Friday, October 29, 2010

The Cobalt Adventure Website Launch Invite!

On Oct 21st we attended "The Cobalt Historical Society" launch of their virtual exhibit on historic Cobalt.

Our friends Brit and Drew were part of the production team who put this project together and our friend Bea Demarce from the Match Factory helped out with some of the costumes and I helped out with a few bit acting roles(So ya the guy in the top right corner who lit the building on fire...yup thats me!  I burn down the hospital). 

All said and done the evening look to be a great success and the final production of "The Cobalt Adventure" looks amazing! Britt and Drew you guys did an amazing job Congrats!

So if you get a chance go check out the "The Cobalt Adventure"! It is a great online choose your own adventure game, based off of historical events that have happened in Cobalt!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Movember at Chat Noir Books - It's going to be a chilly month!

I'm doing Movember to support the 1 in 6 men diagnosed with prostate cancer. So should you. Join my team.

I think I have just convinced Mark to join my team!

The Mo, slang for moustache, and November come together each year for Movember.

Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for prostate cancer. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.

So this Friday I will be shaving off the beard, but I think I will will leave a MO. Come Sunday it all goes...it is going to be so cold!!

The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia. The plan was simple – to bring the moustache back as a bit of a joke and do something for men’s health. No money was raised in 2003, but the guys behind the Mo realized the potential a moustache had in generating conversations about men’s health. Inspired by the women around them and all they had done for breast cancer, the Mo Bros set themselves on a course to create a global men’s health movement.

In 2004 the campaign evolved and focused on raising awareness and funds for the number one cancer affecting men – prostate cancer. 432 Mo Bros joined the movement that year, raising $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia - representing the single largest donation they had ever received.

The Movember moustache has continued to grow year after year, expanding to Canada, the US, UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, the Netherlands and Finland.

In 2009, global participation of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas climbed to 255,755, with over one million donors raising $47 Million for Movember’s global beneficiary partners. We are proud to announce that last year’s Canadian campaign was the second largest in the world behind Australia, with 35,156 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas coming together to raise $7.8 million for Prostate Cancer Canada.

Want to see more? Check out their Mo-Intro video by clicking on the image below:



The funds raised through Movember’s Canadian campaign go directly to Prostate Cancer Canada which enables them to fund vital research that will led to better screening tests and treatment options and to run support services for men surviving prostate cancer.

A little bit of History about our Building

On Tuesday night Jenn and went over to Grayd's Home Hardware for their 60's Anniversary sale, which is going on all week by the way! We needed to pick up a new freezer for the store and they had some great deals going on.

When we walked into the store the place was packed, which was great to see, but what really caught my eye were the old pictures on the wall of their old store, which is now our store, "ours" being the Howey Bros and Chat Noir Books. It is really funny how things change.

In the pictures you can see all the old windows on top of the building. Some day we would like to restore those. The peaked roof is also not yet up as well.

New book for knitters in at the store!

Purchase this book online at Chat Noir BooksDebbie Stroller's new Stich'N bitch Superstar Knitting book just came in today! Go beyond the basics with 41 original patterns!

Knitters: It's time to take it to the next level. And who better than Debbie Stoller to show you how. The expert knitter and gifted, edgy author who introduced knitting to a new generation with her New York Times bestseller, Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook, now shows her readers how to do more lots more.

Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar Knitting is the only knitter's handbook to teach the full array of advanced knitting techniques and skills, such as double-knitting, knitting lace, complicated color work, beading, and more. Writing with the clarity that makes her such an effective teacher, and the attitude that got her dubbed "knitting superstar" (San Francisco Chronicle), Stoller explains how to "knit by the numbers;" get creative with stripes; embellish with crochet, beading, and I-cords; how to make cable patterns; and how to use color forms. There's also a whole section on DIY which gives a tutorial on creating your own knitting patterns.

And then the brilliant icing on the cake 41 cool, funky, and fabulous patterns from Debbie and the Stitch 'n Bitch community: a fluttery Rococco Shawl, Cap Sleeve Lattice Sweater, Jackie-O sequined cardigan, Empire Strikes Back dress, the adorable Button It children's sweater with changeable animal patches. Plus sexy stockings, stylish handbags, blankets, scarves, and more, all photographed in full-color.

