T.V. Restaurants I wish were real....

No.1 "Der Waffle Haus" from "Dead Like Me"

A clip of breakfast at Der Waffle Haus

Green vinyl booths, wood paneling, plaid swivel chairs at the counter, cuckoo clocks on the walls, and the icing on top....

Ooompa pa-bavarian-ish music piping through the air.

The ultimate imaginary waffle/diner restaurant where I wish I could spend late nights and lazy weekend mornings.

Tables with constant supplies of ketchup, syrup, jam packets, and instant creamer joined by ceramic mugs of coffee and perfect Belgian waffles with chopped fruit and dollops of whipped cream. Greasy biscuits, cheese eggs, and bacon.

Mandy Patinkin (Inigo Montoya...of "You killed my father. Prepare to die" fame) grumbling and waxing poetic about greasy spoon classics.

Really. How could it get any better?

I could go on and on, and on about a restaurant that MGM has packed away is some storage facility.

Don't even get me started about how I feel about the show only having 2 seasons.

The closest thing I've got to it in real life:

It's Tops Coffee Shop

1801 Market St

San Francisco

(photos and love to come)

Customer Hall of Shame: Incident 3

Customer Hall of Shame: Incident 3

Well...not technically an incident but worthy of shame nonetheless.

Many times a book will include supplemental bits. Kids books will have several sheets of stickers or paper dolls that can be pulled out. Crafting books will have patterns or cds with information.

If you are going to be a thief, at least go all the way.

Don't be ghetto. Don't half-ass the heist and only steal the supplemental bits. Really commit and take the whole thing.

Included in this, but more as an addendum I suppose:
Parents please please please do not let your child remove (read: destroy) the extra bits of the book unless you plan to purchase it. Who wants a sticker book with half the stickers missing or a paper doll whose clothes are torn and dogeared? Stop the vicious cycle of ill mannered people. Teach your children proper manners or else be sure they work retail before creating unleashing their own ill mannered spawn into the world.
Today I was looking through one of the embrodery books at the store and found that it was meant to include transfer papers for the patterns. Low and behold, no transfer papers. Patterns were there, book was there, no transfer papers. Really?

I do not condone shop lifting in any way. It is wrong to steal. Period.

To my Mother I give Thanks

I know Mother's day is still relatively far away on the horizon... ish and that soon I will have the urge to find the perfect shirt, or hand/face unguent that will perfectly encompass and communicate my love for mi madre, but I just wanted to put this out there:

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Mom for being so brilliant. Thank you for never depriving me of a book because it was a hard cover. Maybe this is a sign of my spoiled and comfortable upper middle class upbringing but I truly appreciate never having to wait for a book to come out in paper back. Thank you Mom.

Customer Hall of Shame #1

Customer Hall of Shame #1
Blue = Customer
Purple = employee
Italics = Thoughts. Things that have to be kept within the confines of my mind but I really wish I could let them out

Section: Children's
Sex: Female
Age: Unknown
Mode of Transaction: Telephone
Incident:
"Hi. I'm looking for books for and 8 year old on Synagogues in China"
"Synagogues in China? I'm sorry. I don't think we have any children's books on that subject" Is this lady for real?
"Well, can you check?"
"Ma'am I know we don't have any books for children specifically about synagogues in China, or even on Judaism in China. Do you have any titles in mind? If there is a particular book you are looking for I can try to see if I can order it for you."
"Uuuch (sound of irritation in throat). No I don't know of any. You really don't have anything?"
"No. I'm afraid that Synagogues in China is not a very common topic, particularly for children. We have books on China and books on Judaism but nothing about Judaism in China."
"Well. Can't you look something up?"
-Searching on Amazon and Google. Only two or three ADULT books that look like sociological studies that have been published by university presses- "I've tried to look that subject up online but there are very few books about this subject and all of them appear to be for adults."
"Really? Well. I guess I'll have to take my business elsewhere."
You do that lady. You do that.

Zoom!

