Jeri Smith-Ready

Over our dead bodies

According to an article in the New York Times, a Philadelphia Poe scholar wants to dig up the remains of Edgar Allen Poe from the city where he died (Baltimore) and move them to the City of Brotherly Love.

Edward Pettit argues that Poe wrote much of his best work in Philadelphia and "that city’s rampant crime and violence in the mid-19th century framed Poe’s sinister outlook and inspired his creation of the detective fiction genre."

“So, Philadelphians, let’s hop in our cars, drive down I-95 and appropriate a body from a certain Baltimore cemetery,” Mr. Pettit wrote in an article for the Philadelphia City Paper in October. “I’ll bring the shovel.”

Not so fast, mister. We've got the Poe Toaster, a mysterious figure who visits the author's grave every year on his birthday and leaves three red roses and a half-bottle of cognac. We even named our football team in honor of his most famous work, "The Raven." Poe is ours--or rather, we are his.

“Philadelphia can keep its broken bell and its cheese steak, but Poe’s body isn’t going anywhere,” said Jeff Jerome, the curator of the Poe House in Baltimore. He'll be debating Pettit on January 13 at the Philadelphia Free Library.

Mr. Jerome added that everything would be settled at the debate, and in exactly the way that Poe would have wanted.

“I will argue the other guy down with grace and facts,” Mr. Jerome said. “Then I will walk over to him like a gentleman and punch him square in the nose.”

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Now playing: Nine Below Zero - Sonny Boy Williamson
via FoxyTunes

Labels: geekery, local

• posted by Jeri @ 9:38 AM
• 7 comments

SBD winner and bits of geekery

The winner of the signed Sarah Beth Durst hardcover giveaway is...Jess! Congrats! Jess, just send your mailing address and your choice of book (Into the Wild or the sequel Out of the Wild) to me at jeri AT jerismithready DOT com, and I'll pass it on to our lovely guest.

Our next guest interview/giveaway will be Stephanie Kuehnert, author of the phenomenal debut I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone. She'll be joining us on July 7, the day before the novel is officially released.

And now, the geekery:

The first comes from my friend Jason, who introduced me to a comic called Sheldon, by Dave Kellett. In this series of strips (start there and read through the following Saturday), the characters prepare to reenact the pivotal battle in Return of the King, then decide they need to understand the backstory and motivation of the mindless evil creatures they portray.

The next two are courtesy of my husband Chris. First, the Kennedy Space Center built out of 750,000 Legos. The launch pad alone is mind-boggling.

Say what you will about the reliability of Amazon customer reviews, but they are the source of some of the most brilliant satire on the internet. I've devoted more than an hour to reading riffs on Cthulu and existentialism in Family Circus collections (sadly, Amazon tends to remove these "inauthentic" reviews and leave only the fawning, misspelled ramblings of true Bil Keane fans. A conspiracy? You decide.).

Anyway, Denon is offering an Ethernet cable for $499.99 (regular price $500.99--your savings: a dollar!), about one hundred times the going rate. Reviewers have responded, not only with reviews, but with tags. A brief sample:

If I could use a rusty boxcutter to carve a new orifice in my body that's compatible with this link cable, I would already be doing it. I can just imagine the pure musical goodness that would flow through this cable into the wound and fill me completely -- like white, holy light. Holding this cable in my hands actually makes me feel that much closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. I only make $6.25/hr at Jack In The Box, but I saved up for three months so I could have this cable. It sits in a shrine I constructed next to my futon in Mother's basement.

and

After I took delivery of my $500 Denon AKDL1 Cat-5 uber-cable, Al Gore was mysteriously drawn to my home, where he pronounced that Global Warming had been suspended in my vicinity...Didn't notice any improvement in audio quality though. The $800 Apple iCable is clearly superior.

and

The first time I downloaded a picture to the printer over this cable, the bits moved so fast the printer collapsed into a naked singularity, right there in my office. Since then, I can't find the cat, and my entire set of VAX/VMS 4.7 documentation (DEC Will Rise Again!) (Mmmmm, orangey!) has gone missing.

and

I accidentally dropped one end of my Denon cable into a glass of Tuscan whole milk I was drinking. Later when I finished my milk (yeah, I still drank it; should I not have done that?), my right arm (lost in an accident in 1987) spontaneously grew back.

Enjoy.

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Now playing: Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping Up to Boston
via FoxyTunes

Labels: bookstores, comics, Contests, geekery, guests, reading

• posted by Jeri @ 9:17 AM
• 2 comments