Mr Arch, I presume...

Recently Paul brought me to visit the St Louis (Gateway) Arch. It was pretty sweet. I'm a fan of architecture so that was a cool one, though I am forced to say that every single recorded tour video clip they had in the place was unbearably, hilariously overdramatic and their "Museum of Westward Expansion" sucked some giant ass. No offense intended. Nothing was labeled! They had what appeared to possibly be a giant ship's wheel but who could tell because there was no label! Also they had weird creepy animatronic historical figures who would jerkily recite some bit of authentic communication. Really creepy. I think they were so impressed with their round design, their spooky robots, and their stuffed horse and cow, that they forgot what a museum is actually supposed to be like.
Got to see a picture of, and a short video on, Mr Louis Arch himself (that was of course, before he was sainted) on our way to the top. If you've never been, you ride up to the top of the Arch in weird little round tram cars, with a tiny four foot door, and five little stools inside. Everything is whitewashed, and I could not help but feel that I had stepped into a late 19th-early 20th century industrial sci-fi. Very surreal.
The view was pretty awesome at the top of the Arch, 630 feet (and we made sure to stand at the highest point for a minute.) This may sound silly, but I had never thought to wonder what the Arch is actually made of. Well it's stainless steel, and all the panels in the light are actually quite pretty. I can also now say that I've spent some time in Missouri, so I can check that state off the list. Good year so far.

Crazy Awesome Huge Booklist Update - End/Beginning of the Year Ed.

--2010--

Jan 15 - 'The Big Over Easy' - Jasper Fforde
Jan 25 - 'The Man From Beyond' - Gabriel Brownstein
Jan 27 - 'The First Men in the Moon' - H.G. Wells

Feb 4 - 'American on Purpose' - Craig Ferguson (BOT)
Feb 5 - 'Holidays on Ice' - David Sedaris (BOT)
Feb 12 - 'Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not' - Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Amy Sedaris (BOT)
Feb 16 - 'The Book of Fate' - Brad Meltzer

Mar 1 - 'Naked' - David Sedaris (BOT)
Mar 8 - 'Gilgamesh' - Joan London
Mar 27 - 'The Liar' - Stephen Fry
Mar 28 - 'The Good Earth' - Pearl S. Buck

Apr 4 - 'Thursday Next: First Among Sequels' - Jasper Fforde
Apr 5 - 'The Borrowers' - Mary Norton
Apr 9 - 'The Borrowers Afield' - Mary Norton
Apr 17 - 'The Borrowers Aloft' - Mary Norton

May 7 - 'The Borrowers Avenged' - Mary Norton
May 22 - 'When Nietzsche Wept' - Irvin D. Yalom

Jun 3 - 'Good Omens' - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Jun 5 - 'Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo' - Nigel Rothfels
Jun 8 - 'The White Queen' - Philippa Gregory
Jun 11 - 'The Law of Nines' - Terry Goodkind
Jun 20 - 'The Constant Princess' - Philippa Gregory
Jun 24 - 'The Other Boleyn Girl' - Philippa Gregory
Jun 26 - 'The Mistmantle Chronicles: Urchin and the Heartstone' - M. I. McAllister

July 2 - 'The Boleyn Inheritance' - Philippa Gregory
July 3 - 'Rain' - Kirsty Gunn
July 15 - 'Inside Animal Hoarding' -Arnold Arluke and Celeste Killeen
July 18 - 'Stealing Buddha's Dinner' - Bich Minh Nguyen
July 22 - 'The Virgin's Lover' - Philippa Gregory
July 25 - 'Going Postal' - Terry Pratchett

September 8 - 'Night Watch' - Terry Pratchett
September 12 - 'Another Gulmohar Tree' - Aamer Hussein
September 16 - 'I Know I Am, But What Are You?" - Samantha Bee (BOT)
September 20 - 'Coventry' - Helen Humphreys
September 21 - 'Sh*t My Dad Says' - Justin Halpern (BOT)
September 22 - 'I'll Mature When I'm Dead' - Dave Barry (BOT)
September 26 - "The Kite Runner" - Khaled Hosseini

December 2 - "Thud!" - Terry Pratchett
December 18 - "Making Money" - Terry Pratchett
December 27 - "From the Earth to the Moon" - Jules Verne (BOT)

--2011--

January 3 - "The Scarlet Pimpernel" - Baroness Emmuska Orczy (BOT)

Currently reading: 'The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories' (BOT) - Mark Twain, "The Fourth Bear" - Jasper Fforde, and "Strata" - Terry Pratchett