Last weekend Danielle and I went to Borders so Danielle could check out the Buffy graphic novels and I could pick up Watchmen. While in the graphic novel section I started looking around to see what new books were out in this space and I came across Beyond Wonderland and Return to Wonderland, two comics in Zenoscope’s Grimm Fairy Tales line. From the busty cover on Beyond Wonderland, I thought it might be like Clamp’s Miyuki-chan in Wonderland.

I’m a big Tim Burton fan and I also tend to like his casting of Johnny Depp.  But I’m no fanboy:  I found Tim Burton’s take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be worse than the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  The first thing I have to get off my chest and the thought that was pervasive in my mind nearly to the point of preventing my enjoyment of the movie is that this movie should really have been titled Return to Wonderland.  If you’re into movies, you probably already knew this, and so did I.  But I can imagine lots of people who just see a commercial or see the name and think it’ll be a live action version of the old Disney movie.  (It doesn’t help that Disney is behind this version as well)  So, in this version, we have an adult Alice about who runs away from her marriage proposal and into the rabbit hole.

Part of my NYC Tet Travelogue.  See part one here.

this entry was originally written on ?13 Feb 2010

I went to the Lomography store yesterday and it was a very interesting experience.  The store matches the aesthetic of the Lomography movement.  It has a very casual feel to it.  It definitely belongs in Greenwich Village.  The wall is a huge collage of Lomo prints; most appeared to be of or taken in New York City.  There was a lot of repetition and it had the feel or working well as a larger work of art.  It’s worth visiting the store just to see the wall.  But the layout was also great - all the cameras are sitting on a table in the middle and you can touch them and handle them and get a feel for the camera.  I have a feeling they would have probably let me load some film in and take some shots for them to keep.  (And I might have if I hadn’t been there with others)  The table has an outline of each camera beneath it with the price of the camera listed.  The staff (well, the one woman there at that time) was very knowledgeable and helpful.  Definitely a good hire.  There were also tons of books and magazines wholly consisting of Lomographic images.