An article in the Observer of 10 graphic novels that "transcend the comic medium."
It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken.
Shortcomings.
Ethel and Ernest.
Persepolis.
Fun Home.
From Hell.
Black Hole.
Blankets.
Alice in Sunderland.
The Castlefiore Emerald (Tintin).
See I have a problem with the word "transcend." As if comics need to be "transcended."
They do the same kind of rescuing with science fiction books, and, well, just about any other genre. It's a bit condescending.
(I'm carrying G.N. 4-10. I think I've got at least two of the first three).
**********
Went to see The Three Musketeers, which was about as bad as we expected. But I'll sit through a lot for a few moments of steam punk, I guess.
***********
And then there is a review of Colson Whitehead's 'Zone One' in the N.Y.T. Book Review that starts: "A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a porn star. "
Well, yuck.
Suddenly, I don't want to read this book.
The same with the Night Circus review.
In both cases, it sounds that that unholy "serious" genre novel. The best example I can come up with is, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, which seemed to be almost apologizing for being a fantasy novel. I know other people enjoyed this book, but I found it underwhelming.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
And, yes, I watch too much T.V.
Saw Puss and Boots.
It was charming, but as I feared, most of the big laughs were in the commercials.
Still, it was fun.
We've slowed down -- slightly -- on our movie going. And we aren't trying so hard to see movies in 3-D or Imax. In fact, I still haven't seen an Imax.
Meanwhile, on T.V., I've liked two new shows on the networks. Persons of Interest, is very good for a formula show. And I think Grimm has great potential. I hated Once Upon a Time, which was a polyester fantasy. Bad Halloween costumes and idiotic plot. Gives fantasy a bad name.
By the way, both of these networks had optioned the Fables comic series, which is pretty close to the same general idea.
I'd make more of that, if I wasn't myself writing a book that combines Fairy with the human realm. (Central Oregon, as a matter of fact.) I think the idea is just in the air right now.
On cable, I really like Homeland so far. I've never much cared for Claire Danes for some reason, but she is perfect in this role.
I've dropped Ringer, which is bland, and Nikita, which is contrived. I'm barely hanging in there on the Mentalist, and C.S.I. Las Vegas just doesn't seem to have the occasional great episode they used to have. (The other C.S.I.'s are awful and awfuller.)
Speaking of contrived, I still enjoy House. The Good Wife is the best show on T.V. I liked Alphas when it was on, and loved Game of Thrones. True Blood and Dexter and Boardwalk Empire aren't great this year, but still better than most anything else.
Walking Dead has been fun.
I'm eyeing several shows to watch full seasons on Netflex. Justified, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, to mention a few. But maybe when the T.V. is full of reruns.
And yes, I watch too much T.V.
It was charming, but as I feared, most of the big laughs were in the commercials.
Still, it was fun.
We've slowed down -- slightly -- on our movie going. And we aren't trying so hard to see movies in 3-D or Imax. In fact, I still haven't seen an Imax.
Meanwhile, on T.V., I've liked two new shows on the networks. Persons of Interest, is very good for a formula show. And I think Grimm has great potential. I hated Once Upon a Time, which was a polyester fantasy. Bad Halloween costumes and idiotic plot. Gives fantasy a bad name.
By the way, both of these networks had optioned the Fables comic series, which is pretty close to the same general idea.
I'd make more of that, if I wasn't myself writing a book that combines Fairy with the human realm. (Central Oregon, as a matter of fact.) I think the idea is just in the air right now.
On cable, I really like Homeland so far. I've never much cared for Claire Danes for some reason, but she is perfect in this role.
I've dropped Ringer, which is bland, and Nikita, which is contrived. I'm barely hanging in there on the Mentalist, and C.S.I. Las Vegas just doesn't seem to have the occasional great episode they used to have. (The other C.S.I.'s are awful and awfuller.)
Speaking of contrived, I still enjoy House. The Good Wife is the best show on T.V. I liked Alphas when it was on, and loved Game of Thrones. True Blood and Dexter and Boardwalk Empire aren't great this year, but still better than most anything else.
Walking Dead has been fun.
I'm eyeing several shows to watch full seasons on Netflex. Justified, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, to mention a few. But maybe when the T.V. is full of reruns.
And yes, I watch too much T.V.
Catching up.
I joke about being obsessive/compulsive. Don't think I really am.
Then again, I spent part of last weekend catching up on all the New York Times Sunday papers I had piled up.
I spent part of this weekend, catching up the N.Y.T.'s Book Review and the N.Y.T's Magazine.
It's like I can't stand to throw them away without reading them first.
Next up, a giant pile of The New Yorker.
It's good for me. Very humbling.
Any time I start thinking that I'm well-read or in any way an intellectual, reading the N.Y. Times Book Review or The New Yorker disabuses me of them there notions.
Then again, I spent part of last weekend catching up on all the New York Times Sunday papers I had piled up.
I spent part of this weekend, catching up the N.Y.T.'s Book Review and the N.Y.T's Magazine.
It's like I can't stand to throw them away without reading them first.
Next up, a giant pile of The New Yorker.
It's good for me. Very humbling.
Any time I start thinking that I'm well-read or in any way an intellectual, reading the N.Y. Times Book Review or The New Yorker disabuses me of them there notions.
Zines and the tipping point.
Another article about "zines" in the Bulletin, today. About the national scene.
I think that there is a desire by younger people to make real things -- vinyl records, art toys, and zines.
But I kind of use these things as earmarks, indicators of where Bend is on the "urban sophistication" scale.
We aren't there. Yet. Maybe never.
I see sporadic interest in zines here in Bend. Creators come in with a few copies, and I try to pay them a little bit, and then I don't see them again. Very, very few customers pick them up.
So it becomes a bit of downward spiral; not enough interest doesn't create enough zines; not enough zines doesn't create interest. Not enough, means the few true believers go online to get their fix, or compare Bend unfavorably with Eugene or Portland, and go there instead, which makes it even harder to get to that tipping point.
There are certain cool things that just never get to the tipping point in Bend.
I've often thought on a scale of 1 t0 10, with 8 being the number we need to be at to make these little nerd subcultures truly vital, Bend is like a 6.5. Sometimes we surge for a while to a 7, and often we fall back to a 6. Something like that.
People who move here from cities that have managed to reach an 8 can't see that, at first. We don't look all that different; it seems like we should be able to sustain that culture with just a bit of a push.
But it takes a big push, and that kind of push is hard to maintain.
It's not just population. Theoretically, I think we're big enough. It's the isolation, I think. And the lack of a real four year college, and -- as much as Bend would like to believe it has lots of high techness -- I think we don't really have a tipping point level of techness.
Because there is no real money in zines, or art toys, or street art -- it's nearly impossible to keep up a scene unless there is a surplus of interest -- instead of just barely enough.
Ironically, what would get it to the tipping point here in Bend is if these urban ideas broke out of the subculture and into the mass culture.
But then they aren't what they were, you know? They aren't underground, anymore.
Over the years I've learned that it is easy to get ahead of myself. I carry urban vinyl, for instance, which I think are just cool. But I get mostly blank looks. And the true aficionados compare my selection to online sites like KidRobot and find my selection lacking.
You can't fight the tipping point.
I think that there is a desire by younger people to make real things -- vinyl records, art toys, and zines.
But I kind of use these things as earmarks, indicators of where Bend is on the "urban sophistication" scale.
We aren't there. Yet. Maybe never.
I see sporadic interest in zines here in Bend. Creators come in with a few copies, and I try to pay them a little bit, and then I don't see them again. Very, very few customers pick them up.
So it becomes a bit of downward spiral; not enough interest doesn't create enough zines; not enough zines doesn't create interest. Not enough, means the few true believers go online to get their fix, or compare Bend unfavorably with Eugene or Portland, and go there instead, which makes it even harder to get to that tipping point.
There are certain cool things that just never get to the tipping point in Bend.
I've often thought on a scale of 1 t0 10, with 8 being the number we need to be at to make these little nerd subcultures truly vital, Bend is like a 6.5. Sometimes we surge for a while to a 7, and often we fall back to a 6. Something like that.
People who move here from cities that have managed to reach an 8 can't see that, at first. We don't look all that different; it seems like we should be able to sustain that culture with just a bit of a push.
But it takes a big push, and that kind of push is hard to maintain.
It's not just population. Theoretically, I think we're big enough. It's the isolation, I think. And the lack of a real four year college, and -- as much as Bend would like to believe it has lots of high techness -- I think we don't really have a tipping point level of techness.
Because there is no real money in zines, or art toys, or street art -- it's nearly impossible to keep up a scene unless there is a surplus of interest -- instead of just barely enough.
Ironically, what would get it to the tipping point here in Bend is if these urban ideas broke out of the subculture and into the mass culture.
But then they aren't what they were, you know? They aren't underground, anymore.
Over the years I've learned that it is easy to get ahead of myself. I carry urban vinyl, for instance, which I think are just cool. But I get mostly blank looks. And the true aficionados compare my selection to online sites like KidRobot and find my selection lacking.
You can't fight the tipping point.
Are you a bookstore or aren't you?
I've been catching up reading my New York Times Magazines and New York Times Book Reviews. A few months worth.
The content is pretty much the same as I'd find online.
The reading experience is completely different.
I find I stare and contemplate the pictures longer on paper. I find that I read the entire article, flip back and forth to catch nuance, and pretty much get absorbed by the experience.
The exact same articles online, I glance at the pictures, I skim the articles.
Probably just habit. I don't know. An old dog.
But it's so much more pleasant.
Anyway, it's got me to thinking about how so many of these types of blogs about digital and paper devolve into "either/or" arguments. As if, by preferring to sell comics and books, I'm denying the power of digital. That I'm somehow sticking my head in the sand.
I'm saying that there is room for books and comics, and somehow has to sell them, and it might as well be me.
The old buggy maker argument is often used. But I wonder -- surely there were a few old reprobates who preferred to keep working with horses even as the combustion engine was roaring all around them.
This doesn't mean that they didn't see the power of the new technology; just that they preferred to continue to work with the old technology. It isn't going to all happen overnight. It seems to me that someone who looks for ways to make the old model work just a little longer, as a bridge to the new, might be more successful than someone who is hedging their bets, who is actively promoting an alternative while still making most of their money in the old.
I mean, I'd rather buy from somehow who is upfront about selling me a book, than someone who says, "Hey, I can sell you a book, but wouldn't you much rather buy this newfangled Nook?"
It seems hypocritical to me, somehow. Phony. Almost treacherous. Are you a man or a mouse?
They're selling books while stabbing them in the back. (I'm talkin' to you, Amazon and Barnes and Noble and the idiotic independents who somehow think it's a good idea.)
So, sell the frackin' Nook, because you obviously believe it to be the future.
I'll buy my books from someone who still prefers the books.
An ever diminishing minority, perhaps.
The content is pretty much the same as I'd find online.
The reading experience is completely different.
I find I stare and contemplate the pictures longer on paper. I find that I read the entire article, flip back and forth to catch nuance, and pretty much get absorbed by the experience.
The exact same articles online, I glance at the pictures, I skim the articles.
Probably just habit. I don't know. An old dog.
But it's so much more pleasant.
Anyway, it's got me to thinking about how so many of these types of blogs about digital and paper devolve into "either/or" arguments. As if, by preferring to sell comics and books, I'm denying the power of digital. That I'm somehow sticking my head in the sand.
I'm saying that there is room for books and comics, and somehow has to sell them, and it might as well be me.
The old buggy maker argument is often used. But I wonder -- surely there were a few old reprobates who preferred to keep working with horses even as the combustion engine was roaring all around them.
This doesn't mean that they didn't see the power of the new technology; just that they preferred to continue to work with the old technology. It isn't going to all happen overnight. It seems to me that someone who looks for ways to make the old model work just a little longer, as a bridge to the new, might be more successful than someone who is hedging their bets, who is actively promoting an alternative while still making most of their money in the old.
I mean, I'd rather buy from somehow who is upfront about selling me a book, than someone who says, "Hey, I can sell you a book, but wouldn't you much rather buy this newfangled Nook?"
It seems hypocritical to me, somehow. Phony. Almost treacherous. Are you a man or a mouse?
They're selling books while stabbing them in the back. (I'm talkin' to you, Amazon and Barnes and Noble and the idiotic independents who somehow think it's a good idea.)
So, sell the frackin' Nook, because you obviously believe it to be the future.
I'll buy my books from someone who still prefers the books.
An ever diminishing minority, perhaps.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Not doing myself any favors.
It's no coincidence that I've been writing a new book since June, 2011.
That's about when I finally got the chance string more than 2 days off from Pegasus Books at a time. It simply takes me 3, 4, or even better 5 days off at a time to get anything on paper. Hell, I probably spend at least a day or two just getting creatively prepared. Mulling things over.
What this whole process has done, though, is shown to myself just how lazy myself really is.
It may seem a little strange to say I'm lazy when I'm writing my 8th complete book. But, given the time and inclination, there should have been so much more. A good case can be made that I wasted 2 of those books by not putting in that last bit of effort.
When I resurrected my 7th book, Sometimes a Dragon, I was surprised by how slender the whole thing was -- how thin. I remember expending a great deal of time and energy and thought on that book. I expected more.
I'm going to expect more of myself with this latest effort. I'm not releasing it until I think it is really ready. None of this -- "well, it's mostly there, let's see what happens" -- stuff. It's impatience, and hoping for someone to come along and "fix" things, and intellectual laziness.
I'm not doing myself any favors by being that way.
My 6th book, Deviltree, is complete. I was forced to rewrite it several times, and each time it improved. But I don't want to put it into the world until I've at least written a couple of more up to date efforts.
I'm even contemplating going back and trying the "fix" Sometimes A Dragon. I think it can be fixed, but I got scared by how much work it was going to be. Now, looking at how equally hard the latest book is going to be to rewrite, I realize that I have a leg up by having a first draft. In other words, I'm further along in the process with the seventh book than I currently am with the eighth book, but it took writing the new book to see that.
I wish it was easy.
But for me, it's not.
Still, if I really put the effort in, I could see having three new books out in the world a year or two from now. One I just wrote, one I needed to fix, and one I have already completed. Then I'd like to see if I can't come up with a sequel to the current book -- maybe even a series.
I may be dreaming, but -- well, it's that dreaming part that gives me the motive to keep going.
I stopped calling myself a "writer" about 20 years ago, even though I had three published books under my belt. Finishing three more books, and getting them out into the world -- by means of the internet -- I think I can start calling myself a writer again.
Hey, and five years worth of bloggin everyday!
That's about when I finally got the chance string more than 2 days off from Pegasus Books at a time. It simply takes me 3, 4, or even better 5 days off at a time to get anything on paper. Hell, I probably spend at least a day or two just getting creatively prepared. Mulling things over.
What this whole process has done, though, is shown to myself just how lazy myself really is.
It may seem a little strange to say I'm lazy when I'm writing my 8th complete book. But, given the time and inclination, there should have been so much more. A good case can be made that I wasted 2 of those books by not putting in that last bit of effort.
When I resurrected my 7th book, Sometimes a Dragon, I was surprised by how slender the whole thing was -- how thin. I remember expending a great deal of time and energy and thought on that book. I expected more.
I'm going to expect more of myself with this latest effort. I'm not releasing it until I think it is really ready. None of this -- "well, it's mostly there, let's see what happens" -- stuff. It's impatience, and hoping for someone to come along and "fix" things, and intellectual laziness.
I'm not doing myself any favors by being that way.
My 6th book, Deviltree, is complete. I was forced to rewrite it several times, and each time it improved. But I don't want to put it into the world until I've at least written a couple of more up to date efforts.
I'm even contemplating going back and trying the "fix" Sometimes A Dragon. I think it can be fixed, but I got scared by how much work it was going to be. Now, looking at how equally hard the latest book is going to be to rewrite, I realize that I have a leg up by having a first draft. In other words, I'm further along in the process with the seventh book than I currently am with the eighth book, but it took writing the new book to see that.
