Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: Olaf’s Biplane

Yesterday evening, after attending the Maryland Renaissance Festival, I found something I knew immediately I had to have — The Peanuts Movie: Olaf's Biplane construction set from Lite Brix. Lite Brix is a LEGO-compatible building block made by Cra-Z-Art, a New Jersey company.  To tie in with The Peanuts Movie, they produced a number ofContinue reading “Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: Olaf’s Biplane”

A Baseball Mystery Solved

Thanks to a podcast, I found the answer to a random question I had wondered about — what baseball league do the Lake Wobegon Whippets belong to? I didn’t know, and it occurred to me one day that the Lake Wobegon Whippets could — and perhaps should — play in the Green Grass League againstContinue reading “A Baseball Mystery Solved”

Last Night in Stumptown

A clipping from the Stumptown Progressive… The hometown crowd witnessed something they had never before seen — the umpires examining a baseball for scuff marks and paint — when the Lake Wobegon Whippets took on rival Stumptown at Olaf Field Friday night. The drama came in the top of the seventh inning when Whippets secondContinue reading “Last Night in Stumptown”

Of Stumptown and Opening Day

It’s April. Spring is officially here. Baseball is back. Opening Day is more like “Opening Days” — three games yesterday, a few more today, a few more tomorrow, and then the season and the daily grind begins in earnest on Wednesday. Nothing says baseball more than Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, what with Charlie Brown and hisContinue reading “Of Stumptown and Opening Day”

Reporting to the Head Beagle on 2016

I received an urgent request to fill out an annual report to the Head Beagle. I think this urgent request may have come to me by accident — unlike Snoopy I am not a beagle — but in the spirit of the New Year, herewith is my 2016 response to the annual survey. 1. HowContinue reading “Reporting to the Head Beagle on 2016”

An Angel Tree Package for the Office

As the company has done for a number of years, a Christmas tree was put up in the lobby and, a few days after Thanksgiving, Angel Tree stockings were hung. I had decided long ago to participate in the Angel Tree program this year and, when I was passing by the lobby area on otherContinue reading “An Angel Tree Package for the Office”

Link Round-Up: December 22

I was stupidly busy today with work, so I have little idea what’s happening in the world. Nonetheless, some things that caught my attention today… The Essay, Religion in the North, Norse Mythology: Karl Seigfried – An interesting personal essay on the continuing emotional pull of Norse mythology, a millennium after Scandinavia was Christianized. BBCContinue reading “Link Round-Up: December 22”

Thoughts About Endings

This morning I was working on text for the UK edition of January’s catalog. (The UK has a special version of PREVIEWS with more pages and UK-specific items.) And I worked on the text for Canongate’s edition of The Complete Peanuts Volume 25: 1999-2000. The final volume. A wave of emotion washed over me thatContinue reading “Thoughts About Endings”

The Peanuts Movie

Last night after work I went to see The Peanuts Movie, the new CGI animated film based on Charles Schulz’s characters. I had tracked this movie pretty carefully over the last year and a half, from the first trailer to the second, and last month I even read the kids novelization. The Peanuts Movie isContinue reading “The Peanuts Movie”

The Peanuts Movie Novelization

Yesterday evening I went to the BAM! (formerly Books a Million) near York Galleria, not for any particular reason, just to get away from the gloom and the muck that had been all day Saturday thanks to the rain brought by Hurricane Joaquin. There I found a most unexpected book — The Peanuts Movie MovieContinue reading “The Peanuts Movie Novelization”