In re: Ole' Miss . . . Admiral Ackbar was actually the winner of the student vote for their new mascot when they ditched the planter in klan robes a few years back ✌️
If, IF, you decide to go for one more movie screening, let me know. Please. I promise, I won't burst into flame upon entering the theater...
Very seriously, two tips on local used bookstores. The first is that the best days to check out Half Price Books for hard-to-find stuff, especially at the big flagship store, is to go there on Wednesday and Thursday nights. I go out to the flagship every month for the big Wednesday Silent Read event, and I find all sorts of wonders on Wednesday night that I'd never find on a weekend. Wednesday and Thursday, you have precious few customers in the store (one of the reasons the Silent Reads run on Wednesdays), the purchasing staff has had a chance to go through everything that came in on the weekend, and the rest of the staff has Tuesday and Wednesday nights and mornings to restock in preparation for the weekend crowds. Oh, and the Clearance sections get fully restocked then, so you have the chance for all sorts of wonders. Especially when it comes to paperbacks, you can't beat coming out on a Thursday evening and clearing out whole sections while you have the chance.
The other tip? I have various issues with the owner of Lucky Dog Books (dating back to the 1990s, when my first ex worked for the long-gone store on Skillman), but the store down the street from the Texas Theater, right around the corner from you, is one of the two places to look for science fiction and tie-in paperbacks you'll never find at Half Price. Part of the reason is that Lucky Dog buys books with a combination of credit and cash, and part is because the cash is always more than what you'd get from Half Price (and you don't have to deal with a purchaser pulling two-thirds of your haul off to the side for themselves while smirking "Oh, we can only give you $10 because all the stuff I didn't pull off for myself won't sell that well"), you get a lot of advance reading copies, hardcovers for books that were normally only available in paperback, and collections that weren't picked over at estate sales before being dragged to the store. If that store doesn't work for you, there's the Lucky Dog on Garland Avenue near Casa Linda that has an absolutely sick science fiction room (there's nothing quite like the collections of 1990s genre magazines they regularly get, especially when I come across magazines I wrote for but never received contributors' copies), and they're really good about just putting stuff up on the shelf and letting books find their audience. If you want to hit the Garland Avenue Lucky Dog, let me know: I live right over there, I haven't been over there in a while, and Sarah and I would love to hang out afterwards (lots of restaurants and coffee places at Casa Linda and all along Garland) and go through our ill-gotten fortunes.
Yeah I probably stop by the Lucky Dog on Jefferson once a month. It’s pretty hit or miss and way more misses than hits. There have been a couple times I’ve stopped by and someone had clearly just brought in a record collection but most of the time it I leave empty handed.
Then I’ll shut up. These days, because I have multiple used bookstores in and near Garland, I get over to the Oak Cliff store about every six months or so.
The selection isn’t as good down here. I used to hit up the big HPB maybe twice a month on Friday afternoons, but things have changed with work and I’m still figuring out when I can get away.
I have to get you out to some of the outlying HPB, Richardson and out. The Firewheel one by my house tends to have a good selection of fiction, the Stonebriar one is superior for music and graphic novels, and the best place in Dallas for used art books is the McKinney HPB, and I couldn’t tell you how or why they get their selections.
Everyone is pointing out that this film is a flop but it was a kid's film. Just a very expensive one. But the marketing is still going on and I don't think it's for us to keep on going and watching the film. It really didn't make the kids see it more than once. What I feel like is that it's true weight will be in merch and how many baby yoda things we, or the kids want.
Because of the movie's marketing, nearly a month later I got my best friend baby yoda socks thanks to the social media campaign. The Japanese Star Wars IG campaign is still heavily promoting it and merch is merch.
Star Wars metrics are going to be different from hereon. Everyone is talking about the return of Star Wars to what it was but I don't think that world exists anymore.
In re: Ole' Miss . . . Admiral Ackbar was actually the winner of the student vote for their new mascot when they ditched the planter in klan robes a few years back ✌️
I had completely forgot about that. I went and looked and Ole Miss really doesn’t have a mascot right now. Bring back the Admiral!
