goblin cartoons

I saw Where the Wild Things Are today. I absolutely loved it. It was a beautiful arrow shot right into my heart.

As different as it is from the book (which I’ve always loved), it really does capture the spirit and essence of the book. But more than that, it captured the essence of my childhood. I wasn’t like Max all that much, behavior-wise–I was about as far from a “wild thing” as you can get. But I was a lot like Max in terms of sadness, loneliness, hope and imagination. In many ways, I felt like I was watching a movie about me. Not that my childhood was bad, just that there’s a lot more sadness and loneliness and wishing for better worlds than most TV shows and movies choose to really explore.

Like childhood, Where the Wild Things Are is both really simply and really complex, with lots of simple problems and very few simple solutions. It’s gorgeous and gritty and cluttered and goofy and sad. I think it’s a brilliant film. Also, anyone who says it’s not for kids is not giving children the credit they deserve.

I just registered for Comic-Con next summer in San Diego. I’m really, really excited to go! I went to the Chicago Comic-Con way back in the mid-’80s, but that was the last time I went to a massive geek convention. I have to say, I’m far more excited about this than I would be about any library conference.

On second thought, that’s not really all that surprising or strange.

Inspired by some posts by comics writer Cullen Bunn, Orrin Grey posted a pic of a comics cover from when he was a kid that has provided him with inspiration. I think that’s a really nifty idea, so I’m posting (with no comment on why or how or what) a comics cover that influenced me as a kid (and continues to now):

I’m writing this to participate in the Louisville Free Public Library blogathon, to raise awareness (and hopefully some money) for the Louisville Free Public Library, which was recently hit with flash floods, dumping over four feet of water into the library and causing over a million dollars in damages.

Why did I donate money to the library? Why should you? It’s not because I’m a librarian. I became a librarian because I think libraries kick ass, not the other way around.

Libraries kick ass because they are a public service, free to all, centered around literacy, information, education and entertainment. Libraries, provide free books, CDs, DVDs, video games, newspapers and magazines, microfiche, databases and other resources to public communities. Libraries provide activities, meeting spaces and internet access to the public. I really believe libraries are essential to a community.

So please, donate as much as you can to the Louisville Free Public Library, either in the name of the Library Society of the World or directly to the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation. But please help out in some way, because we all need our libraries.

I miss Earth-Two. No, not this Earth 2 (although I did enjoy that series). No, not this Earth 2 (although I do love me some Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely). The Earth-Two I miss hasn’t really existed since 1986.

One of the first comics I remember reading Justice League of America #148. It featured the JLA teaming up with (and fighting, due to magical mind control) the Justice Society of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes. There was something, a certain je ne sais quois, that attracted me to the Justice Society and the idea that these characters, so similar and yet so different from the superheroes I knew, were from an alternate world called Earth-Two. As the years went on and I read more comics, I became more of a fan of the Justice Society and Earth-Two. I loved how Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman and the Atom were so different from their Earth-One counterparts. I loved how the Clark Kent of Earth-Two was married to Lois Lane and editor of the Daily Star, and his cousin was called Power Girl. I loved how they actually killed off Earth-Two’s Batman and introduced his superhero daughter, Helena Wayne a.k.a. the Huntress.

At that time, DC Comics featured many alternate Earths: Earth-Three, Earth-X, Earth-S and so on. The 1985 maxi-series Crisis on Infiinite Earths changed all of that, as all of the myriad parallel universes came crashing down into one universe. It was supposed to make DC’s superhero comics less complicated and baroque, more accessible to new readers. Maybe it did, but it made me sad. Sure, the Golden Age heroes of the Justice Society were still around, but I missed their alternate Earth, with its different feel and different characters, with the potential to take familiar characters and do things with them that the regular series wouldn’t do (like make Clark Kent a greying newspaper editor or Bruce Wayne a pipe-smoking police commisioner). If the world of Earth-One, DC’s standard world of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League, was a magical place, Earth-Two was even more magical to me, another step away from ordinary reality, with even stranger heroes and villains.

DC has recently brought back the idea of multiple, parallel Earths. But so far, I haven’t seen anything that brings back the magic of old Earth-Two. I’m happy to see a return to the epic, gonzo multiple universes of old, but I still remain somewhat unsatisfied.

Earth-Two, you live on, if only in my dreams.

Because I am a huge geek, one of my big inspirations for the naming & iconography of the Library Society of the World was a comic book superhero group like the Justice Society of America. But in the real world, we’re not superheroes, we’re just regular people doing our best in life.

