DON REESE @ WILEY'S - FREE TIX @ BONNETT'S

It came from Iowa! Frighteningly funny.
The monstrous comedy of DON REESE
"Friendly Ghoulishness..." - Cleveland Plain Dealer

July 31 - Aug 3, 2008

Limited number of
FREE TICKETS available for a limited time
at BONNETT'S BOOK STORE (Thu - Sat, Noon-8pm)
937-228-1222
and other area locations.

... otherwise, prices are as follows ...
Thursday - 8:30pm - $5
Friday - 9:00pm - $10
Saturday - 8:00pm and 10:30pm - $12
Sunday - 8:30pm - $5

WILEY'S COMEDY NITECLUB
Dayton's First and Ohio's Oldest Comedy Club
In the Oregon District, near Downtown Dayton
see Wiley's web site or call
937-224-JOKE for more info.

wileyscomedyclub.com
donreese.com
jibjab.com/view/110735
bonnetts.com
bonnettsbookstore.blogspot.com
myspace.com/bonnetts_books
Bonnett's facebook in progress

PulpCon 37, July 31 - August 3, 2008

The Dayton Convention Center will once again host PulpCon from 7/31 - 8/3 of 2008.

Pulp magazines primarily span the decades from the 1920's through the 1940's and include classic tales from renowned writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, and many more, including our favorite, Hal Murray Bonnett.

Well known heroic characters like, The Shadow and The Spider were the precursors of Batman and The Spirit. Today's Hellboy and The X-Files owe their existence to the horror tales of Lovecraft and others, as well as the realms of science fiction. The movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still" has just been remade starring Keanu Reeves (I'll take the classic 1950's version any time) but it was originally a story called "Farewell to the Master" in a 1940's science fiction pulp.

"LOST" owes it's existence to some science fiction and fantasy titles but also to pulps like "Adventure"... and speaking of adventure, Indiana Jones, George Lucas says, was inspired by the old movie serials, but those serials were inspired by pulp stories and comics.

And last, but not least, is "Doc Savage", aka "The Man of Bronze", the hero's hero! Just yesterday at the San Diego Comic Con, a man connected with all the Batman movies since the Tim Burton days through today's "Dark Knight" announced on G4TV that a Doc Savage movie has been greenlighted for production. They'd better not screw this up. For those who don't know Doc Savage, I've always thought that our nearest modern day comparison is probably John MacLain (sp?) from the "Die Hard" movies. Doc is rough and tumble like our Die Hard hero, but Doc's adventures have a much more grandiose and fantastical element to them, and Doc has a team, but the do-or-die attitude is the same.

Anyway, everyone should check out PulpCon, if only to understand where today's heroes come from, but you'll also see a lot of great art and stories by great authors you already know who began their careers writing pulp stories. It's just... cool! Check it out! :-)

FROM: Darrin R. Ballman Photography: Huge wedding blog and the "Thunderstorm Street Session"!

===[Begin Snippet]===

"So we went on our merry way down the street...I had to hit the good ol' Bonnett's Books and their cool little doorway...."

===[End Snippet]===

I must say I'm very impressed with Darrin's photography and I hope he won't mind me sharing his talent with you by re-posting the above photo here along with links to his blog and Web site.

Also, thanks to Misty and Jeremy for hiring and inspiring their photographer. Best wishes to you both.

See: DarrinBallman.com for more information on his photographic services.

AbeBooks: Found in Books

There is far more to be found in books than the words printed on the page and the ideas formed by those words. ;-)

AbeBooks: Found in Books: "Found in Books"

BOOKSAGA: Adventures in the Book Trade: Unusual Book Find

Beware: The following link contains an image of graphic nude Polaroids found inside hollowed out books.

I couldn't resist sharing this story.

BOOKSAGA: Adventures in the Book Trade: Unusual Book Find:
"Saturday, June 7, 2008 Unusual Book Find"

Dayton "Street View" added to Google Maps!

I noticed yesterday afternoon, completely by accident, that Google Maps had added it's 'Street View' feature for some of downtown Dayton. I considered making a post about it, but as I haven't been to Google Maps for downtown views lately (I already know my way around, fairly well...) I ass-u-me'd that it had been so for a while and that I simply hadn't noticed.

Lo and behold! This evening I found this thread on Dayton Most Metro.

http://www.dayton.mostmetro.com/forum/index.php?topic=464.0

I was happy to learn that I'm not so out of touch after all.

I spent a good hour clicking around downtown. The 'Street View' images are at least a year old, and some have suggested that some images are even older, and even traverse the space time continuum... read the thread at Dayton Most Metro (DMM). It's interesting and funny.