I wish it was easy.
But for me, it's not.
Still, if I really put the effort in, I could see having three new books out in the world a year or two from now. One I just wrote, one I needed to fix, and one I have already completed. Then I'd like to see if I can't come up with a sequel to the current book -- maybe even a series.
I may be dreaming, but -- well, it's that dreaming part that gives me the motive to keep going.
I stopped calling myself a "writer" about 20 years ago, even though I had three published books under my belt. Finishing three more books, and getting them out into the world -- by means of the internet -- I think I can start calling myself a writer again.
Hey, and five years worth of bloggin everyday!
Downtown Comings and Goings. 10/29/11.
Have it on good authority that Azu on Wall Street is closing up.
I guess Showcase Hats, which had moved to Oregon Ave., closed last month.
NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN
Jackalope Grill, 10/12/11.
Gypsy Soul, Wall St. 10/12/11.
Colour N' the City, Tin Pan Alley, 10/12/11.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St., 10/12/11.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Ruby, Minnesota Ave., 10, 12/11.
Andres Dance Club, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails
(List begun, Fall, 2008.)
BUSINESSES LEAVING
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 10/11.
Azu, Wall St., 10/25/11.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Av., 10/11.
Bourbon St., Minnesota Ave. 10/12/11.
Curiosity Shop, Minnesota Ave., 7/11
Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro
(List begun, Fall 2008.)
I guess Showcase Hats, which had moved to Oregon Ave., closed last month.
NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN
Jackalope Grill, 10/12/11.
Gypsy Soul, Wall St. 10/12/11.
Colour N' the City, Tin Pan Alley, 10/12/11.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St., 10/12/11.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Ruby, Minnesota Ave., 10, 12/11.
Andres Dance Club, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails
(List begun, Fall, 2008.)
BUSINESSES LEAVING
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 10/11.
Azu, Wall St., 10/25/11.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Av., 10/11.
Bourbon St., Minnesota Ave. 10/12/11.
Curiosity Shop, Minnesota Ave., 7/11
Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro
(List begun, Fall 2008.)
Well, thanks for noticing, anyway.
When I first started blogging about street closures, I got little to no support.
I'd get hints and signals that others thought street closures harmful, but no outright backing.
So it's been nice to see the flurry of activity over the last few months. The instigating events was scheduling a bike race on the first Friday Art Hop downtown. Pissed off a couple of gallery owners and the owner of two restaurants.
Just following that, (or possibly just preceding that), was a thoughtful letter to the Bulletin which raised the issue.
A flurry of e-mails were sent between business owners, and a meeting was set up to discuss the issue, which -- from all accounts -- didn't really accomplish much. More meetings and committees.
The aforementioned resturant owner contacted the Bulletin, which then did an article on the subject where I was quoted.
Last week, I got an nice e-mail asking if it would be O.K. to use some of my blog comments in the taping of a Talk of the Town segment on the local cable. Unfortunately, I didn't see the e-mail until that evening, but apparently many of the issues were covered nevertheless.
And finally, I noticed there was a story on KTVZ last night. (Which confused First Friday's with street closures. I'll repeat, I don't mind events as long as there isn't a street closure included.)
Anyway, while I don't believe anything has changed, at least there is awareness of the issue, which is a first step.
Maybe the next time a street closure is considered, they'll think twice.
And then -- they'll approve it, anyway.
But at least they'll be conflicted about it!
I'd get hints and signals that others thought street closures harmful, but no outright backing.
So it's been nice to see the flurry of activity over the last few months. The instigating events was scheduling a bike race on the first Friday Art Hop downtown. Pissed off a couple of gallery owners and the owner of two restaurants.
Just following that, (or possibly just preceding that), was a thoughtful letter to the Bulletin which raised the issue.
A flurry of e-mails were sent between business owners, and a meeting was set up to discuss the issue, which -- from all accounts -- didn't really accomplish much. More meetings and committees.
The aforementioned resturant owner contacted the Bulletin, which then did an article on the subject where I was quoted.
Last week, I got an nice e-mail asking if it would be O.K. to use some of my blog comments in the taping of a Talk of the Town segment on the local cable. Unfortunately, I didn't see the e-mail until that evening, but apparently many of the issues were covered nevertheless.
And finally, I noticed there was a story on KTVZ last night. (Which confused First Friday's with street closures. I'll repeat, I don't mind events as long as there isn't a street closure included.)
Anyway, while I don't believe anything has changed, at least there is awareness of the issue, which is a first step.
Maybe the next time a street closure is considered, they'll think twice.
And then -- they'll approve it, anyway.
But at least they'll be conflicted about it!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Big greasy lip prints.
A big greasy lips print on the window outside my Slave Leia standup. Heh. Hey, come on in an buy her. You can take her home!
On second thought. I don't want to know about that.
**********
Had a Walking Dead action figure walk away yesterday.
Hey, you are what you steal!
Amazing how yucky shoplifting makes me feel. I can't describe the feeling. Disappointment, only worse. Vulnerability. Just a deep down discomfort.
Considering the kind of store I have, I'm probably lucky it doesn't happen more often.
I know it's naive of me, but I can't help but wonder at someone who would take enjoyment out of an item they stole. "Wow. What a cool figure! (and I'm a slimebag.)
**********
Read a chapter at writer's group; the scene setting up the penultimate 'action' chapters.
I knew it was just a bridge chapter, a 'marshaling the forces' chapter.
But one of the group members, Gary, told me I'd resorted to "school boy" solutions to the problems.
Ouch. But it was totally accurate. I understood exactly what he meant. It was as if I had a protagonist stranded on a road in the middle of nowhere, and in order to get him where I need him I have a bus come by to pick him up -- just coming up with solutions that aren't quite credible.
He also had a suggestion that would make the set up more credible, but which will require a whole bunch of rewriting.
The closer to the end of this book I get, the more I realize I'm in for a real job of rewriting. I was kidding myself to think otherwise.
On the other hand, I probably needed to kid myself about how easy this was going to be, or I wouldn't have started and continued.
***********
Took my financial adviser's advice -- heh -- and left the money in the stock market I had intended to remove into safer investments. (I can't believe I even have a financial adviser --inherited from parents-- or for that matter, the finances that need advice.)
Looking like a hell of a good decision as of today.
Let's see how it looks in a week.
What a big game.
On second thought. I don't want to know about that.
**********
Had a Walking Dead action figure walk away yesterday.
Hey, you are what you steal!
Amazing how yucky shoplifting makes me feel. I can't describe the feeling. Disappointment, only worse. Vulnerability. Just a deep down discomfort.
Considering the kind of store I have, I'm probably lucky it doesn't happen more often.
I know it's naive of me, but I can't help but wonder at someone who would take enjoyment out of an item they stole. "Wow. What a cool figure! (and I'm a slimebag.)
**********
Read a chapter at writer's group; the scene setting up the penultimate 'action' chapters.
I knew it was just a bridge chapter, a 'marshaling the forces' chapter.
But one of the group members, Gary, told me I'd resorted to "school boy" solutions to the problems.
Ouch. But it was totally accurate. I understood exactly what he meant. It was as if I had a protagonist stranded on a road in the middle of nowhere, and in order to get him where I need him I have a bus come by to pick him up -- just coming up with solutions that aren't quite credible.
He also had a suggestion that would make the set up more credible, but which will require a whole bunch of rewriting.
The closer to the end of this book I get, the more I realize I'm in for a real job of rewriting. I was kidding myself to think otherwise.
On the other hand, I probably needed to kid myself about how easy this was going to be, or I wouldn't have started and continued.
***********
Took my financial adviser's advice -- heh -- and left the money in the stock market I had intended to remove into safer investments. (I can't believe I even have a financial adviser --inherited from parents-- or for that matter, the finances that need advice.)
Looking like a hell of a good decision as of today.
Let's see how it looks in a week.
What a big game.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Part of the culture, and not part of it.
Was hauling in my books off the sidewalk when a guy walked up and animatedly started talking about an old Superman comic he once owned.
"I don't really worry about that kind of thing," I interrupted. "Comics are for reading and enjoying."
I felt sort of bad that I cut him off so abruptly. It's a comic store thing -- everyone wants to tell you about the comics they "once" had; usually I try to be patient but I was tired and wanted to go home.
Anyway, this is an entire part of the comic culture that I don't pay much attention to anymore: The collecting and investment part. I also pay little attention to comic shows, and/or costuming, movies, except insofar as I enjoy watching them, cartoons, mostly, video games, entirely, webcomics, only when they are collected. And so on and so forth.
Half the comic websites I visit are talking about these things, and I realize they are a big part of the comic scene -- but I've lost most of my interest in them.
Maybe it's an age thing. I just can't get that worked up over a movie studio ruining a character, or the fact that some person spent a million dollars on an old comic.
The focus, as always, should be on the product itself. The experience of it. The reading and immersing. All the rest is fanboy stuff I just don't have time for.
I realize it's important to the overall health of the market, so I try to be neutral. And I've hired young guys who are much more in tune with the whole scene. They go to shows, play the video games, can carry on a lively discussion of the relative merits of superhero movies.
But I've pretty much narrowed my focus it down to the store itself. Simplified, if you will.
I pick up a lot of this information, nevertheless, just because I read so much. So I can usually carry on a conversation, if I must, about the latest San Diego Con., or the latest movies, but mostly I'm not into that part of the culture.
I mean, I just don't take it all that seriously.
Seems to me, though, that I'm into the most important part of the culture, the comics and books themselves. Which is another place where experience comes in: I realize as most of my customers don't, that there are more things in Heaven and Earth, or even in my little world of comics and books, than I can ever master.
I'll never know it all. There will always be books I don't know about, or comic artists I've never heard of, so I may as well relax. Not feel the pressure to be all things to all people.
Enjoy what I got.
Re-reading this, it isn't quite right.
I'm fascinated by popular culture. I have the kind of personality that likes to accrue information, useful or not.
Maybe it's the more social aspects of the culture I'm not part of. Shows, meetings, clubs and such.
Reading to me is a one to one activity. I actually do enjoy talking about the things I've read.
"I don't really worry about that kind of thing," I interrupted. "Comics are for reading and enjoying."
I felt sort of bad that I cut him off so abruptly. It's a comic store thing -- everyone wants to tell you about the comics they "once" had; usually I try to be patient but I was tired and wanted to go home.
Anyway, this is an entire part of the comic culture that I don't pay much attention to anymore: The collecting and investment part. I also pay little attention to comic shows, and/or costuming, movies, except insofar as I enjoy watching them, cartoons, mostly, video games, entirely, webcomics, only when they are collected. And so on and so forth.
Half the comic websites I visit are talking about these things, and I realize they are a big part of the comic scene -- but I've lost most of my interest in them.
Maybe it's an age thing. I just can't get that worked up over a movie studio ruining a character, or the fact that some person spent a million dollars on an old comic.
The focus, as always, should be on the product itself. The experience of it. The reading and immersing. All the rest is fanboy stuff I just don't have time for.
I realize it's important to the overall health of the market, so I try to be neutral. And I've hired young guys who are much more in tune with the whole scene. They go to shows, play the video games, can carry on a lively discussion of the relative merits of superhero movies.
But I've pretty much narrowed my focus it down to the store itself. Simplified, if you will.
I pick up a lot of this information, nevertheless, just because I read so much. So I can usually carry on a conversation, if I must, about the latest San Diego Con., or the latest movies, but mostly I'm not into that part of the culture.
I mean, I just don't take it all that seriously.
Seems to me, though, that I'm into the most important part of the culture, the comics and books themselves. Which is another place where experience comes in: I realize as most of my customers don't, that there are more things in Heaven and Earth, or even in my little world of comics and books, than I can ever master.
I'll never know it all. There will always be books I don't know about, or comic artists I've never heard of, so I may as well relax. Not feel the pressure to be all things to all people.
Enjoy what I got.
Re-reading this, it isn't quite right.
I'm fascinated by popular culture. I have the kind of personality that likes to accrue information, useful or not.
Maybe it's the more social aspects of the culture I'm not part of. Shows, meetings, clubs and such.
Reading to me is a one to one activity. I actually do enjoy talking about the things I've read.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Someone else might kill your business, so you'll do it instead?
Both Apple and Amazon have reported severe drops in profits.
Which makes me somewhat suspicious. High flyers who suddenly have crappy quarters, just makes me wonder how high the highs and how low the lows. In other words, did they -- for strategic reasons -- pile their profits in one quarter, and pile their loses in another?
But it also got me to thinking how, up until now, all I've been thinking about is how Amazon's Kindle is affecting bookstores. But maybe I should have been considering how the Kindle might be affecting what, up until recently, was Amazon's own core business:
Selling books.
You know, what was once their main reason for being.
Much like Barnes and Noble making their own business model obsolete by selling the Nook.
There is no guarantee, it seems to me, that these new high tech businesses will make them as much money as their old businesses did.
After all, the same dynamics that save them money on the digital, also make it possible for competitors.
In other words, no one was likely to pop up and be competitive to either Amazon or Barnes and Noble in the selling of physical books. They were pretty safely in the lead.
But I can see plenty of opportunity for smaller players to compete with them on the digital.
Not only the physical e-readers themselves, which I expect will eventually be divided into expensive e-readers and cheap knockoffs, which would make both the Nook and the Kindle in the no man's land in the middle, but also the digital content.
Smaller, more agile providers; or someone out of the blue, like Netflix.
Meanwhile, they've also opened themselves to competition from the big boys -- for instance, Apple, and it's IPad.
I'm still not sure I understand why businesses subvert their own business models.
Their answer -- if we don't do it, someone else will -- just seems lame. Sure, other people can try. But they might not necessarily succeed, especially if you aren't being cooperative.
This is doubly true for the publishers, who are making themselves unnecessary.
Yes, I understand that the music industry tried to fight it and failed. But I'm not sure caving in completely is the answer, either. Much less instigating the change and leading the charge.
Which makes me somewhat suspicious. High flyers who suddenly have crappy quarters, just makes me wonder how high the highs and how low the lows. In other words, did they -- for strategic reasons -- pile their profits in one quarter, and pile their loses in another?
But it also got me to thinking how, up until now, all I've been thinking about is how Amazon's Kindle is affecting bookstores. But maybe I should have been considering how the Kindle might be affecting what, up until recently, was Amazon's own core business:
Selling books.
You know, what was once their main reason for being.
Much like Barnes and Noble making their own business model obsolete by selling the Nook.
There is no guarantee, it seems to me, that these new high tech businesses will make them as much money as their old businesses did.
After all, the same dynamics that save them money on the digital, also make it possible for competitors.
In other words, no one was likely to pop up and be competitive to either Amazon or Barnes and Noble in the selling of physical books. They were pretty safely in the lead.
But I can see plenty of opportunity for smaller players to compete with them on the digital.
Not only the physical e-readers themselves, which I expect will eventually be divided into expensive e-readers and cheap knockoffs, which would make both the Nook and the Kindle in the no man's land in the middle, but also the digital content.
Smaller, more agile providers; or someone out of the blue, like Netflix.
Meanwhile, they've also opened themselves to competition from the big boys -- for instance, Apple, and it's IPad.
I'm still not sure I understand why businesses subvert their own business models.
Their answer -- if we don't do it, someone else will -- just seems lame. Sure, other people can try. But they might not necessarily succeed, especially if you aren't being cooperative.
This is doubly true for the publishers, who are making themselves unnecessary.
Yes, I understand that the music industry tried to fight it and failed. But I'm not sure caving in completely is the answer, either. Much less instigating the change and leading the charge.
Give me some of that "loan."
County loans.
I agree with the Bulletin's editorial today about the unfairness of county loans to local businesses.
I would add, from what I've observed, they are pretty ineffective, too. Yeah, the county forgives some 'loans', which makes them a gift -- a grant, if you will. But mostly it forgives loans because the business can't pay back -- or goes out of business altogether.
