Review: The Film Book

The Film Book

Have I mentioned my summer project yet? I like having summer projects; I don’t do well with free, unstructured time (even weekends make me feel weird when I can’t stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live). Last summer, it was making my Eowyn costume, and this summer, it’s my cinematic education. I was raised in what amounted to a cultural vacuum, hence my irrational love for the eighties, since it was the first cohesive clump of pop culture that reached me. This means that I have never seen The Wizard of Oz (a state I think I’m going to preserve, simply because I can), so I’ve decided to take it upon myself to catch up on film. It’s only a century, right?

Review: Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia

Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia by John Clute

This might seem like an odd choice, even for someone who’ll read absolutely anything like me—an outdated coffee table encyclopedia of science fiction? While I do like science fiction, my childhood allegiance lies with fantasy instead. But there’s always a history to be discovered with used books, and this copy offered up a fantastic example with its handwritten declaration exclaiming, “To Lexi/ From Pop Pop/ Happy hunting”. Who is the no-doubt adorable sci-fi fan Lexi? Why is her Pop Pop so awesome as to get her a Hugo winning book? What on earth does “Happy hunting” mean? You can see how I got transfixed in the thrift store and just had to take it home to peruse.