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robotech_masterWell, yesterday was quite a fun time, all in all. A bit of shopping, a trip to Branson, and a great movie.
In the afternoon, I headed out to do some shopping. Mainly, I wanted to hit some used bookstores for some more BookCrossing fodder, and then see if I could get the right kind of printable labels to use to run off self-sticking versions of their book labels.
I got some great books on that shopping expedition, by the way--some to give away, some to keep. Of the noteworthy ones to be kept are the Buckaroo Banzai novel, by Earl Mac Rauch--my friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trasaric has told me repeatedly how good that book is, and when the opportunity came up to snag it for myself, how could I pass it up?--a Peter Beagle omnibus, and a Dr. Who novel by Terrance Dicks.
Let me take the opportunity to give a shout-out to a great little used bookstore here in Springfield, by the way. It's called the Open Book, and it's on the north side of Commercial Street. It's a very nice little two-storey shop with nicely organized bookshelves, a comfortable and well-lit reading room upstairs, a very good selection of books, and a very friendly staff. If you're ever in the neighborhood, you might want to check 'em out.
After hitting the bookstores, I next wanted some labels--but finding them in the size and quantity I needed was the tricky bit. One office supply store had them in the name brand, in 100-sheet quantity--a touch more than I needed--for $22.30. More than I was willing to spend. I wanted something closer to $11. So, as I was cruising southward, I used the phone directory built into my web-enabled cellphone to find office supply shops, and then to call them and see if they had what I needed. Darned handy thing, that cellphone. Fingers do the walking, and all that. After a couple of strikeouts, I finally found a place that had a generic 100-sheet box for $15--closer to what I was willing to pay, so I stopped by and picked it up. Located not far from where I live, as it happened.
While en route, I called Joe (akablacknumber01) to see if he was still up for the movie that night. He was, so after my shopping mission had been completed successfully, I trucked on down there to meet him. We headed up to the school computer lab, so I could print off some labels, then we hit the road for Branson, stopping on the way to eat dinner at the short-order cafe attached to the retail store where I work.
About an hour later, we pulled into the parking lot of the Branson Meadows shopping center, and I bought the tickets to the evening screening of Gosford Park. I'd wanted to see that movie for quite a while, for the good reviews it had gotten as well as the fact that it had Clive Owen in it. I enjoyed his work a great deal in the BMW film series, and wanted to see what he would be like in a longer film. I was not disappointed.
For some reason, Gosford Park wasn't screening in Springfield. I don't know if that was because it hadn't arrived yet, or because it had been and gone and I missed it, but either way, I was grateful that it was still showing as close as Branson. The last time Joe and I made a distant trek to see a movie, it was all the way up to Kansas City for Princess Mononoke. Worth the drive, to be sure, but it certainly did eat up the day.
How was Gosford Park? Definitely interesting. I certainly wouldn't characterize it as an ordinary murder mystery per se--in most murder mysteries, the crime itself is the main point of the story. Here, though, the point of the crime was the effects that it had upon the cast of eccentric characters populating the old manor house. Solving it took a distant back seat to matters of character and drama.
One thing that was especially interesting to me was the depiction of the lives of the servants and how they related and interacted. I never knew that it was customary to call visitors' valets by the name of the guest whom they served, or that there was a specified order of seating at the table based on importance of employer. I wonder if there's somewhere I can find a book or article codifying all this? It would make excellent source material for role-playing games such as Adventure or Call of Cthulhu that are set in that era.
The downside was that I found it exceedingly difficult to keep track of all the various different characters, their names, their ranks, their relationships to one another. I sort of just had to let it all wash over me and try to pick up what I could from context.
Afterward, Joe and I had an enjoyable time discussing the killer and the killer's motivations, on the drive back to Springfield. When we got back to Joe's place, we watched a couple of episodes of Invader Zim that he'd downloaded, and he gave me a bottle of his housemate's homebrewed beer--with instructions not to open it for another week or so, because the carbonation part was still fermenting. I put it in the cabinet above the fridge, where it always gets a bit warm, to try to help it along.
And that was our evening.
Work today was yawn-inducing, save for a bit of misunderstanding over the length of lunchbreak. Going to have to mind my Ps and Qs for the next few days, I suppose.
For now, I'm thinking about watching a couple eps of Invader Zim, since Joe told me where he got them and I've now downloaded them all, too. Anyway, later!
