The Host too Close to Home

If you missed the theatrical release of the Korean monster movie The Host, don't worry. It's star maybe coming to a farm near you.

Moonbird and Cockabooty

At the Walker, they have these comfy suede-like booths where you can watch fine restored versions of these short films by the Hubleys:

Cockabooty


Moonbird (the quality of this YouTube clip is most unfortunate)


They also screened a couple of Michel Gondry shorts which were fine, but not especially surprising.

So Clean You could Eat off it, but don't

I've just returned from a 4-day visit to Minneapolis. Dang, is that a clean town. Residents of other towns, especially Philly, should be forced to visit it while I shout at them through a megaphone. "You see?! You see?! See how much better your town could be if you'd only stop your wanton litering?!"

Of course, some people might be creeped out by the gleaming streets of the Twin Cities. They might find it unsettlingly false. Parts of it do look a bit like the set of Teletubies, especially the park beneath the new Guthrie Theater. And what would Fat Albert and the Junkyard Gang have done in Minneapolis, Philthadelphians might ask? I know, how about playing with clean things? How about maybe even getting to play actual musical intruments in their schools (at least during the 1970s, I don't know about now).

Still, litter and all, it's good to be back in my present home with my new stuff which is hopefully still in my apartment.

the move?

Should I move here? It's pretty.

More Shea Butter than You can Shake a Stick at

This year, I finally made it to the Odunde festival. The best part was actually my approach to the event. As I walked eastward on the South Street bridge, a ran into many small gatherings of people, some dressed all in white. Some were throwing flowers into the Schuykill River. One woman was on her knees, her hands over the railing, clasped in prayer. It was the nicest I'd ever seen anyone treat that river. One group was throwing pieces of some kind of large nut or melon onto the lumpy tarmac walkway. I wasn't sure about the significance of this act, so I paused in front of them until someone indicated that it was cool for me to walk though it. Anyway, for some reason, these river rituals left me with a good feeling.

When I got to the festival, I was struck by the number of shea butter stands. Who knew there was so much of the stuff? And were did all these dreadlock people come from? Brooklyn, I think. Because Philly is a weave-wearing town.

The sign at one stand said beautiful hair is a lifestyle. That really stressed me out for a moment, but soon I was re-mellowed by the smell of fried fish and some funky stand that advertised food "for superior people." I ordered up a plate of curry tofu and collard greens and had a superior time.

Schwag Hag

This past weekend, I attended Book Expo America in NYC's ginormous Javits center. At BEA the book world gathers to hawk it's lofty wares. And that combination of culture and commerce makes for some pretty sweet tchotchies. While I didn't arrive at the event with an empty shopping cart (plenty of people did this), I did do my best to pick up as many choice freebies as I could when I wasn't staffing our booth and meeting with trade partners.

The best schwag was reserved for people who might actually order large quantities of books and related merchandize (book lights, furry pens, puppets, calendars, etc.), so I couldn't score the McGraw Hill tote bag of my dreams. However I did acquire these items:

A copy of the Quran and a piece of Turkish delight
scrumptious pomegranate lollipops
a CSPAN BookTV tote bag
the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook for Kids
A bison-shaped cookie cutter
A meat guide
A stress relief squeeze toy shaped like Abe Lincoln

Ain't literacy grand?