Catching up...

I didn't give up blogging for lent. We've had a lot to do which kept me away from the blog. Here are some touchstones from the last two weeks.

A) February 13th is the unofficial birthdate of Bonnett's Books. I don't know the exact date our store opened so I chose 2/13 to honor our Grandma Ruth, without whom we wouldn't be here today. February 13th was her birthday and this year she would have turned 100 years old. Thank you, Grandma.

B) We're still enjoying movie-awards season. So many of our books and comics have become movies that it's natural to be movie fans as well. You can find many past award winners and your personal favorites here, in print and/or on DVD!

C) We've been putting out a lot of reading-copy comics and cool inexpensive stuff from the '70s-'90s.

D) Some debate has arisen regarding the difference between retro pin-ups and vintage pin-ups.

The word "vintage" refers to items genuinely produced in their time. Think of the phrases "1920s vintage fashion" (Flapper clothes), "1950s vintage photography" (Bettie Page), "1960s vintage furniture" (Eames chairs) or "1976 vintage philatelics" (Bicentennial Stamps). The word "vintage" indicates that such things are actually products from that time or type which they represent.

The word "retro" means that something is produced in modern times which harkens back to a particular time or style which has had it's turn in cultural history. If something is described as "vintage style" or "vintage look" it's really a "retro" item. And, there's nothing at all wrong with retro.

There's some really awesome retro stuff around these days, but if you're looking for original items of any kind you need to know the difference. I hope these last few paragraphs have helped. Don't get me started on "reproductions".


E) And now, here's a list of other ways to keep up with Bonnett's Book Store:

1) This very blog! This is our online hub. We're active on other sites but this is where you'll find the meat on our social media bones. If you know us on other sites you may notice that activity sometimes points back here, to Penciled Margins ~ http://bonnettsbookstore.blogspot.com. Feel free to add us to your RSS feeds, link to us on your own blog, and recommend us to friends.

2) Twitter! - Real-time, live-action, up-to-date, late-breaking Bonnett's Book Store, downtown Dayton, and Oregon District info can be found by following @BonnettsBooks. If you're in the area during special events like First Fridays, Urban Nights, or the NCAA First Four you'll want to keep an eye on our Tweets. You may hear about events or get on-the-street useful info you won't find anywhere else.

3) Foursquare! - This one's for your smartphone. Here's our page, and here's our profile. Foursquare is an app that let's you "check in" when you go places. There are many reasons people might want to do this... One is for private life-tracking. Some folks like to keep tabs on and analyze every aspect of their lives, from calories and weight to time and travel costs. Foursquare can help with the time and travel part. But we like Foursquare because it can be used to send updates to friends and family about where you are and what you're doing. Going out for drinks? Shout out to your friends and they can join you! Find an awesome little shop like Bonnett's Book Store? Tell your friends where they can find their vintage birthday issue of Playboy! And here's the best part... Foursquare is built to let shops like ours offer special deals to you when you check in! We currently offer 20% off your purchase price when you check in and tell your friends on Twitter or Facebook. Also, Foursquare is something of a game as well... you can earn badges for things you do and become "Mayor" of your favorite places. Curious? This site can tell you more.

4) Flickr! - Flickr is a photo sharing site owned by Yahoo! We use it to share large collections of currently featured items. You can browse Flickr without signing up, but you can only upload if you join.

5) Pinterest! - Pinterest is fun. It's a place to collect and organize your interests, be they recipes, fashions, cool cars, vacation spots, whatever you want... and share them with your friends - or not, by using "Secret Boards". We use it to highlight some currently available items and to share some interesting things we find online. But be careful, you can easily kill a night just looking around.

6) Facebook - I don't think I need to tell you about Facebook. Here's our profile, and here's our page.

7) Google Plus - aka Google+ or G+ is a darn fine social site. Our profile is under my name, Kevin Bonnett, and our page is Bonnett's Book Store. I haven't found easy and effective ways to share to and from other social sites, except for this blog (Blogger and all blogspot.com sites are owned by Google). But G+ does one thing better than any other site... privacy! The first thing you do on G+ is organize your contacts into "Circles". A musician can make a "Circle" of bandmates only, for planning rehearsals and gigs. We can make Circles for different customer interests... like Comic Books, or even narrow it down to specific characters, like Spider-Man... this way, we can share with interested parties when something new comes up without bothering people who aren't interested in that particular topic. For example, Western fans wouldn't have to be bothered by Paranormal Romance information, and vice versa. If you join Google+, please look us up. It's a great place to be if you get totally fed up with Facebook.

If you use any of the above sites, apps, or services feel free to look us up and share with us!

Happy Valentine's Day!