My observation is -- most small business operations are Mom and Pop, and while they could use some of that "grant" money, it would be impossible not to be unfair in allocating that money, plus a bureaucratic nightmare.
Bigger loans can be more targeted -- but in some ways are even more unfair.
There was a case a few years back where the county loaned -- what would have been to me -- a very large amount of money to a business that eventually failed. A tenth of that money, a twentieth of that money, would have been enough to put me on a solid footing. (And by extension, 10 or 20 other small Mom and Pops.)
I agree with the Bulletin that this money could be used in more effective ways.
I've mentioned before that I'm leery of mixing 'for-profit' with 'not-profit' monies. Usually seems to go to waste.
That said, if the county wants to "grant" me some of that lucre , I promise I'll try to hire someone.
What do you say?
**********
Meanwhile, I don't know what's going on with the Facebook situation.
Yeah, it seems unfair that they get hit with taxes by the state that are unexpected.
But isn't that their own fault? Due diligence, and all that?
And their whining makes it seem like they want a completely free ride -- which I suspect is pretty much what they've gotten up to now.
**********
I'm sure that not all off-roaders are irresponsible.
Just like not all skateboarders are snarky.
But...well...if you go into the woods at all, you can see that there is a lack of concern by some of these guys toward the habitat.
Fact.
**********
I agree with the Bulletin's editorial today about the unfairness of county loans to local businesses.
I would add, from what I've observed, they are pretty ineffective, too. Yeah, the county forgives some 'loans', which makes them a gift -- a grant, if you will. But mostly it forgives loans because the business can't pay back -- or goes out of business altogether.
My observation is -- most small business operations are Mom and Pop, and while they could use some of that "grant" money, it would be impossible not to be unfair in allocating that money, plus a bureaucratic nightmare.
Bigger loans can be more targeted -- but in some ways are even more unfair.
There was a case a few years back where the county loaned -- what would have been to me -- a very large amount of money to a business that eventually failed. A tenth of that money, a twentieth of that money, would have been enough to put me on a solid footing. (And by extension, 10 or 20 other small Mom and Pops.)
I agree with the Bulletin that this money could be used in more effective ways.
I've mentioned before that I'm leery of mixing 'for-profit' with 'not-profit' monies. Usually seems to go to waste.
That said, if the county wants to "grant" me some of that lucre , I promise I'll try to hire someone.
What do you say?
**********
Meanwhile, I don't know what's going on with the Facebook situation.
Yeah, it seems unfair that they get hit with taxes by the state that are unexpected.
But isn't that their own fault? Due diligence, and all that?
And their whining makes it seem like they want a completely free ride -- which I suspect is pretty much what they've gotten up to now.
**********
I'm sure that not all off-roaders are irresponsible.
Just like not all skateboarders are snarky.
But...well...if you go into the woods at all, you can see that there is a lack of concern by some of these guys toward the habitat.
Fact.
**********
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
zombie jerky
Got some zombie jerky to sell at the store. Kind of pricey, until you consider how they are still moaning and squirming and trying to bite you when you chop them up.
They come with a moldy green patina.
Along with my Soylent Green crackers and True Blood beverages, it's almost lunch.
They come with a moldy green patina.
Along with my Soylent Green crackers and True Blood beverages, it's almost lunch.
Tethered.
Having now carried my IPhone around with me for about a week (and getting a grand total of 2 phone calls and three texts), I realized that everyone has it backward.
A cellphone is supposed to free us from being tethered to communication devices.
But it does the opposite.
We are now permanently tethered to our communication devices.
When we had landlines, we were free from them when we weren't near them.
Just saying.
A cellphone is supposed to free us from being tethered to communication devices.
But it does the opposite.
We are now permanently tethered to our communication devices.
When we had landlines, we were free from them when we weren't near them.
Just saying.
Store status.
DC is talking about producing prequels to the Watchmen. Lots of comic residue there. Alan Moore has famously feuded with DC comics; so this is a bit of "In Your Face."
Trouble with trying to write in the same world as a classic -- you are almost guaranteed to fail.
Before the Watchmen movie came out, this would probably have diluted sales of the great graphic novel. But sales have dropped so drastically, this might actually help.
Sales wise.
Another "In Your Face" to Alan Moore is an omnibus edition to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which the great bearded writer has taken later editions to other publishers.
**********
Update on the New 52.
Sales were by far the strongest on the first week, tailing off through the month. This is the last week of the second month, so the trend lines are becoming clearer.
So the only real surprise was selling out that first week -- the gradual falling into sustainable numbers was pretty predictable. I'm still happy with the new customers -- none of them have quit yet. But not every comic is selling just because it exists.
It was a nice surge, and I expect it will settle in at significantly higher numbers than before.
Now if Marvel could just figure out some way to do something similar.
I took a DC Survey, which was a pretty meaningless exercise. I mean, trying to pick winners out the first week's sales was pointless because they ALL sold out. The survey needed to be broader and take in a longer period of time, but, hey, they enticed me so I filled it out.
***********
I've kind of decided there isn't much point in worrying about e-books. I understand that they are there, that they may take over the world -- but that's neither here nor there for me.
I'm carrying books until I can't carry books anymore. Simple as that.
**********
This surge in business has given me the chance to reinvest on the more neglected parts of my store.
I've ordered more sports cards; more toys; and even more anime and manga. I want every section of the store to perform at least a little, so that altogether they make a healthy total.
One thing that seems to separate the way I do business from just about everybody else I read about: I don't feel like I have the luxury of only carrying the better selling material. I sell about as much of the better selling material as I can and it isn't enough. I have to sell some of the slower material to be viable.
Slightly larger demographics might solve that. But I have the demographics I have.
**********
After lying low over the last 3 years, I'm finally trying to exploit any increase in sales I see anywhere in the store. All I needed was a few signs of life.
This year will beat last year for the first time since 2007. 2008, 2009, and 2010, were all declines.
The increase may be only a few percentage points, but it's an increase. Heh.
I don't necessarily feel the economy has gotten a whole lot better, it just has quit getting a whole lot worse, giving any kind of increased interest a chance to happen.
Comics, as you've been reading from my posts about the New 52, are up. Books and games are up slightly, through constant upgrading.
In other words, I think it's more like it has usually been in my store -- the product decides if sales are up or down, not the economy.
It was the economy having such a huge effect on us that was so unusual, and obviously points to how dire the economy was (can could still be, without much of a push.)
Trouble with trying to write in the same world as a classic -- you are almost guaranteed to fail.
Before the Watchmen movie came out, this would probably have diluted sales of the great graphic novel. But sales have dropped so drastically, this might actually help.
Sales wise.
Another "In Your Face" to Alan Moore is an omnibus edition to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which the great bearded writer has taken later editions to other publishers.
**********
Update on the New 52.
Sales were by far the strongest on the first week, tailing off through the month. This is the last week of the second month, so the trend lines are becoming clearer.
So the only real surprise was selling out that first week -- the gradual falling into sustainable numbers was pretty predictable. I'm still happy with the new customers -- none of them have quit yet. But not every comic is selling just because it exists.
It was a nice surge, and I expect it will settle in at significantly higher numbers than before.
Now if Marvel could just figure out some way to do something similar.
I took a DC Survey, which was a pretty meaningless exercise. I mean, trying to pick winners out the first week's sales was pointless because they ALL sold out. The survey needed to be broader and take in a longer period of time, but, hey, they enticed me so I filled it out.
***********
I've kind of decided there isn't much point in worrying about e-books. I understand that they are there, that they may take over the world -- but that's neither here nor there for me.
I'm carrying books until I can't carry books anymore. Simple as that.
**********
This surge in business has given me the chance to reinvest on the more neglected parts of my store.
I've ordered more sports cards; more toys; and even more anime and manga. I want every section of the store to perform at least a little, so that altogether they make a healthy total.
One thing that seems to separate the way I do business from just about everybody else I read about: I don't feel like I have the luxury of only carrying the better selling material. I sell about as much of the better selling material as I can and it isn't enough. I have to sell some of the slower material to be viable.
Slightly larger demographics might solve that. But I have the demographics I have.
**********
After lying low over the last 3 years, I'm finally trying to exploit any increase in sales I see anywhere in the store. All I needed was a few signs of life.
This year will beat last year for the first time since 2007. 2008, 2009, and 2010, were all declines.
The increase may be only a few percentage points, but it's an increase. Heh.
I don't necessarily feel the economy has gotten a whole lot better, it just has quit getting a whole lot worse, giving any kind of increased interest a chance to happen.
Comics, as you've been reading from my posts about the New 52, are up. Books and games are up slightly, through constant upgrading.
In other words, I think it's more like it has usually been in my store -- the product decides if sales are up or down, not the economy.
It was the economy having such a huge effect on us that was so unusual, and obviously points to how dire the economy was (can could still be, without much of a push.)
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday Mops.
Linda enjoyed Once Upon a Time. I thought it painfully bad. It's the type of "polyester" fantasy that give fantasy a bad name. Bad Halloween costume fantasy. Argggg.
Next up. Grimm.
I'm somewhat perturbed that both of these stories have a tangential take on the "fairytale" to my own version. I didn't know either show was coming when I started my book.
**********
Interesting time warps happen when you read newspapers a month late. New York Times Book Review, 9/18/11.
There was a review by Yale historian Beverly Gage, of a book (American Dreamers, Michael Kazin) about the American Left that starts:
"We might as well call it: The American left is dead. Faced with the greatest crisis of capitalism in almost a century, the left has mounted no effective mass protests...."
What a difference a month makes. Interestingly, the book says that the Left has never "been much good at building institutions..." but "it has been enormously effective at shifting the nation's moral compass."
It also has a timely prescription, that the Occupy Wall Street people have followed, of having "broad" goals, based on "egalitarian transformation of society."
If nothing else, the Occupy Wall Street people have changed the conversation.
**********
Slowly, slowly. I'm carrying around my cellphone, telling my employees they can call me or even text me.
Dragged, kicking and screaming, into the digital age.
Even had my first spontaneous online "chat" the other day.
Whatever.
All because Linda bought me an IPhone and I don't want it to go to waste.
**********
Going to weatherize the house today. Jesus, I'm lazy.
Next up. Grimm.
I'm somewhat perturbed that both of these stories have a tangential take on the "fairytale" to my own version. I didn't know either show was coming when I started my book.
**********
Interesting time warps happen when you read newspapers a month late. New York Times Book Review, 9/18/11.
There was a review by Yale historian Beverly Gage, of a book (American Dreamers, Michael Kazin) about the American Left that starts:
"We might as well call it: The American left is dead. Faced with the greatest crisis of capitalism in almost a century, the left has mounted no effective mass protests...."
What a difference a month makes. Interestingly, the book says that the Left has never "been much good at building institutions..." but "it has been enormously effective at shifting the nation's moral compass."
It also has a timely prescription, that the Occupy Wall Street people have followed, of having "broad" goals, based on "egalitarian transformation of society."
If nothing else, the Occupy Wall Street people have changed the conversation.
**********
Slowly, slowly. I'm carrying around my cellphone, telling my employees they can call me or even text me.
Dragged, kicking and screaming, into the digital age.
Even had my first spontaneous online "chat" the other day.
Whatever.
All because Linda bought me an IPhone and I don't want it to go to waste.
**********
Going to weatherize the house today. Jesus, I'm lazy.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sunday such.
The birds drinking the water in our clogged gutters and shitting all over our decks.
I got up on a lawn chair to see if it was easy fix. Next thing I know, I'm on my back, my feet and legs bleeding, from breaking through the plastic.
This is how it ends.
**********
Speaking of wolves.
"Nature" had a show a week ago that showed how wildlife has come back strong in the area around Chernobyl.
In other words, humans are way, way more toxic to wildlife than melted reactors....
**********
Read four weeks worth of New York Times this week. Had fallen behind.
You know what? It feels like I have read half the articles from 4 weeks ago in the meantime somewhere else.
What will happen to news in this country when the primary sources go away?
**********
Either the Boys and Girls Clubs have a lot of bad luck, or there are some bad decisions being made. A little of both, I suspect. The bad decisions are probably arising in an understandable desire to save money...
***********
Owning a home.
Bringing in all the hoses, closing all the vents, cleaning the gutters...where's a landlord when you need one?
************
"The Other Zuckerberg, Now Out On Her Own."
""RtoZ Media, to help companies take advantage of social media."
It seems like half the "high-tech" businesses I read about, even locally, are based on a variation of this.
It all seems sort of bogus to me. Let me show you how to advertise? Let me show you how to use social media?
Couldn't you hire a 17 year old to show you the same things a lot cheaper?
***********
HEH.
Out of the five books in the review pages of the Bulletin this morning, two are graphic novels. The classic Maus, and the newer Habibi. (Both, I might mention, I always keep in stock.)
A third review is about George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire.
At least the intelligentsia are taking graphic literature seriously.
You'd think between all the movies and T.V. shows and the great S.F. and Fantasy books, and the reviews in major media, that comics would be booming.
You'd think that, huh.
**********
Growing up, there was always Ray LeBlanc (obit today) and Dutch (and the inimitable Ruth) Stover around, here in Bend.
I used to mow the Stover's lawn down along the river.
Old Bend.
**********
I got up on a lawn chair to see if it was easy fix. Next thing I know, I'm on my back, my feet and legs bleeding, from breaking through the plastic.
This is how it ends.
**********
Speaking of wolves.
"Nature" had a show a week ago that showed how wildlife has come back strong in the area around Chernobyl.
In other words, humans are way, way more toxic to wildlife than melted reactors....
**********
Read four weeks worth of New York Times this week. Had fallen behind.
You know what? It feels like I have read half the articles from 4 weeks ago in the meantime somewhere else.
What will happen to news in this country when the primary sources go away?
**********
Either the Boys and Girls Clubs have a lot of bad luck, or there are some bad decisions being made. A little of both, I suspect. The bad decisions are probably arising in an understandable desire to save money...
***********
Owning a home.
Bringing in all the hoses, closing all the vents, cleaning the gutters...where's a landlord when you need one?
************
"The Other Zuckerberg, Now Out On Her Own."
""RtoZ Media, to help companies take advantage of social media."
It seems like half the "high-tech" businesses I read about, even locally, are based on a variation of this.
It all seems sort of bogus to me. Let me show you how to advertise? Let me show you how to use social media?
Couldn't you hire a 17 year old to show you the same things a lot cheaper?
***********
HEH.
Out of the five books in the review pages of the Bulletin this morning, two are graphic novels. The classic Maus, and the newer Habibi. (Both, I might mention, I always keep in stock.)
A third review is about George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire.
At least the intelligentsia are taking graphic literature seriously.
You'd think between all the movies and T.V. shows and the great S.F. and Fantasy books, and the reviews in major media, that comics would be booming.
You'd think that, huh.
**********
Growing up, there was always Ray LeBlanc (obit today) and Dutch (and the inimitable Ruth) Stover around, here in Bend.
I used to mow the Stover's lawn down along the river.
Old Bend.
**********
Saturday, October 22, 2011
What goes around comes around.
Read another article on the demise of "category killer" stores. These stores were so overwhelming in their inventory of a single category that they wiped out most small independent stores.
ToyrUs, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy....stores like that. It mentioned that it was believed that sales at Best Buy would go up when Circuit City went out, but that it didn't happen. (The same could probably be said for Barnes and Noble versus Borders.)
Whereas I saw a completely different dynamic. I saw Circuit City as Belgium falling before the Blitzkrieg, but that just makes Best Buy -- France.
Thinking you'll do better when all your competitors are failing seems illogical to me. If you saw all your farming neighbors failing because of bad weather, would you assume it would make your farm do better? Or would the same factors also be affecting you?
In essence, the article maintained that most of these stores are no longer working because they are too big in space, that when entire sections of the store become obsolete, it drags down the rest of the store. They have 3/4th a store in a 1 space.
