Basement Week: Harry Dresden.

Powerful people are sent to basements.  So to give hope to those us who live/work in them, we are featuring some inspiring basement-dwellers.

Harry Dresden is the only wizard in the Chicago yellow pages.  He lives in the basement of an old boarding house with his cat Mister and his dog/mammoth Mouse.  And his skull named Bob.  Well, the skull isn’t Bob--Bob is the spirit of intellect who lives in the skull and helps Harry with cases when....

You know what? Let’s just back up a step.  If you haven’t encountered the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher yet, consider this your late Christmas present.  These stories are like intense crossovers between paranormal mysteries and hardboiled detective novels.  They’re smart, gritty, funny, and the magical aspects are perhaps the best wordbuilding we’ve seen this side of Middle Earth.  And the audiobook versions narrated by James Marsters (yes, THAT James Marsters, Spike from Buffy) are out-of-this-world phenomenal.

Oh, and because Harry is a wizard, he tends to short-circuit electronics, hence living in a basement with no electricity.  And he has a sub-basement beneath THAT where he has his magical lab with summoning circle, depleted uranium, romance novels… you know. Magic equipment. You can start with the first book in the series, of course, but #7 Dead Beat with an animated skeletal T-Rex is a really fun way to get immersed.

How to Commemorate:

• Eat at Burger King.
• Accidentally set something on FUEGO!
• Read a paperback novel.
• Draw chalk circles everywhere you go.
• Play Dungeons & Dragons with werewolves. Or as close to werewolves as you can find. Try your local game store. (And, yes, I do play D&D. So what?)
• Extra-super-bonus points if you send us a picture of you playing the Harry Dresden RPG.

*Share your photos and celebrations on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Works Cited   

The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. 

Basement Week: Assistant Mayor Bellweather gives info to Officer Hopps and Nick Wilde. (Zootopia)

Powerful people are sent to basements.  So to give hope to those us who live/work in them, we are featuring some inspiring basement-dwellers.

Yeah, I took my grandkids to see Zootopia back when it was in theaters. Cartoons aren’t normally my thing, but I really liked that one. Even though it seemed so far out with all those different animals living in different zones of the city, it was somehow believable.  

 

(Hang on, the English major is telling me that’s something about suspension of disbelief and plot cohesion. If that means something to you, there it is.)

Anyway there’s that one scene where the assistant mayor sheep (Bellweather) takes them down to her office in the basement to give them information, and I leaned down to the grandkids and said “Yup, look out for that one.”  Just saying.

How to Commemorate:

• Visit parts of town you don’t normally go to.
• Eat carrots and/or popsicles.
• Get a pet. (Ok, maybe just volunteer at a shelter or something.)

*Share your photos and celebrations on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Works Cited   

Zootopia

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Public Libraries

Basement Week: Tina is demoted to the MACUSA Wand Permit Office. (Fantastic Beasts)

Powerful people are sent to basements.  So to give hope to those us who live/work in them, we are featuring some inspiring basement-dwellers.

Tina Goldstein was an up-and-coming auror when she ruffled the feathers of MACUSA by assaulting a No-Maj who was beating that poor Second Salem boy. Then Tina was reassigned to the lowly basement of the Federal Wand Permit Office.

How to Commemorate:

• Make sure you know the location of your wand permit.
• Bake pastries shaped like your favorite beasts. (Making hot dogs is an acceptable substitute for the non-baking-inclined.)
• Befriend a No-Maj.

*Share your photos and celebrations on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Works Cited   

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Public Libraries

 

 

Basement Week: Milton is sent to the basement without his red stapler. (Office Space)

Powerful people are sent to basements.  So to give hope to those us who live/work in them, we are featuring some inspiring basement-dwellers.

Milton Waddams (played by Stephen Root) is the adorable cog in the machinery who threatens to burn the place down.  As he says:

And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...

Milton ends the movie pretty well, as you may recall.  And--in our favorite case of fiction influencing fact--Swingline never made a red stapler until fans of Office Space kept contacting them to demand one.  Fiction wins!

How to Commemorate:

• Watch squirrels play outside.
• Color your stapler red.
• Talk like Milton.

*Share your photos and celebrations on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Works Cited   

Office Space

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Public Libraries

Kilgrave is hit by a bus. (Jan 20)

Ever have somebody you wish you would get hit by a bus?  Like, someone who made your life a living hell, who broke your will and made you do all the things you hated?  Who took your strength and used it for their own purpose?

If so, you might be Jessica Jones. Or maybe a normal human.  Anyway, it was on January 20^th that Jessica was able to resist Kilgrave’s super-powered commands.  Bus hit ensued.  But that’s not the end of him!

How to Commemorate

• Wear a leather jacket, preferably with torn jeans and a blue scarf.
• Traditional food: whiskey, bourbon, or vodka. Whatever, just drink a lot. (Responsibly.)
• Find others with powers.  Super-strength, super-persuasion, what-have-you.
• Stay away from buses.

*Share your photos and celebrations on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Works Cited    

Jessica Jones

Amazon         Barnes & Noble        Public Libraries

Pam Beasly uses all her vacation.

Dunder Mifflin is a challenging place to work, and you need to schedule some away-time. As Pam says: "I get ten vacation days a year and I try to hold off taking them for as long as possible. This year I got to the third week in January."

That's THIS WEEK!

How to Commemorate

• Take a vacation. Ok, just plan a vacation.
• Replace a carpet.
• Leave a friend a series of voicemails about funny things happening at work.

*Share your photos and celebrations on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Works Cited
The Office (U.S.), Season 2, episode 14 "The Carpet"

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Public Libraries

Buffy's Birthday (January 19)

Though there is some dispute in the Whedonverse, the Joss finally decreed that Buffy Summers' official date of birth is January 19.  Slaying and conquering of the Hellmouth ensued. How to Commemorate 

• Carry a wooden stake named Mister Pointy.  But not a dangerous one that could get you into trouble.  Maybe a pencil? You know what? Screw it. Just carry a cross.
• Use snark.
• Hang out in a library.  (I know, you were going to do that anyway.)

*Share your photos and celebrations on our Facebook or twitter pages.

Works Cited
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tv)

Amazon    Barnes & Noble    Public Libraries