We the People...

The remastered version of the original Star Trek series episode, "The Omega Glory," airs locally tonight on NBC around 1:00 am, following a rerun of Saturday Night Live.

In this (mostly ridiculous) episode "E Pleb Neesta" is a bastardization of "We the People" and the name by which the pictured character, Cloud William, and his people, the Yangs, refer to their inexplicably obtained copy of the Constitution of the United States of America (and US Flag, and...).

Again, I must stress that this is one of the worst episodes of Star Trek ever, but... William Shatner's stilted performance* (which has become iconic by the reckoning of today's comedians), for a few moments has an authenticity that will give you goose bumps of national pride.

Surely you're wondering why I'm writing about Star Trek on Independence Day. If you wash away all the bad elements of this teleplay there's still something of worth underneath. I am completely baffled as to how so much contrivance and confusion could have made it into one tale, past editors, and to the screen.** But again, there's the tiniest of gems hidden inside, completely appropriate to Independence Day in the United States of America.

As bad as this episode is, it is probably more timely now than it ever was. It features a people, the Yangs, who worship documents they don't understand at all. They do have a small sense of what these things mean, but the Yangs have lost the language skills to actually read and comprehend the words, making the original purpose of those words meaningless.

Please visit and comprehend the founding of our country by reading "The Constitution of the United States of America" and related information found here:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html

Have a SAFE and Happy Independence Day weekend! :-)

*This is the episode that best illustrates the over-dramatic and pause-y style so often attributed to William Shatner.
**A subject I may explore another time on my personal blog, BonK!

Fearsome First Friday

It was a big night for Horror, Thrillers, Hard-boiled fiction, and similar DVDs. But now, it's time to wrap up and head for home. We'll be open again tomorrow (July 4th, 2009) from Noon until 5pm... maybe later if there are enough people around.

Have a happy and SAFE Independence Day.

"Play" by BJSR (Another Bonnett's sighting!)

The YouTube title of this video is "Music Video Shot on iPhone". It looks great. I'm impressed with the tech.

Better still, it's well done. Good concept and editing to go along with a very nice tune. I like it! :-)

Beyond that, it's local! Scenes shot on Fifth Street include many of the fine shops in the Oregon District, including our favorite used book store, BONNETT'S.

But wait... there's more!

The word game Scrabble is featured throughout the video.

Did you know the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) will be holding their tournament and championship at the Dayton Convention Center. August 1 - 5
http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/

Kudos to BJSR for a job well done!

My only question is... could the iPhone actually make and receive calls from all the locations seen in the video? ;-)

Grantbridge Street & other misadventures: Jack Kirby Masterworks.

Kirby's unique style and extreme lines look like so much camp to the uninitiated, but this is exactly what super-hero comics were meant to be. There's little wonder he's now known as Jack "King" Kirby. Click below for more.

Grantbridge Street & other misadventures: Jack Kirby Masterworks.: "Selected pages from the Privateer Press celebration."

Smell of Books

Is today world hilarity day, or is this some ripple left over from April Fools Day? Whatever it is, there's some very funny stuff on the interwebs today. Not quite pants-wettingly funny, but almost.

One of the most frequent statements heard here at Bonnett's is, "I love the smell of book stores." Check this out and click through to the originating website. Make a point of clicking the AROMAS pull-down.

Smell of Books: "Does your Kindle leave you feeling like there’s something missing from your reading experience?

Have you been avoiding e-books because they just don’t smell right?"

New Terminator Movie Brings J.D. Salinger Out Of Hiding | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

The Onion, again, brings tears to my eyes... Tears of laughter, natch.

New Terminator Movie Brings J.D. Salinger Out Of Hiding | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "Salinger's decision to come out of seclusion has allowed scholars access to his massive archive of unpublished work for the first time. So far, critics have examined three never-before-seen novels, eight novellas, and more than two dozen short stories—all of which appear to be Terminator fan fiction."

The dead walk the streets of Dayton

As I promised earlier, here are a few photos of the zombie walk that took place on 5th Street. I don't know if anyone did a head count but there were certainly hundreds of the 'undead' shuffling, lurching, and staggering through the Oregon District late Friday night.
I'm not the biggest fan of horror films. I've seen my share of zombie flicks, including a showing of "Night of the Living Dead" for high school English credit in a Film Criticism class. My favorites are the lighter fare, "Return of the Living Dead", the "Evil Dead" films, and "Shaun of the Dead".

Sometime in 2008 Forbes magazine declared Dayton, Ohio to be among the nations fastest dying cities. I'm not sure if there was an underlying purpose to this parade of corpses, but if Forbes was correct there certainly couldn't have been a better place for it to happen. Dayton's history is rife with innovation and invention. No one here believes Dayton to be 'terminal', so, perhaps this corpse-capade is one way to express the down-but-not-out situation at this point in time. It's worth noting that event planners called for and included fighters of the undead, heroes of the living.
The zombies stopped traffic, tormented drivers, followed buses, drooled the blood of recent victims, dropped body parts, and even spat green zombie venom... whatever that is, leaving telltale signs of their passing all along the way. It was a fun sight to see but if such an event takes place again it would be worth a few minutes of the organizers time to ask participants to recall a bit of the decorum one hopes they had while among the living. The wedding guests of the "Corpse Bride" or the ghostly couple from "Beetle Juice" would make a fair example of the polite undead.

As I said before, this was fun to watch, and, as a haunted house veteran*, I'm even inclined to participate, but as an Oregon District businessman I must say, let's not 'bloody up' the ATMs, sidewalks, doors, windows, and walls. Out-of-town visitors (of which we have more than you might expect), who don't know what's up, might not know fake blood from the real thing when it's left to dry in public spaces overnight. That kind of image isn't at all helpful to a 'dying city'.

*Northmont Jaycees for a large part of the 1980s.