Jack Pendarvis was a writer for SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS and ADVENTURE TIME. He is also a close friend of Megan's who I have been fortunate to meet once or twice. He lives in Oxford, MA where his wife teaches at Ole Miss.
I have read the first two essays or stories in this delightful collection. The first one, WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL LIGHTER MUSEUM tells of his trip to Guthrie, OK to visit Ted Ballard, the proprietor of this museum and its extensive collection which was more than seventy years in the making. Ted is hoping to find someone who will promise not to break the collection up and values at a million dollars. The most interesting item was a lighter made from a scrotum. T
The second chapter discussed the use of lighters in films and TV. As you might predict, the heyday of lighters is long past now. MAD MEN was probably the most recent show to use the lighter extensively, beginning with the first scene.
Although I am thanked in Pendarvis' acknowledgements, I can't think I did anything to help him other than to laugh at most anything that comes out of his mouth. Jack still has a blog, which has also provided me with laughs more than one. His other abiding passion is owls. He finds them everywhere (in books that is)
Read Jack for a while and you begin to ask yourself the kind of questions he asks himself on his blog.
Here's one from today.
I am often running into people who tell me they don't have a sweet tooth. But are there people who don't like salty food? Just normal salty not food bathed in salt. Anyone here dislike pretzels or similar food because of the salt on it?
Jerry House (radio script)
Jeff-I read Mary Lavin back in the seventies and got all of her books from the Wayne State library. Have never seen one in a public library.
13 comments:
A lighter made from a scrotum? Makes me wonder if the brand name is "SIC."
Hope things are okay in FL by you, Jerry.
It looks like it will miss us completely, Patti. I'm very concerned about Gulf Coast friends and relatives to the east and south of us, though.
Yeah, my brother is in Fort Myers and got hit last year. Oh, for good old VA.
Good morning... I have one for today.
https://casualdebris.blogspot.com/2023/08/casual-shorts-isfdb-top-short-fiction_30.html
OK. I checked the library and they do have some titles, as such: RUST, BLUE JEANS, STICKER, TRENCH COAT, SPACECRAFT, OCEAN, MAGNET, BLANKET, FAT, DOCTOR, FAKE, HASHTAG, BURGER, POTATO (which has a wait list!), many others.
I decided to try one, and I bet you won't be surprised it is BOOKSHELF.
I will check my library too, Jeff.
On Amazon, I read WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL LIGHTER MUSEUM in the Kindle sample for CIGARETTE LIGHTER. It was very funny, although sometimes confusing. I think I would have to read the book in small doses. I wonder if all of the Object Lessons books are that funny?
I also found an article by Jack Pendarvis at The Atlantic titled "The Ice Buckets of the Stars", described as An Object Lesson. Which I haven't read in full yet but promises to be good.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/the-ice-buckets-of-the-stars/282430/
Ice Bucket Challenge parody, that last, Tracy? Shall Go Look.
Here's my late entry for today, as other tasks as usually managed to get in the way of the desired reading...
Glad, Jerry, that you'll get at worst some orts from from the Big Clouds...
my link (scattered brain says Wha?) https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2023/08/short-story-wednesday-preliminary-toc.html
Jeffrey Meyerson
1:42 PM (2 hours ago)
to me
Oxford MS not MA, obviously.
Wow, according to Amazon, there are EIGHTY books in that Object Lessons series. I know I read one but can't remember which it was. I think I'll check if my library has any of the titles, which include (at random, from Amazon): Golf Ball, Driver's License, Drone, Remote Control, Refrigerator, Hotel and Phone Booth, which is dated now. Every once in a while we see a TV show (usually European) where there is a phone booth, but there just aren't any these days.
When we were first dating, Jackie smoked, and I did so more irregularly. One thing I loved though, was a lighter. I always carried one with me.
I read and enjoyed that Tod Goldberg collection I mentioned last time, to the entent that I ordered another of his collections that my library doesn't have. One of his recurring characters is a cocktail waitress, and her main focus in the first story is the search for her adopted daughter, who she believes just left one day and returned to Russia. She was adopted (for $50,000, I believe) from Odessa. But though she never finds her, in a late story the reader does discover her very unhappy ending.
Somewhere along the line, can't remember where, I read a recommendation (maybe it was you, Patti) for the short stories of Mary Lavin, and I was able to get a 1959 collection of her SELECTED STORIES (all seem to have been published in the 1940s and 1950s) from Storage in the Central Branch of the BPL. The first two stories, set in rural Ireland, are very good.
I'm also read the latest Otto Penzler collection (which George recently reviewed), GOLDEN AGE BIBLIOMYSTERIES. I think I read all of Anthony Boucher's stories before, but I did not remember his library story, "QL696.C9." It features his drunk sleuth, Nick Noble, and is a fast, enjoyable readon, though I must admit I guessed the killer fairly easily.
Yes, Jack's writing style can be confusing, but you get the knack of it after a while. I wonder if his writing on the cartoons is similar.
I posted it as MA instead of MS too, Jeff. Sorry about the problems AGAIN. Wish I knew what caused it.
Post a Comment