http://www.heraldleader.com/101/story/20672.html

Joseph-Beth is revamping their Lexington store...

I'm curious as to the effect it will have. Wendell Berry will not shop there, nor come for a book-signing, because he believes they are a corporate bookstore, not a local one. Others have stopped shopping there because their inventory is erratically refreshed.
It still has the ambiance that caught my attention when I first went there while visiting Asbury way back in '98, though.

There's a picture of King Leonidas on the USA Today cover, looking Spartan with things sticking out of his chest and still able to bellow a war cry.

At first I wasn't sure I wanted to see it--those Middle-Earth monsters don't quite fit into the history lesson. I read an article in an obsessive-compulsive sci-fi magazine about the moviemakers' intentions with this movie, and then it all made sense. It's told from the perspective of the lone survivor of that conflict, and naturally stories tend to snowball into giant mythic narratives. Apparently the Middle-earth monsters are just Persian warriors who shared the Spartan quality of superhuman strength. The narrator just perceived them as monstrous because they were the enemy.

I'm at my parents' shop. Mom is nagging me the frequency of my updates (Dwain is too...) So here you go!