An Entry For The Readers of Tomorrow!

People love to add annotations to their books: it cements the "see, see, these books are mine and I've read them!" quality to a fine collection. These quotes usually revolve around the story, but in my searching I've found passages that explain the day, the surroundings, who the reader was with when they finished the story, etc. They're one-line, journal entries that are purely esoteric, and I'm guilty of this myself.
     Some customers are put off by this, and I can understand why: if you buy a collectible book at a collectible price, the book should be in collectible condition. It's a kick to both hemispheres of the brain to approach a sought after book--one that looks amazing--only to open it and find "Wally finally got over being sick two days before we got to the beach." Exception are made, of course, if the side notes are penned by someone of note.
     I enjoy finding annotations in non-collectible copies of books (they're called "reading" copies in bookese) because it makes sifting through book after book more interesting; Annotations add an additional story to something that's already a story. "This book existed before you picked it up. It's got history, man. This book has been places." In giving the book an added legacy like a set of emotions, we get to use the phrase "pathetic fallacy"when describing it, and why would you not want to use the word "pathetic fallacy?" If I were seventeen and emo was still cool and/or relevant, I would start a band with that name. "My guitar would shout* misplaced teen-angst unto the world."
   

Today's find is more of journal entry than a quote, and like an entry it's both personal and oddly entertaining. The previous owner describes the setting where the book was presented to him, the conversation that prompted the meeting, and even the weather. 

*Yet another example of pathetic fallacy.

The "Magic" of Books

I have a confession. 

For a long time I've been haunted by a gift. And before you start trying to recall what you got me for the Holidays, I want to ease your worry and assure you that it's not a material possession I fear, but a being possessed! And that being...is me. 

Kra-ka-da-booooooooom!

A couple years ago I was bitten by a demonic book and given an extraordinary power. If I focus all of my energies on a damage, unsalable book, I can change said book into a more pleasing item. Allow me to demonstrate:

Amazing, right? Hmph. You don't know anything about "curses." That's right, curse. I mean, if you were given a magic power and the only thing you could do with it was change old, ratty books into things that you could blog about, what would you call that? Laughable? That's what they called my "gift" last year at the 2011 International Wizard/Warlock Meet-Up and Rummage Sale. There are people there that can telepathically communicate with animals. I can change books into things. No, scratch that. I can turn books into pieces of ephemera and ONLY if I blog about them. It's such a tease, and it impresses no one. 

No one. 

Hmph. Well, anyway...

The Erlanger Theatre exists no more but for a long time served as Buffalo's only professional theatre. Everything I'd be able to tell you about it's history has already been told (and done so much better) here, so, go ahead, I'll wait if you want to read up on it and come back. Done? Pretty interesting, eh? Especially that part about Erlanger being abducted by aliens. 

The playbill I found is from November 1931, and it features Maude Adams & Otis Skinner in "The Merchant of Venice." It's full of great, local ads and it even has articles (that relate to products) like "Is Plastic Surgery New?," "Are You Hat Conscious?," and "Murdocke of London Says--." There's also a little promo in the back that announces the Ziegfeld Follies as a coming attraction. 

Days of Free Tickets and Tops Markets

If I win I'm gonna go crazy, I'm gonna jump up and down, I'm gonna tell all a' mah friends, I'm gonna...wait, when does this expire? August of 1982? Damn it. Well, what are the odds that Tops would still honor this? What? The Three Coins Restaurant is no longer around? Double Damn.

This ticket made me laugh. On one of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons, Bart rents a car and decides to travel cross-country with Milhouse, Nelson, and Martin. Their destination? The World's Fair. Along the way they pass by a club whose featured guest is Andy Williams. Nelson, the "bully", is so taken that he has to stop and watch.

Did I really need to tell you that Nelson is the bully of the show? Of course I didn't. Why? Well, because you're so great! And when I win these tickets* guess who I'm taking? That's right!

SIDETRACK:

I do this a lot. I list something, and I get sidetracked--one of the reasons I have trouble posting daily. But I have a question to ask all of you native Buffalonians:

Who won?

Stores advertise contests all the time, but who wins? Someone must. Maybe you know them? Maybe you know someone who knew them through someone? I don't know, but I'd like to know.

Where'd ya'll find it: Inside Michael Harrison's Fire From Heaven: A Study of Human Combustion in Human Beings. (Why was there a need to say "Human Combustion" and "Human Beings?")


*Disclaimer: Tickets will only be obtained through time-travel. If time-travel is not present at the time of blog posting, it never will be. It's paradoxical. It's best to hope for robotics.