In the afternoon, I headed out to do some shopping. Mainly, I wanted to hit some used bookstores for some more BookCrossing fodder, and then see if I could get the right kind of printable labels to use to run off self-sticking versions of their book labels.
I got some great books on that shopping expedition, by the way--some to give away, some to keep. Of the noteworthy ones to be kept are the Buckaroo Banzai novel, by Earl Mac Rauch--my friend
trasaric has told me repeatedly how good that book is, and when the opportunity came up to snag it for myself, how could I pass it up?--a Peter Beagle omnibus, and a Dr. Who novel by Terrance Dicks.Let me take the opportunity to give a shout-out to a great little used bookstore here in Springfield, by the way. It's called the Open Book, and it's on the north side of Commercial Street. It's a very nice little two-storey shop with nicely organized bookshelves, a comfortable and well-lit reading room upstairs, a very good selection of books, and a very friendly staff. If you're ever in the neighborhood, you might want to check 'em out.
After hitting the bookstores, I next wanted some labels--but finding them in the size and quantity I needed was the tricky bit. One office supply store had them in the name brand, in 100-sheet quantity--a touch more than I needed--for $22.30. More than I was willing to spend. I wanted something closer to $11. So, as I was cruising southward, I used the phone directory built into my web-enabled cellphone to find office supply shops, and then to call them and see if they had what I needed. Darned handy thing, that cellphone. Fingers do the walking, and all that. After a couple of strikeouts, I finally found a place that had a generic 100-sheet box for $15--closer to what I was willing to pay, so I stopped by and picked it up. Located not far from where I live, as it happened.
While en route, I called Joe (aka
blacknumber01) to see if he was still up for the movie that night. He was, so after my shopping mission had been completed successfully, I trucked on down there to meet him. We headed up to the school computer lab, so I could print off some labels, then we hit the road for Branson, stopping on the way to eat dinner at the short-order cafe attached to the retail store where I work.About an hour later, we pulled into the parking lot of the Branson Meadows shopping center, and I bought the tickets to the evening screening of Gosford Park. I'd wanted to see that movie for quite a while, for the good reviews it had gotten as well as the fact that it had Clive Owen in it. I enjoyed his work a great deal in the BMW film series, and wanted to see what he would be like in a longer film. I was not disappointed.
For some reason, Gosford Park wasn't screening in Springfield. I don't know if that was because it hadn't arrived yet, or because it had been and gone and I missed it, but either way, I was grateful that it was still showing as close as Branson. The last time Joe and I made a distant trek to see a movie, it was all the way up to Kansas City for Princess Mononoke. Worth the drive, to be sure, but it certainly did eat up the day.
How was Gosford Park? Definitely interesting. I certainly wouldn't characterize it as an ordinary murder mystery per se--in most murder mysteries, the crime itself is the main point of the story. Here, though, the point of the crime was the effects that it had upon the cast of eccentric characters populating the old manor house. Solving it took a distant back seat to matters of character and drama.
One thing that was especially interesting to me was the depiction of the lives of the servants and how they related and interacted. I never knew that it was customary to call visitors' valets by the name of the guest whom they served, or that there was a specified order of seating at the table based on importance of employer. I wonder if there's somewhere I can find a book or article codifying all this? It would make excellent source material for role-playing games such as Adventure or Call of Cthulhu that are set in that era.
The downside was that I found it exceedingly difficult to keep track of all the various different characters, their names, their ranks, their relationships to one another. I sort of just had to let it all wash over me and try to pick up what I could from context.
Afterward, Joe and I had an enjoyable time discussing the killer and the killer's motivations, on the drive back to Springfield. When we got back to Joe's place, we watched a couple of episodes of Invader Zim that he'd downloaded, and he gave me a bottle of his housemate's homebrewed beer--with instructions not to open it for another week or so, because the carbonation part was still fermenting. I put it in the cabinet above the fridge, where it always gets a bit warm, to try to help it along.
And that was our evening.
Work today was yawn-inducing, save for a bit of misunderstanding over the length of lunchbreak. Going to have to mind my Ps and Qs for the next few days, I suppose.
For now, I'm thinking about watching a couple eps of Invader Zim, since Joe told me where he got them and I've now downloaded them all, too. Anyway, later!