If, IF, you decide to go for one more movie screening, let me know. Please. I promise, I won't burst into flame upon entering the theater...
Very seriously, two tips on local used bookstores. The first is that the best days to check out Half Price Books for hard-to-find stuff, especially at the big flagship store, is to go there on Wednesday and Thursday nights. I go out to the flagship every month for the big Wednesday Silent Read event, and I find all sorts of wonders on Wednesday night that I'd never find on a weekend. Wednesday and Thursday, you have precious few customers in the store (one of the reasons the Silent Reads run on Wednesdays), the purchasing staff has had a chance to go through everything that came in on the weekend, and the rest of the staff has Tuesday and Wednesday nights and mornings to restock in preparation for the weekend crowds. Oh, and the Clearance sections get fully restocked then, so you have the chance for all sorts of wonders. Especially when it comes to paperbacks, you can't beat coming out on a Thursday evening and clearing out whole sections while you have the chance.
The other tip? I have various issues with the owner of Lucky Dog Books (dating back to the 1990s, when my first ex worked for the long-gone store on Skillman), but the store down the street from the Texas Theater, right around the corner from you, is one of the two places to look for science fiction and tie-in paperbacks you'll never find at Half Price. Part of the reason is that Lucky Dog buys books with a combination of credit and cash, and part is because the cash is always more than what you'd get from Half Price (and you don't have to deal with a purchaser pulling two-thirds of your haul off to the side for themselves while smirking "Oh, we can only give you $10 because all the stuff I didn't pull off for myself won't sell that well"), you get a lot of advance reading copies, hardcovers for books that were normally only available in paperback, and collections that weren't picked over at estate sales before being dragged to the store. If that store doesn't work for you, there's the Lucky Dog on Garland Avenue near Casa Linda that has an absolutely sick science fiction room (there's nothing quite like the collections of 1990s genre magazines they regularly get, especially when I come across magazines I wrote for but never received contributors' copies), and they're really good about just putting stuff up on the shelf and letting books find their audience. If you want to hit the Garland Avenue Lucky Dog, let me know: I live right over there, I haven't been over there in a while, and Sarah and I would love to hang out afterwards (lots of restaurants and coffee places at Casa Linda and all along Garland) and go through our ill-gotten fortunes.
Yeah I probably stop by the Lucky Dog on Jefferson once a month. It’s pretty hit or miss and way more misses than hits. There have been a couple times I’ve stopped by and someone had clearly just brought in a record collection but most of the time it I leave empty handed.
Then I’ll shut up. These days, because I have multiple used bookstores in and near Garland, I get over to the Oak Cliff store about every six months or so.
The selection isn’t as good down here. I used to hit up the big HPB maybe twice a month on Friday afternoons, but things have changed with work and I’m still figuring out when I can get away.
I have to get you out to some of the outlying HPB, Richardson and out. The Firewheel one by my house tends to have a good selection of fiction, the Stonebriar one is superior for music and graphic novels, and the best place in Dallas for used art books is the McKinney HPB, and I couldn’t tell you how or why they get their selections.
Great stuff, as always.
Thanks, Garry!
After watching Pedro get (spoilers) rekt in TLOU my mom would have set the cinema on fire
Yeah, you don’t mess with the Pedro Posse.
My two bits on Mando and Grogu:
Everyone is pointing out that this film is a flop but it was a kid's film. Just a very expensive one. But the marketing is still going on and I don't think it's for us to keep on going and watching the film. It really didn't make the kids see it more than once. What I feel like is that it's true weight will be in merch and how many baby yoda things we, or the kids want.
Because of the movie's marketing, nearly a month later I got my best friend baby yoda socks thanks to the social media campaign. The Japanese Star Wars IG campaign is still heavily promoting it and merch is merch.
Star Wars metrics are going to be different from hereon. Everyone is talking about the return of Star Wars to what it was but I don't think that world exists anymore.