ITEM ONE
Meredith Gran’s massive nationwide book tour is touching a tentacle to the slimy form of Los Angeles this week, and I’m pleased to join her this Thursday, the 15th, at the crazy-cool Secret Headquarters in Silverlake! I’ll have books and high-fives and basically anything you might want out of life, ever. Come say hello from 7-9 PM and here is a Facebook thing with maps and everything.
ITEM TWO
You know what I did last night? I looked at my many, overflowing bookshelves and said “It’s time to reintroduce some of these items into the ecosystem so other people can enjoy them too.” I own too many books — and while they’re all great, I always seem to be getting more of them and it’s creating space problems in my life. So this weekend, I am opening up my studio and having a book rummage sale with art books, novels, tons of comics and magazines, and again, free high-fives and loads of joy all around! Come check out my studio — I’ll be here Saturday and Sunday from 9AM-4PM and I promise you will find some pretty great books here. And you will spend like a dollar for them. I am doing this friends-of-the-library-style where a massive novel will cost you about as much as a cucumber. The address is: 1506 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice CA 90291. COME ON DOWN
ITEM THREE
NEXT WEEK is the SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON. I am going to be at booth 1231! That is super-easy to remember because it’s just 1-2-3 and then 1 again. You cannot forget a booth number so simple, which is great because everything at the Con conspires to capture your attention. This booth number, however, will be rooted so deep in your brain that even your lizard ancestors could find it, even while being distracted by a Jabba the Hutt made of LEGOs. I’ll be with TopatoCo and the sign will likely be very red. Again, a good color for attracting even lizards. SEE YOU THERE???
BONUS ITEM FOUR!!
As a present for reading this whole thing even if you are nowhere near California, I will give you a little taste of what it is like to be in California. I found the following thumbtacked to a tree.
(UPDATE: This image was accidentally deleted, and I no longer have the original to re-scan. It was an index card with a to-do list written on it. The list included “laundry”, “buy sports bras”, “cuddles”, and “buy Pliskin’s light.”)
At first I thought it might have been viral marketing for a beer called “Pliskin’s Light”, but I can’t find any evidence that such a thing exists. I only hope that whoever thumbtacked this to a tree didn’t come back, find the note missing, and go on to totally forget to empty the trash. I would feel bad.
WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? Why in the world was this thumbtacked to a tree? Suggestions in the comments!
Viral marketing indeed! But, for cuddles.
The person who put it up obviously aren’t in Melbourne. There are always enough cuddles to go around in Melbourne. I’m not in Melbourne either, and I need cuddles :(.
The part that makes me giggle is “Buy sports bras”. They lure us in with thoughts of boobies and then convince us to buy beer that doesn’t exist. It is all verrrrrry cunning.
Clearly, it was the tree’s to-do list.
Pliskin is totally a person. I guess this person broke Pliskin’s lamp while cuddling.
It was the tree’s to-do list for a tree-hugger. Hence the reminder about cuddles.
Obviously, “Pliskin” is a snake.
Perhaps it wasn’t someone’s actual to-do list, but their suggested to-do list for whoever happened upon it.
It’s California, dude. The mindset of folks there, upon finding someone’s dropped to-do list would be, “omigosh, who knows how much time they will spend looking for this important document? I should put it in a very visible place for them to find it again.”
On the East Coast we would have ignored the scrap of paper. And if we had been the one to drop the list we would have just gone home to eat and cuddle until the smell of garbage forced us to act. And on the East Coast we would encourage that.
I’m not saying one way is better than another, they are just different ways of peering into a stranger’s day.
Men, seek this woman out! She has income, pays the rent, keeps a clean space, works out (in supportive gear, no less), knows how to unwind with a brewski or two, and gives out cuddles twice nightly! You could do worse.
Clearly you have stumbled onto a spy ring. This was a way for a spy to contact her handlers about how to deal with the mission code name: Cuddles and now you have it in your possession…have fun being surveilled
I think King AdBeck wins.
@Kev: well played, sir! Kurt Russel is the first thing I thought of, too.
We would love to see you at ComicCon, but nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded, and now it’s full of sparkly vampires. Ew.
I’m with James. This wasn’t someone else’s to do list. They are instructions for the individual making the lucky discovery. Much like a chain letter, failure to heed these orders will have dire consequences while performing these acts could possibly grant you three wishes and a friend named Jacob.
It is common in Los Angeles for such items to be posted for public consumption
Pliskin is a friend of hers, who is re-decorating and has an extra lamp, that she’s willing to part with for less that it would cost new. (and probably matches both girls’ tastes, but maybe only one’s decor)
Pliskin is most likely Zelig Pliskin, an orthodox rabbi and writer. I don’t think any of his book are entitled “Light”, but it could be a nickname.
By the way, how was it attached to the tree? Can’t see any holes from the thumbtack.
Anders has a point. Maybe the thumbtack didn’t.
With all the things to do with the money one gets from cashing the check “pay rent” comes last (all the following are chores). Assuming that “Pliskin’s light” is beer, and not an illuminating device, beer comes before eat comes before rent. My assumption is this is a guy’s list who is buying his girlfriend the sports bra so that he can get lots of cuddles. Which is why that comes before everything else.
@donna Just so you know, Twilight will not be at SDCC this year.
@Anders – the thumbtack hole is right under the H in “Pliskin’s light”. Sort of pressed flat by the scanner.
I really like the idea that this is a challenge meant for the finder to accomplish. Sort of like a scavenger hunt.
Thanks, I see it now. Thumbtacked in the center of the note. If it were my own note, I would never do it in the center. Always at the top.
This could mean that jg3 is right. On the other hand, who has thumbtacks available at all times to fasten notes to trees? Must be planned.
I agree, this is very interesting.
Not to sound like Ander’s hired “Yes Man” but, um, he raises another good point. Now, time to sit back and enjoy a fine Pliskin’s Light.
Perhaps Pliskin, like Goethe, required ‘Mehr Licht!’
Thanks for posting my To-Do list on wondermark, David…
Man we were looking for that! Pliskin called us like four hours later asking us where the hell we were.
WITHOUT OUR NOTE WE COMPLETELY FORGOT