When Nerds Date
Last night was “Date Nightâ€. I love date night. When it happens. Which is almost never. For you kids without, er . . .kids, or for you not-single, but not-parent types, this is what life with children is reduces to. 98% Spongebob Squarepants, 2% doing adult things.
Because it happens to be where our babysitter was, we went to Manchester. Manch-vegas, as it is known is the closest thing Dee and I have to a hip urban environment. Its neither of these things (hip or urban) in any real sense of the words. But the center of the city is nice. Manch has a lot of really good, non-chain, eateries and bars, and a pretty decent art scene. Fine art mind you, not the junk-culture that I peddle.
The only other place of culture in NH might be Portsmouth. But that town is so painfully yuppie-touristy that its not worth talking about. And it’s a 2hr drive from my house. So screw them.
Anyway, date night in Manchester. We started with a panini sam’ich and some sort of froofie coffee thing at the Gala Café. Gala is a really nice, if semi-trendy little place.Good jazz, excellent food, and beers for $3, spirits for $4. You can’t beat that with a bat. But skip the pizza! There are way more interesting things on the menu and it just sort of sucked. It was like that crappy Ellio’s garbage you make in the toaster oven. But everything else I’ve had there is EXCELLENT. The Island Mocha iced coffee, though retarded sounding, is highly addictive.
So where would a pair of nerdlings in love go after this? The bookstore. Of course. Normally I an a bad little consumer –I research things I want or need, compare prices from this store to that, and do a sort of mental cost/benefit analysis. I almost never buy things on my credit card, and even when I do I make sure I’ve got the cash to pay it off the second the bill arrives. I do everything the Western advertising and marketing industry hopes I will not.
But all that anti-consumerism goes out the window when I walk into a bookstore. Especially in the “Bargains†section, where they are trying really hard to move old product and thus selling it at a fraction of the normal price . . .which usually seems to mean what the stupid thing was worth in the first place.
I habitually leave the Bargain area with a half dozen oversized books that are little more than photo-catalogues of handguns, assault rifles, and other implements of death, various tombs on the various ways of various Samurai, pictorial histories of castles, and so on.
It always amazes me how many “How To†and “Learn To Draw†books there are, and just how bad most of them suck. If you happen to be looking for one of these books on Cartooning get Ben Caldwell’s Action Cartooning and before you get that, buy Ben Dunn’s How To Draw Manga. Even if you don’t like manga, buy this one. These are both very basic books, but I find they are the first place I turn when I get into trouble.
We were in the bookstore for maybe 15 minutes when the babysitter called to tell us that the Widget had a fever of 102 degrees.
Damn children. Petri dishes the lot of ‘em!
In a panic to leave Dee bough all 47 poetry books and magazines she was holding (instead of picking her 2 favorite, like she usually does), and I got . . .nothing. I just wasn’t into the Samurai Gun Index thing, and the graphic novel section was horrible, and I was totally distracted by The Best American Comics 2006. What it should be titled is A Collection Of Poorly Drawn, Quasi-Intellectual Crumb-esque Strips That Will Bore Your Socks Off And Hurt Your Eyes To Look At, But If You Want To Appear Hip & Indie You WILL Read, In The Same Way That You Drink Starbucks Coffee, Even Though It Sucks Worse Than Gas Station Coffee, So That You Can Be Seen Drinking The Right Beverage, Comics 2006.
Inside The Best American Comics 2006, (aka: ACOPD,QICSTWBYSOHYETLA,BYWTAH&IYWR,ITSWTYDSC,ETISWTGSC,STYCBCDTR, Comics 2006), you will not find anything from Doug TenNapel, Matthew Smith, Tony Harris, or Ron Kasman. But if you think real comics are only to be found at MoCA shows, that the more “handmade†it looks the better –this book it for you.
I left the store with nothing. Except something else to not like –so that’s a plus.
So yeah, its Saturday night and I’m sitting on the living room floor, my ass is totally asleep, and I’m blogging while my wife reads some girly magazine. Lah-hoooo-zer!
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:50 pm
I think you and Dee are the Brian and Lydia of the north. With a kid. And fewer cats. And probably not nearly as pale.
December 3rd, 2006 at 8:41 pm
Or perhaps the Brian and Carol Ann of the farther North.
The Mrs. and I just have the cat, so getting out is a lot easier for us, hence we probably end up doing it about as much as you do - go out that is.
Sorry to hear date night ended prematurely as the phrase date and premature should never appear in the same story, let alone the same sentence.
As for Starbucks, its pricey, but the Mrs. loves it. I’m not a big coffee drinker anymore, but I will get one of the chai tea latte’s about once a week as life is short and hey, I’m there anyway getting coffee for the Mrs. (Insert sound of romantic music or cracking whip depending on whether you are a romantic or a cynic.)
December 3rd, 2006 at 9:04 pm
ahhh date night….what’s that?
We’re in the midst of potty-training our second one, therefor leaving the house is a thing of the past. I guess there’s really no leaving the house ANYWAY, since we don’t know any chicks of babysitting age.
But $4 bucks for booze would definitely work in my book.
December 4th, 2006 at 2:05 am
Right now, we’re at 98% Dora the Explorer. I could kill Boots the Monkey with my bare hands… and not because I hate the monkey. I’d do it to spite Dora.
With Best American Comics 2006, I like a bit of what’s in there — but it’s definately not the “best of 2006″. It’s a lopsided sampling of alternative/small press comics.
December 4th, 2006 at 9:33 am
On an anthropological note, I’ve noticed that people in New England tend to append the suffix -vegas to various city names. I was in Vermont a few years ago and train from NYC stopped in Rutland. The friend I was staying with was like, enjoy Rut-vegas… it’ll take me an hour to pick you up. So yeah… the vegas phenomenon. I should also mention that Rut-vegas had like three bars in walking distance, a train station, a bus station, and…. well, that was pretty much it besides some normal stores and a psuedo-downtown. But why Vegas? Has Vegas become the epitome of big city living in the minds of New Englanders?
December 4th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
Date night in Manch-vegas! I know it well… Try Gauchos if you haven’t already. The wife and I love it.
http://www.gauchosbraziliansteakhouse.com/index.html
If you both like eating lots and lots of meat, that is…
Great blog, btw.
- Bill
December 4th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Yeah I dont know what’s up with the Vegas thing. Its struck me as funny when I moved here, but now I say it as naturally as anyone.
And Bill, Gauchos is really great. But we’re still recovering from not one but two thanksgiving gorges. So we went food-light. Was REALLY hoping to eat at the Tai noodle place a block over, but I guess they don’t do dinner.
December 5th, 2006 at 10:36 am
Really? When I go on a date, it’s usually to a comic convention of sorts… or to a Star Wars light saber party. That is probably why I was single for so long…
December 5th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Nerdtastic!
I can’t even enjoy the original Star Wars movies anymore. The prequils were just that bad.
So basically nine out of ten childhood memories are tainted for me now.
December 20th, 2006 at 9:14 am
It seems that I was not represented in the Best American Comics, which, I also understand, was quite bad. Let me make this perfectly clear. I was not asked. I will work for anybody, no matter how poor the reproduction or payment. No job too small. No job too big. I will letter the page numbers if that’s all they want from me. If they want me in Best American Comics Part Two, they need only ask.
December 20th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Haha, and you think I’m not exactly the same, Ron? The girls on 42nd St. have nothing in me. Nothing I tell ya!
I don’t really have a problme with the book -just the title. Comics are so varied in style, genre, and audience appeal that how can you possible do a “Best Of”?
Best of Superheroes, Best of Sci-Fi, Best of Quasi-Intellectual, sure.