Alien/s Day

LV426 (hence, April 26) is the original name of Acheron, a moon 39 light years from Earth. Though having no indigenous inhabitants, Acheron eventually came to house a human colony and a species of vicious aliens …who would repeatedly get their asses handed to them by Ellen Ripley.

How to Commemorate:

·         Use a forklift.

·         Shave your head.

·         Watch the movies.

·         Get a pair of Ripley’s alien-crushing shoes (special release by Reebok).

The Perfect Date

Today is widely recognized as the perfect date (courtesy of Miss Congeniality) because it is "not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket."

How to Commemorate:
Go outside.
Wear a light jacket.
Be congenial and smile big.

Miss Congeniality. http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0212346/

Nothing happened, and it keeps happening. Or, everything happens at once. (aka, The Doctor dies.)

There are points in time that cannot be changed no matter how we try to avoid them. Once such fixed point was the death of The Doctor at Lake Silencio on April 22, 2011, (S1E13) but by choosing not to end his life, River Song caused a temporal paradox. When asked, later, to explain what happened, The Doctor said this:

"Nothing happened. And then it kept happening. Or, if you prefer, everything happened at once, and it won't ever stop. Time is dying. It's going to be 5:02 in the afternoon for all eternity. A needle stuck on a record."

How to Commemorate

• Dress in space clothes.
• Visit a lake and have a picnic (preferably, don't let someone die).
• Wear a cowboy hat.
• Use anachronisms. (Light a candle to see your laptop keyboard. Navigate to a historical marker by using GPS. Make a phone call from your smartphone.)

Thrain sets out to retake Erebor

After Smaug evicted the dwarves from their home of Erebor, orcs later moved in and claimed the Lonely Mountain for their own. Thrain could not bear this, so he set out to retake Erebor on April 21st, leading the beginning of the war between orcs and dwarves.

How to Commemorate:

• Retake something of your own
• Visit a mountain
• Later, go missing.

Buffy Meets Giles in the Sunnydale High School Library

Buffy Summers did not have a good history with schools, being the Slayer and all.  But when her mom moved to Sunnydale and enrolled Buffy for classes, Buffy got to meet her new Watcher, Rupert Giles.  And where was their central headquarters for training and for marshaling the fight against the forces of darkness?  The Library!

Confession: Giles is my favorite fictional librarian.  Yes, I have a list.

My favorite Giles quote: "Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a... it, uh, it has no texture, no context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then the getting of knowledge should be tangible. It should be... smelly."

Thank you, Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

How to Commemorate:

• Visit a library
• Carry a cross with you (and maybe a wooden stick)
• Patrol the neighborhood after dark
• Slay a vampire.  You know, if you get the chance.

 

Kvothe enters the archive for the first time

The Name of the Wind (by Patrick Rothfuss) follows the brilliant arcanist Kvothe from his idyllic/tragic childhood to his adulthood of seclusion.  Or he thinks he is in seclusion.  One of the primary turning points of his entire life takes place when Kvothe enrolls at the University, finally gaining entrance to the largest collection of books he has ever seen.

This book is a hallmark of fantasy literature, with amazing characters and intricate world-building to rival Tolkien.Seriously.

How to Commemorate:

• Visit a library
• Research an ancient, foreboding topic
• Play a lute

Alcatraz infiltrates a library for the first time

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson is the sort of book that is super terrific but you have trouble explaining to your friends.  Here is the blurb from Sanderson’s website.  

On his 13th birthday, Alcatraz, a foster child, gets a bag of sand in the mail which purports to be his “inheritance” sent from his father and mother. The Librarians, of course, immediately steal the bag of sand from him. This sparks a chain of events which leads Alcatraz to realize that his family is part of a group of freedom fighters who resist the Evil Librarians—the secret cult who actually rule the world. Alcatraz’s grandfather shows up and tows him off to infiltrate the downtown library to steal back the mystical bag of sand. The ensuing story involves talking dinosaurs, sentient romance novels, and a dungeon-like labyrinth hiding beneath the innocent-looking downtown library.

Why I love this book:

• It’s hilarious and creative.
• Eyeglasses play a prominent role in the story, and they are my favorite symbol in literature.
• The role reversal of having librarians that are evil is so, just, totally opposite from what we really are. Really.

How to Commemorate: 

• Visit a library
• Break/destroy something (it's a superpower)
• Arrive late for something (it's also a superpower)
• Dance badly (yep, still a superpower)
• Name something after a prison (because... well, you'll find out)