One DMM participant suggested that all of downtown be modeled using Google Sketch-Up. Downtown's central business district has already been somewhat modeled, though it doesn't seem to fit quite right. I'd love to see the Oregon district modeled. I'm not skilled at the 3-D modeling process, but I've done the bare-bones of our location, The Ware Block Building (502-510 E. 5th St.), to scale. I tried to plug it into Google Earth, as a placeholder until I could detail and texture map the thing, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to sit right where it's supposed to be. I'll play around more later.

Again, I recommend this thread at Dayton Most Metro:
http://www.dayton.mostmetro.com/forum/index.php?topic=464.0

Flexible Neighbors / Open House / FREE Yoga Lessons!

We're happy to announce the arrival of our newest neighbors in the Ware Block Building, Practice Yoga, at 504 East Fifth Street, between Derailed Hair Salon and Bonnett's Book Store.

Kim and Kathi were present during Urban Nights, handing out information about their studio when an acquaintance of mine walked up as we chatted, me with my camera, and requested a photo with them.

Practice Yoga's OPEN HOUSE hours are Noon to 6pm on Saturday, May 31st. FREE Yoga Lessons will be given at 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm. There will be door prizes as well. See their site for more information about their wide variety of regularly scheduled classes, at PracticeYogaDayton.com

While you're in the area, stop in at Bonnett's Book Store to look over our selection of Yoga books. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Best Urban Nights Yet!

Though Urban Nights officially ends at 10pm there's always plenty to do in the Oregon District on Friday nights... bands, dancing, people watching, etc. We stayed open until midnight this just to let people know we were here and take a look around.

Our new neighbors, "Practice Yoga on Fifth," at 504 E. 5th St., were greeting folks and enjoying the beautiful evening alongside Derailed Hair Salon's temporary display of art and gift cards.

Derailed also has been featuring a selection of art from some of the folks at Catalyst Creative Design Studio (aka C2 or C-squared). Very cool stuff.

Dolcessa made a re-appearance with their gelato cart, and I must say the gelato actually tasted better than I remembered it. The next time you're on Brown near UD & MVH, do yourself a favor and try some of their gelato. They're right across the street from the Burger King over there.

510 Gallery featured some great tunes to accompany the works on display from Loretta Puncer. I didn't get to stick around but there's always something enchanting about the flute that makes you want to stay.

My camera and I couldn't get around much because we had to stick near the shop, but here's a small sampling of what I've described above. Enjoy! :-)

It's "Urban Nights" Time Again!

Bonnett's Book Store will keep extra hours the evening of Friday, May 16, 2008 as part of downtown Dayton's "Urban Nights" event. The following links are recommended:

• URBAN NIGHTS Preview - DATV-Dayton Digital Digest-Dan Suffoletto
• URBAN NIGHTS Organizers - Downtown Dayton Partnership
• URBAN NIGHTS Official MySpace
• URBAN NIGHTS post on For The Love Of Dayton
• URBAN NIGHTS post on DaytonOS
• Also, be sure to visit: Dayton MostMetro.com

Don't forget about "A World A'Fair" at the Dayton Convention Center AND be sure to bring your camera and look for the "City Life '08" sculptures to enter the Downtown Dayton Partnership City Life '08 PhotoContest (.pdf)

Finally, this video, created to promote last year's Urban Nights, still tickles my funny bone:

City Life in Dayton

Life in the City of Dayton, Ohio -- The City of Neighbors, The All-American City, The Birthplace of Aviation -- takes many forms. Here are some of the things I noticed in just 15 minutes on Monday afternoon while on my way to work.

As I crossed into downtown on the Riverside bridge I noticed some of the new batch of City Life statues waiting at Riverscape for their downtown diaspora. I quickly parked and grabbed my camera to get the first shot.



J. Seward Johnson's "City Life" sculptures arrived in Dayton this afternoon for "City Life '08." The statues will be placed in various locations all over downtown. I've already spotted one in the Oregon District - a first for the O.D.!



Workers continue construction of the new CareSource building on the southeast corner of Main and Monument. It was just chance that I spotted them on the way back to my car. Then, it was off to work again.



I arrived at the store to find these hungry avians feasting on whatever falls out of the tree above the parking lot. I don't know what kind of birds these are, but I've never noticed the little red-headed variety before.

As I've been making this post, the children's books of Richard Scarry came into my mind. I love Dayton. :-)

The "City Life" statues were big fun for me last year. I look forward to tracking them down again this year.
Here's a mini-slideshow, or click to visit the gallery of my "City Life '07" photos.