Then I look at my store, and I have, more or less, 3 stores in the space of 1.
The article also suggested that these "category killers" would have to find product to replace the ineffective product, but that it would have to "fit" what they have. No easy task.
Then I look at my store, and after much experimentation and trying and failing and trying again, I have a mix of product that "fits."
The article suggested that each store will have to come up with a "unique" mix of inventory, which runs counter to what a big box store does.
Then I look at my store, and almost by definition, my store is made up of a "unique" mix of inventory.
Category Killers will need to come up with reasons to have people want to browse their stores, and be something other than 'destination stores' for one type of product.
My store is in a busy downtown core where I more or less depend on the people off the street, many of them tourists, finding it worthwhile to come in browse.
Finally, the article suggested that these stores will have to get smaller.
Which as I keep pointing out, just makes them regular stores -- which loses all the advantages they once had. Good luck with that.
Not just Category Killers, which are a specific type of Big Box store, the article goes on to say that it will also eventually drag down the more general type -- like Walmart.
The ponzi scheme of building more and more and bigger and bigger stores will come to an end -- because the INTERNET is the BIGGEST store of all. You'll have to use a tool other than "bigger" and "more product" or, indeed, "price" to attract customers. All the usual tricks won't work.
In other words, I think the irony is that smaller independent stores may well survive the advent of the internet better than the big box stores.
Which is a strange kind of justice.
ToyrUs, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy....stores like that. It mentioned that it was believed that sales at Best Buy would go up when Circuit City went out, but that it didn't happen. (The same could probably be said for Barnes and Noble versus Borders.)
Whereas I saw a completely different dynamic. I saw Circuit City as Belgium falling before the Blitzkrieg, but that just makes Best Buy -- France.
Thinking you'll do better when all your competitors are failing seems illogical to me. If you saw all your farming neighbors failing because of bad weather, would you assume it would make your farm do better? Or would the same factors also be affecting you?
In essence, the article maintained that most of these stores are no longer working because they are too big in space, that when entire sections of the store become obsolete, it drags down the rest of the store. They have 3/4th a store in a 1 space.
Then I look at my store, and I have, more or less, 3 stores in the space of 1.
The article also suggested that these "category killers" would have to find product to replace the ineffective product, but that it would have to "fit" what they have. No easy task.
Then I look at my store, and after much experimentation and trying and failing and trying again, I have a mix of product that "fits."
The article suggested that each store will have to come up with a "unique" mix of inventory, which runs counter to what a big box store does.
Then I look at my store, and almost by definition, my store is made up of a "unique" mix of inventory.
Category Killers will need to come up with reasons to have people want to browse their stores, and be something other than 'destination stores' for one type of product.
My store is in a busy downtown core where I more or less depend on the people off the street, many of them tourists, finding it worthwhile to come in browse.
Finally, the article suggested that these stores will have to get smaller.
Which as I keep pointing out, just makes them regular stores -- which loses all the advantages they once had. Good luck with that.
Not just Category Killers, which are a specific type of Big Box store, the article goes on to say that it will also eventually drag down the more general type -- like Walmart.
The ponzi scheme of building more and more and bigger and bigger stores will come to an end -- because the INTERNET is the BIGGEST store of all. You'll have to use a tool other than "bigger" and "more product" or, indeed, "price" to attract customers. All the usual tricks won't work.
In other words, I think the irony is that smaller independent stores may well survive the advent of the internet better than the big box stores.
Which is a strange kind of justice.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Squeezing for productivity.
"Gaddafi's caught in the crossfire."
Yeah.
You know.
Oops.
**********
This call for small businesses NOT to hire in order to sabotage Obama's election chances?
I think I may have to figure out how to hire someone, instead.
**********
"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a CODE WRITER scorned."
Always fun to watch someone throw caution to the wind. In witty rage. It's sort of awe inspiring...like a psycho Dilbert.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the local twitter. (Look for Paul.)
**********
Penney's left the Galleria building in the 70's not the 80's. I don't remember when the place was last renovated, but I suspect it was way sooner than 1989. Can't prove it.
"Old Downtown Building Getting Modern Makeover." Bulletin, 10/21/11.
************
From what I've read, Steve Jobs refused to have his tumor removed for nine months because he wanted to fight it with "diet."
Being an innovative thinker can be deadly.
**********
Linda has fallen in love with the ads for The Three Musketeers. No matter how many bad reviews.
Based on the ads I expected Footloose and Real Steel to suck; and 3 Musketeers and The Thing to be cool.
The reviews say the opposite.
I still want to see Puss and Boots. Because the preview is great.
***********
Squeezing for productivity. There's an article on the Bleeding Cool site that talks about Marvel's penny pinching ways since Disney bought them.
I tell you, if I ran my business this way, I'd be in the gutter within 5 years. (My profits might be up for the first couple years...)
Since this is happening all over corporate America, I think we're headed for the gutter.
How much of whatever lackluster improvement in the economy has come from squeezing the employees and the inventory and the lack of infrastructure spending?
P.S. Walmart just cut health benefits. Any guesses as to whether they'll report a corporate profit increase?
Yeah.
You know.
Oops.
**********
This call for small businesses NOT to hire in order to sabotage Obama's election chances?
I think I may have to figure out how to hire someone, instead.
**********
"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a CODE WRITER scorned."
Always fun to watch someone throw caution to the wind. In witty rage. It's sort of awe inspiring...like a psycho Dilbert.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the local twitter. (Look for Paul.)
**********
Penney's left the Galleria building in the 70's not the 80's. I don't remember when the place was last renovated, but I suspect it was way sooner than 1989. Can't prove it.
"Old Downtown Building Getting Modern Makeover." Bulletin, 10/21/11.
************
From what I've read, Steve Jobs refused to have his tumor removed for nine months because he wanted to fight it with "diet."
Being an innovative thinker can be deadly.
**********
Linda has fallen in love with the ads for The Three Musketeers. No matter how many bad reviews.
Based on the ads I expected Footloose and Real Steel to suck; and 3 Musketeers and The Thing to be cool.
The reviews say the opposite.
I still want to see Puss and Boots. Because the preview is great.
***********
Squeezing for productivity. There's an article on the Bleeding Cool site that talks about Marvel's penny pinching ways since Disney bought them.
I tell you, if I ran my business this way, I'd be in the gutter within 5 years. (My profits might be up for the first couple years...)
Since this is happening all over corporate America, I think we're headed for the gutter.
How much of whatever lackluster improvement in the economy has come from squeezing the employees and the inventory and the lack of infrastructure spending?
P.S. Walmart just cut health benefits. Any guesses as to whether they'll report a corporate profit increase?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday thunks.
Linda has had a miserable cold. But it looks like a 3 day one --
I sort of resign myself to getting a cold when she gets one -- though once in awhile I get away with it.
**********
The store is still on a roll. This will be the fourth month in a row that we beat last year, and I'm betting we can do it again next month. Christmas might be harder to do.
I'm also spending a lot more, too. I was able to pay my taxes without taking money out of savings, though it meant I wasn't able to pay down my credit cards quite as much as usual. I'll try to take care of that at Christmas.
I gotta say -- it's more fun at work when things are doing well.
**********
I know it's regressive; but a flat tax appeals to me.
Problem is, I get the feeling that we all-- the 99%, if you will -- would pay the flat tax, but the 1% and the corporations would find a way not to pay.
And I'm not that far away from remembering what it was like to have to pay even a small amount of tax when I couldn't pay the rent.
**********
No money for a silt study? (Bulletin.)
Hey, no money for anything.
Except studies that tell us we need more studies to tell us we need more studies...
*********
"Retailers Plan to Offer Deals of Desperation."
Uh, no.
I'm going to spend every dime I have on premium, evergreen product and let nature take care of itself.
I'm not going to flail around chasing after reluctant customers.
I loved this quote: "....the only way to get holiday sales is to offer the one thing that will attract shoppers these days: low prices. That's a change from better economic times when stores could lure customers away with promises of higher-quality products or better customer service."
Uh....unless "these days" means the last half century, this is the way it's always been.
I don't remember the second half of that equation as EVER being true, at least not in my career.
Dream on.
**********
I've already commented several times on the Kindle Fire exclusive with DC graphic novels, and the response by Barnes and Noble and Books a Million to remove those titles from their brick and mortar stores.
I wonder if this the first battle in an 'exclusive' battle. I sort of hope so and at the same time dread it. Hope for it, because such Balkanization will hurt the usefulness of e-books, dread it because of the damage it will do the the publishing industry. (Can't sell books if they aren't making them.)
The publishing industry is in trouble. Amazon has already started the process of leaving out the publishers altogether, going directly to authors.
Hey, what did they think was going to happen?
I still think the publishers made and are making a huge mistake expediting the transformation to digital books. They should have fought it. But they were so freaked out by what happened to the music industry, that they overreacted.
I would have said. "Our books will be coming out in hardcover, followed later by paperback, and when they are through selling, we'll be happy to put them into digital. That is all."
I know that absolutely no one agrees with me.
I sort of resign myself to getting a cold when she gets one -- though once in awhile I get away with it.
**********
The store is still on a roll. This will be the fourth month in a row that we beat last year, and I'm betting we can do it again next month. Christmas might be harder to do.
I'm also spending a lot more, too. I was able to pay my taxes without taking money out of savings, though it meant I wasn't able to pay down my credit cards quite as much as usual. I'll try to take care of that at Christmas.
I gotta say -- it's more fun at work when things are doing well.
**********
I know it's regressive; but a flat tax appeals to me.
Problem is, I get the feeling that we all-- the 99%, if you will -- would pay the flat tax, but the 1% and the corporations would find a way not to pay.
And I'm not that far away from remembering what it was like to have to pay even a small amount of tax when I couldn't pay the rent.
**********
No money for a silt study? (Bulletin.)
Hey, no money for anything.
Except studies that tell us we need more studies to tell us we need more studies...
*********
"Retailers Plan to Offer Deals of Desperation."
Uh, no.
I'm going to spend every dime I have on premium, evergreen product and let nature take care of itself.
I'm not going to flail around chasing after reluctant customers.
I loved this quote: "....the only way to get holiday sales is to offer the one thing that will attract shoppers these days: low prices. That's a change from better economic times when stores could lure customers away with promises of higher-quality products or better customer service."
Uh....unless "these days" means the last half century, this is the way it's always been.
I don't remember the second half of that equation as EVER being true, at least not in my career.
Dream on.
**********
I've already commented several times on the Kindle Fire exclusive with DC graphic novels, and the response by Barnes and Noble and Books a Million to remove those titles from their brick and mortar stores.
I wonder if this the first battle in an 'exclusive' battle. I sort of hope so and at the same time dread it. Hope for it, because such Balkanization will hurt the usefulness of e-books, dread it because of the damage it will do the the publishing industry. (Can't sell books if they aren't making them.)
The publishing industry is in trouble. Amazon has already started the process of leaving out the publishers altogether, going directly to authors.
Hey, what did they think was going to happen?
I still think the publishers made and are making a huge mistake expediting the transformation to digital books. They should have fought it. But they were so freaked out by what happened to the music industry, that they overreacted.
I would have said. "Our books will be coming out in hardcover, followed later by paperback, and when they are through selling, we'll be happy to put them into digital. That is all."
I know that absolutely no one agrees with me.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
More SKU's, please.
Watched a couple of documentaries on "design" last night on Netflix.
One was about the "font"; Helvetica. I'll never be able to look at lettering the same again.
The other was "Objectified" which was more or less about the form and function of manufactured objects.
One of the people they quote talks about how design is meant to replace the old with the new and that sometimes there is no more reason for it than that: that mass marketers need more units and types of things to sell. (Thus filling the worlds landfills for no good reason.)
It makes the whole "cheap" argument kind of bogus, when things could be designed to last and not constantly replaced.
Anyway, the discussion of how the mass market wants more SKU's (stock keeping units) made me think of -- yes, I'm sorry I'm bringing it up again -- sports cards.
When I started carrying sports cards there were three brands. Topps, Donruss and Fleer. Manufacturers did baseball, and football. No basketball. The packs more or less cost .50 and had fifteen or so cards and a stick of gum. Boxes had 36 packs.
Small shops like me figured out that you could take those three basic brands and make more SKU's out of them by breaking them up: Singles (commons and stars and, later, semi-stars), complete sets, team sets, packs and boxes. Add in specialized knowledge and display space and some basic supplies, and suddenly you had an industry.
After a few years, the sports cards were picked up by the major chain stores. By that time the brands had probably already proliferated a bit; new companies like Score and Upper Deck, and some price differentials -- Upper Deck at a 1.00 a back, for instance. But still, pretty much under control.
They exploded. Three tiers -- base, semi-expensive and super-expensive. They segmented into multiple issues within one brand. To differentiated themselves from us small shops and each other, exclusives started being granted. Then inserts and subsets.
Once the packs got expensive, then the mass market could "discount" them. That is -- at .50 cents a pack, there was only so much they could do to beat us. But at 5.00 a pack, they can beat us pretty handily.
Nowadays, I'm offered 500.00 boxes of cards with a few packs in them and a few cards per pack. The value is supposed to be in 'memorabilia' cards (cut up game-worn jersey patches and such) and autographs. I'm offered 150.00 boxes of cards with one pack. Yep, one pack. With one card. Ludicrous.
They finally gave us small shops the better brands, called "Hobby", but which are much more expensive and since grandma can't see the difference, she'll save money and buy the lesser brands from Walmart.
Anyway, to get back to my original point. I read this years ago, and I believe it to be true: The reason sports cards are so expensive is because Walmart WANTED them to be expensive -- the opposite of what everyone assumes.
This all happened because of the mass markets insatiable need for more and more and newer and newer SKU's.
The market is totally dysfunctional. Topps is the only real survivor -- an Italian sticker company, of all things, Panini, is the other major player.
You really have to wonder if all the cheap crap at the mass market is only cheap in relative terms, and in most cases unnecessary in variety and styles -- in other words, JUNK.
Sports card packs are expensive, overall, but cheaper at Walmart.
But not really cheap, you know what I mean?
One was about the "font"; Helvetica. I'll never be able to look at lettering the same again.
The other was "Objectified" which was more or less about the form and function of manufactured objects.
One of the people they quote talks about how design is meant to replace the old with the new and that sometimes there is no more reason for it than that: that mass marketers need more units and types of things to sell. (Thus filling the worlds landfills for no good reason.)
It makes the whole "cheap" argument kind of bogus, when things could be designed to last and not constantly replaced.
Anyway, the discussion of how the mass market wants more SKU's (stock keeping units) made me think of -- yes, I'm sorry I'm bringing it up again -- sports cards.
When I started carrying sports cards there were three brands. Topps, Donruss and Fleer. Manufacturers did baseball, and football. No basketball. The packs more or less cost .50 and had fifteen or so cards and a stick of gum. Boxes had 36 packs.
Small shops like me figured out that you could take those three basic brands and make more SKU's out of them by breaking them up: Singles (commons and stars and, later, semi-stars), complete sets, team sets, packs and boxes. Add in specialized knowledge and display space and some basic supplies, and suddenly you had an industry.
After a few years, the sports cards were picked up by the major chain stores. By that time the brands had probably already proliferated a bit; new companies like Score and Upper Deck, and some price differentials -- Upper Deck at a 1.00 a back, for instance. But still, pretty much under control.
They exploded. Three tiers -- base, semi-expensive and super-expensive. They segmented into multiple issues within one brand. To differentiated themselves from us small shops and each other, exclusives started being granted. Then inserts and subsets.
Once the packs got expensive, then the mass market could "discount" them. That is -- at .50 cents a pack, there was only so much they could do to beat us. But at 5.00 a pack, they can beat us pretty handily.
Nowadays, I'm offered 500.00 boxes of cards with a few packs in them and a few cards per pack. The value is supposed to be in 'memorabilia' cards (cut up game-worn jersey patches and such) and autographs. I'm offered 150.00 boxes of cards with one pack. Yep, one pack. With one card. Ludicrous.
