I got my library card and proceeded to check out a bunch of neat stuff.
I got inspired to get my library card after Michael Klamerus over on The Virtual Moose asked as a birthday wish for people to get a library card. I checked out what it took for me to get mine, applied, and within a week I got my library card in the mail! I still had to activate it in person though, and that’s what I got to do yesterday.
I was fairly busy the middle of the day so I was only able to show up toward the end of the day. I got my card activated, then did a brisk walkaround scouting to see what books and stuff there was. I didn’t grab any books, but I did go through the CD and DVD sections. There I got two picks.
The audio CD I got was the first one I saw on the shelf, and it stood out to me: Sun Ra and his Arkestra - Thunder of the Gods. This was a 2017 release of some of Sun Ra’s unreleased live work. It’s some wild shit, there’s only three tracks but the first is a half-hour long live track. The other two are smaller unreleased recordings. I feel like calling it futuristic improv jazz is doing a disservice trying to categorize this, but it’s still great no matter the categorization. The second track Moonshots Across the Sky evokes imagery of stuff streaking by in the night sky.
The DVD I picked up was Moonfall. I haven’t watched it yet, but it was a very funny first DVD to lay my eyes on. I think I’ll only ever watch this if it’s through borrowing it.
I had roughly 15 minutes yesterday to pick out stuff, today I had plenty more time. One thing I was told about having a library card was that I could check out up to 100 items at a time. That seemed silly, I was never gonna’ get that many.
Upon further inspection, I can see how that can happen from how much there is to pick.
I found myself grabbing the DVD collection Batman: The Animated Series Volume Two which I think is the second half of the original Batman: The Animated Series run. There’s 28 episodes over 4 discs, and that all counts as one “item”. It’s a lot of very good animated Batman.
For audio CDs I picked up Tacocat - This Mess is a Place and ODESZA - A Moment Apart based on pure vibes from seeing their covers. Tacocat’s album is a bop, I popped that in the car radio after leaving the Library. That’s a fun advantage to checking out audio CDs, I can start listening to them right away. ODESZA’s album I only got 4 tracks into before my errands out and about were done, but what I heard I did like. Very space-y electronica.
Finally I picked up some comic collections from their massive graphic novel wall. The first one I saw was Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby, and it’s the first 18 issues of Mister Miracle. I never read any of his comics before and that seems like a great spot to start. I already peeked at the first couple pages and they’re setting someone’s house on fire. The second comic collection I picked up is Reefer Madness which is a collection of a bunch of anti-weed comics from the 30s through the 50s. It’s got old-comic-style dancing demons on the front next to SATAN’S CIGARETTE. It looks like it’s gonna’ be a funny read.
All this stuff is a reward to myself for doing 31 straight days of posts this month for Blaugust. I didn’t miss a single post! Ok, one was kinda’ bullshit but it’s still impressive. I also did some tabulating, I cleared a whopping 20,000 words written this month! It’s cleared a nice little writer’s block I had that made posting to the site uncomfortable and unfamiliar. Now fuck it, I’ll just post. Not for the next few days though, I’ll be chilling with some stuff from the local library.
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