Longer than Atonement

Okay, so I went to this marvy blog today, and if you aren't scared to scroll down (because honestly, sometimes you guys are just too busy reading People magazine or watching that dance show, to be bothered looking at something neato), you will find a picture of an art book that's out of print. So sad! And the bloggist tells us that she bought the last two. EXTINCT! That book is extinct, now. Extinction should never happen to cool books!

I have to share with you today a series of art books that I've been remiss in not having shared before. In fact, I would hazard to say that I'm sure the main reason you visit my humble little web journal is specifically to read information about this art book series, and you've had to wait all this time for me to bring it up.

So, with no further ado, here it is:

Spectrum. The series of The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art, issued yearly. Hundreds of book cover art, magazine art, sculptures and paintings by the best artists of the fantastic. Gorgeous. Even if you don't do art, you should ask for one of these for the holidays!

Trust me! I'm not a doctor!!

((Intermission))

Now, if I've taught you anything, I've taught you to start every morning with this, to get a sense of what you should be thinking about. And now that I've thought about it for 4 minutes, I've decided to go ahead and share the story of where in the world I'm from.

I'm from Kansas City, MO.

The End.

I don't have very many memories of childhood, and those I have are not very vibrant. But I do remember that the transition from Kansas City, MO, to Santa Monica, CA, was not the culture shock everyone imagines it would be. For some reason, I imagined that everything was bright and clean and new in California. And I did eagerly anticipate seeing the ocean for the first time, and going to Disneyland. But the reality is that, even in the mid-Seventies, major metropolitan areas were basically the same. Busy, noisy, filled with entertainment options, and pollution. I was surprised, really. I don't know what I expected, but I expected something really different. I was fifteen, and I thought everything would change when I got here. Life would be faster and people would be happier and there wouldn't be as many messy places. In fact, I was so naive that, one of the major memories I have is of being surprised that the same songs were being played on the radio and the same shows were on television. I don't know why I thought they'd have different songs and different television and different movies. But I was fifteen. What did I know? Like Missouri, California was playing Maggie May, and showing All In the Family.

What, couldn't California come up with its own stuff?

I loved California, though. I loved that it was not humid in May. I loved it that I didn't have to scrape ice off the windshield or slip and fall on my butt when I walked to school. I loved it that everyone looked to California for what was cool. Even if, contrary to what California thought, there was the same cool going on in Kansas City. The world was already a very small place, even in 1972. But I do remember thinking how much cooler the hippies were, here. I guess one thing Kansas City didn't have much of was hippies. A few. But they were an anomaly. Here, they were everywhere. It was super groovy.

One thing that really sent me back to the time when I was a teenager in Los Angeles, was the Gypsy Bonfire story now posted over on Lisa Hoffman's site. Even if my life wasn't much like the author's, she certainly inspired fond memories.

Next up: Chris writes a blog post longer than Lord of the Rings, gets published, goes on a tour of New Zealand, and is rightfully imprisoned for plagiarism.