They finally gave us small shops the better brands, called "Hobby", but which are much more expensive and since grandma can't see the difference, she'll save money and buy the lesser brands from Walmart.
Anyway, to get back to my original point. I read this years ago, and I believe it to be true: The reason sports cards are so expensive is because Walmart WANTED them to be expensive -- the opposite of what everyone assumes.
This all happened because of the mass markets insatiable need for more and more and newer and newer SKU's.
The market is totally dysfunctional. Topps is the only real survivor -- an Italian sticker company, of all things, Panini, is the other major player.
You really have to wonder if all the cheap crap at the mass market is only cheap in relative terms, and in most cases unnecessary in variety and styles -- in other words, JUNK.
Sports card packs are expensive, overall, but cheaper at Walmart.
But not really cheap, you know what I mean?
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Dealing wth stuff.
I was asked why I hadn't commented on the Bulletin shrinking in size.
Well, it isn't terribly noticeable. I remember picking up the San Francisco papers and thinking they looked and felt weird. But those papers were thick.
The Bulletin just isn't thick it enough.
**********
Linda just finished reading The Twentieth Wife for her reader group.
"Wait a minute. I thought you already read that."
"No...that was the 19th Wife."
"Oh....well, what about the 18th Wife, doesn't she count?"
"Chop liver, honey. Chop liver."
**********
I didn't go to the meeting about street closures. If I had, it would have been my first Downtowner meeting in 20 years, so I don't have any clout there.
I feel like I'm more effective in writing my concerns, than in trying to speak to a room full of strangers.
I feel like I'm more effective as an outsider, than as in insider. (See poem: Speaking From the Brambles.)
I hate to be cynical, but I also don't expect much to change. But then again, change won't happen without some preparation, and we are in that early stage probably. Maybe.
**********
Been dealing with financial matters these last couple of days. Taxes went out yesterday, and we also went to visit our financial adviser.
Nothing major. But learned a bunch of things.
Just not things I can talk about.
Heh, I want my blog to be candid, but I ain't stupid.
Well, it isn't terribly noticeable. I remember picking up the San Francisco papers and thinking they looked and felt weird. But those papers were thick.
The Bulletin just isn't thick it enough.
**********
Linda just finished reading The Twentieth Wife for her reader group.
"Wait a minute. I thought you already read that."
"No...that was the 19th Wife."
"Oh....well, what about the 18th Wife, doesn't she count?"
"Chop liver, honey. Chop liver."
**********
I didn't go to the meeting about street closures. If I had, it would have been my first Downtowner meeting in 20 years, so I don't have any clout there.
I feel like I'm more effective in writing my concerns, than in trying to speak to a room full of strangers.
I feel like I'm more effective as an outsider, than as in insider. (See poem: Speaking From the Brambles.)
I hate to be cynical, but I also don't expect much to change. But then again, change won't happen without some preparation, and we are in that early stage probably. Maybe.
**********
Been dealing with financial matters these last couple of days. Taxes went out yesterday, and we also went to visit our financial adviser.
Nothing major. But learned a bunch of things.
Just not things I can talk about.
Heh, I want my blog to be candid, but I ain't stupid.
Monday, October 17, 2011
How come everyone knows what to do except the actual businesses?
Thanks Bulletin for telling me what's best for my business.
"Don't Kill Downtown Festivals, Tame Them."
These are the same arguments I've heard for 30 years.
"There are already limits on the number of festivals"...."that can close off downtown streets."
Some limit. 3 weekends out of 4. So they let us have one summer weekend per month to actually benefit from the summer business.
"Reservations for July and August dates will probably be full for the next 100 years...." "Demand for January and February for street closures is typically light.:
And yet somehow -- it's O.K for downtown businesses to pay their high rents during the "typically light" months. But outside vendors are allowed to avoid these months, and cherry pick our busiest season.
"There have been questions and concerns about downtown street closures for years."
And these questions and concerns have been utterly ignored. I should know -- I think I've been about the only downtown business owner who has been willing to go on record. What's most interesting about this, is that they have pushed these events so hard that others are finally speaking up.
"It's not like the city can just look through the books of all the downtown businesses and tally up the sales data."
Hey, my business goes down during events. I'm not lying. But somehow that fact falls on deaf ears.
"The crowds also bring exposure if they don't bring immediate sales. That exposure can encourage visitors to make more trips."
Wait a minute. Didn't you just ask for evidence? Prove the above assertion, because I don't believe it's true any more, no matter how much sense it makes on the surface. Really. Prove it.
In fact, I've told the Bulletin that I think they should do a survey of other cities, to see how they handle these things. How often are streets closed in downtown districts? How often in the summer? What are the restrictions and costs? Are there any studies (not paid for by the promotion industry) that actually prove the long term benefits?
" Bend has a downtown that many communities would love to have. The city must not jeopardize Bend's vibrancy..."
You know what? That's just insulting. It isn't the festivals that make downtown vibrant! It's the businesses. The festivals are feeding off that vibrancy, not the other way around. These street closures should be in proportion to how much we need them. Years ago, downtown Bend needed as many events as possible.
But as we actually succeeded, we should have begun to tail off on the number of events but instead -- like Frankenstein's monster -- they've taken on a momentum that apparently can't be stopped.
It is unbelievably frustrating to see these events continually expand.
"Don't Kill Downtown Festivals, Tame Them."
These are the same arguments I've heard for 30 years.
"There are already limits on the number of festivals"...."that can close off downtown streets."
Some limit. 3 weekends out of 4. So they let us have one summer weekend per month to actually benefit from the summer business.
"Reservations for July and August dates will probably be full for the next 100 years...." "Demand for January and February for street closures is typically light.:
And yet somehow -- it's O.K for downtown businesses to pay their high rents during the "typically light" months. But outside vendors are allowed to avoid these months, and cherry pick our busiest season.
"There have been questions and concerns about downtown street closures for years."
And these questions and concerns have been utterly ignored. I should know -- I think I've been about the only downtown business owner who has been willing to go on record. What's most interesting about this, is that they have pushed these events so hard that others are finally speaking up.
"It's not like the city can just look through the books of all the downtown businesses and tally up the sales data."
Hey, my business goes down during events. I'm not lying. But somehow that fact falls on deaf ears.
"The crowds also bring exposure if they don't bring immediate sales. That exposure can encourage visitors to make more trips."
Wait a minute. Didn't you just ask for evidence? Prove the above assertion, because I don't believe it's true any more, no matter how much sense it makes on the surface. Really. Prove it.
In fact, I've told the Bulletin that I think they should do a survey of other cities, to see how they handle these things. How often are streets closed in downtown districts? How often in the summer? What are the restrictions and costs? Are there any studies (not paid for by the promotion industry) that actually prove the long term benefits?
" Bend has a downtown that many communities would love to have. The city must not jeopardize Bend's vibrancy..."
You know what? That's just insulting. It isn't the festivals that make downtown vibrant! It's the businesses. The festivals are feeding off that vibrancy, not the other way around. These street closures should be in proportion to how much we need them. Years ago, downtown Bend needed as many events as possible.
But as we actually succeeded, we should have begun to tail off on the number of events but instead -- like Frankenstein's monster -- they've taken on a momentum that apparently can't be stopped.
It is unbelievably frustrating to see these events continually expand.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Speaking From The Brambles.
Speaking from the brambles,
behind my wall of thorns,
I give my sage and pine advice,
through branches I can't be heard.
I've hollowed out my nest,
my view is veined with leaves,
The trees are old and hoary,
they tilt and they shed.
The sky leaks when it rains,
Winter is coming.
Snow falls around me, and
melts on my head.
Speaking from the brambles,
behind my wall of thorns,
I give my sage (and pine) advice,
knowing I can't be heard.
OR: Would this be better? Or just different?
Speaking from the brambles,
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"
Behind my wall of thorns,
"Whoops!"
I give my sage (and pine) advice,
"That's gotta hurt!"
Through the branches, I can't be heard,
"Told you so!"
I've hollowed out a nest,
"You can visit but don't stay!"
My view is veined with leaves,
"Watch out for that hole!"
The sky leaks, when it rains,
"Winter is coming!"
The trees are old and hoary,
"Seen it all before!"
They tilt and shed,
"Ouch!"
I hide behind my wall of thorns,
and feather my nest.
And give my best advice.
behind my wall of thorns,
I give my sage and pine advice,
through branches I can't be heard.
I've hollowed out my nest,
my view is veined with leaves,
The trees are old and hoary,
they tilt and they shed.
The sky leaks when it rains,
Winter is coming.
Snow falls around me, and
melts on my head.
Speaking from the brambles,
behind my wall of thorns,
I give my sage (and pine) advice,
knowing I can't be heard.
OR: Would this be better? Or just different?
Speaking from the brambles,
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"
Behind my wall of thorns,
"Whoops!"
I give my sage (and pine) advice,
"That's gotta hurt!"
Through the branches, I can't be heard,
"Told you so!"
I've hollowed out a nest,
"You can visit but don't stay!"
My view is veined with leaves,
"Watch out for that hole!"
The sky leaks, when it rains,
"Winter is coming!"
The trees are old and hoary,
"Seen it all before!"
They tilt and shed,
"Ouch!"
I hide behind my wall of thorns,
and feather my nest.
And give my best advice.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Why do you write a book? Because it's there.
My original springboard to writing was the thought: "Write a story." Simply that. I'm back to using that as my mantra.
I spend a lot of time just thinking about, mulling over my book.
It doesn't seem like I'm accomplishing much, but that's part of the process. Hard to distinguish sometimes whether I'm just being lazy or I'm letting my subconscious work on it.
I want to be disciplined, but I don't want to force it. There is a fine line there.
As I've said before, the writing process is at least as important as the creativity in actually accomplishing a book. Maybe more so. I can let my imagination run wild, but if I can't get it down on paper effectively, so what?
This may sound conceited, but I don't have doubt in my technical ability to 'write.' I also feel I have the creative chops. But the working process? That's more than half the battle to me. Doing the work.
Writing has has given some purpose to my non-working (businessman) life. That is, I've always tended to sit around and ponder things anyway, as part of my personality, so at least this sitting around and pondering is serving a purpose...
After my first three books were published, I could justify no end of sitting around and pondering.
Sitting in an easy chair, in a dark living room, quiet, a notebook on my lap. It brings back some nostalgic memories.
What subverted my writing career before was my own habits. They weren't effective. I would both over write and under write and not in the correct proportions. Especially my first book, STAR AXE. The final draft probably needed more, but it got published.
My second and third books (SNOWCASTLES and ICETOWERS)) came relatively easy, and were accepted right away, but probably needed a bit more work. Still, they are the model for what I'm trying to write now. Push through a first draft, then go back and flesh it out.
My fourth and fifth books were undercooked (under mulled, if you will) and my sixth book (DEVILTREE) was over cooked, refried, burned and salted and frozen and reheated and.....well, it actually turned out pretty good, but not to me.
I'd have to say my seventh book was on overreaction to that and thus, undercooked.
After that, I was so leery about the whole process that I think I created a writer's block. Which more or less lasted 25 years.
Now I'm back to: "Tell a story."
This is the first time I've been able to put together all the working lessons from those experiences and effectively follow through (so far.)
My idea has been to:
Write a first draft, at a pace that keeps the creative and the discipline in line with each other. Then, plan out the second draft and write it. Then, make final corrections (not so much rewriting the whole book again.)
I think this is going to be a much more satisfying experience than I expected. Just finishing the first draft is making me feel like a writer again. I needed to prove to myself that I'm not all talk. The blog has helped. Being at the store and talking to people about creativity has helped. Seeing the possibilities of online and/e-books and have some people encouraging me in that direction has helped.
But the biggest difference is pretty mundane. I have the time, finally. I'm guessing my average time off at the store over the last 25 years has been about 1 day a week. Sometimes it was 2 days, often it was no days off. The few times I had more time off I was so involved with expansions and employees that I really didn't have time off at all.
I've noticed before that I can't even think about writing creatively unless I have 3 days in a row, and that's barely enough. Four days is better, five days and it can be done.
But you still have to commit.
To use a huge cliche, I think it's a lot like climbing a mountain. You take those first few steps and look up and think, "Oh, My God. What have I started?" You get halfway up, and you're just slogging. But you get to the top, and you've accomplished it.
That is -- almost -- enough. Add in some liking of the book by the wife and some friends and the writer's group, and that helps too.
But you can't count on a book doing much more than that.
Why do you write a book? Because it's there.
I spend a lot of time just thinking about, mulling over my book.
It doesn't seem like I'm accomplishing much, but that's part of the process. Hard to distinguish sometimes whether I'm just being lazy or I'm letting my subconscious work on it.
I want to be disciplined, but I don't want to force it. There is a fine line there.
As I've said before, the writing process is at least as important as the creativity in actually accomplishing a book. Maybe more so. I can let my imagination run wild, but if I can't get it down on paper effectively, so what?
This may sound conceited, but I don't have doubt in my technical ability to 'write.' I also feel I have the creative chops. But the working process? That's more than half the battle to me. Doing the work.
Writing has has given some purpose to my non-working (businessman) life. That is, I've always tended to sit around and ponder things anyway, as part of my personality, so at least this sitting around and pondering is serving a purpose...
After my first three books were published, I could justify no end of sitting around and pondering.
Sitting in an easy chair, in a dark living room, quiet, a notebook on my lap. It brings back some nostalgic memories.
What subverted my writing career before was my own habits. They weren't effective. I would both over write and under write and not in the correct proportions. Especially my first book, STAR AXE. The final draft probably needed more, but it got published.
My second and third books (SNOWCASTLES and ICETOWERS)) came relatively easy, and were accepted right away, but probably needed a bit more work. Still, they are the model for what I'm trying to write now. Push through a first draft, then go back and flesh it out.
My fourth and fifth books were undercooked (under mulled, if you will) and my sixth book (DEVILTREE) was over cooked, refried, burned and salted and frozen and reheated and.....well, it actually turned out pretty good, but not to me.
I'd have to say my seventh book was on overreaction to that and thus, undercooked.
After that, I was so leery about the whole process that I think I created a writer's block. Which more or less lasted 25 years.
Now I'm back to: "Tell a story."
This is the first time I've been able to put together all the working lessons from those experiences and effectively follow through (so far.)
My idea has been to:
Write a first draft, at a pace that keeps the creative and the discipline in line with each other. Then, plan out the second draft and write it. Then, make final corrections (not so much rewriting the whole book again.)
I think this is going to be a much more satisfying experience than I expected. Just finishing the first draft is making me feel like a writer again. I needed to prove to myself that I'm not all talk. The blog has helped. Being at the store and talking to people about creativity has helped. Seeing the possibilities of online and/e-books and have some people encouraging me in that direction has helped.
But the biggest difference is pretty mundane. I have the time, finally. I'm guessing my average time off at the store over the last 25 years has been about 1 day a week. Sometimes it was 2 days, often it was no days off. The few times I had more time off I was so involved with expansions and employees that I really didn't have time off at all.
I've noticed before that I can't even think about writing creatively unless I have 3 days in a row, and that's barely enough. Four days is better, five days and it can be done.
But you still have to commit.
To use a huge cliche, I think it's a lot like climbing a mountain. You take those first few steps and look up and think, "Oh, My God. What have I started?" You get halfway up, and you're just slogging. But you get to the top, and you've accomplished it.
That is -- almost -- enough. Add in some liking of the book by the wife and some friends and the writer's group, and that helps too.
But you can't count on a book doing much more than that.
Why do you write a book? Because it's there.
Downtown Comings and Goings. 10/14/11.
I started to write this up a couple of days ago, since the Downtowners were trumpeting the low vacancy rate.
Anyway, I realized that I couldn't visualize where these places were, exactly, so Linda and I went looking for them.
