Thanks for at least confirming the event was held, Joe! I take it that was your first time as a stoker, though there are rear steer tandems. I think the tandem ride is ultimately more interesting than any book reading. I've been following that project and I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say the HHH will become a sought after classic in short order (whatever the minimum standard time is to become classic, which keeps dropping.)
I haven't been a regular reader of his blog and have not visited in some time. He's a funny guy and a good writer and he often uses that off beat "edgy" humor to point out the benefits of cycling and the radical monopoly that currently drives our transportation system without the need to be school marmish or high horse or pedantic. In today's high background noise culture, having his voice in the advocacy camp can't hurt, and probably reaches people in a younger demographic than a typical Riv'r or iBoB. For some reason, I watched *The Red Balloon* a year or two ago. It was a little weird. My main thought, especially with the end scenes with the hundreds of balloons, how did they do it without special effects/cgi?! And I hoped no turtles were killed <http://balloonsblow.org/the-ugly-truth/>. I saw it for the first time when it was broadcast on Kukla, Fran, and Ollie <http://kukla.tv/cbs.html>. From the number of films they have listed, Eben can write a lot more books before they run out of movies to open his talks... On Monday, June 20, 2016 at 12:25:35 AM UTC-4, Joe Bernard wrote: > > I was there. Grant gave me a ride from shop to hotel on a HUBBUHBUBBUH > tandem, which was very cool. I kept trying to steer from the back seat! > > The book event started with a film. Grant said it was an Oscar-winning > French short from the '50s which anyone born before 1963 probably saw in > school. I'm that guy..I said, "It's gotta be The Red Balloon." Nailed it. > It's an adorable film, and probably has a fascinating backstory. It plays > as though a guy with a camera just put a balloon on a string and had a boy > follow it through town. There's little evidence of 'film things' like > actors and sets. > > Then Eben did his book talk, which was...I'm not a regular reader of that > blog because its level of sarcasm and "edgy" isn't really my thing. Most of > the attendees seemed to be more attuned to the vibe, so I kind of viewed it > from and 'outside' perspective. Which isn't really the review you were > asking for, but I don't feel like I was the target audience..I was mostly > there to see Riv people and go for a ride. Which I did! > > Joe Bernard > Vallejo, CA. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
