least I can leave that god awful chicken house, go work for a good friend and get back into some sort of reality.
It’ll be tough for a while, Travis’ bookstore is independent and isn’t exactly raking in the dough but I’m thinking of adding a new comics section to the store. I may be able to sell a few short science fiction stories and perhaps I’ll do a touch up course on journalism aswell. I will never set foot in a fast food restauraunt again, it’s bad enough I’m vegetarian but once you’ve seen behind the scenes at a fast food gaff you’ll never want to look back. I used to eat fast food but I also used to smoke, and look what that does to your body.
Ruby and I live in SugarTown, for anyone wondering where S.T is it’s about an hour away from London in South West of England. S.T is big enough to be a city but because of weird folksy English law it can’t be called a city because it has no Cathedral.
SugarTown has many distinct varied areas, some nice and some not so nice. Design in the town is very random from high rise buildings to quaint little markets and yes a Starbucks on every corner. SugarTown has a tube system which isn’t very good but I use it all the time so I have something to moan about.
Ruby works at a cafe called The Green Coffee Cup which has been in S.T for 42 years. The photo above is of Ruby and me in the Grammar Rodeo bookstore owned by my good friend Travis. He’s owned the store for 11 years and enjoys it very much. I’ve lived in S.T pretty much all my life and although I always talk about leaving I will probably be here in 42 years time when everything will be a Starbucks.
I worked in a comics shop called Cosmic Comix for about a year when I was at college. Before I started the job I imagined it would be heaven, sitting around all day drinking tea and reading comics. But it wasn’t like that, the store was run by a weird bearded guy called Al. Al lived above the shop with his Mother who made the tea and supplied us with gorgeous lemon cake.
With minimal staff in a small shop it was hard work. No really, taking in deliveries, pricing unmarked comics, putting them into the section, dealing with customer orders, keeping away the drug dealers who hanged around outside the shop and serving the customers. Plus you’d always get some fat guy who wanted to spend his whole saturday telling you why the Thundercats posse could beat the He-Man crew on a weekend long battle royale. Too much!
But fun, and I often think fond memories of working in that shop. Why did I leave? Comics kinda went out of fashion for a while, the superhero market seemed to of dried up and no one came into the store anymore. Not even the nice fat guy.
When I first started reading comics I was into the regular superheroes. Batman, Superman and Spiderman but now I prefer graphic novels or what I call alternative comics. Here’s a list of comics that you should read if you’re too grown up to read the superhero stuff but you still love comics.
So did you hear this, they’re making a movie of the Watchmen comic and I know that you’re all saying “Emil, I’ve known this for ages, get with it already!”. To that I say I knew too but I couldn’t think of any other way to start this blog…
There’s been rumour of Warner Bros or Fox kicking up some dirt in a huff about copyright, well it’s not actually a rumour. It happened, but this seems funny to me to imagine two bald producers in an office tearing Alan Moore’s comic apart going “It’s mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!”. Although copyright law may be more sophisticated than that but who knows.
I love the Watchmen comic and I can understand people being protective about the movie but if Zack Snyders vision sucks you’ll still have the comic. Most movies come and go and are forgotten like a realistic motive in C.S.I’s.
Killer: “Yes, I wanted to kill the guy cause he took a bite outta my sandwich.”