Gypsy Soul ("women’s fashion and gypsy home furnishings") is on Wall St., next to Pizza Mondo, where the t-shirt shop used to be. Lotus Moon ("sustainable gifts, clothes and jewelry") is on Brooks St., where Wabi Sabi used to be.
The Lobby is where the Bond Street Market was before it moved. A wifi cafe. Above it, I guess, is going to be an "all-ages" dance club, Andre's Dance Club.
Ruby, a "chic lounge and bar" on Minnesota St.
Colour N' the City, has opened in Tin Pan Alley. "Furniture and decor."
It seems firm that Jackalope Grill is coming to Putnam Pointe.
Meanwhile, Bourbon St. is closed, though it may be reopened under a new name and theme.
Overall, a pretty impressive showing...
NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN
Jackalope Grill, 10/12/11.
Gypsy Soul, Wall St. 10/12/11.
Colour N' the City, Tin Pan Alley, 10/12/11.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St., 10/12/11.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Ruby, Minnesota Ave., 10, 12/11.
Andres Dance Club, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails
(List begun, Fall, 2008.)
BUSINESSES LEAVING
Bourbon St., Minnesota Ave. 10/12/11.
Curiosity Shop, Minnesota Ave., 7/11
Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro
(List begun, Fall 2008.)
Anyway, I realized that I couldn't visualize where these places were, exactly, so Linda and I went looking for them.
Gypsy Soul ("women’s fashion and gypsy home furnishings") is on Wall St., next to Pizza Mondo, where the t-shirt shop used to be. Lotus Moon ("sustainable gifts, clothes and jewelry") is on Brooks St., where Wabi Sabi used to be.
The Lobby is where the Bond Street Market was before it moved. A wifi cafe. Above it, I guess, is going to be an "all-ages" dance club, Andre's Dance Club.
Ruby, a "chic lounge and bar" on Minnesota St.
Colour N' the City, has opened in Tin Pan Alley. "Furniture and decor."
It seems firm that Jackalope Grill is coming to Putnam Pointe.
Meanwhile, Bourbon St. is closed, though it may be reopened under a new name and theme.
Overall, a pretty impressive showing...
NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN
Jackalope Grill, 10/12/11.
Gypsy Soul, Wall St. 10/12/11.
Colour N' the City, Tin Pan Alley, 10/12/11.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St., 10/12/11.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Ruby, Minnesota Ave., 10, 12/11.
Andres Dance Club, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails
(List begun, Fall, 2008.)
BUSINESSES LEAVING
Bourbon St., Minnesota Ave. 10/12/11.
Curiosity Shop, Minnesota Ave., 7/11
Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro
(List begun, Fall 2008.)
Friday, October 14, 2011
"Mixed blessing...."
There is a bit of a movement afoot downtown to perhaps amend the street closures.
You all know I've been advocating this for years.
But when they closed the streets for a bike race on First Friday in September, they finally went too far. It upset some art galleries and restaurants.
Thing is, this was going to happen sooner or later. It had to. If downtown kept hosting more and more and longer and longer events, it was bound to infringe eventually on enough businesses that someone was going to break out of the pack and complain. It happened a few years back, when me and a couple of other complained to the city councilors of the time, which is why the rules that are now in place were instituted. But like all inconvenient rules, it seems to me they've been stretched and 'exceptioned' to death.
Chuck Arnold was kind enough to include me in an e-mail stream about the subject. But until today's article in the Bulletin, "Closed Roads a Mixed Blessing in Bend," I was thinking this was privileged information and not for me to talk about. But the cat seems to be out of the bag.
I think it's interesting that an experienced restaurateur, such as Gavin McMichael, owner of the Blacksmith for many years, immediately decided that street closures on peak weekends didn't make sense and hurt business.
I've heard rumblings of the same sort from other restaurant owners over the years.
It's hard to get a business owner to say anything negative in public. At best you'll get a neutral answer. Nobody want to send out anything but positive messages.
So you have to kind of gauge peoples reactions on an cryptic scale. Mild approval is probably really neutral. Mild disapproval means they really don't like it, but don't want to say.
When the reporter called yesterday, I tried to take a mild tone -- pointing out that limiting the events only helped make the remaining events more special; that spacing them out a bit better would be more effective; looking for slower weekends or different locations downtown instead of closing streets (and parking) would be a good thing, and asking the event planners to be more mindful of the needs of downtown merchants.
I was actually kind of surprised to learn that 3 street closures were allowed in each of the summer months. That's at least one too many; and as I say in the article, I think one event per month would maximize the remaining event, and allow us to do business during our normally busy times.
In fact, I think it's backward. We need the events to occur in April and May and September and October -- when the weather is still decent and it might do us some good.
I think in mid-July is almost causes gridlock. Like all good things, too much can be a bad thing.
I'm not sanguine about the prospects of much changing. There is just too much of a lobby in support of these events: City and downtown officials, event planners, media (advertisers), vendors, and of course -- you the public who just want to right to PARTY!!!
But at least this little flurry of activity has served warning that these events are, as the headline put it, a "mixed blessing." Chuck seems to think it's some kind of communication problem -- that we aren't being warned enough or something. But I always know when the events are coming, so I think that's a red herring. It's the events themselves that can be the problem.
Without this constant reminder, they'll just keep adding events until the next time they go too far....
You all know I've been advocating this for years.
But when they closed the streets for a bike race on First Friday in September, they finally went too far. It upset some art galleries and restaurants.
Thing is, this was going to happen sooner or later. It had to. If downtown kept hosting more and more and longer and longer events, it was bound to infringe eventually on enough businesses that someone was going to break out of the pack and complain. It happened a few years back, when me and a couple of other complained to the city councilors of the time, which is why the rules that are now in place were instituted. But like all inconvenient rules, it seems to me they've been stretched and 'exceptioned' to death.
Chuck Arnold was kind enough to include me in an e-mail stream about the subject. But until today's article in the Bulletin, "Closed Roads a Mixed Blessing in Bend," I was thinking this was privileged information and not for me to talk about. But the cat seems to be out of the bag.
I think it's interesting that an experienced restaurateur, such as Gavin McMichael, owner of the Blacksmith for many years, immediately decided that street closures on peak weekends didn't make sense and hurt business.
I've heard rumblings of the same sort from other restaurant owners over the years.
It's hard to get a business owner to say anything negative in public. At best you'll get a neutral answer. Nobody want to send out anything but positive messages.
So you have to kind of gauge peoples reactions on an cryptic scale. Mild approval is probably really neutral. Mild disapproval means they really don't like it, but don't want to say.
When the reporter called yesterday, I tried to take a mild tone -- pointing out that limiting the events only helped make the remaining events more special; that spacing them out a bit better would be more effective; looking for slower weekends or different locations downtown instead of closing streets (and parking) would be a good thing, and asking the event planners to be more mindful of the needs of downtown merchants.
I was actually kind of surprised to learn that 3 street closures were allowed in each of the summer months. That's at least one too many; and as I say in the article, I think one event per month would maximize the remaining event, and allow us to do business during our normally busy times.
In fact, I think it's backward. We need the events to occur in April and May and September and October -- when the weather is still decent and it might do us some good.
I think in mid-July is almost causes gridlock. Like all good things, too much can be a bad thing.
I'm not sanguine about the prospects of much changing. There is just too much of a lobby in support of these events: City and downtown officials, event planners, media (advertisers), vendors, and of course -- you the public who just want to right to PARTY!!!
But at least this little flurry of activity has served warning that these events are, as the headline put it, a "mixed blessing." Chuck seems to think it's some kind of communication problem -- that we aren't being warned enough or something. But I always know when the events are coming, so I think that's a red herring. It's the events themselves that can be the problem.
Without this constant reminder, they'll just keep adding events until the next time they go too far....
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Making Room For Books, Part 2.
I mentioned two weeks ago rearranging my bookshelves to make room for three large orders.
Two of those orders came in over the last few days, so that by yesterday morning I had 12 larges boxes of books waiting to be shelved.
Almost 500 books.
Maybe that doesn't sound like that much. But it's nearly 5000.00 worth of retail. If I stacked them, it would be like, like, 55 feet tall. O.K.? (1.3 inches per book.)
If they fell on me they'd crush me to death.
Get my point? Lots of books.
As you know, my predilection is to get inventory. And then more inventory. Fill every nook and cranny and then some. Can't sell it if I don't have it.
For instance, yesterday, I filled a hole in my classics and got a bunch of the Shakespeare plays. A bunch of Bernard Cornwell historicals. That kind of thing.
What I'm finding by working less days, is that I'm pretty much working every minute once I get the store. In fact, I was here for an extra two hours last night. I had gotten so good at pacing myself that I almost felt like I wasn't working. But these jammed packed days show that I was working, I just was stretching the labor out.
Back to the books.
Many of these books were bought at a volume discount, so I wanted to figure out the retail price as I went along and that took extra time. But I felt like I needed to justify to myself the expense; that I wasn't being foolish buying them this way.
I may not have been foolish, but I need to not do again for a long while.
Most of these books are what I would term "mid-list" books; necessary for a good bookstore, but not fast movers. Buying these at a discount makes sense, and I can only buy them at extra discount if I buy in volume. This gives me more time to sell less books and make about the same amount of money as I do for my primary books that I pay full price for.
The irony is -- by dealing with 500 books yesterday, I probably only sold 1 book all day. Because -- as I've learned -- I have to make sure that each book reader is welcomed and oriented in the store, or they walk out. When I'm up to my eyebrows in stacks of books I can't really do that....
But...well, it's the slow time of year and the best time to restock.
Two of those orders came in over the last few days, so that by yesterday morning I had 12 larges boxes of books waiting to be shelved.
Almost 500 books.
Maybe that doesn't sound like that much. But it's nearly 5000.00 worth of retail. If I stacked them, it would be like, like, 55 feet tall. O.K.? (1.3 inches per book.)
If they fell on me they'd crush me to death.
Get my point? Lots of books.
As you know, my predilection is to get inventory. And then more inventory. Fill every nook and cranny and then some. Can't sell it if I don't have it.
For instance, yesterday, I filled a hole in my classics and got a bunch of the Shakespeare plays. A bunch of Bernard Cornwell historicals. That kind of thing.
What I'm finding by working less days, is that I'm pretty much working every minute once I get the store. In fact, I was here for an extra two hours last night. I had gotten so good at pacing myself that I almost felt like I wasn't working. But these jammed packed days show that I was working, I just was stretching the labor out.
Back to the books.
Many of these books were bought at a volume discount, so I wanted to figure out the retail price as I went along and that took extra time. But I felt like I needed to justify to myself the expense; that I wasn't being foolish buying them this way.
I may not have been foolish, but I need to not do again for a long while.
Most of these books are what I would term "mid-list" books; necessary for a good bookstore, but not fast movers. Buying these at a discount makes sense, and I can only buy them at extra discount if I buy in volume. This gives me more time to sell less books and make about the same amount of money as I do for my primary books that I pay full price for.
The irony is -- by dealing with 500 books yesterday, I probably only sold 1 book all day. Because -- as I've learned -- I have to make sure that each book reader is welcomed and oriented in the store, or they walk out. When I'm up to my eyebrows in stacks of books I can't really do that....
But...well, it's the slow time of year and the best time to restock.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Truth or a positive impression?
I'm going to try to nod and smile whenever a customer tells me how great I must be doing because of all the superhero movies.
This is a case where my constant urge to tell the truth just doesn't do me any good.
No, superhero movies don't help, I said to a customer yesterday.
Yeah, but I bet the new Avengers movie will really bring people in! he said cheerfully.
Uh, yeah. Right.
I mean, let it go. How can it hurt?
This is a case where my constant urge to tell the truth just doesn't do me any good.
No, superhero movies don't help, I said to a customer yesterday.
Yeah, but I bet the new Avengers movie will really bring people in! he said cheerfully.
Uh, yeah. Right.
I mean, let it go. How can it hurt?
Wednesday's Whats?
We really hit our seasonal slowdown this week. It happens every year, eventually.
The better than average business was nice while it lasted.
**********
Read an important chapter of my book last night at writer's group, which was picked to shreds. I agreed with the criticism, mostly. There just isn't much I can do about it --- yet.
As I near the end of the first draft, it becomes more and more clear that I've got some major reworking to do. I'm going to need to shuffle the plot around. For instance, my second chapter really needs to come later, and the chapter I read last night, (the 13th chapter) really needs to come a lot earlier.
So just move them around, right?
But then every other part of the story also has to be changed. Arrgghh.
It's the price I pay for writing my story blind. But I've found that writing a story as a way of discovering the story is the only way I can write.
One of the writers was shocked that I didn't know the end of the book until the 13th chapter.
What usually happens with me, is I just get a glimpse of an idea and start writing. About 50 pages in, I usually get a glimmer of a rough outline for the rest of the books. And then about 2/3rds of the way in, the total plot comes into focus.
But like I said, the price I pay is finding out crucial plot points halfway or more through the book....
**********
They keep talking about Halloween being a big retail holiday. Not for me. Don't see any bump at all.
**********
This Falls T.V. shows:
I've completely lost interest in Ringer. Not much good material for Sarah Michelle Geller to work with there.
Terra Nova looks like mediocre Star Trek. Which is enough for me to keep watching.
Boardwalk Empire keeps floundering -- promising lots of action and delivering lots of talk.
Dexter -- love the character of Dexter's sister. Scenes come alive when she's on.
Alphas -- some reviewer (Salon or Slate) pointed out the above (Deb of Dexter being a firecracker) and also pointed out the kid who is autistic in this show being the best character, to which I totally agree.
C.S.I. Las Vegas: Starting to become a habit show, which isn't good. Still enough to keep me on board, but not excited by it.
Looking forward to Walking Dead, though the showrunner from last year is gone, which can't be good.
Mentalist: Another habit show.
Homeland: I like it, but I can tell they are going to stretch it out and out and out.......
The Good Wife. Still probably the best network show out there.
At least we've gotten in the delay habit. DVR'ing shows and watching them all later. Figure it saves me several hours a week.
**********
Interesting about Chase opening two new branches in Central Oregon. I'll be closing my account there by the end of the month. I had a vestigial account that didn't cost me anything from the days when I got a business loan from Western Bank, which was pre-Washington Mutual, which was pre-Chase.
U.S. Bank offered me a line-of-credit as backup to my checking years ago, so it's been my preferred bank.
If I could start fresh, I'd go to a local bank or even a credit union, but I don't like making changes all the time.
**********
I think the Digital Trolls keep missing the point.
One of the online digital sites asked: what percentage of the cover price of a comic they'd be willing to pay for a digital version?
About 60% would be willing to pay up to 60% of the price.
Only about 10% were willing to buy 80% to 100% of the price.
But that still begs the question of whether it makes any sense to even PRODUCE a comic at those numbers.
I'm sure 100% of these digital trolls would buy your comic for FREE.
I've designed my store to let the bargain hunters go elsewhere with a shrug of my shoulders.
Once upon a time I chased them, and always to my regret.
I wish the publishers would grow a spine. They're running scared. They are going to chase customers at the cost of profits, and they'll get no thanks for it. They won't satisfy the digital trolls until it's free, I tell you.
Let them go. Make the profits while you can. Then, when the field clears, do what you have to do. Following the digital trolls downward is only going to lose you money in the short run and eventually you'll be so weak you won't be able to implement whatever solution emerges.
I'm not saying we won't have to change. I'm saying, keep trying to make money until you know what shape that change is going to take. Constantly tacking to the wind only makes you weaker.
Making the big bet, the way Barnes and Noble has done, is just a huge gamble. And most gambles fail. (Borders failed because they made a whole bunch of mistakes -- not having a e-reader being the least of them, in my opinion.)
I think publishers are acting like a bunch of ninnies, running scared from a bunch of digital trolls who really don't have the purchasing power they think they have. Most of them haven't supported their local shops or bought anything retail forever.
The better than average business was nice while it lasted.
