Shifting interests and limited resources

Every year I go to LTUE and come home with a bunch of books and all of my allowance gone. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does get a little out of hand. I don’t usually go there planning to spend all my money. It just kinda…happens.

This year was looking to be just like all the past years. Besides all the authors pushing their books in the dealers’ room (including a guy who brings in a huge collection of used books every year–pure, unadulterated evil!), they’ve recently added an art room where you can often pick up prints of the originals on display. It’s just too much to resist.

But I mostly did. Part of it was just through sheer procrastination. I like to scout things out for the first day or two, to see how far I can make my allowance go. So by the time I went back to get the latest Michaelbrent Collings YA fantasy he was sold out. Well, that spared me a little. Then I went to buy a print for my wife for her upcoming birthday. But the artist whose print I bought last year wasn’t showing anything this year. Most of what was available I couldn’t picture my wife wanting to display. I did finally find something, but at a lower price than I was prepared to pay. Aw darn.

The last day, however, my money was still burning a hole in my pocket. Then I hit on a brilliant idea. I would only buy stuff I couldn’t get anywhere else. Since for most of the writers I’m interested in I can find their latest and greatest in the local bookstore or on Amazon, that reduced my choices quite a bit. In fact, for the most part, that limited things to art. I did pick up another art print for myself. And then in the dealers room I got talking to an author and decided to pick up her book.

The bottom line: I bought three art-pieces overall, and one book. I actually spent more on art at LTUE than I spent on books.

And then came the real kicker. Toward the end of the week Melva Gifford, one of the pillars of LTUE, brought out her collection of promotional photos she’d collected through the years. She was de-cluttering and decided to put them out for everyone else to take for free. I just happened to be one of the first ones there, and though I was sorely tempted to take a lot more, I decided not to be greedy and only selected three.
I still love the movie Ladyhawke to this day. Etienne of Navarre was awesome, Michelle Pfeiffer was ethereal, and Matthew Broderick was a loveable rogue everyman caught up in things beyond his comprehension. Great movie.

While I will never forget Ricardo Montalban’s turn as Khan, deliciously delivering literary quotes while putting Kirk through the wringer, I always had a soft spot for Joachim, his loyal lieutenant who was smarter than his Ahab-esque leader.

“V” (for Victory, not Vendetta) was a cool miniseries on NBC back in the 1980s, which I guess they tried to reboot a few years back. I never saw their second attempt, but the original was right up my teenage fanboy alley–and freaked me out something fierce. Juliet Parrish was one of my crushes back then. She was tough and tender, a strong leader and, as you can see in the picture, could handle weapons. What more could a teenage boy want in a heroine?