A few weeks ago I posted an article about the decline of walk in bookstores in Tyler. Used and rare booksellers are really a labor of love, especially given the online market. But it’s still nice to walk into an old bookstore in search of nothing in particular, and see what jumps off the shelves. When looking for a particular must have, online sources are easiest; But an Antique bookshop is always a great diversion. Interestingly, there’s one Bookseller in town that hasn’t changed a bit, over the last few years, despite what appears to be very little business traffic.
I’ve stated before that Fireside books seems somewhat out of place in Tyler. Every time I visit (often a year or two apart), the store seems not to have changed. And rarely do I encounter any other customers. Oh maybe one or two stragglers, but never more than that. In fact, when I pulled into the parking lot on my most recent visit I was somewhat surprised to find the place still open. The gentleman who operates the store seems part hippy, part monk, always occupied, coming or going and rarely saying more than a couple of words. Which is fine by me; I’d rather check out the inventory, than make conversation anyway.

It’s a funny relationship the store has with Tyler; few it seems realize it’s there, yet the store seems not to care. But what do I know? Even I’m only the occasional visitor, and for all I know the place could ship books as far as Timbuktu on a biweekly basis. Or perhaps the Tyler glitterati meet there to plan the next thousand dollars a plate charity function. Who knows? Point being, I certainly have no idea what has kept the store afloat, but I hope it never goes anywhere. It’s nice to know there are still dusty old booksellers in business in Tyler. Fireside books is exactly my kind of place.

Former Longview Lobo, Texas Ranger and current Baltimore Oriole Chris Davis is on a tear right now. We’re not even to the halfway point and he has already has 98 hits, 79 and 30 home runs. It’s great to see an East Texas native have that kind of success, but I just wish he had put up those kind of numbers while in playing for the Rangers.

Perhaps Davis needed to exit Texas in order to be more productive. Maybe there was a lot more pressure on his shoulders simply because his hometown is pretty much right down the road (OK, maybe a couple hours, but you get the idea) from the ballpark in Arlington. Maybe he put all that pressure on his own shoulders and just wasn’t able live up to his high expectations.

You know locals came out to watch him play on a regular basis and if he wasn’t able to do as well as he had hoped in front of hometown fans, then perhaps it was time.

Maybe it was just a matter of loosening up in Baltimore. Once all that weight was taken off his shoulders and all that pressure was gone, he was able to swing and be more productive, and now, his reigning in Baltimore with home runs.

As an East Texan, I’m proud of what Davis is doing and it’s great to know he hasn’t forgotten his East Texas roots. I just wish he was still wearing a Texas uniform while doing it all.

OK, so I saw Superman Man of Steel. Without giving too much away, I will say it was different from most Superman movies.
It is definitely entertaining and has good special effects that make it worth seeing on the big screen but I wouldn’t put it high on my list of Superman movies.

I just didn’t think the characters were well developed and I think the writers figured the audience would know all about the characters just from the history of Superman and were kind of relying on that. If this movie would’ve been the first Superman I had ever seen, I would’ve been somewhat lost.

So it’s obvious that Lois Lane was a reporter but that’s about all we know about her. She does a couple interviews with Superman and all the sudden, they were in a relationship.

Also, I thought they didn’t develop his character well. It seemed like every other scene was an inspirational speech trying to explain his history. It would’ve also been better if they hadn’t waited until the very end to make Clark Kent a journalist. If we had of seen him go from the job to saving people, it would’ve given us a little more insight to him and developed his character. Not to mention, I’m not crazy about how Lois Lane knows Clark Kent is Superman.

I never saw the movie Grown Ups and I don’t plan on seeing Grown Ups 2 either. The cast is full of so-called “stars” who, in reality, aren’t as funny as they think they are.

Adam Sandler is pretty much the same character in every movie. Chris Rock has his funny moments, or had a funny moment, (although I don’t recall what it was) and the prime of David Spade’s career was acting in movies with Chris Farley. Kevin James is probably the funniest member of the cast but I’m not sure how many characters he can play.

In my opinion, even though I didn’t see the first one, this one has to be a step up because Rob Schneider is not in the sequal.

I’m sure both the original and the sequel each have their own funny moments, but I’m not about to go spend $9.50 for a ticket to see it on the big screen.

The story stars Sandler who moves his family back to his hometown to be near his friends and their families the unusual and bizarre qualities of the his small hometown didn’t allow him to escape the crazy times.

This movie is set to hit theaters July 12.