Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A Variation on Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" by Duante Beddingfield

A friend of the shop shared this on Facebook a while back. I found the work delightful in it's humor and, thanks to the author's fine craftsmanship, the rhythm remains intact. There are many variations of "Jabberwocky" across the Internets, but few are as accessible and entertaining as this one. At the bottom is a link to one gentleman's collection of other "Jabberwocky" variations, but I hope this one puts the same smile upon you, dear reader, that it did for me.

Saladbarry [A Rhyme of the Salad Bar]
by Duante Beddingfield
Based on Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

'Twas lunchtime, and the forky prongs
did stab and stammer 'gainst the plate;
all bendy were the saladtongs,
and the Jello cubes ornate.

"Beware the Saladbar, my son!
The hams that cube, the beeves that roast!
Beware the Gravy skin and shun
the mouldy Raisintoast!"

He took the sticky spoon in hand:
In hunger threebean soup he prayed--
But leaned his hand on the Softserve stand,
And thought himself afraid.

And as he thought in hunger hard,
The Saladbar, with flamin' yawn
Came roaring through the sneezy guard,
With burblings of flan!

He faced it through! and on a chew
An artichoke snapped cricker-crack!
He ate its heart, and with a fart
He went a-slogging back.

"And hast thou braved the Saladbar?
Come hither thee, my wellfed chap!
O braise, o baste! Not want! Not waste!"
He thundered with a clap.

'Twas lunchtime, and the forky prongs
Did stab and stammer 'gainst the plate;
All bendy were the saladtongs,
And the Jello cubes ornate.


For more variations on the classic "Jabberwocky" look here:
http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/parodies/index.html

Monday, April 26, 2010

Two FREE movie passes!!!

See "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" for FREE at The NEON Movies!
We have 2 Passes for Two to give away. Each pass is valid for Monday through Thursday showings for the duration of this run of the film at The NEON. The passes are good beginning Monday 5/3/10.

Just stop in at Bonnett's (Noon - 8pm) Mon-Sat, and tell us where you found out about the tickets. Did you find out through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or FourSquare? First come, first served! Only 2 passes available. Hurry!

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" opens Friday, April 30 at The NEON Movies in Dayton, Ohio!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" at The NEON Movies begins 4/30/10

Steig Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is coming to The NEON Movies on April 30th.

In the next few days we'll be giving away two free passes, good for two admissions each, during any of the Monday through Thursday showings of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" at NEON through the film's run at that location. Stay tuned for more information on how to win free tickets to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"!



Here's how to stay up-to-date with Bonnett's Book Store:


Iceland volcano good for business

A pair of very nice gentlemen from the United Kingdom came to Dayton for an Anniversary Reunion of the Doolittle Raiders and the fly-in of more than a dozen Mitchell B-25 aircraft of the type used in the Doolittle Raid. I am ashamed to say I missed the event. I will likely never have another opportunity to witness such a display of these aircraft. I regret it more and more, the more I think about it, and I completely understand that aviation buffs from the U.K. would come here for the occasion.

Unfortunately, these two visitors from across the pond are unable to return home as scheduled because of the volcanic ash cloud that's been making a mess of things throughout Europe, and then some. On the bright side, the men are Aviation buffs. For that reason alone, they probably couldn't get stuck in a better town than the "Birthplace of Aviation".

Finding a lot of free time on their hands they began to explore Dayton and found their way into Bonnett's. Each found a nice aviation tome to take home when that time arrives. We wish them a pleasant stay and a safe journey home.

So, thank you, you unpronounceable Icelandic volcano. You provided us with two new customers, and helped us spread the good word of Bonnett's Books and Dayton, Ohio to the rest of the world.

From mental_floss "The Quick 10: The Scrumdidlyumptious Roald Dahl"

I love Roald Dahl's stories. Only a few days ago I was strongly recommending them to some parents for their own child. But something about Dahl's fantastic creatures and the connections to food made me giggle a bit at the idea of the linked article's publication on 4/20.

I've only ever read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator", and "James and the Giant Peach". The Charlie books were the first time I learned of sequels; and the Vermicious Knids, allegedly mentioned in all three of these books (and at least one other of Dahl's works) were the first fictional characters for which I felt dread. They altered my perception in many ways that I can barely recall and couldn't begin to explain, because I was too young to comprehend what had happened.

All are works of great imagination and fantasy, yet each maintained enough real-world touch-stones that I could easily relate to each one. They were as well, perhaps, something of a bridge to my youthful love of science fiction. I remember dwelling on the workings of the Elevator and the interactions of the 'alien' species working together in the Giant Peach, even when I was away from the books.

As much as I love those three books, oddly, I never went on to read other works by Dahl. Stranger still, as a book dealer, I have yet to cross paths with "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" and had never heard of it until it became the latest movie from Wes Anderson. "Matilda", "The Witches", and "The BFG" turn up often enough... why not Fox? I can't answer that, but, the only reason I posted this is because, as I said at the top, I love Roald Dahl's stories. Great for kids, young and old alike. I'm glad someone at mental_floss took the time to remind us of his wonderful tales, even if it came on a somewhat humorous date.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Comics into movies: "The Losers"

I remember "The Losers" as a WWII comic from DC. That is, it was an early `70's publication set in WWII. I was never a big fan of war comics, but when I heard about "The Losers" movie I wanted to dig a little deeper.

Wikipedia helped set my mental record straight. "The Losers" I remember were each from different branches of the military, assembled as a crack team of commandos to take on the worst jobs of WWII. Each team member had lost personnel under their command, so they dubbed themselves "The Losers". These stories were written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Russ Heath.

Later, DC transferred the title to their Vertigo line. Vertigo was created in the `90's to showcase edgier stories than normal DC fare, including adult situations and concepts. For Vertigo "The Losers" were modernized by making them each members of a more covert-ops/special forces sort of squad.

"The Losers" movie is based on the Vertigo version of the comics and, after viewing the trailer and reviewing the Wiki about the comics, it seems to borrow fairly heavily from the premise of "The A-Team", in that the main characters have somehow become outcasts from and/or enemies of the organizations to which they'd originally pledged their lives.

I suspect "The A-Team" will probably be the better movie, with the star-power to make their plans come together.

If you're a fan of these, you will probably also enjoy "The Expendables", and have probably already seen "Inglourious Basterds". In all, it looks like a great summer for good old action flicks.

For more action and adventure between these exciting films there are plenty of similar books at Bonnett's Books to help you pass the time. Stop by to check out our huge selection of action/adventure books, military fiction, military history, war stories, and pulp fiction, including "The Destroyer", "The Executioner", "Able Team", "Stony Man", "Doc Savage", miscellaneous war comics, and action movies on DVD.

Learn more about "The Losers" here:
The Losers (comics) on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losers_%28comics%29
The Losers on don Markstein's Toonopedia - http://www.toonopedia.com/losers.htm
The Losers (DC WWII version by Jack Kirby) - http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/graphic_novels/?gn=10915
The Losers (Vertigo/movie inspiration) - http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=13870
The Losers movie listing on IMDb - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255/
The Losers movie official site (movie trailer) - http://www.the-losers.com/