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Finest News Source: "Salinger's decision to come out of seclusion has allowed scholars access to his massive archive of unpublished work for the first time.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.

Wow! Another Bonnett's sighting, so soon...

When zombies attack it's good to have something to defend yourself with, a good heavy book will do, in a pinch.

ActiveDayton | Photo Galleries

I thought I'd be on my way home by the time the zombies arrived so I wasn't really ready for them. I've posted a couple of pictures on Facebook, but I'll dress them up a bit and parade them here for good measure... coming soon (probably late-late-later tonight).

Oops... I was fooled by poor web layout (retraction)

My previous post was NOT an image of the Bellagio. The website placed that image RIGHT NEXT TO the #1 Ceiling description. In my excitement and haste I mistakenly believed the image was the Bellagio when it's actually a department store in Paris, France. My apologies to our readers.

World’s top 10 greatest ceilings - Destinations- msnbc.com:
"Paris' elegant Galeries Lafayette department store, with its elaborate glass-domed ceiling feature, attracts as many tourists as shoppers."

World’s top 10 greatest ceilings - Destinations- msnbc.com

I don't get to travel much and I'm not a gambler. After years of half-jokingly suggesting that our own Dayton Arcade would make a great casino (if such things were to come to Ohio), imagine my shock at seeing this photo of the Bellagio interior.

World’s top 10 greatest ceilings - Destinations- msnbc.com

A Bonnett's Sighting

Lori Pritchard's "Heart & Light Photography" blog has recently featured some images from an Engagement photo session and our storefront is trying to remain unobtrusive in the background of this very nice photo. It's a nice coincidence that I should find such a photo the day after my own wedding anniversary.

Thank you to Lori (for not cropping too much). ;-)

And Congratulations to Laura & Erik. May all your years ahead be happy.

Dayton and Xenia Ohio Child Photographer Lori Pritchard» Blog Archive » E-Session with Erik and Laura:

Urban Nights Photos (May 15, 2009)

The latest of the Urban Nights featured another good time in the Oregon District. This short slideshow features some of the photos I was able to take. Naturally, I had to stick pretty close to the shop. These images feature the Nick Kizirnis Band and various views around the Ware Block. Check the list of links below the slideshow and be sure to look for their blogs and popular social networks. Links to our Picasa photo gallery, Facebook, and MySpace are located in the sidebar.



Downtown Dayton Partnership - URBAN NIGHTS

Loretta Puncer's GALLERY 510 on Fifth

DERAILED HAIR SALON on MySpace

PRACTICE YOGA on Fifth

DOLCESSA GELATO, PANINI, ESPRESSO on Facebook

NICK KIZIRNIS BAND / NICKY KAY

URBAN NIGHTS - Come on out, there's no rain in sight!

The weather's great, the time is right, come downtown for Urban Nights!

OK, it's a little cloudy out, but that would've ruined my rhyme, and it's not raining yet. I think it'll hold off.

Bonus! The Dolcessa Gelato cart has returned for the event. You have to try this stuff! It's outside the Ware Block Building near Bonnett's Books, Practice Yoga, Derailed Salon, and Gallery 510 Fine Art.

Art Galleries, Great Food, Live Performances, City Life Statues, Light Up Dayton Photo-contest Winners, and yes... there's even a Dayton Dragons game tonight! And of course, don't forget to stop in Bonnett's to see the latest arrivals!