It's a weird world out there - I went out to grab some food & books last night and found myself talking to the manager of Waterstones who amused me with the following tale of a humanity that is surely doomed: Earlier that same day, some guy had come into the store and stolen one of the kindles that were on display. You know the ones - they're quantum locked to a desk-type surface with security wires hanging off the backs and to actually steal one means snapping it off the display unit. This is worth mentioning because apparently, after doing this, he went outside, changed his hat and came back in and stole another - I'm guessing they know this from the post-mortem security cameras. What in the world are you going to do with two broken kindles that have security pods drilled onto the back of them that are locked down to 'display unit' mode for all time? I totally understand how a man could be stupid or desperate enough to give it a try once... but twice? If he'd gone into HMV, which is the next store along, he could have had a try for an iPad or a Nexus which would at least have been worth something aside from a criminal record if he'd pulled it off.
This is evolution in regression surely.
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I've been on a tour of my literary heart today - looking for a little chicken soup for the soul (though yesterday I happened upon a pork and chipotle soup which my soul was very interested in, though admittedly, it doesn't have the same sort of ring about it for a best selling book). Here's Mr Kerouac with the wisdom of the day:
"In the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain"
Which leads me nicely into this mention of Paul Rogers who has illustrated an edition of On The Road with an illustration on every page. This, I have got to get my hands on - especially as I just gave my copy of On The Road away because I didn't like the cover (mostly), but it was more important that somebody else read it for the first time than me having it on the shelf. Here's a cool sample of what's in store:
You can see more of it here, but ultimately, just go buy a copy. Er... I'll find out where that might be from and report back. (I am now wondering if it's even a real world project - more research needed methinks).
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This is pretty cool too, though I'm not sure what Kurt himself would make of it:
But it's not a patch on this, which in spite of it coming under the banner of 'really fucking important', I had never even heard of before this morning. Here's a link to the article about Maurice Sendak illustrating The Hobbit - see what we missed, what could have been, what might lurk in a drawer somewhere:
Onwards...