Debbie Stoller is the bestselling author of the Stitch'n Bitch series of knitting books and calendars. She comes from a long line of Dutch knitters, has a Ph.D. from Yale in the psychology of women, and is the editor-in-chief of Bust magazine. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Books for Big Boys!! My kind of Display!

Hey the new HarperCollins book display is in and it is titled

Books for Big Boys!!
Check out these titles!!

Warren Ellis - Crooked Little Vein
Frost/Nixon by David Frost with Bob Zelnick
What is Your Danerous Idea? by by John Brockman | Richard Dawkins | Steven Pinker
Hell at the Breech by Tom Franklin
Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey
The Zero by Jess Walter
Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard

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Crooked Little Vein
by Warren Ellis


Burned-out private dick Michael McGill needs to jump-start his career. What he gets instead is a cattle prod to the crotch. The president's heroin-addicted chief of staff wants McGill to find the Constitution—the real one the Founding Fathers secretly devised for the time of gravest crisis. And with God, civility, and Mom's homemade apple pie already dead or dying, that time is now. But McGill has a talent for stumbling into every imaginable depravity—and this case is driving him even deeper into America's darkest, dankest underbelly, toward obscenities that boggle even his mind.

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Frost Nixon
by David Frost | Bob Zelnick


Following the resounding success of the eponymous West End and Broadway hit play, Frost/Nixon tells the extraordinary story of how Sir David Frost pursued and landed the biggest fish of his career—and how the series drew larger audiences than any news interview ever had in the United States, before being shown all over the world.

This is Frost's absorbing story of his pursuit of Richard Nixon, and is no less revealing of his own toughness and pertinacity than of the ex-President's elusiveness. Frost's encounters with such figures as Swifty Lazar, Ron Ziegler, potential sponsors, and Nixon as negotiator are nothing short of hilarious, and his insight into the taping of the programs themselves is fascinating.

Frost/Nixon provides the authoritative account of the only public trial that Nixon would ever have, and a revelation of the man's character as it appeared in the stress of eleven grueling sessions before the cameras. Including historical perspective and transcripts of the edited interviews, this is the story of Sir David Frost's quest to produce one of the most dramatic pieces of television ever broadcast, described by commentators at the time as a catharsis for the American people.

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What Is Your Dangerous Idea
by John Brockman | Richard Dawkins | Steven Pinker

From Copernicus to Darwin, to current-day thinkers, scientists have always promoted theories and unveiled discoveries that challenge everything society holds dear; ideas with both positive and dire consequences. Many thoughts that resonate today are dangerous not because they are assumed to be false, but because they might turn out to be true.

What do the world's leading scientists and thinkers consider to be their most dangerous idea? Through the leading online forum Edge (www.edge.org), the call went out, and this compelling and easily digestible volume collects the answers. From using medication to permanently alter our personalities to contemplating a universe in which we are utterly alone, to the idea that the universe might be fundamentally inexplicable, What Is Your Dangerous Idea? takes an unflinching look at the daring, breathtaking, sometimes terrifying thoughts that could forever alter our world and the way we live in it.

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Out Of Sight: A Novel
by Elmore Leonard


World-class gentleman felon Jack Foley is busting out of Florida's Glades Prison when he runs head on into a shotgun-wielding Karen Sisco. Suddenly he's sharing a cramped car trunk with the classy, disarmed federal marshal and the chemistry is working overtime—and as soon as she escapes, he's already missing her. But there are bad men and a major score waiting for Jack in Motown. And the next time his path crosses Karen's, chances are she's going to be there for business, not pleasure.

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The Zero: A Novel
by Jess Walter


The Zero is a groundbreaking novel, a darkly comic snapshot of our times that is already being compared to the works of Franz Kafka and Joseph Heller.

From its opening pages—when hero cop Brian Remy wakes up to find he's shot himself in the head—novelist Jess Walter takes us on a harrowing tour of a city and a country shuddering through the aftershocks of a devastating terrorist attack. As the smoke slowly clears, Remy finds that his memory is skipping, lurching between moments of lucidity and days when he doesn't seem to be living his own life at all. The landscape around him is at once fractured and oddly familiar: a world dominated by a Machiavellian mayor known as "The Boss," and peopled by gawking celebrities, anguished policemen peddling First Responder cereal, and pink real estate divas hyping the spoils of tragedy. Remy himself has a new girlfriend he doesn't know, a son who pretends he's dead, and an unsettling new job chasing a trail of paper scraps for a shadowy intelligence agency known as the Department of Documentation. Whether that trail will lead Remy to an elusive terror cell—or send him circling back to himself—is only one of the questions posed by this provocative yet deeply human novel.