Still, there are times when I’m particularly proud to be associated with the LSW, and this is one of those times. My fellow carping nerdboy Steve Lawson has started a drive to collect money to donate to the Louisville Free Public Library, which has recently been hit by disastrous flash flooding. I’m thrilled that Steve has taken the initiative to do this and to do it in the name of the LSW. I’m also thrilled that people have actually been donating. I’ll admit, as a public librarian in Kansas, I don’t exactly have loads of money to throw around, but I did make a small donation.

Please help out the Louisville Free Public Library in any way you can, either by donating through PayPal, sending a check to the Library Society of the World Clubhouse (PO Box 7893, Colorado Springs CO 80933) or sending a check directly to:

The Library Foundation
Attn: Flood
301 York St.
Louisville, KY 40203
(502) 574-1709

I know this is extraordinarily corny to say, but you really don’t have to be a superhero to do good in the world.

This blog has been silent for a while. I’ve had a lot on my mind and a lot going on in my personal life of late, which is mainly why I haven’t been posting. I debated whether or not to post about it, simply because this is a complex situation, difficult to explain well in a blog post. But I also can’t pretend my life isn’t changing, so…

My wife, Julie, and I are separating. I won’t go into the details here, because without the proper context and without lengthy explanations, it’s difficult to explain why and have it really make sense. I suppose it’s basically for the same reasons other couples separate. We’re still living together right now, but I’m looking for my own place and we’re beginning to disentangle our finances and possessions. Yes, our daughter, Morgan, knows and she’s actually taking all of this incredibly well.

We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

I was 7 years old when Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, died. I still remember hearing it on the news. Elvis’ music hadn’t had much of a direct impact on me, but I knew who he was. Everyone knew who Elvis was. And his death was an utter shock, a moment of frozen time and disbelief. As time has gone by, I haven’t really ever been an Elvis fan, but I still have to acknowledge the cultural impact of his life and death.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died yesterday. He was older than Elvis when Elvis died, but not by much. I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan. I never owned Thriller or any of his other albums. Like most people, I made jokes about Jackson’s strange life and behavior. But as someone who grew up in the ’80s, I’d be lying if I said Michael Jackson had no impact on me, and I really did like a number of his songs. Like Elvis, Michael Jackson impacted everyone. And his death is an utter shock. I can barely believe he’s gone.

These two kings, Elvis and Michael, lived strange lives that just got stranger. They were twisted, tortured, abused and abusive, living in baroque bubbles of unreality. Is this what it takes to be a king in pop culture? Maybe. Despite the accusations of terrible, abusive, possibly criminal behavior, I feel sorry for these two men. They led sad, carnival-mirror lives that took them from this world at an early age. At the same time, they touched–and continue to touch–millions of people all over the world in brilliant ways.

Pop culture is a funny thing.

You all know that I’m colossal geek, right?

Young Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite movies. On Saturday night, we decided it was time for Morgan to see it. (She’s already seen Blazing Saddles and loved it, even if she didn’t get all of the jokes.) So, we got some tasty burgers from Five Guys and settled in to watch Young Frankenstein.

Morgan liked it, of course. But while we watched the movie, thoughts started drifting through my head…Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the brilliant, eccentric scientist…Inga, his young, pretty, blonde assistant and lover…Igor, the sarcastic trickster…the Creature, big, strong and impulsive…

And because I’m a colossal geek, I spent about an hour putting this picture together (using Heromachine and The Gimp):

It kind of makes sense, don’t you think? Or is that just geeky ol’ me?

As I said in my previous post, I went to a school in Kansas City called Loretto for 5th-8th grades. Loretto was a private school that promoted self-paced education, cooperative learning, broad educational study and free thinking. It wasn’t quite “anything goes,” but it was much looser and more open than almost any other school I’ve gone to, not too dissimilar from the Montessori method. I really enjoyed my time at Loretto, and I was very upset when it closed during the summer of 1984, but it didn’t really hit me until this past weekend, reuniting with old friends and teachers from the school, just how much Loretto helped shape who I am and what I do today.

The Library Society of the World, begun on a whim and a dare, is completely a Loretto thing. It’s nonhierarchical, loosely-structured, open, free, collaborative, sarcastic and often lazy about getting things done…just like my classmates and I were at Loretto. Library Camp Kansas and my fondness for unconferences in general, that’s also Loretto-inspired. My dislike of formal presentations, standing at a podium and lecturing to an audience, and my preference for free-flowing conversations and the equal exhange of ideas also comes from my time at Loretto.

If I can continue to bring the Loretto philosophy and style into my professional and personal life, I’ll consider myself very successful indeed. The world needs fewer squares and more circles.