I have been waiting for this exhibit since I heard it was coming; this is like my World Series of second-tier musuem exhibits.

America and the Tintype, on display through January 4, 2009, explores the venerated history of the tintype as a marker of blah blah blah political upheaval blah blah technology whatever. The copy on the website basically reads like that throughout, which is fine, because they know that just by looking at the main ad image for this campaign, you’re going to go.

Right? Who can look at this image and not IMMEDIATELY call a travel agent to get to this exhibit? Answer: people who are not living in 1964, which was the last year travel agents still had a purpose for the individual traveler.

Bonus, though: if you travel back in time to 1964 and ask for a flight to this exhibit in 2008, you can get a ticket for like, sixty bucks, since things were crazy-cheap back then. Unfortunately, it will probably be on the Pan-Am Bubble Spaceship or something, and you’ll still be stuck on the Chinatown bus. So, just take the Chinatown bus to this exhibit! Instead, use your time-travel marker to go back to ca. 1880 and ask this guy what the hell he did to his face. Then tell me.

This week , Questionable Taste Theatre takes on a movie I saw only once, two years ago, and while in some ways I can’t forget it, in a lot of ways I really tried, so the plot synopsis should be pretty fun.

So, it’s a given that a lot of science fiction movies reference Blade Runner. Not up for debate. It’s just how things work.

However, there’s homage, and then there’s Natural City.

Some of you might have seen part of Natural City without even knowing it. You might have turned it on, thought, “Eh, I’m not that into Blade Runner right now,” and turned it off after a few seconds. You might have watched several minutes before you realized that it wasn’t actually Blade Runner. You might be like me, and watch the entire movie, and STILL be surprised you didn’t actually watch Blade Runner.

But it’s totally not Blade Runner! Totally not.

…um, totally not.
Continue reading

Last night’s KGB was a ton of fun; so many people came that KGB overflowed, and I spent the reading in the vestibule. They were filming a movie upstairs, and a hipster PA sat on the steps to the third floor glaring at us for the duration. I’m not sure why; the film crew made twice the noise we made. People kept charging down the stairs and into the tiny hallway near the girls’ room to shove their arms in an economy-sized bag of Halloween candy and root around loudly for two minutes. Having gotten what they came for (invariably a Reese’s cup), they would charge back up the stairs – or, in one case, clunk open the hall window, climb onto the first floor overhanging roof, and smoke a joint as they talked loudly about the meaning of life. For half an hour. Seriously, just kill me.

The crowd shifted to dinner, where the restaurant ran out of room, and a few of us ran down the street to a diner instead. For me it was win/win; diners have food I can actually eat. (I love the company at the Chinese place, so I’m happy to go, but my vegetarianism, my allergies, and my palate mean I can eat the cold sesame noodles or the pumpkin cakes. That’s it. The diner was awesome. I had breakfast for dinner, which always makes me feel more grown-up than any other food. No one tells me when I can eat pancakes, dammit! I’m an ADULT.)

Then we hit the Dessert Truck, where Justin and I split a goat-cheese cheesecake with rosemary honey, blackberries, and a pistachio tuile. And by “split”, I mean “passed it around the crowd like a pusher in front of an elementary school”. After ten minutes, even people who had no intention of getting anything were chowing down on bread pudding, goat-cheese awesome, and molten chocolate cake.

It’s almost always worth it to trek down to the Lower East Side for KGB readings; I get the chance to catch up with all the people who live in the city and who are also so busy that I would never, ever see them otherwise.

Which reminds me: I signed up with Tor.com the week it opened, connected with a few people, and have not had time to go back and check it since then, which is sad, since I am missing a lot. (And by “a lot” I mean “Liz Gorinsky asking me what my favorite novel in high school was, and me having to publicly admit that I’ve had a favorite novel since I was seven years old.”) So, what have I missed? Link me to anything awesome; I’m up for it.

I walked by a movie theatre this morning and realized how long it’s been since I went to the movies (which is for the best, since I tend to loathe people). But I had forgotten about movie posters!

As in, forgotten how hilarious they are, in one way or another. Let’s take a look at some movie posters!

We begin with an indie romp, clearly indicated by the presence of symbolically-colored umbrellas and Mark Ruffalo.
Continue reading

This weekend I attended the third (?) annual SalonCon in Somerset, New Jersey. I went for a chance to hang out with and to catch a glimpse of amazing costumes. And to wear the dress that ate the last week of my life.

I achieved all three of those things, so in that sense the con was an unmitigated success. However, there was a lot going on, and not all of it was great, so SalonCon gets a List.

Continue reading