Several months ago I was finally introduced to the picture book Zoom by Istvan Banyai, a Hungarian born American Illustrator.
Zoom is a wordless picture book that is one of those books that I am not particularly in love with but I will pick it up over and over again. Banyai plays with perception and perspective using illustrations that mimic that of a camera zooming out. Each page is a step further away and the reader (or is it viewer?) makes surprising discoveries. A farmyard turns out to be a toy set on a magazine cover and so on and so forth.

What made me think of Zoom... I love the NFB's (National Film Board of Canada) youtube channel. It is stocked with fantastic animation shorts, new and old. I spend hours glued to the computer watching their films, but more on that later.

I saw this film pop up in my subscription box:

Cosmic Zoom

It just got me thinking. There is something I find very fascinating about perspective. I don't think it has to do with some great epiphany of "oh how great is the universe and oh how small am I" or "oh how fine and simple are the building blocks of life". I've taken a science class in my life...these revelations are not exactly new. Yet, I find myself taken in by Banyai's book and this film. I don't particularly like the artwork or aesthetic of either one but I have to watch or read to the end of both.

Hmmm

On a more interesting note:

Check out the NFB's youtube channel. So beyond awesome: http://www.youtube.com/user/nfb

Also peruse the Tor's (Book publisher) Saturday Morning Cartoon blog. Irene Gallo posts alot of very unique and interesting animated shorts that are available to watch online. It is a dangerous and fantastic hole to fall into and waste time: http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=9925

What about "Independent Book Store" = must have everything ever printed exactly when you want it?

I will never understand the grumpy customers I have to deal with on the phone that ask for a book about WWI, then are irritated when I tell them that I haven't read it (do I sound like google library? Is it logical to assume that I have read every book that YOU like?), then berate me about our book availability. "You know I always want to buy from your store but you just never have what I want." or my favorite:

"I'm sorry it looks like it's out of stock"

"Well. That doesn't help me."

"I'm sorry. Would you like me to order a copy for you?"

"No. Why don't you ever have what I need?"

"I'm sorry..."

I mean, what am I supposed to say to that? The store has quite a good and broad selection for an indie and the staff will try its best to help you get the book you need. Please keep in mind the constraints of time, space, and the US Post. When you bring us a Transporter we will be able to instantly beam any book at your convenience.

Advice to consumers: If what you are looking for is a place where you can purchase any book, no matter how obscure, at any time. Shop at amazon. By the rules of the universe, no matter how hard this little bookstore tries it will never be able to have every book in an unlimited quantity. This store is not the planet library from Dr. Who....although I do wish we had a few Vashta Nerada to dispatch the more, shall we say, unpleasant customers.

What I am currently staring at blankly:

The Alien Egg. It's my new obsession.

A week or so ago I made one of the most frivolous purchases in my life. More frivolous than the $200 purse (while expensive it is well constructed and useful). More frivolous than a dress, or false eyelashes, or the 88 color eyeshadow palette (I know I only have two eyes but the colors just look so exciting).

All of these items are totally unnecessary, but at least serve some sort of purpose. Purely decorative, but they do have a "use". This latest purchase is completely useless. It a big lump of glass. too round to be a paper weight and too fragile to much of anything else. it just sits by the window looking freaky and AWESOME. I could stare at this thing all day. In fact, that is all I did the several hours after I bought it. The light shines through it and it glows. Sometimes yellow, sometimes blue, purple, red....I haven't even seen it under colored light yet. The best part is that it is kind of like sea glass so you can't see straight through it. In fact, there is a weird, blobby looking mass at the center that could be something growing inside. Like I said, awesome.
If you want to pick up your own alien egg, I got mine at Paxton Gate on Valencia Street in San Francisco. A curiosity (but only dark, twisty, and endearing curiosities)/taxidermy shop that besides alien eggs, also offers scientific instruments, tea, and landscape design services along side the various animal heads and skeletons, both real and fictional. One of my favorite places in the city.