**********
Read an important chapter of my book last night at writer's group, which was picked to shreds. I agreed with the criticism, mostly. There just isn't much I can do about it --- yet.
As I near the end of the first draft, it becomes more and more clear that I've got some major reworking to do. I'm going to need to shuffle the plot around. For instance, my second chapter really needs to come later, and the chapter I read last night, (the 13th chapter) really needs to come a lot earlier.
So just move them around, right?
But then every other part of the story also has to be changed. Arrgghh.
It's the price I pay for writing my story blind. But I've found that writing a story as a way of discovering the story is the only way I can write.
One of the writers was shocked that I didn't know the end of the book until the 13th chapter.
What usually happens with me, is I just get a glimpse of an idea and start writing. About 50 pages in, I usually get a glimmer of a rough outline for the rest of the books. And then about 2/3rds of the way in, the total plot comes into focus.
But like I said, the price I pay is finding out crucial plot points halfway or more through the book....
**********
They keep talking about Halloween being a big retail holiday. Not for me. Don't see any bump at all.
**********
This Falls T.V. shows:
I've completely lost interest in Ringer. Not much good material for Sarah Michelle Geller to work with there.
Terra Nova looks like mediocre Star Trek. Which is enough for me to keep watching.
Boardwalk Empire keeps floundering -- promising lots of action and delivering lots of talk.
Dexter -- love the character of Dexter's sister. Scenes come alive when she's on.
Alphas -- some reviewer (Salon or Slate) pointed out the above (Deb of Dexter being a firecracker) and also pointed out the kid who is autistic in this show being the best character, to which I totally agree.
C.S.I. Las Vegas: Starting to become a habit show, which isn't good. Still enough to keep me on board, but not excited by it.
Looking forward to Walking Dead, though the showrunner from last year is gone, which can't be good.
Mentalist: Another habit show.
Homeland: I like it, but I can tell they are going to stretch it out and out and out.......
The Good Wife. Still probably the best network show out there.
At least we've gotten in the delay habit. DVR'ing shows and watching them all later. Figure it saves me several hours a week.
**********
Interesting about Chase opening two new branches in Central Oregon. I'll be closing my account there by the end of the month. I had a vestigial account that didn't cost me anything from the days when I got a business loan from Western Bank, which was pre-Washington Mutual, which was pre-Chase.
U.S. Bank offered me a line-of-credit as backup to my checking years ago, so it's been my preferred bank.
If I could start fresh, I'd go to a local bank or even a credit union, but I don't like making changes all the time.
**********
I think the Digital Trolls keep missing the point.
One of the online digital sites asked: what percentage of the cover price of a comic they'd be willing to pay for a digital version?
About 60% would be willing to pay up to 60% of the price.
Only about 10% were willing to buy 80% to 100% of the price.
But that still begs the question of whether it makes any sense to even PRODUCE a comic at those numbers.
I'm sure 100% of these digital trolls would buy your comic for FREE.
I've designed my store to let the bargain hunters go elsewhere with a shrug of my shoulders.
Once upon a time I chased them, and always to my regret.
I wish the publishers would grow a spine. They're running scared. They are going to chase customers at the cost of profits, and they'll get no thanks for it. They won't satisfy the digital trolls until it's free, I tell you.
Let them go. Make the profits while you can. Then, when the field clears, do what you have to do. Following the digital trolls downward is only going to lose you money in the short run and eventually you'll be so weak you won't be able to implement whatever solution emerges.
I'm not saying we won't have to change. I'm saying, keep trying to make money until you know what shape that change is going to take. Constantly tacking to the wind only makes you weaker.
Making the big bet, the way Barnes and Noble has done, is just a huge gamble. And most gambles fail. (Borders failed because they made a whole bunch of mistakes -- not having a e-reader being the least of them, in my opinion.)
I think publishers are acting like a bunch of ninnies, running scared from a bunch of digital trolls who really don't have the purchasing power they think they have. Most of them haven't supported their local shops or bought anything retail forever.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The Write Stuff.
"The Write Stuff." What a great title for a 'How To' book!
Didn't get any book writing done yesterday. Was waylaid by bookkeeping sorts of things; taxes, life insurance, cash register stuff, retirement accounts.
Still, I went to bed feeling like a writer.
It's that "feeling" I need to maintain, and writing is the way to maintain it, but also by keeping to my commitment, and knowing that somehow, somewhere in the back of my brain, I'm still working on my story.
I'm pushing forward on the first draft, but in re-reading snippets of it, I'm realizing that I still have plenty of filling in to do.
I tend to write my story willy nilly, mostly plot and action. First this happens, then this, and then this.
Later, I'll need for the characters to step back and explain/show WHY they did such and such, or WHAT was the background, and more HOW it was done, and WHEN such a thing happened and try to add telling details, make it feel more real with more verisimilitude, and add a bit of business to make the character more alive, and colors, sights, sounds, and decide on a tone and mood and so on and so forth.
All of which is a can of worms. Any change can change everything else.
But that's more or less the gist of it: The Characters must step back and explain/show what they are doing. Without slowing down the story.
I'm going to do a little research on plotting. For instance, in watching police procedurals on T.V. I'm noticing that there is a lot of these sorts of nuts and bolts: "Let's go." "Stay here." "First we'll do (this) and then we'll do (that.)" Often used as the beginnings or punctuations to scenes.
I tend to rush the plot when writing a first draft.
I've heard tell of writers who put in TOO much in the first draft; in fact, that seems to be the usual problem. They need to cut, and pare down, and simplify and so on.
Not that I won't have to cut. I have to be ruthless and remove anything that doesn't add to the story, no matter how much I like it.
I have a scene late in the book that is set in a "destination resort" and I go on about Central Oregon's resorts and their history and zoning and all that. All of which my writer's group didn't like. "Sounds like preaching," they said.
Heh. Obviously, they don't read my blog.
LATER: Well, there it is. I knew my subconscious was working on it. As I was taking a shower, I suddenly thought of a satisfying ending, which neatly wraps up the story arc but isn't completely predictable. Cool.
Now all I have to do is write those last five chapters (estimated.)
Wow. A real book.
Didn't get any book writing done yesterday. Was waylaid by bookkeeping sorts of things; taxes, life insurance, cash register stuff, retirement accounts.
Still, I went to bed feeling like a writer.
It's that "feeling" I need to maintain, and writing is the way to maintain it, but also by keeping to my commitment, and knowing that somehow, somewhere in the back of my brain, I'm still working on my story.
I'm pushing forward on the first draft, but in re-reading snippets of it, I'm realizing that I still have plenty of filling in to do.
I tend to write my story willy nilly, mostly plot and action. First this happens, then this, and then this.
Later, I'll need for the characters to step back and explain/show WHY they did such and such, or WHAT was the background, and more HOW it was done, and WHEN such a thing happened and try to add telling details, make it feel more real with more verisimilitude, and add a bit of business to make the character more alive, and colors, sights, sounds, and decide on a tone and mood and so on and so forth.
All of which is a can of worms. Any change can change everything else.
But that's more or less the gist of it: The Characters must step back and explain/show what they are doing. Without slowing down the story.
I'm going to do a little research on plotting. For instance, in watching police procedurals on T.V. I'm noticing that there is a lot of these sorts of nuts and bolts: "Let's go." "Stay here." "First we'll do (this) and then we'll do (that.)" Often used as the beginnings or punctuations to scenes.
I tend to rush the plot when writing a first draft.
I've heard tell of writers who put in TOO much in the first draft; in fact, that seems to be the usual problem. They need to cut, and pare down, and simplify and so on.
Not that I won't have to cut. I have to be ruthless and remove anything that doesn't add to the story, no matter how much I like it.
I have a scene late in the book that is set in a "destination resort" and I go on about Central Oregon's resorts and their history and zoning and all that. All of which my writer's group didn't like. "Sounds like preaching," they said.
Heh. Obviously, they don't read my blog.
LATER: Well, there it is. I knew my subconscious was working on it. As I was taking a shower, I suddenly thought of a satisfying ending, which neatly wraps up the story arc but isn't completely predictable. Cool.
Now all I have to do is write those last five chapters (estimated.)
Wow. A real book.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Spandex City.
Netflix streaming has problems beyond branding and price.
I find it lacking in info. They show me the movie box, and a short summary of the plot, and a less than useful rating system. (*** or below, really are like * star.)
But what I really want to know is: Who are the actors, the director and the date of the movie.
It also seems like every time I actually search for a specific movie, it isn't available.
After all these years of hearing how great Netflix is, it was quite a letdown.
**********
I kind of like this gloominess. I don't know why. If I was in Eugene or Salem or Portland, I might not like it because it never ends. Or maybe it's just the change.
It makes me want to nest. Read. Write. Watch movies....
**********
As much as it isn't my thing, I have to admit that Bend has an impressive amount of Spandex and Nylon.
Bikers and runners.
**********
Going to try to write another chapter today.
The more I write, the more I see how much I need to write.
I put on the blinders to do this; writing through the doubt. Just gonna do it.
**********
Nice.
So we were better off in the Depression?
I know that's not what the front page article in the Bulletin today really says -- but, as far as the future is concerned -- it appears we may well have been better off in the Great Depression.
Incomes drop after the Great Recession? Well, that seems obvious to me, as well. The so called recovery only seems to be helping the well off.
Occupy Wall Street!
***********
Combine that with the article on how educational software seems to be less effective than planned.
Forgive my old-fogginess, but I'm not surprised.
Read, my dear students. Read. Read everything you can as often as you can.
Good books take time and they have depth and they are complex and they are also fun and engrossing. Keep reading until you find the book that has the above characteristics.
That's how you learn.
I find it lacking in info. They show me the movie box, and a short summary of the plot, and a less than useful rating system. (*** or below, really are like * star.)
But what I really want to know is: Who are the actors, the director and the date of the movie.
It also seems like every time I actually search for a specific movie, it isn't available.
After all these years of hearing how great Netflix is, it was quite a letdown.
**********
I kind of like this gloominess. I don't know why. If I was in Eugene or Salem or Portland, I might not like it because it never ends. Or maybe it's just the change.
It makes me want to nest. Read. Write. Watch movies....
**********
As much as it isn't my thing, I have to admit that Bend has an impressive amount of Spandex and Nylon.
Bikers and runners.
**********
Going to try to write another chapter today.
The more I write, the more I see how much I need to write.
I put on the blinders to do this; writing through the doubt. Just gonna do it.
**********
Nice.
So we were better off in the Depression?
I know that's not what the front page article in the Bulletin today really says -- but, as far as the future is concerned -- it appears we may well have been better off in the Great Depression.
Incomes drop after the Great Recession? Well, that seems obvious to me, as well. The so called recovery only seems to be helping the well off.
Occupy Wall Street!
***********
Combine that with the article on how educational software seems to be less effective than planned.
Forgive my old-fogginess, but I'm not surprised.
Read, my dear students. Read. Read everything you can as often as you can.
Good books take time and they have depth and they are complex and they are also fun and engrossing. Keep reading until you find the book that has the above characteristics.
That's how you learn.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Sunday suds.
I had hoped for a more special movie than Real Steel for my first IMax experience.
Oh well.
**********
Checking the map out in the paper about Occupy Wall Street.
What I noticed, and have noticed a lot lately, is that Bend is on the map. Growing up here, Bend was never on the map.
**********
Linda went to see Jane Goodall in Redmond. She said there was a giant woman with a giant head with giant hair in front of her, and a skinny guy to her left who kept pressing his leg against her, and she finally got up and stood on the sidelines.
She went with a friend, and was 15 minutes early, but it was so crowded they had to split up.
She wanted to ask if Jane had seen "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" but once there, felt that was probably a little frivolous.
***********
It appears that the Bulletin has decided to go after Bend City Administrator Eric King. This is the second major story that implies things....
I wonder why?
**********
Wrote another chapter to my book last night. I lollygagged until 5:00 P.M. before I finally sat down and wrote something. Then it sort of took off.
Need time and inspiration. Usually I have one and not the other or the other and not the one.
**********
Lava caves play a big role in my story -- and I had one of the members of my writer's group ask what a "lava tube" is. (I guess I'll have to explain? Damn Californians -- heh.)
Linda said the story is fun, because of the local terrain and the recognizable characters. It's the first book I've written in the modern "real" world, though not the first time I've tried.
I have two other stories I started a couple of years ago before hitting a roadblock about 6 chapters in. The same kind of roadblock I had with this current book which I overcame by going on a "writing trip."
So I think the thing to do when I'm done with this book, is move on to one of the other books.
Then again, that might be the same mistake I made 30 years ago with my published books. I wrote different stories in different worlds, and maybe what I should have done is stayed in one world with one set of characters.
That's much, much more marketable.
I'll have to think that over.
Listen to me; advice to myself, finish the book before you start dreamin'.
**********
Oh well.
**********
Checking the map out in the paper about Occupy Wall Street.
What I noticed, and have noticed a lot lately, is that Bend is on the map. Growing up here, Bend was never on the map.
**********
Linda went to see Jane Goodall in Redmond. She said there was a giant woman with a giant head with giant hair in front of her, and a skinny guy to her left who kept pressing his leg against her, and she finally got up and stood on the sidelines.
She went with a friend, and was 15 minutes early, but it was so crowded they had to split up.
She wanted to ask if Jane had seen "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" but once there, felt that was probably a little frivolous.
***********
It appears that the Bulletin has decided to go after Bend City Administrator Eric King. This is the second major story that implies things....
I wonder why?
**********
Wrote another chapter to my book last night. I lollygagged until 5:00 P.M. before I finally sat down and wrote something. Then it sort of took off.
Need time and inspiration. Usually I have one and not the other or the other and not the one.
**********
Lava caves play a big role in my story -- and I had one of the members of my writer's group ask what a "lava tube" is. (I guess I'll have to explain? Damn Californians -- heh.)
Linda said the story is fun, because of the local terrain and the recognizable characters. It's the first book I've written in the modern "real" world, though not the first time I've tried.
I have two other stories I started a couple of years ago before hitting a roadblock about 6 chapters in. The same kind of roadblock I had with this current book which I overcame by going on a "writing trip."
So I think the thing to do when I'm done with this book, is move on to one of the other books.
Then again, that might be the same mistake I made 30 years ago with my published books. I wrote different stories in different worlds, and maybe what I should have done is stayed in one world with one set of characters.
That's much, much more marketable.
I'll have to think that over.
Listen to me; advice to myself, finish the book before you start dreamin'.
**********
Saturday, October 8, 2011
New DC 52
Read the other 26 #1 New DC's.
There has been some controversy about the sexual content of Catwoman, and of Star Fire in Red Hood, but the thing you notice is how much of that slightly naughty tone pervades the entire line of comics. Obviously, some of the titles have none of that, but others have quite a bit.
Doesn't bother me, nor does it bother most comic readers. (As I often try to point out: Thank goodness there is none of that slightly naughty tone to books, games, T.V. or movies....! Eh?)
I didn't gain any new young readers, here at the store. (What's strange is that I didn't even notice, because I've given up looking for that -- just like I've given up looking for bumps from superhero movies -- it's been years now that such an effect should have and could have happened and it has totally sunk in that it won't. Unless there is some sort of unusual tipping point event, and those you simply can't predict.)
It's mostly returning readers, and existing readers trying new things. And some adventurous adults.
As I mentioned before, it's like a cross between old line DC superheroes, and the more mature and interesting Vertigo line. Vertigo are some of my favorite comics, so it's right up my alley. Which may be a bad thing, I don't know. I tend to like titles no one else likes....
For instance, in this latest batch, I think I enjoyed All-Star Western best, which was a kind of cyberpunk/western combination.
Most of the rest had intriguing starts, which were mostly easy to follow. Some seemed very very slight -- like Supergirl, and some more dense like Superman.
It is a good trick to introduce teams like Teen Titans and Legion of Superheroes and Blackhawks and not confuse me or lose me. (I think I stand here as a representative of new readers.)