From a novelist of astounding talent, The Zero is an extraordinary story of how our trials become our transgressions, of how we forgive ourselves and whether or not we should.

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Bright Shiny Morning
by James Frey


One of the most celebrated and controversial authors in America delivers an extraordinary novel—a sweeping chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles that is bold, exhilarating, and utterly original. Dozens of characters pass through the reader's sight lines—some never to be seen again—but James Frey lingers on a handful of LA's lost souls and captures the dramatic narrative of their lives. A dazzling tour de force, Bright Shiny Morning illuminates the joys, horrors, and unexpected fortunes of life and death in Los Angeles.

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Hell At The Breech: A Novel
by Tom Franklin


In 1897, an aspiring politician is mysteriously murdered in the rural area of Alabama known as Mitcham Beat. His outraged friends -- —mostly poor cotton farmers -- form a secret society, Hell-at-the-Breech, to punish the townspeople they believe responsible. The hooded members wage a bloody year-long campaign of terror that culminates in a massacre where the innocent suffer alongside the guilty. Caught in the maelstrom of the Mitcham war are four people: the aging sheriff sympathetic to both sides; the widowed midwife who delivered nearly every member of Hell-at-the-Breech; a ruthless detective who wages his own war against the gang; and a young store clerk who harbors a terrible secret.

Based on incidents that occurred a few miles from the author's childhood home, Hell at the Breech chronicles the events of dark days that led the people involved to discover their capacity for good, evil, or for both.

Top 100 Candian Singles

Christmas is just around the corner, and we have the book for that music lover in your family!

The Guess Who, Neil Young, The Band, Bryan Adams Leonard Cohen, Steppenwolf, Gordon Lightfoot, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Ian & Sylvia and Anne Murray are just a few that make the top 100!

This is a book that gets to the heart of the matter! Whether you're a professional musician or an air guitarist, a collector or a true amateur, this book will shake things up! Coming this fall: The Top 100 Canadian Singles -- brought to you by Bob Mersereau and Goose Lane Editions, the team that assembled the controversial, much discussed, best-selling volume, The Top 100 Canadian Albums. The Top 100 Canadian Singles will undoubtedly stir the souls, ears, and tongues of music lovers everywhere. And answer the question, for better or for worse. Once again, Bob Mersereau has assembled a blue ribbon panel of musicians, broadcasters, reviewers, managers, promoters, record-label executives, retailers, roadies, and more to cast their votes in a major, nationwide poll. John Roberts, Canada's original VJ; Joel Plaskett; Sarah Slean; the late Paul Quarrington; CBC's Stuart McLean; Sam Roberts; Sophie Durocher; and Eric Trudel all contributed lists -- along with hundreds more. Whose single will make it to the top 10? The top 40? The top 100? Neil or Leonard? Feist or Alanis? k.d. lang or Stompin' Tom? The Guess Who or Arcade Fire? Gilles Vigneault or k-os? Once again, the countdown is on! We'll all be waiting for the answer in early October. This oversized, full colour book features in-depth interviews with musicians, fascinating facts, musician-penned sidebars, documentary photographs, cover art, and much, much more. And yes, Bob will be on the road again -- appearing at a venue near you.

"Where do I start? Any Joni Mitchell song, any Neil Young song, any Leonard Cohen song, every Jane Siberry song." --K.d. lang

"To know that you've written a song that every Canadian knows, it's pretty amazing." -- Steven Page

Friday, October 15, 2010

Chat Noir Books gets Quoted on the Huffington Post

Not to long ago Jenn took part in the Twitter feed of the most Ridiculous things overhead at a Bookstore.

Today The Huffington Post posted a story "Bookstore Bingo: 7 Ridiculous Things Overheard At Bookstores" Jenn's Twitter post is number one on their slideshow!!


Click on the image to check out the post!

Books that inspire us to create better Local Communities.

Just some interesting reading if you are at all community minded and interested support your local community! There are some really great ideas in these books on how to improve the communities we live in!


Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.
by Bill McKibben

"McKibben, author of The End of Nature, suggests that there is a basic question haunting our moment on earth: `Is more better?` For thousands of years, the standard of living for human society remained relatively static, with the majority of people existing in a condition of general scarcity. But when living conditions began to improve, thanks to the power of industrialization and modern capitalism, the obvious conclusion was that `more` could only be better. Today, argues McKibben, this belief warrants revision. Measured in terms of growing inequalities within and across nations, a wealth of evidence suggests that `more` is no longer better—indeed, `more` may be very bad for us and our world. McKibben claims that the antidote for many global economic problems can be found locally. To this end, he argues that attention should be redirected towards more traditional means of pursuing prosperity within our communities, such as farmers` markets, community-supported agriculture farms (CSAs), community-based radio stations, and mercantile cooperatives. While a turn to the local may not be fast, cheap, or easy, it may very well prove necessary if we are to secure the thriving of human beings in the decades ahead."—Josh Yates, Virginia Quarterly Review

Local Money: How to Make it Happen in Your Community.
by Peter North

In past recessions and depressions, a popular response from communities has been to create their own forms of money. How can local money help communities in times of hardship and cut as much carbon out of their economies as possible?

This is an inspiring yet practical new book, Local Money helps you understand what money is and what makes good and bad money. It draws on the considerable track record of experimentation with local money around the world and gives ideas to those in the Transition movement and beyond about what has been tried, what works, and what to avoid.

Small is Possible: Life in a local economy.
by Lyle Estill

In an era when incomprehensibly complex issues like Peak Oil and Climate Change dominate headlines, practical solutions at a local level can seem somehow inadequate.

In response, Lyle Estill's Small is Possible introduces us to "hometown security," with this chronicle of a community-powered response to resource depletion in a fickle global economy. True stories, springing from the soils of Chatham County, North Carolina, offer a positive counter balance to the bleakness of our age.

This is the story of how one small southern US town found actual solutions to actual problems. Unwilling to rely on government and wary of large corporations, these residents discovered it is possible for a community to feed itself, fuel itself, heal itself and govern itself.

This book is filled with newspaper columns, blog entries, letters and essays that have appeared on the margins of small town economies. Tough subjects are handled with humor and finesse. Compelling stories of successful small businesses from the grocery co-op to the biodiesel co-op describe a town and its people on a genuine quest for sustainability.

Everyone interested in sustainability, local economy, small business, and whole foods will be inspired by the success stories in this book.

Better Not Bigger: How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve your Community
by Eben Fodor

Contrary to accepted wisdom, rapid urban growth can leave communities permanently scarred, deeply in debt, with unaffordable housing, a lost sense of community, and sacrificed environmental quality.

In Better NOT Bigger, Fodor explodes the fundamental myth that growth is good for us and that more development will bring in more tax money, add jobs, lower housing costs, and reduce property taxes. Lively and well-illustrated, Better NOT Bigger provides insights, ideas, and tools to empower citizens to switch off their local "growth machine" by debunking the pro-growth rhetoric. Highly accessible to ordinary citizens as well as professional planners.

Better NOT Bigger has been made available through New Catalyst Books. New Catalyst Books is an imprint of New Society Publishers, aimed at providing readers with access to a wider range of books dealing with sustainability issues by bringing books back into print that have enduring value in the field.

The Small-Mart Revolution:
by Michael H, Shuman

Forword by Bill Mckibben


Defenders of globalization, free markets, and free trade insist there's no alternative to mega-stores like Wal-Mart -- Michael Shuman begs to differ. In "The Small-Mart Revolution, Shuman makes a compelling case for his alternative business model, one in which communities reap the benefits of "going local" in four key spending categories: goods, services, energy, and finance. He argues that despite the endless media coverage of multinational conglomerates, local businesses give more to charity, adapt more easily to rising labor and environmental standards, and produce more wealth for a community. They also spend more locally, thereby increasing community income and creating wealth and jobs. "The Small-Mart Revolution presents a visionary yet practical roadmap for everyone concerned with mitigating the worst of globalization.

Build a Bobble, a great Christmas idea!

Here is a great Christmas idea! Check out www.buildabobble.com Fully Customized Bobble!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Cool Plush Dolls

We just got in some cool new stock.

Vinyl batman figures, Plush wizard of Oz dolls, and some plush Alice in Wonderland dolls