I haven't been a Green Lantern reader over the last several years as they have become more important -- but I sort of meant to take them on sometime. This new start was the perfect time to start, and I'm impressed by how fleshed out the G.L. universe is.
Turns out, I like a writer named Kyle Higgins and liked Nightwing, just as I liked Deathstroke earlier. (Turns out, nobody else much like Deathstroke...)
The writer Paul Jenkins shows a pretty strong story sense; I was a little confused by Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman. It showed part of the iconic reach of Wonder Woman in the middle of a very confusing storyline.
I see why people like Geoff John's writing -- he did a very good job on Aquaman, though I thought the meta aspects a little off-putting. (Referring to Saturday Night Live skits about what a lame hero he was -- cute but distancing.)
I've been most disappointed with Scott Snyder's writing -- I love his American Vampire series, but I have felt his writing for Batman and Justice League Dark were muddled and unfocused.
Finally, I like the straight out genre naughtiness of I, Vampire (war between humans and vampires) and Voodoo (sexy alien.)
I also like the straight-on Noir and mystery aspects of titles like Deadman and Birds of Prey.
You can see how they are trying to take some stand-alone superhero types, like Firestorm and Captain Atom, and radically rethinking them. Which I'm not sure is going to help or hurt them. They will have to find readers, just like they always have.
It's hard to mess up Batman, and all the Batman titles have been competent. But Batman could have been a home run -- he's by far the strongest character in the DC universe, in my opinion -- and they didn't really manage to write a completely outstanding story. Good, but not great. Too bad.
The whole effort has been very well done, and I think they were probably wise not to try to hire superstar writers -- who might have written that great Batman story I wanted -- but who are terribly unreliable.
Same with Superman, basically.
My advice to DC would be to keep them coming out on a timely basis, not be in a hurry to cancel any titles too soon. (I think that would be breaking an implicit understanding between publisher and new readers. We oldtime comic readers understand that titles come and go -- but new readers need that sense of continuity to be reassured enough to continue.)
This week, we got the first cycle of the second issues, which I'm going to let pile up for the first two weeks before reading. I ordered tons of the second issues, and reprints of the first issues, so I should have a copy of everything by the end of the month for anyone who wants to give them a try.
Like the first half of the New 52, I intend to read all the second issues, after which I'll probably do some winnowing down.
There has been some controversy about the sexual content of Catwoman, and of Star Fire in Red Hood, but the thing you notice is how much of that slightly naughty tone pervades the entire line of comics. Obviously, some of the titles have none of that, but others have quite a bit.
Doesn't bother me, nor does it bother most comic readers. (As I often try to point out: Thank goodness there is none of that slightly naughty tone to books, games, T.V. or movies....! Eh?)
I didn't gain any new young readers, here at the store. (What's strange is that I didn't even notice, because I've given up looking for that -- just like I've given up looking for bumps from superhero movies -- it's been years now that such an effect should have and could have happened and it has totally sunk in that it won't. Unless there is some sort of unusual tipping point event, and those you simply can't predict.)
It's mostly returning readers, and existing readers trying new things. And some adventurous adults.
As I mentioned before, it's like a cross between old line DC superheroes, and the more mature and interesting Vertigo line. Vertigo are some of my favorite comics, so it's right up my alley. Which may be a bad thing, I don't know. I tend to like titles no one else likes....
For instance, in this latest batch, I think I enjoyed All-Star Western best, which was a kind of cyberpunk/western combination.
Most of the rest had intriguing starts, which were mostly easy to follow. Some seemed very very slight -- like Supergirl, and some more dense like Superman.
It is a good trick to introduce teams like Teen Titans and Legion of Superheroes and Blackhawks and not confuse me or lose me. (I think I stand here as a representative of new readers.)
I haven't been a Green Lantern reader over the last several years as they have become more important -- but I sort of meant to take them on sometime. This new start was the perfect time to start, and I'm impressed by how fleshed out the G.L. universe is.
Turns out, I like a writer named Kyle Higgins and liked Nightwing, just as I liked Deathstroke earlier. (Turns out, nobody else much like Deathstroke...)
The writer Paul Jenkins shows a pretty strong story sense; I was a little confused by Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman. It showed part of the iconic reach of Wonder Woman in the middle of a very confusing storyline.
I see why people like Geoff John's writing -- he did a very good job on Aquaman, though I thought the meta aspects a little off-putting. (Referring to Saturday Night Live skits about what a lame hero he was -- cute but distancing.)
I've been most disappointed with Scott Snyder's writing -- I love his American Vampire series, but I have felt his writing for Batman and Justice League Dark were muddled and unfocused.
Finally, I like the straight out genre naughtiness of I, Vampire (war between humans and vampires) and Voodoo (sexy alien.)
I also like the straight-on Noir and mystery aspects of titles like Deadman and Birds of Prey.
You can see how they are trying to take some stand-alone superhero types, like Firestorm and Captain Atom, and radically rethinking them. Which I'm not sure is going to help or hurt them. They will have to find readers, just like they always have.
It's hard to mess up Batman, and all the Batman titles have been competent. But Batman could have been a home run -- he's by far the strongest character in the DC universe, in my opinion -- and they didn't really manage to write a completely outstanding story. Good, but not great. Too bad.
The whole effort has been very well done, and I think they were probably wise not to try to hire superstar writers -- who might have written that great Batman story I wanted -- but who are terribly unreliable.
Same with Superman, basically.
My advice to DC would be to keep them coming out on a timely basis, not be in a hurry to cancel any titles too soon. (I think that would be breaking an implicit understanding between publisher and new readers. We oldtime comic readers understand that titles come and go -- but new readers need that sense of continuity to be reassured enough to continue.)
This week, we got the first cycle of the second issues, which I'm going to let pile up for the first two weeks before reading. I ordered tons of the second issues, and reprints of the first issues, so I should have a copy of everything by the end of the month for anyone who wants to give them a try.
Like the first half of the New 52, I intend to read all the second issues, after which I'll probably do some winnowing down.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Dinosaur death dance.
Independent bookstores are like the little mammals who scurry among the rocks trying to survive, while the giant dinosaurs are fighting to the death above them.
This seems more true now, than ever.
A few days ago I wrote about Kindle Fire getting exclusive e-rights to the top 100 DC Graphic Novel: titles like, Watchmen, Sandman, and Fables. You know, the evergreen books I sell on a constant basis.
I thought this might be the biggest problem e-readers would face; the Balkanization of the backlist (and frontlist, I suppose). If most all available books aren't available on most all formats, it is going to prove pretty frustrating to most readers.
Well, Barnes and Nobles reaction to the Kindle/DC deal was the pull out all 100 of the graphic novels from their brick and mortar stores.
Let the Exclusives begin!
I've always maintained that -- all other things being equal -- I thought I could compete with the big chain stores on price. That is, I didn't think price alone could wreck my chances.
What really hurts me on new material is the inequality of distribution. Getting stuff later than other stores, or not being able to get it at all. Exclusives, to me, are destructive to the marketplace. I wonder if they even prove advantageous to the big stores, when all that happens is that each store stakes out an equal number of exclusives, thus canceling out the advantages.
This is why I've concentrated on classic and cult favorites; I can neatly sidestep all the game-playing and discounts that go on with new bestsellers -- especially hardcover bestsellers.
Even there, I can sell a book if it fits my format well. I've sold the new Neal Stephenson book, Reamde, in hardcover, and I've sold a bunch of copies of Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin, and the second Patrick Rothfuss book, The Wise Man's Fear.
So, little mammal that I am, I keep on scrambling. I figure there's a chance the big boys will do so much damage to each other, I'll inherit the earth. Meanwhile, the massive asteroid -- e-books -- is about the slam into the earth and wipe out the dinosaurs. Heh.
By the way. Those 100 top DC graphic novels that Barnes and Noble no longer carries?
I've got most all of them in stock.
This seems more true now, than ever.
A few days ago I wrote about Kindle Fire getting exclusive e-rights to the top 100 DC Graphic Novel: titles like, Watchmen, Sandman, and Fables. You know, the evergreen books I sell on a constant basis.
I thought this might be the biggest problem e-readers would face; the Balkanization of the backlist (and frontlist, I suppose). If most all available books aren't available on most all formats, it is going to prove pretty frustrating to most readers.
Well, Barnes and Nobles reaction to the Kindle/DC deal was the pull out all 100 of the graphic novels from their brick and mortar stores.
Let the Exclusives begin!
I've always maintained that -- all other things being equal -- I thought I could compete with the big chain stores on price. That is, I didn't think price alone could wreck my chances.
What really hurts me on new material is the inequality of distribution. Getting stuff later than other stores, or not being able to get it at all. Exclusives, to me, are destructive to the marketplace. I wonder if they even prove advantageous to the big stores, when all that happens is that each store stakes out an equal number of exclusives, thus canceling out the advantages.
This is why I've concentrated on classic and cult favorites; I can neatly sidestep all the game-playing and discounts that go on with new bestsellers -- especially hardcover bestsellers.
Even there, I can sell a book if it fits my format well. I've sold the new Neal Stephenson book, Reamde, in hardcover, and I've sold a bunch of copies of Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin, and the second Patrick Rothfuss book, The Wise Man's Fear.
So, little mammal that I am, I keep on scrambling. I figure there's a chance the big boys will do so much damage to each other, I'll inherit the earth. Meanwhile, the massive asteroid -- e-books -- is about the slam into the earth and wipe out the dinosaurs. Heh.
By the way. Those 100 top DC graphic novels that Barnes and Noble no longer carries?
I've got most all of them in stock.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Thursday thuds.
The founder of Pixar has died. Some guy named Steve Jobs.
***********
My understanding is that Bourbon Street was harmed by the street closures. Here's the thing about the "future" benefit of events -- if you're trying to establish yourself as a new restaurant and you lose summer business, you may not make it to the "future." The "future" is now.
**********
Sarah Palin is not running for president. Which means she's crazy -- like a fox.
Now can we ignore her?
Nah, she'll say something outrageously stupid and ignorant every few months and keep the circus going.
On the other hand, by showing the good judgment of not running for President, Chris Christie has shown his worthiness....heh.
**********
I almost expected the stock market to crash today because of Steve Jobs. It doesn't take much to send the market spiraling downward. Squirrel!
I was late to the Apple cult. I now have a laptop and an iphone. The biggest change that has resulted from the iphone is that I became obsessed with Pandora and new music. (For which I really didn't need an iphone, but that's how it happened.)
Meanwhile, I keep meaning to find out what my phone number is. How do I do that?
**********
I tried a new tack with Pandora and just put in one starter group: Neutral Milk Hotel. Even then, it seems to devolve into sensitive singer-songwriters. What's the deal with that?
Pandora not like upbeat music?
**********
I wasn't as concerned about Hank Williams, Jr. idiotic comments as I was about his appearance while saying them. He was laying back like he couldn't hold himself up, slurring his words, and making no sense and otherwise looking like a big turd.
The guy needs help.
**********
People are leaving flowers at Apple stores! How long before someone starts a religion, on the Holy Jobs, a high-tech religion? The Gospel of Jobs?
"That's been one of my mantras -- focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."
Business Week interview, May, 1998.
There are tons of quotes like that. His Stanford address alone is pretty wise.
A hundred years from now, all us cyborgs who are still around will be plugging in once a day to chant, "Insanely Great!!!"
***********
My understanding is that Bourbon Street was harmed by the street closures. Here's the thing about the "future" benefit of events -- if you're trying to establish yourself as a new restaurant and you lose summer business, you may not make it to the "future." The "future" is now.
**********
Sarah Palin is not running for president. Which means she's crazy -- like a fox.
Now can we ignore her?
Nah, she'll say something outrageously stupid and ignorant every few months and keep the circus going.
On the other hand, by showing the good judgment of not running for President, Chris Christie has shown his worthiness....heh.
**********
I almost expected the stock market to crash today because of Steve Jobs. It doesn't take much to send the market spiraling downward. Squirrel!
I was late to the Apple cult. I now have a laptop and an iphone. The biggest change that has resulted from the iphone is that I became obsessed with Pandora and new music. (For which I really didn't need an iphone, but that's how it happened.)
Meanwhile, I keep meaning to find out what my phone number is. How do I do that?
**********
I tried a new tack with Pandora and just put in one starter group: Neutral Milk Hotel. Even then, it seems to devolve into sensitive singer-songwriters. What's the deal with that?
Pandora not like upbeat music?
**********
I wasn't as concerned about Hank Williams, Jr. idiotic comments as I was about his appearance while saying them. He was laying back like he couldn't hold himself up, slurring his words, and making no sense and otherwise looking like a big turd.
The guy needs help.
**********
People are leaving flowers at Apple stores! How long before someone starts a religion, on the Holy Jobs, a high-tech religion? The Gospel of Jobs?
"That's been one of my mantras -- focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."
Business Week interview, May, 1998.
There are tons of quotes like that. His Stanford address alone is pretty wise.
A hundred years from now, all us cyborgs who are still around will be plugging in once a day to chant, "Insanely Great!!!"
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
I want to write about....
I was torn this morning about what to write about.
I wanted to write about the Digital Trolls, as I call them. Nitwit nihilists who seem to want to destroy all that's standing for some rarefied gleaming digital future.
I'm perfectly willing the argue the future of books versus e-books, but why the hate?
I wanted to write about the Occupy Wall Street movement, and how I'm only surprised that it took this long and I hope it keeps going and I don't really care if there are announced objectives -- the simple fact that they are protesting and they are on Wall Street is enough for me.
I wanted to write about a couple of local businesses both large (Jeld-wen) and small ( a restaurant who I won't name) are possible examples of overreach. Jeld-wen has unloaded it's resorts, and stopped sponsoring golf tournaments (to me the very heights of narcissism) and have essentially been taken over by another company.
I wanted to write about the the New DC 52 and how crazy I've been reordering them and how I'm very unlikely to actually make much money from the sales but I will have a good solid section of comics worth reading and that's worth something.
I wanted to write about how I've taken the increase in business in September as a green light to order everything in sight and how the last two days have been really slow which makes me nervous but at least I'll have plenty of material to sell and yes, it was slow the two days after a downtown event and no, I don't know why.
I wanted to write about how stupid I must be because I can't figure out why you would spend 229,813 on solar panels for the Bend Garage that would save 3000 a year and thus pay for themselves in --- oh, 77 years.
Then again, being offered 400,000 in grant money to do it, why wouldn't you?
But instead, I'm not going to write about any of them...
I wanted to write about the Digital Trolls, as I call them. Nitwit nihilists who seem to want to destroy all that's standing for some rarefied gleaming digital future.
I'm perfectly willing the argue the future of books versus e-books, but why the hate?
I wanted to write about the Occupy Wall Street movement, and how I'm only surprised that it took this long and I hope it keeps going and I don't really care if there are announced objectives -- the simple fact that they are protesting and they are on Wall Street is enough for me.
I wanted to write about a couple of local businesses both large (Jeld-wen) and small ( a restaurant who I won't name) are possible examples of overreach. Jeld-wen has unloaded it's resorts, and stopped sponsoring golf tournaments (to me the very heights of narcissism) and have essentially been taken over by another company.
I wanted to write about the the New DC 52 and how crazy I've been reordering them and how I'm very unlikely to actually make much money from the sales but I will have a good solid section of comics worth reading and that's worth something.
I wanted to write about how I've taken the increase in business in September as a green light to order everything in sight and how the last two days have been really slow which makes me nervous but at least I'll have plenty of material to sell and yes, it was slow the two days after a downtown event and no, I don't know why.
I wanted to write about how stupid I must be because I can't figure out why you would spend 229,813 on solar panels for the Bend Garage that would save 3000 a year and thus pay for themselves in --- oh, 77 years.
Then again, being offered 400,000 in grant money to do it, why wouldn't you?
But instead, I'm not going to write about any of them...
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